Squib308

anyone know what this is, or what it's for? It looks like it clips in, but I haven't been able to unclip it and pull it out. I'm looking at the white/transluscentish box that's on the bottom of the rear deck, from the back of the trunk. Not super important, just odd things make my mind have to work overtime Thanks, B

Glad to see you're still cranking it out, Dave. I've got a couple Q's I'll PM you.

Ahh... test mode cycles solenoids. Forgot about that. Maybe I never knew that... I think the subaru shops have a computer that can do those sorts of things too, but I'm not a subaru shop. Good idea, thank you. I'm also going to try to figure out where the vent valve actually vents to & check that hose, blow it out with a compressor. Neither my chilton manual or the FSM is very useful for that sort of thing.

I like this one better - http://bfy.tw/GaUF

I've looked around, and a handful of outback owners reported the same problem, mostly it was 'me too!' posts. One guy pressurized his gas tank in an attempt to clear what he assumed was a blockage in the vent valve, and that seemed to work for a while, but the issue came back. I think he ended up having his gas tank replaced, as he had deformed it by applying too much pressure. Outback owners seem to be less 'hands on' what LGT owners, so I figured I'd ask here. Vent valve itself seems to be fairly inaccessible, somewhere on the top of the gas tank, according to my chilton book.

As the title says, in my 2006 LGT, I can't get more than about 0.5 gallons of gas in the tank before the pump shuts off, like the gas tank is full. I give it 10 or 15 seconds, and then I can put another .5 gallons of gas in. Repeat numerous times until I have added enough gas that the tank is probably about full. Needless to say, this is very annoying. I can hear the gas going down/air coming out after the pump clicks off from around the gas filler hole. I have tried disconnecting the lines that go to the EVAP charcoal canister, and still no joy. The charcoal canister did not appear to be full of liquid gasoline when I was removing the hoses to it. From what I can gather, there should be a 'vent valve' someplace... ? Is that so, and where is it located? Is it possible to access without dropping the gas tank? Anyone else experience this problem, and if so, what was the fix? Thanks

So from what I've been able to read on the internet, and _now_ I kind of understand the crappy Ikea-like 'instructions' that came with my Konis - it sounds like you have to take the rear struts off and totally compress the rod in order to adjust them? I've tried using the knob that come with the front Koni tubes to adjust the rears, and it _seems_ like they're adjusting, or at least the adjustment tab is spinning around appx 1-1.5 turns.

For anyone who might be, a little challenged, like myself, the photo is to indicate the 'cup' part of the rear lower spring mounts are supposed to face down, not up - as opposed to worrying that the angle bit might be the wrong way around. If you mess it up and face the 'cup' up, your springs will be very hard to compress enough to fit on the strut, and when you finally get done and are happy 'everything is right' and lowering the car, you'll notice the car is about 1.5-2" too high in the rear. ask me how I know

I recall seeing the BP mod files on one of the subaru message boards a long time ago, and had acquired some 3/8" aluminum channel. I was planning on having my car tuned, and had some concern whether the stock IC would pop apart or not. Probably not necessary with stock vf40, but on the other hand, the previous owner had dropped the intercooler, or I don't know, used the bottom of it as a fulcrum to lever something else around.. whatever - the point is the bottom of the IC is 'dented', and some of the tabs that hold on to the plastic end caps were a little stretched and deformed. (I should add that the IC is still air tight) Finally getting around to the project of the BP mod, I got the files from SeeYa (thanks!), spent a little bit finding and clamping all the various hoses he mentions should be clamped. (FPR, BPV, manifold, etc) I didn't have the 1/2" channel, so I hope that the having the majority of the tabs clamped up with the 3/8" channel will be sufficient now and in the future. I cut two roughly 24" pieces of 3/8" channel, so I could work on basically two rails at a time (I'm going to call the finished product 'rails' from now on) due to space limitations on my workbench...and it's just easier IMHO to work on shorter sections. I tried a dremel tool mounted in a dremel workstation thing, with a saw blade attachment, and set out to cut one leg of the channel to 9/32". That worked, but was SO FRIGGING SLOW, I figured I would never finish. Something else was needed... Just not enough torque, trouble keeping the dremel from moving around just a little bit, and then binding the saw blade in the cut... pain in the butt. I went to the hardware store, and got a carbide bit for a plunge router (something used for woodworking generally), and also a 'rotary file'. I took the router bit back, as the rotary file worked quite well. I clamped the router in my vise with some mousepads to pad it from the jaws, with the rotary file bit set to just the right height to mill away the aluminum channel - the 'short leg' on the finished rails. Got aluminum EVERYWHERE, but the rotary file did a great job. It certainly helped to lubricate the aluminum with cutting fluid - I tried it at first w/o lube, and the aluminum got hotter when milling it, and also the rotary file loaded up with aluminum. I did at least a few gentle passes first, to reduce the amount of aluminum on the part I was milling, ran the channel past the bit its entire length. This also had the benefit of keeping the channel square to the router - it would have been a pain to keep it square if I cut it all away at once. Also doing it this way kept the bit from getting too hot. Though I did spray it with soapy water when I thought it was getting too hot. (I'm thinking it will anneal and lose its cutting ability if it gets hot) Once enough material had been removed and the file started to cut through the channel, I just went for it, and removed all the now fairly thin aluminum with the rotary file bit. Repeat for the next piece. I cut the 24" or so sections into two appx 10 1/8" sections, with just under 4" of leftover channel. I then drilled a 3/16" hole in the end of each almost completed rail, filed the square ends off to be tapered, and was basically done. With this part. Note that the 10 1/8" rails are somewhat shorter than Seeya's mod files - I did that intentionally, as I didn't want to have any clearance problems. Or use bolts and nuts.. more on that later. I tried putting the rails on the intercooler, and no, they did not want to go. I tried pressing them into the IC with the vise (I know I know, a vise is not a press, yeah yeah.). Not a good idea. The IC just wanted to buckle and become crushed. Ok. I tried hammering the rails on, no dice. Instead of spreading out slightly, the 'U' of the channel wanted to cut into the tabs on the intercooler. Eek! I used a dremel tool and a file to radius the edges of the 'U' hoping that would be enough to let me hammer the rails onto the IC tabs without damage... Didn't seem to damage the IC, but wasn't going to go on, either. Lubrication with wax didn't help; nor did grease. Finally, with about 3 hours to go until I needed to leave to get my car tuned, I took a appx 1/2" smooth steel rod, and pressed it into the 'U' of the channel, slightly spreading out the 'U', so it would slip over the tabs easier. This worked quite well. I did NOT stretch the 'U' out very much, so I still had to hammer some, but it didn't cut the tabs, and went on nicely. Finally, because I am lazy, and didn't want to deal with nuts and bolts and lining everything up just so - I ran stainless zip ties through the holes I had drilled, and tightened them up with a DEI locking tie tool - which is not a great tool, but it got them probably tighter than I could have otherwise. I also removed some excess aluminum on the bottom of the IC where the zip ties were going to go (with a nibbler) - the extra aluminum doesn't appear to serve any purpose, other than forcing me to use longer rails on the IC and possible running into clearance issues. Zipties I cut the 'tail' a little long, then folded it back under toward the locking mechanism, so it wouldn't be able to slip loose with vibration. That's my experience, thanks for the idea, and the info about the various little hoses that I needed to clamp up, too, SeeYa! you can see the zipties and the clearances (and the odd dent in the bottom of my IC toward the front of the car) etc. in my photo. I don't know if everyone has their BPV hoses routed like mine, I have it the way it came, and everything fits just fine. Oh, and the fins on my IC aren't nearly as bad as it looks from this off-angle photo! They're all clear to flow air.