Electrical gremlins are the worst.

 

There is a smaller, inner dust sheild that sits in a groove on the back of the rotor. They grow with rust or something and you may have to grind them down. My dad's 07 outback did that after new rotors.

 

@x_25, thanks for the feedback but I'm not quite sure I follow...







What specific part are you referring to? I'm guessing (13) in the Front Axle diagram above? I'm happy to investigate anything at this point so I don't have to do wheel bearings.

 

Ah, it has been a bit since I have looked at it. I would be refering to part 16 (the dust sheild) see the inner lip on it? The groove in a lot of after market rotors that that sits in isn't deep enough. On my dad's car the rotor wouldn't even bolt down flush without grinding it down some. I don't know if that is the case here, but it still.makes a shrrrrshing sound if he corners hard. And that sounds like what you are describing.

 

 

Ahhh, I gotcha. That's an easy check, the brakes will come apart super easy and there should be a big gnarly bright rub mark on the rotor or the backing plate if this is the case. I'll be sure to check that, thanks man!

 

Yup. That is why I mentioned it. Super easy thing to check and rule out.

 

Yes, possessed.

Did you charge the battery before install? If not, pull it out and put it on a low current charger overnight, like 2 amp or less. I've seen ABS lights come on with low battery issues, and the battery may not been fully charged as delivered new. It's possible the trips are short enough that the alternator may not be able to catch up, doubly so if its getting weak. Once the battery is topped up, you can attach a multi meter to a 12v source in the car so you can refer to it as the problem happens. That'll at least give you something you can check immediately.

I used to have my Fluke DMM setup in the cup holder and temporarily ghetto rigged the probes into the cigarette lighter socket. Super useful for checking intermittent issues. Just don't leave it there so the crackheads can smash and grab while you are up in the club. Or wherever.



They are nasty little critters, to be sure.

 

sounds like an alternator problem. Thankfully its like the only easy engine bay work to do on these damn things.

 

Alternator was swapped out less than a year ago. I'm guessing a remanufactured unit was put in. Battery was pretty old though, and the new one seems to be working better. I didn't do any of the work to this car because I didn't know crap about cars when I got it and our mechanic back home is a solid dude.

The car used to go through brake light switches like nobody's business. Turns out there was an aftermarket cruise control installed so mechanic yanked it out. Things were good for a bit till the weird ABS light etc issue started. I did read on nasioc that it's an alternator sign, but it's so bizarrely intermittent. Right after the battery swap, the car ran solid on a trip to maine and back. It started acting up as my girlfriend and I were pulling into her neighborhood.

I just want this car to see me through grad school and then a bit if possible. 02 TS with 148k on the clock. Got the car for 2500, but it needed headgaskets done 10k miles later, so I ended up spending a lot more than I wanted to on it. It runs and drives super well for its age. It's pretty much the perfect grad student car.

 

Parts store alternators don't seem to have the best track record on subarus, seems like the parts store voltage regulators don't last.

 

OEM is 300 bucks though.

I guess it's a small price to pay for reliability. I wonder if a used oem part would be better than a reman unit.

 

I don't want to jinx anything... but it hasn't acted up in like 2 weeks now. I'm so confused. I don't know if it was tired of giving warning and is just going to commit seppuku one of these days.

 

Just discovered this...

https://www.rallysportdirect.com/par...ercooler-black

So, I have been out of the Subaru thing for 3 years, but hot air still rises, yes? Why would someone spend so much money on a tmic? Genuine question, its angled, so what? How does that change heat soak that happens right away, or the fact that the scoop is still in a high pressure area in the bay?

 

I don't believe in the silly verticooler.
But personally am a very big believer of TMIC's on street driven subaru's, for many various reasons.

 

The subies are a cakewalk to work on compared to the miata.
I've had the axle seals under the sundial fail, it's not a big deal, index the location of the dial before removal with a paint pen, then you are good to go, just count the number of turns it takes to loosen.
If it is stubborn, do what I did and use a short ABS pipe and a mallet to loosen the dial, ABS is softer than aluminum, so it works a peach.

CV joint grease gets everywhere, nature of the beast. Smells nice when cooking on the cat.

To get all the grease out, try soil love. Use a plastic bristle brush (coarse hair) to work it into a grease paste and then it rinses off with water.

Sounds like a borked wheel bearing, the first thing you usually notice is the grinding sound, caused by the dust shield rubbing the rotor edge.

Jack up the car and wiggle the wheel, if it doesn't move, the bend the dust shield out of the way so it stops rubbing.
Check the spark plug wire on the misfiring cylinder.
Then check the tube, soaked in oil? Spark plug tube seals.

Otherwise it could be grounds, they do run amok in scoobs.

 

If any of the above was meant for me, my most recent terrible noise was a bent backing plate rubbing on the rotor. I think I rolled the tire over it and bent it or something when moving parts around. I bent it back and the sound is gone. Bearings are fine, hubs are fine, everything is fine.



I want to do more bushings on the Subaru, and replace all the sloppy shifter linkage crap. Might buy the TiC Holy Shift bushing set, the one that does NOT include the short shifter.

 

Most of it was.

You can do all the shifter stuff for the subaru, but it will still be miles from a sloppy miata shifter.
I found that on my shifter the main cause of slop was the missing inner roll pin.
Under the car there is supposed to be a roll pin within a roll pin securing the joint to the linkage.
If the inner one is missing there will be a lot of play.
I've literally done all of the shifter related bushings on the subie, with the upgraded joint, it's marginally better.
The miata needs a shifter rebuild due to all the slop, yet it's far more precise.

 

His wrx has both complete and intact, I checked.
As for shifting feel, I agree: the older wrx shift assemblies are just not that well designed and the shift kits only slightly improve the feel, unfortunately.

 

I'm completely spoiled with the Miataroadster 6 speed shifter in the Miata. 18psi knows what I'm talking about

Shifting in the Subaru is like moving a big wooden spoon through a pot of oatmeal. I know the Subaru will never, ever be on the level of the Miata, but you guys are saying the marginal improvement isn't worth the effort? I can respect that.