CNY_Dave

I am guessing if you looked at a stock H6 water pump it would look like a pretty well designed assembly. The H6's have been around for a while and there are not complaints about the water-pump longevity, but not many cars hit 200K miles so we need to wait a bit for a good sample size to accrue. Probably the most fragile thing about the pump is the seal, so changing the coolant at the prescribed intervals is important. If I had to replace the timing chains and/or guides on my H6 (or if I had the cover off for any reason), if I had some miles on it (say 50K? 75k? def. at 100k) there is exactly zero chance I would not replace the water pump (with a subaru original), just because there's so much effort to get to it. The H6 has the added negative consequence of a water-pump leak putting coolant in the oil. Dave

Closest I can come is since wheel bearings turn fairly slowly, they tend to make a 'droning' sound, pinions turn 3-4x faster, so they make more of a 'whining' sound. If you do run it suspended in the air, attach a long metal piece to the trans so you can listen to it without getting under or in front of the car. Dave

I think a misfire is detected by the crank position detector (if a cyl misses that revolution takes longer than normal, something like that). If that's so, maybe it's something to do with the crank position sensor? If the CPS reads off of the front 'balancer', maybe the balancer is loose? Just guessing... Dave

'Shear' opinion relating to an impending oil/filter thread, oh, that's bloody clever! Dave

Sometimes a pair of diagonal cutters will work to crimp it tighter, if it was just under-crimped. Won't help if they picked the wrong notch to engage it in (if it's that type of clamp). You might be able to use a number of smaller hose clamps joined together to do it, if the clearance for the tightener on a big hose clamp looks sketchy. Dave

If it was just a skosh undertorqued that would be one thing. It had not been touched with a wrench, just spun in, and not even completely finger-tight. As long as they would have no problem installing a brand-new engine, after towing me back from my ruined trip and paying for a rental for a week, yeah, no big deal. Dave

Oil was clean, and it was a new crush washer (could tell by how it tightened). This was maguire in ithaca. Dave

and get boned. 1st oil change on my wifes used (from the dealer) '05 forester with 35Kmiles, we decide to have the dealer do it. About to go on a trip (300 miles) my wife says she smelled some oil burning. I figured there was njust some drippage, looked underneath a few days before, looked like no drips. Day before the trip, park it in the garage on a clean spot for awhile- oil drip. Oil drain plug was not even finger tight- I could actually tighten it further with my fingers. Dipstick still read 'full', plug tightened up normally. I figure that's worth a free oil change- if I decide I can trust them again. Dave

I know that the buckle for the center belt won't buckle to any of the other belts, and my center shoulder belt pulls out of the roof just fine. Dave

Ka-bang out the tail-pipe, or ka-thump out the intake? Dave

Oh, and the incredibly 'silly' stuff to check/invesigate: It could be a wheel that doesn't seat right (lots of corrosion build up), although this would probably be noticed. It could be the exhaust tapping under the car somewhere, but only when the engine moves a bit because it is putting out a fair bit of torque. The engine probably moves a small bit differently when turning, so it's feasible the noise would only be there while going straight. Dave

Tie-rods, ball-joints, and wheel bearings can be completely checked and ruled out by a decent mechanic. I can see clunks coming from the mounts, but a clicking seems less likely. How much to the side do you have to steer to make it stop- a tiny bit off center, or more of a real turn? When you feel it in the steering wheel, does it want to knock the wheel back and forth a tiny bit, or it's non-directional? You may need to have someone stand on the left (and then the right) side of the car and listen while you accellerate. Dave

Dave

Actually, the problem was the dog cornering the g-hog under the car. Dog was going nuts around my car, had no idea why, got him in the house and pulled the hood- big fat groundhog tucked behind the air cleaner, right up under the windshield. Groundhog wouldn't vacate my engine compartment until I poked him a few times with a garden trowel. Dave

Could be many things. Is it a single click, or a repeating click? Does it ever click under braking? Does the click go away if accelerating with the wheels turned? Any clicking in reverse? Does it click if you put in the FWD fuse in the fusebox under the hood? Dave

I thought in http://ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=99382&highlight=caliper we pretty much figured out that it kept the caliper from wandering? Dave

I should have said "the blue saw :Flame:", heh. Dave

If you plan on putting in new axles, you could hit 2 (or 3 or 4) of them with the 'blue wrench'. Dave

Excellent- thanks. So there's a LSD in the 5spd trans, just like in the rear axle (if LSD equipped). So you could (if the mechanical bits permit) remove the viscous coupling and you'd still have drive to the front and rear, as long as no wheels slipped. It'd be like old-timey 'full time 4wd', that is, two wheel drive. Dave

From that: "Continuous All-Wheel Drive In Subaru models equipped with a five-speed manual transmission, a viscous-coupling locking center differential built into the transmission case distributes engine power 50:50 front-to-rear. Slippage at the front or rear wheels causes more power to transfer to the opposite set of wheels. The viscous coupling contains a series of opposing discs attached to the front and rear drive shafts, surrounded in a type of silicone fluid. Slippage at the front or rear wheels causes a rotational difference between the front and rear discs in the viscous unit, which in turn shears the fluid.The shearing action heats the fluid, causing it to thicken. As the fluid thickens, power transfers from the plates rotating faster (the slipping wheels) to those rotating more slowly (the wheels with the best traction). When the slippage ceases, all the discs turn at the same speed, restoring the 50:50 power split." I would take "viscous-coupling locking center differential" to mean there is a differential that can be locked by the viscous assembly, not that the viscous assem is the only front/rear connection. Dave

OK, I don't have a 5 speed, but I wonder about this. Have not seen a clear answer. Does the 5spd AWD mechanism have a front/rear differential that is bridged by the silicone fluid viscous coupler, or is there just a front 'driveshaft' coupled to the rear driveshaft by the viscous coupler? It's the 2nd thing, right? And only the uber-fancy VDC automatics have the front/rear differential, yes? Dave

Essentially, every time a block on the tone ring goes past the sensor, it generates a pulse. If the tone ring is damaged, and the pulse is too small or is not there, the ABS computer thinks that wheel has locked up. Not for a subaru, but relevant: http://www.brakeandfrontend.com/Article/38809/Replacing_.aspx "A difference of only a few thousandths of an inch in the height of the teeth on the tone ring can affect the WSS signal." "Magnetic sensors can also pickup metallic wear debris from the rotors and pads, causing the sensors to read erratically and confuse the anti-lock brake system. Cleaning the sensors and resetting the air gap can often restore normal operation. But if the tone ring is corroded or damaged, it must be replaced." "In the case of the Chevy/GMC recalls, road salt was apparently working its way into the hub assembly at the sensor hole and attacking the tone ring. In many instances, the problem was not bad enough to set a fault code and turn on the ABS warning light. But it was bad enough to generate misleading wheel speed readings and trick the ABS system into kicking in and pulsing the brakes when ABS was not needed. The problem typically occurs at speeds under 10 mph, and greater than 4 mph." Dave

Didn't someone just link to an article on a tone ring that looked good but had been repaired, or some such, and it was causing the ABS to go on? They looked at the signal with an oscilloscope. Dave

That damn outer tie-rod end cotter pin cost me 30-40 minutes and 2 broken punches when I did my wheel bearing! I did the same thing- just removed the nut after removing as much pin as possible. I blame subaru for having a wide lead-in to the hole that then narrows down. I thought I'd have to take it off and put it in the drill press, but I had an extra set of hands to hold it while I teased it out with a punch (eventually). Dave

Yeah, you don't really need to remove much to do an inner. That tool goes around a tie-rod end (outer) or ball joint (non-pinch type, or on subies the control arm end bolt of the ball joint) and pushes the tapered end free without munging the boot with a pickle-fork. Dave