WANTED - Good repair shop - Portland, OR area
 

Please Help Me - I need to find a good reliable repair shop in the Portland, Oregon area.

The Power light flashes 16 times on my '92 Ebony. I pulled the stored and active codes - 11 (Solenoid A and/or possibly the resistor behind the battery) & 24 (Solenoid C).

I bit the bullet and took it to my nearest Subaru service department who claims they have six SVXi that are 'regularly' serviced there. I made an appointment with them and dropped off my car. I told them about the error codes and told them the AWD was binding in turns.

They hooked it up to their computer, (after they had it for a day and a half - I guess it's a good thing I made an appointment!). They said everything was working correctly, their computer didn't find any stored or active codes. I asked them if they had noticed the flashing Power light and pulled the codes from the TCU. They said they don't bother with that, their computer is much more sophisticated and it finds all stored codes and more. Since their computer couldn't find a problem, they decided it must be the transfer clutch pack.

Two hours later they told me parts and labor was going to be $1800, they started telling me the parts they would have to replace including the rear housing case (???). They then suggested that I not waste my money on this work and instead I should just have them replace the entire transmission for only $3800.

I politely asked them what I owed them at this point and told them I would continue driving my car as it is for now.:rolleyes:

I am out $90.20 ($82 + 10% for misc. shop supplies) for them to ignore what my car and I tried to tell them was wrong.:mad: :mad: :mad:

Come on, I know there are some locals on here . . .

Dan

I am in Redmond but I have issues with my car that I have to attend to right now. Hope you can find some help, the subaru service department sounds like they dont know diddley and there just after your money. Its alot of work working on the tranny I had to replace the ring and pinion gears in mine. So I had to pull out the tranny. It sucks. I'd say if you have the money just let someone who knows what there doing work on it. I dont know any shops at all in Portland so I can't refer you sorry hope some one can help. Did you post in the NW region? Maybe some one can help there. Goodluck

Hooked it up to THEIR computer?
 

Uh, '92 SVX is not an OBDII as I recall... Exactly WHICH computer did they hook up to?

Which Stealership did you go to?

I may have some suggestions for you.

Cheers!

I went to Gresham Nissan Subaru because

1) They claimed to have six SVXi that they regularly service.

2) They were the closest dealership to me.

I'm more than willing to drive some distance to go to a reputable repair shop. If I can hold out until after the ski season is over when I only need one car to drive, (my wife works at Mount Hood Meadows), I may go to Shadetree Automotive across the river in Underwood, WA. It's owned by Andy Miller who is a member here.

If you have some closer suggestions that you know are trustworthy with our SVXi, I'm all ears.

Thanks,

Weren't you thinking about doing the 5 spd swap? Just find a Legacy 4EAT and rear end for about $7-800 and then swap the rear carriers and have a fast auto. Or you may check with BigBlueSVX as he may have an SVX tranny for sale in the near future.

Stephen

I'd still love to do a 5 speed but I don't currently have the funds for it. I've been seriously thinking about the Auto swap. I can't do the work myself and I don't know anyone willing to do the swap for me.

Dan

I've had work done in three places:
 

Warranty transmission replacement (1) & MULTIPLE!!! rear wheel bearings @ Lithia in Oregon City & (FINALLY!) at Wentworth Subaru downtown.

I had my 120K timing belt, all front oil seals, water pump, radiator, etc. done at Dan's Auto Center in Lake Grove: this was the "only way" to get this taken care of in their opinion, and for them to be able to warrant the repairs for 18 months/18K miles. Soon after this work my harmonic balancer dynamited, necessitating new belts and plastic covers... I wondered why they hadn't suggested that they replace it at the time the timing belt was being replaced (and it was already off the car!) if it was their experience it was likely to go out in the near future? Their answer was "we didn't think of it"...

I'm happy with the quality of their mechanical work, but less than impressed with their policy of suggesting they have found additional "problem areas" which might indicate more work to be done on my car that I don't feel is legitimate, i.e. You need a new starter (when I had the car in to have what was OBVIOUSLY an intermittant connection in the ignition switch), you may need to have the fuel injectors "serviced" or the plugs replaced (when the plugs were less than 5k miles old and the fuel injection system was clean & had been working perfectly). I took it in to have the mass airflow sensor replaced and they charged me an additional $75 to "diagnose" the very same problem: an additional $75 in labor to count the code flashes?

There is also a place called Rallitek located at 1040 SE Clinton Street in Portland, with a tel# of (503) 546-9209 that also specializes in Subaru performance products. One of the founders was a service writer at Wentworth and always seemed to me to be a straight-shooter. I'll probably give them a shot at any new things that may come up.

Hope this helps.

CHEERS!