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unibrook

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Posts posted by unibrook

  1. Fun and games continue with my inde shop and the rear bearings they put in less than 1 year and less than 5k miles ago. I called them up and asked if they would fix it for free. They said "bring the car in, if the bearing is still under warranty, we will fix it for free." So I take a couple of hours out of my workday to drive it in there, and when I get back to the office they called and said Subaru won't warranty the bearing for more than 6 months. My shop won't give me free labor to put another one in, they said. Soooooo, why couldn't they figure all that out and tell me that over the phone instead of wasting my time like this? The answer is, they could. But once they hassle you enough to drop your car off at the shop, they figure you will just buckle and say, "oh ok, since the car is already there, go ahead and replace the bearing again for $375." I told them not to touch it, I will pick it up and fix it myself. And they will get no more of my business.

  2. Just to echo what TIMINTC said, if your car is reasonably late model (1999 and newer) the rear wiper motor is probably not the culprit...it has a sensor in it to shut off if it feels too much resistance. So the motor rarely burns out. And the gears rarely strip. You will probably find what timintc and I did that the shaft itself is corroded/frozen. Remove the back gate plastic trim panel...some big phil-head screws, bunch of plastic pop out tabs. Take the motor backing plate off being careful not to strip the 6 small phil-head retaining screws...and get ready to catch the white nylon gears that might fall out. BTW, my wiper arm was corrosion welded onto the drive shaft, and I sheared the retaining nut and end of shaft off as I tried to remove it...turns out you don't REALLY need to separate the two pieces anyway. Then spend 30 mins spraying WD40 and or lith grease up and down the wiper shaft from both inside and out and slowly work the wiper arm back and forth and it will free up. I sprayed white lith grease on all of the plastic panel tabs b4 I put it back in place figuring that this wiper motor grease job will prob become a yearly maint chore. timintc, have you tried gooping some silicone onto the ouside of shaft to prevent water from running down it? I might try this.

  3. Hohieu, I dunno if they used ball bearings. I would assume they used new roller bearings...if that is what gets sold as a replacement part. On the other hand, I am sure they went cheapest route possible. Maybe the bearings they got sucked, maybe my spindle has a lip on it. Dunno. So many dunno's when dealing with a shop. sorta why I want to just dig in and do it myself. Even though the hassle factor daunts me.

  4. That was Dec 2007 I had both rear bearings replaced. Now it is Dec 2008 (< 5k miles later) and they are both howling like a banshee again. @#%&%$$^ I think I will take Gary's advice and try to just replace the whole hub assembly myself instead of paying another shop to screw it up for me. Any junkyards for Subies around Boston?

  5. Further to this, mine is 2001 Forester with 92k miles on her. I think driver side HG external leak is happening in fairly small way. I top up coolant once a year with a cup or two of premix. And yes, I had the super-duper official Subaru coolant additive put in under warranty. So, my question is, can I take my car into the dealer and point to the external leak and have them replace the HG for free, since it has under 100k on it? Anyone done this? thx.

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