Reliability Modifications

[heiche]

Any particular brand of oil filter has the proper PSI rated bypass valve?

 

Rob

 

OEM has the proper PSI rated bypass valve. I guess *some* of the aftermarket ones are ok too, but I'm not sure which ones. There are so many threads about oil filters (and oil, etc, etc) it's hard to read them all

[BoostOrDie]

The mods I've done for reliability:

Royal purple fluids

AT filter change

Castles up pipe

Mishimoto radiator

Perrin TMIC

Removed turbo banjo bolt filter

Oil pressure gauge

Boost gauge

Stage 2 tune

Steel and aluminum under tray

Oil drain plug with magnet

Timing belt kit

Water pump

Fuel injectors professionally cleaned

Iridium plugs

Cv boot heat shield

Turbo heat shield

 

163k and still running strong!

[BoozeRS05]

To check wheel bearings- get wheel safely off the ground, put hands at the 3:00 & 9:00 positions, and check for in & out movement.

[BoostOrDie]

Oreilley auto didn't have a part # for new wheel bearings, I had to buy a whole new hub assembly.

[SCHM1AN]

That's how our cars work. Have to buy an entirely new hub. When you do the rears make sure to undo the parking break when you go to take it out

[HAMMER DOWN]

To check wheel bearings- get wheel safely off the ground, put hands at the 3:00 & 9:00 positions, and check for in & out movement.

 

I would have to disagree. 3 & 9 will bring tie rod end into play. 6 & 12 are better options. Although this will bring the the lower ball joint in play. Which usually one as to use a 3' bar to check play in the lower ball joint. Do to the compression of the coil spring. The only movement you'll feel using your hands is the play in the wheel bearing.

 

Other option is get all 4 wheel safely off the ground. Put in gear & use a mechanics stethoscope on the backside of WB housing. I had no play in my LR or RR WB, but the noise was coming from the rear. This is how I pin pointed which WB it was (LR).

 

3 & 9 will work, but need to make sure the play you feel is not the tie rod ends.

 

Mike

[RallyartRob]

hey guys im selling my 98 legacy gt sedan and buying an 05 l gt wagon 5mt, i was wondering what sort of problems were there if any? i was told about the oil feed banjo bolt blockage but the car im looking at its clean so not worried about that.

 

Are there other things along this idea i should know about, or a link to somewhere i can find it thanks?

[boxkita]

I would have to disagree. 3 & 9 will bring tie rod end into play. 6 & 12 are better options. Although this will bring the the lower ball joint in play. Which usually one as to use a 3' bar to check play in the lower ball joint. Do to the compression of the coil spring. The only movement you'll feel using your hands is the play in the wheel bearing.

 

Other option is get all 4 wheel safely off the ground. Put in gear & use a mechanics stethoscope on the backside of WB housing. I had no play in my LR or RR WB, but the noise was coming from the rear. This is how I pin pointed which WB it was (LR).

 

3 & 9 will work, but need to make sure the play you feel is not the tie rod ends.

 

Mike

 

If you can find a clover leaf (highway interchange), it will produce a steady state cornering situation. If the bearings are going, you'll get a juddering sound from the affected corners.

 

The sound test with the stethoscope is the other way to check. Everything else, you're just guessing. I have a set of bearings removed from my car that have less than 500 miles on them. They're toast, and barely turn. Compared to the new ones, which spin easily. When the toasted ones were on the car, the inspection came back as fine.

 

Note: If you track your car at all, you can expect bearing life to be very limited.

[HAMMER DOWN]

I check mine by hand every 5k-7k tire rotation. If I feel any play or hear the roar of a WB. I verify with a mechanics stethoscope before replacing. Has always worked well for me.

[ClimberDHexMods]

5) For those with automatic transmissions, drain/refill transmission fluid every 15k miles...seriously, it costs $4 for the proper bit and $30 for the fluid every 15k miles, not that big a deal. do it.

 

Please fix. Would hate for yet even more of my 5EAT customers to have an excuse to let their ATF turn to brown, viscous mush. It's a pleasant surprise when a VB shows up with ATF that actually looks like ATF. And if that's coming from the cars of the enthusiasts, I do not want to imagine what is coming out of the unmodified car transmissions of the people who do fluid changes 'when needed'.

 

For 5EAT maintenance, if you're prescribing a drain and fill, that needs to be more often than every 15k. 5-7k at most, aka every oil change for the longer OCI guys, and every other oil change for the 3000k OCI guys.

 

Alternately, people can do a full 5EAT DIY flush once ever 30k miles, which would be a lot easier because that's only once every couple of years for most people http://legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php/diy-5eat-atf-flush-197248.html

DIY Flush is ideal in that you're not mixing old and new fluid every 5-7k miles.

[BarManBean]

Please fix. Would hate for yet even more of my 5EAT customers to have an excuse to let their ATF turn to brown, viscous mush. It's a pleasant surprise when a VB shows up with ATF that actually looks like ATF. And if that's coming from the cars of the enthusiasts, I do not want to imagine what is coming out of the unmodified car transmissions of the people who do fluid changes 'when needed'.

 

Done.

[SCHM1AN]

Please fix. Would hate for yet even more of my 5EAT customers to have an excuse to let their ATF turn to brown, viscous mush. It's a pleasant surprise when a VB shows up with ATF that actually looks like ATF. And if that's coming from the cars of the enthusiasts, I do not want to imagine what is coming out of the unmodified car transmissions of the people who do fluid changes 'when needed'.

 

That's scary. I do a drain-and-fill every 15k with Subaru ATF and I've never had anything come out that's remotely close to brown. Mine is typically just a darker red than the color I'm pouring in.

 

The rear diff, however, was a thick chocolate milk consistency when I bought the car at 52k

[ClimberDHexMods]

That's scary. I do a drain-and-fill every 15k with Subaru ATF and I've never had anything come out that's remotely close to brown. Mine is typically just a darker red than the color I'm pouring in.

 

The rear diff, however, was a thick chocolate milk consistency when I bought the car at 52k

 

That's good for you and for many others I'm sure. But you can't recommend it. I'm sure people out there are safely going 10k miles on their oil change interval, with UOAs to support it. But you shouldn't blanket recommend that to people who don't know otherwise. Those who already know what they're doing, don't need to read this. Heck, I read a lot of the posts, and can poke holes in a lot of the comments people have said. But until transmission parts stop showing up with even low amounts of buildup, my recommendation stands. If nothing else, it's VERY CHEAP insurance.

 

Heck, I just drained a stock test car's ATF after it had received a flush just 15k miles earlier. I drained it such that I could re-use the fluid. Nope, it was not good enough to go back into the transmission, which means it should not have been there in the first place. There was not even a doubt about it. After all, we're talking about a drain and fill. A DIY flush gets almost everything out, which is why I trust it a lot more. Drain and fill does not get the fluid in a) transmission, b) valve body, c) torque converter, d) cooling circuit. Yet all that fluid still needs to come out at some point in order to keep the transmission in tip-top condition. That is why so many more drain and fills must be done than DIY flushes.

[SCHM1AN]

I'll be completely honest- I didn't even know about the DIY flush until I read your post from 3/11. I'll definitely be doing that before Autocross season starts (which is about a month from now, as temperatures are still freezing up here)

[CDubbs]

Re: DRLs

 

Many insurance companies have a separate DRL discount, some bundle it in based on your VIN. The discount is typically under $20 for 6 months. If you have an asshole company and the shop reports the DRLs are not working after the repair, and they find them disconnected, this could cause an issue if you were deemed at fault (at any percentage).

 

You can ask them to remove the DRL discount, or do something else with this information...

 

Sorry, not on topic with the original thread, but if this recommendation is going to be thrown out there, the disclaimer applies.

[paintpollz]

banjo inspection/cleaning?

[crashdumbe]

Want your turbo to last as long as your motor. In short, check you oil level often & top as needed. Use whatever oil & filter that will protect for the OCI's your running. OA's is the only way you know that your oil & filter is up for the challenge. After that IMO no OA's are needed.

 

Mike

 

Uhh...english??

[heiche]

Makes sense to me.

[BoozeRS05]

Same, I get it.

 

As long as you check the oil level and top off with regularity that's 99% of it, but get a UOA first to determine everything is working well.

[_karu_]

For item #7, does 4EAT has front and rear differentials? I'm leaning towards yes.

[BigTDogg MA]

They do

[_karu_]

Thanks, BigTDogg.

 

After reading user Chupula's note on post #35 here http://legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php/2-5i-5mt-front-differential-fluid-change-tutorial-143891p3.html?highlight=4EAT, I've decided that changing front and rear differential fluid would be one of the very few things that I would let the dealer do it for me.

 

Given the equipments required, ground clearance issue, and my lack of experience dealing with differentials, I think it's worth $60 per differential at the dealer. It's cheaper to do it in other places, but, I would rather to have genuine Subaru fluid for the differentials.

[lee07]

You could buy them online for less and bring it in too

[SubOperator]

Given the equipments required, ground clearance issue, and my lack of experience dealing with differentials, I think it's worth $60 per differential at the dealer. It's cheaper to do it in other places, but, I would rather to have genuine Subaru fluid for the differentials.

 

Just FYI dealers do not always use Subaru OEM fluids. They use whatever matches the spec.

 

If you want to know what exactly goes in your car, bring your own. Ask before whether dealer would replace with your fluids.

[_karu_]

Thanks lee07 and SubOperator. Knowing this, I will definitely ask them first about the fluid that they would be using for the job!

 

If they don't use OEM fluids, I might as well get them online along with the ATF fluids.