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Hi ho hi ho, its off to the shop the PITA goes!


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Ohh yeah! No, sorry, I had ran the coolant in it before I started having the over heating issues. I switched it to just water when it was doing the overheating thing and I was draining it out every other day trying to flush crap out of it.

Yes, lol, once I know it is running fine and I wont be draining the cooling system every 48 hours, I will run the coolant.

Errgg, yeah, its got the lube, and the antifreezing goodies in it. I will always keep it in a car when I am driving it normaly and not draining the stuff.

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Straight water will also expend alot more and begin to bubble at a lower temp.  Sometimes the combo of just water and a weak rad cap will be enough to boil over the car and give headgasket like symptoms.

 

You can't really do good cooling system diagnosis with just water in there.  It acts differently the prpoer mixed coolant.

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  • 2 weeks later...

So just a quick update on this...

So they put the new tstat in it, took it for a drive the next day.. blamo!! starts overheating again!

They gimp it back to the shop, get out the hydrocarbon tests again, and sure 'nough'... Headgaskets gone again... He is thinking the reason it didnt show up the first time is that the stop leak that the other owners put in was kinda working.


They are also going to do a clutch for me as well. The old one did not look like it had only been in for a year and a half... If it had been, they really didnt know how to drive it.


Also, the guy at the machine shop said the heads had no signs of ever being machined before, were within tolerance, but warped pretty good....


So we are thinking if they actually did have the gasket changed, they put the original designed one in, and didnt have the heads smoothed out....


 

You just cant trust anybody these days...

 

They had all the papers saying it was done... Who screwed who??? Did the old guy before me get screwed and he didnt know, put stop leak in and its somebody else's problem. Or did he have some fake papers done up making it look like a legit shop did the work and then pass it off on me....

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So a couple questions... Just checking to see if I need to have the heads retorqued after x amount of miles??

Also... We are taking a trip out to Idaho at the end of may, is that enough time if something were to go wrong from the install it would before then?

My wife drives it about 45 miles everyday, and then the trip around town every once n a while.

 

But Idaho will be about a 750 mile round trip for us. Dont want something to go wrong out in the middle of say, Starbuck, Wa... Not alot out that way...

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Probably warped cylinder head(s). They will seal for a while but eventually, they will blow again.. The Subaru head bolt torque is a 5 step process that is actually quite complicated, but not difficult.  It's in the manual but there is a good tutorial on Youtube. No retorque needed after install.

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Alright, so with a new clutch, and head gaskets, it is like a new car. I am going to give this one another final shot. If it fails me, I will never go to Subaru again.

So Matt, are you saying that even after a machine job since they were warped, that I am going to have this problem again?? Should I get rid of the car now while it has that great new clutch feel????

The shop I took it to did the torque right, Dan talked me through a process that sounded similar to open heart surgery... He assured me no need for retorque and that it should be a rock solid car for 200k+ miles.... Told him not to jinx it....

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  • 3 weeks later...

Alright, the saga continues... I am thinking of just giving the car to my friend since it likes spending soooo much time at his shop...

 

Started squeeking a bit, we both thought it was just the belt needed to be tighter, until Sunday night went to dinner at my parents house.

Pull up, my dad is standing out front... 'I thought they put a new clutch in that for ya'.... me-'they did'... 'what the hell is the squeek then??' me-'belt is just a bit loose'.... 'naww that is your throw out bearing. start it up, work the clutch pedal a couple times, it will go away when the clutch goes in I bet.' me-'ookkk'.....

Sure enough... My dad has seen his share of those with his old mazda pick up and Ford Pinto's (hell of a lot more reliable than the subaru!!) that he has owned...

So, a new clutch kit again... Bad part in the last one....

Any way to test those out before you put them in?

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Why are you putting a whole new clutch kit in? Just get a new throw out bearing, a better quality one at that.

My dad owned an old Mazda and a ford pinto for a while, subaru is definatly more reliable over all, no offense just don't give up on subaru cause of one bad apple.

 

Ummm wait a minute you said the noise went AWAY when you pressed the clutch in, that would not be a throw out bearing, when your clutch is completely engaged the throw out bearings is not moving, unless the clutch is improperly adjusted wich would wear that bearing out quickly.

Edited by mikaleda
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Alright, so it turns out not to be the throw out bearing... cut n pasted from the email he sent me...

It is coming from the shift fork wiggling on the push rod from the slave cylinder.  Most likely the pivot ball inside the bell housing for the clutch fork is worn.  A little bit of pressure on the fork (i.e. a spring) takes care of the free play and thus the noise.  Soooooo, we are going to install a return spring on the clutch fork like allot of other Subarus come with from the factory.

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Alright, so it turns out not to be the throw out bearing... cut n pasted from the email he sent me...

It is coming from the shift fork wiggling on the push rod from the slave cylinder.  Most likely the pivot ball inside the bell housing for the clutch fork is worn.  A little bit of pressure on the fork (i.e. a spring) takes care of the free play and thus the noise.  Soooooo, we are going to install a return spring on the clutch fork like allot of other Subarus come with from the factory.

The return spring is connected to the hill holder, the hill holder is connected to the clutch. Make sure your hill holder has a return spring and the hill holder cable is connected that should take car of your problem.
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Were the throwout bearing retaining clips replaced when the clutch kit was put in? They don't come with the kits, to the best of my knowledge. I had to pick up mine at the dealer. My '97 OBW had the same symptoms: loud obnoxious squeaky clutch with my foot off the clutch pedal that could be heard even at highway speeds; press the clutch pedal down a bit, and the noise goes away.

 

it was a really inexpensive part, just a wire bent to shape. Not so cheap to get to, though. I can't imagine doing a clutch job and having to dig back into it because one of those clips gave out.

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Alright, got it back, feels fine, no noise after the fix.

Mikaleda, I actually forgot all about the hill hold feature!!! It does not work on this car... Is it an easy fix? If not, I wont worry about it as both of us know how to drive a stick well enough to not need. it.

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