idosubaru

Howdy! I know of a couple members in Orlando and Cape something (not Canaveral) that may not frequent the site enough to see this.

15-30 minute in-vehicle repair. Easy

“Needs engine” was that a legit mechanic or the neighbors uncle who claims to be a mechanic? “I don’t know” would have been acceptable and honest, an apocalyptic wrong guess is sad New balancer, done. don’t fail often enough to require new so used is a reasonable option. A good mechanic could - in 20 minutes - remove the pulley, press, tack weld it so it doesn’t get worse and you drive off safely until you get a new pulley to fix it. 20 minutes and you’re safe with no stranding potential. But instead he lets you drive away with potential more damage and stranding potential, while encumbering you with a new engine…move on from that.

It happens. Aftermarket arent as sturdy, can end up with kinks and collapsed bends, and ends not entering and exiting the same angle as the inlet or outlet they’re bolting too, or not working at all. It could also be confusion over naming conventions/listings. Some listings are poor and will show 4 cylinder parts for a 6 cylinder, etc Aftermarket has issues in general. Its unsurprisingly worse with less common engines/models like Subaru H6s.

Thanks RockAuto, I hit this up at least once....or three times maybe.

I think it's with the introduction of CANBUS which is like 2005 in the US market. So it would be 2004 and earlier are no big deal to swap diff ratios. After that I'm unsure what happens, but that's when the potential to run into more issues starts to present.

Those older TCUs don’t care. swap trans or front diff all day long. I think I’ve ran 4WD trans on FWD TCU. The old ones aren’t highly specific. I don’t think the 4EAT and MT disassembly is worlds apart. Similar scope, concept, form factor, and basic tear down approach goes roughly the same. A guy on here swapped used AT front diffs - installed a good one into a bad one. Swapped all associated bits to retain preloads and backlash.

How picky are you? If you want a daily driver commuter it's not a big deal. I've gone the other way from 4.44 to 4.11. People swap wheels/tires all the time which is in effect changing the final drive ratio as well. If you're doing something eccentric with it beyond a commuter car - 4 wheeling, towing, extreme mountain grades, etc...then you might start to notice something, depending what engine is in front of it.

Beast - I hadn't seen anything like that!

You'll need a new wrench that is rotated from "above" or with a ratchet, not from the side if yours is the old school handle type. Those won't work. Hand tightened, no tool needed. 3/4 turn after contact by hand. Sometimes I can get them off by hand when they're installed properly that way.

Wow - That's fantastic, good for them. That is above and beyond on their part. I'd go leave them some 5 star reviews on google, but don't mention they replaced a part for free - that just makes others think that's normal or they can expect free parts and works against a good business! Good job asking - some parts are totally unexpected if they break and others are not uncommon.

Get rear EA82 coil overs. Bolt up. Easy. New aftermarket KYB struts are available for those coil overs. the air struts aren’t worth sourcing. Hard to find and usually in questionable condition.

Impossible to say. I’m inclined to think in this case it broke under their watch but they may or may not be responsible. This is how this works: Older radiators can crack there. It’s not common on a 2009 and is unexpected. But not impossible or shocking. 1. It may be they did nothing to it 2. it may have already been broken but asymptomatic and just the process of working on it sent it over the edge. If someone has blockages in their heart then has a heart attack working out. you don’t blame the exertion or sue the health club for years of deterioration. 3. They may have broke it Most “customer” diagnosis and assumptions are wrong and the propensity to blame others is real. So I’m hesitant to assign blame without knowing any vehicle history - how many owners, previous work, has the engine ever been removed, headgaskets original or not, when was the timing belt replaced, what all was done for that...etc ******* That being said - the cursory info we have - 15 minutes is fairly telling that: 1. They damaged it 2. it was already fatigued and near end of life and they sent it to its grave #2 is challenging - they can’t be on the hook for any fatigued, asymptomatic part that’s ready to fail any moment. and that’s further confused by unscrupulous shops who use that fact to cover their blunders. You see how complicated this is?

Now. It’s 105 *months* or 105,000 miles. You’re due based on time no matter what. Also since it was changed once already we can guess 1 of 2, or both, of these are true: 1. it doesn’t have a Subaru or AISIN belt. 2. They didn’t also change the lower cogged idler. That current belt and pulley are trash. Those always bend 75% of the valves unless you’re real lucky Get a Subaru belt and Subaru lower clogged pulley - it’s only like $30 from subaru and as likely to fail as an old belt. You can Google pictures of the carnage, people have it happen all the time. I’ve seen it. And check the tensioner for leakage at the hydraulic seal $125 or so from Subaru if it’s soaking wet with pooled up oil on the tensioner lip where the seal seats. If it’s dry or very lightly coated and compressed properly it’s fine to reuse. If the car is decent and worth another 100k miles I’d get a complete AISIN kit with all new pulleys and water pump if the car is rust free and good condition. But the previous belt and one pulley for Subaru that I mentioned takes care of the most likely to fail items and offers great value for certain situations .

Maybe it’s just blurry on my phone but that old dinosaur looks like it’s been through some wrestling matches.

Hmm - makes me wonder if aftermarket rotors are weaker. Numbchux recently posted some similar CVT diagnosis/repair info:

Do you know if the rotors were ever replaced or are not OEM, or if it was ever in an accident? Any chance the rotor shards damaged the ABS sensor or wiring? Was the car moved, towed or repaired in any odd way when the rotor broke? Id guess mechanical failure alone would not compromise the transmission in that way but I have no solid reason to guess that.

Oh shoot I see you haven’t fixed this. Do you think it could be that ignition switch recall? I saw references to others chasing this and replacing a variety of parts with no resolution. Never saw anyone mention antenna though. Guess I’d see if the FSM has any immobilizer trouble shooting chart or if there’s a way to test the gauge/etc for immobilizer functionality.

That would be a sweet fix. Good thinking on the connector - is it low enough that it might get some snow and debris from wintry footwear or boots? I don't think any EJ wires are that close but wondering if there's anything causative going on.

cars101.com says: http://www.cars101.com/subaru/keyless.html

Great thinking - if you find out I'd love to hear the verdict. Does the ignition sound or feel any different? Not sure how this impacts immobilizer but car shutting off is mentioned in this subaru recall: https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2019/RCRIT-19V297-1387.pdf

Brakes - make sure you use synthetic caliper grease for the pins. These newer models have rubber bushings around the pins that can swell when exposed to other types of caliper grease like conventional permatex and the like. When they swell jt wears the pad(s) quickly at an angle I use Sil Glyde and on some of my daily drivers ive been known to throw the caliper bushings away. They offer nothing but additional failure points. I can’t picture what you mean but I find most modern Subaru rear suspensions to look off in that way when I look at them haha.

Hey D, hope you had fun at the dragon. Is this an all stock, US vehicle? No custom alarm or remote or wireless starting add ons? Maybe battery condition, clean battery posts, and check terminals for corrosion. And grounds if there are any obvious ones to check. Seems like an immobilizer/key issue. But I have no idea how to diagnose that. You said multiple keys had the same issue.... Does the FSM offer any insight into those two codes?

Yes. More often than not it's due to the headgaskets having already been replaced, cheap gaskets, poor quality job, etc, or someone limping them around with low coolant/other issues because the cars are getting older and lower value, hence more prone to poor maintenance, ignoring issues like coolant loss, etc. Failure modes expand once the heads are off and gaskets replaced. You're right, it would just be more accurate to say it this way:

No matter what someone says I always check the timing belt. Even if it's a new Subaru belt I want to roll that lower cogged idler in my hand and see if the tensioner seal is soaking wet. Bare minimum: New Subaru or Aisin Belt and new Subaru/NSK timing pulley ~ $35 and check the tensioner seal wetness while it's apart. That's only $100 in parts - otherwise get the entire $200-$300 Aisin or Subaru timing kit and replace it all. I'd install the engine and see if it's still shifting erratically. It probably will but I'm curious if there's any way the failing belt (we haven't seen pictures, dont' know how it failed, don't know what brand it was, etc) could have caused the erratic shifting due to timing glitches, check engine lights, etc.... GD seems to think the trans is trash and he's not too often wrong - so that's your best guess. Those 4EAT transmissions are reasonably robust and used ones usually aren't expensive. That being said - if I didn't know anything about it I'd finish changing the ATF (it needs multiple drain and refills because each drain only removes 1/4 of the fluid or so - so it takes multiple drains and refills to change a significant portion), check for the trans pan being dented, read any check engine light codes, let us know if the AT is flashing at start up, and check your front diff gear oil level and condition (if possible). Those 2008 4EAT's can get sloppy with age/miles but still keep chugging just fine - but your symptoms aren't comforting or pointing to that exactly if we are hearing them right.