Petro's 2002 Plasti Dipped Forester S Premium Sport- July 9th

[iampetro]

Took the foz to a chip wagon for lunch
Got home and cleaned out some winter debris from the interior
Swapped out the winter floor mats for the summer carpets

[iampetro]

Like many of u
I take every opertunity to look out windows to check on the safety of my subarus

[iampetro]

I think that was a Mazda CX-5 In front of me
As far as the size comparison goes

[iampetro]

When I dipped the hood and front bumper over a year ago I found out quickly that I didn't have enough paint left
I decided to focus more paint on the bumper and the hood got the short end of the stick
It looked Ok but never good like I wanted

But this summer the ultra thin coat that used to be on the hood has been fading/disappearing
It was fine all last summer and winter but about a month ago I noticed it was getting worse
It makes the car look terrible from the front so I had to do something about it



I got the car all prepped and ready and had a full can and a can with about 3/4 left
I figured I could get about 2 full coats of the hood




Turns out I had taken the full cans tip off to use before and the 3/4 cans tip was not working properly
Then while struggling to get 1 full coat done the full can decided to just stop spraying and wont work
This is what I'm left with...



Better? but not really :P

[iampetro]

So the sunroof started making weird clicking noises a few weeks ago
It would click once every 5-10 seconds.
We bought the car knowing it didn't work but it never had an issue before this.
The buttons do nothing but we didn't care.

I figured out the noise was coming from the sunroof and when I would press the close button the clicking would stop
When I let go it would start right back up again.

I drove it to work this morning and it sounded extra wind noisy
I got out at work and noticed this






It's supposed to rain for the next few days so this had to be fixed ASAP

I started with trying to open the shade that retracts into the headliner, it was stuck closed
I pushed and pried and jammed but it wouldn't open to give me access to the sunroof and tracks
I finally used a flat head screw driver to pry it and I pulled the whole thing out and into the cabin. This was the most impressive part of the battle.
Then I un bolted the glass to get better access to the tracks



I put the key back in the ignition to try pressing the close button while using my hand to help it close
But before I knew it the track on the passenger side retracted back into the roof over the trunk


So I did what any backyard mechanic would do and bolted the sunroof down to the remaining 3 track pieces and jammed a section of a 2x4 inside to keep the sunroof flush with the roof again.

It is a temporary fix but may become permanent...
We'll see how it holds up after the rain we get tonight

[LeggyxPower]

Is it the motors or electrical issues? My inner ocd would drive me crazy to find what wrong...I love my Sun roof

[iampetro]

It's driving me crazy for sure
I went through all the electrical diagrams in my Haynes manual but no direct fuse for the sunroof and no real info about this problem on subaruforester.org

I figured instead of wasting time online I'd just figure it out myself

I'm going to take it to work again tmw and do some more tinkering. I might drop the headliner above the trunk because I think that's where the motor is

[iampetro]

this morning I dopped the headliner in the trunk and bam, the motor was right there
I unplugged the 1 plug going to it and no more clicking noise

I just wish I had have done that weeks ago before the track piece went deep into the roof to never be seen again

and no obvious leaks overnight with heavy rain
but im still going to plasti dip around the seal on the roof

[Huffer]

One thing you can do, is look at a manual replacement sun roof. It has no motor, and no real "tracks" to worry about (think rally-style) and you'll save about 100lbs in weight.

On a personal note, not feeling the red wheels, I think it would look a little better with dark gray wheels. Have always had a soft spot for this year Foz.

[iampetro]

One thing you can do, is look at a manual replacement sun roof. It has no motor, and no real "tracks" to worry about (think rally-style) and you'll save about 100lbs in weight.

Yes I was thinking of replacing it with something else but after holding the glass in my hands yesterday its maybe 40lbs if that
and all the track parts and brackets cant weigh that much more then 10lbs so I really only think its about a 50lbs weight reduction

On a personal note, not feeling the red wheels, I think it would look a little better with dark gray wheels.

Ya, the red rims are just the crappy steel wheel I use for winter
I did consider white for my summer rims that are similar to LGT snowflakes but I don't plan on doing that anytime soon


And I never really cared for foresters till I got this one and now I love them. I kinda want to replace it with a newer 03-08 foz

[iampetro]

I plasti dipped around the seal of the sunroof today so I don't have to worry if it will leak in the rain
and then I plasti dipped the roof rack cross bars black to blend in more with the rest of the roof

much better now

[iampetro]

So as of today I've had the forester for 2 years.
Current mileage 231,088km

And I think starting tmw I'm taking over DD it
I'd rather my wife and son drive my safer newer better legacy
There's so many things I'm going to miss from my legacy but the foz will do for now

Other then oil and gas the only thing I've spent money on for this car was a new battery and the light bar
It's been a great low budget Subaru but I have the itch for something new. If only baja's were easier to get.

[LeggyxPower]

Wow only 2 years...upgrade to a forester xt hehehe


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[iampetro]

Just rolled over 233,000km today
Still daily driving the forester but I rock the legacy on the weekends
The foz could use new breaks, at least 1 noisy wheel bearing, a non cracked windshield, tires that weren't manufactured 10 years ago(spider web cracks all over the side walls but tons of tread left) and a really good tune up with new spark plugs and all fluids.

It's starting to become obvious that in 27 months all I've done to it is change the oil and the battery, Literally not another dollar has been spent on it. Ideally I can make it through the winter and then either part it out, keep it for parts or trade it in towards something newer.



Got a wave and thumbs up from another 01/02 silver forester today

[iampetro]

[iampetro]

I cleaned up the interior hoping winter is done for the most part. I left the winter mats in the car for now

[LeggyxPower]

man that interior is mint. ALSO 15-20cm of snow wednesday LOL

[iampetro]

I've been looking online at tribeca's lately.

Around here they seem priced less then equivelant year and mileage 3.6L outbacks.
I don't need 7 seats for adults but when kids grow up it would be nice to have room for some of their friends

And there's an outback at every corner in this city. Having a Tribeca would be different.

The 06-07 model had the 3.0L and hidious headlights and grill
The 08-14 model had the 3.6L and facelift lights and grill

I'm really only interested in a 7 seater '08+ but I'm still just online browsing. I need to go drive one sometime.

I will totally be keeping the forester for all its juicy parts and not making the mistake of trading in again.

[iampetro]

Damn winter is trying to come back from the dead.

[iampetro]

Goodbye snow

[iampetro]

Hello summer

[iampetro]

Cleaning. It's always funny to see the silver paint from the hatch and door jams

[iampetro]

Well another year has passed
Today marks 3 years with the forester and she's seen better days
Currently sits at 237,931km
Still didn't have to put any money into it but it certainly could use it

-paint is faded and terrible now, looks like quite the beater
-small coolant leak, not the HGs but probly an old hose somewhere
-front passenger rotor is warped and chirps with every wheel rotation
-still clearing an emmisions related CEL all the time
-knock sounds like a WWII tank
-pulling a little to the right
-windshield still cracked
-rust has made a pretty big hole in the rear pass. wheel well
-1 random day the windows and locks stopped working magically fixed themselves

There's probly more but hey, I only do 25km a day round trip with it and its day have been numbered for awhile now
I still love it and can't wait for the snow. I hope it lives till then

[iampetro]

Most of the value left in the car is in the JDM parts
-rare JDM spoiler
-rare JDM grill (still have the badge to put back on)
-rare JDM seats and door cards
-rare JDM snowflake like rims (probly wont sell these)

Some value in these parts too
-compass and auto dimming mirror
-center armrest extension
-rubber trunk mat
-roof crossbars
-light bar
+ all the odds and ends

it does have an LSD tranny in great shape so thats gotta be worth something, its super fun in the snow thanks to that


as a whole the cars worth next to nothing but if I parted it out i'm sure i could recoup a decent amount

[HKC-speed.com]

It's nice to see a red beast!

[LeggyxPower]

soooo are you looking to sell???

[iampetro]

soooo are you looking to sell???

That's a question we debate several times a week

We want something newer and bigger. And have a ton saved for a new house that we could throw down on something brand new or gently used (thinking of spending 20ish). I can get my legacy wagon back (which just rolled over 110,000 yesterday) and my wife can have the new ride for transporting babies.

But if we use our savings then we have no more downpayment for the next house
And if we take out a loan that will hurt the size of mortgage we can qualify for

We're in a tough spot right now and just aren't sure what to do next

And life's not slowing down for us. Yesterday my wife gave birth to baby #2
We don't really have a room at home for new baby(but that's ok for the first year)
And driving the legacy with a car seat behind the drivers seat sucks for super tall me

I know, I'll just win the lottery and bam problems solved!

We both still love the foz, it's just we need something bigger then the legacy
Thinking Van, tribeca, Outback, or newer forester but haven't decided what yet

Life!

[iampetro]

Got in the Forester this morning and noticed the odometer




and here is how bad the fading has gotten
I originaly did more coats of plasti dip on the black roof and the rims then the body so i guess that's why it didn't hold up

[iampetro]

Yesterday was fun
Got in the Forester to drive to work and the E-brake light was on when I started driving, I stopped and pulled it up and then put it back down and the light went away for a moment but came right back. I tested having it in drive with the e brake up and it wouldnt move, then i put it down and it moved normally so I know it wasn't stuck on and engaged.

I chalked it up to old wires acting up as it had poured rain the day before.

The drive to work had me thinking that the brakes are really fading fast and I had the thought that i'm not going to let my wife drive this car anymore.
Before I took the car for lunch I checked the coolant and topped up the radiator as i've been doing for like a year now...
But when under the hood I noticed the brake fluid reservoir was super low so I was planning to get some fluid and put it in on my lunch break.

I started her up and went to put the car in drive and the brake pedal just went to the floor with no resistance.
It comes back up just fine but unless im standing on the pedal it does nothing to stop the car at low speeds like 10km/h (did some quick empty parking lot tests)
I got out and looked under the car and all my brake fluid was on the ground under the passenger side in front of the back wheel.
Clearly some sort of massive leak. looks like when i press on the brakes it's just squirting the fluid out with every press.

I borrowed another car and went and got some brake fluid. I was able to limp it home but I have zero experience when it comes to brake lines.

This could be the end for the old girl but she had a good run
I'm not gonna start putting money into it at this point but if I can fix it for cheap I'd love to keep it going

You can see here when I got home I attempted to parrallel park in a spot I wasnt gonna fit into so I aported and parked across the street.
The car left a fun stain on the road and as you can see :/

[Somac]

Brake lines are easy to do! As long as it's the brake line that's actually bad.

The only bad thing is, if one brake line is bad enough to blow, that generally means all of them are. If you're planning on keeping the car, you replace all of the lines at once. Otherwise, if you replace just one, another one could blow on you the next day (or in the case of one of my old trucks, as you're bleeding the system after you just replaced one line).