capttris

@spidermanMTL

Do the Morimoto lights in your link have the H11/H16 input with the correct plug?

It's hard to tell from the photos vs what my harness is on the 2013 (in the photos in my post above)

The benefits of the Morimoto seem to be:

slightly cheaper than OEM Ford

some sellers will pre-install the Laminx for $20

seems like a better warranty

I pulled the trim cover off and took a few photos. MY 2013 fogs appear to be identical to the Ford ones.

Can anyone confirm the plug harness is identical? It appears to be, with the only difference being that my OEM fog bulb has a 90 degree fitting so that the female harness plugs in facing up, rather than horizontally.

 

I also see that the factory only uses the 2 inner screws and the outer just slide into a groove. And the screws face fwd and were probably installed with the bumper off at the factory that way.

 

I'm really excited about this. I've been anxious to replace these but didn't want to get some wild aftermarket/modified lights. These Ford lights seem perfect, and I want to get the lamin-x.

Where is the best place to get such a small piece for each light, and cheap?

 

thanks!

If anyone finds the website with the best deal on a pair of these, please let us know, as I'm ready to place an order!

Will these fit 2013-2014 as a plug and play? My 2013 fogs appear larger but that could simply be the big chrome bezel around them. My fogs are so pitted from road sand/debris that they almost useless now.

Also, are the Ford LED housings glass or plastic?

Everything I see above in the photos, combined with the TSB, should be proof enough that you have a recognizable issue that needs to be resolved. If the dealer still is in denial, I recommend another dealer.

Did you check the side mirror and sunroof? Maybe it's some rubber sticking up?

What about the A pillar? Did you try taping that?

If you tried everything and you are convinced that it is unique to your car, maybe take another legacy for a test drive at the dealership and see if that one has the same sound.

Did you also check all of the rubber seals around the door, both on and under the door?

Just as an experiment, what if you take a roll of blue painters tape, say 1-2" wide, and try to run a vertical strip of tape over various areas of the B pillar, like where the trim meets the window, etc. Try just 1 section at a time and drive to 40 MPH and see if you can reduce/eliminate the wind noise.

Then you may be able to locate the exact location the noise is coming from, and maybe you can then dig deeper and see if the trim is angled/bent a little, or something is just different. That may be enough for you to show the dealer what's wrong.

Just a thought. it's free (other than the tape) and it may allow you to locate the source of the noise at speed.

Without typing a novel, it really comes down to what sacrifices and "risk" you are comfortable taking. There will be compromises all around.

A good all season with snow rating may not have high mileage life, and poor wet braking.

If you want the tire to be good at everything, just remember, it wont be GREAT at everything. It may actually be fair to poor at some things.

That said, I am probably one of the few people who actually really likes the stock OEM tires that came on my 2013.

But I also have a dedicated set of all season tires, and snow tires.

A family member had a 09 Outback 4 cyl with check engine light - the dealer told her that the CAT is bad, as well as both O2 sensors. She called me.

I had her ask the dealer "how do you know the CAT is bad, if you are confidant the O2 sensors are bad?". "and how do you know that BOTH O2 sensors are bad?"

Long story short, she had them reset the code and they didn't do any other work.

about 100 miles later, the check engine light came on again.

She brought it to a different dealer and they found (1)ONE O2 sensor bad and she had them replace it. That cleared up the entire problem....

Consumer reports just had an article on these safety features, and even including Luxury brands like Lexus BMW and Tesla, Subaru seemed to be the most favorable. Consumer reports didn't seem to like the Honda/Acura one as much.

I came from a 91 Honda Prelude that burned some much oil that I ran 3 Qts of 10W40 high mileage oil & 1 qt of Lucas Oil. And it still blew blue smoke at every stop light. After 17 years and 200,000 miles, I never had a check engine light or any emissions issues.

Before my short block replacement, the original engine ran great and I really had no issues adding oil every 1000 miles. My concern was actually the long-term effects of the oil burning, like fouled plugs and any/all emissions devices getting fouled and failing. That was the main reason I wanted to replace the engine. (avoiding future issues)

Jsmith,

It's interesting to hear that you have 160K miles and no issues with the oil burning. Good to hear.

After my short block replacement, the only issue I had was they never purged the air out of the cooling system so I had to add my own coolant to bring it up to normal range, twice. (The plastic bottle was empty when I got home from the dealer).

The engine ran smooth and normal though. After brining the car back to have the plugs replaced, I did the ECM relearn at home, just for good measure. I never had the issue like you are describing.

The good news is that the Service Manager AGREES with you, that there is an issue. Now that you have their loaner car, there should be some sense of urgency for them to fix the problem as they are going to want your car out of their shop, and they will want their loaner back, to lend to another customer. So there is SOME urgency/desire for them to want to actually fix the problem.

This may sound fundamentally obvious to many people, but there are so many instances where a dealer "doesn't believe there is a problem" and they try to get you out the door. At least your dealer is "trying" find the problem and fix it.

Please keep us updated.

(knock on wood) - no, I have not had a single issue with it. And I'm VERY particular about my car and engine. I've gone over my engine with a fine-tooth comb and continue to do so. So far, I have about 10,000 miles on it and 0% oil consumption and 0 issues. I only had the spark plugs replaced.

They "forgot" to call me when my engine was apart so the Owner of the dealership agreed to replace these parts for the cost of the parts ONLY, for up to 1 year from the date of service.

So I will be going back to the dealer this summer (before 1 year is up) and have them replace the water pump, as I am at 80,000 miles now.

Island Boy,

Depending on how many miles are on your car, and how long you want to keep it, you may want to invest in replacing some parts, like spark plugs, belts, water pump.

The tech will simply be swapping over EVERYTHING from the old block so it's an opportunity to get some preventative maintenance work done and only pay for the cost of the parts, no labor.

It is my understanding that the fog lights don't physically "move/rotate" when applying the turn signal/steering wheel, but the fog light to the side you are turning simply comes on?

Can anyone here clarify the details/sequence of operation on this?

thanks

Thanks for sharing and posting this step by step. I like my leather Legacy seats but don't LOVE them. I'm a smaller frame guy and I do find the driver's seat comfortable for long trips actually, but I miss the lateral support. My brother's wife has a 2009 Outback Limited and the seats are like a sports car, with great side bolsters.

My 1991 Honda Prelude had some of the best seats I've ever been in. In addition to lumbar support that was awesome, there was a round dial on the side of the seat, that actually let you dial-in/adjust the side bolsters, and you could dial it in A LOT. Like open all the way out, sit in the seat, and while sitting in the seat, dial it all the way in, and it felt like you were locked in place on the sides, but still super comfortable. Best seats ever.

Anyway, thanks for posting!!

Every time I brought my car to the dealer for an oil change (the first year, and 2 different dealers) they overfilled the oil, substantially. Like 3/4 of a qt over. No specific issues.

Even when I brought my car in for the oil consumption test, the tech overfilled it substantially. Fortunately I checked it in the parking lot before leaving and I brought it to the attn. of the Service Manager. He agreed with me and they drained some down to get it back to normal.

My "hunch" is that dealers are overfilling intentionally to preemptively avoid upset customers with low oil lights and complaints about oil consumption, etc. A couple extra dollars of oil to keep customers quiet and happy (if they don't check their oil or monitor consumption, or even pop the hood ever) is probably the goal.

But I couldn't believe that they were doing this for the "official accurate oil consumption test". I was really pissed and said I guess your dealership really doesn't want any of the warranty work for the short block replacement if you are overfilling!

He agreed that the tech was wrong. I'll bet the tech was told just to change the oil so he didn't know how "critical" the accuracy of the oil level was.

 

I got a new short block a few months ago. I have about 3500 miles on the new engine and basically 0% oil consumption, even with the break in. I just changed the oil last week and all was good on the oil analysis.

For those who got "the letter", please read it. The old/original consumption was 1 qt or greater in 1200 miles determined engine replacement. Per the oil consumption lawsuit letter, the consumption is ONLY 1/3 qt in 1200 miles.

For any/all of you complaining that you don't think you qualify for this, you should more accurately measure your own consumption, rather than waiting for the low oil light to come on.

Simply top off even with the full mark, drive 1200 miles, and recheck the stick.

That's all the dealer is doing, other than an oil and filter change (to guarantee the correct oil is being used)

 

Other than poor communication with my dealer (and very low coolant level when inspecting the car when I picked it up), the new engine is good.

I have over 2000 miles on it and (knock on wood) all is good, no consumption. I was even expecting some consumption during the break in period, but nothing...

 

I am more than happy to answer any questions that any of you have on this.

So I dropped by car off to the dealer for the short block on 7/18. They told me it would be ready in about a week and they would call me when the engine was out and apart, to discuss any parts that I wanted to preventively replace.

So I figured that a 1 week total job would mean a phone call/email about 2-3 days in, right? wrong...

I drop off on a Monday. 1 week goes by and NOTHING... no communication

9 days later I email the Service Advisor and Owner of the company just to check in.... no response.

Beginning of week 3, I send another email and the Service Manager emails me back to say everything is complete and come pick it up..... WHAT???

I asked what happened to calling me when the engine was apart and he tells me everything was fine.

I said REALLY? You reinstalled the spark plugs that had 72,000 miles on them with an oil burning engine, into a NEW ENGINE??? REALLY??

 

Long story short, I reached out to the owner of the dealership and he verbally said that he was sorry and the Service Manager was wrong and made a mistake. He said I can bring my car back in and he would replace the parts I wanted with ZERO labor cost and just charge for the parts. Right thing to do and very nice of him.

I said thank you but it would be a bit of an inconvenience to bring the car all the way back again and either sit and wait or get a loaner again, etc. I asked if he would extend his offer out for another 30,000 miles and he actually agreed.

I sent him an email to confirm and I am waiting on his response.

 

Hopefully he agrees back and I can look to have them do this work in the next year or so, when I am having them do other work.

 

Overall the engine bay is not 100% perfect from the factory anymore, but its probably about 90% the same. I will clean it up myself and move on...

Metric Subaru on Long Island.

why?

I am not looking forward to engine replacement either. I have the same concerns, which is why I have so many questions for the Service Manager.

What is the exact amount of oil you burned in 1400 miles?

Did you measure this yourself?

What have you typically been consuming? X qts over X # miles?

Does your VIN# fall into the range for the lawsuit?

I can help you with this, just let me know

thanks

dgoodhue,

I was thinking the same thing. I'm thinking all hoses simply because of the low cost and no labor. The hoses on my 91 prelude lasted about 14 years before I got my 1st leak, but it was a heater hose and tiny and hard to get to, so if I can buy an extra 4 years and 70,000 miles out of new hoses for just a few dollars, it's probably worth it.

 

water pump, belt and spark plugs are good advice.

thanks

The new short block has arrived at my dealership and the work is approved by Subaru.

After dealing with 2 "service writers" who are clueless, and are basically "schedulers", I ended up speaking with the owner of the dealership, who made me feel much more at ease.

I will be bringing in the car in a couple weeks.

As for replacing additional components while the engine is apart, nobody has really been able to tell me, other than new coolant and hoses.

 

My goal is to speak with the tech PRIOR to starting the work (when I drop off the car) and I plan to stop down during the process to see the condition of the old engine and components, and discuss with the tech.

 

Dealers love to schedule this work, but I haven't found anyone knowledgeable enough to speak about the work being performed. Even the OWNER of the dealership didn't know much....

This leaves ONLY the tech for me to speak with....

UPDATE:

 

After waiting over 3 weeks for my dealer's service writer to respond to me (I'm very disappointed already) he said that he will submit my oil consumption test results from LAST SUMMER to Subaru, based on the new lawsuit.

He thinks he will hear back tomorrow or so.

 

He never emailed me so I had to verbally ask him these questions (what are some people so afraid of email and putting things in writing? I do it all day long with technical things and high-dollar projects - it's no big deal)

 

my questions to the dealer:

Some questions:

1. Has this information hit Subaru dealers yet?

Dealer's Service Writer: yes, he heard about this.

 

 

2. What is the latest TSB for this work? I recall it used to be a tear down

and replacement of ONLY the piston rings, but I believe now it is a short

block replacement. Please confirm.

Dealer's Service Writer: short block replacement and reusing the rest from the original engine.

 

3. Have you performed this TSB for short block replacement on the 2.5 FB

engine in my model car yet? Roughly many have you performed?

Dealer's Service Writer: (he dodged this question a few times, then said about 2 or 3 they have done). I was hoping for more.

 

4. I understand that another oil consumption test is required before you can

request further approval from Subaru. That's fine, I can come in for this.

Dealer's Service Writer: He is submitting my results from last summer as they exceeded the limit.

 

5. What has been your experience with the approximate lead time on ordering

a short block under the TSB?

Dealer's Service Writer: only 2-3 days he said. I'm shocked.

 

6.

I asked him what items he would recommend replacing (that wouldn't be included in the warranty but would be a good idea at 70,000 miles)

radiator hoses

coolant (I will make sure this is new anyway)

spark plugs

 

He said they would have to remove the heads and take a look a the condition of everything BEFORE deciding/recommending anything else.

 

** What else should I have them do?***

What do you think the valves will look like, along with anything else that may have been affected by the oil burning?

 

thanks