potter2010
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Everything posted by potter2010
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I will double check it tomorrow. Thank you all, I'll let you know if we make it home! -
No bubbles in the overflow tank, didn't check the actual rad while the wife revved the engine as I didn't want to introduce possibly more air. Maybe it is not an issue, but I didn't want to chance it. Tried it cold and warm, both with the heat running and off and with the a/c on and off. I think we might try driving home tomorrow. Might be a bad idea but neither of us can afford to miss much work. Hopefully it isn't a head gasket and lasts the whole way home where I can start messing around with it it.
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I used the Bar Cooling System Two Part Stuff. The smell I was describing was outside the car, don't think I ever smelled it inside the car.
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Oh, my apologies. I must have accidentally deleted my initial secong sentence. It is a 2001 Subaru Legacy L with 226,000km on it. Little keyboard, not little fingers. I will check for bubbles in the overflow tomorrow morning. I had put some of the repair stuff in because of the smell. Couldn't see anything wrong when the occasional smell came up, thought there may be a small leak that I couldn't see. Won't do that again to be safe. I'm hoping that it isn't a head gasket issue since I'm a long way from home!
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Typing this on a iPod so excuse my typing. Went away for the weekend, seven hour drive, on the way temperature gauge would rise from usual safe spot to red over 10 to 20 seconds, hold for a few seconds, maybe up to 10 seconds then fall to normal over about 5 seconds or so. Seemed to be no rhyme or reason as to why or when. As we went along the reading were peaking higher but always going back down and near the end of the drive would hold for a few seconds, max 5 or 10 seconds. We were turning the heat up and down but didn't think of that to after. The end of the drive was city driving and it seemed to happen more during that time. Coolant tank is full, maybe a little above the full line. There is some coolant repair stuff in the overflow tank. Coolant was last replaced about two years ago. All the driving in the past few months has been less than 15 minutes at a time, just around town. There has been a hot smell, little sour smell on occasion but with no other issues I chalked it up to a small oil leak that I've been tracking down. Not even enough loss to need to top up between oil changes (twice a year). I did replace the spark plug tube seals and the grommets and gasket on the plates there in May this year. I went under the steering wheel and connected the two green plugs to make sure the fans were working on the rad and cycled with no issue. Oil level was fine, half way between low and full. Oil and filter was replaced a few weeks ago. I've tried searing this forum and the wider Internet on this thing but it's difficult to say the least and lots of conflicting information, everything from just a sensor to air in the system to a belt or a head gasket. Since I'm not at home and have a long drive I'd really like some input if it is safe to drive home! Thank you in advance.
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I got my hands on a recharge kit and topped it up. As soon as I got some of the can in, the compressor started right up so definetly low refridgerant. It worked for our trip, cool but not cold, did the trick though. Got home and I figured I would try the second can. Opened the hood and noticed green liquid around the low pressure valve, guess I'll be replacing the o-ring there. The extra pressure must have made the leak more visible. The only thing I'm wondering now is that I noticed the cans of refredgerant in the kit were r134 and not r134a. I can't seem to find much online about the difference. Anyone want to fill me in? Thank you for all the help! Oh, two links that other may find helpful: http://www.subaruoutback.org/forums/99-do-yourself-illustrated-guides/43428-diy-c-air-conditioning-leak-refrigerant-repair-5-less-15-minutes-less.html http://honda-tech.com/showthread.php?t=2818297
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Thank you both. I haven't been able to find any way to see how much you need to put in with a partially filled system. I don't want to overfill and cause other issues. I'm figuring if I put a small can in, as Fairtax4men mentioned, it should be good as it would take about two cans to fill completely. That'd get me going for a bit. If I do the whole thing including the o-rings I'd rather not let the refrigerant escape into the atmosphere. Is there any way of recovering it at home? I've seen vacuums but none that apparently do a great job and none that recover the refrigerant.
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I'm glad to hear that I was on the right trek Fairtax4me. We're going on a 4 hour round trip drive on Saturday so I don't think I'll have time to fix anything by then. Maybe I'll add more refrigerant so we don't die from heat on the way there and back. After we get back it'll be the top of my priority list. I've been reading up on the whole process and changing the o-rings seems easy enough but between getting the remaining refrigerant evacuated at a shop, renting/buying manifold gauges and a decent vacuum I'm wondering if it would just be cheaper to have a shop do it all. Normally I don't mind buying the tools but this seems like something I'll rarely have to do. Any thoughts?
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I've been reading around and I think I've figured out my a/c issue but due to my rather novice knowledge I'd be interesting in hearing some other opinons. Oh, my car is a 2001 Subaru Legacy L with 220,000km on it. Air conditioning worked last summer, there was a warm spell early in the summer and the a/c seems to work decently enough but I only used it for five or ten minutes. Now that summer has set in I went to turn it on a couple weeks ago and nothing happened. It still blew air but nothing cold, compressor didn't turn on and clutch (?) didn't do anything. I turned to the Internet, my Hayes manual and USMB. First thing I found to do was clip the two green plugs togethor under the steering wheel. Both fans on the rad turned on and off as they should and the relay seemed to work for the a/c. Went back to do more research and came back out. Took the caps off the pressure lines for the a/c and stuck a screwdriver onto the pins. Both gave a hiss, so not completely empty. I only did each for half a second, didn't want any getting out that didn't need to. After some more reading the third thing I tried was jumping the pressure switch located near the back of the passenger side of the engine compartment. Unplugged the cord, jumped the contacts and pressed the a/c button. The compressor came on and clutch caught. I tried turning off and on the a/c by the button a few times and the compressor and clutch went off and on. I let it run for a few minutes (with the a/c on) but it just blew warmish air. From my reading if jumping that works then it could be two things, either the switch or low freon. Since jumping the pressure switch worked but it only blew warmish air even though there was still some pressure in the system I'm guessing low freon is my problem. Would anyone with more experience care to comment? Hopefully I'm on the right track. Thanks!
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I went to change the spark plugs on my 2001 Legacy and the exact thing on mine. I'm glad to hear that it's fairly common and easy to fix. The oil rotted away the wire on the one boot but my father-in-law and I were able to do a bit of splicing and get it working for now. Thanks everyone for the help, even before I needed it!
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That's probably why I couldn't find it! I'll have to take another look now.
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Update time! I poked around a bit but since I don't have a garage and it was -50c this went on the back burner until it was warmer. It finally warmed up a bity and we went out for a short drive...presto, cruise control working. Being about -15c everything was relatively warm. A few days later, still about the same temperature, tired it on our street and it worked again. I figured I must have jiggled something that was loose when I was poking around before. This weekend we went on an 1.5 hour drive to the next biggest town. This was the longest drive we've done since it's been "working". It was about -35c and low and behold, cruise control not working. The lever was pretty stiff/sticky. Waited about a half hour with the heater on and the lever was much smoother, cruise control worked. It's fairly obvious now that the issue was the lever, probably gummed up with 12 years of junk I'm guessing. I might look at replacing it but I've read they can be a real pain. Maybe I'll try greasing it up or something so that it doesn't stick in the cold so much. Thanks for your help everyone!
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I'll have to look into an oil pan heater. The ones I've seen just stick to the oil pan, either by magnets or some adhesive I'm guessing. I never really paid much attention. Is this sufficent or should I put a little something extra on there to keep it on as I'd rather not attached and remove it every day as someone above had mentioned. Also, the plugs at our building cycle on and off every 15 minutes (and we don't pay for electricity, though that's a bad excuse) so I hadn't ever looked into a timer. Would it be better for the car to cycle all night or cycle just for a couple hours in the morning? Temperatures here are right around -40c right now but can easily stay at -50c.
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Yes, remember. This is why my extension cord has a replacement plug on the end!
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I might look into an oil pan heater. I had heard they can sludge up your oil quicker but that's probably with conventional oil more so than synthetic. Anyone else heard of this?
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That's great, thank you. I have to get under the car when my new O2 sensor arrives so I'll take a screw driver to those clamps. I'm glad to hear it's helped to fix your problem so far!
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Tonight I checked the fuse, looks good. As far as I can tell there's only one for the cruise control. I checked the plastic that the plunger on the brake switch rests on, great shape. It's an automatic so no clutch switch. I didn't check the switch for continuity as it is impossible to do in the car so I'll take it out tomorrow. Wedging and unwedging myself from under the steering wheel is a one in a day thing. They certainly don't make it easy to get at the the switch. I did unplug the cable and reattach it in case it was loose. I did notice that it has four contacts, any thoughts as to which contacts I should be testing on? I went on a hunt for the cruise control under the hood. One of the cables for the accelerator goes straight back through the firewall while the other goes around behind the engine and over to the passenger side. Bingo I thought. I followed the cable to a small vertical box mounted above the passenger wheel well near the firewall. I'm assuming is the servo that controls the cruise control's acceleration. I couldn't for the life of me find the vacuum pump. I'm probably staring right at it. Maybe I'm mistaken but shouldn't the vacuum hose attach to the servo? The only other thing coming off the servo was a set of wires. I've been searching around the Internet and my repair manual but I can't seem to find a diagram to point out the vacuum hoses or where I should be looking. Fairtax4me mentioned the vacuum pump is beside the passenger strut tower and I think I see what he's talking about but I can't see how it's connected to anything related to the cruise control. Granted it was dark and I only had a flashlight so maybe I'm missing something. If anyone has a 2001 Legacy L or similar setup engine compartment I'd be estatic to see a photograph of what I should be looking for. Thanks in advance for any help!
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We get the same kind of cold here and I've found that a battery warmer and block heater are essential, though Fairtax4me covered that. I also have a 1.5A trickle charger mounted under the hood for good measure to keep the charge up during the really cold nights. You may want to use gas line antifreeze as well, I do. Everytime you fill up pour a bottle in the tank first. They're pretty cheap per bottle, maybe a $1 or $2 each and available at any gas station or hardware store. It helps to keep the gas moving well for those cold morning starts. Some people use oil pan heaters but I've heard it can mess up your oil a bit over the long term but that may not be an issue with synthetic oil, I'm not sure. On a side note, you can also buy interior car warmers so the stearing wheel and seats aren't so cold when you get in!
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Hello again, I recently went on a trip out of town to find that my cruise control wasn't working. Light comes on when the button is pressed but the stick doesn't do anything. It was a bit sticky but the temperature was about -40c overnight so I wasn't surprised and it seemed to loosen up a bit after a couple hours. I haven't had to use it in months so I'm not exactly sure when it stopped working. However, as some may remember I recently replaced my alternator and may have knocked something loose. Also, on the same trip, my check engine light came on (Upstream O2 sensor - P0130). This is the only light that came on that shouldn't be. I was a little slow getting on this as the cruise control is not something I use often but since I'm going to be needing it next week I'm hoping to get it fixed. The O2 sensor I need to get around to ordering but my repair manual lays it out pretty straight forward for replacing. I've been reading through the forum and my repair manual to figure out what to check. Tomorrow I'm going to check to see if the horns, signals, brake lights work to see if they could point to other issues causing the CC to stop function. I'll check the fuses for the cruise control. I'll check the sensor on the brake pedal as many people seem to have issues with the plastic coming off and affecting the sensor. (The brakes have been pretty stiff on a couple cold days. I'm thinking my hammering on them to stop may have damaged the plastic bit.) I'll check the vacuum hose attachment on the firewall and try to follow that back to wherever it goes to make sure it looks good. I believe I know which hose to look for but I can't seem to find a diagram on the Internet anywhere or in my repair manual (Haynes). I had a look earlier at the cables for the accelerator (one for the gas pedal and one for the cruise control I'm guessing, side by side). The one going directly back to the firewall had a bit of play in it is this normal? Does anyone else have any other suggestions as to what to check? Since it's pretty cold out there and dark by the time I get home I'm hoping to cover as many bases as possible in one go. Thanks!
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Well, I'm a new-ish Subaru owner but I've been quite liking my 12 year old car. I specifically bought it for winter driving and with some Blizzak WS-60's it's been great in northern Manitoba. No complaints here!
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Well, I'm not expert but any car has more trouble when it's colder. Oil, coolant, gas all thicken up and make it harder to start. If you don't already have one installed try a block heater. Any small issue that may not be noticeable when it's warm would be magnified by the cold and all the things it does. If something with the contacts are loose and then it gets cold everything will shrink and may amplify the problem. Not sure if that really helps but my two cents.
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I have the same issue with my 2001 Legacy. In my case it only seems to be noticeable on idle. Unfortunately I don't have an indoor space to get under the car but the next time it warms up a few degrees I'll try getting under there. 1197sts, after you get at it are you able to post a picture of which lines you tightened and if they made a difference? Last winter I fixed one that was leaking but this winter there's a gas smell again and can't seem to find it. Thanks!
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Thank you for the suggestions. The one ShawnW could be good but I'm trying to stay away from ones that need a smartphone or laptop as I don't have a cellphone and don't have a spot to easily put a laptop near the car. Though it look pretty good for the price. I had actually checked out the one that lmdew mentioned and it got to my final three. If I was going for a lower price point it would definetly be the one I would get. Good product and under $25. Checks and clears code and has decent reviews. I look around some more and at the two suggestions I got on here; however, I ended up going with the AL519 from Autel. The reviews were decent and it has a few more features that may be handy while not being too costly. Though if someone is looking to just check and clear codes I'd go with lmdew's suggestion. Thanks all.
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Hello All, I'm looking to get a code reader as my CEL came on. Not that it's a big deal but I figured it would be handy to have a code reader anyway and then I can clear the CEL. I've been reading over websites about how to choose and through this forum. The only topic from this year that I found relating to choosing a code reader was for ones that hook up to a laptop. I'd rather have a unit that stand alone so unfortunately it wasn't much help. Off the top of my head my wants are: -live view with recording, -on-screen definitions of codes, -laptop not necessary, -ISO-9141 compatible, -$100-ish or less with shipping. I came across this: http://www.autel.us/Products/al519.htm It seems decent, maybe a cheaper brand but seems to cover the bases. Any thought? Thanks!
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Well, the new alternator is in, actually was about a week and a half ago but I've been away. I was originally going to go with a used one but with me going away I wanted to have it installed before I left. As a result the only one I could get in time was a bit pricier but it was remanufactured with a warrenty versus from a wrecker so might be worth it. It was pretty easy to do since the location is easily accessible. The car has been starting very well, actually better than since we bought it in February so that's great. The trickle charger is still being used and now in conjunction with the block heater and battery warmer due to the cold (up to -40c at night and dropping). I figure it can't hurt having a little extra charge overnight. Since the alternator has been installed there hasn't been any no start/no click/bright lights issues that may have been a neutral safety switch issue so maybe it was all battery/alternator related we'll have to see. Apparently while I was away my wife smelled gas when she started up the car on a couple especially cold days so I'll have to check into that and the acceleration tick that's always been there that I'll tackle in the spring. Otherwise she's running great! Thank you all for your help and suggestions. Everyone was a great help, though I should give special mention to Fairtax4me. ^New Alternator^