ThosL

I had a tire blowout last summer a junkyard put on a replacement that was good for six months. It became a hopeless flat yesterday, so I stopped by a tire place, it also developed that it was the cause of a lousy ride as it had a bubble, rather than front end issues. They quoted me $90 for a replacement, Town Fair quoted about the same. What do others do with their 205/R15s when they just need one? Is the scare about a messed up transmission unreasonable if you do not match the tires right? Thanks!

The job of replacing the bearing ended up costing $430; a tie rod end with frozen bolt/nut had to be replaced as well as the hub. They did not charge me full actual time because of the trouble of getting the old bearing out, etc.. As usual the wholesale parts cost was tripled. I'm still going to have to do the other side and an alignment at some point.

Anyone who works on the front end of a car with as many miles as my car has on it with original front end as far as I know is going to have some challenges. I asked for a referral for a local mechanic by a parts shop and found one that got into the wheel bearing issue yesterday. The spindle/hub/bearing issue became a challenge and the shop manager ordered a hub in case they could not use the old one and they were having trouble pressing out the whole bearing assembly from the old hub yesterday, hopefully they will be able to get it out and get the new bearing in and will probably have to use the new hub from the looks of things. In retrospect the $750 estimate was very reasonable and if you go with a mechanic with a hundred junker Subarus to get parts from there is an advantage for customers.

I found a local shop that has given me a price of under $300 for the wheel bearing job; assuming the hub is still good. If it turns out it isn't, I'm not sure what I do next as used hubs would be hard to locate on short notice.

Wheel bearing on one side, tie rod and ball joint on the other apparently.

I went there mainly for the front end noise, I have had grinding noises in previous Subarus along the similar lines, cv joints make all kinds of noise when they go bad but the ones I have in there now are relatively recent, so I figured bearings, etc.. It will run at 65 mph without a lot of noise or vibration, frankly performance issues are not a big deal.

When do these front end problems become a driving hazard? The shop that did the diagnosis made it sound like I should not be driving the car. The grinding sound is pretty mild at this point, only made worse when making sharp turns or turning around in a particular way.

I see you are from Canada, so is that in Canadian dollars?

My sister goes to a guy locally referred by my brother, I figured he would charge more than the junk yard shop out in the sticks. Connecticut is expensive compared to other parts of the country. Give my regards to my cousin in Stevens Point.

Thanks for the quick responses. They said it could take 5 hours and they usually run into extra problems and were allowing with that in the estimate, business is probably slow for F and S now, hence the $$$, they said their hourly rate is $85.

Hi, I went up to a Subaru shop today, they put my 99 Outback up on the lift. Wheels wiggle, the bearing is that bad. They said I needed one new wheel bearing and an inner tie rod and a ball joint, though both wheels have a lot of play in them. They said it would run $750 including alignment afterwards, $600 without. I'm on a budget, low income. Is this reasonable? I think I did a front knuckle assembly once, ordered the part online used, my current living situation that is not going to work. Would appreciate thoughts on this job. The shop said that the car should not be driven that much, "how far do you have to go?" etc, which can be sales gimmick, in this case I doubt it. They said most Subies of that vintage have already worn bearings so putting in a knuckle with the used bearing is not recommended, and though they have many junkers around to get parts from, they said it might be hard to find a knuckle with a ready to go good bearing.

OK, I will check her receipts. She regularly goes to "Oil Star" and shells out $50 for the oil change, much more often than she needs to as much as I advise her to look around for the $25 specials; on the tune up, it may be overdue, but frankly for someone who rarely puts more than 30 miles on the vehicle on a given day, it is hard to see why she would need much in the way of replacements.

It is running fine now, but the flashing check engine remains a mystery. She has had tune ups done regularly and puts about as many miles on it as your grandmother.

I drove my sister's Legacy to church yesterday with her; the CEL started flashing and power got weaker though not basket case situation; the problem went away later, I refilled the anti-freeze this morning. Personally I would not be concerned but she is disabled and worried as she has a lot of "professionals" who help her. My thinking is running it by Auto Zone they would do a free code check and cel reset. Any clues, could the low reservoir antifreeze fluid have triggered this?

I;ve gone through a head gasket replacement job as well as a new engine, this time I had a low mileage 2.2 installed instead of the faulty 2.5. You could baby it with attention to all issues relevant to keeping the systems functioning and running as cool as possible.

I changed mine yesterday, it took fifteen minutes which will probably cause the mechanics to laugh, but hey, I used a dysfunctional wrench. The old one did look clogged up a little, too bad it is not automatic to offer a replacement when they are changing the oil. There is no lube needed on 99 outbacks only oil and filter so what's the big deal? Why do they need to exagerate the mystique of mechanic work by charging so much? My sister is paying $50 per oil change, and she hardly drives her Subaru while I have nearly 245K on mine.

I changed it yesterday, $3 at Advance auto and a fifteen minute installation.

Ok, thanks for the warning. I will try to check mine today.

OK, thanks. It never leaks except with filling up with the older style pumps.

Hi--I have a problem with my 99 Legacy outback; when I fill the gas, the station pumps becomes the issue whether I leak significant gas or not. Apparently the gas fill area has rusted and I will leak with some pumps but not with the good ones. J and J said the part and installation is a $400 job or so. What are my option with this and what is the secret to going to gas stations with the right pumps? Also I noticed I was down two quarts of oil recently probably due to the excess heat effects. Should I use Restore, Lucas or other oil additive to correct the issue as I changed the oil at Walmart yesterday?

I have the same problem with a partly rusted/closed rear hatch opener. I push it all the way down and then use the key or electric opener and am able to get it open that way.

Now that I recharged my A/C and have had it on, miles per gallon definitely dropped; what caused me to not use the air conditioning years ago was the evident poor mileage when it was on, technology has improved however. My take away on this discussion is to use your discretion, but those who are physically handicapped should use it whenever the humidity and or heat dictate. Having your sister develop a body heat of 103.5 are require an ambulance and hospital stay for two days after a trip to the beach, is not something that I would wish on others.

My sister's A/C is a medical necessity; I charged it yesterday with an Auto Zone recharge product and it is ice cold now in her 1996 Subaru 2.2. I mistakenly told her that A/C puts a burden on an engine, so she did not use it and developed heat exhaustion after a three plus hour trip and spent two days in the hospital recently. How many people here never or almost never use the A/C in their cars? How much does its use affect miles per gallon and other issues? Thank you!

I had the same problem, it was the head gaskets on the 2.5 and eventually the problem became too serious to let go so I paid the $1500 or so for the head gasket job, only problem is the pressure came up after the job so the crank started making noise. I ended up looking for a replacement which happened to be a 2.2 from a 96 or so. The car has been mostly been running like a top ever since. A couple possible short term fixes could be add another fan; get the best coolant, I think they make a special synthetic for high heat zones; turning on the engine heat on a hot day may make you uncomfortable, but may wick away enough heat to keep the engine from over-heating. I also tried Blue Devil, an expensive additive, but that did not help much and they refused to refund my money until I contacted the state AG with the complaint. Good luck.

Thanks for the response. Yes, one of the sliders was stuck. How important is it that they can adjust freely and not be frozen? Thanks.