RustyShackleford

What are the symptoms if one of the CV joints is going bad ? I have a strange noise that seems to be coming from the front drivers-side wheel and pretty much only occurs when I am going around a left-hand curve. It's hard to describe, maybe a medium-pitch warbling sound (definitely *not* the clunking sound usually reported) that seems to be in sync with the wheel rotation. To really check it out, I went around a traffic circle on a nearby lightly-travelled road over and over again (good thing no cop was nearby, and not sure what I'd do if it was on the passenger side :-) and the sound doesn't change if I depress the clutch, but there's a bit of a clink sound that occurs only when I let the clutch back in. Only other thing it seems like it could be is a wheel bearing. But I recall those tend to be a continuous deep grinding sound. I had this one rebuilt, at a local shop, about a year ago. I caught it soon enough that I'm pretty sure it had less than 1000 miles on the torn boot, and presumably the mechanic checked for damage - but maybe not, and I do live on a dirt road. If it *is* the CV, I'm definitely going the replace-entire-axle route.

From whom do you purchase the OEM re-manufactured ? (Sorry if answered already, and I missed while plowing through the thread). An OEM-remanufactured seems like the best of both worlds. All the metal parts are OEM, so all of the worries about inferior after-market ones go away (assuming the rebuild job was done correctly). Meanwhile, you save the trouble and mess of rebuilding it yourself, and more importantly, avoid having to redo things again if any damage occurred before you caught it.

Nope. I'm pretty anal about checking the fluids once a month, and I park the car in a specific place when I do it (so the level is the same). I also leave the dipstick out for a few minutes (the same as you need to do with the engine oil dipstick) before re-inserting it to take the reading.

Damn, it's a mystery then I guess. I check it every month and it's always been fine, and it was that low after the axle rebuild. Seems not to be leaking now, but I'll keep an eye on it. Thanks for the input, and I guess I won't lose trust in the shop.

Hmm, I don't thin it's leaked any since the work was done. I thought earlier in this thread there was some talk of some oil leaking out if you don't jack up the side of the car (that you're working on) up far enough. I'd check, but the thread's kinda gigantic ...

I had a shop rebuild one of my front half-axles after noting a torn boot. Next time I checked the transmission oil, it was about 1/3 of a quart low. I've never noted any leakage before and haven't noticed any since. I asked the shop if tranny oil could be lost when doing this work, and they said no, maybe you should bring it in and we'll check for leaks. I think I know the answer from this thread, but I want to verify that it *is* possible for some transmission oil to leak out when R&R'ing the half-axle. This is pretty disappointing, because I've always liked the shop and it has an excellent rep. I don't think it's that bad that they forgot to top off the transmission oil (although how could they not notice that amount of leakage ?, kinda a mess), but I really don't like that apparently they lied about it. Thanks.

My symbol (the green one) comes on with the parking lights.

Which could get you in trouble if your car were somehow factory wired as shown in the manual, as opposed to the way it really is. If so, you wouldn't want to reverse the wires. And if you get that wrong, fried BIU.

I think each of your sentences explains why you've never damaged anything. Some people aren't as smart or careful as you (I'm not being sarcastic); that's why I think the guy is right that a more explicit warning in the OP would be good.

I wouldn't go quite that far, but certainly you better know what you're doing. I am an electrical engineer and I spent some time making *sure* I was not gonna fry the BIU. The problem is exarcerbated by the fact that the wiring diagram (in the vacation pix) is incorrect for the way the dome light is originally wired. Re-reading the OP, I agree there should be some more explicit warning near the top of the post.

Gotcha. I hope they weren't blowing smoke when the said the outer rarely fails - but I'll look for blowing out grease.

You talkin' to me ? How scammed, exactly ? Because I paid $30 less and a mechanic in my garage repacked the CV joint with grease instead of one at an "OEM rebuild" factory ?

I paid $170 to re-boot (with repacking the grease, I guess, if it was needed, I guess that's what "rebuild" means ?) the passenger-side inner only. They told me that the outers rarely need attention because they're neoprene.

Definitely something I will add to my monthly set of car chores. Takes about 10sec to just peek down and see if there's grease everywhere. Of course, if it's the one above the catalytic converter, you'll notice the smell right away anyhow !

Considering the troubles reported with re-manufactured and non-OEM axles, and the expense of purchase, I can't see not just rebuilding your own axle. How much trouble can it be, just cleaning out some grease and re-packing ? Of course, I haven't actually done it yet ...

I reckon it was just the boot, not the kit, and they used their own grease. Hope it's not supposed to be some special sauce; OTOH, they work on Subie's a LOT, so maybe they have it in bulk. Still, I hope they didn't re-use the axle nut. I guess I'll do it later this year at my leisure.

Well, the garage is done doing my right-hand side inner boot. Only $128 labor (they didn't say how many hours) and $19 for the part (which is less than the kit from subarupartsforyou, so I hope they put a new axle-nut at least). Note on the invoice said left-hand inner one is leaking, and indeed there seems to be grease leaking out from the clamp at the outer/narrow end. I don't know if that suggests impending failure, probably not; but maybe I'll try it myself when I have more time. Another Subie pal says the left-hand one may last forever (not being near the cat).

Ok, I'm not as dumb as I thought. Maybe I'll try some of that expensive foil tape used for HVAC ductwork, along with some zip-ties. FWIW, my mechanic (experienced Subie guy who I'm gonna have fix mine now) said they can go about 3000 miles before the joint is ruined. Obviously it depends on how torn the boot is and how dirty the driving conditions, but I feel hopeful because he will get to mine before 1000 miles.

EDIT: Duh, I just realized the boot spins with the axle. So my comment that the "top" of the boot is torn, and my idea to do a temporary patch with duct tape, are both pretty dumb Probably makes more sense to have a garage do the boot-only NOW (if I don't have time to mess with it before trip), than wait and have to replace the whole axle (parts for DIY of whole axle will probably be as much or more than garage cost of just doing boot). So I just discovered that the inner boot on passenger side of mine is torn; seems kinda odd that this seems to be the one reported most often on this thread. Also odd that I JUST replaced the tranny oil. Also just hosed off the underside of the car after a beach trip. Just coincidence I guess. Anyhow, the tear is on the top of the boot, and I have a 2000 mile (total) roadtrip soon, and would rather not mess with this now. Would it be reasonable to just patch the thing with duct tape for now, and deal with it when I get home ?? It did JUST happen (I woulda noticed it when I changed the tranny oil last week), so if I do it now, damage to the joint is unlikely and I can just do the boot. But seems like duct tape (don't laugh, I'm serious) would do the job of keeping any more grease from getting flung out and dirt from getting in.

I believe I used those same bulbs and they've been going strong for over a year. I found autolumination good too, when the LED array I used for the dome lost a solder joint; another guy here reports bad experience with them though.

I am electrical engineer and made VERY sure I knew what the circuit was and how I was modifying it. It DOES seem like a fairly foolishly risky thing, if you're not capable of this understanding. For example, as to those "very clear" instructions - the instructions assume the wiring shown in the manual is incorrect (the wires to the dome light are reversed from what is shown); but imagine some serial numbers of the car agree with the manual, then doing the wire reversal as described in the instructions would fry the BIU.

Looks ok Greg, but aren't we kinda re-inventing the wheel here ? Am I missing something, or why spend $100 or so on parts, when you can just buy some coax and a 1/8" stereo jack ? I guess if the point is retain the steering wheel controls, then you need to either source some spare pins, else fabricate a completely new connector, as has been described previously in this thread.

I hate you. Try $500 WITHOUT the XM module ...

You should be - although I wonder if actually repairing the BIU is an option for some of the folks who've fried it. Probably just one easily replaceable and obtainable (once you get the BIU out) component. Anyhow, I think the key to not frying your BIU is to make sure you never connect 12v directly to the "brown wire", the one that leads from the "door" side of the dome-light switch to the BIU. This wire is "pulled low" by the BIU when a door is open, and apparently has no current limiting. This is why you reverse the wires going to the map light; however, the wiring diagrams show the wires to the maplight being hooked up the way they are AFTER your reverse them, so if Subaru started wiring them to agree with the schematic, then reversing the wires would be bad. Capische ? You might consider putting a 10-ohm or so resistor in series with your connection to the brown wire, until you make sure you have it right. That would limit the current to an amp or so, even if you have it wired wrong, and simply make the lights dimmer (that resistor WILL get hot and probably fry itself, unless it's a big 'un, if you have it wired wrong).

So you're saying for 05-07 folks that simply unplugging the DRL is fine, we don't need to worry our headlites are dimmer ?