Shady Bimmer

I was thinking something similar That is what I was wondering. It wasn't even a question about not doing this. If any work was to be done this would be first. I had actually expected this. The other parts and additional labor (however minimal) did start to add up though and I wanted to be sure if I went all out I wouldn't be making a mistake. That is what I was thinking, but I guess I'll need to get everything else taken care of first. I had seen some reports about clutches but not many. I'm not really that worried about it now but I was just curious if it could be a common problem. This is my first Subaru, but my family has three and two friends have four more. My previous car was an '85 Saab 900S with the 8V engine. I did all the work on it myself and even kept the body in pristine condition to go with mechanical condition, but a back injury is limiting my ability to do this now. My Saab had over 200K miles on it, of which 60K (mostly local/city) were put on with a failing TO bearing. In the past 10K I started to get significant clutch chatter so it was only a matter of time before it went. On saabs the worst you'd get (unless the bearing siezed!) was scoring around the shaft from vibration, but usually not enough to warrant replacement. I was curious if there are other common failures in Subaru clutches that I should be aware of. I've got a hydraulic clutch (I thought this was standard on OBWs?) so adjustment isn't possible. I do know of the service campaign for the master and on other hi-mile vehicles a reuild here always helped. It's already on my list of TODOs when the weather gets warm again. That's likely what I will do. Other than for the head-gasket failure I wanted to be sure there weren't other common problems that pop up as a result. It doesn't sound like coolant typicaly gets sucked into the cylinder, or folks at least catch this early enough before damage is done. Part of the reason I used to do my own labor. Then again, I also enjoyed the work and knew it was getting done right. Thanks for the info.

The problem is that in the US, especially in populated cities and suburbia, there are far too many drivers that always turn every single forward-facing light on that is possible, regardless of environmental and road conditions. On a two lane opposing-traffic highway with endless stream of cars in both direction? Doesn't matter. They'll have 1500watts (sometimes I wonder if that is really an exageration or not) of HID lighting poorly aimed and won't care. (You have heard of how some folks are converting their fogs to use HID ballasts and lamps since they don't like the fact that the stock lamps are a different color than their HID headlamps!) Irresponsible use is what drives such legislation.

I picked up a '98 Outback Wagon about a month and a half ago. The original owner had no service records but claimed it was serviced on schedule at his local dealer. I was able to get a good price because of the unknown state. CEL came on last week and the engine ran very poorly. This was diagnosed as misfire on cyl 3 & 4. I had planned on getting the car checked out anyway (this wasn't possible before the sale, which helped with the price as well). First, Head gasket(s) blown. I actually expected this and was ready to accept this additional cost. There appears to be no oil contamination yet. Lower-end damage is unknown but the service department doesn't expect any. Front seal leaking - I would have done with the head gaskets, along with the water pump. All four camshaft seals are leaking. Valve cover gaskets leaking (I didn't see this, but I didn't check the underside that well where the leaks would be noticible). The spark plug wires are not in great condition, despite the fact that a "major service" had been performed only two months (or so) earlier. This was the service that the seller claimed the timing belt was changed in - but I seriously question that and the service department is recommending I change it (I don't think it is worth the risk and I agree). Plugs & Wires should be replaced based on their condition (Service dept quoted almost $300 for plugs/wires - IMO Ridiculous price and I should be able to do better on my own but should I bother?) The grand total is roughly $1700 plus tax. I was figuring no more than $1500. :boohoo: The clutch doesn't feel right and the service dept. is claiming that it is an early sign of wear from TO bearing (They mentioned the transmission case and not the shaft which seemed odd to me). I don't need to do anything now but I shouldn't expect a tremendous amount of mileage from it. [*]Do I spend the $$ on the engine now and worry about the tranny when the time comes (I don't expect to put more than 8-10K mi on it each year but there will be some long trips)? [*]Do I abandon all work, accept the loss, and sell it cheap (I'm not the kind of person that would dump this on someone unsuspecting)? [*]Do I find another engine from a wreck (or something similar) and work with that? [*]Something else? [/list=1] I'm leaning towards the first option but want to make sure I'm not headed down a long path of dumping fundage into a lost cause. Can I expect another 5 years/50K miles without additional major expense? While I'm undertaking this major endeavor, is there anything else that should be done?