bluebird

I have owned about 7 Subaru wagons over the years and all had 2.5 engines and most had auto trans. Most have gone somewhere in the 200,000 mile range. I buy them used at about 100,000 and get rid of them around 200,000. My current one 2003 outback has 210, 000 on it and needs a timing belt, one axle, and new tires. So I think it is time to move on. I need some experts advice. I'm looking at a 2011 with a 3.6 and and auto trans. with 93,000 asking 10 grand. Is the 3.6 a reliable engine? does it have head gasket problems. Do all 3.6 have timing chain rather than a belt. Will this 2011 have a cvt trans. And any other comments about the 3.6 or the cvt (if it has one) would be much appreciated. I know the gas mileage won't be as good. Thanks in advance.

Ok I got it done but it was a struggle mostly because Auto Zone sold me a tierod end with the wrong washer; tabs too wide as mentioned in one of the tips. I know Auto Zone!! I took it back and had them bring another one out and sure enough that one had the right washer. Not too bad after that. But when I drove it the toe was obviously out. I used the sting method and got it very close, it drives well and holds straight when you let go of the steering wheel. I’m probably going to leave it as is, I live on a rough dirt road and paying for an alignment is a waste of money. Thanks for the tips they helped a lot.

I have a 2003 outback wagon 4 cyl with about 198,000 miles. I need to replace the driver’s side inner tie rod, failed inspection. I tried to search the forum but the search function seems to be not working right. I have also viewed a few videos that seem to have conflicting information. I have purchased the new tie rod and rented the tool. I have a general idea of what to do but don’t quite understand the washer that came with the tie rod. It has two tabs on the inside of it, from one video it looks like you have to use a punch to remove it but how do you install the new one? And where exactly does it go? The boot is not torn so I plan to use the old one. Is this a good idea? And does grease go inside the boot? Can I use zip ties to hold the boot on? And what is the torque spec for the tie rod? In terms of getting the outer tie rod back in the same place it was what do I do if the new rod has more or fewer threads than the old one, counting them won’t work then right? Any tips or links would be much appreciated.

I think I know the smell you are talking about and this smell is stronger than that. Had not had the smell for a while but on a cold day a while ago it was there. So I opened the hood to have a look and couldn't see anything and actually the smell was not a strong under the hood as it was in the car. I then walked around to the rear of the car on the gas cap side and could also smell the gas there pretty strongly as well. Would that suggest a leak of some kind in the filler tube or the hoses back there? I remember I had a 1999 that the filler tube had rusted through,but in that case I smelled the gas all the time. When I say cold I'm talking about 5-15 for lows and 30 and under for highs.

Thanks for the link. I called my local dealer back and asked again about the conditioner. This time they said they had it, cost 6+ bucks. Went to the dealer and paid 2.76 for it. go figure. The coolant level has not dropped in about two weeks of driving since the overheat and refill. But I'm going to add the conditioner this weekend, supposed to warm up.

Thanks for the feedback. I called my local dealer the other day and asked if there was a Subaru specific conditioner/stop leak that they sold. They said no. I'll call again now that I know it does exist and will give it a try once it warms up around here, hopefully later next week.

grossgary I wanted to do just what you suggested but some snow still on the ground where I have to work and very cold temps kept me from even trying the test, so I caved and took it to the shop. I have driven the car about 100 miles or so now and it rides well on my dirt road and the highway. The springs were not actually broken but the bottom spring support had rusted away. I think they will last at least a year but will update if I remember.

I have been driving the car locally for a number of days now and can see no loss of coolant. If the coolant does start to go down is there a stop leak or conditioner brand that would be recommended. I know some types of stop leak can cause more trouble than it solves. I'm from the Barrs era so there must be something more advanced than that. I'm going to take the car on about 70 mile round trip today that involves going up a modest mountain and I'll see how that goes.

Just an update. I ordered the assemblies @ 71.00 each from Geek on Monday they arrived Thursday via fed X. Shipping was 9.95.. since some snow from the big storm was still on the ground and more is coming today and again on Monday I decided to use the guy I know at a shop. He did it for 12500. Turns out one of the springs was broken so good thing I got the assemblies. Thanks again for all the suggestions very helpful.

The car is actually sitting down what appears to be 2-3 inches in the rear and it takes bumps really hard. I live on a dirt road which is always in bad shape, so I would not want to live with it even for a year or so. Because it is sitting down I think the springs might also be shot or broken. another reason for wanting the whole assembly. I have to work on the ground so a long extension pipe will be tricky, might be able to do it through the wheel well. I did order the assemblies form Partsgeek so we'll see how it goes. I can probably get someone I know at a shop to put on my parts for under 100.00 if it comes to that. as an aside, someone suggested that they might use an angle grinder to cut away the nut. Thinking I might give that a try if all else failed I called my local Subaru dealer to see if they had the nut, bolt and washer. They didn't have them but gave me the prices. bolt about 10.00, nut 12.00, washer 3.00 or about 25.00 per side. Hard to believe. I'll post once I get this done one way or the other. and thanks to all for the great suggestions.

Thanks for all the helpful replies. I plan to keep the car another year two at the most unless something really major happens like a transmission failure. So I'm not concerned about using the highest quality parts. seems like several people have had OK results from Geek but it seems to me rock is better known. Prices are no that different with shipping. One concern I have with rock is the product that they show is a strut and does not look like the rear shock on my car. The illustration on geek does. Seems like you can't contact either of these place by phone for clarification. I have to work on the ground so I will be limited in the size of the cheater I can use. I'll spray with PB for a few days and hope my 6 point socket and breaker bar will work.

well the cap removing and re-installing is an interesting idea, but I do not see any evidence of dried coolant. 4 cyl. Been driving it around locally all day level is still right where i t should be.

This is my third post in just a few days. The car is a 2003 outback wagon with about 195,000 on it. It is my wife’s car so I don’t drive it much. Been driving it the last couple of days to monitor the coolant leak problem (see other posts). It definitely needs new rear shocks and I want to buy the whole assembly with the spring and all the hardware already done. I cannot find them locally, tried, autozone, advanced, napa, car qeust but can find them online. Parts Geek has them for 71.00 each and 1A auto has them for 249.00 for the pair. Anyone have any experience buying parts from either of these places? In terms of the job I have been reading and lots of folks say the nut at the bottom of the shock will be tough to get off. I’m wondering if that is true as I don’t have a torch and have never been able to make PB blaster work for me. Any advice on this would also be much appreciated.

I have a 2003 outback wagon with about 195,000 miles on it. It is my wife’s car so I don’t drive it much. She was about 60 miles from home the other day when it overheated, she said gauge was close to the red. She pulled into a service station and the guy added about half a gallon of coolant which brought the temp back down and she drove home after that with no problems. I got a pressure test kit from Advanced and pumped up to 17 psi and it held for over a half an hour. I can see no visible signs of leakage. There is no water in the oil and I did a test with the pressure tester hooked up with the motor running and had someone rev the engine. The gauge did not go up. So I think a head gasket is not blown. Any ideas how the coolant level could get that far down with no sign of a leak? I’m planning to drive it kind of locally for a while and check the level often and see how it goes.

Thanks for the feedback. Once the 34 inches of snow we had in Northern Va is gone and it warms up a bit I'll look and see what I can find. In the meantime have not smelled the odor for a while.

I have a 2003 outback wagon with about 195,000 miles and it still runs well. Lately I have noticed on first starts on cold mornings, 20 degrees and under, I get a very noticeable gasoline odor until the car warms up to normal operating temp and sometime for longer than that. This morning it was much warmer and I got no odor. I have looked carefully under the hood while the odor is present and can not see any leaks anywhere. Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

I managed to do the job yesterday. It went well; the old stud came out with just a bit of encouragement from a 3 pound hammer and there was room for the new one to come through from the back. I drew the new stud in using a lug nut and a stack of ½ inch washers. Only problem was with the rotor, which usually comes right off, was stuck and I didn’t have any 8mm bolts on hand so that meant a trip to the hardware store. Even with that it was about an hour from jack up to jack down. Thanks for the advice.

I have a 2003 outback wagon and have purchased a new timing belt, water pump and crankshaft seal. I had a person who was going to install for me for free but now has health problems. What would be a reasonable price to have these parts installed? I don’t really have the tools to do this job myself. Ballpark estimate would be great.

I have a broken wheel stud on the passenger front side of my 2003 outback wagon. I have been reading various posts here about replacing it and there are a number of approaches described. Can it be done without removing the hub? Do you have to remove the tone wheel on the front? If how is this done? I plan to use a hammer to drive out the stud, I know some object to this, and use a lug nut to draw a new one in. Any advice would be much appreciated.

Many thanks for the suggestions. I squirted a bit of wd-40 around the dipstick, waited an hours and managed to wiggle it out with the pliers.

I've been having my share of problems these past few days. This has never happened before, I decided time to check the auto trans fluid and the dipstick is stuck. Best I can do is get pliers on the yellow handle and turn it bit while trying to pull up. Very hard to turn and can just barely move it. Don't want to break it. anyone delt with this?

Here is an update, problem solved but new issue. This morning I got the pin that wouldn’t go through out and without moving anything I inserted a pin I had laying around, maybe a Subaru don’t know. Made up a variation of the tool obligate carnivore suggested and it drove all the way through with little effort. Bad Pin I guess. Now after I got it all back together I was tightening the large axle nut and noticed that it didn’t seem to go back as far as I expected. Looked at the other side and that side the axle come through the nut a bit. On the side I just finished it doesn’t. I thought it might go back when I torqued it but it didn’t. Since it was all back together I decided to drive it and it drives just fine. No vibrations or clunking and the old vibrations and clunking are gone. What do you think about this situation? Anybody run into this before? Thanks for all the feedback so far

I forgot to mention in my last reply that before I drove in the pin this last time I took and allen wrench that was just a tiny bit smaller than the pin and it went right through all the way. So I was surprised when it stopped short. Once I get the pin back out I will try another pin, I might have one laying around here somewhere.

Thanks for the reply. I have rotated 180 twice and had the same result. As you said the pin goes through the first part of the axle then into the diff stub but stops where it should go into the other side of the axle. The pin is the correct length as I have checked it on the old axle. I will try again in the am. I have been taking the pin out from the bottom and putting it in from the stop. I am using a variation of the socket with extension to hammer it in from the top. I was not able to get the pin out this last time, the tool I was using (a gutter nail with the point cut off) got stuck in the pin instead of knocking it out. Great suggestion for an extend punch. I will make one of those up and see if I can get it out and try another 180 rotation. Just curious what do you think the risk is having just a bit of the pin sticking out? Seems to me if the pin is to keep the axle from moving on the splines that ¾ of it should be enough. I know it looks bad and iand seems half a** But at some point I need to t get the car back together!

I posted yesterday about my 2003 outback wagon 2.5 about 170,000 the post was about replacing a drive axle and some wobbling in the steering wheel. Anyway I started on the passenger side axle today and ran into more problems than I can ever remember from doing this on a 1999. Very tight underneath real struggle to get the pin out but finally did. Then the first new axle I had wouldn’t go all the way onto the differential splines even with lube. Took it back got another brand, went on fine. Now I can’t get the pin all the way back in. It is in to a point where it is through the differential shaft but won’t go into the hole in the axle. This new axle has chamfered hole on both sides and both sides of the differential shaft are the same, not Chamfered. So I went with the ridge/ valley approach and I’m sure I have it set up correctly. I gave up at his point for now and want to know if I can go forward without the pin being all the way in? I guess it is about 3/8 in shy. I leaning toward this as I’m not sure I can get the pin back out now. And if I do I don’t know what I can do differently to make it go all the way in. 6 hours of frustration. What do you think about leaving the pin sticking out a bit? I don’t see where it could be a problem really. Thanks in advance