RumblyXT

For how that car looked, and it was a manual! $10K was a great middle price for both buyer/seller imo.

I was trying to copy a video from another ‘05 OBXT, but it didn’t work for me. In the video the guy didn’t take apart any of the dash, he just pulled the filter tray from the cutout below.. I figured out what it didn’t work for me though, I have to also modify the bottom ribs of the plastic tray that holds the filter, otherwise the tray still won’t come out. Next time.. everything is back in place now.

Can’t believe I had to go through all this for a simple cabin filter.. I’m thinking of modifying the plastic drawer roof for the next time I have to replace the filter.

Glad you have your car back. I dislike going to dealers for this very same reason. Not saying all technicians are bad, but it’s a hit and miss type of thing.. so I particularly do not trust dealers. I try doing most basic maintenance/services to my cars on my own. Of course your car’s issue is not a basic service and requires a more in depth analysis, but I’m sure someone here sooner or later will come up with the solution. Staying tuned for the results.. PS: what about a clogged fuel filter inside the pump?

I think he might not want to disclose it lol

I hear you.. mostly everything we buy today is Chinese anyways, nothing we can do about it. They can fabricate the same item in 5 different quality/prices. It is true Chinese products quality standards have gotten way better and the fact they provide 3 years warranty on those TIMKEN bearings is great. Might just give a try to the bearings whenever they go bad, just would hate to have to do it all over again in say a year or so..

Looks like the sub fan motor is kinda stuck from seating for 4 months.. It starts working after I help it move.. but then it stops again after cycling. Thankfully not a wiring/current issue..

Correct, hopefully just the axles. I just wanted to give some info on the bearings since we were discussing aftermarket options the other day.

Awesome hopefully it goes to a person that appreciates the brand and takes good care of the car.

Yes, I was doing that this morning. Only one fan turns on (Left), the Right one however never does..

Yeah, it happened to our Chrysler Pacifica, soon as I replaced the CAF the A/C fan was back to normal again. I may modify the plastic in front of the Outback CAF, as of now I have to remove part of the center console to get to it; not difficult, but tedious. btw, I did some research on the TIMKEN wheel bearings, contacted an eBay seller asking him if the bearings had the 'made in Japan' engraving. Seller stated the TIMKEN factory had moved to China, no longer made in Japan. SKF would be great, but for the price would just rather get the oem ones.

I was driving the car around town yesterday doing errands (110 miles so far, out of boost of course), and got stock in some heavy stop & go traffic. Suddenly, the temp started climbing slightly.. Oh no.. here we go again.. Anyways, I immediately stopped at a nearby gas station, popped the hood and noticed the Right radiator fan was not On (both should have been On with how hot it was, felt like 90+ degrees). I also noticed I got only one speaker working. I’m thinking I might have created a lose connection/short to the fan when I was installing the motor.. I thought if I’d take the car on the highway so it’d get more airflow to the engine, the temperature gauge would drop. In effect it did. Looks like I don’t have a big cooling system issue, just a bad rad fan connection/relay, etc.. Also my A/C, even though it works, it has not been blowing hard/cooling properly. I tested the freon pressure on the Low side line and it’s full. Found out through a video if one of the fans is not working, it can also affect the A/C freon at the condenser not being cooled? On a side note, I also went to replace the cabin air filter (which might be very dirt and blocking the blower fan) and realized I have to remove part of the center dash to get to it.. Got some work to do.

I do have a set of oem axles I sorted from eBay and overhauled them with Beck & Arnley boots, grease and new clamps. They’ll be going in next, along with a few other suspension components.

My guess is the previous owner replaced the front axles with some crappy Chinese knock offs.. not good. I did the shake test and didn’t feel the bearing lose on X/Y axles.. However, from my previous older Forester experience, a normal results tire shake test, doesn’t always indicate the bearing is ok. Kinda hoping it’s not the Hub Assy, the good ones aren’t cheap ($80-$150 good aftermarket) and over $200 for OEM ones.. When I do replace them, I’d like to do both sides..

Ok guys.. I must admit I made a stupid mistake. I left the left wheel nuts kind of lose after installing the motor .. Thankfully they still had a bit of torque and the wheel didn’t fall off.. no wonder it had the cyclical noise I hadn’t heard before. I torqued all wheels just in case. Goes to show, double & triple check your work, especially when it comes to safety parts like brakes and suspension. I also re-tightened the axle nut and re-staked it. (re-stake? Lol) Wheel/s no longer have the cyclical noise, but the left full lock turn noise still remains, indicating more than likely a worn out bearing. Definitely needs attention here.. Cheap torque wrench won’t go over 134 ft/lb.. you get what you paid for. Love seeing no malfunctioning lights

Hmm good point. Yes, the noise is definitely cyclical (that's the word I was looking for lol) you can hear it less and less as the car goes faster, but way louder at low speed. I'll check for that, it's possible I might have bent the dust plate. Before it made this cyclical noise, it always made a horrid metal scraping noise at full Left turns (just like scraping/dragging a metal pipe on the floor), embarrassing haha I just pray to God it's not a bad Rack..

Ok.. NTN (Japan) or SKF(USA) it is then.. I think they're both great quality bearings. By the way, the Part# for the Hub Assy should be 28373AG01A.. I'm guessing the original OEM Subaru bearing were KOYO.

Oh I see what it is.. The front wheel bearings is different for the base VS the turbo models. On the turbo models it comes as an assy with the hub vs just the bearing on the base models. Seems like Subaru might be discontinuing the Hub Assy.. Base model pressed in front wheel bearing Turbo model front wheel bearing Hub Assy (probably discontinued)

Yeah the metal scraping noise it makes when making a full left turn is horrid, even embarrassing lol I pressed in a bearing on my old '01 Forester a couple of years ago, that was some fun work.. This one should go easier given it's not pressed in. H/Gs and wheel bearings.. Subarus' Achilles edit: Wait a sec, the bearing IS pressed in.. I guess it's easier buying the hub with the bearing in it, but way more expensive.. and it also looks like Subaru discontinued it? Hmm.. did Subaru discontinue these?? I typically like to go OEM with these wheel bearing.. If not, can you guys recommend a good aftermarket brand?

Coming back from work last night I could hear a weird "wua wua wua wua" scraping kind of noise from the front wheels (maybe the Left side) and clicking/clunking sounds when turning the wheels. It was quite discernible at low speeds. Look like I really need to take care of the CV axles/front wheel bearings pronto. Thankfully I already got that set of overhauled oem axles almost ready. It never ends.. haha And the Left fender still gets hotter than the right side. This has me puzzled.. Fans turn on with A/C, no problem. The only thing around there that could get hot is the transmission filter and lines?? I wonder what could be getting the Left fender hotter. Possibly the HVAC coolant hoses bypass/cylinder 4 cooling mod I did??

Don't know, I have to run RR again. The wife is currently doing a Masters online and using the PC in the morning everyday now. I have been unlucky in the sense I have tried installing RR on both my kids PCs as well as my old laptop and was unsuccessful to run RR on neither one due to that dreaded Java 16 Runtime error.. The kids got Chromebooks now for school, but I'm not sure if RR can run on that OS. But regardless I'm happy with how the engine is performing so far.

I gave the car a well deserved wash yesterday. Brought it to work today so the ECU could learn even more, so far about 13 miles or so, obviously keeping it out of boost. The engine is behaving great, feels very smooth. Gas mileage even improved to 17.4 mpg, VS the measly 13.1 I used to get on the 255 before..

Oh that's great to hear man, makes me feel more at ease.. I will drive it more often. Thank you for your input.

Not much really.. maybe less than 2 miles driven so far. I didn't really want to drive it around town since there's quite a lot of traffic where I live by and at times you have to accelerate coming from a stop at certain intersections to cross safely. This is not like TN where people are more kind and respectful of traffic laws. Hence I just been doing light drives around the blocks not taking the car into the main streets. But how much driving should take for the ECU to learn while the car's driven out of boost? I basically have the same mods I had in the past, but of course the ej20x is a 2.0L not a 2.5L, and has higher compression than the 255, even more reason why I've been driving it very conservative, not pushing it at all. Max I've done is 25-30 mph.. I don't want to mess up all the work I did in this motor and since I don't have a previous reference, I'm not sure what could be consider a safe speed/acceleration for it at least for now.

Yeah I can't wait brother.. been handling 99 things and a half, but it's all good, nothing I haven't been through before. It's definitely coming.. I have been driving the car out of boost around the area, hoping the computer learns more with this until I can tune it.