Allpar Mod

I know, I know...this has been asked and answered before, but I'm going to ask it again. This time please, just with year, make & model, not backspacing and other measurements. I'm trying to make this as simple as I can. Things have been way too complicated lately and my brain is nearing shutdown mode. What other 15" wheels, steel is ok, will fit a 1999 OBW? I want to get another set of rims, but with all the multiple vehicle repairs I've needed to do lately, my wallet is drained and I am looking for cheap. Thanks, guys!!

I beg to differ. Heat shield issues are very common and quickly rectified by cutting them off. Internal problems do happen, as one board member already stated, and has happened to me (not on the OBW though). The grids can and will deteriorate and can fall apart. They will clog the system if not removed or the cat replaced. When I removed the one that I had this issue with, there was little left intact internally. From what the OP stated, it sounds more like he is having an internal problem with the cat. It needs replaced.

I'm having a bit of issue seeing how a likely caliper issue equates to a master cylinder also. There's two decent ways to bleed brakes. One requires a helper, the other getting a hand held vacuum pump like a Mityvac or similar. First, get some clear plastic tubing that will fit tightly over the end of the bleeder screw. Get a jar and put about 1" of brake fluid in it. Submerge the other end of the tube coming from the bleeder screw in the jar. With the helper, have him/her press down on the pedal and at the same time, crack the bleeder screw. You hopefully will see air bubbles along with fluid. Tighten the screw and release the pedal. Do this repeatedly until nothing but fluid comes through the tubing while being careful not to completely empty the master cylinder. Make sure to tighten the screw while the pedal is depressed so air is not drawn back into the system defeating what you are doing. Also. do not let the end of the tubing come out of the fluid jar or you will vacuum air back into the line again defeating your purpose. Repeat the process until the pedal returns to a proper firm tension. If it doesn't, then there may be a problem elsewhere like internals of a caliper or the master cylinder. Do both sides to be absolutely sure that air is or isn't the problem. My advice to you is to invest in a dedicated brake bleeder wrench made by a reputable tool company like Craftsmen, K-D, or off of the tool trucks. Sears also carries other makes of tools in their mechanic's section like Lysle and they are decent quality. They aren't expensive. Experience has taught me that there is way too much possibility of rounding out the head of bleeder screws with a regular box wrench, especially on ones on the car for several years and in corrosion prone regions. The pump takes the place of the helper.

The guys are giving you some sound advice. If you have no a/c experience and the proper tools, it's better to take it to an expert. It could be several things like has been mentioned. O-rings are common. Schrader valves do go bad. I had one go bad on one of my Jeeps and until I found it, it was frustrating. Leaks at the condensor (sits in front of the radiator) are common on older vehicles. You either need the UV light and dye in the system or a halogen detector to pinpoint the leak. I have both and like the halogen detector better, though it is much more expensive (fell into a used Snap On detector at a flea market). You need to recharge the system to find a leak, so if you don't know how to tell where the leak is or how to repair it after it's found, you're throwing money away for the freon to find the leak in the first place. Also, for recharging, home DIYers often make the mistake of not getting a pressure gauge when they get the DIY kits. Overcharging an a/c system often results in blowing out the o-rings or other seals. Many systems will work with some degree of overcharging, some won't. Either way, it's not good.

Now, now Ken...people don't know and that's why they gravitate to places like here. Kansas is a newbie also. We all have learned by mistakes made. We don't know how experienced with Subarus you are, Kansas, so please forgive me if any of this is common knowledge to you already. Many makes of cars have nuances that make servicing by experienced shops crucial. Subarus are one of those makes. There are idiosyncracies in the power train that are fairly unique to the make and even though many run of the mill mechanics can do work on them, certain procedures if not done absolutely correctly by the book, will result in problems developing after the repair is completed. It's entirely possible that your drive train issue is one of those unintended consequences. For all of the experience I have servicing vehicles myself, there are a few things I'm hesitant to do on my Subaru because of my lack of experience. This is one place where discretion is really the better part of valor.

Sounds like a short. The trailer plug could be the culprit. I have experience with trailer wiring on both ends and if care isn't taken on installing trailer wiring to head off corrosion, it happens and badly. That could easily be causing the issue you describe. That's where I'd start.

I've restored a couple old cars and this subject is one that restorers have gotten down to a science. One thing that frequently gets overlooked on rust repair is treatment of the affected areas before refinishing. Rust is insidious. It hides in small pits in metal and looks like nothing is there until long after you refinish the surface and it comes through again. What has to be done is using a chemical rust inhibitor before you start puttying or primering. This is an absolute must when doing rust repair as it's difficult to remove all of the rusted metal in many cases. SEM makes a couple good ones and they are sold at professional body shop suppliers, the same place you would buy paint or other supplies. One SEM product is called Rust Mort. The other is Rust Seal. Rust Seal is thicker and holds to metal better. Rust Mort is more of a water like consistancy and will get into areas better and can be sprayed. Both are acid based and you should use caution while working with these products. Wear nitrile gloves and watch splashing. Apply according to the directions on the bottle. Don't be shocked. The last time I bought a quart of Rust Seal, it cost $40. It's well worth the price, though. If you can get metal from a donor car, you can prep it to be applied to the vehicle by using an air tool that notches the metal panels so they will fit flush before welding or bonding with body panel adhesive. The tool is available through body shop suppliers also and is not expensive. I have one. The problem with just using fiberglass and Bondo on large surface areas is that over time, the putty will crack in many cases. The stuff is just not well suited for large, thick use that well. I've seen it happen. Replacing metal is the best option. Repair panels or quarters must be available somewhere. How do body shops do collision work if they aren't?

A reputable installer will address non through and through rust during the install. My oldest son works for a large auto glass company here and they installed a windshield in my OBW not long ago. There was rust in one area. He didn't do the install himself, but the guy that did ground the rust out and used a special primer to keep it at bay before the urethane was applied. If you do need to address rust before the windshield is installed, you could remove the old one yourself and repair the rust. Most larger glass companies will come to your home to do the install at no extra cost. That might be an option for you if the rust is high priority.

There are plenty of issues in other states as well. Michigan has high registration fees. Some states have no inspection requirements. Pennsylvania has them and in three regions with higher population densities, has emission testing. At least our inspections are decentralized where any licensed shop can get certified to do them. Saves a LOT of time and aggrivation over going to a DMV location and standing in line for hours. Our DOT work is decentralized also. We have what are called "messenger services" where private entities do license and title work where you do not have to go to the infamous DMV locations either and stand in line for hours for these services. My wife is a title clerk at our branch of Manheim auto auctions. She does title flips and paperwork when dealers buy & sell cars at the auction as well as for dealerships' daily title work for sales and trades. The office is right at the auction location just north of Pittsburgh and she is not a PennDOT employee. Everything is done right there. The AAA offices even can print out registration cards and other official documents. At least they got vehicle stuff right here.

I got familiar with California's ridiculous registration rules and fees when I was looking to buy parts for a 1976 car I was restoring several years ago. The guy lived in Northern Cali. He had bought a '70s car from an estate and when he went to retitle it, found out that the classic car bargain he bought was no longer a bargain as he was looking at having to pay years of back registrations just to title it. He ended up parting it out. Good for me, really bad for him. Here in the Keystone State, passenger cars and SUVs are $36/year. If a car is sitting for whatever amount of years, it doesn't count when you get it back on the road. My full size 4x4 truck is only $56/year. The license plates stay with the owner, not the vehicle like in Cali. The only thing that cannot be done is to reinstate a vehicle title after it has been classified as salvage. The vehicle can be totally rebuildable, but if the salvor has already had the title redone as salvage, it's too late. A lot of salvors take rebuildables and have them titled as reconstructed. That shows up as an "R" title, but is legal to drive on the streets. The "R" is just a consumer safeguard that a buyer knows that the vehicle was rebuilt.

Shawn's advice is sound. When electrical connectors give that kind of trouble, it's time to replace them. The issue will only get worse until you have a complete circuit failure. Corrosion causes increased resistance in an electrical circuit. Aside from a failure in the circuit, it also can cause difficulty for the correct amperage of current to travel along the circuit and will cause issues like dim lighting, blown fuses, etc. Fix it. When you do replace the connectors, splice them a ways back from the connector itself. Corrosion tends to attempt to travel along the wires so there's a decent chance that there is some corrosion along the wires a short distance from the connectors. Also, do not just use splice connectors alone. They will corrode themselves. If you know how to solder, this old school method is best for electrical connections that are in corrosion prone areas. The proper technique of "hot soldering" splices is easy to learn if you haven't done it before and the supplies aren't terribly expensive. If not, use whatever type of splice connectors you can and coat the connectors with liquid electrical tape. This brush on product is available at Radio Shack and the electrical isle at Home Depot, Lowes, etc. This is likely one of the best insulation products I've found in recent days. I use it for things like exposed relays and other weather exposed connections and it does an excellent job protecting the corrosion prone wire connections. Another good thing is that the dried liquid tape can be easily removed for repairs later. The bad thing about this product is the limited shelf life once opened for the first time. It will not last forever, much like PVC glue. It's still very much worth buying if you repair electrical/electronic connections that are exposed to the elements.

Actually, Jiffy Lube doubtfully will do it anyway with the amount of miles that car has on it. I was going to have a flush done on a non Soob that had well over 100,000 miles on it and they said they wouldn't do flushes on vehicles with that many miles on it as a rule. I'm not sure on what any of the other company's policies are in regard to mileage.

The strut's out. That wasn't the easiest thing to remove, though maybe it was because the casing pretty much disintegrated on top and the rod was extended a bit more than it should have been. I never saw one do that before. As far as I knew, they were the original struts from '99. No, like I said, my inexperience with them showed. I was trying to put the thing back in place with the compressors in place so I could have more room to get it in place to secure it, or at least I thought I could do that. That was my mistake. I'll assemble the strut & spring and put it in place then. Oh, for an FYI, to the comment about Pep Boys, I had stopped in one I got stuff from near my place of work to see what they'd want to install a set of rear struts. I priced them at the counter first. The total with struts, new top mount kits and God knows what else was over $900!!! Just for two rear struts and installation!! I nearly choked right there. To think that people get ripped off like that every day.

It's a '99, Dave. My inexperience with struts is showing. You guys gave me some ideas on where I might be doing it a bit sideways. I'll keep you posted on progress. I should be diving back into it tomorrow.

Well, guys...I finally had some time to start replacing the rear struts on the OBW. The right one was completely bad, just how fubared I saw when I got it removed. It pretty much self destructed, but that's for another time. I haven't started on the driver side yet because of the dilemna I find myself having. The issue I have is installing the new ones. The Harbor Freight spring compressor I already had gets in the way installing the new struts. Using one doesn't work either. I tried. There's just little clearance to the sides going up to the top of the fender well. Getting the old one out was a you-know-what because I couldn't compress the spring as much as I needed to so the bottom of the strut would easily clear the suspension. It took some struggling and gratutous cursing, but it came free without damaging anything. So, I have this to look forward to on the driver side unless I get some help and a new tool. If I have to buy another compressor, so be it. Any suggestions? I need to get the OBW back on the road very much ASAP. Gas for my truck is killing me.

My favorite is Flitz and the Flitz Ball for the drill. Both are available through their web site (http://www.flitz.com). The ball is machine washable so it lasts much longer than the foam ones which can get destroyed fairly easily. Flitz is a multi surface polish so it works just as well on metals and other surfaces as on plastics. I first used it restoring an old police lightbar. The plastic domes were a real mess. The Flitz made them look nearly new again. The only things is wouldn't remove were the deep gouges, but it made them look a bit less noticeable. Real good product.

I had an issue similar to Rooster over the summer past on my '99 OBW. The resonator is gone. I cut off the flange completely on both sides and put on a new pipe. One side of the flange was rotted also. Problem solved cheaply. And I have to agree with DB on the issue of independant shops. They're not everywhere any more, but worth locating. Also, I found out how shops like Midas price their parts a while ago when I called them to task after I got an estimate on some a/c service on one of my Jeeps. They use computer programs that dictate how much they have to charge for parts dependant on what they pay for them. The mark up is obcene, way above what you'd pay over the counter at any chain parts store. That and the quality of work is way too often second rate compared to the mom & pop shops.

I'm not understanding what your issue is. What help do you need regarding the timing belt? You should have been able to post a new thread and if not, it must have just been a glitch of some sort. Do you need to know where to get a used tensioner or what?

I was warned about ball joints exploding if overheated a long time ago. You definately don't want to be anywhere near one if that happens, and if you are, your medical insurance better be up to date.

You guys forgot the simplest possible answer of all...thermostat stuck open. The temp gauge will still show normal operating temperature, but as it won't shut, the coolant never gets hot enough to heat up the heater core. This is one of the most common reasons for a malfunctioning heater where it doesn't produce heat. If you do replace the stat, make sure you get all of the air out of the cooling system afterward.

This is all you need to refinish your wheels yourself. Just get the clear after you're done. http://www.eastwood.com/ew-wheel-smoothing-kit.html They have the proper clear on the site also. Eastwood specializes in auto restoration supplies and the quality of their products is second to none. I've used their products when I restored a couple of classic cars.

Sounds like you have a case of frozen calipers, and yes, it's very possible for both of them to be frozen at the same time. The cure? Replace both calipers and either resurface or replace the rotors.

You guys should find this article interesting. Unlikely surprising, but interesting. http://autos.aol.com/article/subaru-tim-mahoney-interview/?icid=maing%7Cmain5%7Cdl4%7Csec1_Ink3%7C40084

Anyone can suppose that there is no or little internal damage without a teardown. Even if these guys are, in fact, reputable and Soob experienced, with any engine, it's difficult to say with absolute certainty that any of the internals didn't suffer damage with what happened on your trip without a teardown. I do agree with how you have handled this situation so far. Adding a lawyer to the mix immediately would likely have created an air of adversity and ended any hope of settling things amicably from the start. Now, however, with the manager apparently dragging his heels, it might be time to either go that route or contact your attorney general's office in Sacramento and see if you can file a complaint against the shop. That's what we can do here and it's WAY more effective than going the BBB way which has no teeth. Also, now if it were me, I wouldn't accept anything less than a total refund of everything I spent on this car at any shop and even look into demanding damages. If you have to hire counsel, I'd go for attorney fees and damages definately. Make sure that you have every piece of documentation from every garage, ESPECIALLY the most recent one you went to which outlined all the steps the original shop did wrong. It's time for the gloves to come off. Think pit bull from here on.