KAG
03-04-2009, 09:20 PM
It seems like there have been a lot more rants lately than positive experiences, so I thought I'd brighten the mood a little bit with this story. (Cliffnotes at the bottom, for all you lazy mother f***ers :lol: )
A few months after I purchased my 2000 Subaru Legacy, it developed a strange, intermittent and rough idle. It didn't seem to affect the way the car drove at all, as I had already driven the car from Sacramento to Arizona to Colorado and back by then, but the condition on idle seemed to worsen as the odometer rose.
I tried everything to fix it, thinking it was just regular maintenance needed like the plugs, wires, coil pack, etc., but nothing, and I mean NOTHING even made a slight difference in how the car idled. It was really starting to bug me. My dad has been a mechanic for over 30+ years and not even he could figure it out.
So, I had to get some input from the guys who know these cars the best. I posted on a few forums: here and NASIOC to name a few. Lots and lots of input/suggestions, but still nothing fixed the idle. I took video of the car idling, the exhaust sputtering, etc. Everyone said it sounded off, but yet again, no fixes.
Over winter break, I was planning on replacing my clutch. I followed through on this, and while I had the motor pulled, decided to examine the entire engine piece by piece and clean the throttle body extremely well.
Got the car done in a matter of one weekend. Clutch felt "OK" (I'm sure you all remember that thread) but unfortunately the idle was still there.
Sometime around mid-January, I was about to leave for a three hour round trip out to Napa and back when the check engine light popped up. I was pissed, but drove the car the whole way, paranoid as all hell. The very next day I pulled the code and took readings off all the little diagnostic values with my dad's very expensive obdII scan tool. The code showed up as a P0304, a cylinder 4 misfire code. I reported it in all of my threads, and everyone including myself were still baffled.
Cleared the code and away she went. Car still idled the same and I kept up with regular maintenance.
Exactly a week ago, I decided to bite the bullet and bring it into Subaru. I'm very good friends with the guy in parts, and he told me to have Colin Futcher take a look at it. Supposedly, this guy has been the head technician there for years and years. So I did, and to my surprise, he couldn't even figure it out. He compared my car to two of the exact same engines, side by side and compared all the numbers. The only thing he found was a very slight difference in a pressure sensor reading somewhere on the throttle body. He said the difference was so slight that there was no way it could make that much of a difference and it wouldn't be worth replacing for the cost, so he informed me that it was really nothing to worry about since the car runs like a champ. They let me out of there with no charge at all, which I'm pretty sure had something to do with the guy I know in the parts department.
Just yesterday, March 3rd, 2009, the check engine light came back on as I was on my way to school. Again, I had to sit through my class(es) paranoid as to what the hell it could be this time.
Today, after my last class around 11am, I dropped the car off at Shingle Springs Subaru and they remembered the car from the last time I brought it in with the same problem, but no check engine light that time.
I get a call an hour later. It's the same code as last time, P0304. This gave them a lead on something though - it wasn't anything in the ignition or timing, so what's left? They checked the valves...that was EXACTLY what it was. #4 had zero clearance whatsoever. They quoted me $600 and the car would be done by around 4:30. Called my old man and checked with him first to see if he thought it was better to have them do it or to have him do it. He said it was probably better that they do it since I'll have documentation of the work and I know it'll be done right.
3:30...4:00...4:26 rolls around, phone rings. "Hi Kyle (blah blah blah)...your car is ready. The exhaust valves on #4 had no clearance at all, and the other three weren't much better. We adjusted them and put all new seals in, the rough idle is gone and the car runs great. (blah blah blah...) You can come pick it up now and the total is only $485.14."
ONLY?!? Ok, parts + 4 hours of labor @ $95/hour...I guess that's not too bad. Still got raped by the stealership, but you know what, the car runs AMAZING! No rough idle, no hesitation, pulls a little harder now too :lol: (butt dyno needs calibration? Fine, I guess so...)
Yeah, I know...that's $500 that could've been spent towards wheels, suspension, etc., but I've changed my mind, I'm definitely keeping this car now. The rough idle made me hate the car completely, almost to the point where I wanted to part it out and sell it as is and buy an 05 LGT, but I'm going a different way now.
My next mod is going to be endlinks, followed by a small paint job once summer comes in. The bumpers are going to get repainted, the hood clear coated, and the side moldings, mirrors, and door handles might get paint matched as well. After all that, it'll be Bilstein HD's with iON Sport Spec springs, then 17x8 wheels with 235/40 summer tires. That right there is almost 2 grand, so I better start saving now :smile:
Thanks for reading.
- Kyle
C/N: Rough idle wouldn't go away, CEL came on a second time, took it into Subaru, Subaru fixed it, told me to bend over, emptied my wallet, and now Kyle, broke as hell, has decided to keep the BE. The end.
A few months after I purchased my 2000 Subaru Legacy, it developed a strange, intermittent and rough idle. It didn't seem to affect the way the car drove at all, as I had already driven the car from Sacramento to Arizona to Colorado and back by then, but the condition on idle seemed to worsen as the odometer rose.
I tried everything to fix it, thinking it was just regular maintenance needed like the plugs, wires, coil pack, etc., but nothing, and I mean NOTHING even made a slight difference in how the car idled. It was really starting to bug me. My dad has been a mechanic for over 30+ years and not even he could figure it out.
So, I had to get some input from the guys who know these cars the best. I posted on a few forums: here and NASIOC to name a few. Lots and lots of input/suggestions, but still nothing fixed the idle. I took video of the car idling, the exhaust sputtering, etc. Everyone said it sounded off, but yet again, no fixes.
Over winter break, I was planning on replacing my clutch. I followed through on this, and while I had the motor pulled, decided to examine the entire engine piece by piece and clean the throttle body extremely well.
Got the car done in a matter of one weekend. Clutch felt "OK" (I'm sure you all remember that thread) but unfortunately the idle was still there.
Sometime around mid-January, I was about to leave for a three hour round trip out to Napa and back when the check engine light popped up. I was pissed, but drove the car the whole way, paranoid as all hell. The very next day I pulled the code and took readings off all the little diagnostic values with my dad's very expensive obdII scan tool. The code showed up as a P0304, a cylinder 4 misfire code. I reported it in all of my threads, and everyone including myself were still baffled.
Cleared the code and away she went. Car still idled the same and I kept up with regular maintenance.
Exactly a week ago, I decided to bite the bullet and bring it into Subaru. I'm very good friends with the guy in parts, and he told me to have Colin Futcher take a look at it. Supposedly, this guy has been the head technician there for years and years. So I did, and to my surprise, he couldn't even figure it out. He compared my car to two of the exact same engines, side by side and compared all the numbers. The only thing he found was a very slight difference in a pressure sensor reading somewhere on the throttle body. He said the difference was so slight that there was no way it could make that much of a difference and it wouldn't be worth replacing for the cost, so he informed me that it was really nothing to worry about since the car runs like a champ. They let me out of there with no charge at all, which I'm pretty sure had something to do with the guy I know in the parts department.
Just yesterday, March 3rd, 2009, the check engine light came back on as I was on my way to school. Again, I had to sit through my class(es) paranoid as to what the hell it could be this time.
Today, after my last class around 11am, I dropped the car off at Shingle Springs Subaru and they remembered the car from the last time I brought it in with the same problem, but no check engine light that time.
I get a call an hour later. It's the same code as last time, P0304. This gave them a lead on something though - it wasn't anything in the ignition or timing, so what's left? They checked the valves...that was EXACTLY what it was. #4 had zero clearance whatsoever. They quoted me $600 and the car would be done by around 4:30. Called my old man and checked with him first to see if he thought it was better to have them do it or to have him do it. He said it was probably better that they do it since I'll have documentation of the work and I know it'll be done right.
3:30...4:00...4:26 rolls around, phone rings. "Hi Kyle (blah blah blah)...your car is ready. The exhaust valves on #4 had no clearance at all, and the other three weren't much better. We adjusted them and put all new seals in, the rough idle is gone and the car runs great. (blah blah blah...) You can come pick it up now and the total is only $485.14."
ONLY?!? Ok, parts + 4 hours of labor @ $95/hour...I guess that's not too bad. Still got raped by the stealership, but you know what, the car runs AMAZING! No rough idle, no hesitation, pulls a little harder now too :lol: (butt dyno needs calibration? Fine, I guess so...)
Yeah, I know...that's $500 that could've been spent towards wheels, suspension, etc., but I've changed my mind, I'm definitely keeping this car now. The rough idle made me hate the car completely, almost to the point where I wanted to part it out and sell it as is and buy an 05 LGT, but I'm going a different way now.
My next mod is going to be endlinks, followed by a small paint job once summer comes in. The bumpers are going to get repainted, the hood clear coated, and the side moldings, mirrors, and door handles might get paint matched as well. After all that, it'll be Bilstein HD's with iON Sport Spec springs, then 17x8 wheels with 235/40 summer tires. That right there is almost 2 grand, so I better start saving now :smile:
Thanks for reading.
- Kyle
C/N: Rough idle wouldn't go away, CEL came on a second time, took it into Subaru, Subaru fixed it, told me to bend over, emptied my wallet, and now Kyle, broke as hell, has decided to keep the BE. The end.