unibrook

Have you ever replaced your front 02 sensor?

Ivan beat me to it, but I also would have suggested the front 02 sensor. My 2001 Forester with 120k on her needs a fresh front 02 sensor every 40k miles, like clockwork. Re: PO420: Just a couple of data points to toss in for those suffering the occasional PO420 CEL. My CEL PO420 has been coming on about thrice per year lately. I plug in my CEL Scanner and erase the code and drive on my merry way. Since we do limited, mostly city driving, it can take a while for Emissions Test Ready reset cycle to complete.....so you can pass inspection. This month, it took about 189 miles and nearly 3 weeks of driving to get the pending PO420 to turn off and the Emissions Ready Green Light to appear in my CEL Code Scanner. Then it passed inspection no problem.

Just a couple of data points to toss in for those suffering the occasional PO420 CEL. My car is a 2001 Forest with 120k miles on her....yes, she is a Lesbaru. My CEL PO420 has been coming on about thrice per year lately. I plug in my CEL Scanner and erase the code and drive on my merry way. Since we do limited, mostly city driving, it can take a while for Emissions Test Ready reset cycle to complete.....so you can pass inspection. This month, it took about 189 miles and nearly 3 weeks of driving to get the pending PO420 to turn off and the Emissions Ready Green Light to appear in my CEL Code Scanner. Then it passed inspection no problem.

You might also have had a bit of buzzing coming out of the module? Almost like the horn is half on? The wires coming out of the wire harness that bolt to the car body as a ground, near the module.........become corroded after many years. You need to unbolt the eyelet, wirebrush clean the eyelet, the bracket, the nut and bolt, then slap dielectric grease all around and bolt it back up. Cured mine.

2001 Forester 120k miles. Both of my flanges on original exhaust had rusted thru. My FixIt garage guy just cut off the flanges and welded in a piece of pipe....charges $75 per flange repair, near Boston. Passes inspection just fine 2 yrs later. He said it won't last forever, but should hold for a couple of years. He is right so far.

When was front 02 sensor last replaced? When old and tired, this sensor will cause misfire stumbling. And by old, I mean my 2001 Forester seems to want a new one every 40k miles.

PM sent re my step-by-step guide on wheel bearing replacement in your driveway. (many thx to Hohieu btw)

Try to clean the ground wire eyelet/bolt coming out of the wire harness at the ABS modulator. Someone advised cleaning off the corrosion on this ground, and it worked for me. http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=131070&highlight=abs+horn

Are you getting any driving symptoms yet? Any bucking when warm, but not when cold? Has your front 02 sensor been changed in the last 40k miles?

I like reading these data point posts, since they help me judge how long I am willing to push my machine. I have a 2001 Forester with 116k miles on her. Sometime between now and 150k, I will replace the belt and all the rest. But I give a good visual inspection and listen closely for any noises coming out of the timing belt area on a frequent basis. So, obviously if I hear anything starting to make noises, I will jump right on it.

That's one of the things I like about the HubTamer tool method. No need to remove the brakes.

You can definitely do it in your driveway. I use the HubTamer on my 2001 Forester. Bro borrowed it to do his 95 Camry front bearing. PM me if you want me to email you my step by step instrux.

Does it misfire right from start, when the car is cold? Or only after the car is warmed up? If only when warm, and your front 02 sensor has not been replaced in the last 40k miles......I vote to change it. Worked for me. (2001 Forester 116k miles).......(now on its 3rd front 02 sensor, if u include the original)

That all depends on you. If you have more $ than time, then yes it is worth it. I am a cheapskate, and I don't trust others to do as careful a job on my car as I will, so I do it myself. But I would not do the job for someone else for less than $300 if I were to charge for it. It is a pain, but doable in your driveway. Up on a lift it would be much easier on your back.

Just to add a data point: 2001 Forester 116k miles. My 420 usually comes on once or twice per summer when stuck in hot highway jam traffic. I usually just clear it and go on with life. This summer, every time I cleared it, it came back on soon after. About a month later, an exhaust leak became audible. Shop replaced the front flange gasket (just behind the cat). I cleared off the code, and it hasn't come back on. This is just my experience. Obviously not all 420's are due to exhaust leaks.

Are you sure you need to replace your hose? How about just replacing the slave cylinder?

I use a .5" breaker bar and slip a 5' extender pipe over that. With my 200 lbs leaning on it, that is about 1200 ft-lbs of torque. I have come across no nut yet that has been able to resist that kinda leverage.

I didn't bother to replace the hose on my 2001 Forester with 114k miles on it, since i was pretty confident just the slave was going bad. One tip that helped me, was to pre-fill the slave with as much fluid as possible before installing it to bleed it. This made bleeding quick and easy. Sorry, I have no hose advice.

My notes say take a very good precise measurement of how deep seated the hub is supposed to be ... before you remove it from the old bearing.

Did you burp the coolant system well when the fluid was replaced? Maybe try it again, for kix.

At what mileage did the TB break?

I echo the change of slave cylinder. It is easy to do in your driveway.

I imagine one of the "tricks" you have to play on it is to ignore the fact that you don't use a front 02 sensor?

From my notes doing a rear bearing with the HubTamer: 1. If your new bearing came with inner plastic sleeve retainer, then remove it now. Gently tap it out with hammer and screwdriver from outside toward differential. 2. Pack new outer seal (the one with no metal spring inside it) with grease. Install new outer seal using 311888-flat side to housing. This seal is fully installed when flush to housing. (the orientation of the seals is pretty simple - inner and outer seals closest to the bearing go in with the open part (the part with the spring) facing the bearing. 3. Grease up spindle shaft of hub and use Hub Tamer to press it into inner races of new bearing. From inboard toward outer : HT #s: 503052(bolt), 219646(washer), 311887-ridge side toward bearing to support inner race! Flip over to flat side for last 1 cm of pressing in hub, /Housing/, 311888-cup toward hub, 219646(washer), 311881(nut). Regrease HT parts each time you use them to prevent friction damage. Pressing in the hub only takes 25% of the force that pressing the bearing in takes. Per ultimatesubaru.org forum: “Also when you press the hub back into the bearing and compare the spin of it to the other wheels it will be somewhat tighter. As long as it turns by hand it will be O.K. and will get as loose as the rest in short order.” 4. Use similar HT setup as above to install inner seals, use #314302 against inner seals. Pack seals with grease. The innermost seal (nearest to the differential) goes in with the rubber dust-boot ridge lip pointing into the bearing. Again, the innermost seal (nearest to diff) is fully installed when it feels almost flush with housing.)