davis

Hey Guys, Thanks very much for responding. grossgary: Very hot air blowing out with the heater on. The head gaskets and tstat were both done at a Subaru dealer, so I am guessing they are official. The last mechanic to do the work was not a Subaru dealer, they just claim to know how to work on Subaru's. Thanks for the great advice. gratefuldude: Yeah, the fans are on full blast. At least they sound like they are coming on normally. I appreciate your responses and your time. Thanks very much!

Hello everyone. I am having a very tricky issue. Most of the time, my Legacy's temperature gauge reads dead center. Lately, though it has had intermittent overheating issues. If I drive it for a long time at freeway speeds and then hit stop-and-go traffic, I experience it. The other day I drove it 40 miles on the freeway to work no problem. I didn't drive it again until the evening, when I drove it the 40 miles home, about 82 deg. outside. I was running the AC. No problem on the way home either. It sat for about 20 minutes and then back in the car in stop-and-go traffic, freeway, and stop-and-go again. Then it began to overheat and actually went all the way into the red and the coolant overflowed onto the ground. Pulled over immediately, turned it off. Started it up again after a short period and ran the heater and the temperature was fine. I took it into the shop and they kept it for a week and couldn't make it overheat. I got it back and went through almost the exact same scenario that same day and it overheated again. Here are some details on the car: 2001 Subaru Legacy GT 174k miles Head gasket replaced at ~90k miles Thermostat is only around a year old. Can't remember if the water pump has been replaced or not. If it has, it was a long time ago. I talked with some people about it and they were wondering if maybe the air conditioner compressor is attached to the same belt as the water pump and if the water pump was not working optimally, if having the air conditioner on when running it hard could cause the issue. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

This is super helpful. Thanks very much.

This is the scenario. Just the occasional rev without an increase in road speed. I first noticed it after a shift while going up a hill. I figured the clutch probably had one foot in the grave. I have been the only owner of the car, so I am happy to hear that the clutch has lasted a relatively long time. They said that the computer gave a fault code of P1507 and Subaru recently had some bulletin (but not a recall) to replace ECU's giving this fault code. Thanks very much for the help.

2001 Legacy GT: 130,000 miles. The dealer said I need a new clutch. I thought something may be wrong when it seemed under powered and sometimes revs really high for no reason.

Can anyone recommend a good mechanic in the Seattle area?

I just took my car into a dealer. I suspected that my clutch was slipping, and they say I need a new clutch. They also say that I need a new ECU. Does this make sense to anyone? It is a manual transmission.

I guess my real question is: how many miles can shocks be expected to go? Would new shocks be expected after at 130,000 miles?

I have a 2001 Legacy GT. I originally came with the "sport suspension", and now has 130,000 miles on it. Lately, I have noticed that the ride has been bumpier than normal. Is it time for new shocks/struts? If so, can anyone make any recommendations for what I should get that would be similar to the original suspension? Thanks!

I posted a message earlier about this. I have a '01 Legacy GT. After getting the timing belt and head gaskets replaced and back from the dealer, the steering is making a whining sound and sometimes shudders when turning (way before the stops). I just talked with the dealer and they said that they think it is probably the Power Steering Fluid Pump. Does this sound reasonable to anyone? If so, how much am I looking at to have them replace it? Any chance any of this is caused by the work they just did? It seems weird that the steering didn't behave like this before. Thanks!

I could clean it myself, but I am concerned that they didn't flush the system in the first place. There could still be oil residue in there. This is something I need to talk with them about to make sure, but I didn't see it on the receipt. My question was regarding whether or not it is considered common practice to do a coolant system flush after a head gasket replacement. I have checked the tightness, but really don't know what I am looking for. I can twist the belt a little less than a quarter turn. I can pull it off the pulley maybe a 1/4" or so. I can feel the shudder both in the steering wheel and the car. The car is a manual. The shudder is occurring way before the stop points. I will do this as well. Thanks.

I just had the timing belt replaced, after which the dealer said that they detected a whine in the power steering which wasn’t there before and to keep an eye on it. The whine can be very loud, especially when making a sharp turn. Also, when turning sharp there is sometimes a shudder in the steering at slow speeds. During this maintenance, they replaced the head gaskets (warrantee work). Any chance they retightened the serpentine too much and this is causing the steering whine and shudder? Any other suggestions? Also, my coolant reservoir is filthy. There is a lot of build up and gunk on the reservoir walls. Shouldn’t they do a complete coolant system flush (including the reservoir) after a head gasket replacement? Thanks!

Cool, thanks guys. At least I am armed with some information to go on when I go back in the dealer tomorrow.

I took my car into a dealer yesterday because the check engine light came on after a hiccup in acceleration while merging onto the freeway. The dealership told me that the oxygen sensor was malfunctioning and needed to be replaced, which I gave them the okay to do. They called later and said that the threads had been stripped and that they may have to replace the whole catalytic converter for $1000. Needless to say, I thought this was a little fishy and having a hard time figuring out how I should have to pay such an exorbitant amount for what sounds like a mechanics mistake. Has anyone else had a problem with stripping the threads on the catalytic converter when replacing an oxygen sensor? If so, is there anyway to get around replacing the whole catalytic converter? Is this a common problem or does this sound like a mechanics mistake?