Scottbaru

Can you get new factory sealant? I think the problem is the sealant isn't good after a couple loosenings. Loctite PTFE anaerobic thread sealant is good to 400F, maybe that'd work? I might try it myself with a vacuum bleeder.

I think the Speed Bleeders rely on threads to seal during bleeding, he needs a thread sealant.

In a car with overdrive, it'll shift into OD while cruising at fairly low speed, and downshift with every push of the throttle. Around town there's a lot of throttle movement, so a lot of shifting in & out of OD, more wear on the tranny. On most auto trannys with OD, there's usually a separate button to disable OD, or there's both D and OD on the shifter. Normally 3 isn't for typical driving.

The inch-drive breaker bar comes in handy. I considered making a torque multiplier for the torque wrench, but I think I estimated close enough based on my weight and moment arm.

Teflon tape voids the warranty of most industrial hydraulic machinery. It's good on water and gas pipe. The problem with tape in hydraulics is that bits of tape sometimes end up in the hydraulic fluid and eventually in something critical. We use teflon paste in the industry.

Hmm, that's a good point. The Landcruiser was I think 310 ft/lb.

In desperation, I used the starter trick on my Landcruiser. I learned not to do it more than once in the same spot, had to replace the starter contacts and plunger after that. Luckily I had a set handy. That was a cold-weather, extra heavy duty, geared starter. I like the method of pushing the car, I'll try that next time (if it's a stick).

My originals look good at 80k, except the one rear inner that's less than an inch from the tailpipe. The front outers are both new, a much stiffer plastic instead of the original rubber boots. I suspect they won't last as long. My Landcruiser has steel spheres over the birfield (CV) joints, very debris and rot proof. I think some Land Rovers also have birfields.

Get yourself some oil-resistant rubber and a razor blade, and make new gaskets. Good materials would be Buna (nitrile), ECH, Polyurethane, Viton. They come in various thicknesses, hardnesses and colors, even adhesive backed sheets. Poke around on http://www.mcmaster.com for more info. Click on "for more information click on.....", loads of charts and graphs of hardnesses, they even have pictures of tires, chewing gum, erasers, to compare hardnesses to. Cork???

I feel for you, my wife's been rear-ended three times in her Land Cruiser. That's no bumper, it's the ladder frame sticking out the back beyond the hatch.

Aren't the plugs steel in aluminum? Zinc anti-sieze would be better for corrosion, but it turns hard and crumbly in the heat. Maybe moly grease? I don't expect to get any corrosion in this dry application, I'll stick with copper.

Copper anti-sieze.

On a hot engine fuel in fuel rails can boil if it isn't circulating fast enough or at enough pressure. The pressure keeps it from boiling like the coolant under pressure. Some injection systems don't circulate the fuel around the injectors. You could be losing pressure momentarily if a pump is weak or filter is clogged.

What's your car worth? I'd guess $4000 to $5000 if it's in overall good shape. If it's running well you could sell it, maybe take a hit for a possible problem. The gasket job might cost $1500, but there are often other issues that crop up, so expect a little more. It's usually wise to do some preventative mainenance while you're in there on an engine of that mileage. There are plenty of good deals on lower mileage cars, interest rates are still good, I'd sell it.

There's not much clearance around the boot, it has to be something low-profile. McMaster-Carr has low-profile clamps, but they need special tools. My front outer boots look like OEM replacements, with pinch-style clamps I usually see on replacement boots. Those are what I need, possibly smaller for the rear CV joints. I packed a lot of moly grease into the joint, and the zip-tie seems to be doing a good job for now.

'99 Legacy Brighton, rear, outer boot, the large clamp is missing. It looks like it was once there. There's a pile of grease built up under it, luckily I have a few tubs of moly grease handy. Are the repair clamps readily available without the full kit? There's about 1/4" clearance around the boot, so I can't use an aircraft hose clamp. Looks like I need a clamp about 5/16" wide, 3-1/8" diameter. I'm going to try stuffing grease in there and wrapping it with a wire tie for now. Glad I found this while poking around rather than checking out a bad CV joint sound.

Is there a typical mileage these go out? On 80-series Landcruisers it's usually about 100k, and an engine fire can result if the contacts weld to the plunger.

I’ll have to look for those. You didn’t happen to note the thread size did you? The stock drain plug in the block of my ‘cruiser is brass, that’s a huge improvement for little $. If these aren’t brass I’d like to put brass ones in.

One of my jobs requires me to drive from Michigan to O’Hare frequently. Most of my driving is on dry highways, with the occasional very nasty winter storm. I need an excellent snow tire that doesn’t squirm or wear excessively, so I want an all-season tire with the best snow characteristics possible. It’s a bit complicated, but you can sort the tires at Tire Rack for individual characteristics: List all tires that fit your car, select the check box on each one, and select compare. That brings up a comparison chart of all tires that fit your car, and on the left you can pick a characteristic you want to sort for. The Goodyear Tripledge is the current leader in the snow traction category among all-season tires carried by Tire Rack. It’s expensive, but very much worth it to me, I’ll be buying a set this Fall. The Firestone Indy500 tires also rate well in snow for a little less $, I’ve had them on my Quattro for a year, excellent tire.

Yikes! Many yikes! How much did you spend total, and how much time? Estimating, I'm guessing you approached a quarter of what I paid for my Legacy this winter, and you went cheap and got deals. And your time and frustration - priceless:rolleyes:. That much time on my part-time side job would've paid for all your parts. I rebuilt both axles on my Landcruiser, including twelve new bearings and seals, for a fraction of that time and $. And I'm not a mechanic, and I didn't even pull my airtools out. I'm having serious doubts about long-term Subaru ownership and maintenance. I bought it because it was inexpensive and easy to maintain. On the scale of built-to-be-maintained or stamped-together-disposable, things are not sounding great for my Subaru.

Sounds like I'll need to invest in a factory repair manual if I ever have to replace a wheel bearing. I have various presses and machinery to do the job. Is there really just one bearing in there, no inner and outer? I guess I can see one bearing possibly doing the job if it's really beafy, or even one ball-bearing, but that doesn't save much $ when two smaller bearings could be put on a lighter and less stressed hub. Any problems with heating the hub to get it apart (assuming I replace the bearing)? I wouldn't want to mess up anything heat-treated. We have liquid nitrogen at work, maybe a little in the inner hub?

What would be the effect of oil flowing into the cylinder beneath the piston, like if the car is tipped sideways on a steep hill or slides into a ditch? I've tossed around some airplanes with boxer engines, never really thought about this.

On my '99 there was a bump-stop or something like it missing. The switch on the clutch pedal has a plunger that's pushed in when the pedal is up. The plunger was poking through the hole where the bump-stop used to be. The cruise control thought the clutch was in and wouldn't engage.

Do a search for headgaskets, you'll get a long list of posts, many sad tales. This one deals with a couple '04s:http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=37480&highlight=head+gasket

My Timken catalog lists: Seal, inner #710266 Bearing Assembly, inner #513248 Seal, intermediate #225005 Seal, outer #710529 Autozone may have these, sometimes it helps to have the Timken numbers. Any industial bearing supply place will be able to get them with these numbers. I haven't had this car apart. My Haynes doesn't have a blowup of the bearings or seals, just the recommendation to take it to a shop with a hydraulic press. I expect to see two bearing assemblies per wheel, and there may be more seals, maybe someone with a factory manual or experience can add to this.