59ctd

Here is a pic of my two Subaru rigs that are my daily drivers. White one is 2009 Legacy GT that I've owned for ~6 years now. Black one is new-to-me 2006 Outback sedan 3.0R LLBean. Ironically, both are now at 91K miles.

I figured I'd close out this thread with the update since we finished with new ball joints on my son's Outback yesterday. We never thought of the possibility the aluminum LCAs might have the cone but thanks to you guys for setting us straight on that. The mevotech ball joints had very little grease in them and I would not recommend them to anybody. We bought new ACDelco joints with grease zerk fittings on the top. Obviously the zerk won't fit in there installed so after pumping full of grease we put flat zerk caps on them and installed them. They were easy to do since the LCAs were not that old at all ~1 yr. I see that NAPA carries 555 Sankei brand ball joints here in the US too so that looks like a quality option when our next rig needs them.

Alright that makes sense. If there is a cone on there I can see this happening some of the time. We will take it apart again and try to take the cone off of the ball joint stem. If this is the case I will amend my original post with the proper details regarding the issue.

So my son and I finished redoing the LCAs on his 09 OB maybe a year ago. We bought Mevotech AL LCAs left and right with the ball joints included. All installed easily enough. Ball joints are junk and are clanking like crazy on minor bumps now. We figured that stinks but we can replace them easy enough since it was not that long ago it was all new (i.e. not rusted). Did right side front ball joint easy peasy in <1 hour. Dropped the left side joint and the ball joint is totally different with a WAY bigger tapered shaft. We have no clue as to what ball joint might work here as a replacement.

Hose #3 was a tricky one but it is certainly doable without disassembling everything. Obviously the expansion tank needs to come off. I used a set of 11" long needle nose pliers. I bought a set that has straight, 45* and 90* angled ends and the 90* one was the ticket to get to the hose clamp down in front of the TMIC.

Finally got my 09 LGT coolant leak fixed. Turned out it was a tiny leak at the top radiator hose connection to the engine. My bad the hose clamp was partially over the AL neck rib/bump. Took 3+ years to start leaking. Anyways, I did replace the three smaller hoses around the turbo as well. The one down on the side with the heat shield was hard to get a pliers on the bottom clamp not much room there between the valve cover and subframe. Long nose bent needle nose pliers did the trick. I'm leaving the bottom cover off for a bit to drive it in spring rain and clean off the blue coolant that seems to be everywhere on the bottom of the engine. While my car has been out of commission I've been driving my mom's 06 3.0R Outback sedan which I kinda prefer over the LGT. Same generation legacy/outback but the engines and transmissions are worlds different. 3.0 H6 is so smooth and the older 5EAT shifts nice and firmly

I happened to check a few minutes ago and noticed the image I posted a day or so ago in the above post was garbled and just a bunch of alphanumeric characters. This has happened before and I don't know what the cause is. I reattached the image in a diff browser and then cleared all browser caches and rebooted and the image above looks proper now. Can you guys/gals see the image above or not?

In the last few weeks I've noticed there is a wonky bulge like a misplaced wire in the drivers seat left side lower bolster that I am unsure what it is caused by. It almost seems like a wire to the side airbag that has creeped into the bolster surface area. Is this common and how to fix?

Thanks I will check that as well when I have the coolant reservoir off.

That certainly seems like exactly where it is coming from. I'll have my son pickup or order both those hoses while he is at work today.

My 09 LGT has a very small coolant leak somewhere that I have not figured out yet. I can't see a leak anywhere but most times when I get the car back from a drive into the shop after a minute or five I can smell it. What coolant lines or other things are under the lower left corner of the TMIC? This seems likely where it is as the smell seems to be strongest around here.

My son did the right rear this morning and we found the cause of this outback trying go sideways on anything slick. The right side bushing came out with no heat at all just used a large prybar and it popped out. It was at least 1/4" worked out of the outer sleeve when we unbolted the bracket.

Much thanks to you guys on making this thread that I am digging up to the top again... My son is nearing the end of replacing the entire suspension on his 09 Outback. All struts, springs, front LCAs, ball joints replaced. Rear he has replaced the upper control arms/bushings, all rear lower control arms/bushings and the last bit today is the large trailing arm bushings. We used Whiteline. LOTs of work to get the front trailing arm brackets and the OEM bushing out but with these instructions it went well. We ended up burning them out mostly and then twisting with prybar to get the rubber and inner sleeve out and then a chisel and big hammer to get the rusted outer sleeve out of the trailing arm. Thanks guys!

I visited the local Safelite this morning and all of their techs looked at it and said it is highly likely their fault and they will cover the repairs for me under their "as long as you own the car" warranty. Got an estimate from my local body shop that does decent work. Just shy of $3,000 to disassemble, sandblast and new tricoat SWP from A pillars, entire roof, down the D pillars and the rear quarters too since it is all one contiguous surface. The Safelite I visited this morning was not where the tech 1.5 yrs ago worked out of so he transferred the repair estimate to the owner of the Safelite in Rochester MN. They were a bit shocked how high the estimate was but the way I look at it is Safelite has their warranty they stand behind and the body shop guys need to do it right so they can stand behind their work as well. I'll need to wait for the snow to be gone here in MN since the body shop sandblaster is an outside thing and doesn't work in the winter.

My 09 LGT is starting to show a very thin line of rust that is super straight right above the windshield on the brim of the painted body. I don't think they would have made the roof with a seam right here but let me know if there is. Ruling out a metal seam as the cause of the rust the only other cause that makes sense is that the Safelite technician caused the damage to the paint when he used his tool to cut the rubber seal/edging when he took the old window out back in 2021. It is hard to see in the pic but the line goes all the way across from side to side. My son and I tried to fix it with touch up paint but that is not working and it is still rusting through. I'll be visiting a Safelite location tomorrow but am unsure what recourse, if any, I might have.

If you haven't already, do the overhead console solder joint fix. That fixed it on two of my subies, including the 08 - but the light came on a few years later and is a diff issue now

Ancel AD610 Elite is what I have. I do not know the difference between this and the other 610 models. Only the OBD2 port connection is needed

I have a 2008 Legacy 2.5i with airbag light on. The airbag and ABS systems can be read via the OBD2 port. I bought an Ancel 610 Elite a few years back to diagnose and try to fix the issue. It does read the diagnostic codes from the airbag system. My 08 showed multiple issues and I was never able to get it fixed properly - but the Ancel 610 does read the system you are talking about.

Our daughter and BF live in Duluth about 200 miles north of the Twin Cities MN. She called frantic on Friday saying her 2008 Legacy had all dash lights on and was dying and then stalled and was dead. They had it towed to their apt. Based on her descriptions my son and I figured dead battery and/or alternator so we grabbed one of my spare alternators and lots of tools and headed out 6AM Saturday/yesterday for the long and SLOW drive ~200 miles north. I35 was glare ice for long portions of the drive but we made the trip in 4 hours. Picked up a new battery at Fleet Farm and installed it. Car started fine but batt light on so we swap out the alternator on the street in -5 temps. Got it all back together started it up and good to go. We had Christmas planned at our place so daughter, BF, their cat, my son and I loaded up the two vehicles and made the slow and scary drive back to the Twin Cities. Arrived back at home yesterday afternoon. We are all home safe and sound and the Legacy worked perfect on the drive home. That was a LONG day of driving on ice covered roads in -5 to -10 temps. Have a happy and safe Merry Christmas everyone! Stay Warm!

Update a month later... Daughter lives ~200m away to the north and she was home last week with the 2008 Legacy. We were away on vacation in WI at the time but our son who works at the local Subaru dealer had made an appt for alignment (and to check the ball joints...). The ball joint the prior place said was loose was indeed bad and the other on the left side was marginal loose as well. We had both replacement ball joints in my shop. Son asked at work/Subie dealer how much to replace the ball joints and they said a bit over $200 using our new parts. It was a bit of a no-brainer to say go on this and have them swap them out. He said they used "LOTS of fire" on the pinch bolts and wet towels on the CV boots to disassemble and it came apart faster than he was able to observe on his passes through the shop (son is the store Lot Tech). Ball joints are done on our 2008 Legacy 2.5i. Most likely the next one will be my mom's 2006 3.0 Outback Sedan.

Good note. When she is back in a month or so we will check that out. Thanks

Daughter and our 2008 Legacy have been home a day and my son and I can find absolutely nothing wrong with the front ball joints. We tried every which way we could think of to make them move or wiggle and they are tight as can be. Frustrating as heck that a shop sees a younger woman and seemingly tries to take advantage when there is no issue with the ball joints. Oh well, at least we now have a set of new ball joints and all the tools for the job on hand for the next one...

I have the CTA Tools 8881 Ball Joint Puller and am planning on using this for the job - https://www.amazon.com/CTA-Tools-8881-Subaru-Puller/dp/B07L4NWFDS I will post how the job progresses mid next week when daughter's car is here. I am planning on pulling the outer CV joint from the bearing and lifting out of the way so I can safely apply lots of heat to that pinch bolt which is likely original. Car is ~15 yrs old orig from NY and last 7 yrs in MN so salt has likely not helped at this point.

Thanks guys for the info and vid links. I ordered two ball joints today and my son and I will give it a go. Looks like penetrating fluid and lots-o-heat is key to getting the pinch bolt to let loose. When the bolt broke on my son's OB a few years back we had put penetrating fluid on it but not the heat. Hopefully the bolt can be heated and coaxed off of my daughters 08 Legacy next week when she is home for a few days. I will post back with details after we work on it...

yeah on my son's OB one of the pinch bolts came out and the other broke off. That is what worries me the most and adds a significant expense to the repair to replace the knuckle and potentially other bits if the bearing bolts do not want to cooperate. The biggest question is will the shop she got a quote from take the due diligence to break the pinch bolt free without breaking it off. Daughter lives ~200 miles away so trying to figure out quickest/cheapest way to get it repaired