I just found your post about building a replacement resistor block for the heater fan. I am pretty ignorant when it comes to electronics - just how would I assemble all those parts? Do you have a diagram or some simple instructions? It surprises me that Subaru designed this control in this way, since for the most part it seems as though these cars are made to last forever. Thanks for the work you have done on this.

Actually - I was once told by a friend of mine who was a subaru dealership mechanic for something like 20 years that the cars were designed to go 50,000 miles. I think that their reliability has a lot to do with the culture of the Japanse after WWII. In their culture, their job was extremely important, and I think to some degree, if a part failed early or often, it was looked upon as a personal failure on the part of the designer. Over hear, we set a spec for some part, and then we will add 10% more strength to it, to account for any inaccuracies we may have in our calculations. If I were an engineer then, at that time, I would add 50% to make sure my reputaion wasn't harmed.

 

GD