silverton

Don't get Zevo's, they're dimmer than a halogen.  Your best bet is to match the bulb, anything else may look 'off'.

Two types of Subaru's, those that need a power steering pump, and those that have had it replaced already

OE is ideal, Victory Reinz and Mahle are practically OE. Stone is good.  Basically anything but felpro(failpro)

8 hours ago, incoming81s said:

I very briefly read an interesting procedure on how to tighten the axle nuts to spec. I think it involved putting the wheels back on, snugging them up and lowering the car to the ground. After that is done THEN tighten the axle nuts up to 162+ Ft Lb’s. Anyone read/know different? 
FYI, the wheel hub assembly (although a pain in the ass) came off much easier than I anticipated with a heavy hammer. 

Do not do this.  You will damage the wheel bearing.  Do you not have a friend/family member that can hold the brake pedal for five seconds?  If it's a rear you could just set the parking brake, but I still think it's ideal to just hold the pedal.

If it looks and smells like ATF I don't think that's gonna be any type of PCV leak.  If the pump has been seeping for a long time it could be that.  I know they're kind of crammed in there but look directly behind and below the power steering pump.  They generally make a mess of the timing cover as well.

Just as a note, no power steering stuff is bolted to the firewall, from the factory any way.  You can see one of your PS lines in that photo, it has the R on it. They are bolted to the strut tower, you can kinda see where at in the photo with the rubber holder thingy.

2 hours ago, Flaris said:

I received my new brake pads and rotors, but have no time to install them today. I am considering using steelstik to fill an overdrilled hole where the metal bracket/hood strut clip goes so I can re-drill the correct sized hole -- however, I'd been thinking 10mm was correct, but it might not be.

So today is "figure out what size hole the washer fluid reservoir bolt will fit into and measure it out" day. Whenever I can get that metal bracket onto Subi I'll finally be able to reinstall her air inlet duct. Worst case scenario is I'll just see if any of the local dealers have it (901120061), buy a couple and take them to a hardware store to try to eyeball the right sized drill and tap to use.

should be 10mm bolts, and if they are 10mm bolts I believe that makes them m8x1.0

I believe they serve a purpose with directing light as well, but it's your stuff...try it.

51 minutes ago, seanyb505 said:

A friend of mine recently picked up a Volvo, so I ordered some prancingmoose.com shield stickers as a Christmas gift. While poking around the site I saw he now has a few Subaru emblem vinyls. Ordered carbon fiber with pink stars just for fun. 

Still haven't got under the car to locate the coolant leak. I did take the driver side timing cover off because it was easy. Nothing terribly yucky in there. I'll wait until I get underneath to breathe a sigh of relief. The fsm water pump instructions include removing the cam gears.

They want to take the cam gears off to get the rear timing cover out, as this does make it easier to replace the pump; but you don't need to.  If it were me I'd take the tensioner bracket out since you'll need to reset your tensioner anyway.  tensioner bracket bolts are 25nm, water pump bolts are two passes of 12, or do it the saab way; one pass of 8, second pass of 12.

blue gaskets are never good

I believe that's what they used to align the headlights via machine back in the day

5 is good, 10 is okay, 15 there's an issue, 20+ fix that shit before you break it.

12 hours ago, incoming81s said:

Also, how in the hell does one get the axle nut off? Apparently King Kong was hired to tap in the dent (divet) that keeps the axle nut in place. Suggestions?

Like Infosecdad said, an impact will take it off.  There are tools available to untang the nut to make it easier if an impact is not available, these nuts are torqued to 190-220nm so they're tiiight. The blue point untanger also comes with a tanger so you people can stop breaking the tips off your screw drivers

6 hours ago, Scubaboo said:

Do tell!  I probably misunderstood you.

I do know Timken makes good OEM level stuff but in other makes I have I've heard anecdotes of them being not what they used to be for some applications.  Assumed that in this case. 

I, like you, know Timken to be a trusted bearing brand so at the time I replaced it with another one.  After I made that post I actually think I had to do it a third time.  Knowing what I know today, I'd buy an OE bearing unless it meant I had to eat ramen for the week. I've had too many aftermarket parts not even make it to half the mileage, some of them not even a quarter, that the original part did.

Just cause it's new doesn't mean it's good! There's a reason why I replaced a quickly failed timken with another timken!

31 minutes ago, pirarucu said:

Hi Thanks for that info!  So, when I mentioned earlier that the rear was lower than the front, I was referring to the distance between the flood and the chassi. Measuring the wheels as per the nice diagram above with the car fully unloaded (and gas talk half-way), I get the following: front measurement = 16.25; rear measurement = 14.5.  This is a difference of 1.75 inches, which is more than 1 inch of manufacturer's specifications.  What I don't get is how three mechanics tell me the suspension is fine.  

Personally, I see it going down quite a lot with minimal weight (as passenger or trunk load), which tells me the springs have become rather soft. 

Question -- those spacers I could put, do they just minimize the height or actually make the rear suspension a bit stiffer?

Well, you were incorrectly measuring ride height before, so there's that.  Your front is just a smidge over the specified limit, which is 16.1", could be normal deviance in the user and the measuring tool. Your rear is still within specification, which has a lower limit of 14.14".

You've failed to mention how many miles are on your car, what kind of maintenance you've done to it, or tire size.  Every car needs a suspension refresh every 70-100k miles. It sounds to me like your car is overdue for a refresh in the suspension department. Tires, control arms, lateral links, strut assemblies, et cet era... all of these components play into your ride height, which is why there is a upper and lower limit to account for these variables.

Your current ride height is fine, unless you have other complaints about the car like clunking in the suspension or very bouncy on the freeway, stop trying to make a problem.  At the end of the day, just get the 'saggy butt spacers' to combat the purposely squatted rear suspension, all it does is add height, no stiffness.

On 11/25/2023 at 5:48 PM, pirarucu said:

. Took my 2016 legacy to the dealer and three mechanics already, and they all told me it is all fine. I measured with a tape, and the undercarriage of the car is lower by half an inch on the rear compared to the front. Put a little weight on the back, just 50 or 100 lbs, and then the car is visibly lowered on the rear. Remains a mystery to me. Anyone has any thoughts?

Per factory spec, the rear is .55" lower than the front. So, all those people that said it is all fine, aren't trying to get one past you. Mine is basically nuts on factory spec, at least on the driver side, with around a quarter tank of gas.

Here's my front:

And my rear:

Hard to say if bearings were replaced before you purchased, but if they were, it was likely under warranty, so... anywhere between 145k and 225k miles on OE bearings.  They are $270/ea, so I'd pick either SKF or timken aftermarket if I had to, they're both ~$100.

That being said, I did have to do wheel bearings twice on my impreza in the 80k miles i owned it and I used timken bearings both times, so take that for what its worth. 

penny wise, pound foolish! 

TR580 in the 2.5, TR690 in the 3.6

On 11/20/2023 at 1:14 AM, Flatfour02 said:

 What I can see though, is when the car is sitting in park, or neutral, I can see the drive shaft spinning.

This is with all four wheels on the ground?

If they're charging you money, that's why.  But it is not specified in the repair manual that a relearn is necessarily.

A relearn is not necessary with fluid replacement.

I hope these help!

8 hours ago, Beamercub said:

If OP was able to measure the amount of fluid that came out, can't the OP just add that amount and be done?

Only if the fluid coming out is the same temperature as the fluid going in, like if the car and the new fluid stayed in the garage over night before work was performed.  Ideally the fluid level would still be checked via proper procedure, but ya gotta do what ya gotta do right?

P0700 is an ECM code triggered by the TCM, to let you know there is a DTC in the TCM.

18 hours ago, Max Capacity said:

FWIW, when I do spark plugs, I have two plug sockets, one with the rubber insert and one without the rubber that holds the plug and sometimes stays on the plug as the extension is pulled out. Learned that working on the hemi style heads on the Honda civic many years ago, to fix the stuck socket on the plug, I had a socket welded to the extension. 

 

On these engines, I install the plug with the rubber insert socket, but before it's too far in, I switch to the socket without the rubber insert, then tighten the plug.

Invest in one of these: https://www.matcotools.com/catalog/product/sp4928/5-8-x-6-swivel-spark-plug-socket

This allows you do spark plugs in the car with minimal disassembly. With this you no longer need to disconnect motor mounts to get a better angle. I can have the tool attached to a ratchet and still get it in 3 of the 4 holes

I'm surprised that bolt broke at 13ft/lb.  that's only 5nm over spec.  13ftlb = 17nm, spec is 12nm.  just for the record subaru wants you to do two passes of 12nm starting at the top going clockwise, saabaru on the other hand wants one pass of 8nm and a second pass of 12nm. I suppose someone prior could have abused the threads and weakened them.

If you're lucky that will still seal, be sure to use an OE metal crushy type gasket.