idosubaru

Airbags suggests you’ll be able to tell, but sometimes they go off on surprisingly light incidents. If it’s all bolt on stuff it’s easily done without noticing anything.

Were they aftermarket? I’ve seen horrible after market mounts and struts but that might take the cake ! Can you reuse the originals rather than repair these? Can you weld them - just need a couple bicycle spokes. Then fill with window weld. That might be what I’d do for such a short turn around.

Regular WIX. But not for any good reason besides the regular ones being so good and my unfamiliarity with the XPs.

weld some metal spokes just to get them driveable. I’ve seen new aftermarket strut tops fail in less than a week - strut rod straight through the strut mount until it bottoms out on rear unibody. I wouldn’t do it. all that being said - how badly did it drive before you pulled them and how much/type driving do you need from it? Maybe some of that bushing material they use to repack rear diff bushings would work (assuming it’s window weld?). what I do living in a rural area now differs from what is do when I commuted in DC for work.

Wix. I’ll run others too but it’s wix if I care and they seem respected by a good cross section of folks. editable content is tricky with varying opinions and anecdotal experience. You’ve been on other forums, I don’t need to explain that lol.

By cheap I mean the low grade at local auto parts stores - silver line at advanced auto parts. never seen the heavily discounted $6 pads.

You’re right. I over stated and oversimplified it. Any pad that is gone in 12,000 miles sounds like trashy quality and like it could also fall apart and suck. I should have said that differently. pads lasting a year is pretty damming evidence and I avoid them as well. I get name brand decent pads, usually ceramic and should have said this is the way to go.

Agreed. Totally get it. I wasn’t saying that like a typical dismissive “go search” blow hard. I’ve been around Subarus and this forum a lot and this is a small data set unlikely to show itself here.

I’ve seen zero difference with pads and rotors except cheap rotors sometimes last a year/15,000 miles and most rotors rust easier than OEM, even “coated” ones. But rust doesn’t matter much on a daily driver as use will mitigate it. So it doesn’t make me avoid any I’m just not going to get excited about any over any others either. I avoid cheap pads and often land on quiet cast, they come with new clips. Alright aftermarket clips also rust faster than OEM. CVs No - garbage. But how do you hear my anecdotal response over the axle whores flooding the internet? Id try to get OEM. I’ve got OEM axles that no one would ever offer decent money for so they can’t be that hard to find. eBay? Facebook classified parting out, if you’re not in the rust belt which is devoid of older Subarus Every clicking or vibrating OEM axle Ive cleaned and rebooted with fresh grease ran like new afterwards. There’s two such axles being run by on a forums members Subaru right here for like 5+ years now, I did them. Not sure how that would go over on aftermarket axles but Gloyale owns a shop and says the aftermarket axles come with cheap grease and often not enough of it. He reboots and repacks any new aftermarket axle before he installs it. Thats fairly compelling evidence that regreasing aftermarket axles has merit, but I avoid aftermarket axles like the plague so I wound never have the chance. Id get a cheap one from a local auto parts store so returns are easy and run that until I come across some OEM ones. good time to consider EJ knuckle swap.

I don’t recall anyone here ever doing it. Maybe you’ll get lucky and get one hit, but numchux suggestion to google is a good one given the guaranteed small sample size of anecdotal replies you’ll get here, if at all.

Sounds like a good follow up repair to an initial repair that suffered in assessment or quality. Lol In seriousness. If I had to, I’d prefer to know the history of the engine it’s coming out of. In particular how badly it overheated the first time, and second, if applicable. As much in regards to the engine as well as reusing the gasket.

I’d do what he said above: “Ring manufacturers recommend 2/3 throttle and varied engine speeds. Honestly I typically go WOT after about 50 miles of 2/3 throttle, and closed throttle coasting”. I’d do that for 100 miles then 500 mile oil change. Those rock auto rings aren’t much different than stock and won’t be an upgraded $$$$ material needing special attention. if they are decent quality and required a specific break they’d have instructions.

If you got it from a Subaru dealer it is of course legit. That’s the exact alternator referenced in my first reply in this thread. Any manufacturers dealership isn’t in the market of providing questionably sourced and variable parts.

Based on GD's comments in the past I think it's minimal. Bearings don't require it and those stock rings are very forgiving. Chrome rings are a different story I believe.

The 220,000 mile Tribeca towed 1,500 pound 72" mower on a sizable trailer over the mountains and lots of 6%+ grades. I waited until a cold snap to help keep things cool....which also meant spending the night on the interstate. I was stopped on the interstate for 1.5 hours due to a wreck - during which time, it started snowing hard. Due to the accident the snow trucks couldn't get through and no one was moving so once we started moving again it was an untreated slick disaster of ice and treachery. Trucks spinning out, tractor trailers jack knifed, cars sliding....After an hour of feeling like i was in a FROGGER game of ice, there were 4 accidents in 5 miles responded to by police/DOT which shut down the interstate. It was the perfect storm of awesome. Anyway - eventually made it home after a chilly night time nap in the trusty Tribeca. I really want to get rid of that thing but it's been phenomenally useful and reliable...even if it is a gas hog.

yeah usually temporary. Make sure all users close the door with the door and not the window on those frameless doors. You can also buy weather stripping (like the rubber inserts for screw on metal doors) and insert that into the gussett area to beef it up. Yeah the updated gussets were stupid expensive for what is a small annoying mistake.

Great. i see that! I think that’s the ticket.

An 03 with original valve cover gaskets - impressive! They're really easy to do. Get a quality 10mm ratcheting wrench for the lower (particularly the lower rear corners) bolts and it's easy. Doing it with sockets or a regular wrench can be mind numbing, particularly if you haven't done a few. They're easy - the lower rear corner bolt is the only tricky part at all. Have the gaskets, spark plug tube gaskets on hand, FSM, and don't over torque them. You're welcome to call or message me if you have any questions, I'll mail my torque wrench if that helps. WHAAAT?!?!? Dude that doesn't sound like it went how you had hoped. I'm sorry to hear that.

rotisserie LOL! Generally speaking reuse Subaru head bolts unless they’re rusted or corroded enough to destroy the threads. It is based on the type of bolt used, not opinion or how someone else did it, or how another manufacturer does it or what was common in the 1980s. It’s based on the materials engineering of the fastener itself and replacing them is 100% pointless except to avoid cleaning them. That’s why nearly all of the best dealer and independent Subaru service facilities reuse them and the Factory Service Manual says to reuse them. I don’t mess with EA71-81, they’re all rusted away here so i don’t have the option of even seeing one for decades, but after 25 years of working on Subarus i haven’t heard people treating those any different.

It’s either a 2002 outback auto starter or 1988 XT6, I have two sitting there and forget which is which.

Great man. Glad to hear. That’s exciting news. Sounds like you’ve got a great shot at getting a good feel for this engine before needing to make a decision.

I pulled the starter out instead of the solenoids/contacts. Ive done this before but can’t recall how to keep all 4 brushes retained back to seat the starter motor. The case is deep and there’s 4 brushes. Do I need to separate the rear case (does it come apart) so it’s not one long deep inaccessible cavern?

Ah, crack! After 20 years of buying those I guess I can’t be surprised but....dang ! Those $70 units are not new Subaru alternators. They are Subaru remanufactered. Subaru provided inexpensive alternators to mitigate some issues those years. Many in junk yards and used Subarus have these reman units already. They’re not as good as new but I’ll take them over aftermarket. So if you can’t find one you’re not totally missing a great product.

Cancel culture hasn’t hit USMB yet lol

Sorry, there are fewer features here. This forum is simpler and less feature friendly. It's not a monetized, add slinging, vendor flashing, reply baiting, employee hiring, conglomerate spin off of a larger corporate machine based in Germany. So yes it has a few less features but also is run, owned, and moderated by Subaru driving people donating their time.