turin

3eyedwagon: Thank you for the only useful reply. GeneralDisorder: As 3eyedwagon affirms, a tiny problem can get amplified, and allignment is certainly not immuned to wear. The fact is that the car developed this problem after a few thousand miles, and my complaint is not that it had this problem, but that the dealer will not fix it - and lies about it. To me, this indicates that the dealer was hiding this issue from me. (Maybe I should mention that I asked the dealership how expensive an allignment would be before we bought the car, because I was worried that a symmetrical all-wheel-drive allignment would be expensive. Now I'm starting to think that the dealership purposefully set the allignment out of spec when I bought it so that it would go straight, so that I wouldn't reconsider.) I loved the way it drove when we bought it. I did research the car before I bought it, and I never found anything about pulling to the right by design. Even now, I cannot find documentation that Subaru designs their cars to do this, even though I am actively trying to find documentation that admits this, so "do your research" is BS advice, and anyway it is worthless after the purchase has been made. In fact, we spent over a year researching and deciding on which car to buy, and how to buy it. Now, I want to resolve my problem, because I don't think it is possible to go back in time and unpurchase the car. This BS happens all the time with used cars, and I understand that "buyer beware" is especially true when applied to the purchase of a used car. However, we purchased a new car. I don't suggest that buying a new car gives me the excuse to be careless, but I do think that I shouldn't have to worry that my car is chronically pulling to the right - while it's under waranty. As if you have never bought something that was misrepresented. Imagine that you just spent three months' salary on a brand new car that you test drove on the highway at 70 mph, and you thought it drove great. Then, after a few thousand miles, it started governing your speed below 55 mph "because it's safer that way". But, when you take it to the dealer, they simply tell you that they are able to drive it at 70 mph, and give it back to you without solving the problem. Then, you take it back to them again, and again, and you get the same results - no fix.

OK, so most of y'all are confirming that the car pulls to the right by design. How can I get this documented? I just think that they should disclaim this BS before they sell the car. The dealer did a tire rotation one of the times, but it didn't help. I don't know about the tire pressure; I just took for granted that they checked this, because they damn-well should. Maybe I'll take it to them one last time with pressures that I know to be off, and then check after the job to see if they even bothered with the correct pressures. Also, one of you mentioned that this has been the case since you have been driving, but that tells me nothing, since I have no idea how long that is. I have been driving for 14 years, and owned two previous cars in that time: jeep and mustang. Neither one of them had this problem (at least not that I noticed). I never got an allignment in the jeep (1981, owned for 5 years). I had a few allignments done on the mustang (at firestone), and I was never dissatisfied (2000, still own after 9 years). I thought about taking the Subi to an independent allignment shop, if nothing else to get a second opinion. I will do that and try to remember to post the results here. However, the one that I trust is in my hometown, so I don't know when this will happen. Thanks to everyone.

My wife just bought a new subie in November. It is a basic 2009 Outback Sport. We have since taken it to the dealer 4 times (all under waranty) to have the same problem fixed: the car pulls to the right. Actually, the first time we took it in, when we got it back from them we noticed that it was pulling to the left, so we took it back a second time. Then, ever since, it has pulled to the right, and every time we got it back from the dealer, the problem was simply not fixed (i.e. it pulled to the right on the ride home from the dealer). The dealer claims that they did not experience a pulling to the right. They say, "Keep your hands on the steering wheel, and hold it straight." But, when I do that, the car turns slightly to the right. If I let go of the steering wheel, the same thing happens. In order to drive straight, I must (even apply slight force in order to) hold the steering wheel slightly tilted to the left. All the dealer ever does (so far as they have claimed) is an allignment. My wife took it to a different Subaru mechanic, and that mechanic told her that the car is DESIGNED TO PULL TO THE RIGHT! How can Subaru be so stupid to design a car to do this? Is it true? How can I get this documented? If this is true, then this is completely unacceptable to me, and I will demand a refund.

There are two issues with thermal efficiency (if we're talking about thermal efficiency the way that I understand - amount of work done by the engine, divided by the input heat). One issue is the ideal-case issue. On a PV diagram, there is some closed curve that is traced by the gas. As the gas travels one complete cycle of this curve, the area inside the curve is the work, and the heat difference depends on the details of the curve. However, imagine that, simplistically, the same amount of heat is put into the gas (from the spark). Then, as the compression ratio increases, the area inside the gas curve increases, and so the thermal efficiency increases. The other issue has to do with the fact that the gasoline engine is not ideal (not only because the working fluid enters and exits the engine). So, there is heat leaving the gas when it is not supposed to, and the heat initiated by the spark is not really a constant. To minimize the heat that leaves the cylinder, minimize the area of the cylinder when the heat is added. So, higher compression ratio makes this area smaller.

for two bucks!!! If it works, that was a sweet deal!!! A general comment to all oscope users: Don't neglect the XY function. This shows the voltage of one channel on the X axis, and the voltage of the other channel on the Y axis. This is very useful if you want to see how a particular component responds to an input signal. One of the initially difficult features of an oscope for first-timers is the trigger. On newer oscopes, there is an automatic trigger setting (and it is usually the default), but on older ones (like the one in the picture above), you may be required to set the trigger manually. The trigger is a setting that tells the oscope to sweep the trace, and, if it does not detect the trigger, then it will just sit idle. For example, if you are trying to see a waveform that swings from 0 V to 5 V on Channel 1, but your trigger level is set at 10 V on Channel 1, then you will not see the waveform. Another example: if you are trying to see a waveform on Channel 1, but you are triggering on Channel 2 (that is not connected to anything), then you will not see the waveform. The trigger is not necessary in XY mode. Closely associated with the trigger (actually, a feature of the trigger) is the hold off (or delay). This is especially important for slow signals. If you trigger too often, you may not get a good look at your signal.