SevenSisters

Originally posted by urabus1995 The full name of the compound is Di sodium Ethylene Diamine Tetra Acetic Acid. Harmless Chemical. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- That sure sounds harmless to me I know what you mean. Someone told me to add DHMO (dihydrogen Monoxide) to my battery, but I quit doing it after visiting this website: http://www.dhmo.org/

Are you saying that you find the radiator 1.5" low, refill it and find it low again? It does'nt do this at sea level only mile high? What's happening in your coolant overflow tank? Level goes up when hot? Goes down when cool? Any oil or bubbles? You may be blowing hot coolant into the overflow tank and not sucking it back into the radiator when it cools.

Sears markets northern and southern batteries. I assumed that the northern batteries were "better". Based on the "heat kills" comments (and I agree) does anyone know the difference between the Sears batteries????

The OE battery in my Legacy lasted through 10 winters and over 100K miles of daily start ups. I credit a lot of the life span to the fact that the Legacy headlights go off with the key. I don't remember it ever being totaly discharged. I was going to write the manufacturer, but I though it might go to their head. I'm not sure why a lot of the automotive experts say to replace a battery every three years....wait a minute, they sell a lot of batteries that way.

As I understand things, each coil fires two cylinders. If a "coil" was bad, I would think you'd have a problem with two cylinders not firing. This would make me suspect the plugs or wires. When you swapped wires, did the problem stay with cylinder 1 or change to another? You may want to go out tonight when it's dark with a spray mister and see if there is any leakage from a cracked coil pack or bad wire. Just a thought.

The rubber bladder keeps moist air from replacing brake fluid in the master cylinder as the pads wear or it leaks out someplace else. If the bladder is extended, you propably also need to top off your fluid.

Just trying to head off a future problem.

I was taught that brakes are a lot cheaper to replace than a transmission although I admit using the engine as a brake on long down hills. I can't remember for sure, but I assume I down shifted to 3 at highway speeds with no ill effect. If you've been doing this since routinely since 1990, I have new respect for the 4EAT. Like intriguing says don't downshift at high rpms. Someone more knowledgeable than I can correct me, but you may also have some half shaft wear that shows up when you reverse the force on the driven components.

Out of curiosity, what brand of alternator was it? New or rebuilt and where did you have it installed?

I use Bon Ami cleanser that is NON abrasive. Even a mild abrasive may cause problems. Ditto's on the Rain-X or the new Castrol stuff.

See what your insurance agent says. They might want their policy holders to actually be able to see out of the windshield. One note, I've heard that replacement windshields are even softer glass than the originals (unless you get OEM) and pit even faster.

Did you lock up any of the wheels? As I understand it, ABS will only activate if it detects a difference in wheel rotation. With the weight and momentum of a trailer, you may have not reached the point of lock up.

Good observation and post. If one has water in thier gas tank, either from a bad tankful or normal condensation, what's the best (easiest) way to get rid of it and prevent it in the future? Thanks

"The dealer charging way too much for 'routine maintenance', often that isn't on the maintenance schedule that comes with the car." If you walk into a dealer, you better have your checkbook handy.He probably has a boat payment due. Look at the recent posts on trailer hitches. The friendly Subaru dealer wants twice as much as anyone else. Then you got to figure, the other guy isn't doing you any favors and is probably doubling his money at least. Ya, I know there's overhead and labor, etc, but enough is enough. Thank God for everyone here on this board that're willing to help out and teach you how to perform your own maintenance and repairs. Not only are you going to save money, but you'll probably do it right the first time. Can you tell I'm not a big car dealer fan?

On my '91 there is an LED under the passenger seat that will provide a code without hooking up any wires or connectors. It's covered by a little flap of carpet as I remember. I'm not sure how new Subarus are, but if it's there, I'll dig out my manual and provide the diagnostics.

Hard little suckers to fill with coolant. I've used a Mighty Mite hand vacuum pump to to suck out trapped air from the radiator bleed vent with the radiator cap on because I had the same problem.

Run a search for Hub Tamer and End Wrench. The Subara bulletin kind of says and shows all about replacing the bearing on the vehicle.

See if this attachment is readable. It lists the sizes of the Hub Tamer adapters. You would think the Chinese would make theirs the same but you may want to measure if you have a Harbor Freight in town or e-mail them and ask. God I wish I had a lathe.

Try spraying silicone on all the rubber bushings, rubber pads, anything that moves. Bounce the car and spray some more. You may even want to jack the body up a little to unload the suspension and spray some more. Assuming you don't have a broken suspension component, this should help. Also, tighten up the jack in the left hand side of the trunk and all the other stuff that accumulates in the spare tire well. Hope you can track it down.

I could have bought that instead of the HubTamer and had a lot of beer money left over.

Not to dissuade you from an alignment, but my ’91 never been aligned and exhibits no irregular or fast tire wear. Ask the service manager to look at your tires and tell you if and why you need an alignment. Lothar34 suggested a rotation which should be performed every 5-6K miles and may be more important IF you are not having a tire wear problem. By the way, replace the brake fluid. It will save you problems with component corrosion in the long run. Air filters and plugs are probably 30K items too.

OK, I take it back. You may see a force machine at the neighborhood tire store. It should help solve a lot of ride complaints.

I haven't seen what you are refering to. Typical tire balancing machines (spin balancers) simply rotate the tire on an instrumented shaft. Load cells determine the location and amount of imbalance. This is most commonly performed in two planes. The older static machines just balanced the tire in one plane like you would balance a lawn mower blade. There are tire uniformity machines that are much more sophisticated and can determine tire conicity as well as lateral and radial force variations. You won't see these at your neighborhood tire store. They do use a rotating drum to load the tire during the test.

Here’s a rough DIY price. You probably don’t need a water pump or engine seals yet: Belts $20 Timing belt $60 Oil $10 Oil filter $6 Coolant $7 Air filter $8 Fuel filter $20 Spark plugs $16 Brake fluid $2 ½ trans fluid change $8 Total: $158 Dealers may charge slightly more for parts or to perform this service.

http://counterman.com http://brakeandfrontend.com http://import-car.com http://underhoodservice.com I hope I entered these right.