changes in subaru maintenance recommendations

[friendly_jacek]

I'm religious about my maintenance. The 60000 miles are approching and wanted to make sure I have all filters/fluids on hand.

 

I looked up the official subaru maintenance recommendations on the subaru webside for MY 2000 federal spec cars and discovered that it is diffrent from what is printed in my car maintenance manual/booklet:

http://www.subaru.com/owners/schedules/index.jsp?navid=SCHEDULE_2000

 

By the booklet, one has to change ATF every 30000 miles with standard service. The webside only asks to inspect ATF every 30000 miles.

Is this a mistake?

 

Unless I reading incorrectly, one should replace diff fluids every 15000 miles under severe service. Isn't this an overkill even with severe service?

 

Also, there is a recommendation to "Inspect Front and rear wheel bearing lubricant" How does one do that?

 

Thanks!

[Legacy777]

Replace your ATF every 30k. I don't care what the maintenance schedule says. That is the one most single thing you can do to prolong the life of your auto tranny.

 

Rear & front diff fluid...change it every 30k or every 60k.

You can't inspect the wheel bearings they're sealed. Don't worry about them.

 

I will say this about the maintenance schedules....I personally feel they are only a guide. Some things they recommend are a little overkill...some things should be done more frequently.

[friendly_jacek]

You are right, one has to use a common sense and make sure that fluids are replaced in reasonable time intevals.

What infuriates me is that you can't trust the official info posted on the subaru website. If one followed the schedule literaly, ATF would never be changed. No wonder we have posters posting every other day about torque binding "cured" by ATF change!

 

Edit:

One more thing. Third party source,

http://www.cars101.com/subaru/subaru_maintenance.html

lists drive belts as replace items at 60,000 while subaru lists them at 90,000. Should I go with 90,000 if there are only minute cracks? I planned to do drive belts with timing belt at 90,000.

[bulwnkl]

15000 miles on diff fluid may or may not be appropriate. It is certainly appropriate for dino oil in the front and rear ends of working pickups (i.e. farm pickups running through the mud and sand with a full payload towing a trailer, or tow vehicles). So, I'd say Subaru probably knows what they designed the diffs for and if they're saying 15000 under severe service, I'd heed that. Of course, if I was using my favorite Redline I wouldn't change that often unless I got water in the diff. I also wouldn't bother with 15000-mile changes if I wasn't towing and/or offroading much.

[johnceggleston]

i went to look up my 97 obw on that site and they don't have the 2.5 listed under cam belt. jut the 1.8, 2.2, and 3.0. susbaru makes a good car but they also make mistakes, and bad head gaskets.

 

 

I'm religious about my maintenance. The 60000 miles are approching and wanted to make sure I have all filters/fluids on hand.

 

I looked up the official subaru maintenance recommendations on the subaru webside for MY 2000 federal spec cars and discovered that it is diffrent from what is printed in my car maintenance manual/booklet:

http://www.subaru.com/owners/schedules/index.jsp?navid=SCHEDULE_2000

 

By the booklet, one has to change ATF every 30000 miles with standard service. The webside only asks to inspect ATF every 30000 miles.

Is this a mistake?

 

Unless I reading incorrectly, one should replace diff fluids every 15000 miles under severe service. Isn't this an overkill even with severe service?

 

Also, there is a recommendation to "Inspect Front and rear wheel bearing lubricant" How does one do that?

 

Thanks!

[Legacy777]

You are right, one has to use a common sense and make sure that fluids are replaced in reasonable time intevals.

What infuriates me is that you can't trust the official info posted on the subaru website. If one followed the schedule literaly, ATF would never be changed. No wonder we have posters posting every other day about torque binding "cured" by ATF change!

 

Edit:

One more thing. Third party source,

http://www.cars101.com/subaru/subaru_maintenance.html

lists drive belts as replace items at 60,000 while subaru lists them at 90,000. Should I go with 90,000 if there are only minute cracks? I planned to do drive belts with timing belt at 90,000.

 

If you have any cracks on the belts...replace them. Use your best judgement. If a part looks like it needs to be replaced, replace it...especially if it's something cheap like a belt or hose.