Top Gear killing a Subaru

[prodriver1]

Remember the Top Gear episode when they tried to kill a Toyota truck? Well I was thinking back on all my subarus that have survived some serious stuff. like my 97' outback that broke the crank pulley bolt off when I was doing some after work rally slides in the parking lot b4 my long drive home at 1am. I didn't even realize what happened until the batt light cane on and I lost all power steering, lights, the oil light came on due to all the oil leaking out the crank seal, no tach, no speedo, funny dieing noises, so I stopped to see what the f@#$in deal was, popped the hood and there was oil everywhere! awful smells and the crank pulley was dangling from the belt which by this time was only hanging onto the alternator...barely. the site before me made me start to think about how the hell I was going to get home at this late hour, so I get back into the car to smoke some TOBACCO products and calm down, I put my hands on the steering wheel and told my subaru I loved her and would do everything in my power to save her, then I gave it a shot and turned the key...fired rite up somehow and drive about 14 more miles to my house, what a champ! this is only one of many many adventures in automotive greatness I had in that car, my old burgundy outback wagon, about 360,000 miles then sold it to grayguy and its still going.

lets hear the unbelievable strength of subarus!

[chuckthefuk]

Wait a minute.. how exactly did you limp home with no crank pulley... How amazing was this Tobacco product :-D

-Chuck

[prodriver1]

Wait a minute.. how exactly did you limp home with no crank pulley... How amazing was this Tobacco product :-D

-Chuck
I have no idea how it drive home or how the hell it fired up again, but it did. I love outbacks :grin:

[subyfreak619]

always have tobacco products in the car just in case of a freak out. :smt004

[jey]

Of course you can drive without a crank pulley, as long as your battery had enough charge to start it, because your alternator sure won't be charging it. You'll also have no power steering or A/C, but you can limp home.

I had pretty much the same functional failure on long trip - 900 miles in one day. Alternator belt adjustment bolt snapped in two in the middle of downtown Dallas rush-hour traffic, lost power steering. Hobbled to a parts store, slapped some generic bolt and nut in and went on my way.

Another, more dramatic story was when I hydrolocked it driving through a puddle. Bent some valves and a rod. Started it back up and kept on driving anyway, running a little rougher. Didn't have the time to take a look at it and it didn't catastrophically fail until 300 miles later when the rod finally snapped and punched a hole through the block.

Last story doesn't even apply to Subarus, just manual transmissions. Got in the car to go home from work and the battery was dead. Can't believe it took me 15 minutes to realize that I should just push-start it, especially since I was already parked going down-hill :)

[prodriver1]

Of course you can drive without a crank pulley, as long as your battery had enough charge to start it, because your alternator sure won't be charging it. You'll also have no power steering or A/C, but you can limp home.

I had pretty much the same functional failure on long trip - 900 miles in one day. Alternator belt adjustment bolt snapped in two in the middle of downtown Dallas rush-hour traffic, lost power steering. Hobbled to a parts store, slapped some generic bolt and nut in and went on my way.

Another, more dramatic story was when I hydrolocked it driving through a puddle. Bent some valves and a rod. Started it back up and kept on driving anyway, running a little rougher. Didn't have the time to take a look at it and it didn't catastrophically fail until 300 miles later when the rod finally snapped and punched a hole through the block.

Last story doesn't even apply to Subarus, just manual transmissions. Got in the car to go home from work and the battery was dead. Can't believe it took me 15 minutes to realize that I should just push-start it, especially since I was already parked going down-hill :)
haha! thats what I'm talking about:)

[prodriver1]

I once got the same outback stuck in the mud hood 40% submerged, mud seeping in through the driver door. I had to climb out the rear hatch. a passer by in a toyota truck pulled me out (rather harshly) and I drove away. not too eventful.... unless you were there.

[prodriver1]

going up a one way two lane and a 80's camaro turned to another one way rite in front of me as I was going about 40mph, well I slammed on the brakes all too late and hit him hard enough to bust off the rear wheel and shatter the rear glass on the camaro. I pushed the camaro through the intersection and onto the curb almost hitting some peds. well the Outback was fine, I pulled away from his car to look at the damage. there was some red camaro paint on the pass side head light and thats it. not one dent or busted panel or light. the outback was fine:) the comaro was f%^&ed! VIVA SUBARU!!!

[slaytalera]

i was at the meet that reason hosts every year a couple years back and my crank pulley came loose. everyone thought i was screwed for sure, but we all gathered around and managed to jerry rig it well enough to last the 250 mile drive home

[prodriver1]

i was at the meet that reason hosts every year a couple years back and my crank pulley came loose. everyone thought i was screwed for sure, but we all gathered around and managed to jerry rig it well enough to last the 250 mile drive home
A little Subaru love goes a long way :grin: :smt023

[Dead91silvia]

All in my GT...

On my way to go to school in Oregon, I lost my water pump. I got about 3 miles till I got to a perfect spot to pull off... Called the school they had a trailer ready to pick me up... Long story short, the bearing on the pump exploded and took out the timing belt, but it never broke and I could still run it. Fixed it in the dorm parking lot...

Crank bolt came lose and felt a vibration. Pulled over to look at it. Stopped every 5 minutes to run the bold back in. Made it the 20 miles back home...

Drove my car with a BAD blow HG for 6 months... Added coolant every morning... haha

Has had a bad right front CV Axle up front for 3 years, still driving it... New Axle has be sitting in my apt for the last 2 1/2 years... :roll:

First week I had it, all but 2 right rear lug nuts came off a 100 miles from home. Snagged lugs from the other wheels and got home just fine...

Cant think of any more for the Subie... I have a tone with Volvo's and Toyota's that I've had though! haha

[d1giPhux]

Wait a minute.. how exactly did you limp home with no crank pulley... How amazing was this Tobacco product :-D

-Chuck


I drove 500-600 (something like that) miles with my old 2.5 GT's crank pulley basically falling off. Broke down at 'south of the border' exit 1, and made it all the way to southern florida from there with the pulley wobbling around like a bastard. Lucky for me.. it didn't do ANY damage. I pulled the pulley off a week later when i was in FL, and put it back on.. worked perfect ever since!

[prodriver1]

I drove 500-600 (something like that) miles with my old 2.5 GT's crank pulley basically falling off. Broke down at 'south of the border' exit 1, and made it all the way to southern florida from there with the pulley wobbling around like a bastard. Lucky for me.. it didn't do ANY damage. I pulled the pulley off a week later when i was in FL, and put it back on.. worked perfect ever since![/quote]


border exit one to south Florida....ahhh the memories :smt023

[chuckthefuk]

What the matter with everyone having bad crank pulleys ...

My concern was the battery life... I had similar issues with a bad alternator and my red top did not last that long.. Then again it happened on city streets not highway driving.

-Chuck

[prodriver1]

What the matter with everyone having bad crank pulleys ...

My concern was the battery life... I had similar issues with a bad alternator and my red top did not last that long.. Then again it happened on city streets not highway driving.

-Chuck
its the bolt that holds the pulley on. it just breaks in half.

[Reason]

i was at the meet that reason hosts every year a couple years back and my crank pulley came loose. everyone thought i was screwed for sure, but we all gathered around and managed to jerry rig it well enough to last the 250 mile drive home

This sucked but was a good time. I'm sure not to you because you were freeking and we didn't know it. You took it well I would have flipped out and dropped numerous F bombs, wait I did that last year when 8 sucked up water lol

[JunkerXL]

one time i was cruising my legwagon on a back road in an undisclosed location :roll: . we were coming up on a corner at a good clip and i needed to slow down but when i hit the brakes i realized that the sign that was blown down several hundred feet behind me said GRAVEL :shock: and brakes dont do well in gravel. i then slid off the corner, down an embankment, and into a dirt/mud bog. amazed and thankful that i missed the concrete ditch by a few feet, i verbally high fived my passenger and proceeded to floor my way to freedom, back up the hill, through the mud and back onto the road, and then, to the taco shop :lol: . life was good that night

also there is a friend of mine with the gl that is seemingly indestructible. it started life in our car clud as the mitsubishi rescue vehicle, and then became the 86hp rally terror of texas. when it was first purchased he went about making it look like factory again, but quickly got bored with that, and began mudding on the local truck and jeep trail. then, since need is the mother of invention, he began adding things to make it more mudworthy. all the while we were car pooling several cities away in epic, smoldering north texas traffic every single day. first there were the fog lights, then the lift, then the custom fit 16"inch wheels, then the exhaust, so on and so on. i only recall it getting stuck once, when it got high centered on a pretty vicious rut, but it was pulled free and went back to rallying shortly there after. then he blew the headgasket. one headgasket in a bottle later, and he was back on the road, for another year or something, it was crazy. never once letting up on the poor little engine. eventually he installed a new motor, roof rack, brush guard, etc. if a truck will go there, this thing will go there faster, and cooler.

http://img94.imageshack.us/img94/1443/soob2.jpg (http://img94.imageshack.us/i/soob2.jpg/)

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then there was an impreza that survived me working on it extensively. :wink: a guy offered me a straight 93 prezwagon for 400 bones if i would haul it off. it's engine was in about a million pieces and in a combination of the front seat (4%) the hatch (36%) the engine bay (50%) and auto zone (10%) it was assembled, by me, manual free, in a combination of cold and wet, cold wet and dark, sunny and cold and always in a hurry. i used gaskets i made, recycled junkyard injector seals, a million gallons of copper seal, and a fair amount of prayers. sourcing mystery bolts, omitting "unneeded" hard ware and winging it based on a dead one i had sitting next to it, it coughed it's way to life and the engine miraculously ran and out lasted the trans which blew a few months later, for, presumably unrelated reasons. it survived a wreck, where i was able to take the parts that were broken off the dead car, and pull out the core support with some shipping wire and a giant socket extension, and slap it all together in about 2 hours, and minus the fact that the hood was now green and the grill was different, as well as having a cleaner, newer headlight, most were hard pressed to tell there was damage there.

before that i had another 93 prez, but a sedan, and it had 286k on it. it managed to run, and run well, after a great lack of maintenance, and survived months of constant thrashing, between 500-800 miles a week of traffic ridden, scorching texas highways. a/c was on 24/7, and ice cold, and everything still worked. it developed a rod knock that of course grew louder and louder over the course of a week, and though the engine was dieing, it got me home without a hitch and died, faithfully in it's parking spot, still able to donate parts and even start, but i didnt have the heart to start it again, it had served me faithfully, and i wanted to let it rust in pieces like a proper soob, taking one for the team. that car also survived a timing belt cog failure, and 3 timing belt jobs from me, since that was the first soob timing belt i had done :roll: stinking arrows :smt013

then there was the 50$ 93 prezwagon that we ended up paying 25$ for. it sat for at least a year not running, and was written off as a loss by it's last owner, given it had 196k on the clock. we blew out the fuel filter, installed a new battery and last i hear, it was still running months later and it's new owner loved it. we called it denty, and it was covered in graffiti. that car was awf-some


last but not least there was the justy that wouldnt die. i test drove it a while back and ddnt have the $ to buy it, so the guy who had it, sold it to some teenagers who promptly blew the clutch, and left it back in the this guy's yard. :smt017

so there it sat for 5 years, untill i got tired of seeing it sit and i bought it. bad clutch and all, as it sat. no key. "just give me 125$, pull it out and it's yours" he said. :shock: so in the dead of night, we hauled it out of the muck, which until then, was devouring the car slowly into the earth. after man handling it onto our little trailer, we dragged it to my apartment. the next day it was to make a trip to a friends house for some work to be done to it (clutch) and one of the guys with us let the e brake off, for some reason :smt017, and as we were going up a large hill, the car leaped for freedom and tried to kill a kia minivan. :smt023


the kia sustained more damage than the basically unharmed justy, but the owners decided to call it even given our predicament (thanks guys!), and we moved about the task of pushing a car with no key, up hill, sideways, in traffic, into the parking lot of a local sushi bar. after injuring my shoulder, and thoroughly exhausting all my cohorts and a few kind passers by, the car was safely parked to wait for my arrival the next day, which i called in to work due to the incredible pain in my shoulder.


late the next afternoon, i crawled out of the cave (apartment) and motored my way down to little monster in my cabriolet. i figured if i had to tow it to my apartment again i was going to kill someone or maybe myself, so i decided that if it would not start on it's own initiative i would just call a scraper, for all the trouble it caused me. but being a sporting car owner i figured i would give it the benefit of the doubt and include some vital fluids that it may be low on. marvels mystery oil, b12 chemtool, ether, and jumper cables (not a fluid, but still important :roll: ). but in order to start the car, i still needed a key, so i called subaru, and gave them the vin, explained my situation and they cut me a key, amazingly. so i left my fluids with the car, drove to get my key and came back to my troublesome little thorn.

i then added the mystery oil to the crankcase, poured some chemtool down the carb, and hooked up my car's battery to it. it cranked, and cranked, and cranked. then, strangely it started, and more than that, it idled. on 5 year old gas.... a bit intrigued, i added the rest of the chem tool to the tank, and let it warm up. so at this point i was pretty floored that it was breathing on it's own, and decided to see if it would make it around the parking lot on a shot clutch, and ancient gas. sure enough it putted around like an old subaru should, plus an awful smell. so i figured i would give it a run back to my place, from the sushi bar. later that night i came back with and escort and after a moment the car did indeed start up again, and with shadow car behind me i zipped down the road to my place, slipping clutch and all. it sat there till i would, again, try to get it to my friends house, by way of a proper tow. eventually we did manage to kill it, but only after a strange problem with the electronics, after the new clutch was installed. being an 89, it had a computer controlled carb :?: :smt011 anyway, before we started monkeying with it, it prolly would have run another 10 years. whoever we sold it to used it for parts for another 89 justy so i guess it lived on. moral of the story? justys have a thirst for kia blood and refuse to die! i miss that horrible little bugger. :smt022





:smt020

[jey]

What the matter with everyone having bad crank pulleys ...

My concern was the battery life... I had similar issues with a bad alternator and my red top did not last that long.. Then again it happened on city streets not highway driving.

-Chuck
its the bolt that holds the pulley on. it just breaks in half.

Also a lot of people don't torque it down right. I've gotten a car back from the dealership after a timing belt service with the pulley rattling around in there. Then it wears down the woodruff key, making matters really bad.


Course, how could I forget the story of losing coolant. One of my heater hoses was leaking and I didn't have time to replace it so I just kept the coolant topped off. One day I had to go farther to work at a different location and spent a few miles on the Interstate. All the coolant spilled onto the exhaust and I rolled in to work filling the whole parking lot with steam. After work, I topped it off again and went home without issues.

[slaytalera]

i was at the meet that reason hosts every year a couple years back and my crank pulley came loose. everyone thought i was screwed for sure, but we all gathered around and managed to jerry rig it well enough to last the 250 mile drive home

This sucked but was a good time. I'm sure not to you because you were freeking and we didn't know it. You took it well I would have flipped out and dropped numerous F bombs, wait I did that last year when 8 sucked up water lol

I looked calm and played it cool, cool enough to hit on the cute girl at autozone :smt005
inside i WAS flipping out though, all the way home as well, i was just waiting for it to come loose again, but she made it and went a week while i waited for perrin to get the pulley instock and ship it


I also started dropping F bombs to myself at the last meet when i was going through that HUGE puddle and i look in the mirror and see you jerk hard to the left when you saw how deep my car was...then i turned around and went through it again :lol:

[rougeben83]

There's a couple of youtube vids already of some guys trying to kill a Loyale to no avail, even jumped it into the side of another car and it just kept going.

[prodriver1]

There's a couple of youtube vids already of some guys trying to kill a Loyale to no avail, even jumped it into the side of another car and it just kept going.
ya thats one of the reasons for starting this. I just don't think its possible to kill a subaru without intentionally trying to by running it out of oil or something, though even without oil it still goes for a while :grin:

[prodriver1]

there was a jump on the road I used to use to get home that I would regularly hit ( after work ye-ha) you had to hit it in the other lane to get real air and you needed to be doing at least 40. so I'm truckin along aiming for the sweet spot when just out of the corner of my eye the furry tan menace jumps out of a bush and into the front of my car. I had NO time so I did what the captain of the titanic should have done and stayed on course. BAM! that thing must have weighed 140lb+ cuz it felt like hitting a brick wall. well I got out to look at the damage (f%$k the deer) and was astonished to see only a couple of dents on the front fender, easy one too that I later just pushed back out. Nothing wrong with the head lights or grill, nothing broken, just a little diseased deer hair in the grill and stuffed under the hood with a little gravy on it:) as I was getting back into the tank, I mean subaru (see what I did there :grin: ) I noticed the deer twitching its front legs, then i looked across the street and saw the rest of the deer :smt005 . deer hunting is much easier than people make it seem :smt002

[prodriver1]

pulled a fully laden repair van out of the ditch:) one of those "your gona pull me out with THAT?!" moments :cool: first try:) it starts first try, it tows first try, its fixed first try, it win first try! subaru for life son!!!

[prodriver1]

pulled a 08' trail blazer out of a mud hole... got a call from a buddy that he was stuck in his TB, went up to see a mud hole filled with TB. so i tried to pull him out, didnt work so i drove through the mud pit he was stuck in rite past him to the other side and pulled him out. then watched as he got stuck AGAIN trying to go back out, so i drove back over said mud pit and pulled him out the way i came and we drove home. by 1998 the subaru outback had more overall ground clearance than 80% of SUV's on the road of the same year (but would never again be as bad ars). WTF world?! keep up with subaru!