Mitchy

There’s always a good reason to open the hood now and then!

Don’t they have annual inspections over there? They would have been condemned a decade ago over here, -no rust problems where I live now. That is a very different story compared to the UK’s heavily-salted roads of my youth. Vivio’s exhaust pipe is 23 years old!!:

Yep, and they are thin bolts too. But no extreme pressures or forces inside the valve covers. Remember that cars used to have cork gaskets here and they would split if forced too much. My old mini would gush oil if anything over firm finger-tight was used.

It doesn’t worry me about the S.Korea pump manufacture so much as the ‘Japanese Quality’ paper gasket, which is NOT going to come out of its bag.

Japanese Nuclear power stations? ::nervous::

I would have bought an Outback if there had been an option, but this was what there was for the money and I don’t regret it a bit. The Forester does a fine job.

.....But they’re 5-spoke alloy-disguised steelies. 48 offset compared to 55. Perfect for off-road, ding repairs etc And they remind me of slot-mags! I took the original 7” alloys off the Forester and replaced them with these! Yup I’m a freak. I might keep em on and put those alloys back in the Forry. Or just keep playing until missis says ‘enough!’ Its starting to get taller, especially viewed from the rear! I haven’t even put the Outback struts in yet, so will be taller still...Now for the roof rack and some front bumper mods and we’re all set. Oh, and timing belt, water pump, oil change due, ARB spacers, lower BJs . . .

But I really like the bog-standard Forester steelies....

KYB still authentic

Hi all I was very happy to find my SKF belt idlers for a good price, and fully expected them to be made elsewhere than in Japan; S.Korea is the acceptable truth. Now I received an Aisin water pump, proudly marked ‘PREMIUM JAPANESE QUALITY’ on the packaging.. Elsewhere on the packaging, however it says ’Made in S. Korea’. The gasket is paper..... I had already bought a metal Subaru one just in case! The Aisin lower front BJs I just received were also packaged similarly, also made in S.Korea. No more Japanese manufacture of these Aisin parts? So our Legacy and Forester are migrating from Japan, bit by bit.... My tough new KYB Outback struts however still subtly announce ‘MADE IN JAPAN’ .... :)

I’m getting the clearance I need now with this setup. The 7 inch wide wheels are really tasty though..

Testing the Forester’s 15x6 steelies with the standard Yokohama Geolandar 205/70 R15. This is with the 1.5” strut spacers, awaiting arrival and fitting of KYB Legacy Outback struts.... If the authorities allow this setup, I shall be fitting a set of Geolandar G015 A/T on the original Legacy alloys. Cannot fit much more rubber under there. I have to take precise suspension clearance measurements because these steelies have 48 offset and the Leggy alloys have 55. I also have the opcion of some 15x7 alloys for the Forester (offset 48) but I am not certain whether I want to stretch the tire over that extra inch....

Petrol does fine for preliminary part cleaning, use gloves; it carcinogenic. Water with degreaser is also effective. Good old elbow grease with a stiff brush for crusty externals. I also use denatured alcohol for ‘thoroughly de-greasing mating surfaces before assembly’. Female threads are cleaned well, as already mentioned, by using an old undamaged bolt with a tidy saw-cut across the end threads and some deburring. This scoops out the oily grime from engine blocks effectively. Repeat as necessary and clean with paper or cloth and some air. I have also used a sliced nut in a socket to clean and hone bolt threads successfully. I would not use a cutting tap unless the thread was deformed or damaged.

I have discovered that many filters fit my Subarus. But really, it does not seem much of a problem to fork out a few notes every oil change for whatever filter of known brand. Rather than forking out big money on genuine or Japanese filters, I change branded filters (usually ‘Mann’ at the place where I buy a few at a time) every oil change, keeping an eye on the oil colour between changes. My oil never gets black!

After a rear end shunt in the Forester I had the same problem. It was diagnosed as a bent latch. There is a threaded latch rod which I adjusted and the tailgate locked and unlocked again by key or by central locking no problem. A bit of trial and error fixed this mechanical failure

Finally sold the little guy after a number of close calls and disappointments!

Not a bad idea, thanks. I live in Olive oil territory, we use it to get pine resin off things. So why didn’t I think of that? I ‘ll rub some on and let it soak in. Props for reminding me!

Getting all four wheels off the ground and seeing which ones don’t spin under power would give strong clues. Surely the mechanic could get it up on the lift. Is it an Automatic? Then I could imagine all sorts of reasons for that behaviour.

I would look elsewhere, there must be similar cars in better shape for the price of this one plus its necessary repair work. I would only buy a broken car if I knew what was broken, how to fix it it, and how much to fix it.

Good advice. I cut my teeth changing the clutch on the Forester- It had the oil separator plate leak, sudden and plentiful! As I was unsure, before dismantling, where the leak came from, so I made the effort and bought the new metal plate and screws AND a Subaru rear crank seal, just in case. I was fairly certain it was going to be the plastic plate, due to the suddenness and quantity of leaked oil. I also bought the clutch and flywheel because there had been some juddering when cold, and all that oil pouring through there got me thinking ‘ now or never’.The car had 175000 kms at that point. As it happens, the crank seal seemed OK with some very minor weeping, but I didn’t fancy going through all that again for a leaky seal later in the day, so I replaced it too. Tapping it in all around slowly slowly until flush with the face. I did plenty of homework, and have the workshop manual too, plus some common sense to some extent! 3 years later it is still dry as a bone underneath, Clutch smooth and light. So the Legacy will get the same preventative treatment, using the old addage, “whilst you’re down there....”

Haha! Yeah this lovely low mileage Leggy deserves it. The DAYCO belt (I just peeked under the end cover to check) only has 25,000 miles on it, but is now 9 years old. The idlers’ history is uncertain, so the worst case is that they are 22 years old with 90,000 miles on them. This is why I am getting on with the maintenance + or - urgently. And is there a good reason NOT to change the cam&crank seals while I am in there? The clutch change can wait, but if I already have it in my parts stash, I can always find the right moment.... I’m a ‘transmission-out’ clutch changer.

Epilog: I have bought the Subaru-branded Unitta belt on eBay and the SKF plain and toothed rollers and SKF tensioner pulley from Autodoc, the largest online parts supplier in Europe. AFA I can see, these SKF parts use double bearings. They could have been made anywhere, though I am certain that the SKF quality will speak for itself when I have them in my hands. Roughly 100 dollars delivered to my door is not too bad. My only local Subaru dealer wants way more than double. I can buy the Exedy clutch kit with the difference, with change enough for some genuine cam and crank seals too. Next.....

@Rampage well spotted! One could get quite obsessed with this, I think I am now! I was certain that I was not going to find a top-notch bargain kit, except now I find a true NTN/SNR kit (#KD481.00, no tensioner piston, no pump) for 104€ (about 115$) and a genuine SKF kit (#VKMA98000, no tensioner piston, no pump) for 97€ or 105$, on a major european parts supplier website. Perhaps they get a good deal on bulk purchases.. I have read all the comments about not buying anything that is not ‘made in Japan’, but I believe that nowadays the quality is pretty standard when it comes to global OE brands, like SKF/NTN et al. I bought a cheap Gates kit for the Forester and I got an EU made belt with SKF (Japan) double bearing rollers, NTN (Japan) tensioner (one-piece) and a Koyo (Korea) toothed roller. Failing that, I could buy the pulleys (NTN for the tensioner pulley, SKF for the rest) on the same website, and buy a new Genuine Subaru UNITTA (Japan) belt I am eyeballing on eBay- Total cost 90€ !! I have the pump alteady, and fingers crossed, my tensioner piston is still good! The trouble is that the Aisin kit is going to cost me a small fortune in transport and import taxes, I cannot find it anywhere except in the Americas. - I live in the Mediterranean on an island! Next up is to pull off the belt cover and see exactly what is driving my camshafts, who knows, I may get a lovely surprise and find a Mitsuboshi belt with only 25k miles on it and Japanese rollers. But judging by some of the other critical and ‘more visible’ repairs that have been done, I rather think not. Gates at the very best but most likely BluePrint or similar. Then on to Casa Subaru’ to see what four rollers will cost me there; - Likely more than the complete Aisin kit imported from the US! Enough, thanks again for everyone who has chipped-in, what a community! valuable words indeed.

In general I go for OE Subaru ‘consumibles’ when I can. If my car lasted 22 years in this condition before I got my hands on it then that says something. We had the oil separator plate leak on our ‘99 Forester, so without thinking about it I bought the Subaru Steel one. And while I was at it I bought a clutch set and flywheel from Subaru too, just in case. It was 650 euros, but was I glad I had when I saw what was inside the bell housing. I do all my maintenance, off grid, and the high OE parts costs are way offset by the labour savings. By the way, generally speaking Subaru dealer parts here on the Islands are twice the price of the US counterparts, FYI. (There is only one deslership) and there are relatively few Subarus on the Island. Now you have me thinking that my old OE Forester belt pulleys might still be salvageable...though I believe they may be a little wobbly. - I keep everything that is still shiny

Thanks @FerGloyale The price is tempting, but I never heard of GMB before. I researched and saw Germany mentioned, but as usual this is nowadays no guarantee. Well, two negative views make a positive; I shall stick with what I know, and source the NTN/KOYO/Subaru parts. Thanks again for your valuable opinions.