brus brother

Did you see the response on the other site to your query? "I have this same problem but fixed it last night. Our horn and blower motor at first were intermittent and then stopped working completely. I found somewhere it said the horn relay was behind the left kick panel. When I removed the panel I found two heavy wires underneath the fuze panel by the drivers left foot, one of them looked repaired at some time with a bad splice. The heavier wire is black and red. That wire had two areas that were bare. I put a test light across the splice and it was hot all the time. Then I checked it as it went into a gray connector where it was also bare and it was dead. I made a jumper and went across the two bare spots, the splice in that wire and the blower motor started to work and the horn worked now too. I wished I would have taken a picture of this where it was repaired or maybe that's the way it came from the factory I'm not real sure. I removed the splice and soldered a longer wire onto the original spade terminal within the gray connector and now everything works as it is supposed to." Now to start tracing your own wires...

Did you watch the video at the bottom of the article titled "Does it do THAT:?" YIKES!

Under the heading of good ole', the Subaru 360 Sambar has been around since at least 1960. This might be the handicap accessible version. I have a feeling the spoiler and discs are aftermarket. 2 stroke engine probably only did 55 mph going downhill. A couple of years ago I saw a few of these rusting away in a yard in Ct.

Stop by Autozone and have them clear the code for you. The car will run a little wonky while the computer relearns. It will take a few driving cycles for all of the systems to become ready but hopefully that will be the end of your 0420 light show.

http://www.autozone.com/autozone/accessories/Help-18-mm-gasket-seat-spark-plug-non-foulers/_/N-25px?itemIdentifier=730544_0_0_ 18mm is the size. Above is the link to Autozone part. Comes 2 in a pack for about $5. NOTE: As I and others have discovered, this doesn't work on MY 2005+

Well, I am inclined to agree with you about these "spurious" codes. I clear the cel every now and again if it hasn't gone off in the meantime to make sure no other code has come up other than 0420. I can clear the code and have all systems ready to pass emissions. For the rest of the time I have 2 small pieces of black masking tape that cover the cel and the blinking cruise light. I hope the tape doesn't violate the no tampering laws.

Next question is whether their is any correlation or higher incidence to areas with winter fuel additives that trash the cat, i.e. % of sales of replacements by geographic region. and this: http://reviews.ebay.com/Reasons-for-catalytic-converter-failure?ugid=10000000002803746 Could the externally leaking oil (weeping) head gaskets on my 05 also be leaking internally enough to trash the cat?

Anyone ever try ole Scotty Kilmer's remedy. Ivan, care to try this on one of the many that roll thru your shop?

Had my favorite subie tech's ear today and he said that in Subie school, the 0420 is described as much more of a phenomenon here in the northeast. The unanswered question is if it has to do with fuel additives. I'd love to see a spreadsheet of which dealers are installing/selling the cats for these cars and see if there is a geographic pattern. Doubtful if Subaru will give up this info or whether the 0420 problem is even specific to the Subaru brand. I'd love to see the beating the dead horse emoticon added to the title of this post!

googling around found this little tidbit: http://www.cargurus.com/Cars/Discussion-t17299_ds469549 I know there are issues with hills and 2005's cruise control. See here: http://legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php/cruise-control-surges-jerks-downhill-10725.html?t=10725 I don't have the tsb but google 2005 Subaru cruise control problem and you will find some fun reading. Ignore the threads that include issues of check engine light as their problem is unrelated to yours. Cruise stops working if there is a CEL. Not your problem.

I recall there was tsb concerning cruise lunging in this year.

The car will drive well and feel fine in the early stages of a torn cv boot BUT the smell of CV grease is remarkable. As the axle spins, the grease is flung out of cracks in the cv boot landing on the hot engine/exhaust. A car of your vintage is apt to have dried out/torn boots. You may be able to see them from above but more readily from below. There are inner (near the transmission) and outer (near the wheel) boots on the axles. The passenger side usually goes first because it is over the exhaust and the heat fries the boot. Once the grease has all been flung out of the boot THEN you will notice the clicking sounds and drive-ability issues. Then again, you might have just caught a plastic bag or some other debris on your exhaust. Lots of possibilities but certainly check or have someone knowledgeable check the cv boots anyway.

But, isn't that what you meant to do?

OR Chip Foose and the Overhaulin' team is reworking your car right now! Don't forget to act surprised when they return a subaru brz to your driveway. Damn I wish I lived in the PNW with a GD close by.

Go easy gents. You have to consider the missus and daughter factor. If they blow a gasket there can be hell to pay. They selected the new and pretty car. Enuf said! Fitz can also milk the warranty for new HGs and get his timing belt done as well now that he knows better. Peace Love and Woodstock!

That motorcycle hearse looks like... well like a death trap! heh heh

Glad it worked out. Make darn sure before the warranty is up that you check very carefully for oil "seepage" at the bottom of the head gaskets. Subaru might tell you it's nothing to worry about but I was told it eventually leads to failure and insisted that the repair be done on my 05. Adding the 36K warranty to your current 61K puts you at 97K miles and just shy of the 105,000 mile timing belt change. So, once you beat them into submission, pay the extra for parts to do the timing belt while they are in there and you've gotten value added. Remember to use the turbo head gaskets as per many a board recommendation. I have found this board to be a very knowledgeable group of people who are generous with their expertise. Welcome aboard.

Meh... wouldn't be caught "dead" in this! HehHeh

The wear pattern you describe is probably a good indication to use anti-sieze on the moving parts as suggested by others. At 126K miles, my pads have worn a bit of a channel in the rotors but it doesn't seem to have affected performance. I would think that to have the rotors turned would unnecessarily thin out the bulk of the rotor and increase the chance of warpage.

They couldn't care less. You could always say they were vibrating if someone asked.

You may find that the rear pads aren't as worn as the front since the front does most of the braking. I check the rears but usually get two front changes to one rear. I use Duralast Gold from Autozone. A bit dusty but they have a lifetime warranty. Bought the set once and waddayaknow, the same pads fit my 05 and 08 OBs. Replace, return, repeat.

Well if they did the umpteen point inspection, check oil level should have been done. If you are burning or leaking that much oil in one week, it should have been evident. You are due for a timing belt service (water pump, seals etc) at 105K miles so if you can wiggle some room out of a free HG job or even free labor for the HG, you can also supply the parts for the timing belt as that labor is redundant if doing the HGs. This vintage does have external HG oil leaks as you describe which is why the uber-wrenchers here recommend HG change with timing belt. The recommendation is to use the HGs spec'd for the turbo as the design seems more durable. You might end up lookin' pretty smart after all.

Had a shop check the freeze frame data today when the cel was on with p0420. Didn't see much. Trims looked fine but did mention something about the temperature coolant sensor but no code was thrown. Shop owner dismissed it but seemed somewhat puzzled. When I googled p0420 and temp coolant sensor, there are some links that also mention the coincidence of these issues. I will go back to the shop and dig deeper next time the light comes on (it went off on the way home). Just throwing this out there to see if this makes sense to any of the uber-wrenchers here struggling with this demon.

mine is an 05:dead: 0420 hell