Kwhistle

Larry, thanks for the offer, I'll PM you momentarily. 100% agree about Midas. I'm somewhat of a treeshade "mechanic", and generally don't trust chain stores too much. Wasn't surprised much the guy showed me his Midas estimate--they wanted to redo everything from exhaust gaskets to oil pans.

A good friend of mine needs someone reliable to take a look at his car. It's an almost problem-free 2003 OBW. A local Midas did an oil change for him and they found just way too many problems with it. It also consumes lots of oil, and has some clicks when steering. He's on the north side of Indianapolis, but wouldn't mind traveling a bit to get it diagnosed and done right.

My old OBW died recently, headgasket job would cost more than the car, so I considered cutting my losses. I got a Corolla for now, love the MPGs I get, but really miss the feel of a Subaru. For all its flaws, Subie has more than a few nice features--good visibility, AWD, powerful engine. So I'm thinking of a recent Forester, probably '08 or '09. Haven't test-driven one, but the newest design looks nice. Would love to get an Outback, but they are pricier So wanted to get some opinions on the Foresters. What's good, what's bad? Any known problems?

To address the OP, I have recently had somewhat similar troubles, minus the bubbles in the overflow tank. It was suggested I do HGs, but for the lack of money, I decided to try a flush + new rad cap for the time being. That stopped the car from overheating, but temperature started to fluctuate, getting hotter at idle or low speed after driving highway speed for some distance, then back to normal once I speed up. Long story short, I traced it to a broken bleeder screw in the radiator. I think the guy that did my timing belt in the summer, broke it, and then just jammed a screwdriver in the what was left of it and screwed it in. Must've not noticed the gasket in the there. Once it got cold, it must've loosened up a bit and let air in and coolant out. I replaced it with a regular hex bolt of matching thread/size (m10-1.25), and no problems for the past three days. Hope it stays this way for a couple years.

This web site sells it: http://www.partswebsite.com/subarugenuineparts/index.php?type=parts&start=1&tabdes=1 I looked at it back when mine broke. It was expensive. I fixed mine as I described here: http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=127205 Local pull-a-part didn't even charge me for it, they didn't know what it was, and I broke it in half anyway so that I don't have to disassemble the hub. The fix I tried in the pictures above didn't work, I suspect because the heads of the bolts were pressing against the rotor, which caused "fixed" section of the wheel to protrude out and broke the ABS sensor. I got a new sensor from the same pull-a-part for about $10, if I remember correctly.

I broke one of the tone wheels when changing rotors on my 98 OBW a couple months back. I got some great advice here on how to take apart the hub and replace it, but figured to try it the easy way first. A local pull-a-part had a Subaru of the same age, so I tool the the tone wheel off it. Here is the trick--I didn't disassemble the hub or any of that. I unbolted half of the tone wheel, then cleanly broke that half off with two small pry bars. Unbolted the second half of it, and that was it. Finally put it on my car, the two halves came together very tightly (I was very careful when I was breaking it apart in the first place), and the ABS light is off! Wish I took pictures of it, but was just too busy with all the other fixes I was doing. Hope this helps whomever might be searching the forum for a broken tone wheel.

Thanks for the lighting fast reply! Did pull the lower hose and drained. The engine was a bit warm, but coolant wasn't hot to touch but it did seem like it drained completely. I pulled the smaller hose off the water pump and it wasn't draining. Could the thermostat been opened when it shouldn't have been? Anyway, refilled both the radiator, and through the upper rad hose. Waited a bit, topped off both, very little into the hose. Put the hose back, and started the car, while topping off the radiator. The heat gauge got about quarter way, so I'd think thermostat should've been opened by then. So, I kinda stopped half way and figured I'd google first before proceeding.

I'm in the middle of trying to troubleshoot an overheating problem, posted about it elsewhere. Figured I'd do a flush and new rad cap, see what happens. So I filled with water, got the engine half-way hot, and my upper rad hose is hot, the lower is not. Now, I'm not a mechanic, but if got this right: 1. the radiator hoses are the short big diameter hoses, one on top, pass side on my 98 OBW, the other on the bottom, driver side comes off the thermostat housing. 2. the coolant flows from the top to the engine, and from the bottom back into the radiator. Or is it the other way around?

I wish I had the means to do that, like a house garage and a back up car... So far got an estimate for $1300-1400 from an AC Delco shop with a good reputation amongst locals. But that seems like a good downpayment on something newer. If anyone wants a 98 OBW with everything working, good tires, no leaks, and really not known major problems aside from HG, I'd be game to sell mine. I'm just north of Indianapolis.

$2500? LOL, the car isn't worth that much. Anyway, gonna try the rad flush+rad cap tomorrow, if no luck I think the car will be scrapped.

Drained just from the rad, or from the thermostat as well?

Is this the youtube vid: Again, many thanks for the replies. I definitely want to try some home fix like a flush, new rad cap, possibly new thermostat before digging into my savings for a HG job. That said, I don't wanna do any band aid fixes either that would come back to hunt me. How much are the 2.2 engines usually?

Couldn't see the fluid level, I don't a have a house garage, and it was dark outside. As for burping, why not just top off the radiator? I understand the procedure is pretty much what's described here: http://www.ehow.com/how_7369_burp-cars-cooling.html And many thanks for the replies!

So I checked the car this morning, and noticed several things. One--the coolant got sucked back into the radiator. And two-the big radiator hose on the passenger side was looking sorta deflated, like from strong suction from the inside. Is that indicative of anything? Good or bad?

I think I'm gonna give a new rad cap a try first... just hoping it might help. Anyone ever used Stent brand that they have at Advance Auto. I just figure, I could return it there if it doesn't work or when I get one from the dealer.

I guess I'll have to go mechanic shopping rather soon. What about all those permanent HG repair in a bottle thingies?

errrrrrrrrrr.... this really blows. I kinda figured when I bought the car with 195K on the odometer, the HG would've been taken care of by one of the previous owners. And was gonna sell the car in a couple months, too. I actually checked the oil and that didn't look funny in any way. Is there a way to test the coolant without doing anything too sophisticated? Can't really afford spending $500+ on HG or new engine and don't really have the means to do it myself.

I used to love this car -- 98 OBW. Tons of miles on it, a few minor problems. Finally fixed a bad rim issue on Monday, and had a nice ride to work this morning. Noticed that the engine was a bit warmer than what I usually have. Then on my way home this evening it got all the way to high about half way. Looked under the hood and the radiator was smoking. The hose coming of the top on the passenger side was hot, so I'm thinking it's not the thermostat. The cooler reservoir (if that's what it's called) was full to the brim. Other than that, the only thing that I noticed was that it the gauge shot up to hot from being about middle of the dial after I turned on the heater. It was pretty much stop for 5-10 minutes to let it cool then go for a mile or two the rest of the way. The only other thing I noticed was that it was the gauge shooting up when I accelerated. Any suggestions here? Do I replace the radiator? Stop by the dealer and get radiator cap first? Anyone knows if those Advance Auto radiators any good?

Thanks for the advice all! I ended up having my original tires put on the "new" rims. The rims are fine, finally no shimmy when I hit 60-65! And the techs that put on the tires told me that one of the Kenda tires was full of the puncture fix slurry. I can only figure that this was the reason for all the thumping.

That was one of my suspicions, but the only thing, threads look alright. How doable is it to put my old tires onto new rims at home? I had mine balanced a few times at a local Discount Tire, probably they won't charge me the third time around...

There is no vibration, just obnoxiously loud thumping noise coming from the "new" tires.

The problematic tires are branded Kenda Kenetica, my guess is generic brand. What happens if you put different brand tires on the front and rear?

98 OBW. Had this vibration that started around 55 mph and was intolerable at around 65. So after balancing and rebalancing tires and doing an alignment, moved wheels around, and figured out that something was off with one of them, possibly with the tire. So I bought a pair of wheels from one of the members here. Bolted them on. The high speed vibration is gone, but there is a pretty bad thumping sound both at low and at high speed. I'd think "used" wheels/tires would've balanced, but the guy I got these from haven't mentioned anything about it one way or the other. The sound and feel is much like with loose lug nuts, but the wheels are bolted on and torqued properly. Does this sound like balance issue?