bart2546

Just an update for you all, got the car fixed for free so I now have no beef with the mechanic. I contacted him on my first break at work and what had happened was, or so he says, there was a faulty CV joint on one of the shafts that he installed. It was faulty from the parts store. He had it replaced for free from them and didn't charge me anything, so I guess there is some good left in some mechanics, but by no means am I still not leary about the mechanic...just because...SO I guess aside from a few days out of a car and some frustration and worrying about the worst situation, it all turned out allright. Thanks for all your input guys, and I'll talk to you soon. Regards, Brandon Bartolomucci

That's the strange part, this guy has been in business for quite a few years now, has quite the following, and I've always taken my previous vehicles to him before, yea sometimes his prices go up like that but the workmanship has never failed, ever. I had them do a tranny and clutch in my old escort, I even had him work on an 85 Jaguar XJ6. My parents always took their vehicles to him, never had a problem. I don't know if this was an honest mistake or what, but that will be determined when I talk to him later this morning about it, if he backs up his work, then I will feel it's a genuwine msitake, which can happen to anyone, but if he tries to blame it on me or another part of the car, I know he's just a ripoff. I appreciate all the replies and opinions, helps me to think about it a little more. P.S... if all the parts are put back together, how in the world CAN the half shaft pop out of place? I just didn't think there was that much room for it to go, but it sounds like a deffinite answer to what may have happened. Regards, Brandon Bartolomucci

I do have a copy of the invoice, but that's the weird part, none of the parts themselves have the year for the part but they do have the serial number for the part used, the top of the invoice does state "1995 Subaru" however when he made his statement about it being a 1994, it was all in words. I haven't found out whats going on yet as I had mentioned before because this all just happened Friday/Friday evening and he won't be back in until tomorrow (Monday) so I need to call him. One other thing that I have on my side is the fact that before you're supposed to allow any work done you're of course supposed to sign a release waiver, he never has had me do that on any car, including this contract and I have a copy that was unsigned and of course so does he, I also paid with credit card so if worst comes to worst, i can call my credit company and have them withdraw the payment until this is settled. Thanks for all the info guys and I will keep you updated. Regards Brandon Bartolomucci

Hello all, I thought I'd just write a little note here to let you know a horror story, or at least what I consider to be one, about my own local mechanic. I'm sure a lot of you remember reading my couple of posts about my CV joints clunking and so forth, Ok well I figure lets take this sucker in for preventative maintenence and get the whole half shaft changed. I take it to my local mechanic, who states "oh yea that's about an hour per half shaft job, plus parts, about 200 to 250 to do this." I figure ok sounds good, I can deal. He said he'd have it done in a day. End of the day he calls me and leaves me a message saying he'll need it one more day because he's having problems getting the drivers side out of the spindle. I figure ok, this kinda stuff happens. I got to pick it up after work the next day, and here's his story: " well we couldn't get the half shaft out of the spindle so I took it off the car and put it on the press, the press wouldn't pop it out so I had to take a torch and heat the spindle to cherry red and it popped it ou, however that fried the wheel bearings so I had to replace those and that's the only way the half shaft would come out so thats about it" total bill after adding two more hours of labor : 416 dollars. Needless to say I was a little upset but hey, the noise stopped so I figured whatever. Picked her up at around 5 pm, at around 10 PM I went to go to the next local town to pick up a late night snack at Wendy's and as I'm turning off the highway, I hear a large clunk, a high pitched grinding sound and oh yay my car refuses to move. It just revs into oblivion just as if you were giving it gas in neutral. No movement when in any gear, including reverse, no nothing. Now, I am at this point speechless but PO'd beyond all belief. Luckily I have AAA plus and had it towed to his garage, but this looser doens't work weekends so I have to wait until monday for a report. Of course when I talk to him I will expect NOT to have to pay for anything or this will by all means end up involving a lawyer because he screwed it up. My car run completely fine when I went into the shop and now it won't work after he doubled my bill and had it for 2 days in his garage. I'll keep you all updated as the story progresses and if any of you have any opinions of what might have happened, feel free to reply. ..... P.S. this is the mechanic who stated to me about this car when I picked it up: "oh you know this isn't a 95, if you look at the sticker on the door it says manufactored in Sept. 94." Now the last time I checked car manufactorers make their cars in the fall of the prev. year and market them as a next year car. E.G. it was made in 94 but it is a 95 model. He stated that he had ordered the 95 but they weren't "correct" so he called "some people" and he was told a 94 is different and he got 94 half shafts sent to him instead and I feel that these had to have been the wrong ones. If i'm wrong please someone let me know if he or I am right. Sorry about the long post but I feel I had to vent. Regards, Brandon Bartolomucci

Hello, I am actually dealing with the same thing right now, well soon at least. I am in southwestern Pennsylvania, about 40 miles south of pittsburgh. I took my 95 Impreza L to the dealship to get a quote, I talked directly to the service dept. manager and he looked it right up on the computer for me. He stated that for just the timing belt, I would be charged around 280 dollars for the whole job, and if I wanted to get the timing belt and the water pump replaced, it would cost be between 400 and 500 dollars in total. He also mentioned that it would be done in one days time. The sad part is, the dealship quoted me these prices which are about 200 dollars less than what my personal mechanice (whom I have discovered is a complete rip-off) quoted me, so luckily in my case, the dealship works to my benefit. Hope this helps. Regards, Brandon Bartolomucci

Problem solved everyone! Turns out I did NOT have enough grease packed in the new CV boots...I just redid both of the passengers side by adding a whole heck of a lot more grease, completely silent. I thank everyone for their support and help so far. I won't be stranger to the site that's for sure. I also wanted to give everyone my link on cardomain so you can see how my car looks and tell me what you think if you feel like it. Thanks a bunch and see everyone soon. ! http://www.cardomain.com/ride/446451 Regards, Brandon Bartolomucci

I have had my subaru for about 1 year now, and i have shoved 16,000 miles on it already. Aside from regular oil changes, 1 brake change, and then the CV boots, there has been nothing wrong with it. Mind you, my car had been stolen from the lady I bought it from, they beat it and ran out of gas and abandoned it somewhere, and it was recovered and returned to her. Then I bought it from her. Again, aside from regular maintenence, Subaru is what I would consider that somewhat of a Car Manufacturing God. Brandon 95 Impreza L. 1.8 Liter

Sorry, I forgot to mention that, I checked all the joints and bushings, no play in ANYTHING, that's what has me confused, I mean I grabbed ahold of the axel and tried to move it in any direction, it doesn't budge, and the wheel has no play when I try move it around, and I used a pry bar with the car an inch or 2 off the ground and there's still no play...I'm just lost on it now. I mean there's no change in driving ability, and no slipping when I stop or accelerate... just confused. Brandon

Hello all, this is only my second post. I have tried searching the site a bit for axel help but I just can't seem to find anything that describes my problem, or at least I didn't think that anything did so....here we go. I have a '95 Subaru Impreza L. I have replaced (and fully packed with grease) all of the CV/axel boots, I've done brakes the whole way around the car. Now I'm down to only 2 problems here: Is there any way to get the rack and pinion boots off without disconnecting the tierods to slide them off? Preferably is there any kind of a quickboot to replace them like I used for the CV boots, those split ones you hold together witht he small screws and such... Secondly, there is a high pitched, if you will, clicking/chatter that comes from what seems like the passenger side front of the car. If you make a fist and hit your knuckles off of a wooden table, that's exactly how this sounds (sorry that's the best way I could think of to describe it) anyway, it does it really bad when its cold and the car's been sitting for a few hours in it. It won't do it going through first, it starts when I shift it to second, worse when I hit it into third, less in fourth, and none back into fifth. I won't do it until after 2,500 RPMS and the sound stops generally at 56 MPH or higher. It makes the sound REALLY bad when making a right hand turn, no sound at all with a left hand turn. My friend who's obsessed with Honda's says it sounds like an axel to him, I'm thinking axel or CV joint. I wanted to ask the pro's here. I'd like to find out and fix it myself before having to take it to some shop and pay far out the butt for it. I appreciate any of your help in advance and please let me know any of your opinions. Thank you. Regards, Brandon '95 Impreza L, FWD

Thanks for the reply Ed. I'm guessing that's what it is also, oh well, I guess i"ll just live with the noise until the axel breaks because as everyone else on here states, if it isn't broke, don't fix it and the car still drives and rides alright enough for me. Thanks for replying though it gives me a little more solid guide to what is actually wrong. ~bart

Hello everyone. I'm brand new to the forums here but I found these by searching for an answer to my problem here. I have a 95 Impreza L 1.8L. I've been driving the car since January. I got the car with 99,000 miles on it. The lady I bought it from had it serviced NO WHERE ELSE except the Subaru dealership. I have put 15,000 miles on it since january. Here comes the main problems: The first is when the car is cold and I start to drive it, there is a slight grind when I shift from 1st to 2nd. Never when I downshift, and never after it's warm. Any suggestions? It has been this way since I have had it, and the woman I bought it from said it's always been like that for her also. Next problem, when I'm driving, and generally when I'm shifting from 2nd to 3rd, and sometimes 3rd to 4th, I get a *thwapping* sound comming from what sounds like the front of the car. To get an idea of what it sounds like, smack your hand lightly off of a wooden table, and that's the sound exactly. I have had all the ball joints and whatnot inspected, all good and solid with no play, I have replaced the CV boots. I installed all new brakes the whole way around. The sound originally would only do it when it was cold. Then here and there. And now it's constant. I can generally go to about 55-65 MPH and when I hit 66 or above, I'll hear a louder *thwap* sound and then sometimes it will go away and then others it will make the car vibrate. One of my friends feels it may be the axles, and in that case I'll be generally annoyed. I'm an avid lover of the Subie and would love to keep mine on the road longer before I buy a new one. Thank you so much in advance for any help you might provide me, and sorry about the long post, just wanting to get it fixed. Regards, Brandon Bartolomucci '95 Impreza L