lagwagon

I got my winter tires and wheels balanced. Now I have JDM forester cross sports BBS wheels for summer and winter, although these winters are in better shape than my summers, by far. Pics to follow, once I mount them up.

$6K USD?! Maybe I got off light! Although all told, including regular maintenance for my 2007, I'm probably pretty close to that. Welcome to the site.

Considering how many people muck about with jdm headlights in order to get oem HIDs, yes there is a market. I would buy oem edm HIDs over jdm or retrofits but I can’t find used Subaru parts from Europe easily like I can from Japan. I found a partial set on Leboncoin but no shipping and one headlight was partially disassembled and the actual projector was missing.

Crank triggers patterns are different between 5EAT and MT cars so make sure you have the correct pulley for the ecu you are using (I assume since the wiring harness is intact, the original ecu is still inside the car).

Yes, green cups.

I think this will be my final update, unless I decide to keep this thread as a running log of maintenance and for any future issues. Two rebooted OEM axles where installed, ATF fluid was drained (second of three planned drains [not power flushed]) and the wheels were balanced. One wheel was bent slightly but they were able to balance it still. I've driven the car a few times for short drives (<15 minutes each) but I've tried to get the shudder to occur and I am fairly confident it is gone. This was quite the cascade of repairs and ultimately there were several different issues occurring at the same time, which greatly complicated diagnoses. Here is the summary of actual issues and other repairs that were done along the way: Actual Issues (partial resolution with each replacement): 1: original front left split cv boot (replaced with reman from Subaru) 2: front O2 sensor (replaced with OEM from Subaru) 3: drive shaft u-joints and balancing (replaced with c-clipped joints, not staked joints) 4: reman front left cv axle from Subaru (replaced with rebooted OEM) Other parts replaced (no change, or done in combination with above, so change is not clear) 5: rebooted OEM front right cv axle, done with 4 6: left rear axle from Subaru (no idea if reman or new) 7: transmission mount, done with 3 8: rear O2 sensor (OEM from Subaru) 9: MAF (Denso from link that Pleides provided, old MAF moved to my 2005) 10: 2x ATF fluid drains 11: ATF filter, done with 4 and 5 12: wheels balanced 2x (summer wheels) 13: wheels balanced 1x (winter wheels) 14: front and rear diffs serviced, with first ATF drain from 10 I guess the moral of the story is, as is for so many others with the 5EAT, don't use anything other than brand new OEM axles, rebooted OEM axles or perhaps high end reman axles like Raxles, and don't trust that Subaru has a supply of suitable quality axles. Being in Canada, new OEM axles are not available from Subaru, and whatever they are selling is likely not a good option. Raxles and new OEM are quite expensive to get to Canada, coupled with COVID delays when the majority of the work was done. New OEM are well over $1000CAD for a set, shipped from Heuberger. I now have two OEM axles on hand, one rebooted, one original with minimal leaking from inner boot, and one reman that Subaru sold me. My plan is to keep all three for future use, although I would only use the reman with an MT, if my measurements check out and it is not one of the many that were too long. If it turns out to be too long, then it will get scrapped, or I'll try to return it and either get my $300 back or a new axle. Thanks to everybody for all the help, especially Max Capacity. Now its time to get back to modding the 2005.

I had the local shop install two front axles (rebooted OEMs), drain and fill the trans fluid (2 out of 3 drains now done), replace the trans filter, and balance the wheels and tires. Turns out one wheel is slightly bent (OEM 5 spokes) but they were still able to balance it. Good thing I made a deal on another set of Forester Cross Sports BBS wheels. Hopefully will have them in hand this week.

Did they replace the lines to the waste gate and forget to put a boost pill in or crack the tee fitting?

I installed the new maf and it had no effect on the car. Not sure why the maf from the 2005 helped but I did swap the old maf from the 2007 into the 2005 and it certainly helped the 2005. I think the 2005 maf in the 2007 might have been a bit of a fluke or something. It seems the 2005 maf had some low mass flow signal issues that were causing bucking in that car but perhaps worked well with the auto trans??? In the 2005, it was causing the actual throttle position to bounce between 5% and 20% (5-20-5-20-5 etc, no intermediate values) at low speeds so I assume the computer was seeing a spikey maf signal and trying to compensate with throttle position, which just caused surging. Anyways, the 2007 goes in next week to replace the axles, ATF filter and balance the winter wheels/tires. Hopefully that's the end of it. My wife has decided she would rather deal with the devil she knows than the devil she doesn't so I guess we are keeping the car for a couple more years until work turns around for the both of us.

Swapped the maf from the 2007 to the 2005 after replacing the one in the 2007 with a new one. Smoothed out the idle nicely, as well as the overall drivability. I was get some low speed bucking (second gear through playground zones type speeds) and that is gone now. Also dropped my driver bit down behind the air cleaner box, along with one of the maf screws. I've now lost two maf screws and a driver bit down there on two separate cars Also picked up a jdm double din hvac/stereo bezel and a Pioneer (I think) bluetooth/non-CD receiver. Hope to have that installed in the next couple weeks.

Uh...I hate to break it to you...jk, you’re probably not crazy but the link worked fine for me on iPhone and desktop/chrome.

Maybe a day late in the car history but here we go: 1991 Plymouth Acclaim 1998 Dodge Neon - eventually installed a Hahn Stage 2 kit with S20G and 3" v-band down pipe 2003 Dodge Dakota 2008 Saturn Astra 2007 Subaru LGT 5eat wagon 2005 Subaru LGT 5MT wagon The Neon and Dakota had overlap from 2004 to 2018 when I sold the Dakota, with the Astra in there from 2008 to 2013 (my insurance company loved me). Bought the 2007 LGT in 2018, sold the Neon in 2019 and bought the 2005 LGT early this year.

Thanks Pleides, I was going to ask if anybody had a known good link to a denso maf on amazon.

The left cv was ordered from the dealer and the right was rebooted oem. I can’t really say if Subaru Canada is using third party axles in their remans but that is probably the best I can get. Subaru Canada doesn’t sell new axles anymore. I did pick up a couple more oem axles today to get rebooted so hopefully that helps. I also swapped maf sensors and that seemed to help and now it feels like purely mechanical but I need some more time to make sure before I pop for a new sensor.

So the mech doesn't know if they actually replaced the filter. No parts line item on the invoice and it isn't showing in their system as having used a filter from inventory or ordering/having one delivered that day.

Based on the specific price and kilometers I’d guess Calgary, in which case they should take the car to vex, all-makes, or lake view for a pre-purchase inspection.

Not so much what I did, more what I found - a leaking passenger side valve cover gasket.

Me too, and I don’t use power/air so it really chaps me when I get the car back with these kinds of problems.

Swapped winter tires on the 2007. Found one stud with flattened threads and one stud with stripped threads, wire brushed the first and filed the second and all is good.

I checked the work order for the trans flush - the description says filter change but there is no parts line item for it. Front and rear diffs were serviced at the same time.

The vibration at idle in gear has always been there but not what I would normally consider unusual for an automatic, it has done it since I bought (~30,000 kms ago, currently at 195,000 kms). When shifted into neutral the vibration goes away completely, don’t recall if it is completely gone in reverse. I had the fluid flushed a few months ago when I started working at figuring this out. They said the fluid was slightly dark but was clean. No codes have popped up since I’ve owned it. I need to find the work order to check on the filter.

The grease was from a split boot and that axle had to be replaced. Front control arms have 30,000 kms on them (Mevotech aluminum ones) but I have heard of some people having early failure of the ball joint, not sure on the bushings. In the rear, both front and rear trailing arm bushings are original as far as I know (I know the rear is technically the rear lower outer control arm bushing...) and the upper control arms are original as far as I know. The other three bushings were replaced along with the new lower arms in March or April. The tie rods are original as far as I know and they’ve been checked numerous times but the toe-wear pattern on the one tire has me wondering. What about bushings in the rear cross member/diff mounts or steering rack? Could any of those cause vibrations? I have wondered about a bent wheel, which is why I swapped wheels, to no relief. My summer wheels were powder coated which could’ve damaged the structure if they got too hot, and the finish is really slippery so a slipping tire is possible. I should mark the tires to check. As of now, the vibration only occurs at idle in gear (very mild) and during acceleration, not braking or cornering (unless also accelerating). Mild acceleration doesn’t result in much vibration and manual shifting to keep above 2000rpm helps slightly, but maybe that’s a placebo. Thanks for the ideas, I do really appreciate it. It’s much nicer than hearing sorry, we don’t know what it is.

Update: Pulled the winter tires out of storage and checked the tread wear. Note these are not the same winter tires I used to check for wheel balance problems. Here are the numbers (converted from mm, hence the funny values): LF: 7.5-8.2/32 (random) LR: 7.5-8.2/32 (random) RF: 5.7-7/32 (inside to outside i.e. feathered, can see this visually) RR: 6.3-8.2/32 (inside to outside, can't see this visually) This is a largest difference of 2.5/32 but an average difference of only 1.6/32. I should probably check the center depth on all four to see what that looks like. Circumferences are all the same within the accuracy that I can measure them (metal tape measure wrapped around the tire tread center). When I checked these in the fall their wear looked normal, and alignment was done shortly after the tire swap so I'm not sure what went wrong. Tire wear on the all seasons is still normal and we do way more driving on the all seasons that the winters. I wasn't aware of any vibration until well after the all seasons were installed so I didn't look at the winter tires (already stored away for the summer). I am guessing that something might've been damaged due to the differences in tire sizes but from what I've read, the 5EAT is the most forgiving on differences since the transfer clutch is designed to be constantly slipping and the front differential is open. The part I still don't understand is that neither Subaru nor my regular mechanic think it's anything to do with the transmission.

Cool project! If I had the room, I would be doing something similar to refresh the interior of my 05.

Not what I did but I had my local shop install new upper control arms, just Mevotech from Rock Auto. They made a massive difference to ride quality and noise. Also, quick question about the whiteline bushings for the upper arms - does the stock steel sleeve have to come out or is this just a burn out, wire wheel and push in the new bushings?