Alexx

So the dealership charged me $150.00 plus the cable. I think that was a fair price. The mechanic who previously replaced the clutch cable two years ago didn't do anywhere near as good a job. I am beginning to wonder if the previous repair shop just adjusted the existing cable rather than replace it because this time the clutch feels a lot easier to shift.

clutch cable.

I'm being quoted three hours to do the job. Is there a right way and wrong way to do it? Perhaps the right way takes longer? The previous (clutch-cable) replacement that I had done elsewhere only lasted two years.

So what is the little round metal thing and did you take it out?

My 81 Subaru had the clutch replaced approximately 2 years ago. I had the engine steam cleaned and immediately thereafter the clutch cable seemed to stretch or something like that. I had to push the clutch pedal all the way to the floorboard to barely be able to switch gears. What is a fair estimate of time for a repair shop to replace the clutch cable, 1 hour, 2 hours, 3 hours???? Thanks in advance.

Hi, I was contacted by a subie member who can't log in and post but can view threads. I have posted the question they wished to ask.

Wow, thanks for sharing. I'm not sure that I now feel confident doing it myself, I envision myself getting stuck at some point and not being able to go forward.

Ouch! Don't try that stuff at home with your subaru!

If someone else is going to fix what the first mechanic broke, then have it documented on the receipt they give you. Then just write a one page report to the bureau of automotive repair about what happened to you with the first mechanic, including the part about being forced to pay cash payments and then getting no receipt. That's how change happens, otherwise all we do is spend our time going to a new sandbox thinking it won't have any crap in it when we never take the time to clean up the sandbox we were just in. The key is to not have a personal confrontation with the previous mechanic, just do it the way the "educated" people who run us do it, which is with paper and the written word.

Maybe I should have been a bit clearer, you are right, I've never actually lost water while I was driving my subaru, loss of water and oil deprivation are probably the two biggest causes of engine death in general. However, I am curious what others have experienced in the area of loss of water while the engine was still running. Did they continue to operate the car anyway, for how long, what was the result?

Just curious if people might want to share their "lost water while the car was running" stories. How long before the engine was turned off and did the car's engine suffer as as result? I once accidentally left the fan motor disconnected for a week or two. Luckily the radiator was full. Here's the trippy part. It's the middle of summer, middle of the day, I'm by LAX in bumper to bumper traffic. I see the temperature gauge go past the middle point, which it never used to do because normally the fan would kick in. The light turns green and a few minutes later I get on the freeway and the temperature drops. That was probably over 12 years ago and the car seemed to survive that two weeks without the fan working. Another time, this one really bugs me. I started the car to warm it up and got distracted by a phone call, the car stayed in fast idle for um, quite a while. Probably 45 minutes to perhaps an hour and 15 minutes . When I came out, I could hear the fan running and the car fast idling and I thought I had ruined the engine because the fast idle didn't automatically slow down when the car warmed up, sheesh. That happened 12-13 years ago. Then there was the time I drove to another state and left the oil stick at the gas station where I was checking my fluids before leaving. I drove in a rainstorm for over an hour without the oil stick and the opening exposed to the rain. Actually I drove from California to Phoenix without the oil stick. When I realized what I had done I changed the oil in Phoenix before I headed back. I found my oil stick exactly where I left it two days later! That happened 7 years ago. So I think I survived those long ago faux paus as I still am on the original engine, which is now at 256,000 miles.

Gosh, I've had my 81 Subaru since 1988 and I can't recall if I have ever replaced the thermostat. I think I did once but I can't remember now. I think the temperature gauge was bumping up and down until I replaced the thermostat, or was that my country sedan wagon? Sigh, I don't remember. My other old car had the radiator hose blow up because of a faulty thermostat while I was on the freeway, I managed to get the car to the exit lane and shut down the engine when I knew for sure I could rapidly coast off the freeway and didn't need to change lanes anymore. From the time that the hose blew to the time that I turned the engine off probably no more than 10-15 seconds elapsed. The car's engine was saved but it is amazing how quickly a car's engine can be damaged if one isn't careful.

Is the diagram located on the underside of the hood detailed enough?

MY God it doesn't get any sleazier than that! You probably need to go a dealer and find out how much stuff the previous mechanic has put out of spec, get that report written on your receipt, and either report the first mechanic to the Bureau of Automotive Repair (I think every state has one) or see if you can get your money back first....and then report them to the bureau anyway. You can't get a receipt because you paid cash...

It Appears that Roo Builders has the rebuild down to a science. They put a custom fit brass fitting to eliminate the throttle shaft wobble. The key is to have a spare car so that the time it takes to rebuild your carb is tolerable.

After having worked on the car, the mechanic was driving the car to the test only station for the certificate when his eye caught a red Lexus passing on his right, the red lexus than had to cut over into his lane for some reason, the car in front of his (er mine), stopped short, and he hit the car that stopped short. Because I did not carry collision insurance, my insurance company would not cover the damage done to my car by this fellow. His insurance would not cover because he was "working". The shop allegedly had no insurance.... My insurance company did however cover the damage done to the car that he hit. So the person who got hit would be reimbursed by my insurance company, the driver had no liability at all, and I got to keep my car, damaged and unfixed. One glaring loophole in all of this was I challenged the other guys insurance company to prove that he was actually working at the time the accident happened. They actually had no proof, but just went by the guys story. I left the car with this place for a few days, how do I know that he wasn't making a 7/11 run off of company time? So it appears if one wants to weasel out of a situation with your own insurance company, just say you were working, but don't supply the statement in writing to your own insurance company! The reason I wanted the written statement was I could use that in court against the company. The biggest lesson is if you don't carry collision insurance and you let someone else drive your car, you are very vulnerable to any damage that occurs to your own car.

Actually what they were doing was a violation of California Law, I just didn't know it. They had smogged the car and were driving it to the test only facility to see if it would pass, get the certificate and present it to me for $10.00 extra, not allowed under California Law. It just amazed me that my car had 240,000 miles on it, (I bought it with something like 71,000 or 81,000 miles on it), and in two miles this mechanic did more damage to the car than I had in almost 160,000 miles of driving.

Assuming I start on the pedal side, how do I fish it through the firewall? Am I getting the cable and the housing when I order the part, and who do I order the part from?

The longer story is that the owner let the partner run the shop during the day while he was taking care of other things. When the partner crashed the car the owner, instead of simply telling the guy to be responsible, came up with all these reasons why they shouldn't be responsible. The crazy part is if they didn't have insurance, than paying to fix my car still was saving them money versus if they had had insurance and then filed a relatively low cost claim which would have raised their premium. The partner who had crashed the car commented to me "it's a good thing this didn't happen when I was driving that $60,000 dollar Merecedes earlier today, the owner was a police officer". You'd think they would have some gratitude that by crashing my car if it was fixable (which it was), it would cost 70% LESS money to fix than if he had been driving the mercedes. The best thing I did was notifiy the bureau of automotive repair and apparently this will be on their record for three years. If they hadn't paid out I think they would have been in big trouble. The biggest lesson learned is no matter how sorry someone says they are, if they don't put in writing what happened, prepare for the worst case scenario of denial by the party at fault.

Funny thing about small claims court, after the judge awarded me the settlement, I headed towards the elevator and guess who was there. The guy had been rude in court, laughing in a mocking way when the verdict was announced and even though I won it bugged just a bit, so I decided to wait until the elevator had deposited it's current "load". I won't be going back there, that's for sure.

I don't know about it being easy. I see the cable disappear into the bottom of the engine compartment.

Thanks for the info! The clutch cable problem seemed to coincide with the engine being detailed. Water definitely got into the cable housing. I can't do it myself, so I guess this is a call for my local Subaru Dealer.

You exactly hit it on the head. Probably the worst type of victimizer is the one who pretends nothing happened. Especially when they are certified by the state, you just assume they MUST carry insurance. But smog stations allegedly don't have to carry insurance. At least that's what they told me. I'll bump this from time to time just in case someone out there is being manhandled by either an insurance company or irresponsible sort. You are entitled to get your car fixed, especially if you weren't responsible for it's demise.

Yep, everything worked out great! Thanks for the lead.

Any other 81 Subaru DL Wagons out there?