Update on running 10w30 instead of 5W30

  So it's been a few weeks since I had the oil changed in my car from 5w30 to 10w30.  The technician in the oil change shop recommended I try to see if it helped cut down on the amount of oil that burnt up between oil changes.  While I don't know if it has helped because I haven't hit the 5000 km mark to change the oil again it did notice a few performance issues.
  What I noticed first was that the car was harder to start on cold days because the cold temp viscosity is higher so it is more viscous than the 5w30.  This was a bit of a concern because it was a little more rough on the engine after it first started to run but it smooths out quickly.
  So far this is the only difference that I have noticed and to alleviate the issue I have been making sure that I ALWAYS plug my car in on cold nights.  As long as I plug it in it starts just fine.  I suspect that this starting issue will be even less in the spring and summer because the temperatures aren't as low so it should start easier.  I think what I'll do in the future is run 5w30 in the winter time so it starts easier and run 10w30 in the spring, summer and fall.  I will post again on this subject after I have had the next oil change.

Switching Oil Types from 5w30 to 10w30

So when I got my oil changed the other day I checked the dipstick to find out that I had burned about 1 liter of oil over 5000 km, not bad for a car with 212 000 km.  I asked the technician if there was anything that I could do to lessen this amount of burn-off?  He said that we could switch the oil type from the recommended 5w30 to 10w30.  This would mean a bit more viscosity when it's cold but the same viscosity during operating temperatures.   So we made the switch and I am going to monitor how much oil it burns this cycle before I get the oil changed again.  I read a few forums about this and most people recommend that you use 5w30 in cold weather climates so that the oil runs better at low temperatures.  The day after the oil change I forgot to plug the block heater in and had to start the car on a cold day.  It didn't start as easy as it did the day before and I can only conclude that I was because of the higher viscosity of the oil made turning the starter more difficult.  It still started and ran just fine but it was interesting that there was a significant difference in the initial starting performance.   It'll be at least five weeks before the oil needs changed again and I will update this post when I get the results.  If I find that it continues to start really hard then I might consider changing it back to 5w30 before the next oil change is due at 5000 km.

Another Rear Wheel Bearing

When I first bought my forester the mechanic that I took it too for an inspection said that the driver's side bearing was bad and it needed to be replaced.  It's now three months later and the other bearing wore out and started to make noise.  I noticed it driving home this week and monitored it for a few days to see if it got worse, but I also made an appointment to have a mechanic check it out.  I was pretty sure that it was the right rear bearing because if I turned to the right it would go away then when I straightened out again it would return.  The hum was present during left turns and only changed on right turns.  So here is m reasoning, when I turn right it put pressure on the front left tire and takes pressure off the rear right tire.  When the pressure was remove from the rear right bearing the noise stopped.  The mechanic confirmed my suspicions the next day, when I took it the shop for diagnostics.  They said the bearing had worn out and replaced it for $250 parts and labour. 

Forester Blower Fan Removal and Inspection

Yesterday on the way home during a snow storm my blower fan started making some noise.  I was concerned that maybe there was a mouse nest in there because they like to build them next to the heater.  I figured it was just some ice or something that got in there somehow but I decided to take it apart anyway just to check.  I also wanted to know if my model had a cabin air filter or not.  In the repair manual it says to take the glove box out and then remove the blower unit but you don't have to.

There are only three screws holding it in and all you have to do is disconnect the aspirator, remove the screws and then disconnect the power supply.  This only took me about 5 minutes and required a two Phillips screwdrivers, a long one and a stubby for the back screw.  Once I got the motor out, it inspected it and only found a piece of a leaf and a pine needle. There was a bit of ice in the base of the squirrel cage but nothing else.  It spun fine and there was nothing obstructing the heater of any other part of the ventilation areas that I could see and reach, no mouse nest (phew).  So I reconnect the power and reinstalled the motor turned the car on and everything was fine.  I also took the glove box off too just to see if I had an air filter and I did not so I did both of these things for nothing other than learning.

I made a little movie of the process for anyone who want to see it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=317W3aBCtxk

Engine Belts - AC, Power Steering and Timing Belts

The AC belt and assemble needs to be removed to get to the timing belt below.

Having done pretty much all of the preventive maintenance possible to my Forester I thought it was time to have the belts replaced.  I checked the alternator and power steering belts to discover they had small cracks and were worn out.  These belts are in front of the timing belt and need to be removed to replace the timing belt so I figured it was old too.  I had the mechanics change them all for me and it cost $230 (timing = $169, alt = $30, pwrstr = $33) in parts and $150 labour (2.2hrs).  While these belts might have lasted another 10000 - 100000 kms I didn't want to chance it.  Now the belts are done I hope all I have to do to maintain the car is change the oil every 5000km.

The timing belt assembly

Giant Rust Holes in Forester Wheel Wells

I had a party at my house and amongst the dozen people attending there was three foresters in my driveway.  It was pretty cool and a little spooky all at the same time, I guess great minds think alike.  While I was on the porch talking about this with a friend, he pointed out that Foresters of this age are prone to having rust issues in the rear wheel wells.  I attribute this to a design flaw that allows snow, ice and salt to get packed into the upper portion of the wheel well next to the shock tower and rust out the metal up there.  In my car this was a large hole on both sides of the car.  He told me that I would need to fix it ASAP or my rear panels will rust out quickly and cause extensive body damage.  He told me that he knew how to do this and that while it was tricky and messy, it wasn't hard and would save me hundreds of bucks in future body work.  So in early December with a bunch of material prepared I went over to borrow my friends garage to learn how to repair these rust holes.  I had done some body work in the past, but nothing quite like this, so I listened and watched carefully.  In total it took about 8hrs to do this and took place on two different days.

If you follow the shock tower up to the top and feel towards the outside of the car's wheel well that's where the holes form

Here's what I need to do the job for parts and tools.
Hydrolic Car Jack and 2 jack stands
19mm wrench to remove lug nuts from tires
Impact Driver for screws,
Air Powered Dremmel tool for wire brushes
Air Sprayer to clean the area
10 mm socket to remove the gas filler tube cover
Sheet metal sheers and pliers for cutting and bending
Ball pin hammer for refining bends and shaping
Marker and cardboards for making patterns
Safety glasses to protect and keep dirt out my eyes
Fast Drying Primer Paint
12" x 24" piece of automotive sheet metal
two tubes of automotive seam sealer
Two cans of rock guard

Here' essentially what I had to do.  Jack the car, remove the tire, clean, grind and prepare the area around the hole.  Create a cardboard template of the hole and figure how to bend it to fit and leave room for screws and fastening.  Cut out and bend the pattern using thick sheet metal spend a lot of time making it fit perfectly. Then coat the whole area with tar and seam sealer and screw the plate cover over the hole. Finally spray rock guard over the whole area to rubberize and waterproof everything so this doesn't happen all over again.  The first side took me three and half hours with help to complete.  The second side took longer because I had to deal with the filler tube and another rusted out section around the top of the filler neck.  It was time consuming but worth every minute because there is no longer water getting into the rear panels of my car.

Here's a video that I made of the whole process.

Forester Front Wiper Bushing Repair

Dorman Wiper Bushings #49447

When I was driving the Forester at highway speeds I noticed that the driver's side wiper was traveling over the edge of the left side of the windshield.  Additionally the wipers would not return to a low park position and often sat 2-3" above the cowl.  I could also move the wipers up and down 3-5", there was a lot of play and I was sure that this was not normal.  I found a post on the subaruforester forum that described this exact problem and with a little searching found the parts I needed to fix the problem at a local auto-supply store for 5 bucks.  The part was from Dorman (part #49447) and the wiper bushings are intended for a few models of North American cars. 

The tricky part of this job was removing the cowl and figuring out how to get the linkage out.  It turned out that this was easier than expected and in the end I didn't need to remove the wiper linkage at all, but at least I know that it is all in good shape.  I had to trim the flange off the bushing for it to fit right but it worked perfectly and my wipers have never been better.  You can watch the video for a visual explanation of how to do this.

 

Rear Wiper Motor - Replacement

 So when I bought my Forester the rear window wiper was not working.  They previous owner stated that 'it just stopped working'.  This was not a critical repair but was annoying and needed to get done eventually.  I saved up a bit of cash for a new wiper motor but before I ordered it I wanted to make sure the motor was the problem and not just a seized bearing in the wiper shaft.  I researched the problem on YouTube and only found one video that was useful (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KgfhjisaIZ4).  

After watching this I decided to take my back hatch apart and figure out what the problem was.  Getting to the rear wiper motor was easy, I just had to remove a few plastic plugs and snap the plastic shroud off and there is was.  I took it apart and tested the motor and it seemed to be dead. I had some of the local junk yards look to see if they might have a used rear wiper motor, everything that they had was seized, so I ordered a new one.  

The hardest part of this job was getting the wiper arm off of the wiper post.  It was 'rusted' or 'corroded' to the post and I had to get a special wiper arm removal tool to pop it off.

 
The wiper motor can be purchased in a variety of places, locally I was quoted about $220 for a rebuilt motor.  New from Subaru was going to cost even more so I went online and found this website that offered Subaru parts a great prices (http://www.subarupartsdepot.com/).  The brand new motor cost me $160 plus a bit for duty to cross the border.  It took about three weeks to arrive, but it came in a Subaru box and worked perfectly. 

I made a short video and posted it to YouTube for anyone who has this problem.

Engine Troubles - Going to a new Mechanic Shop

It was probably a month after I owned the the forester that I decided to take it in to get the oil changed.  The previous owner said he changed the oil about every six months, I was shocked at this time-based form of scheduling.  I try to make sure the the oil gets changed in my vehicles every 5-6000km based on the kind of driving involved.  I go to a quick lube shop that is owned by someone I once had as student so I like to support her business.  The service technicians noted that there was antifreeze on the engine cover but I had just topped up the fluid and spilled a little in the process.  I made a note of their comments and paid the bill.  In talking with the technician they mentioned the garage next door was run by a former subaru expert and that they were a good place to go for my foreign car.

The car had been performing poorly for a couple of weeks but in sporadic and unpredictable ways.  I was monitoring the situation and noticed that the engine hesitated for a while after I first stated to drive it down the road, then by pressing on the accelerator it would eventually clear often only taking a few seconds.  I initially thought it could be a bad fuel filter, so I picked and replaced the fuel filter and air filter and the car ran better, but hesitation kept coming back.  Then one day on the way to drop off my partner at work the call really started to act-up.  The engine skipped a few times and the check engine light started to flash.  It didn't stall but it was close, I felt like it was all I could do to get it to climb the hill.
I took it over to new mechanics that I had heard about and asked them to take a look at it and fix it.  They took it for a test drive and recommended that wire and plugs needed to be changed.  They also read the computer codes and said the same thing about the sensors the other mechanics told me, the O2 sensor needed be replaced.  They cleared the codes and changed the ignition wires and plugs and it started and ran much better costing me about $250.  Totally worth it.

Location of the spark plugs on the engine.

The next day the hesitation was still present but not in the same way it was before often at 2000 rpm and when the car was shifting gears.  I call the shop and asked if I could drop in to have the new codes read and they said no problem just come in.  Based on the new codes the mechanics diagnosed that the issue was the knock sensor and that it should be replaced.  They had mentioned it before but weren't sure it was necessary, this time they were. 
I asked if they could 'slip' me in to put on the $135 sensor that morning and they had it ready in less than an hour, and cost a half hour labour charge.  I was very happy with the service and impressed with their honest billing and assistance. The car has driven like a dream since then.  It seems like my gas mileage has gone down a little but if the car was running under hesitation before this makes sense.  The exchange for a little gas mileage was increased power, speed and dependability.

Knock Sensor, a little sensor with an important roll.

Prevenative Maintenance - Transmission fluid and filter change

After getting to drive the forester for a few weeks I thought that it would be good to get some preventive maintenance done.  I went to a local transmission shop that my mechanic recommended and booked an appointment to get the trans fluid change and the filter replaced.  I felt like this is an easy job, but it was winter and I certainly didn't want to do it and some things are best left to the professional mechanics. The mechanic said that it looked like the trans fluid had never been changed as the cover was sealed with subaru's original pink silicone.  He also said that there was a lot of little bits of metal in there as well, nothing to be worried about since it had never been cleaned before.  The shop was great, they let me sit in the waiting room and grade paper while I waited.  It only took about an hour and it was done cost about $250. 

Legend for the Transmission Diagram

 

 

 

This is a part of the transmission that shows the drain area.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

First Repair - Wheel Bearing

Based on the mechanic's inspection of my Forester, the rear wheel bearing needed to be replaced.  While this was not surprising it was relatively expensive because of the labour involved.  I had read on more than a few forums that the wheel bearings in this model are subject to failure and often needed to be replaced sooner that anticipated from 'normal' wear.

This is parts break-out of the rear wheel assembly, the bearing is the round thing in #4.

The final bill from the mechanical bill was about $450.  The mechanic welded a new section in my muffler pipe where it had completely broken in two and I haven't heard it since.  The wheel bearing was cheap but is a hard job that basically requires taking the whole wheel unit and suspension apart.  They said that the rest of the car was fine and that I had got a good deal on a 'nice little car'. 
 I left thinking that I had a dependable vehicle, but there were still a few bugs that needed to be worked out lurking on the horizon.  Mainly this had to do with the check engine light and the codes that the computer were showing.  Basically they told me that MAF (Mass Airflow Sensor) was not running at full capacity and that the rear oxygen sensor was bad but that this wouldn't affect engine performance. I asked them to check the plugs and wires and they said they looked fine.  A few weeks later I would find out that the plugs and wires weren't fine and were the cause of some skipping and hesitation that I had experienced on occasion while driving to work. 

Owning a Used Subaru

So I like to buy old cars, fix them and keep them running for as long as I can.  Recently I sold my 4x4 truck and bought a 1999 Subaru Forester.  I found the car on Kijiji in Saint John, NB for only $1500 bucks.  I went down within a day of finding the ad, test drove it with my girlfriend and bought it.  It came with some problems but for the price I hoped that it was going to work out.

Here's a list of what I knew was wrong with it when I bought it:

This is my 99 Forester, I added the bumper stickers.

1. Muffler - the midsection of the muffler pipe was broken and really loud!
2. Rear Wiper - didn't work
3. Check Engine Light - was on, previous owner said it was on the whole time he owned it.
4. Radiator Fluid - was down, none in reservoir.
5. Fog Lights Missing - the lights were removed and bumber was damaged.
6. Some Dents and Scratches - three large dens, a couple of scraps and a few tiny rust spots.

Here's what I knew was right about the car when I bought it.
1. The car had been rust checked for many of the initial years of ownership and body was in good shape.
2. The engine didn't smoke and it worked well and started easily.
3. The engine was original and only had 206 000kms on it.
4. Two new rear all-season tires.

Here's what I found out was wrong with it after the mechanic inspected it.
1. The rear drivers side wheel bearing need to be replaced ($90 parts + $240 labour)