nipper

Those are some of the issues. Also they are only meant as a research tool to help car mfgs know how their cars behave in a crash, never to place fault. there was a news progam (mayb Geraldo ....yuck) that showed two people that got cinvicted on the evidence of the black boxes. One accident the speed limit was 30mph, and the guy blew the other car apart. To tear a car in two with another car you need to be going awfully fast. The driver said he was only doing 30 (thats b.s.) and was correctly found guilty. (dry weather clear night etc) The other case was more troubling, as even the police testomony contradicted what the black box saw and they used the black box for the conviction. I can see a few situations where you can loose traction and the spedometer will register a higher speed then the car is traveling. http://www.slate.com/id/2087207/ by NY and CA law you have to be told at the time of sale the car has a black box, along with rental agreements. There is a question as to who owns that data, and that will have to go through the courts http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2006/02/16/DI2006021601781.html http://www.injurysciences.com/Documents/NHTSA%20Issues%20Final%20Rules%20for%20Automotive%20EDRs.pdf at least the NHTSA requirement has more detail involved, so that they arent relying on the spedometer alone. if your really bored http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/staticfiles/DOT/NHTSA/Rulemaking/Rules/Associated%20Files/EDRFinalRule_Aug2006.pdf

Did a little hunting and found out this is a popular system on 4wd fullsize vans. On chevy it was a dana system. 1978 chevy 1 ton van keeps coming up. It does give me lots of ideas. From what i can see (on the lists) its a bullit proof system. nipper

grossgary i never said that. i also have applauded you for having the only one that works, so thats just plain not fair. nipper

Subaru doesnt have them, yet. Thank goodness. There is still a question weather they will be allowed in cars as a policy. there have been some legal cases using them as evidence, which they were never meant to be. The manufacturers say they arent for that purpose and are not calibrated nor guarenteed to be acurate, but some gung ho ditrict attorneys have won cases on them. The standard for calbraion of equipment like that for legal purposes is 6 months. It will be interesting to see what happens. Even the NHTSA have said they are not accurate enough to meet the legal definition of accuracy. nipper

i love it. there are a few of use here that have them. i like the fact i can read codes and reset them on the fly. i havent used the custom settings yet, but the mpg is dead on, and the trouble codes work very well. i have mine mounted perm on the steering wheel housing nipper

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Scangauge-II-3n1-Auto-Computer-1996-Vehicles-freeshipp_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ43989QQihZ008QQitemZ180073200863QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW nipper

not me i can do things down to the board level, and some very basic simple electronic circuits. wait for me to do it and i guarentee you nipper

EUREKA! that will do it. That little bit of pressure bleed off would allow for the clutches to slip and not tear themselves up. Now to go one step better, how about a circuit (this is where i know nothing) that can read the pulses off the back of the spedo (two wires feed the spedo) and can automatically reset the circuit to normal mode at a preset speed, set with maybe a pot by the operator (or 20mph). nipper

I should have been more clear, i didnt mean flashing, i meant intermitent, one that comes and goes. Flashing means missfire or worse, sorry about that IATN, can you please explain the acrnym for everyone else. Right now i'm still fighting insurance companies and SSIDI from the car accident. (anyone in NY dont get Travelers). nipper

I use a scan guage that is regularly sold on ebay. nipper

I'm going to change mine when i have the springs and struts done (still waiting on somone to send me a huge check). I am noticing though that when the road surface goes from blacktop to cement i have to trun the stereo up. Thats getting annoying. nipper

The other reason deisels can go so long is the huge capacity truck deisels have. nipper

Odd not from my expierince are 420's caused by catalytic failure, especially in the USA , and not from what ive seen on this board. Do a search youll see that 98% of the p0420 codes are a bad front o2 sensor. Catalytic converter failure in the 1980's was very common, but since the 1990's and on up its not all that common, unless there is a design fault or a bad tank of gas. Since what geos in the cat is fairly standarized with all manufacturers, and what comes out is standardized, they have become trouble free. A bad front o2 sensor (if it is really out of wack) can burn up a cat. Not everyone has the tools to fully diagnose a cat issue, but one can safely assume that if a specific pattern happens its the front o2 sensor. If the problem starts off as an occassionally flashing CEL, then at some time the light stays on, thats is usually an o2 sensor, then add in the cars mileage, and the trouble code (only one 420) the o2 replacement usually rectifies the situation. A bad cat on the other hand will just fail, and not ocassionally throw a CEL light. Also a bad cat when you hit it with your hand will rattle, since it means the catalyst has solidified and broken apart. the other way a cat can fail will cause a performance issue. Also the trouble codes are a diagnostic tool, they have never meant to be the end all in diagnostics. Maybe im just lucky, being a dying breed that learned car repair as emission controls came on line, so I got to see the transition from pcv/egr valave, through the ugly 1970's the goofy 1980's to OBD1 and OBD2. For anyone who is counting year, my father was a mechanic, and i was always fascinated with cars. What is wrong with thinking anyway? Sorry if i havent pulled a wrench in a few years (about 5 though still do it on occassion), but ive been pulling one since i was 6, and am now 45. I'm an automotive engineering proffesional (been a tech, and am a degreed engineer) I Have worked with the federal EPA test aqupiment. I am still a licensed state inspector in the state of NY. I am a member of SAE and API and ASE for about 15 years, well i can go on. Just because some of us dont list our qualifications on every post, does not mean that we don't know what we are talking about. Also i keep up on all the information out in the real world, as well as trade information. I like it when people think out loud, as it explains thier reasoning, and then you know how to TEACH them where their reasoning is flawed. And besides I just like to teach. nipper

Thgermostates can only partially open, as they are simple bumetalic springs. Its not an uncommon failure mode. Your not looking at pressure, your looking at flow. Caps make the pressure, not the pump. There are entire courses dedicated to the behaviors of liquids and laminar flow, so i cant really go into detail here on why its doing what its doing, but you have the right idea. Liquids are called non compressable gasses for the purpose of enginnering and flow. Both liquids and gases behave the same when you are talking about flow. There is some point in flow where you have enough fluid passing through the radiator passeges to cool down the car, and right now they way your radiator is clogged thats at 3000 rpm. If your radiator was clogged in the normal fashion, then your assumption would be correct. To clean the goo out you have to remove the coolant hoses and run dwn through the radiator. i always found this is easier to do with the raditor out of the car (Use warm water initially then rinse with a hose). Clogged raditors can have odd behavior. nipper

i have 202,000 miles on the original rears, and thinking of replacing them before they demand replacing. 99's seem to have rear bearing issues, though i thought it was mostly foresters. nipper

Now what i do for people is replace the front o2 sensor if it has never been replaced before. The reasoning is even if it is the cat, and its the original o2 sensor, your still going to need a new sensor anyway. It's rare for a cat to go bad on these cars (but it does happen). nipper

I'm surprised it went in to reverse, usually it wont (but there is always a first time). If you destroyed revers, you also lost second gear. Congrats on being the first to do this. Replace the torque converter too since there wil be a lot of metal in there also. nipper

so no one wants to deliver bad news? First make sure the tranny is full of fluid Next what color is the fluid Its sounds like your front pump is shot (if you have plenty of fluid). Lets hope that your low on fluid. nipper

do a search, but i think (it's been a while) but its by the power antenna behind the side panel if i remeber correctly. nipper

A few things, like everyone has said, make sure there is a SUBARU t-stat in the car. Next fill the cooling system the old fashioned way (you will never get air in the system). Start the car with the cap off. Let it run till the t-state opens (the car should spit up some fluid). Top off the coolant, make sure you have a 50/50 mix. Next thing to look at is the condition of the timing belt, if its glazed and slipping. Are there any oil leaks or oil on the belt. Lets go for some long shots, what brand water pump? Is the AC condenser free of dirt and debree? Does this happen with the ac on or off? The radiator is it new or used. How is the altenator. Low voltage can give you a high temp reading. Rent a code reader and look at the ECU engine temp vs the gauge temp. Mid point should be 200-210 (thats what my cangauge says). If the gauge is highs and the reader says 200 ish its the sender. nipper

ok that caught my attention, put it in the special oregeno box.... If your car has over 80,000 miles on it, suspect the front o2 sensor. The front one communiates with the fuel injection. The rear one monitors the outpu of the cat by comparing it with the front one When the front one goes wacky, the rear not knowing better think its the cats fault. If you do a search here you will see this is typical and replacing the front one fixes the problem. nipper

When i go my engine rebuilt, they rodded the radiator for 100 bucks also. they said they do that with any rebuild or HG job if the car has over 100K on it for the same reason, its insurance. nipper

Grossgary siad he didnt know the proper terms, i was showing him. Also others do read these posts and dont know the terms either. there is more then one person on this thread, next time i will make sure that i adress the other people. If you are offended by my trying to teach others what the terms are i am sorry, it was not meant not be condescending. Also this is a board, where communictaions are flat, not three dimmmensional like in real life, so dont assume i was trying to be condescending. Grossgary said he didnt know the terms, not you. nipper

We have quite a few on the north shore of long island, they just arent very long. The north shore was formed by glaciers, so they are pretty good at making hills. We have some extreemly steep ones also. nipper

Have you thought of renting a code reader and looking at it in real time? Also dealers can and do usually suck, a good indepdent shop is priceless. nipper