Nug

It's in Coventry, CT. http://www.reddit.com/r/subaru/comments/2qq5ru/subaru_360_food_truck/ http://www.reddit.com/r/Justrolledintotheshop/comments/2qnkjo/this_food_truck_was_at_the_mechanic_across_the/

I'm trying to get the location of the thing now.

Everything works fine now. I spaced out and forgot to put the magnet back into the transmission pan. I looked at it, and then at my hand, which was pouring atf into a funnel. I just kept pouring.

I need this out of my hair, the sooner the better. The wire is broken going into the solenoid's windings. Nothing left to solder to. The torque converter's snout was very securely jammed into the crankshaft. Like welded tight. Yeah, there would have been no reason for me to pull the converter, except for the fact that the two had become one. It was like I had left a bolt in it (which I had not). I don't know why that was, either. Nothing in the crankshaft to snag on; maybe the converter was dropped square on its snout and mushroomed? Remember, neither the engine or trans are original, and they were replaced at different times, AND I don't know the details why, other than some sort of failure for each. It was probably simple stuff that any tech with half a brain could have figured out, but that's just conjecture. Like I said, no continuity through the connector. Solenoid was dead. I fished the pump shaft out of the case. Installed a new seal in the front of the trans (the converter scraped against it on the way out and roughed it up a bit). Installed a new wire clip inside the pump shaft, and clipped it onto the torque converter. Installed a new slash-cut teflon seal ring to the rear end of the pump shaft (while it was out, you know). Lubed with vaseline. Slid the input shaft in, with a new o-ring on the end. Installed converter/pump shaft combo, gave it a twist, click click click click, done. Converter protrusion from edge of bellhousing within spec (right in the middle of spec, actually). It's installed correctly. Picked up new solenoid from Subaru. $14X.xx Whatever. Installing it tonight after making sure the transmission pan dimensions are correct. Alignment in the morning, then calling her and telling her to come get it. Also, bring me $2500 (est.). Seriously. My credit card has about $1000 worth of Subaru paraphernalia on it, despite the fact that I haven't owned one in seven years.

Stafford is like a foreign country. It's around 100 miles away. And while I LOVE Chesterfield auto (it's where I got the EJ22 for my VW beetle project a few years back), it's rare for a newer Subaru to show up. I waited for months.

Once the engine is started, the cam sensor can be unplugged and it will continue to run. The ecu needs to compare the time between the two signals before it can initiate fuel injection and ignition. Pretty sure.

They have two for a very fundamental reason. The crank sensor tells the ecu when to fire the plugs, what the rpm is, etc. But the engine needs two rotations to complete a single power stroke. For example, if the #1 piston is compressing its fuel air mix, the plug should fire when the piston reaches the end of its stroke. But it's confused, so instead, the plug is told to fire at the top of the exhaust stroke. It needs a method of deciphering which stroke is correct. The cams turn at half speed, so if the ecu knows to look for a cam pulse at a certain time in relation to a crank pulse, it knows where it's at. Wow, that was a convoluted, terrible answer. Sorry.

It takes four minutes to remove the radiator.

I talked to the same guy twice now. He remembers me from ordering something that had never been ordered before. Late model Subaru in a junkyard in eastern VA? No. I called some places. They laughed (or wanted to sell me the whole thing for $650.) I'm 80 miles away. They don't give a rat's rump roast. They don't have any reason to be flexible.

I said "I can get it online cheaper." He didn't bite. $136. He did offer to attach it to another overnight order, if there was one, so I didn't have to wait till friday. Not holding my breath.

Subarugenuineparts.com or something like that out of WA. I expected a few more days for shipping, but it was over a week before I got notification that they had been shipped at all.

The connector is part of the solenoid. Goodbye $100!

Yes. I couldn't decide between Cometic, updated 2.5, or STI. Eventually went with the latest update.

Yeah, seriously. Hmm, was not aware of this being a frequent issue. I didn't want to drop the y-pipe because I was sure all the bolts would have broken. I will certainly check the pan for interference issues. I'm positive I didn't make it worse, but who knows. I'll be banging that existing dent out, to be sure. I live at least an hour from any dealer, and they close before I get there during the week. Hopefully they have it in stock, but I'm not holding my breath.

It already had a (seemingly) minor dent in it. I had put a floor jack on it, but used a piece of 3/4" shelving board between the jack and pan; a piece larger than the pan. That dent did not appear to be in the same place as the Duty Solenoid A. However, it looks like the pan had been off before, someone was a bit overzealous with the use of RTV to seal it. Luckily none escaped and went for a ride inside the trans. So yeah, I didn't crease it any further, to my knowledge. I'll be sure to reinspect before installing it. It's just a mystery why it's happening now.

My sister has an '01 Forester. She's had a lot of problems with it. I'm not sure of the reasons, but both the engine and transmission have been replaced in the past, with used ones. No idea if she had actual failures, but who knows. The head gaskets started leaking externally. She noticed the coolant level in the reservoir kept dropping. She took it in, the shop confirmed head gasket leaks, and her steering rack was leaking out of one of the boots on the end. Gave her a quote for $4500. Ouch. I volunteered. Pulled the engine, but not without drama. The converter was hopelessly seized to the engine; in particular , the nub on the end of the converter was absolutely stuck in the end of the crank. Lots of prying finally freed it. Then I lost a week to Hurricane Irene. Rack got replaced, no big deal. Needs an alignment at this point. Ordered genuine parts off the internet. They take almost two weeks to arrive. Started to put engine together. Less than 0.001 warpage in heads, decide to not get them milled. Then I noticed that all of the exhaust guides started moving; in some cases so much the guide seals didn't have a guide to attach to. Heads go to machine shop. Machine shop is backed up a week due to hurricane. Get heads back, install on engine. Everything looking good. Attempt to reinstall torque converter, No Go. Clip that holds oil pump shaft to converter hopelessly mangled; replacement ordered. Wait another week. Receive clip, reinstall torque converter. Install engine, add fluids, fire it up, it runs great. Cooling system burps itself, no smoke or wierd noises, no leaks. But the AT Temp light is flashing; the transmission is in limp mode. Retrieve code: Duty solenoid A, the one that controls line pressure. Diagnostic tool for my laptop confirms it. Find FSM online, download transmission section. Do a bunch of wire chasing, no continuity through solenoid. Remove transmission pan. Remove solenoid. The electrical connector on the solenoid is cracked, giving intermittent connection. Strange that it shows up now. I'll have to wait until the morning to see if the (not really) local dealer has one in stock. If not, wait another week. This is really, really testing my patience at this point.

If you get some tires, and it turns out that they are totally useless in the snow, you could get them siped (or by a tool on eBay specifically for siping and do it yourself). There are cons, mainly the possibility of decreasing the tire's lifespan (If you really cut them deep, primarily, I think) and possibly adding some squirminess to the ride in good weather. Some people see no downside, some see it as destroying the tires ride quality and lifespan. It has a lot to do with the tread design and tread compounds, too. The pros, however, are like adding a million little teeth to the tires, greatly improving acceleration, but more importantly, braking performance. I'd rather screw up a set of decent tires than get in a wreck. But then again, I'm not a speed demon, and probably wouldn't tear them up either way. I'm sure there are many people on here that have experimented with this. Anyone?

Yokohama Geolander A/T-S, Kumho Ecsta LX Platinum, Yokohama AVID TRZ, and BFG Advantage TA all appear to be reasonable H or higher speed rated, all season, not stupid expensive, reasonable tread life, in stock, name brand, favorably-reviewed tires. With that said, I'd go with your original choice and not bat an eye. With THAT said, doesn't Illinois get a lot of snow? I'd get a set of snow tires on steelies, and a set of reasonably priced, rock-hard, 70k mile, crappy-in-bad-weather grand touring tires on the original wheels, and leave the snows on from November to March. Then neither set gets used the whole time, and you have optimum grip year round (let's face it, all seasons suck in the snow. I live in VA, and have a set of snows for my DD. Overkill? Maybe, maybe not). Something to ponder.

Much more likely to blow head gaskets. This would be my primary concern.

GD wins again. They pressed one out to do some measuring. The interference fit went away. The guide bores are still within OEM spec though. Weird. There are no oversize guides available through their suppliers, so they will replace the one they removed with an OE diameter guide, press the remaining guides back to their original positions, then drill and tap a small hole under the spring seat to intersect with each guide, installing set screws to lock each guide in place. Then exhaust valve and seat refinishing, milling, fresh stem seals, and done.

They were definitely moving toward the combustion side...a few valve stem seals were just riding around on the valve stems because there was no guide to attach them to. Yes, some of them moved around an inch. I thought briefly about knocking them back in place but 1. They were caked with combustion by-products and didn't wan't them to get mangled or seized or whatever before getting them all the way back to where they were originally, and 2. She's about fed up with this thing, and if it means throwing some extra money at it to keep it from fouling up again, then she's willing to do it. The heads just went to a shop that built a 1200 HP twin turbo LS7 for my friend's Corvette. We're pretty sure they can figure out how to get some guides to stay put.

Oopsie. In that case, I blame the ignition system. Plugs, wires. Make sure there's no oil or water down in the spark plug tubes. That can raise havoc.

This is one of those times that a couple of gallons of E85 can work wonders.

Basically, your spark plug tips are exploding off because you are running into detonation. Often caused by overheating, crappy fuel, ignition timing advanced too far, or not enough fuel. Detonation can seriously damage your engine. Since ignition timing isn't adjustable on these engines, you may be able to rule that out (unless timing belt oddities are in effect). Premium fuel=good, in this case. I guess your temp gauge would tell you if you were overheating, I'm guessing it's not. That kinda leaves your fuel system. You need to check that 1, your fuel pump isn't dying, and 2, your fuel pressure regulator hasn't crapped out. 3, your injectors may be hideously clogged. Do all of your plugs look like that, or just one? Check out those links Nipper posted.

Unless there's some accidental way of making the engine timing advance wildly, I'd suspect fuel delivery also.