upDUHcreek

I knew I created a thread about this when it happened, but I thought I made it here. I guess that was wrong. Looks like I only did it on NASIOC. Here's a link with the info I found out when this went down. http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2537233

Just thought you guys might like to know that EMPI sold out that part of their company last year. I bought a set thinking I was getting the good old EMPI shaft, but the box it came in wasn't the same, and had a similar name, but not EMPI on it. Rock Auto was, and aparantly is still selling them as EMPI parts.

Don't forget to bring us back a video, or it didn't happen.

I'm really into RC. I never got into crawling, but I really dig RC racing. I've got offroad racers from 10th scale to 5th scale. I've also got a 4' gas powered deep-V, and an indoor electric heli. We've got a killer racetrack here in the metro, and I can't wait for the racing season to start up.

While I'll be the first one to admit I'm cheep, I'd much rather pay someone else $75 to rebuild it, than to have to mess with it myself. What really messed me up was the fact that the local stealership wanted over $400 for the half shaft. I guess they figured since they're located on the hiway, they could get away with hiway robbery. Oops, I almost forgot, Thanks for all the speedy replies guys.

I don't think they'll have to grind my old one any. It's only got a small leak on the inner boot, and it's still throwing that stinky grease all over the cat, so I'm guessing it still hasn't done any actual damage to joint. New shaft will be here today, and I'll be swapping them out tomorrow. Then it's off to Colorado with my old one to have it as a spair. I do a lot of offroading, and you never know when a 150k+ mile half shaft will break. The one in there now looks like the descriptions of an OEM shaft, with the green inner piece.

The info on Rock Auto says it's only 1 year. For $61 delivered, it just sounds too good to be true. I'm really worried that I've messed up, but I did find SEVERAL people both here, and on NASIOC who said the EMPI shafts were great. I must have spent two days, reading over 100 threads on the subject.

Ok, I had to search Marshall Wolf to find out he's the same as FW Enterprises. That's who I plan to have rebuild the axle I'm taking out.

Well, it was bound to happen eventually. I split a boot offroading, and now I'm waiting on my new half shaft to get here from Rock Auto. After using the search function, I saw that the EMPI half shafts work well. I went ahead and orderd one, but the more I think about it, the more I worry. It was only $50 (+ shipping) for a NEW EMPI half shaft? That sounds mighty cheep to me, but that was the only EMPI shaft they had for my car(99 Forester L). Do I have a good reason to worry, or am I just being too paranoid to enjoy an awsome deal? Also, I had planned to have my old one rebuilt, but the rebuild costs more ($75) than buying another new EMPI shaft. Should I get the old (Subaru) shaft rebuilt, or just buy another new EMPI one to have as a spare, just in case this happens again? Thank you for the help Charlie

I tried to remove and inspect the knock sensor, but it was so tight I decided I didn't want to break my cheep tools. It wouldn't come off, even though I used at least 50ft/lbs of torque worth of force trying to remove it. From what I've read, that's WAY too much torque on the sensor, and probablly broke it when they (last owner) torqued it down that tight. I'm going to use some penetrating oil on it in an effort to make removal easier. I'll get a new one, and run by my buddy's house so I can use his high quality tools. I should take some time to brouse sears website for some decent tools. They're having a tool sale right now.

Ok, thanks again for the help guys, I have a little knowlage about how engines work, but I'm not a mechanic, so I have no practical experience. I don't think it's a timing issue, because the other night when the light wasn't on, and it ran perfectly, I let it idle for 30 to 45 seconds to warm up, before I put it into gear to leave. Any timing issue should have shown up then. Is this correct? I don't think it's a burnt valve, because that would be consistant, and it wouldn't have passed the "dollar bill over the tail pipe" test. Is that correct? I'll keep the valve guide thing in mind, and I'll check that if I don't see obvious issues when I check the knock sensor, and swap injectors. Those sound much easier to deal with than pulling the header, so I'll check them first. I had hoped to check the knock sensor earlier today/yesterday aka Monday, but I had some stuff that came up. By the time I got everything taken care of, it was dark, and I had a wild hair crawling up my ***, so I decided to go to the bar. Hopefully I won't sleep off my buzz all day, and I'll check it tomorrow/today aka Tuesday. I've never messed with any fuel injectors, are there any tricks I need to know, threads I should read, and should I have extra O-rings on hand when I do this? Sorry for all the questions. I am just smart enough to know how stupid I am when it comes to working on cars. That's why I usually take my cars to a shop. Unfortunantly, there aren't any shops here that specialize in Subaru repairs. Even the Subaru dealerships here sell multiple brands, so even their mechanics spend most of their time working on non-subaru cars. Thanks a bunch guys. I am truely gratfull for all the help. Charlie.

And now the plot thickens. After driving it like I stole it to monitor the O2 levels, and the fuel sys 1 readings at WOT, I decided to clear the codes while I had the scantool connected. CELight stayed out for about a quarter mile at 25 mph before it started flashing, and the misfire #2 code returned. I continued to my friends house to hang out for the evening, and that's where I was when I made my last post. When I drove home, just a few minutes ago, it happend again, but this time it's NOT raining. No CEL at all, and no shaking from any misfire. Drove 6 or 7 miles down the hiway, still no CEL at all. Pulled off the hiway, and I could feel it missing a little at the light. Pulled up to the next light on the other side of the hiway, and the CEL starts flashing again. It's still missing, but no where near as bad as before we changed the plugs, fuel filter, and the PCV valve 2 weeks ago. Is it possible that I just need to run some seafoam through it? Could it be that simple? This really has me all messed up. Every car I've ever owned has had a problem at one point or another that disapeared when I took it to the shop to have it looked at. Life can really be strange sometimes. Thanks for any input guys. Charlie

I was wrong. The live feed says OL-drive as soon as I let completely off the gas, then it switches back to CL when the car's slowed down almost to a stop. Also, it switches to OL-drive when the throttle position reads over 30%. Voltages on the front O2 sensor ranged from 0.0(coasting), to 9.25(WOT), that's the highest I saw on the front one. Front sensor seemed to vary much more than the rear one under steady throttle input. The live feed shows many more sensors than the snapshot saves. If there are any questions about other sensor values, I'll will be happy to make another run and get the values for the other sensors too. Thank you for your help Charlie

Sorry, but I don't do ebay. I don't even have a paypal account. I'm really not quite old enough to be this paranoid, or pesamistic, but I think of it as being cautious. As cheep as I am, you think I'd never buy stuff from any place other than ebay, just because you can find stuff there so cheep. I just don't feel I can trust people I don't know, or companies I've never heard of with my money. Then again, I've been known to spend $100 when I only needed a $7 item, just to get the free shipping. I'm one messed up cookie, but thanks for trying to help. I'll probablly just order it from Rock Auto, or the local parts store, if I decide I don't want to wait on it. Charlie PS I think I'm going to go play with the live feed on my scanner again. I want to make shure that I remembered that bit correctly about it going into Open loop when the car was stopped and in gear.

Not yet. The knock sensor is next on my list of things to change. I started with the cheepest stuff first, and I'm working my way up to the more expencive items since I still have no clue. It's been months since the gas pedal's been incontact with the floor. Generally I try to use as little throttle as possible to save gas. Then again, I could be remembering it wrong, it's been quite a while since I've looked at the live data stream.