OBW trip report - very long

[Guest 1 Lucky Texan]

First, this may be a little boring for most folks but I thought I'd post it anyway.

 

In general, we drove the new subie from Texas to Colorado and back for the purpose of attending my oldest daughter's wedding.

 

The vehicle;

 

'03 OBW H6 3.0 AT at present it has 3567 miles total.

 

Preparations;

 

On the recommendation of this board, the break in oil was changed ealier than suggested by the manual. Oil and filter changed at 1709 miles. Mobil 1 10w-30 and Purolator PureOne #14459 filter installed by independant mechanic.

 

Cross rails removed from roof rack. (unlikely to be used ever)

 

Tires inflated to 32psi all around.(slightly higher than rec.)

 

All fluids checked, AT seems very slightly overfilled - no action taken.

 

Vehicle cleaned, polished with NuFinish, protectant applied to dash and exterior plastic/rubber components.

 

Installed small trash bag which loops around drivers inside headrest post and hangs between front seats - convenient

 

Installed thin soft side cubby/bag immediately in front of passenger's seat - behind legs. very nice xtra storage.

 

Placed very skinny cooler on floor behind driver. Holds 8-12 drinks depending on container size. Relocated on return due to xtra passenger.

 

Vehicle loaded with wedding gifts and luggage for 4.(3 adults go up - 4 come back) Driver's side rear seat back folded down. (Headrest removed and stowed on top of spare - made slight ,temp. mark on upholstery. careful with this if spare/wingnut is dirty.)

 

Trip (with weather, road,traffic conditions mentioned in general);

 

Thursday morning about 5am Zero 'trip'( odometer and go to gas station. Fill up with midgrade fuel and zero A odometer.

 

Drive straight through to Colorado Springs, stopping occasionally for gas, food, and - um - to get haircuts - yeah ,haircuts.

 

Amarillo is about halfway. Very boring drive, temp climbs to triple digits. A/C on almost all the time, auto-econo and auto later in the afternoons. Cruise control used extensively (see specifics later bout this). Usually set at 10 over posted limit.

 

Most frustrating portion of the drive is from Dumas over to about I25 because it's 2 lane and only 1 out of 15 or 20 RV drivers will move over to ease passing.

 

Lots of bug strikes - nasty!(washed fairly easily after trip - NuFinish good stuff)

 

There was some construction along the way - most time consuming through Raton pass. Generally light traffic and good conditions for entire trip.

 

Southern Co. is posted 75 - so cruise set on 85.

 

Arrived in Co Spgs after about 13 hours.

 

Some city, surface road, and a little I25 highway driving for a coupla days in CS. 2 instances of slight rain sprinkles in CS.

 

CEL came on while in CS. Seemingly un-associated with refueling as the tank was about 3/4 down. No driveability issues other than hint of misfire at idle 1 maybe 2 times.(more on this later)

 

Reconfigure car to accomodate 4th passenger. All gear stowed in back including small cooler.

 

Leave CS about 7:45am Mon. 11th.

 

Seriously severe weather in D/FW area caused me to slow down a little, backtrack once, and take a slightly different route to my house to avoid intersecting reported hail. Weather band GOOD!(along with local AM radio reports) Some heavy rain experienced, all wipers worked well. About 13.5 hour drive.

 

Numbers;

 

1657 miles driven. 69.19 gallons of midgrade fuel used.(usually 88 R+M/2) this is 23.94 mpg.

 

worst tank - 21.75

best tank - 26.0

 

I don;t have good numbers for winds or temps. Other than winds were mostly not strong and temps were mostly high.

 

Good stuff;

 

The car is a very nice 'medium cruiser'. Steering rate is perfect, visibilty/mirrors very good, high speed passing superb (many times the cruise was set on 85 for scores of miles, passing someone was easy and by the time you began moving back to the right you were at or near 100mph. Smooth too!) NO - repeat NO noticeable turbulence when passing 'big rigs'! Amazing. Temp always between about 35-45% mark.

 

Bad stuff;

 

Very noticeable wind noise, likely from mirror, on drivers side. Less noticeable/different on passenger's side?(maybe due to wiper configuration?) worst between - say 60 or so up to 70-75. Above 75 other noises (road/tire, wind,engine) tend to compete with it.

 

What is with the cruise control/AT? VERY annoying. Like a throwback to the 70s or something! Usually, after hitting resume at -say -60, the cruise would gently accelerate to within about 4 mph of the set speed THEN DOWNSHIFT!

 

AND!!!!!!

 

when it downshifted (by cruise or by 'foot') at higher speeds the engine would 'over rev' by 400-500 rpm before the AT would JERK into gear! VERY nasty at 80-85 mph. probably bad for the drive train too. I may take it in to the dealer just so I can hear them say they all do it.

 

CEL light still on after a coupla more tanks of gas (I now lean about 1/3 budy weight and turn cap a full turn when I refuel - I've had 2 gas cap CELs in the past - none since doing this extreme measure). Remembering Autozone suggested as taking ECU readings for free - I drove over and indeed the readings indicated misfires in 5 cylinders. He asked me if I wanted it cleared and I said yes. My thoughts are i may have gotten some bad gas - though it seems weird it came on after using up more than half a tank. Perhaps water settled over night and moved through? Anyway, the CEL hasn't come immediately back on and there are no discernable drivieability problems. If it comes back I'll definitely take it to the dealer.

 

I hope this is interesting to at least some of you.

 

BTW - Co.Spgs. is INFESTED with Subarus - I even saw 2 parked next to each other once (no -one of them WASN'T mine!) a lot different than Texas. I saw mostly OBs and Foresters, some Legacys, at least 2 old Imprezas and one blue STI on the freeway! - whale tail and everything! Of course no one else in the car was impressed. Didn't notice any Brats - but I probably missed a lot anyway.

 

Carl

1 Lucky Texan

[Guest 1 Lucky Texan]

A guy I work with offered the opinion that the altitude/conditions of Co Spgs being so different from Texas probably caused the missing on the next day's 'cold' start and the system recorded them and flipped the CEL. It may have even cleared itself in a few weeks if I had stayed there.

 

I do seem to recall it happened in the morning. Probably makes more sense than water in a tank after using up more than half with no problems.

 

Carl

1 Lucky Texan

[Guest Legacy777]

Yes altitude can possibly cause weirdness until the ECU learns there is less air and adjusts everything......getting the codes pulled would tell you what code it was and if it's something to be concerned about.

[Guest Suzam]

Good Story, how did the H-6 do on those hills? Did you down shift while coasting down hill on I-70?

I also have the wind noise on the drivers side if our MY01, had the door gasket replaced 2 times. Quiet for a while then comes back. I've found if I pull the lip of the gasket out and bend over the "V" by the tweeter it quiets down for a short time. Going into the shop end of this month, maybe I'll get the dealer to order a 3rd gasket to fix it again. Was told last time that the door gasket was redesigned to control the noise. Yeah right.

[Guest 1 Lucky Texan]

Actually, I did use 3rd and even 2nd a few times to save brakes, though it may not have been strictly necessary it was easier when stuck behind slower traffic in some of the construction zones. If you're wondering about uphill - no problem power-wise.

 

The H6 is great but as outlined the AT and the CC have problems with each other as well as the AT being annoying when downshifting at high speed. If I go WOT from 80-85 to pass it over revs from about 3K- 3200 up to over 5100 then the AT JERKS it back down to 4500-4700 or so where all is then smooth. happened many times.

 

I may try putting some tape over the folding joint area of the mirror to see if that is a noise source - though it may also ne that front gasket area you mentioned - kinda hard to pin down.

 

Carl

1 Lucky Texan

[Guest Setright]

Glad to hear that I am not alone in getting "excited" by the sight of another Sube!

[1 Lucky Texan]

So - has anyone else encountered the tranny or cruise control issues I outlined above?

I wonder if some different (synthetic?) AT fluid would help?

 

Carl

1 Lucky Texan

[Suzam]

I really can't compare the 2.5 we have in our MY01, but I never was happy with the shift points of the AT. It lags in gear too long sometimes and hard upshifts when I pass with WOT and also has a tendency to wait to downshift when I want it to. I find that I'll push the gas a little farther to have it kick down then back off just to adjust for the acceleration I was originally looking for. Also manually shift from D to 3rd but then I jump out of the lockup converter and 4th gear down to 3rd, which is a good bump also. I gave up on the CC when the road has any kind of grade, it won't climb the hill until it decides it needs to downshift.

[1 Lucky Texan]

Wow Sam, a very succinct description that sounds a LOT like what I encountered - just a different engine.

 

I wonder if the tranny 'algorithms' can be reflashed or something. I'm a flatlander and I'm annoyed by this, seems like all those mountain folks with Subies would be outraged at the way this thing behaves on grades. My '96 Windstar's CC was WAY ahead of the Subie's. I could even pop the paddle and accel or decel 1mph for each pop. FHI is behind the curve on this issue. But thats just annoying - the crazy downshifting/jerking at high speed is a problem. Anyone else seen this?

 

Carl

1 Lucky Texan

[calebz]

So you noticed all the soobs in CO. Its the only place I have ever been that I have seen as many soobs as there are in the NW.

 

My mother in law lives in CO (granby), she drives a 00 OBW.

This was quite an upgrade after many years in an 85 GL wagon.

 

I just moved to the Dallas area from the Seattle area.. Its really weird, in WA, there are soobs everywhere. On the way to TX, I drove through CO to see my inlaws for a couple of days. Once again, Soobs everywhere.

 

Now I live about 25-30 miles north of Dallas, and there are no soobs!

 

It would be cool to arrange some sort of TX soob get together.. that way all 4 texas subaru owners could meet:lol:

[1 Lucky Texan]

I think there was an event over at TMS right before I bought my OBW and joined the board. maybe Legacy777 said something about it? Don't recall if it was Soob specific or a SCCA thing or what.

 

I'm seeing more now that I own one (like getting a donorcycle or a ragtop - you start seeing whatever your new ride is) even saw a Baja at the grocery store, but it can't compare to CO!

 

Carl

1 Lucky Texan

[calebz]

Sad thing is, I have seen more Bajas than I have old GLs down here.

 

Aside from my neighbors 65 mustang, I think I drive the oldest car in the city..

 

Aside from steve's turbowagons in dento(30 miles away) I have only seen 2 other EA82 cars, and one EA81.. That takes some getting used to

 

Have seen a couple of OB, but only one plain legacy.. and he was here on vacation from out of state..

 

mind you, this is only in reference to McKinney, a little suburb of Dallas.. but still, with a population of 50,000, you would think there would be a few more Roos.. Oh well.. sure does make finding parts interesting.

[Lesbaru]

Do the '03s have the same oxygen sensor problems the other 2000-ish subes have? Your CEL and mis-fires sound like when our Forester's O2 sensor first started to have problems. (at around 4,000 miles)

 

As to the mountain folks coping with weird AT shifting.... um, I think most have manuals. I was amazed when I moved to the flatlands and it seemed like every car I peeked into was an automatic. My new friends couldn't understand why someone from the mountains would have a 5 speed. They figured I'd want an AT to cope with all the hills!

 

I will say that I looooooove my hill-holder. Both my 1986 GL and my 1996 Legacy have 'em. Much easier than the ol' tap-dancing on the pedals when at an uphill stoplight!

[1 Lucky Texan]

Still no CEL returning and car runs fine. I guess no one else has noticed the same AT or CC issues huh?

 

 

Carl

1 Lucky Texan

[Martinjmpr]

Colorado and Wyoming are Subaru heaven.

 

If you ever go to Boulder (where my alma mater just got voted "best party school in the country", btw! :drunk: ), and you want to get a table in a crowded restaurant, Just say very loudly "Hey, they're towing away a green Subaru" and watch half of the patrons get up and run out.

 

And yes, my Subaru is green

[Lesbaru]

So is mine.

[1 Lucky Texan]

Hauling my middle daughter's dorm room furn. up to Denton, I 'played' with the car a little more. The downshift/over-revving/jerking is noticeable but reduced at 70mph. I'd say it over revs 150-200 rpm before the tranny jerks it back down. Much less severe than at 80-85. Perhaps this why others haven't mentioned the problem - it's just not objectionable at 'sane' velocities - or my OBW has a problem others can't relate too? Please - if you have an OB H6 with AT let me know if you see the same thing when going WOT at highway speeds.

 

Carl

1 Lucky Texan