dwarven1

Hmm. The "new" car has a bit of tweaking to do... CEL came on Friday night. Left rear door handle gave a "CRUNCH" when I tried to open it last week and now it can't be opened from the OUTSIDE. (works fine from the inside!) And the radio (aftermarket Kenwood) can't pick up most stations. Not sure if it's that crappy window-applied antenna or a connection problem. So the car is at the used car place's service shop and the wife has the loaner (I'm on travel in her Honda for the week). I swear, between needing to use her Element to take all our stuff to gun shows and getting the new beast serviced, she's getting to drive it more than I am!!

Three years ago my beloved '02 Outback met it's fate at the hands of a Toyota Corolla (but it took the Toy with it!) and I wound up in a used CRV. Well, two and a half weeks ago the CRV executed a perfect 360 degree three-point turn on Rt 17 in Vermont... except that two of the points were off a guard rail and a retaining wall. My wife was fine, fortunately, which is really all I care about. However, the insurance settlement allowed me to buy another car (I was bored with the CRV, anyway) and I took home a 2006 Legacy 2.5i wagon last Friday. And this one has a 5-speed! (first wife couldn't drive a stick... this one can. ). So... I'm back, since I'm in a Subie again. (and everyone is saying "Um... who is this guy, again?) Didn't post a whole lot before and may not post a lot now. But I figured I'd say hi.

Apologies if this is a repost or this isn't the right forum for it, but I thought you guys would appreciate the sight of a Subaru jumping thirty feet.

RPL3000, Your car should show voltage at about 13.8 VDC when your car is running. If you have 12.4 volts, you're running on battery power, and NOT getting anything out of the alternator.

*sigh* Some days it's just not worth chewing through the leather straps... OK, so I discover that there's one plastic fastener holding the plastic lower cover in place. Pry that out, and there's a plastic bolt holding the lower side of the lens assembly in place. And then I realize... I could have just left the blasted assembly in place and pulled the lower cover aside to replace the bulb. OK, replace the bulb anyway and look at the right side. Oh, yeah... I forgot. I removed the right side cover years ago when it came loose and was rubbing against the tire. Hey, great... no fussing, just pull the bulb out and... WTF?? The wire is held to the bulb by a ziptie - or rather, what's LEFT of the bulb - the bulb is shattered and the socket assembly is damaged, too. Look at the front of the bumper, and low and behold, there's a HOLE in the lens assembly. Guess I picked up a rock. That, and I guess that the body shop never replaced the wire assembly when I had that accident 4-5 years ago. OK, I'll just put the old bulb from the left side in there for now... fire up the lights, and the right works, but not the left... looks like the left wiring harness is damaged at the fast connectors. So now I need a lens assembly AND two wiring harnesses. Hey, at least I know how to get in to replace them in a hurry! Skip, I'll take some pix when I get the new assembly and put it in.

Thanks, Skip... that's kind of what I thought. Up on the ramps he goes...

The owner's manual is of no use at all; it's only comments are "it's hard to do; get your dealer to do it for you". I'm a tad annoyed at my dealer at the moment, and since they go strictly by the book I don't think that they'll put the PHILIPS NIGHT GUIDE 9006 3-in-1 Color Halogen Headlamps that I just ordered. So... anyone got any ideas? I just snapped the two rusted bolts in the upper part of the housing - got to drill them out and replace them. But as long as they're out, I tried to pull the light out, and it doesn't want to come out. What's the next step, remove the plastic housing underneath so I can see what's going on there?

Sorry for the resurrection, but here's proof that a Subaru will go anywhere... pay close attention to what it says on the shelter behind my Subie...

Steve, Since I get my tires rotated fairly religiously, that's a definite possibility. I'll have to look up the torque specs and check them myself. Thanks for the suggestion. Ross

Hi. My first post here. I have an '02 LLBean Outback which I love... except for it's appetite for BRAKES. I had to have the front rotors cut at 25K because they were warped. I had to have them replaced at 46K because they were warped and couldn't be turned again. Now at 60K, I have to have them replaced because... you got it - they're warped. My dealer says I must be braking too hard to be generating that much heat, and Subaru says that there's no recall or engineering bulletin about defective brakes. I've never had a car where the rotors warped as much as this one. I realize that I do drive harder than some people, but I've owned many other cars without having to get the rotors cut every 20K! Am I the only one having problems? Does anyone else have problems with the 02 H6 brakes? Thanks for any feedback anyone can offer - and if anyone knows where I can get aftermarket rotors (like maybe racing spec ones!), let me know, OK? Ross