Pillowsplat

2003 OBW Limited recap 132000 miles Major mechanicals: Brake rotors 2 sets warped 3rd set OK Head gasket failure subaru paid 50% Radiator failed Sunroof leaked actually the tubes clogged. Transmission failed replaced with recondition tranny. I know its a car things go wrong. The good news it is a sure footed car you can stuff a bunch of stuff in. The Great news is this message board! I got some great help with the little projects I took on. I figure the gas is going to go wacko again so I'm doing the Prius thing. Happy Tinkering. John

Not to worry My headlights went out within a day of each other with no work done to the electrical system. Remember your lights have the DRL feature so the burn time is pretty high vs the miles compared to a car without Daytime Running Lights

I will relent to Nipper as he has been in more Subarus than I. Plus I am pretty sure when I changed the coolant I put in another bottle of stop leak. I'm also sure I just drained it and did not flush it with a garden hose. So that probably contributed to it clogging. BUT 1. I would also venture to say that you will see a lot of Subis with radiator problems because of this 'quick fix' by Subaru. 2. If there is a leak at HG that would introduce air to the system and with stop leak in the system it could clog the radiator. John

This is not about VIN numbers. You need to get by the Dealer and to someone who cares at Subaru. You need to sell it to the gatekeeper at Subaru. The money is sitting in some fund ear marked for those who can unlock the doors. I would believe that gatekeeper is judged on how much money they allocate towards good will. Sell, Push, Befriend, Push till someone offers you a deal you can live with and jump on it.

I have been down this road as well. I currently have 120,000 + miles on my 2003 OBW. At 85,000 I was able to get the SOA to cover the labor and I picked up the Parts. I had documentation back to 30,000 of a coolant smell on the dealer invoices. I considered the deal fair from SOA. Somehow when it was done the tech managed to soak the timing belt with oil so we split on labor and parts on that as well. I think I paid $175.00 on a $1200.00 HG and timing belt job. Piston slap your on your own. Mine does it when its cold but goes away I choose to ignore it. Oh yea the stop leak will probably clog your radiator and your gauge will shoot up on the interstate on the hottest day of the year. If your lucky you will have time to turn off the AC roll down the windows and make it home so you can replace the radiator. Its a car they wear out.

1. Could you have disconetected something when you were trying to install the cruise control? 2. Did you have the A/C on that should clear the window? 3. Nipper is probably right.

I did the same thing. My solution was to buy a new radiator. radiator.com. Someone here said don't waist your time with a flush. I garden hose flushed out the system and put a new thermostat in. I'm not an ace mechanic by any means. This is a hour or 2 job by a pro so that means it will take me twice as long. It did. The shop wanted $460+ for the swap I guess I did it for $184 radiator, + coolant, + thermostat. You have to deal with 2 ATF hoses, 2 Coolant hoses, 2 fans, 4 bolts, and burping. Sounds easy and it is but I felt it was necessary to try every wrong combination and misguided sequence till I got it right. The result is the temp gauge is now pegged just below the halfway point. Editorial: Subaru gave us a half cooked design with the head/gasket. Then they gave us glop to fill the cracks. Well guess what it fills the radiator with glop. It boggles my mind that they are still making this engine. That said the car drives great.

I had the same thing on a recent thermosat, radiator replacement. You have and air lock bubble. The local shop told me to take the cap off and run the car 30+ minutes. squeezing the upper and lower hose helped move some of the bubbles. The coolant will probably come out of the filler neck just top it off as needed. The big thing was the lower hose was cool the other was hot till the bubbles worked themselves out. I also gave it a 4 mile run let it cool and removed the radiator cap and ran it again. I think the heat from the engine finally got down to the Tsat and things started to move. Sounds like you are at that point. Just do the 30 min cap off run thing. Disclaimer: A hot engine will burn the crap out of you if you take the cap off. But you probably know that.

Cat Converter throws heat at the passenger side Inner CV boot and makes loose its flexibility. The rubber boot cracks and all the bearing grease slings its way on to the firewall and Cat converter. For $200 you should get both boots replaced Cv repacked Ask them to clean the spew. If it has been pretty recent since the smell started you shouldn't have to replace the axle parts. I get mine done tomorrow. 03 OBW.

No Way....I get 70,000 miles out of a set of front OEM pads.

Don't feel bad I did it a month ago. It is pretty easy. If you have an electric adjustable mirror you will need to get into the inside door panel to connect the Modular plug. I had to paint my mirror to match. I went to the local auto paint store and they made up a spray can for me. I masked it with blue tape and sprayed it then clear coated. It came out perfect. Cost $130.00 + shipping for the mirror. $12.00 for the can of paint and $6.00 for a can of clear. The local dealer was $185.00 for and unpainted mirror. I was told Subaru does not sell them painted anymore. Oh yea I used a plastic prep cleaner so the paint would stick.

This is just a thought. The A/C has a drain that can clog and can fill up with water. It is more of a sloshing sound than a bubbling sound. Water under the mats is a symptom. The Subaru is a PITA to get the air out of the cooling system. The local shop told me to run the engine with the Radiator cap off, resivor full to the line and keep topping off the filler neck. Squeeze the bottom and top hoses every now and again it can take 30 min+ to complete the process and repeat. Run a search here on cooling system for more specific instructions Also the doors can hold water if there drain holes are plugged, again more of a sloshing sound.

Forgein Auto excellence. Frederick MD

Get it documented on the dealer invoice everytime you have an issue. A lot of the info seems to get scrubbed off from when you ask for service till the time you pay the bill.

Thanks I can see the nubs on the outside of the car so it had me a bit confused. Bambi lap dance . Funny thing this Deer had a collar with some Auto body repair shop's phone # on it. OT. Anybody know where I can get a pair of Mt lions to let lose in the neighborhood. I'm sure one of the Ins. companies would pick up the tab.

Mom and Jr were in the middle of the road as I came around the curve. I tried to split the difference. I missed the deer but wiped out my passenger mirror on a road side mailbox. Now I can usually take something apart and put it back together but it came off pretty fast and I'm left with a mirror scab. I guess I should start by taking the inside triangle off. Yes I went back to tell the homeowner. The mail box was fine.

A couple of posts back you stated the upper is hot and the lower hose is cool. That means the thermostat is not opening because of a lack of flow. airlock Remove the radiator cap and warm up the engine and let it run for 20 min with the cap off. Watch for bubbles coming out the filler neck. You can massage the hoses to aid the process. Keep topping the filler neck off. At some point both hoses should be warm when the airlock moves and the thermostat opens. Good Luck.

Same problem here. I replaced the Radiator, fluid and thermostat, no hoses. It works fine now. Don't waste to much time and effort on the little stuff. When you have the radiator out hose out the AC cooler as it gets clogged on the leeward side which is not accesable when the Radiator is in.

I'm NOT a master but this worked for me and I did have an air bubble. But I took off the TStat housing and hooked a garden hose to the top of the engine and flushed it out and put everything back together. When I just drained the radiator previously I didn't have any problem. The shop guy told me to just leave the radiator cap off and run the engine for a long time 15-20 min monitoring the fluid level and toping off as necessary. I did the hose squeeze thing but the bottom hose was still pretty cool so I knew things were not flowing properly. Once the hot water worked its way down to the Tsat and it opened the bubbles released. I think as long as the cap is off bubbles will move around easier. Like I said I'm Not a mechanic. But it worked for me.

Look from under the car up towards the passenger lower corner of the radiator. I have to remove the plastic slide out oil change access panel. My OEM had a 1 inch diameter plastic phillipshead screw. My replacement one has a plastic wing nut. Just remember it will be on the lowest part of the radiator somewhere.

jjjjj

I hate to say it worked until I test it for a week or so. I have some hard miles on it now specifically up a really steep 7 mile mountain. The Wintergreen Resort access road in VA. The gauge just stayed pegged just below the half way mark. But the ambient temp was about 70 to 65 degrees. I still need to get on the highway at 95 degrees to match the original conditions. Some additional observations: The old T stat was coated with a light chalky deposit. There are 2 radiators in my car I guess one is for the A/C. I was pretty good about flushing out the fins, I thought. But in between the two radiators there was a good bit of 'stuff' lodged in there. My speculation is the stop leak program just gummed up the radiator a bit in the process of stopping the leaks. Reducing its effeceincy. For a grand total of $210 for radiator, tsat, gasket, subi fluid. I would consider it good insurance to get the cooling system back into spec. John

Mission complete. just a few notes. Radiator.com was a good source. I replaced the thermostat at the same time. The Subaru hose clamps suck just rusted shut plan on buying new ones. A long bladed screw driver is very handy for getting at the hose clamps. Setright's burp system is good reading. Just fill it up and run the engine with the cap off and wait till the bubbles stop about 25 minutes of idle for me. I spent 3.5 hours on the project. If you know what you are doing probably 1.5 hours. I couldn't get the ATF lines off so I just sliced them at the radiator and fit them on the new one. The modular clips were different from anything I have seen but once I figured out the tab they were really easy. It is a pull up and away tab not a squeeze. Anyway thanks for the helpful hints.

I bled mine at 100,000 mile and the the fluid showed signs of use. I guess it made the pedal feel a bit more firm. As I understand it the fluid goes goes through a heat/ cooling cycle and condensation forms inside the closed system near the brake caliper. When you beeld the brakes you will notice the 1st couple of squirts are darker. I don't know exactly what it means but its not original. You can use the 2 person method or get a vac pump and do it yourself. Motorcycles suggest changing it yearly. Its not uncomon to change your brake fluid every couple of high stress road races. The symptom is just a spongy feel because as the condensation is reheated the next time out it evaporates and you get microscopic air bubbles and they compress easier than brake fluid Just find something really beefy to put the car jacks on and unwind the jack. Brake bleeding is a wheels off job. especially the 1st time. There is a specific sequence. Double check but I think you start with the farthest wheel away from the master cylinder. Bleed the resivor almost dry fill it up and bleed till its clear at the wheel. DON'T empty the resivor it will introduce air into the system. Remember you are dealing with your brakes there is not a lot of room for error. Do your homework 1st. try Autozone.com for a set of instructions.

The oil I had on the pan was chased back up to the stub axle seals. That would not effect your engine oil.