Subaru/Flannel chat: Bardmans Artisanal Oxygen Sensor Emporium & Bespoke Headgasketry

BobTheFerret · # ? Nov 21, 2011 23:14

Seat Safety Switch posted:

The front bumper on 08+ cars seems to be total poo poo - not just the bumper cover material but also the clips and front fender liners.

Chiming in to agree with this for anyone who remains skeptical. My front bumper cracked (~6 inches inward from the fog light areas - on both sides!) last winter when I had to do some impromptu plowing of foot deep snow after a snowstorm.

Fortunately, my girlfriend's roommate decided to back into in her driveway going a good 10 mph, causing 4 grand worth of damage, but getting me a no-premium-increase insurance-covered free replacement bumper. (and a number of other items

)

Adbot · # ? May 15, 2024 01:52

BoostCreep · # ? Nov 21, 2011 23:21

My '09 STI bumper cracked in the same place when my girlfriend at the time was driving it and hit a cat going 20mph. I was shocked that it cracked so badly from such a small impact, and it felt extremely brittle and thin even in the summer heat of Socal.

c355n4 · c355n4 Jan 3, 2007

BoostCreep posted:

My '09 STI bumper cracked in the same place when my girlfriend at the time was driving it and hit a cat going 20mph. I was shocked that it cracked so badly from such a small impact, and it felt extremely brittle and thin even in the summer heat of Socal.

How was the cat? :ohdear:

BoostCreep · # ? Nov 22, 2011 00:32

I don't know, it ran off and I couldn't find it. Hopefully it ran off to its loving kittens and a nice warm bed and not to die alone in the gutter

Ropes4u · Ropes4u May 2, 2009

Seat Safety Switch posted:

And just to make sure that we haven't gone all high dollar in this thread, a $50 Impreza with dirt bike studs screwed into the tires.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWSq0noxdLA

I wish I had a $50 subaru..

DrChu · DrChu May 14, 2002

The previous owner of my 2010 managed to hit something with the front and not crack the bumper, but the liner was hanging on by a thread for a while. About a month ago it finally gave out while driving on the highway, and the air pressure started pushing it into a wheel. I pushed it back into place and now it is literally hanging by a thread (actually shoelace), I think its time to replace the whole liner. The dealership quoted me about $80 in parts, is there any place cheaper online I should look?

blargle · blargle Apr 3, 2007

It would be nice to find a cheap place to order some of those lovely plastic clips that hold the whole frontend of the car together.

Slow is Fast · # ? Nov 22, 2011 04:35

I started cutting into my RS tonight. Big grinder cutting out the rust on my rear quarter panel. It's loving terrifying. I have a patch panel my sister is welding in, but so much of it needs to be replaced.

The car was originally hit in the rear and resprayed. Where the new quarter skin was put on, the adhesive seam is all rusting. GOOD loving JOB GUYS.

law abiding rapist posted:

Speaking of EJ25s and headgaskets...

I'm trying to figure out where the hell all my oil is going. It's losing about 1QT/500mi which seems like a hell of a lot to me but it doesn't show up anywhere. It's not on the ground, it's not in the coolant, and it's not coming out of the tailpipe. Are there any places in the engine bay that oil could pool if it were leaking and not fall to the ground?

It runs and drives fine with no issues but the oil loss is worrying. It currently has 164k miles and all the maintenance has been kept up on. The only other problem is that it sounds like a diesel for ~30 seconds on a cold start but I'm pretty sure that it's just piston slap, been like that since 100k, and there's no point in getting worked up about that on an EJ25.

Headgaskets were done and the heads were cleaned and re-machined at 95k, the only serious work that's ever been done to it. Never actually popped the headgasket but being a 1st-gen EJ25 it seemed prudent not to wait for the inevitable.

PCV valve? What oil weight are you running?

I used to burn half a quart after 2000 miles, I went up to 10w30 and changed my PCV and don't burn any oil. You should probably beat on it more. 420 redline every day.

The headgasket issue is on all the NA 2.5L's. Local tech has seen 3rd gens leaking, but the second gen SOHC's issues aren't as prolific as the 1st gen.

Also, I only had my drivers side headgasket done. I didn't know poo poo about these cars when I blew the HG up at an autocross years and years ago. Motor is still fine to this day.

BoostCreep · # ? Nov 22, 2011 05:36

blargle posted:

It would be nice to find a cheap place to order some of those lovely plastic clips that hold the whole frontend of the car together.

Lowe's has an automotive fastener section that is full of those things. Might get lucky there.

Fish Shalami · # ? Nov 22, 2011 05:45

I need to replace my rear brake pads on my 06 Outback Sport and I was just going to pretty much follow this:

http://autodiyonline.com/subaru-diys/subaru-outback-diys/subaru-outback-brake-pad-replacement-brake-flush-and-brake-bedding-diy/

Anything I should watch out for? The front pads are 90% remaining, so I think it would be a waste to replace those already.

Is it necessary to flush out the entire line?

Sorry if this has already been covered but this thread is huge.

Hugh G. Rectum · # ? Nov 22, 2011 07:00

Slow is Fast posted:

PCV valve? What oil weight are you running?

I used to burn half a quart after 2000 miles, I went up to 10w30 and changed my PCV and don't burn any oil. You should probably beat on it more. 420 redline every day.

The headgasket issue is on all the NA 2.5L's. Local tech has seen 3rd gens leaking, but the second gen SOHC's issues aren't as prolific as the 1st gen.

Also, I only had my drivers side headgasket done. I didn't know poo poo about these cars when I blew the HG up at an autocross years and years ago. Motor is still fine to this day.

Currently running 10w40 in an attempt to stem the leaky tides but it hasn't seemed to make a difference. The manual says 10w30 or 10w40 is fine and it never gets below 50F here so the little extra viscosity at low temps shouldn't be a big deal, right? I'll check the PCV but there's no CEL, last car I had threw a code for a bad PCV. Is the Subaru the same way?

I try to redline it at least once a week. Being a manual with really short gears it's pretty easy to get it up there. Redline in 2nd gear is like 40mph :v:

It does make a funny high pitched whine when you hit ~4500rpm that doesn't change with engine speed but I'm pretty sure that's just the fuel injectors being loud at 100% open.

Seat Safety Switch · # ? Nov 22, 2011 07:27

law abiding rapist posted:

I try to redline it at least once a week. Being a manual with really short gears it's pretty easy to get it up there. Redline in 2nd gear is like 40mph It does make a funny high pitched whine when you hit ~4500rpm that doesn't change with engine speed but I'm pretty sure that's just the fuel injectors being loud at 100% open.

My '97 Outback Sport does that too. One of the baffles in the muffler is probably broken and is whistling open and closed as a pressure differential builds inside the backbox.

I actually kind of like it, in autox/rallyx it's like an auditory indicator that I am using enough throttle and sounds almost like a super ghetto turbo.

Hugh G. Rectum · # ? Nov 22, 2011 08:24

Seat Safety Switch posted:

My '97 Outback Sport does that too. One of the baffles in the muffler is probably broken and is whistling open and closed as a pressure differential builds inside the backbox.

I actually kind of like it, in autox/rallyx it's like an auditory indicator that I am using enough throttle and sounds almost like a super ghetto turbo.

Does yours change tone with RPM? It's either on or off for me, and very predictable. 4500rpm with my foot almost all the way down does it every time.

kaws! · kaws! May 25, 2008

Pulling my thumb out of my rear end and sold my B4 Liberty and am working on the big car.

2.5lt closed deck with V4 heads, Blouch Dom 2.5, 6 speed, brembos, custom billstiens, 2 way front and rear diffs, half cage, big fuel system, E85 etc Drove a 2.5lt with a Blouch Dom 3 and it came on hard in 2-4th mid to high revs, and cause Im wanting something that has a bit more down low and spools quicker, the 2.5 looked like it would be the better turbo. Hopefully will be done in the next few weeks.

Jared592 · # ? Nov 22, 2011 15:25

blargle posted:

It would be nice to find a cheap place to order some of those lovely plastic clips that hold the whole frontend of the car together.

Ebay is the place. I remember needing a few replacement clips for my Fit and finding them at the dealer for something ridiculous like $3.50/clip. I checked Ebay and found a whole bag for like $7.

http://motors.shop.ebay.com/i.html?...4506.m270.l1313

Seat Safety Switch · # ? Nov 22, 2011 15:43

law abiding rapist posted:

Does yours change tone with RPM? It's either on or off for me, and very predictable. 4500rpm with my foot almost all the way down does it every time.

The tone is RPM independent - it's all about the throttle position. It starts around 3/4 throttle under load. As I put more throttle on the whistling changes tone, but it doesn't matter where in the rev band I do it (past about 2000 rpm). There's not a lot of variance in tone.

Pretty much every pre-02 NA Subaru I've ever driven or been in has done it, and I wouldn't be surprised if the problem carried forward to other years.

There's this forum discussion about it: link but I'm not sure that they're all talking about the same thing.

Seat Safety Switch fucked around with this message at 15:47 on Nov 22, 2011

Hugh G. Rectum · # ? Nov 22, 2011 20:33

Seat Safety Switch posted:

The tone is RPM independent - it's all about the throttle position. It starts around 3/4 throttle under load. As I put more throttle on the whistling changes tone, but it doesn't matter where in the rev band I do it (past about 2000 rpm). There's not a lot of variance in tone.

Pretty much every pre-02 NA Subaru I've ever driven or been in has done it, and I wouldn't be surprised if the problem carried forward to other years.

There's this forum discussion about it: link but I'm not sure that they're all talking about the same thing.

Curious, at least it seems we're not alone. Both of my brothers have Subarus and I've tried it with theirs. The 98 Outback Sport does it but the 99 2.5RS doesn't. Who knows, just another weird noise that Subarus make.

bull3964 · # ? Nov 22, 2011 20:42

Anyone ever have their CV boots make noise? I'm not talking about the joint itself, but the boot.

I'm getting an occasional "rubbing" sound coming from the front of my '02 WRX. It happened once last year (I think around this time too) and when I investigated it, the sound was actually coming from one of the boots. I 'lubricated' it by coating it with dish soap and it went away.

Now it's happening again as of last night. It's strange, sometimes it will happen, sometimes it won't. Sometimes it will go away for awhile after I make a higher angle turn only to come back again when I'm driving straight.

I just can't find any reference to this happening to anyone else.

Seat Safety Switch · # ? Nov 22, 2011 21:08

bull3964 posted:

Anyone ever have their CV boots make noise? I'm not talking about the joint itself, but the boot.

I'm getting an occasional "rubbing" sound coming from the front of my '02 WRX. It happened once last year (I think around this time too) and when I investigated it, the sound was actually coming from one of the boots. I 'lubricated' it by coating it with dish soap and it went away.

What condition is the circlip on the boot in? Sometimes they back off and start to "swim" up and down the flat spot they sit in on the boot which gets surprisingly loud.

bull3964 · # ? Nov 22, 2011 22:43

Seat Safety Switch posted:

What condition is the circlip on the boot in? Sometimes they back off and start to "swim" up and down the flat spot they sit in on the boot which gets surprisingly loud.

Hmm, I'd have to take another look at it. That could be a distinct possibility (they are almost 10 years old and have 114k miles at this point.)

And yes, it's drat loud in the cabin. It sounds like a tire is rubbing against a strut or fender liner or something.

jamal · # ? Nov 23, 2011 00:40

I kind of doubt the boot could make that much noise. it seems more likely something actually is rubbing. loose fender liner, under tray, wheel bearing...

bull3964 · # ? Nov 23, 2011 00:59

That's what I thought too last year. But when I had it up on jack stands, I could plainly hear the sound localized at the boot rotating the wheel by hand and it went away when i soaped up the boot.

It's a very very odd thing.

Slow is Fast · # ? Nov 23, 2011 04:04

gently caress New England.

nm · # ? Nov 23, 2011 04:44

Is that a bugeye?

gently caress, I'm never moving back to salt territory.

goatse guy · # ? Nov 23, 2011 05:35

nm posted:

They used to meet on uni every week, even in the winter. Weird.

Uni meets are dead. People meet in a mall parking lot on Friday nights now, but it is far less conducive to driving through and gawking at all of the riced-out shitboxes.

Some people went to Uni to see the cool, tastefully modified cars but I went to see the absolutely terrible ones built by people with little money and even less taste.

Lord Gaga · Lord Gaga May 9, 2010

Slow is Fast posted:

gently caress New England.

I just wanted to tell you that I have an 02 in Florida that has never had its up pipe bolts removed. I easily removed them with a 3/8 breaker bar and a bit of PB blaster and reused them all without problems. No swearing uttered.

nm · # ? Nov 23, 2011 05:59

goatse guy posted:

I went to see the absolutely terrible ones built by people with little money and even less taste.

Wait, people went for other reasons?

Lord Gaga posted:

I just wanted to tell you that I have an 02 in Florida that has never had its up pipe bolts removed. I easily removed them with a 3/8 breaker bar and a bit of PB blaster and reused them all without problems. No swearing uttered.

I had this done right after I moved from MN to CA. The shop asked me "what the gently caress did you do to this thing?"

CAT INTERCEPTOR · # ? Nov 23, 2011 11:25

I *think* I have all my ducks in a row for the engine rebuild now....?

EJ257 shortblock (arrived and on the stand)

Gasket kit (full)..... not sure where best to get it

11mm oil pump?

Using stock WRX heads and head gasket so that'll raise compression a touch

Invidia RHD downpipe...? Wait what the hell was the pipe recommended again?

07 Tuned by STI map

ARP head studs (may as well)

KillerB pickup

Baffled sump....? Still unsure which one. NRG or KillerB, hosed if I know.

Ehhhhhh, this all just reminds me how I know a shitload about the chassis, diffs and brakes but gently caress all about the engine.

Slow is Fast · # ? Nov 23, 2011 12:38

nm posted:

Is that a bugeye?

gently caress, I'm never moving back to salt territory.

Yes. A loving 2002.

Lord Gaga posted:

I just wanted to tell you that I have an 02 in Florida that has never had its up pipe bolts removed. I easily removed them with a 3/8 breaker bar and a bit of PB blaster and reused them all without problems. No swearing uttered.

So you want to trade right? That's what I'm reading.

c355n4 · c355n4 Jan 3, 2007

Lord Gaga posted:

I just wanted to tell you that I have an 02 in Florida that has never had its up pipe bolts removed. I easily removed them with a 3/8 breaker bar and a bit of PB blaster and reused them all without problems. No swearing uttered.

You sir, can sweat in hell!

:p

sanchez · sanchez Feb 26, 2003

That photo is a compelling argument to just lease a poverty spec AWD driving appliance to use in the winter. I think it'd be worth the savings in emotional trauma alone.

Tongsy · Tongsy Aug 22, 2007

Well, got our first snow today, 5-10cm overnight. Managed to lose it on a corner and slam slowly into a curb sideways. Looks like i only hit the rear passenger wheel.

No damage to the wheels, aside from the ugly hubcap popping off. It's now buried, as two snowplows were following me. Guess I should go get my alignment checked out ASAP.

Lord Gaga · Lord Gaga May 9, 2010

Tongsy posted:

Well, got our first snow today, 5-10cm overnight. Managed to lose it on a corner and slam slowly into a curb sideways. Looks like i only hit the rear passenger wheel.

No damage to the wheels, aside from the ugly hubcap popping off. It's now buried, as two snowplows were following me. Guess I should go get my alignment checked out ASAP.

That sounds crappy, its also 73 degrees.

Jared592 · # ? Nov 23, 2011 15:52

Lord Gaga posted:

That sounds crappy, its also 73 degrees.

F U GAGA

Vladimir Putin · # ? Nov 23, 2011 15:58

Lord Gaga posted:

That sounds crappy, its also 73 degrees.

Go to hell.

DEUCE SLUICE · # ? Nov 23, 2011 16:40

I'm just hoping my house sells this spring and that this is my last winter in Wisconsin so that I can spare my poor 07 from any more salt. It's already looking kind of rough.

Do people ever pull their suspension components & subframe components and have them blasted / repainted?

Seat Safety Switch · # ? Nov 23, 2011 17:01

DEUCE SLUICE posted:

Do people ever pull their suspension components & subframe components and have them blasted / repainted?

I hit a few pieces with sandpaper and POR15 when they came off, but where I live is too cold to use straight salt. Maybe have an underbody oil spray done like Sock is doing.

Lord Gaga · Lord Gaga May 9, 2010

DEUCE SLUICE posted:

I'm just hoping my house sells this spring and that this is my last winter in Wisconsin so that I can spare my poor 07 from any more salt. It's already looking kind of rough.

Do people ever pull their suspension components & subframe components and have them blasted / repainted?

Yes, definitely.

Tongsy · Tongsy Aug 22, 2007

Lord Gaga posted:

That sounds crappy, its also 73 degrees.

Got a bit crappier. Took it for a drive at lunch time and the rim that smack the curb is definitely warped. Dropped it off at my regular tire guy so he can swap it out.

Adbot · # ? May 15, 2024 01:52

Lord Gaga · Lord Gaga May 9, 2010

Tongsy posted:

Got a bit crappier. Took it for a drive at lunch time and the rim that smack the curb is definitely warped. Dropped it off at my regular tire guy so he can swap it out.

If it makes you feel better there are downsides to a delightful winter in Orlando, Florida. Floridians. Yes, me included. Look at what a pompous dick I am. Also Casey Anthoney. Also, this guy http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3450930