kdixey Posted December 28, 2006 Share Posted December 28, 2006 Okay, I realize that I am probably partly to blame because I KNOW BETTER!!! I have been having a terrible gas small in the car when I try and start. Sometimes it starts fine then other times no go and after pumping the gas I get a VERY smelly car. I figure its the fuel pump or perhaps the choke. So since I'm getting ready to start working on my graduate thesis and am really short on time I take it to the local shop to see if I can get a fix. I go to the place that usually changes my oil (my regular shop is too busy and I'm feeling impatient). I get a call and the shop tells me they're sorry but the compression is low in 2 cylinders and I need a head gasket or valve job. Since the car has almost 200K miles on it I am not particularly surprised about the low compression (although it has has decent power). The claim that the gas is flooding the engine and that is what I am smelling ( although oddly my mileage hasn't dropped at all). I have been planning to go pick up a used engine at the pull apart and rebuild it so I am not going to bother with a valve job or a head gasket. So after $80 for the diagnosis (I feel like I got robbed) I pick up the car and it is running waaay worse than when I left it. It is chugging like an old jalopy (BTW they missed that it was very low on oil). At the very least they could have given it back to me in the same condition I left it. GRRRRRR! Saturday I am going to look at the choke and hopefully get the car running more or less normally. :mad: Kevin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subaru_dude Posted December 28, 2006 Share Posted December 28, 2006 they probably just knocked a vacuum hose loose or something. take it back and make them fix it, that's bull crap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scrap487 Posted December 28, 2006 Share Posted December 28, 2006 well the flooding issue I'm assuming is only on startup, sounds like its a hard starting car and you're probably pumping the gass to much when you try to start it and end up flooding it... which would explain why you dont get ************ty mileage while driving, because you arent pumping the gas and wasting it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gloyale Posted December 28, 2006 Share Posted December 28, 2006 I never take an old subaru anywhere unless they specialize in them cause I've seen too many mis-diagnosed Sube's. Shops always wanna do the head gaskets or put in new lifters(funny cause there not "lifters") when all you need is some oil pump seals or some new vacuum hoses. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kdixey Posted December 31, 2006 Author Share Posted December 31, 2006 Update... They forgot to re-attach a vacuum hose (thanks for the tip) so the chugging is fixed. The gassy smell ended up being a stuck mechanism on the choke. My friend and I opened it up and he unstuck it with his index finger (I feel stupid). Works fine now. I could really use the $80 now. So, I'm going to spray a bunch of carb cleaner on it and see if there is anything else they forgot to re-attach. As always, thanks for the advice. Next up a new engine to rebuild over the coming months. Anyone looking to unload a Weber out there? Kevin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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