alias20035

With 90,000 miles you don't have much of a hope of getting the clutch changed as a freebie. Depending on driving conditions and drivers habits, clutches can last anywhere from 60,000 to 200,000 miles on Subaru's. Sometimes they fail a lot earlier, and sometimes they last a lot longer. I had 366,000km (228,000miles) on my 93 Legacy's original clutch when I hit a deer and totalled the car. Is your clutch judder a new problem, or has it been there from day one? Clutch judder is often caused by: 1. worn clutch disc surface 2. broken or weak springs on clutch disc 3. warped flywheel surface 4. worn clutch cover (pressure plate) 5. throwout bearing worn out or disconnected from release lever In the case of Subaru's the clutch disc material causes judder when cold. At best you might get Subaru to split the bill, but I doubt it. A TSB generally means that problems will be fixed during the warranty period, unlike a recall which applies to all vehicles regardless of warranty coverage. My 2001 Outback had the clutch changed due to judder at 54,000 km (~34,000 miles). It was changed under the second TSB (revised replacment parts) at no cost to me. Now my clutch judder has returned after only 3,000km on the new clutch. The new judder problem is less frequent, but far more severe than the old problem. I am trying to convince Subaru Canada to swap the clutch assembly again and this time replace the flywheel, rather than just resurface it. I have a hunch that the flywheel was not resurfaced properly. Some links on this issue: http://www.sidc.co.uk/faq.htm#3.5 http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread/t-381888.html http://townhall-talk.edmunds.com/WebX?14@214.OqIAbohfbKz.1@.ee9e76b/1294

Parking in a warm garage would melt the ice after a few hours, and is a trick that I used once. But parking in a heated garage in areas where road salt is used will rust the car from the inside out. Taking a warm car into the cold causes condensation in the body panels and subjects the car to freeze-thaw-freeze cycles which are very hard on the panel joints, particularly rocker panels and door bottoms. Annual rustproofing slows this rusting problem. Since the Outback is my first Subaru that has this particular problem, it must be do to its design, which is why I am looking at the space between the heat shield and the floor panel so closely. A company in New Zealand did make an undertray to protect the exhaust Y pipe from wheel spray. In 1989-1994 Legacy's, cracked Y pipes were common do to spray from the front right wheel. The updated part was a small spray deflector which prevented spray from hitting the exhaust collecter below the right head of the engine. I am looking to do something similar to block wheel spray from getting between the heat shield and floor.

I have had the wheel wells so packed with snow and ice that I could not turn the steering wheel more than a quarter turn in either direction. This problem plaques all cars, but my driveshaft tunnel is something unique to my third Subaru. I spent 10 years in Montreal (3 with my Subaru GL and 3 with my Legacy). Never had this problem there, although the driveshaft on my GL did rust apart......

I'm from Canada and we see the conditions that cause this problem about every week or so from December until March. I have already had a driveshaft replaced under warranty because a U joint failed, the dealer was unable to pinpoint the cause but having several pounds of rock hard ice rubbing on it can't be good..... On a few occasions I have had the ice problem so bad that the U joint was totally encased in ice, even ice trough the yokes. Twice now, I have had to jack up the car and use a propane torch to cut out the block of ice. I would like to eliminate this problem altogether by deflecting wheel spray away from this area. The heat shield seems to be purposly made to catch the slush from the front wheels.......

Which year/model of Subaru? Phase EJ25 SOHC engines (1999 - current Impreza/Forester, and 2000-current Legacy/Outback) often have an external coolant leak on the driver's side rear of the engine. The leak is small and only occurs when the engine is cold, once the engine is warm the leak disappears. Often the leak is only traceble by the coolant residue on the engine block. My 2001 Outback has this external leak, and in three years I have lost maybe 250ml (1 cup) of coolant. Before my warranty expires I will have the gasket changed. Coolant will evaporate out of the overflow bottle, so I don't really know how much has leaked, other than it is a very small amount. If you have the older EJ25 DOHC engine, then you most likely have a more serious blown head gasket not an external leak. For both engine types Subaru has released newer revisions of the head gaskets (something like revision 7 or 8 for DOHC and revision 3 for SOHC). From what I have heard the new head gaskets are more reliable if properly installed and the heads and engine block are not warped. Subaru may have hidden warranties on head gaskets that are not generally known about. A friend of mine had his head gasket changed at 145,000km when it developed a moderate external leak. But he did report a coolant smell in cold weather that no dealer could locate during the warranty period. Inquire at your local dealer.

Just had our first snowstorm, about 5cm (2") of wet slush. After driving a few minutes I noted that I had a rumble from under the car when compression braking (manual transmission). Upon further inspection I noted that the driveshaft tunnel was completely packed with snow and ice. During compression braking the driveshaft must be moving upwards, contacting the ice buildup and rattling the floor of the vehicle. My vehicle is a 2001 Outback wagon with 5 speed manual transmission. This problem only occurs when the temperature is around freezing (0 to -5 celsius) and only with heavy wet snow and slush. AND it ALWAYS happens in these conditions. Does anyone else have this problem? Is anyone aware of a Subaru TSB related to this issue? It seems that the Outback's exhaust heat shield which sits between the exhaust pipe and driveshaft is separated from the floor by about an inch or so. It is through this gap that the snow and ice is pushed up by the front wheels causing the problem. It looks like spacers are used to separate the exhaust shield from the floor. Are these spacers unique to the Outback, or are they also used on the Legacy models? Every other vehicle (non-Subaru) that I looked at had the heat sheild separated from the floor by at most a 1/4 inch, while the Outback is 1 inch plus. I am trying to design a shield that will attach to existing heat shield that will prevent snow and ice from getting in to the driveshaft tunnel. I may even need to shield the area around the transmission tailshaft/center differential housing. My two previous Subaru's (1985 GL DR4WD GL wagon and 1993 Legacy L AWD wagon did not have this problem.