RallyKeith
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Posts posted by RallyKeith
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Not the cat because the cat wouldnt be instantly responsive to throttle poition. There would be a time delay, and it would not be going in and out of open loop closed loop all the time.
i am just hoping its not a cracked pipe.
I'm confused... What makes you think that the CAT has any effect on going open loop or closed loop and what time delay????? Front 02 sensor is monitoring cumbustion and the rear o2 sensor is monitoring the effeciency of the CAT. I'm about 99.9% certain going open or closed loop doens't have anything to do with the CAT or it's performance, only on the throttle position. That said I don't think that piece of information has any relevance to your situation. PO420 is catalyst effeciency out of range which is always a toss up of sensors or CAT. Given your circumstances I think it's even harder to gauge. Were the 02sensors OEM or aftermarket? If OEM I wouldn't expect them to fail, especially know what our rally car sees with no issues. But, at 230k the CAT has gone through a lot. I'm sure you're familiar with the honeycomb construction of the CAT. There is a chance some of it collapsed going over the bumps. If I had the time and resources I would probably pull apart the exhaust and inspect the insides of the cats, but that's me. Also, I would have someone else rev up the engine while I stood behind the car listening for any whistle coming from the tail pipe that might indicate a partially colapsed cat.
Those are my thoughts. PO420 is pain in the you know what to properly diagnose, so good luck.
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when a battery goes bad, it cannot take a charge anymore, and the voltage drops off, to less than needed.
This is true, but that doesn't typically happen while the car is running. The alternator is sourcing the current required to keep the battery charged and run all the electronics in a car. I've driven a subaru (96 Legacy GT) with a bad battery that I could jump start and drive for an hour with the headlights and stereo on, but when shut off the car would immediately not start. All that time the alternator was supplying all the current required to run.
If however the alternator goes bad the battery has to source all the current and it eventually run out and the car will die, just as mentioned by the original poster.
Now, as I said in my first sentence, that is typical. Doesn't mean a battery can't go bad in a way that creates a short circuit and the alternator can't supply the required current.
Synopsis: Check the alternator. From the failure mode the odds are good it is the culprit.
Keith
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I am not sure what I think of this right now. For today I will settle for just a reaction of shocked.
For me auto racing isn't fun to watch unless its WRC and without Subaru in it what is the point?
Damn.
My initial response is this could be the end for either Subaru as we know it or Subaru in the WRC, no matter what happens to the economies. Subaru is the only manufacturer running a flat 4 motor. 2 or so years ago there was some kind of talk from the FIA of mandating a "standard" engine design, and it was not a flat 4. I'm afraid that if the Subaru isn't there it will be far to easy to make that rule. If that happens, either Subaru will have to change engine design from what we all know and love, use a toyota engine (not all too horrible, but there is that whole toyota being banned from WRC a few years ago for cheating), or the worst option of never coming back until that rule is repealed.
Keith
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http://www.swrt.com/news/latest_news.html?id=1590
Sad sad day when a company that has based so much of it's success in the 90's and 2000's on it's presence in the WRC.
Keith
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01 Forester, 200k miles.
Smelled oil and found I was at least 1 quart low. Got the oil changed and the mechanic said there is an oil leak, but the car needs to be cleaned up to see where it is coming from. He believes it is the rear main seal.So first I know I need to get the car underneath cleaned. And the engine compartment.
IF it is the rear main seal, what then?
I have a manual trans. and it is not needing a clutch yet. Can I get just the seal replaced w/out the clutch? Or go ahead and get it all done? It is the original clutch.
First off, there is a good chance it's a combination of the rear main seal and the seperator plate. If you are having one fixed, you should have them both done. The seperator plate is an obvious access plate that is right next to the seal. These often leak, especially if you have an earlier year car. (They were plastic on some years)
As for the clutch, I would have it replaced. If you really are at 200k miles and it's original, it's bound to be due soon. You are looking at about 2-3 hours of labor just to get to it and put it back together. Since it has to come out to replace the rear main seal you would theoretically be saving $120-$180 ($60 an hour labor) when it does need to be replaced.
Just my $0.02
Keith
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I already posted, but I am sort of pissed off that these "technology" wonders in cars are forced onto us.
Sorry if I came off whiney in my last post. My friend is a good driver and I don't want people attacking that. I just wanted to talk about this scenario with ABS.
As for the technology being pushed onto consumers, a little over a year ago I was looking at the Toyota Yaris as a commuter car and I was plesantly surprised to find out that ABS was technically an option. Trying to find one without the ABS in the northeast however was a different story.
Keith
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Guys, do me a favor and try to stick to my question and not comment on the driving. As I said it was a rental hyundai so something like the brake pad condition is something he can't know, and can only assume was fine. Someone in the lane next to him and about 100 feet infront of him spun out and came into his lane. It was a snow squall on untreat roads that caused some very icy conditions. No time to downshift, no time to do anything but try to slow down and steer around, which is exactly what ABS is for, to allow you to steer around the accident.
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A friend was in a fender bender saturday, due to icy road conditions, where the ABS did nothing. Now, he was driving a Hyundai SUV rental while his car was being worked on, but it begs the question if it would have mattered at all. So the question is, if at any speed, you SLAM on the brakes and get all 4 wheels to lock up instantly, like if you were on pure ice with racing slicks) what would the ABS do?
Part of me says that it should do nothing, because at any given moment there is no difference in wheel speed between any of the wheels.
Another part of me says the ABS computer should recognize a chage in wheel speed outside of the laws of physics and apply some function of ABS to all wheels.
Thoughts? Experiances?
Keith
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This is good advice no matter what year or car you drive.
There also a chance of moisture entering the "power brake booster," or what ever you want to call it, from the passanger compartment and causing a freeze condition. Snow brought in and melted onto the floor mat causes a high moisture content in the air directly below the booster. We've discussed it on the board in the past as it has happened to several of us. If I find that thread I'll post it back in here.
Safe driving, and Stopping!
Keith
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Do you have drum brakes on the rear? if so you may need to adjust them. Pull the drums off and and make sure the adjustment star wheel is free.
In my experiance unadjusted rear drums don't effect the stopping force, it just makes the pedal move closer to the floor before actual braking begins. It's still a good thing to check though.
You may want to check for properly working calipers. I just spent some time diagnosing a problem with my 96 that had poor brakes. I had dual piston calipers in the front and one of the two pistons was seized, and the other was very hard to move. Made the car feel like it wasn't going to stop at high idle, but at the same time the car didn't exhibit any other signs such as pulling to one direction. I rebuilt the caliper and now it stops awesome!
Also, as you stated, this is in your opinion... Every Make/Model car is different. Do you have the ability to compare your car to another Subaru similar to yours? Maybe one on a used car lot? Try finding one with the same setup (Rear drum not 4 wheel disk) and driving it.
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The tach is just a module that screws into the instrument cluster. Really easy to do. Like mentioned any 95-99 legacy will do for the donor.
Keith
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A newly remanufactured axle can be near impossible to get fully exended with out a mechanical advantage such as the threading of the axle nut. With a good amount of fresh grease and a tight seal on the CV boot you create a vaccuum inside the inner boot that fights against fully stretching that joint.
Sounds like some of what I was saying was the case. The combination of crappy inner boot design and fresh rebuild limited your ability to fully extend the joint. Just glad to hear you got it together.
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You know this may lead us down the road to solving the engine vibration. As the auto axels are almost 200.00 more then the manuals.
hrmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
nipper
I'm changing my tune on this back to what I originally said about there being no difference.
I called my parts guy and he said (and verified as I was on the phone with him) that both the MT and AT axles for a 95 Legacy point to the same remanufactured axle part number of 28021AC171. He said there were two different part numbers at one point, but they all now piont to the same number. So in subaru's eyes there is now no difference between Auto and Manual. You can put the above part number in 1stsubaruparts and look at it. NOW, This isn't to say that this particular reman isn't messed up in some way. I'll be curious to see.
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You know this may lead us down the road to solving the engine vibration. As the auto axels are almost 200.00 more then the manuals.
hrmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
nipper
Maybe the MT shafts are longer, and I've never had an issue because I put the longer shaft in place of what should be a shorter..... got me.
I'll have to stop by my dealership tomorrow morning and chat with my parts guy and get some exploded drawings from him. He likes doing that kind of crap with me. We just did it a few weeks ago for brake calipers on my 96. Stupid half way through the model year change of calipers.
Keith
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also, did anyone mention this. automatic axle is different length than 5spd axle.
Are you sure? What makes you think so? Are you think of the loyales/GLs?
I've done several searches through http://www.PartsAmerica.com and http://www.car-part.com which show the same part for both AT and MT. To top that, you can see my earlier post where I mention owning and 96AT and a 95MT and not seeing a difference in half shafts. That's because I'm driving a 96AT with a half shaft I rebuild out of my 95MT car..... If there is a difference Me, car-parts.com, and partsamerica.com don't know it.
Keith
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On the other hand, I stiil don't see why one would pull the engine to do clutch and belt work!?!
Mike V.
Have you ever done a clutch on a subaru? I can only imagine you haven't, because if you had then you would think you would understand.
But since it's lunch hour and I'm bored with work, here's an explaination:
To pull the motor(not actually taking the motor out, just lifting it foreward enough to gain access) and radiator(for extra clerance) and access the clutch is 15 bolts (6 exhaust, 2 motor mouts, 1 "dog bone", 4 trans to engine, and 2 radiator support), two hose clamps, and about 1 hour labor. The other option of pulling the trans which takes a lot more. Completely dropping the the exhaust, the heat sheild between the exhaust and drive shaft, the drive shaft (Which means you also have to deal with gear oil possibly leaking out of the open drive shaft spot) and then the trans. That actually totals up to about 29 bolts (6 exhaust to heads, 1 exhaust to trans, 6 heat sheid, 4 driveshaft to rear diff, 2 driveshaft carrier bearing, 4 engine to trans, 1 "dog bone", 1 starter, 4 rear trans crossmember) Oh, and then you also have to remove the front halfshafts.....
So hopefully now if you ever need to do a clutch you can understand why you pull the engine.
Keith
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I've got two quick question and a brief (ok, maybe long) statement. Maybe I missed some of this in all the BS of this post but anyhow...
Did you try this with the wheels turned straight and with the the suspension compressed just a bit?
OR....
Have you tried taking the axle nut off, attaching the inside and then re-doing the axle nut?
In the picture you've got the wheels turned full in one direction and the suspension all the way dropped. That creates a situation where the axle needs to be fully extended. A newly remanufactured axle can be near impossible to get fully exended with out a mechanical advantage such as the threading of the axle nut. With a good amount of fresh grease and a tight seal on the CV boot you create a vaccuum inside the inner boot that fights against fully stretching that joint.
I don't believe there to be a difference in Half shafts from Left to Right, FWD to AWD, or MT to AT. My experiance owning a 96AT legacy and 95 MT Legacy lead me towards that conclusion, but obviously I don't have all the pieces of the puzzle so I can't say that for certain.
I also don't see anything apparently wrong in any of your pictures. IF the dog bone wasn't in right you wouldn't get the motor mounts down in (Been there done that) so I don think anything is out of alignment.
I suggest trying my second question and seeing if it all pulls together without pulling up the suspension or anything crazy.
Good luck, I really think it's just something smiple being overlooked.
Keith
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How careful were you when compressing the Hydraulic timing belt tensioner? If you go to hard on it you can damage it and it won't work properly. It will appear to be fine until you start the engine. Take the timing belt covers off and watch the timing belt and the adjuster to see if they are slapping around to verify.
Keith
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If you just pop the tie rod end, you dont affect the steering geometry.
nipper
Even with the right tools... I've never managed to do that without tearing the boot.
But even so, I've never needed to do that and I've done a dozen axle or boot replacements. I suggest you try taking the axle out before going through the hassle of the tierod. -
and tie rod end.
Tie Rod end? That must be a typo right? Undoing the tie rod end messes with the alignment since in controls the steering. Just turn the wheel all the way in one direction after undoing the ball joint and sway bar link, and there is enough room to get the axle out with out undoing the tie rod end.
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Another possibility to consider -- an exhaust leak can both cause a whistle and set P0420.
I hadn't considered an exhaust leak since it passes inspection, but they check for leaks at idle so it might be a small enough leak to not be detected at idle.
Car goes for inspection next week so I'll be curious to see if the mechanic finds anything.
Keith
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ABS light is the broken tone ring.
How do you know the converter is truly bad and its not a lazy O2 sensor?
nipper
Nip, did you read my last reply at all?
(I'm just teasing you)First off:
I know the ABS light is on because of the broken tone ring.Second off:
Mine had been throwing the P0420 code for literally two years, but I know I have a partially clogged front cat. You can actually hear it wistle above 3000RPM and also at full throttle.Here's my thinking on the Cat/O2 Sensor. Please comment:
If it's not the cat, then something else is causing my exhaust to wistle, and it's only gotten worse as time goes on. The car has just shy of 200k miles so I'm not going to completely rule out the O2 sensor, but I've also owned several other +200k mile subarus that never had a bad O2 sensor so to me it's a toss up in that respect.
Also, this car had a motor in it that "burned" 1 quart of oil every 150 miles due to improper valve guide seal installation. That motor was in for about 3500 miles so it went through 24 quarts of oil. Not all of that oil gets burned in the engine, some of it gets burned up in the cat which is why I believe the cat may have over heated at some point and started to melt causing the whistle.
Keith
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The thermostat is at the bottom of the system, where the lower radiator hose connects to the engine. If you didn't remove the thermostat (and assuming it's a factory thermostat with the pressure relief hole) you will only get a small dribble out. Last time I did one I only remember putting in about 1.5 gallons or so with the system as drained as I could get it.
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CEL, and ABS lights are not related. I bet that the ABS light is because of the broken tone ring. The CEL is probably because something else. What was the CEL code?
I got a CEL and it went on and off a few times over several months until I got a steady CEL that wouldn't go away. The front 02 sensor was the culprit...the code was P0420: catalyst sytem efficiency below threshold bank 1. The Autozone dude, who read the code, immediately declared it the convertor, but wise usmb people told me that the cats rarely fail, and the front 02 sensor should solve the problem. It did.
Also, the CEL will disappear after the condition isn't repeated for iirc 3 times. My pesky 02 sensor failed slowly/intermittantly over time, hence the CEL going away and coming back.
Mine had been throwing the P0420 code for literally two years, but I know I have a partially clogged front cat. You can actually hear it wistle above 3000RPM and also at full throttle. I know the ABS light is on because of the broken tone ring. I just don't understand why my CEL is no longer on when I haven't touched anything in the exhaust.
Car Battery
in 1990 to Present Legacy, Impreza, Outback, Forester, Baja, WRX&WrxSTI, SVX
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I like to think I live in a Battery Mecha... I live 2 blocks away from an Exide Battery plant, and 15 minutes away from a Decka Battery Plant. I wouldn't touch an exide battery and that's not cause I want them to close the plant in my neighborhood. They had an issue a few years ago with selling what they called refurbished batteries as new under the sears diehard name! The other place I mentioned is Decka, also know as east penn manufacturing. They mainly make batteries to be relabeled for other companies. Long story short I can get a 530CCA manufacturing 2nd (some minor blemish in the case) for $37 (with bringing in the old battery)from the Decka plant. They are located in Lyons Station PA, just outside of Kutztown PA. They don't come with any kind of warrenty however, but we've been using them in our family cars for years and have never had one go bad before 3-4 years, which makes them cost econimical over an $80-100 5-7 year battery.
In a pinch once I bought a battery from Autozone. It was the Yellow top 7 year battery. No problems so far and it's been a few years. In fact that car/battery sat for about 4 months once and the battery was still fine.