stevetone

Beating a dead horse, but that price is way too high. Plenty available for cheaper here in Wisconsin! BTW - how many times are you going to post the same question? Steve

Let's net this out: You have 3 vehicles shown in your profile The Brighton is a daily driver in New York with winter fast approaching Disk brakes won't stop you any faster on ice or in 3 feet of snow than drum brakes will Funds are "tight" It's not a maintenance repair (i.e., a required repair) Drum brakes stop cars just fine and have been used for decades Funds are "tight" Clearly the drum-to-disk project falls into the "hobby" category of projects. It's not a requirement for a decent running vehicle--it's optional. If there are necessary maintenance repairs to do, do them. Save your money for more important things in life (you mean--shock! -- Subaru disk brakes are NOT the most important thing in life?). You asked for opinions... Steve

I tell my clients that the cheapest car to own is almost always the one you currently have. Even if you spent a grand or two (gulp) on repairs, (and had a superb-running vehicle as a result, I may add) you would still be way ahead of a new car purchase. Depreciation alone, and loan interest to boot, will quickly exceed that grand that you put into the "old" vehicle. If you're thinking of purchasing a used car, how certain can you be that it was well-taken care of and the maintenance will be less? I'd rather go with "the devil I know" that the one I don't. Just my opinion, Steve

It's been a while, but the last couple of new cars that I got seemed to do this very thing when they were new. I just ignored it and it went away. Seems to be related to the metal on the exhaust heatshields contracting/expanding with temperature change. Although I'd get under there and hammer away or add additional clamping on my old used car, I'd be reluctant to do that on a new one. The dealer should be able to fix easily for you. Steve

Nathan, You make some good points about the idlers. Just reusing the 2 smooth ones saves over $100. Makes sense to inspect and only replace if needed. But about that last comment...I'm expecting at least another 10 years from her. She's just now getting broken in! Steve

For anyone that's interested click here for a PDF file of the parts list. These parts are for a '95 Subaru Legacy. Unfortunately, the part numbers are not shown. Compiling this list of parts was made a lot easier by the numerous and invaluable posts on this board. Thanks to you all! Steve

All OEM @ 1stsubaru.com

Ok, so I went to an online parts site and punched in all of the parts for my '95s timing belt replacement project. Actually, its more of a "timing belt - pulleys - tensioner - water pump - oil seals - radiator hoses - thermostat - gaskets" project. Even at their generous discount, it comes to $608 shipped. Ouch! Add to that 2 new torque wrenches and it' starts to sound like real money. I was thinking that it would be more like $400 for parts, but the tensioner and 4 pulleys (1 tensioner pulley, 1 toothed, 2 smooth) added about $320 to the total. Granted the engine will be completely new in front at 140,000 miles, but I had to prepare my wife that the total would be around (with extra tools and stuff) $850-$900. Her (brilliant) question to me was, "what would the dealer charge?" I couldn't give her a solid answer, but the parts alone retail for $760. Add to that what, 6 hours of labor at a good rate and I assured her it would be over $1,200. Now that's only a savings of $300 or so (yeah, I used the "but we'll have a couple of new torque wrenches" argument). Was I close, or did I misrepresent the total that a dealer would charge? Steve

p73, That was my first hunch as well. So I got off the couch and measured the tread depth. It's 6/32". That seems to be a little soon for a wear indicator, but maybe it gets exposed more as it wears more? I'm still clueless, but will monitor for change. Steve

No, It got the DOHC 2.5l engine. I've found that the cars101.com website was invaluable in checking out all of the variations in Foresters through the years. That particular engine had some headgasket challenges, but it's important to keep in mind that not all cars had problems. But given a choice, I went with a later model year (2003). Steve

That was the first year for the Forester. When I was recently in the market for one I steered away from that year for 2 reasons: Crash test results prompted Subaru to redesign and reinforce the body starting in '99 Engine is less robust than later years (particularly after '03) Just my opinions -- they're all good in their own way! Steve

Well, I just did the first tire rotation on my newly acquired '03 Forester X (96k miles). It has a set of Goodyear Regatta 2 tires on it, with a good amount of tread left on them. The weird, and hopefully minor, thing is that there is a thin white line on each of tires around the entire circumference. It's in the tread, not the sidewall. The line is actually embedded in the rubber and not centered but about 2/3 of the way to one side. You can't see the lines looking at the tires from the side but only if you stick your head inside the wheel well or take them off and look at the tread. This is the first time I ever saw something like this, but then again I'm not a tire person. I'm guessing that it's some kind of directional cue for mounting the tires, but my first reaction was that it was a wear indicator. There is plenty of tread left, so maybe not. Anybody see anything like this and should I be concerned? Thanks for your insight! Steve

sk, Don't know about '93s, but my '95 sunroof works as you describe. Hold the switch and it closes about 2/3 of the way. Let up and hold it again and it closes all the way. Never fiddled with the drain holes, but am interested in the responses. Steve

Thanks to everyone for chiming in on this. I may be overanalyzing this, but I fear, particularly with the cheap wrenches, that they may appear to be working fine, but could be way out of spec and torquing too little or (worse) too much. And if that's the case I may as well not use one at all and just go by feel. If you send it off to be recalibrated periodically, it better be a well-known brand and be capable of holding a calibration reasonably well, because you'll be spending $30+ just for someone to check if it's within specs. I gather that even if I purchased a used Snap-On torque wrench for approximately $150 on eBay I should get it recalibrated prior to using it. BTW, brands that I am considering include Snap-On, CDI, Precision Instruments, SK, Proto and MAC. Anyone with experiences with those? Steve

P73: Did you get the standard Craftsman versions or the Craftsman Professional versions? On the Craftsman website the reviews of the standard versions are not so hot, but then again I suspect that many people are using their torque wrenches as (expensive) breaker bars. And thanks for the idea of multiple wrenches to cover the torque ranges correctly. Any idea as to where would I get them recalibrated/checked? Steve

I'm will be starting two timing belt, water pump, pulleys, seals, etc. projects on my subes within a month and figured it was time to buy a decent click-adjustable torque wrench (been using a cheap beam type up until now). After searching through the forums, I found little in the way of actual recommendations, other than the cheap ones make a fun whoop-whoop-whoop sound as you wing them across the room. So I thought I'd ask: Any recommendations for a reasonably-priced, reasonably-accurate 1/2" drive torque wrench? I figure that one that has a maximum range of 150 ft. lbs. would be best, as from what I gather the higher capacity wrenches have lower accuracy at the bottom end of their ranges (I've seen specs like +-4% once over 20% of maximum range). Would that 150 ft. lb. upper range be sufficient? Now I normally use Craftsman tools, but the latest reviews I've seen regarding their torque wrenches are not very good. They do not carry the lifetime warranty either. I figure that Snap-On makes the best, but I'd rather not spend that much unless it's necessary to get a consistent quality. I'm not a professional mechanic, so it would only see occasional use. Although, as I said earlier, I'll be doing two projects. I'm open to all opinions, as I may be completely wrong on all the above! Thanks for your help. Steve

I see you're in Oregon, WI -- the Advance Auto Parts in Stoughton has read my codes (for free) in the past. Steve

"Does all this work really need to be done? Maybe the better question is, would I be an incredible fool to replace the timing belt and not do any of the other recommended work?" Yes and yes, at least in my opinion. Afterwards, you'll be good for another 60,000 miles (or 105,000, if they use a "California" timing belt). Happy motoring!

Is it even possible to mount a fan backwards? A backwards-facing fan would cause A LOT of overheating at idle, wouldn't it? And it would be apparent immediately after the shop mounted the fan incorrectly. And what "regular maintenance" requires the removal of the fan in the first place? Sounds fishy to me...

I wouldn't be as worried about the temperature range as I would be about brake system (i.e., fluid) contamination. When the vehicle is on the road and the temperatures are up, the system is closed, and the thread sealant cannot get to the brake fluid. It's when you are in the process of bleeding the system that contamination can occur. I'd make sure that anything you put on the threads is compatible with the brake fluid and rubber seals of the brake system. Like I said, just go with the speed bleeder sealant and move on to the next challenge...

http://speedbleeder.zoovy.com/product/THREADSEALANT

Hey, why not use duct tape? Seriously, just use the factory sealant and be done with it -- why take a chance on some mickey-mouse solution with the braking system?

Take it from a man with experience -- once your twins are born your life will seem high-performance enough!

My twins (now 5 years old) have always travelled in our 1995 Legacy Wagon LSi. Even when the car seats were facing backwards, there was plenty of room to get them in and out and transported safely. Have we ever wished that we had even more room? Occasionally. But we were unwilling to sacrifice any of the other benefits of owning a Subaru. Congratulations!

125k miles, so far (I'm sure I jinxed it now )