Wxman

Thanks for the feedback, guys. Picked up the car last night. Seems ok at the moment. Hopefully nothing adverse will show up in the next few months as a result of the misfires and major overfilling. However, at 120K it would be hard to pin on them anyway. They actually fought reimbursing me for the tow, even though they agreed it was their fault. First they said no, then they wanted to split it, I guess I was enough of a pain in their a$$ that they finally caved. However, I still don't have the check in hand so we'll see.

2005 Impreza RS - 120,000 miles - MT Last week I took my Impreza to the dealership for the 120k service. They told me I had a leaking valve cover, which I noticed the last time I did the oil myself, and I agreed that they could change it. The current tech is either careless or incompetent. While driving on Thursday the car started bucking/missing badly. I got both a flashing CEL and CRUISE light. Looked under the hood and found one of the plug wires was only resting on the plug and not snapped on. Fast forward to today...I got out at work this morning and smelled oil. I went to check on it after about 30 minutes and saw a large puddle of oil on the ground. Decided to check the oil level. It was severely overfilled (about midway between the two twists on the dipstick), but I don't know how much extra oil this is. Started looking for the leak and found that quite a bit of gasket material sticking out on the bottom of the driver side valve cover. I guessing the gasket failed due to excessive oil pressure from being overfilled. Any guesses on how much more damage may have been done (other seals, bearings/rings, etc)? I plan on going to war with the dealer tomorrow and would like some knowledgeable feedback. I'm also concerned about the exhaust sensors and cats from the misfires a couple days ago. I resumed doing oil changes a couple years ago since I was tired of this being screwed up by every type of shop. I also do some basic maintenance like filters and brakes. Maybe I should try doing everything. While I'm not a mechanic, I'm not a careless boob either. Thanks for listening to my rant and for any advice you can provide.

2005 Impreza RS with 109000 mi. Rear wheel bearing is being replaced. Does this necessitate having a wheel alignment done? There was some additional noise aside from the bearing which my mechanic said was caused by the parking brake shoes dragging. He said the hardware for the parking brake mechanism was pretty rusty. Has anyone seen this problem on a rear disc setup before. I'm guessing parking brake drum didn't get any attention when rear disc pads were replaced.

I just had the driver side seat belt replaced on my 2000 Outback (138K). The top edge was frayed where it crossed your chest and it was getting caught on zippers/buttons. At first the service manager said all warranties had expired on the car, but I showed him the warranty book from my glove box. He looked into it further and ordered the belt at no cost to me. The warranty excludes cosmetic problems like fading and problems withe anchor points (from rust I presume).

I have a 2005 Impreza RS with the 2.5. Mine suddenly overflowed coolant from the overflow bottle one day after a 30 mile highway run. I had heat and the temp gauge stayed normal. The dealer replaced the radiator cap and thermostat. They thought the HGs were fine. That was over 10K miles ago (at 92K now) and I have had no other symptoms since. Hopefully you will have similar luck.

Actually, I spoke too generally. They did suggest the tensioner and water pump at the timing belt change. They said the idlers were fine...maybe I should have pushed them on it. I did push for all the front seals though. I just meant they didn't load up the bill with a bunch of extra services that were simply money makers. I don't do as much of my own car work as I used to, though sometimes I think I should. I'm pretty much at the brakes, fluids, and filters level of mechanical ability (I've done external parts like water pumps & alternators if they were not too hard to get to). I've only really torn into a couple engines in my life and they were pre crazy emission American cars. I guess I'm more intimidated by all the extra vacuum hoses and computer controls. In any case, I still like to be car savy. I appreciate all the information you guys put on this site. It has helped me learn the somewhat unique needs/wants of a Subaru engine.

I paid $1300 at the local dealer for head gaskets on a 2000 Outback earlier this year. They pulled the engine to do the gaskets (the tech's preferred method), resealed the oil pan & separator plate, new rear main seal (all were leaking), and replaced the TB tensioner (he didn't really want to reuse it even though it was only 15K miles old). The front seals were all replaced 15K miles ago with the timing belt. While their labor rates are a bit high in my opinion ($90/hr) they seem very honest and will never do anything not listed in the owners manual unless I ask for it or it is broken.

My 2000 Outback (130K) had been flawless for most of its life (only fluids, plugs, brakes & tires), but it has dinged me lately. However, I considered some of the repairs to be normal wear. - Had the water pump, tensioner, and front seals done at 105K with the timing belt. - Both front wheel bearings went bad around 120K. Ride was getting a bit rough so I also had the struts changed at this time. The right side inner CV boot was cracked and the axle was changed too at this time. - PS rack started leaking badly around 122K, so it was replaced along with the outer tie rods. - Head gaskets went at 125k. The engine was pulled for the repair and had a complete reseal. Runs/drives like new now. Hopefully I'm done for a while!

Just got off the phone with the dealer. They provided me with three findings: - The thermostat was stuck. This was suggested to be the primary culprit why the system was not pressurizing. - The radiator cap was also having issues. - They also said that the "AC cooling fan" was disconnected. At first he made it sound like it was the radiator cooling fan (which I noticed was not running the other morning, probably due to the lack of coolant circulating). Not sure how this would have happened and they were the last shop with their hands on the engine. I didn't even realize there was another fan aside from the radiator cooling fan and the main cabin blower motor. The mechanic said I was lucky the car didn't overheat (and he saw no visual signs of an overheat condition) since the coolant was not circulating properly. He also said me running the heat on high when I drove it home may have kept the engine cooler. Since the coolant was not circulating correctly, do you think the temp gauge gave an accurate reading (or could the engine have overheated with the gauge in the "normal" range)? We'll see if this corrects things, but he was able to get the cooling system to pressurize after making these repairs and he thinks all is well. I find it odd that both the thermostat and radiator cap were having issues around the same time, but I will not argue if I can truly avoid a major HG repair. Thanks again with your feedback to this point and we'll see how it goes!

Ugh...not the news I was hoping to hear. I also have a 2000 Outback. The HGs went on this one at 125K, but it was the typical external leaking. I thought the Phase 2 2.5 generally only leaked externally (and my Impreza is supposed to be after the better gasket was used). Anyway, when I drove the car home this morning (30 miles on the highway at 65 mph though I made a few stops along the way to check on things), I made the following observations: - The car heated up normally (temp gauge in the middle of the range, just like last night) and showed no signs of overheating. - The heat worked well (though I didn't need it). - While a little of the coolant from last night had been sucked back into the radiator, the overflow bottle was still overfilled. - While warm to the touch, the system never pressurized (the upper radiator hose was soft and you could remove the radiator cap). I still hope it is simply the radiator cap, but it is not looking good. I wasn't thinking internal HG failure, so I didn't check the oil yet. Hopefully I didn't do damage if, in fact, it is the HG. Thanks and I'll let you know how things turn out.

2005 Impreza RS 86,000 miles - upon arrival at work a few minutes ago, I smelled antifreeze. My drive to work is 30 miles on the highway (about 65 MPH). Popped the hood and found the coolant overflow bottle was filled to the top and some coolant had spilled out. About 10 minutes had elapsed since I was driving by the time I checked for a leak, but the upper radiator hose was already soft. I removed the radiator cap and the radiator appeared to be full as well. Is 10 minutes too fast for the system to lose pressure after 30 minutes on the highway? I have not added any coolant to the system. I had an oil change at the local dealer about 3 days ago (had a cheapo coupon), and I don't suspect that they would have overfilled the bottle. This was my third round trip to work since the work was done, but the first day for the problem. Any ideas? I'm thinking maybe the thermostat or radiator cap, but I've never had a problem with either of those on a car of this age/mileage.

I had the rack replaced (with a rebuilt unit) on my 2000 Outback several months ago and was here with a similar (though not the same) problem description. I had frequent vibration/groan at full low speed turns (like in a parking lot). Two things I eventually discovered that you may want to check out. 1. There is a TSB for that model year with steering noises. It suggests removing a bracket from the PS hoses near the rack or possibly replacing the high pressure hose with one of new design. 2. Check your wheel alignment. I had the bracket removed which quieted things down a little, but things improved significantly when an alignment was done (it was quite a bit off, especially toe). My noise is almost completely gone, though I still hear it slightly while parking on rare occasions. Several months later the steering works fine, so I think I'll leave it alone (though I considered having the PS hose changed). My original rack did not make any noises.

Well, I just had the head gaskets done on my 2000 Outback with 127K miles on the clock. I had it done at the local dealer for $1300. He did the repair with the engine out (his preferred method) of the car and resealed the separator plate, rear main, and oil pan (all the front seals were done with the TB at 105K). Even though it was done at 105K, he suggested having the tensioner replaced again as he said he had problems with them getting noisy if they were reused. It runs great and has stopped with the funny smells. Anyhow, I have a hypothetical question for the USMB experts... The TB job on the car was around $800 with all front seals, tensioner, water pump (much of it labor as you know). I also had leaking valve cover gaskets/o rings replaced at 120K. So, I ended up paying for the tensioner and valve cover gaskets/ o rings twice and some extra labor for the valve cover gaskets the first time. Given the propensity of the 2.5 to blow head gaskets and otherwise leak, does it just make more sense to have the whole engine resealed at a TB change? Maybe this is overkill, but paying for a couple things twice over a short period of time made me wonder if this is better in the long run. Any thoughts? My '05 Impreza has 84K on the clock and I am just considering what I should do when the TB interval rolls around.

My 2005 Impreza has made a horrible noise on startup since it was new when the temp is about 10 degrees F or colder. It doesn't sound like a belt, it sounds more like hydraulic fluid starvation. I always figured the PS pump was bad or going bad. The car has 83K miles on it now and still makes the same noise when extremely cold. It is no better or worse than it was when the car was new. While it scared me to death the first few times I heard it, I've started to regard it as "normal" for my car.

If you check the "about" link it says the site is put out by Johnson Controls. I figured, perhaps mistakenly, that they made all the batteries on the "leading brands" link. Here is another link http://www.batteryfaq.org/ that has a list of who makes what. Since it seems most auto batteries are made by the same few companies, probably a battery with the longest non prorated warranty period, at the best price, is the best bet.