amptramp

I just passed the 299,792.458 kilometre point on the odometer.  What's the significance of that?  It is one light-second in distance.  Makes you wonder about the size of astronomical units like light years.  300,000 is coming up soon.

On 2/9/2024 at 2:38 PM, xt2005bonbon said:

Change it yourself and save some cash. It's not hard at all (assuming no bolt seizing problem).

I saw the guy fire up the torch and I got the bearing assembly and the bolts back with the old one, so I would probably not have been able to do it.  Is the housing the same for the left side as the right?  If so, when the left one goes, I could get someone to press out the bearing, put in a Timken  and do the other side with the same housing.

Just booked an appointment to get a wheel bearing replaced on Tuesday.  It will be about CAD $650 plus 13% tax.  I am almost at 300,000 km and a new bearing is cheaper than a new car.  I am looking forward to getting to 299,792.468 km as that will be one light second.  It might even make it to 300,000 km.

On 2/4/2024 at 8:04 PM, SubOperator said:

I used Chemical Guys' water spot removal gel, worked wonderfully. Orange looking gel, is a bit pricey but worth it.

 

Is that how you clean the windows on a submarine?

18 hours ago, tysparks81 said:

I washed the Spec B and parked in its storage spot for the rest of winter.  I was able to get the Forester up and running this weekend, after a long couple of weeks of trying to get it safetied and road legal.  Which included me spending a night out in -10 degree weather to install new fog lights, and replacing a front wheel bearing.

Then did a 400km(248mile) round trip in the forester.  But gas mileage was terrible so I plan on swapping the rear O2 sensor in hopes of getting slightly better gas mileage(new spark plugs, air filter, maf already).  The clock/ estimated fuel consumption was showing numbers all over the place and I had gotten an O2 sensor error last week but it didn't come back so I think the O2 is on its way out.

The rear O2 sensor just checks the efficiency of the catalytic converter and is used to provide the dreaded P0420 indication.  The front O2 sensor actually alters the mixture.

New tires today!  I replaced the aging and destroyed General Altimax RT43 tires with General Altimax 365AW, so that is an all-season tire replaced by an all-weather tire which is supposedly better.  Now it seems to sit a little taller and grip so much better that it seems like the power steering is having trouble turning them.  It will be interesting to see how these fare over the winter.

Just for @SoobyDoobyDoo These are the pictures taken from the bridge separating the north and south sides of Kennisis Lake.  As you can see, off in the distance, there are a lot of roller coaster hills, but they don't show up here as well as they do in person.  The first picture is looking northeast from the bridge.

 

 

The second picture is looking southeast from the bridge.  You can see extremely tiny cottages with huge hills the roads are on.

 

What did I do to the car?  I have a 2009 NA Legacy wagon and I usually drive my son-in-law to work but he took the day off yesterday.  So I went on a day trip that included Kennesis Lake area which is quite the roller coaster trip.  When you get to the top of a hill, you have to lean forward to see the other side of the hill.  I may have unported the oil pickup on one occasion because there seemed to be some drag on the engine but after stopping for a few minutes, the drag went away (probably along with some bearing material).  I averaged 7.22 litres / 100 km = 39.12 mpg (Imperial) = 32.58 mpg (US).  I was definitely glad I had topped up the oil on Monday.  The display indicated 7.2 litres/100 km, so it was accurate.  I used 42.858 litres and went 593.6 km.  Since the tank is 64 litres, I could have easily gone a few hundred more km.

Today I went on an garage sale expedition which is worse than stop and go driving.  It is shut down /  restart driving.  I still get 10.2 litres/100 km.

I don't know of any other car that has the cargo space and fuel economy of the Legacy wagon and still gets decent performance.

A friend of mine who is a consultant in the automotive business once told me that there is a secret lifetime warranty on brake backing plates that applies to all cars of all ages.  If the brake backing plate on your Model T rusts out, you can go to Ford and get a new on for free.  I had never heard of this before but it is obvious why manufacturers would insist on making this a secret warranty.

12 hours ago, Enlight said:

Mazda (N3R1-14-302) Oil Filter Cartridge

Here it is on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00HG7G3VA/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

There may be some differences depending on where you are.  In Canada, Mazda supplies a Mazda branded filter, but it is a Fram filter with a black paint job instead of orange.  I don't know of any car manufacturer who makes its own oil filters.  I did use a NAPA/Wix filter once but it tended to unscrew itself due to vibration.  I have used Amzoil filters before but they are getting expensive and hard to find in a retail shop.  I am currently running AC Delco and it seems to be OK.

I have had intermittent operation in my 2009 NA Legacy Wagon for a couple of days and finally got it towed to the dealership where they are burning through $149 per hour trying to find out what is wrong.  They had replaced the ECU in 2015 and that appeared to fix things but now I keep getting sudden stoppages in traffic and failures to start with codes for the auto transmission control unit, P0700 and P1718.  I got a call back from the service rep saying they are seeing the things I am seeing like operation sometimes but not all the time and are tracing things with an oscilloscope to see where they are losing communication but they are totally lost.  They asked me to authorize two more hours, so I did, but this may be the end of this car.

The lower left ball joint in my Miata went on January 2, so I have one immobile car in the driveway and the Subaru at the shop.

When my Legacy finally digested its Michelin All Seasons, I replaced them with General Altimax RT43 All Seasons.  This was a big improvement over the Michelins even when the Michelins were new.

3 hours ago, lagwagon said:

Yes, I reset it. I checked voltage and resistance at the plug with the car at acc on so I needed to reset due to the codes it generates. Resistance seemed a bit higher on the ground wires than expected at ~30 ohms. Not sure if there is a spec range for these in the FSM, I'll try to look for that in the diagnostics section.

That sounds very high for a ground wire.  I would fix that next.

Once you clean the battery terminals (or disconnect the battery for any reason) the ECU goes into a learning mode where the hot idle starts at 500 RPM and gradually rises over a week if it is used as a daily driver.  It can stall during this time and I consider it dangerous - I don't know why they did it like that.  Learning modes should be banned.  Throttle response should be one of life's certainties.

5 hours ago, Max Capacity said:

I believe it's just the dust shield, not the backing plate its self.  You don't really need that piece of the puzzle.

A friend of mine who is a consultant in automotive marketing told me you may be in luck for a backing plate.  The dust shield you would have to pay for but the backing plates are covered by a government-imposed permanent secret warranty across all makes and models and years.  If you have a backing plate that has rusted out in your 1924 Model T, you can go to Ford and get one for free.  This applies to all cars.

I seriously wonder why brakes need dust shields.  Disc brakes fling water off by centrifugal force.  The only thing I see the shields doing is adding unsprung weight.

You might want to see if paintless dent removal is possible in your case.  I have seen worse cases successfully recovered without the need for a repaint.

4 hours ago, Scottydunno said:

What year/engine Millenia?? 

Any year will do but I usually ask for 1997 and either the four or the six.

To continue the story: I checked with the place that got me the last two filters and they said there was no stock at Amsoil, so that was out.  I looked at K&N and Mobil 1 and decided on Mobil 1 because there was a total of four threads that it mounted by compared with the three on the K&N.  I thought this would lead to the same problem I had with Wix of filters unscrewing themselves, so four threads was the winner.  I had lost half a litre of oil per year with the Wix filters before and they can be tightened but I didn't want to get under the car in winter just to tighten a filter.  Now that Wix is owned by Mann/Hummel, I don't know if the filters have degraded to the Mann level (which is basically a Purolator filter).

This has been a futile few days.  For the last two oil changes, I have used Amsoil oil filters and they are great, certainly better than the NAPA Wix filters that I can use everywhere else but they unscrew themselves on a Subaru because the engine vibration rotates about a vertical axis and the filter mounts vertically, so Wix is out even though it is the filter I go with for everything else.

Amsoil has this cottage industry distribution system where there is no store that carries them, only a bunch of local mom-and-pop individuals and businesses that are usually out of stock.  I finally found a store that said they had one only to find that it is the short canister version that cannot be installed on a Subaru because there is a heat shield that wraps around about three quarters of the filter and I prefer the long canister for easier installation and more filter material internally.  The best way to spec the filter is to get one for a Mazda Millenia because both engines in all years used the long canister which is about 0.9 inches longer than the one they list and it fits.  I don't want to order directly from the company because who knows what I will get?

I am going to give their distributors one more day to come up with a filter and if not, there may be a K&N oil filter in my future and I know where there are correct ones on the shelf right now.  I would go with Royal Purple but they don't seem to have any presence here in Canada.

I went on a reasonably long trip on Saturday (about 450 km return) and got 7.8 litres/100 km = 36.2 miles per imperial gallon = 30.2 miles per US gallon. Not bad for a wagon and definitely better than my 2001 Miata would get. But my last fillup was CDN $92.76 in the Toronto area. It has never been that high before and there is no sign of anything coming down. This is a stock naturally aspirated 2.5 litre SOHC engine. I am happy with the mileage but it could get better.

Do the magnets make any significant difference? Have you cut apart a filter after removal to see any metallic sludge on the inside?

On the WRX/FA20 restromod, the only complication will be canbus/immobilizer related. Last I was digging into things (~2.5 years ago) the older cars and newer ones still used the same general addresses so should talk, but if a given field/message it's expecting isn't there it might get a little pissy.

 

This is solvable as long as you don't have emissions testing in your area. If you do, it's likely still solvable but you'll need some sort of canbus translators or an arduino hanging out on the bus simulating stuff that not there.

 

There is a thread on miata.net about the same thing where people are trying to bypass the immobilizer using an Arduino:

 

https://forum.miata.net/vb/showthread.php?t=504294&highlight=arduino

 

You have to build the Arduino module to read the code while everything is still working. Then you can just switch over to the Arduino board which imitates the immobilizer and puts out the right code. The other thing people commonly do is cut an unchipped key and tape a chipped key to the inside of the housing near the ignition switch. That way, an unchipped key can be used to start the car.

 

If you have a good key, you can always tape it to the inside of the cover near the ignition switch. That way, an unchipped key can be used because the immobilizer still sees a chipped key.

 

If you want a laugh, the immobilizer in a Miata is made by Lucas. I suppose if you want to immobilize a car, you go with the people who have been immobilizing cars for 80 years.

Hopefully Gates took the hint by now and fixed the kit that had cheap parts in it.

 

It's well documented that Gates kit is/was junk.

 

How long is the warranty ?

 

Aisin is the kit we use. Look in the DIY Forum below about timing belts.

 

or here,

https://www.google.com/search?q=gates+timing+belt+failure&sxsrf=APq-WBtCPk0VkwvHaDL8tSPjzmqoqUojZQ%3A1649030682459&source=hp&ei=GjZKYvrNGdTXytMPjsqR-A0&iflsig=AHkkrS4AAAAAYkpEKhq3-qtFsFSrlv2t46y3ak4GbaXG&oq=Gates+timing+belt+issues&gs_lcp=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&sclient=gws-wiz

 

That's interesting. When I had my timing belt done on the Subaru, the mechanic said they had failures with Aisin so they stopped using it and they used a Continental kit. When I had it done on my Miata, they also used a Continental kit. So far, no problems.

Planning my JDM headlight swap. In the meantime a main bulb burned out. I had 65W OSRAM which are discontinued. Went with their 55W Nightbreaker lasers which was closest they now make. I was very surprised at the difference.

 

After a little searching i found a small outfit that produces a 65W H7 as a replacement for the original OSRAM in case anyone out there is interested.

 

https://www.danielsternlighting.com/products/products.html

 

I have before and after pics but getting a failure when trying to upload. (each is jpg, 2.4MB and 4000x3000 which seem to fall into the parameters) Help welcome.

 

Be careful of using a lighting system from a right-hand drive country in a left-hand drive car. Excess light spills out harmlessly towards the left in a JDM car whereas it goes to the right in a USDM car. Check that you can live with the lighting pattern first.

 

In related news about visibility, I changed the driver's side windshield wiper yesterday. The rear wiper resisted all attempts at changing it because of the proprietary attachment. This might be a dealer-only item.

When I got the timing belt replaced on my 2009 Legacy wagon, the tech told me that he had used Aisin previously but had instances of them breaking. He used a Continental belt on mine.

I replaced the positive battery terminal today with the full story in this thread:

 

https://legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php/idle-speed-after-battery-reconnection-287259.html?p=6051517#post6051517

 

All is well with the car again after being out of commission for a week.