Claw

Damn, I did my front wheel bearing in my tiny garage while it was -15C a couple years ago.. I didn't enjoy a single moment of that but I saved some decent coin doing it.  My best friend was a radiant heat dish.

Good luck.

Broke off the tiny tab where the right side rear defroster plugs into the harness.. my dexterity isn't good enough to solder it back together.  I pulled the tab out and yanked the connector instead of pushing the tab in and yanking the connector.

Fixing one problem, introducing another seems to be the story of my life with this car lately..

Cool, thanks for the tip.

I grabbed a harness last time I was at a Pick'n'Pull, hoping that it worked (and it did.. for 18 months).  I'll be soldering my original harness and then swapping it in.

Do you recall which wires you needed to replace, or did you just do them all?

Here since June 18, 2005..

Fix rear hatch wiring..  to me this was less of a concern up until this past weekend when the rear hatch lock/release stopped working.  Rear wiper I can go without but not a hatch lock.   Got some silicone sheath flexible wiring from Amazon that didn't stiffen up in -40C temps, gonna break out the soldering iron and get to it this weekend.

On 1/15/2024 at 4:13 PM, SilentJ20 said:

To try and replicate the filament behavior as much as I could I got these Auxito (high beams, fogs are similar geometry) with a thin led support and minimal protrusions. Even though I will not be using high beams into oncoming traffic, and even fogs will be minimal, I still wanted to put forth as consistent and non-offensive beam pattern as possible.

End result, highs are light cannons, fogs are useful.

Do these Auxito LED bulbs fit into the stock 05 fog housings?  I'd be interested in giving it a try.. even with yellow LAMIN-X on my fogs they don't seem to throw out that much light..

It's been -40C last couple of days.. car started both times I went out, but the last trip on Sunday to take my kids for their swimming lessons I got a P0171 and a P1572 show up 2 blocks from home.  Luckily I was able to get home..

Cleaned the MAF, reset the codes and went for a drive today, thankfully they didn't return but it got me thinking.. I replace the front two coil packs a couple of years ago (misfire, rough idle), but I think the rears are due for replacement this year.. what brand should I get from Rock Auto? NGK and Denso I recognize from the forums here.

There's probably also a tonne of old rubber seals and hoses and what not I should start budgeting to replace.. does anyone know what needs to be done with these old engines?

I bought them in 2011, but didn't get around to installing them until 10 years later when my stock struts started feeling bouncy.

I had followed the writeup here about the Swift Springs/Koni insert DIY, did the exact measurements and cut.  I had suspected that I didn't locktite the attaching screw enough, but on a few occasions I took the tire off, tried to move it up and down with a jack and it didn't shimmy or move funny.  The screws at the bottom are solidly rusted (ie. secure) to the strut body.

The telling moment is when I dialed the strut (both of them) to full "comfort mode" and the clunk went away.  I've done a few long(er) distant drives and on country roads/fire roads taking my kid to camp and the clunk never came back.  But as soon as I twist the dial towards the sportier setting and back half a turn from full, the clunk comes back.

I messaged Koni warranty with this finding and they said:

Quote

A clunking noise is very rarely related to the working function or internal compression/rebound damping force of a shocks absorber. That is unless the damper has lost a considerable amount of oil. If the inserts have developed leaks where you are seeing large collections of oil in or around the upper strut mount, or leaking down the strut body, it’s possibly that the clunk is related to the lack of oil inside the shocks. Though if that were the case you would also notice a considerable degrade in the handling/performance of the dampers, not just a clunking noise. Clunks especially in colder weather can become more prominent as the temperature drop and the rubber isolators in mounts, bushings throughout the suspension system become much harder, almost plastic like and less susceptible to movement.

Where I'm at it's cold (below freezing) 6 months out of the year.. while the lifetime replacement is nice, I'd rather not be swapping struts every time it fails.  The right front strut is leaking from the top and the other is clunking.  It's like I'd need a spare pair of struts ready to swap in.

Sure - I'll check the upper mount too.  Also endlinks, the car is almost 18 years old so that's a valid point.

It's odd that if I turn the dial down to full soft the clunk mostly goes away.  Went for a drive up a short 1km road this morning in full stiff and full soft, there's a lot more clunking going on in the full stiff.

I did a Koni swap to my OEM struts about 2-3 years ago.  They've been great for a while but this spring a clunk developed and I'm having a hard time pinpointing the source of it.

It seems to occur on decompression of the strut.  I've checked my mounting bolts top and bottom and it's all there and tightened to spec.  I thought it might have been the M12 bolt underneath pulling the insert into the body, but that too is tightened and rusted in place.

I took it to a mechanic to check out my suspension and they said everything looks solid, no loose joints, connections.  Also fellow forum member had a look and a test drive and thought that was also strange.  My aluminum Mevotech LCA's from Rock Auto and their bushings are all still good.  I sent an inquiry to Koni and this is what they had to say:

"A clunking noise is very rarely related to the working function or internal compression/rebound damping force of a shocks absorber. That is unless the damper has lost a considerable amount of oil. If the inserts have developed leaks where you are seeing large collections of oil in or around the upper strut mount, or leaking down the strut body, it’s possibly that the clunk is related to the lack of oil inside the shocks. Though if that were the case you would also notice a considerable degrade in the handling/performance of the dampers, not just a clunking noise. Clunks especially in colder weather can become more prominent as the temperature drop and the rubber isolators in mounts, bushings throughout the suspension system become much harder, almost plastic like and less susceptible to movement."

Lastly, I changed from full stiff minus half a turn to full soft minus half a turn, and the clunk seems to be less when the strut extends after I hit a bump.

Thoughts on what it could be?  I know my passenger side strut has a leaky seal so I'll be sending that one in to Koni for warranty replacement, but the clunk is a lot more apparent on the drivers side.

Well the first harness fix lasted 7 years.. now the wiper's dead again.  Time to go in again and try to find out which wire(s) are broken.

Nothing, but I finally figured out how to reset my account since the original email I had signed up with had been deactivated.. (had to endure the rigamarole of reactivating the account and all that).

Sheesh.

First time in 8 years of ownership that the tailgate supports wouldn't hold up the tailgate. What's the preferred replacement, generic rockauto?

 

I bought Amazon ones, at the time they were cheaper than Rock Auto. Well, there's some valving going on inside that will allow them to open about 3/4 way at normal speed then the other 1/4 at a snail's pace sometimes on cooler days, and on warmer days they'd act like OEM.

 

I'd probably go with Rock Auto or a junkyard if you're OK with that.

There's a 2007 DGM Spec.B sitting at a local Pick'n'Pull.

 

https://www.picknpull.com/check-inventory/vehicle-details/4S3BL696473206585

Oh, if you have not already found this in your research, the OBs have the exact same inner fender liners and fenders as a Legacyhttps://legacygt.com/forums/showpost.php?p=5223264&postcount=30

 

I didn't find this to be the case, the 05 OB had a different mudguard position when I went to Pick'n'Pull to grab a front fender to replace my 05 LGT fender liner.

Rockauto has them and I cannot remember what they are called. I put 4 in my WRX and I swear to you they were OEM pack with out the Subaru stamp.

 

If you ever figure/find out, please post it here. I'm going to look for some used ones in decent shape for now..

If you are getting coil packs, get diamond electric. They are OEM.

 

Thanks Infosecdad - it doesn't look like Rock Auto or PartsKing carries Diamond.. can you recommend any retailers that stock them?

 

Edit: Lowest price locally I could find for Diamond Electrics coilpack is $145CDN.. Stealership asking $180CDN for a single. That's crazy.

Had a P0301 today.. cylinder 1 misfire.

 

Had it towed home (thanks AMA driver for not charging me $35 on top), so I swapped the coilpacks from 1 to 2 and the CEL went with it.

 

So now, are the standard OEM equivalent coilpacks from Rock Auto good enough, or do I go with cheap Chinese ones (no, just putting it out there) or go fancy ones like these?

 

https://www.npboosted.com/collections/ej25t/products/ignition-coil-packs-subaru-baja-forester-impreza-sti-legacy-outback-saab-9-2x

Love all the nice "hooked up" wagons!

Shoot. You're right.. it was an 06 Sedan. I guess I should take it back and find an 05.

The computer block thingy is rivetted to the seat cushion base. I didn't have a drill with me to pull that off at the Pick-n-Pull yard.

 

I was able to pull out the bladder/occupancy sensor though.. I think I might need the computer to test.

I grabbed a non-motorized seat rail from an 05 Legacy from the junk yard, was thinking about creating a cooler mount for use when camping (overlanding the catch phrase for all the new kids on the block these days?).

 

If I removed the seat and built a wood shelf on the rail, without the side seat airbag connected would that cause any issues? The occupancy computer is on the seat itself, not the rails. I didn't have a drill with me to drill out the black computer thingy but I was able to grab the plastic occupancy sensor. There's also a plug going into the seat belt receiver which I'd re-use from my OEM seat, just swapping it over.

 

Would this work?

Have you seen this,

 

https://www.subaruoutback.org/threads/overextended-axle-question.534491/#post-6130633

 

Yep.. it was the knuckle inside the boot that separated. The end was still firmly in the diff, no movement there. Thanks for the tip. We got it free of the hub and wrangled muscled it following Marvick08GT's suggestion.

Got everything pieced together again.. gosh what a pain that was.

 

Somehow the tie rod boot started leaking through it all. I have a spares but I don't have time to get it done. Alignment is next and I saw that the power steering belt is a little shredded.

Ok. I'll take it off and try tomorrow.. my buddy helping me out is convinced there's a pin inside preventing it from going back in. We worked at it for a good 30 minutes on the car with no luck.