Stupid things you have done fixing or driving your subaru?

[Guest ShawnW]

Have you done anything really dumb to your subaru either fixing or driving it? Have you seen somebody else? Ever been pulled over for speeding in your subaru and gotten off the ticket cuz the officer didnt think you could possibly do that in a subaru station wagon? Lets hear em! ShawnW

[Guest TWOROO]

My son drove my 78 Brat on the interstate at 60 - 70 mph. In 4wd. The 78 only has a lo range. There is a sticker under the speedometer that says "Do not exceed 40 mph in 4wd" I found a tranny at a local yard for $150. He has never even been allowed behind the wheel of my 86 Brat. Marty

[Guest GeoffreyR]

Hm... well, I have a list of stupid stuff. Losing a balljoint on the freeway at 75MPH was fun.... Uhm...... Making my '87 fly during a rally.... Sucking the timing belt through the water pump and driving 10 miles with no coolant... Oh and not bothering to fix a cracked radiator for two weeks (although that wasn't too bad as it was winter and the snow kicked into the engine kept it cool)

[Guest Subaru X]

well lets see there was the time I jumped the soob while entering the school parking lot. I went screeching around the corner when I was late for school, hit a slight incline and whent flying with all four tires off the ground. When I parked the car people were saying that it was really cool. Next month there was about another 15 subarus in the lot. Then there was the time that I jumped up on a 2 ft median and took out a one way sign. Once I was back on the road I acted like nothing happend...he he he. -Adam-

[Guest DaZeD69]

Well, just recently, when wheelin' my Subaru, I've gotten over a foot of air in an '84 GL wagon 4x4, gone through mud holes over the hood, hit a mud hole at 40, not realizing how deep it was, and bashed in the front bumper mount(the bumper has been gone for some time) and pushed the fenders all the way into the tires. After wheelin', going 60 down the highway, the axle nut came off. Was an interesting experience. And wheelin' with over a foot of water in the car was excellent also. just my two cents.

[Guest Witte]

I'll just do driving. I have gotten my subaru airborne when the road had a 2ft deep wash out and I landed with the front tire into the upslope on the other side. launched hard from there. On the second landing all 4 corners were at max compression. Raced behind some bikes. Got upto 50 befroe quitting. Found out htat a cop turned in behind me somewhere along the line. He didn't even look at my car but yelled at the bikers. Oh and it was a 30 or 35mph zone. Second went out to see if my friends 98 Civic EX is faster or slower than my turbo wagon. Great race, and I won but a cop pulle din behind at some point. So going 15mph over I swing the tail out going around a corner in a semi residential area. Din't do more than glare at me and then take off in a different direction. Got it stuck on top of a pile of dirt. The top was the exat size of the underbody between the wheels. All 4 tires cut a 1/4" slot into the sides of the hill. Also my door weas even with the ground. A F350 dually went the easy way around and towed me off. Net damage = 1 or 2 scratches. Nice imprint of the car in the sand though. Could see my exaust and whatnot in the sand impressions.

[Guest Adam N.D.J.]

Lets see. -Doing about 70 on an undeveloped road that was ment for no more than 25, going around a corner too faster, loosing the rear end, going over the side of the hill, wheels over cab, then back on the wheels, luckily there was a road under the corner, just drove it home. -Blowing a CV shaft while 4wheeling up a really steep hill, rolling back, and planting the trailer hitch into the ground. -Didn't want to buy a new CV, so I took out the one on the other side, put in 4wd, and boom, RWD Brat. -Going up Mt. Ashland in the middle of the night in Dec. 2 inches of ice and snow. WIth just the RWD, got it stuck 4 times doing doughnuts and fishtailing it. Then on the way down fish tailed it too much, did 4 360's and a 180 before crashing tail first into the snow bank, wedging the back tyres off the ground. Friend of mine rolled his ranger in the same spot as me, it didn't drive home, kinda makes me feel much better bout the Brats. And lets here some more tails. Catch ya laters.

[Guest Muskeg]

How about forgetting to more than handtighten lug nuts. Not tightening the axle nut and having it fall off Taking the engine and transmission out from under the car in one piece and having it fall on me Painting the wagon with walmart 99cent gold spray paint Having brake shoes fall out. Backing the BRAT in the garage with the canopy top open and smashing the window Mark

[Guest JimN]

Well I guess i'd better get into this one. On driving my first subie ('76 wagon) from melbourne to Brisbane, a 2000km trip, I noticed that the wheels pulled to one side when I applied the brakes. I stopped a few times to see what was up but couldn't see anything obviuos wrong. It was getting slightly worse as the days went bye though. Anyway after travelling 2000km, including a rather large mountain range the brakes fail completely 1 corner form my destination. It turns out the Wheel lug on one side had come off and all that was holding the wheel on was the brake caliper. Aftertaking it off I noted that it had 1 or 2 mm of metal left to rub through before it came off completely. The reason I didn't see that the nut had come off was becasue I had Pug rims on that are solid in the middle. The moral of the story, DON'T BE LAZY!

[Guest Jafa]

One time in WA driving on a beach in my fairly new 98 outback, I flew through a small steam heading to the ocean. No Prob, turned around for another run, as I approached a different section of the stream I thought, "hmm, looks a little faster running water here. Maybe deeper? Naah." Boom! The front end dropped a foot or two, the car stopped in an extremely short amount of room, and I floored it and luckily popped out before any water was sucked into the engine. Only bent the license plate and lost a fog light. Then another time on a trip to the SE corner of oregon I thought it would be cool to come ot a skidding side stop by my friend's rigs. I'm pretty comfy with the ebrake slides, but this time I automatically tapped the brake pedal- big mistake. Shot forward after I was already sideways, launched up this 50 degree embankment on the side of the road. Ended up with the back bumper pretty much resting on the road with my car pointing to the mountains! No damage, though. Finally, there was a different trip also in the SE corner that we got lost in the desert at night. I decided just to drive west, trail be damned, and just started tromping through the sage desert. Went down a drop about 18" and tore off the rear bumper on the right side, and lost the other fog light going into a brush. Tied the bumper back onand finally made our way out of the desert. With the help of a gps. I love this car! 22months, 53000 miles. Subarus kick rump roast! Jason <A HREF=http://www.markantes.com/jason>http://www.markantes.com/jason</A>

[Guest SVX]

my brother had broken the cotter pin that was used to lock the garage so he went to the hardware store and bought a galvanized bolt instead. Aanyways, to make a long story short, I reached out into the garage and pushed the garage door opener. I went back into the house, then I heard this funny buzzing. I didn't think anything of it. then I heard this horrible metal ripping sound. I went running out into the garage and saw one half of the horribly mangled garage door hanging from the ceiling, the other half was laying on top of my Subaru. want another??? I was in a hurry on the way to school one day, and there was a huge snowstorm the previous night. I figured, "hey I've got an AWD." so I took a "shortcut" through the snowdrift left by the plows in the middle of the lane and high centered my car. all four wheels turning freely. I still get teased about that one. plus, I ended up missing class!

[Guest subaru1800]

On the local (Boise) news earlier this year: Some poor fellow had an engine fire on his older subie wagon. He tried to save it by pulling into a car wash. He ended up burning down the entire building.

[Guest reoff]

I've never done anything that could REALLY hurt my '86 turbo wagon. Although I can't believe the places that car will go, or how fast. :-) I've never had a speeding ticket, but there have been MANY times I should've. I live about 1 1/2 hrs north of Seattle, and drive through it regularly. I've developed a bit of a lead foot from all my highway driving, so its not at all uncommon for me to be driving 85-90 down I-5, even through Downtown Seattle(except in stop and go traffic). Even in town, the police don't seem to think my white wagon is capable of the things it does so often(and so well). I'm almost always going 15+ mph over the speed limit. Never even a dirty look. I won't even get into the terrorist I become going up/down Mt. Baker in the ice/snow. :-)

[Guest Jimmer]

Man,you guys have the luck.The first cop I see on the hiway is behind me with his lights on.I have yet to see another car or truck that you can have as much fun in.I've gone down logging trails at 80mph,caught much air off railroad crossings,driveways and other road anamolies.I've blown away Civics,CRXs,Monte carlos,celicas,supras and every truck in our school parking lot.Loved the looks in their faces,like"where can I get a car like that?"Subarus kick the genaral rump roast!!!!!!!!

[Guest Jack in Norfolk]

here to start. stupid driving ideas. Every time i took it mudding and followed my friends with real trucks. one guy runs 44s on a full size blazer. Also, driving on a fire road in the mtns i hit a rock and prermanantly altered the volume of my oil pan. Another time there was nowhere left to park at my old apt. complex exept for the spot with the big snow drift in it, but hey "I drive a dual range 4wd subaru!!!" i thought. I got up on the drift no problem, and even got off the next morning, but myy bumper caught an edge and pulled the bumper cover off and the metal bumper bent so i couldnt just pop it back in. Also, every time i jumped it on the beach. River crossings in the mountains and flooded street crossing in norfolk at high speeds (never stalled though). I once raced a girl in a new grand cherokee from Frisco to Buxton at the lighthouse on the beach at night. I won and hit 70 on the beach. Another time i pulled a suzuki samari out of the sand with my car (very very very bad idea, i smelled clutch and almost got stuck myself). The first weekend i got the car i was 19 and it is my first 4wd and i didnt know what i was doing so i followed a suburban full of hot bikini clad girls onto the beach at Oregon Inlet and being the dumbass that i was i drove IN the tracks insted of stradling them. I got bogged out but i swore that i was not going to get stuck. I kept going back and forth and the clutch was smoking bigtime, people on the beach were couaghing but i got back to the pavement and then the cluch pedal went dead to the floor. God i was a dumbass! Then one time i decide to play "how fast will your car go?" down afton mt. on the way back from JMU. I got to 110 and was really scared because things began to rattle. Once i broke the front axle and was driving around in rear wheel drive and a smart friend of mine suggested that we try to get a wheelie in 4wd lo ( which was effectively 2wd lo at the time) It worked. the front wheel came up like 2 feet. dumb dumb dumb. All of the times that i really didnt want to get my doors blown off by my girlfrined's vw golf or her 2wd spfi 89 DL and i floored it off the line in 4 lo. I dont recomend this to anyone. My mechanic had never seen a broken u joint on a sube before. Oh, and once she hit 2nd in the sube or her vw, she caught me and beat me, badly. for all of you airbourne subi drivers, i wish i had a picture of the hatchbanck that some guy brought to my mechanic's place. He jumped on the dunes in corova and he landed so hard that the strur towers pushed the body pannels and everything else up. the car looked really wierd and there was nothing they could do about it. I havent jumped my sube since. There's got to be some other stuff. well, this one kinda doesnt count, because it happened to my friend who drives a 4wd tercel wagon but we call it a fake sube. We wer going down the beach and Bryce and i were looking at these killer waves and not watching where we were going and bryce drove his tercel wagon straight into a tide pool. A deep on too. This was at oregon inlet. It went in and down at a 45 degree angle all the way to the back door handles. BUt after it got towed out, all it needed was a new exhaust system! That didnt make any sense to me. enough -Jack

[Guest gordo]

I love spending good money on tools, leaving them somewhere in the engine bay and hearing them smack their way around in there until they hit the pavement. And never finding them again........ oh and I swear I didn't just do this...

[Guest ShawnW]

Yeah im missing a 10mm craftsman quickwrench that i swear i lost doing that too. Probably set it in the spare tire area or on the radiator top edge. DOH SHAWN

[Guest Skip]

is that what that "WHACK" I heard was, sounded like a rat**** to me ?

[Guest SVX]

Took my SVX to the High school last winter to spin doughuts... was spinning around, having a grand ol' time, when I hit the gas a little too hard and ended up driving halfway up the grass hill at the base of the school. (damn Blizzak tires!) then, I got out to survey the damage, and The damn thing slid down the hill into a light pole! No major damage, however, the damage to my pride will be there forever.

[Guest moosens]

Let's see,going 40,000 plus miles with the CV joints chattering like a jackhammer,riding with a rotted trailing arm that had the wheel on a good 10-15 degree pitch when my buddy said"hey that ain't lookin' so cool,man". Left an oil filler cap off,now embedded in the grill of an Acura,I hope. Forgot to put the lower bolt in the brake caliper. Sold my '78 Brat,that's the absolute top of the list.

[Guest Subi81]

Watching the guy that I was buying my car from put the car in 4wd high and low on pavment just so he could say that it works. Driving 65 on some pretty icey but straight roads, it got a little squarrly. Listening to a loose front u joint for only 100 miles dreding every second. Not adjusting the rear brakes in a timely manner and almost swaped ends on a dirt road. 2 bottles of bars leak (still paying for that one) Trying to speed shift without the use of the clutch, sounded like a sick wind up toy. Put a leaky water jug in the back it smelled for a little while then I got a gallon of fabreeze (that stuff is great) I was only dizzy for a week after driving my car for a day. Tryed to strattle a rock and put a nice dent in my lower A arm. Pulled out of a parking place and made use of my 5 mph bumpers on the car in front of me. Replaced front inner cv boot and forgot to put in the snap ring, had to take the whole thing apart and hope that the original boot ring still would hold the boot on. Over filled the oil and blew up my oil pump. When the shop took off the oil pump it fell into a hundred pieces. They couldn't figure out how my car was still running with an oil pump that was obliderated. Replaced both tie rods and put them in out of alinment then drove for a few days without having the aliment done. Most of that time I was driving two handed in the wrong lane with my a^% numb from all of the vibration.

[Guest SVX]

Sorry, this happened with my brother in his 98 Mustang GT convertible... Hey it's not a Subaru, but it's still darn funny! We were driving and he looked out the window at this girl who had rather large breasts who was riding a bike in a halter top! She hit a bump and her top fell off... Well my brother kept looking and the car kept going in a straight line. We took out a tree, a fire hydrant, went throught the hedges onto this house's lawn! I was already laughing, then when I looked through the hole in the bushes to see the girl laughing, I couldn't help myself. I laughed til I cried!

[Guest JimN]

good one

[Guest Cannon]

Changed the oil in my car, I added oil, checked the stick, nothing, kept adding, kept adding, nothing. Heard the sound of new $3.65 synthetic oil draining on the dirt. Watched my new briefcase full of office junk , fly off the roof of my car, taking out my rear wiper, and being destroyed by a Semi truck. Watched my newly installed wiper arms fly off the car in the little storm called Floyd Putting the bolts on would have helped. Going through a $4.00 automatic car wash with the rear passenger side window down. Getting a large Glob of Bondo in my leg,arm and head hair. That's it for now. Cannon

[Guest Shik]

When I was 16, I replaced the distributor in an 83 4WD wagon that I had. After putting it in, the car was missing badly and kept stalling at idle. Knowing I must have set it up wrong or something, I took it back out and did everything over again just like the "How to keep your Subaru Alive" book told me and again, nothing. After about 3 very frustrating hours of trying to figure this thing out, I decided to double check the plug wires( which I just KNEW I had on correctly). Turns out I had two of them criss crossed! Fixed them and it purred like a kitten. Needless to say I never put the plug wires on wrong again:)