How I spent my winter vacation.
 

The stats:

10 days.

8 states. Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, Idaho, Utah, Nebraska, Iowa.

3,583 miles. (If you don't count the approximately 150 miles we put on the Windstar :rolleyes: )

I haven't worked out gas mileage yet, but it's typically around 26 mpg, and I don't expect that to be far off.

Sightings: Hundreds (literally) of Outbacks, 3 (nice) XT6's, at least 4 (rusty) Brats, and 0 (zero) SVX's. Mike's (eclique) SVX was having problems when we went through Denver, and we couldn't hook up.

The story: Friday night. 1 low beam was out. Aaaack! Trip to Auto Zone where I put in new 65W Super-whites at 25 bucks each. (I really like 'em.)
We left on Saturday morning, the 8th, at around 5a. and the weather was absolutely gorgeous. It started turning shortly after entering Kansas and we had about three inches of snow by the time we stopped at the Greyhound (dog) museum in Abilene. It steadily got worse :D after that - blizzard conditions - at times we could'nt see past the wipers. Interstate 70 was closed at Hayes, so that's where we napped. The SVX looked gross! The blizzard consisted as much of blowing dust as snow.
Called eclique at about 100 miles to Denver, but he was having problems with his SVX. A new harmonic balancer was acting rather unbalanced.
Washed the car at a car wash in a small mountain village before heading up the hill. It started (wet) snowing again. By the time we got to Steamboat my effort was completely wasted.
We are so blessed! (I mean that) Getting the gear out of the car after skiing all day Monday, I noticed that the car appeared to be "bleeding". A red trail went from the center of the car, all the way up to the road. If the lot hadn't been snow-covered, I would not have noticed. Frantic calls to various tow companies and repair shops ensued. Timberline towing would be out in the morning to take the car to (Sean) Doran's shop (who did work for the local Subaru dealer - which didn't have a repair shop) for $75 plus $1.50/mi. Okay, cool. But it seemed nobody in town had a rental. Finally, we located a '96 Windstar at the last place in the book - Economy rental - which also happened to be Grama's Towing. "Let's make a deal", he said. "Since you're renting my van, I'll tow you for $45 bucks." Yeah, I had to think real hard about that one.
When I talked to Sean I told him I thought it was only a seal. "Fer-r-r yer-r-r sake, I sher-r-r hope nawt", he said.
"Ulp", I thought.
Tuesday we called. "Well, ther-r-r-rs good news and bad news."
The good news was that it was a rear seal (better than the front). The bad news was that nobody had one outside of Denver. The cost? He figger-r-red at least $150, $200 top. We went skiing.
Wednesday - no seal (nice snow on the mountain though). We went skiing.
Thursday we were scheduled to leave for Salt Lake City. No seal. We went to Cook Chevrolet/Subaru who had ordered the seal. They called Denver. Oh, by golly. It was at Cook Chevrolet/Subaru - in Craig, Colorado, forty miles away. They didn't have a free driver so we volunteered. It started snowing - hard. Actually, the Windstar wasn't that bad, unless you have a history of bad-weather driving in a SVX. We delivered the part in about an hour and a half. Sean started to work immediately, and we went to a book store (the best place in the world to keep your mind off something important and beat tension).
Sean Doran, who bought his Snap-on Tools in Ireland, and moved them to Steamboat Springs, Colorado, is now my very best friend.
Less than two hours from delivering the seal to him, he called to say the job was done. The cost, $112.00. We were elated, and on the road by 4:00p.
The rest of the trip was uneventful - if you can call the most beautiful drive that I've ever done uneventful. (Route 89 from Bear Lake, Idaho to Logan, Utah. - I'll have pictures later, when I download them.)
Subaru performed elegantly the whole trip. We are blessed indeed. :D

Uhhmmm..The Greyhound Dog Museum?? There's a museum for fast hound dawgs?? Is a lot of taxidermy involved? I mean.... oh, never mind.
Glad you enjoyed the trip.
(And on the right, folks, you'll see the St. Bernard Memorial Library).
Ron (woof)

Gee, Hayes isn't all that far from Russel, you could have stopped to see Bob and Elizabeth. Maybe they would have given you a private tour of the E.D. museum. :p

Beav

Actually, it was our second visit to the Greyhound museum in about two and a half years. Like a lot of things, you have to experience them (retired racers, that is) to understand.

Yesterday, we met a lady at a rest stop in Missouri (driving a new Outback - plates: GREYHND) who had one in the car with her and four more at home. We (plates on the wagon: QUIK K 99) only have two.

We've always wanted to visit the E.D. museum, but didn't know where it was. (Or what it was. :confused: )

From what I've been told you'll have to ask Ron, Larry or Randy... :p

Beav

Re: How I spent my winter vacation.
 

If things keep going the way they are, I'm going to have to take up residence in a book store. :mad:

DAY 15! NO CALLS FROM THE TRANNY SHOP!

Re: Re: How I spent my winter vacation.
 

Hi Randy,

Take heart, things are never so bad, they could not worsen!
I spent day one of my vacation, a wet, windy, wintry unlikeable yesterday, waist deep in muck and sheesh with an excavator in my back garden getting my sewer tank to work.

And meantime, my tranny shop has not called to have my car in to repair the two gears I am missing.

Also, by the way, I have still got the growling from the rear bearing. This has been with the car since I got it exactly a year ago this month. It has not worsened, so I drive with it, but I hope to replace that soon, when car gets its major service.

I only mention the bearing to you, because my experience of SVX ownership has shown that the car and its components are as tough as old boots. Perforce, I had to drive in 3rd gear for 9 months, the car did it, no complaints. Currently it is driving OK with two gears working. And it has covered 20K miles on a noisy bearing.

Perhaps we are reacting to every little fault like perfectionists, when the car would take more abuse than we expect. Try it! You may get some psychological satisfaction for all the damn money the cars cost to fix.

No pain, no gain!!

Joe:D :D
Hope you get sorted soon, I know what you are feeling.

Re: Re: Re: How I spent my winter vacation.
 

Thank you for the encouragement, Joe. Tomorrow morning, I plan on calling the shop and asking about progress. If they tell me the new solenoid pack did not take care of the problem, I'm telling them to remove the pressure taps, button the thing up, I'll pick it up at lunch time.

I'm tired of it and absolutely refuse to let them continue to trip over themselves trying to get things sorted out. I WILL NOT let the car sit for 24 days for a second time.

I'll drive it 'til the tranny begins to toast, then, I'll take some vacation time and drive to the nearest Suby dealer recommended by members here (Beav, can you recommend Louisville? Bill, can you check on a Suby Reman at Duff and get a price? A fellow in SC had me a price of 2100.00 at one time and was gonna put me up -- but, he went away and I haven't heard from him since. -- see what I mean?) and point my car in that direction and hope the sucker holds 'til I get there. After all, it's only . . . credit! :mad:

Re: Re: Re: Re: How I spent my winter vacation.
 

If you're referring to the dealer, I have little idea. The guy I bought my car from said he trusted them, but I just fixed the RR backing plate the dealer tech mangled when he replaced the bearing. It was scraping on the rotor. No big deal, just crappy to send a car out either w/o test driving or knowing and too lazy to correct before delivering to the customer. From the prices he told me he paid for things, I'd say they pretty much get all the money.

I'll have the boss check into rebuilts over the next day or so and put together some prices.

Beav

Sure, will do.

Thanks Beav, I appreciate that. I HOPE I won't need it, but, just in case, I want a back-up plan. I know it doesn't take 15 plus days to install a reman. Sheesh. Plus, for what I'm going to end up paying for the rental car, I'll be half way to a freakin' reman anyway --- AAARRRGGGHHHH! Am I hiding the fact that I'm frustrated?

I just figured the gas mileage for the trip.
3,583 miles/134.122 gallons=26.71 mpg
Considering the high speed (pretty much 85mph west of Missouri) and the bad weather in Kansas/Colorado, you might say I'm pleased. Of course, most of the city driving was put on the Windstar :rolleyes: .