falconer315

Just bought the car in March with 145,000 mi on it. So, that being said, I have no idea when much of the preventative maintenance was done last. I do know that it was previously owned by a Subaru mechanic, so I have assumed that it was well taken care of. But that is not always the case.

That's the fun part. I've never actually heard anything that sounded out of the ordinary. It just sounds rough. There is a rhythmic click/tick that I can normally hear from the passenger side, but that tends to get quieter after it has warmed up a bit and doesn't sound quite so rough. Though I've never paid much attention to the noise, it does seem to me that the frequency is connected to the RPM of the engine. I do know a mechanic who is helping another friend of mine rebuild a WRX after he blew the engine. I'll give him a shout next time I see him over there. The car easily has 155,000+ miles on the engine and I have been using synthetic oil with a high mileage formula along with the additive. It's due for an oil change, so maybe that will help things out a bit. In the meantime, am I correct that the common consensus is that it's probably nothing, but if it changes/gets worse I should get it looked at?

I've got a 2005 Baja N/A 2.5 and have been told that I have some "lifter noise". The first time I heard that from somebody I was told I could alleviate the problem with an oil change using Lucas Oil Stabilizer. So, that's what I did. I recently heard someone tell me that they heard some lifter noise as well. I know that Subarus typically have a rougher sounding engine compared to some other makes/models, so I've attributed what I've been hearing to that characteristic. However now with winter approaching in Upstate NY, I'd rather not be working on the engine during a snowstorm. I'm not sure exactly what they're talking about, or what this noise is supposed to sound like. Could someone explain what I should be listening for, what causes it, what the long term implications are if it goes unresolved, and how I can fix the issue? Is this something that I should take to a garage to fix, or is this something that someone with limited experience should be able to handle?

If you ever decide to take that on a cross country trip, make a stop in Upstate NY. I would LOVE to see this beauty in person! Just don't see any vintage subies up here, the winter road salt corrodes and rusts anything that isn't made of plastic.

Looking forward to hearing more about this issue. I've also got an '05 Baja that needs the brakes changed soon.

Thanks, I'll take a look at them when I get home. Car started up fine this morning and brought me to work, here's to hoping that it'll get me home just fine this afternoon. Anybody know if there are any common ones I should look out for or check on first?

I understand the concept, but not the process. I am assuming then that I would just get a voltage meter and pull the fuses behind the cup holder, if a terminal shows that it's drawing from the battery when the car is off, that would potentially be the source of my issue. Correct? From there I would have to trace wires back to check the connections. Do the odometer and clock stay on regardless of whether or not the car is running? Should these be on regardless?

CD player works when the car is on accessory or "on", nothing is stuck in the disc tray.

2005 Baja, when the car is turned off, are the Odometer and Clock displays supposed to stay on 24/7? Went home Friday and the car sat all day Saturday and half the day Sunday. The wife drove it to fill up the gas and then to her sister's house. She got there and stayed for about 30 mins, but when she went to leave the car wouldn't start. The battery died and it wouldn't even crank to turn over. The trip counter, clock, and radio all were reset and there wasn't even the door chime. When I went to turn the key the digital displays went out only to turn back on again after a minute. Finally got it jumped and didn't have any further issues. Drove it down and got the battery/alternator checked and they're both giving healthy readings. The terminal on the positive (+) side of the battery was cracked and got changed out, but does anyone have any idea if this will be a permanent fix or if it would end up being more of a band-aid for a larger problem? Would the digital displays be enough to run the battery down to the point where it won't turn over after 40 hours of sitting, or does it seem as though there is something else drawing the juice?

I second that thought. I'm sure a lot of us have thought about building our own rather than buying them.

At very least, despite the similar weight you'll have something with more strength than factory. You should take some comfort in that fact.

While I can't offer any definitive information, I see Foresters hauling boats quite frequently in my area.

Thanks for the input, I'll look into that later on. Already had the Lucas in my garage, so I used what I had available to me at the time. Always good to get other options though. :-)

Ended up the tranny fluid was reaching the "L" on the hot side. Dumped a qt of fluid in and about a quarter bottle of Lucas. Already seeing a noticeable difference. Still a little clunky when going into/out of reverse, but that's improved since the other day. Also looks like I've got a small oil leak around the filter. Next oil change I'll take a better look at it, but it doesn't look to be a huge deal.

Good idea on the 2 funnel system. I'll have to dig around and see if I've got a second. Once I have the tranny stuff in for a few miles I'll let you know if I see any noticeable difference in shifting/tranny performance.

Was REALLY hoping that there would be an easier place to pour it into besides the dipstick tube. It's a real snot to get to with a funnel. Anybody have any opinions on Lucas Trans. Fluid stabilizer? I use the oil stabilizer, but I haven't tried the tranny fluid stuff yet.

Perfect, thanks all for the input on this. The only thing it's touching is the other line that I haven't replaced yet. It's corroded as well, so I'm probably just going to grab more hose and change that one too a bit later on. If I'd realized just how much longer the other hose was before I bought it I would have just bought 3 ft vs the 2 that I walked out with. Oh well, lesson learned. Anyway, hooked everything back together, put the clamps on it and took it for a drive. Feels a little clunky on the shifting, so I probably need to add more ATF fluid. The levels indicated on the dipstick are very misleading. Can't seem to get it to come up clean with a clear indication of how much I've got. Also can't seem to find where I'd add it into either. But, it's a brand new day and I'll pop my head back under the hood this afternoon when I'm out of work.

Alright, I got the hose ran and got the new line hooked up. Now, how do I bleed it, or is that a non-issue?

Yeah, I ran to NAPA and grabbed about 2 ft of hose. I'm going to just run it up higher. With any luck I can jimmy rig some zip ties to hold it out of the way and along the original course of the lines.

Well, looks like fairtax was right. Thanks to lovely salted roads every winter the ATF lines got corroded. The bump was enough to crack it open. The oil was just residual. Now I'm faced with a couple of questions. It's corroded right where it leads into the rubber hose, can I cut the line higher up and just splice in a section of hose? The rest of the line is clean and dry. I'd hate to waste the rest of the line. Or, if I do have to replace it all, is there a part number for a pre-bent line or do I have to bend it myself?

Well, going out to look at it now. Checking the oil and then heading home. I'll probably pull the splash guard in the morning when I've got the time provided the problem isn't too big and the puddle under my car hasn't grown. I'll keep everyone updated.

Certainly hope the oil was already there...just changed it less than 2 months ago and I know that I missed the filler tube a time or two thanks to a gust of wind and an unstable funnel. (That's my story and I'm sticking to it...) Haven't had a chance to check the diff. oil yet. All the bolts seem to be in there pretty tight and I haven't had time to mess with them much. Believe it's oil, going to have to take a closer look in about an hour. Go figure I'm sitting here working overtime, and on the way in have a potential problem that could eat up the money I'll be making. Gotta love life sometimes.

Certainly looks like oil to me. No red tinge to it, just looks like a transparent brownish gold. Funny thing is, I've got about 9 quarts of tranny fluid sitting in a box in my garage. If I have to stop and buy tranny fluid I'm going to be livid. Although spending a little bit on tranny fluid and then returning some of what I've got at home is a lot better than spending a lot to replace the whole tranny.

That's the thing, wouldn't have thought it was hard enough to do anything more than just skim the guard. Didn't do any noticeable damage/scaping on the guard when I looked at it. I'll certainly look at it when I'm under it though.

Hypothetically though, I don't have the entire splash guard, the piece covering the filter/drain plug/pan is missing, so if I'd damaged any of that wouldn't it just run straight down? Only thing I can think of is the filler tube, but I don't think that comes down low enough. You're right Tom, I'm just going to have to remove the plastic when I get home and take a better look.