the_bard

Picked up a new radiator cap this morning, and ran the car down to work (12 miles). The reservoir was still bubbling when I pulled into the parking lot. Same thing on the drive home. The coolant level does drop in the reservoir as the car cools. The temperature gauge hasn't wobbled from it's normal position, excluding that one episode. At this point, the only thing I've got to take to the dealer in evidence is the bubbles in the reservoir. When I stopped by yesterday, it was bubbling when I popped the hood and showed him. Since then, I haven't been able to replicate the spiking of the temperature gauge. The way I see it, the only way I have to conclusively prove ('less one of y'all can tell me different) that there's a headgasket leak is a hydrocarbon test... which is $57 that I could be putting towards another bill or three right now. I suppose I ought to bite the bullet and get it done, though. If it proves a headgasket leak, it'll give me something on paper to bring back to the dealer and lends some weight towards getting the engine swapped again. If it doesn't, then I'll have to assume that the radiator cap isn't sealing, or air is entering the system in some other way. So far, it hasn't proven detrimental to the engine... still running like a champ. I'd just hate to have the symptoms handed to me, and for me to ignore them, and discover a few weeks from now that I should've listened. Edit: I had a thought this morning, while I was checking out the new radiator cap, which I had forgotten about 'til just now. Where the rubber seals on the cap contact the radiator, there appear to be some sort of o-ring-like-material. I didn't get a good look at it this morning, but what're the odds of this being in bad condition, and causing problems?

So the cap doesn't seal the line into the coolant reservoir, and when the engine attempts to build up pressure, all it does is force coolant & air into reservoir, causing it to overfill. That makes sense. At some point, is it possible that it would allow air past it, accounting for that intermittent stream of bubbles? Heh... funny you mention this. The dealer didn't quite do that... well, he did, but he told me before we ever started it up. I did have a dealer do it when we were looking at a '98 OBW, though. We had just been looking at it, the dealer asked if we wanted to see it running, "yeah". We started it up, and it just starts puffin' white/grey steam/smoke out the tailpipe. Dealer didn't say anything at all, we didn't say anything, just stopped the car and handed the keys back. Us - "Sorry, not interested." Dealer - "Ok." Um...yeah. Nah... the dealer for my '97 was up front and honest from the beginning. I had first taken a look at the car when he wasn't around. First time I stopped by, a mechanic told me that it had had overheating problems, work had been done on it, and they were giving up and swapping the engine. Second time I stopped by (still no dealer), a different mechanic told me that they fixed it and it didn't overheat. Third time I stopped by, the dealer voluntarily (without me hinting) explained that it had been overheating, and they planned to replace the engine. He claims he had picked the car up at auction, attempted the repairs, couldn't get it to stop overheating, and would replace the engine if he found a buyer (if not, he was going to send it back to auction). He also mentioned it had been sitting for a couple months. The battery was dead, so I stopped by later. I wanted to make sure the tranny shifted fine, so we did take it for a test drive... rest of the car seemed fine (and still does), so I decided to take the chance. I thought about replacing the cap last night... it's only $7 or so, so I'll give it a chance. Not keepin' my hopes up, though.

Same thing happened this morning, on my way to work. Bubbles in the coolant, coolant spillage. I even heard the heater core gurgling... that convinced me. Sure wasn't what I wanted to hear, especially since I had talked myself into this car. I had originally been looking for a '96 OBS for the noninterference EJ22, couldn't... tried finding a '97 OBS (I'd settle for the interference EJ22), couldn't... finally settled for the '97 OBW. Doh. Anyway, I stopped by the dealership this afternoon after work. I ran the symptoms past the owner and stated that I feared it was the headgasket. He said he'd get in touch with the guy he got the engine from, and "get the story behind it" from him. He asked me to keep an eye on it, and if keeps exhibiting these problems, to get in touch with him and "he'd take care of what needs to be done" (an exact quote there). His manner comes across pleasant enough, not antagonistic. We'll see. I'm tempted to take it on up to my normal mechanic, the guy who does all the stuff I can't do since I'm living in a downtown apartment. He said he could run a h/c test for $57, which would guarantee it's the headgasket. I did get the original engine swap written on paper... it's listed on the invoice that the bank required for the loan. Assuming the condition of the problem doesn't change over the weekend, I'm going to stop by Monday morning and suggest either: The headgaskets be swapped, and the heads checked, with paperwork stating that it had been done. The engine swapped again. All of this had better be covered by him, not me. I don't believe I'm covered under the NYS guaranteed limited warranty, since the chassis has over 100,000 miles on it, but I haven't had any proof that the dealer's actively trying to pull one on me. He's still covered under reasonable doubt... it's possible the engine he installed had bad headgaskets, and he didn't know. As long as he's good on his word to "take care of what needs to be done," I won't get nasty. If he does... I have that h/c test done and bring the results back to him. If he continues to refuse to resolve the situation, there's always small claims court, the Dep't of Consumer Affairs, the Better Business Bureau, and whomever else I can complain (loudly) to, in order to get things done. Worst case scenario, I imagine: I end up replacing the head gaskets myself. This means a three hour drive to my parent's place - not counting any time sitting on the side of the road refilling the coolant reservoir so I don't overheat, or waiting for the engine to cool down before driving it further (I don't plan on overheating it and damaging it). Using my family's equipment and help, I swap the headgaskets, assuming I can get a hold of a manual that describes the process. We may not have swapped the hg's around on an automotive engine, but we've torn down enough tractor engines together that we ought to be able to work our way through it with the help of a manual. I just don't want to take the time off from work to do it, nor put the money into the parts when (in my opinion) the problem should've been taken care by the dealer, since that was the point of the engine swap. By the way, where's the sender for the coolant temp. gauge? What with the exhaust gas getting into the coolant lines, am I going to be able to trust at the gauge is giving me a relatively accurate guess at what the engine temp. is... i.e., that the gauge is telling me everything's peachy keen, and the engine isn't overheating. I don't want to be blindly trusting the gauge...

I'm not quite certain that he's trying to pull one on me yet, to be honest. I seem to remember seein' a blue gasket material sticking out a ways on the intake on the previous engine... there ain't one there now. 'Course, that doesn't mean that he didn't/did swap the engine. Could be he just pulled the engine from god-knows-where, in the same condition, or just swapped components around to the point where I can't recognize it. Can't see the point of that, though... be just as easy to swap the engine, wouldn't it? Unless he couldn't find one... erg. Lots of speculation there. On the other hand, I undid the cap & the plug, filled the radiator to the brim of the air vent hole, screwed the cap & the plug back on, and took it for a quick drive. I may not have driven it long enough, just five minutes or so, but it was already at operating temperature. Stayed there, too. Coolant level in the reservoir stayed where it was, above the fill line by quite a ways. Funny thing was, when I stopped the car, there was no bubbling in the coolant reservoir... it needed to idle for a minute or two before it would start up again. Now if it was a blown headgasket, wouldn't it be bubbling more after I ran it a bit? Maybe I'm just getting worried over it burping air... *shrug*. I'll keep an eye on it, maybe have it undergo an H/C test just to make sure.

Keep in mind, that big belch of white smoke/steam was before they swapped the engine. Even I, in my limited experience, could've guessed that was bad... er... bad. At that point, if he hadn't stated he was willing to swap the engine, I was going to.I haven't seen any white smoke/steam puffs since I picked the car up, just this one episode of the temp gauge acting up, and the bubbles. I just went out and took another look, after the car had cooled down for a bit. The coolant level in the reservoir was farther down, but still above the full line (at the time of the previous post, it couldn't have been more than an inch from the top of the reservoir itself). I opened up the radiator cap and the plug on the left hand side of the radiator... couldn't see any coolant in either hole. Idled the car for a few minutes, no coolant appeared, and the temp gauge stayed constant. Popped the cap and the plug back in, and no bubbles *shrug*. I'll probably take it for a drive tomorrow morning, and see what I can see. It's DOHC, Phase 1, btw. If the temp. gauges & the bubbles continue, I'll take a look at the plugs. What's cooked coolant on the plugs look like, anyhow?

Maybe I'm just psych'ing myself out over this "new to me" EJ25 engine, but I'm feeling kinda nervous... here's why: I picked the car up from the dealer late Monday afternoon. Drove it around a bit, didn't notice anything wrong at all, until Tuesday night. I popped the hood, making sure everything still looked ok, and noticed a bit of coolant sitting next to the coolant reservoir. Didn't think much of it, since I've been watching the temp. gauge like a hawk, and hadn't noticed it overheating. Figured it might've just burped (*shrug*). Today, Thursday, I was driving back from work. I pulled up to a stop light, looked down, and noticed the temp. gauge starting to run upwards quickly. I signaled to get over into the right lane, moved over, and started to pull off into a parking lot, as the temp gauge stopped about 3/4 of the way up the scale. As I parked, the temp. settled back down again to where it's been sitting for the past couple days when the engine was warmed up ('bout 1/3 of the way up? Just under half, anyhow). I popped the hood, noticed what looked like fresh coolant sitting outside the reservoir... opened the coolant reservoir, and noticed a steady stream of bubbles. Watching the temp. gauge, I drove home... never overheated. I let it sit for a bit, and just went out to fire it back up again. After it idles for a minute or two, the bubbles start up. They appear to be coming from the "coolant return hose", the line coming from the top of the radiator, near the radiator cap, to the coolant reservoir. I pull that hose out of the reservoir, and the bubbles stop. This has me a little irritated and nervous... when I first picked up this car, the engine in it had been overheating. On the "test drive", iut belched white steam out the rear end like one of those military signal smoke cans... not good. The dealer stated he had attempted several repairs on the engine (replacing thermostat, radiator hoses, one headgasket but not both, etc.) and would replace the engine as part of the purchase price. I didn't see the engine being replaced myself, but I did see the car physically in the garage... I gotta go with the assumption that the engine was swapped). I did notice a placard on the engine bay that stated that there's an air vent plug on the top of the radiator, that's meant to be removed during coolant changes, in order to prevent pockets of air forming within the coolant. I could see where the garage hadn't done this, and air is in the coolant... but there seems to be an awful lot of it. This hose bubbled for a few minutes just with me idling the car. I can't imagine it taking that long to burp all the trapped air out of the coolant. Which leads to my final question: Is this likely to be the start of the infamous head gasket problem on the EJ25s? If it is, I figure I got a bum engine when the dealer swapped it, and I'll go back and talk to the dealer. That might go over well, or it might get nasty. I'll have to look up the exact details on what that limited warranty NY forces the dealers to provide...

I'm out. Got the new (to me) Subie, but the wife decided she wants to spend the entire week back home, visiting family ('cause it's been a while since we've visited). Problem is, she's right... well, that, and my dad has enough projects built up to keep me busy helping him for quite a while. Don't be surprised, however, if I do show up. Our family visits tend to be like mixing diesel fuel with air, compressing it within a small area... and usually, somebody ends up adding in a hot spot with their temper. Once that flare up starts, we probably won't stick around... if it happens before the weekend, I'll try to talk her into heading out to the meet for Sat. & Sun.

Remind me not to post right before I head to bed... I may understand myself, but few other people do . The previous owner didn't give us any remote... just a set of keys. I wouldn't be surprised if there isn't a security/alarm system installed, as I don't see any emblems or mysterious black boxes . I do believe I misquoted cars101.com as saying that there were two designs available... I looked at their page again, and couldn't find it. Must've been some online parts ordering company instead. As long as the keyfobs (the grey ones and the colored) are interchangeable, I shouldn't have a problem tracking one down (got a hit on the Marketplace already). I appreciate the help!

I've got tomorrow off, so I figured I'd drive the wife up to work and then take a look at the soft brake pedal that's plagued her '00 OBW since we picked it up a month or so ago. The symptoms: Soft brake pedal: takes a few inches of travel to start grabbing. I've stomped on the brakes, bringing the pedal rather close to the floor, and while it does seem to stop the car fairly quickly, I couldn't feel the ABS kick in and I sure didn't lock up the tires. High pitched rubbing/grinding noise: didn't hear it at all for the first couple weeks. Occasionally heard it intermittently about two weeks ago, and it's gotten progressively worse since then. Only occurs when I'm off the brakes, disappears once I lightly press the brake pedal. Seems to occur intermittently when I'm turning, too. Car drops off speed fairly quickly once I lay off the gas. I need to compare this against my '97 OBW, to figure out whether it's something with the brakes or just me not being used to the AWD system. Stopped at an intersection, on the brake. Let off the brake, and the car just starts creeping forward, not as quickly as I'm used to in previous cars. Doesn't seem to pull to one side or the other under braking nor cruise. Did the quick test for the brake booster that was listed in the owner's manual and online, and it passed. I was thinking it might be a stuck caliper, since her gas mileage wasn't all that great either. The ECU just threw a CEL for a dead O2 sensor, though, so that might explain the mileage. I'm going to pull each tire off tomorrow, and get a good look at each set of brakes... pad wear, rotor thickness, make sure the wear tabs aren't hitting, etc. Anything else I ought to be looking at while I'm there?

So http://www.cars101.com states that my wife's 2000 OBW should have remote entry, since they state that it came standard... but when we bought it from the previous private owner, they didn't give us one of the remotes. The security light appears to be installed on the dash. There aren't any "Factory Installed Subaru Security System" decals on the windows, though, like my '97 OBW (which has the remote entry). From the research I've done, I can order one from the dealer and reprogram the system for the remote. However, the dealer states there are two designs available. Will the two designs interchange, so I can pick one and go with it, or do I have to figure out which one came with it? Or is cars101 incorrect, and she doesn't have remote entry?

Back when I did my research on torque bind for my wife's and my OBWs, I remember descriptions stating that the VC was attached to the rear of the transmission, so I imagine you're right. The VC itself is supposed to be sealed in such a way as to prevent someone from adding/changing the fluid within, but I wouldn't be surprised to find a seal on inbetween the tranny and the VC.

Nope. You might want to do a quick search on cleaning them, though... there's a few threads mentioning brake fluid, toothpaste, automotive polish... along those lines. Wasn't too long ago, either.

Oddly enough, Troy NY recently had a crackdown on tinted windows. They made a big show of it, broadcasting on the news and what not. Probably more of a publicity stunt than anything else, but whenever I get around to tinting, I'll be looking up the law books ;o)

'Round here, that price isn't too bad... kinda hard to find them period. I did find a '96 OBW with the 2.2 in it, but the tranny was shady. Kept popping out of fourth gear, and was making a rather odd grinding/grating noise. Dealer didn't want to deal, either . Anyhow, as long as the replacement engine's decent, I figure it'll be worth the $4k total (the rest of the car's in good to beautiful shape). Even if the replacement engine's trash, if it'll last long enough for me to find a good '95 EJ22, I'll take it. Thanks, guys ;o). P.S.: Stopped by the dealer this morning, and they stated the engine was ordered last Monday, and might be in tomorrow (Wednesday), but no guarantees. If it is, I might just be able to pick the car up at the end of the week (can't wait!)

Wife wants to go camping & hiking, but we don't have any bikes. If we take her OBW, we won't be doin' any offroading, but I'd be glad to ride along (maybe her, too). If we take my OBW, I wouldn't mind doing some light offroading. I have no idea if there's any offroading trails 'round there, though. Sept. 10th and 11th would be best, since we'll be looking to camp from the 9th to the 12th, and it gives us a couple days alone .

Thanks... now to find someone who carries 'em. AZ wants way too much ($350 for the front, $150 for the rear), and 1stsubaruparts.com carries only the front from what I saw ($88). Gotta hunt some more...

Ha! I can be useful Take a look here... you'll need Adobe Acrobat to read it. Take a look at the end of it, where they list a set of generic instructions to reset the drive cycle. Hopefully they're not too stringent, 'cause they look to be a pain in the arse. I'm not sure about any other states, but NY won't straight up pass you if those tests aren't completed... there's a few loopholes if I 'member right, but it gets complicated.

Just found out that the wife put a few gallons of gas in, without recording how much. Kinda screws up the mileage recording... it'll have to wait another week.

Autozone says the CEL my wife's 2000 OBW is throwing is the "Bank 1 Sensor 2" O2 sensor. Common sense tells me that it ought to be the O2 sensor to the rear of the cat. Can anyone verify this?

I do believe the '96 had the non-interference EJ22, if it had the 5spd. We should be filling up the wife's 2000 OBW tomorrow... I can give you an idea of what we're getting for mileage then. It'll probably be skewed, though... it's thrown a CEL a couple of days during that tank of gas, the error regarding one of the O2 sensors. I've got a feeling it's got a dragging brake too, that I won't be able to check until Tuesday.

My wife's two week "old" (we've had it for two weeks) 2000 Outback just threw the code for the first bank, second O2 sensor, according to Autozone. A day later, it stopped. *shrug* Incidentally, those O2 sensors are really expensive... Autozone quoted us $350 for the before cat sensor, and $150 for the after cat. Blech.

I'm just north of Albany, in Troy NY. There's a board member out in Rochester, too... can't remember anyone else off the top of my head.

I finally decided on that '97 Legacy Outback that needed the engine swap... just finished dropping the check off to the dealer. The swap still needs to be done, so I won't be able to pick it up for another seven to ten days or so, depending on how long it takes the dealer to find the replacement engine. It won't be long 'til I'm back in the driver's seat of a Subaru! And to make this a worthwhile thread, can any of y'all with dealer connections verify a price for me? Either I or the dealer will end up replacing the parking brake handle rump roast'y, which ran $95 through my local Subie dealer. Seems reasonable to me, considering an eBay replacement up in VT was running $45.

Just a shameless bump... I suppose I could just pay the dealer to fix it, but I'd like to save as much money as I can. Then there's the bit about telling the dealer I want to fix it myself, before getting it inspected, but after the engine swap. That might get kinda hairy.

Seriously looking at picking up that '97 OBW that I've been considering... gonna drop off the paperwork to the bank tomorrow, in hopes that I can get the check Friday morning and drop it off to the dealership, and start the process of getting the engine swapped out. The only other issue that I've found with the car regards the parking brake handle. If I pull up on it, there's tension, so I imagine the cable itself is ok. It doesn't ratchet, though, and the button is missing. It acts/feels the same on my wife's OBW, if I depress the button and pull the handle up, and let the handle return without releasing the button. Just from my quick three minute inspection, it looks like the button screws onto a bolt within the handle's housing. Beyond that, I imagine there's some sort of spring rump roast'y that pushes the button out, and keeps some sort of tension on the ratchet mechanism, ensuring that it engages. Does that sound right? Anybody ever taken one apart and looked at its guts?