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  #16  
Old 02-24-2004, 05:26 PM
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Uncamitzi Uncamitzi is offline
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Re: Exploding Trannys, Disposable Bearings, Ellipsoid Rotors and other things...

Quote:
Originally posted by mark10t
I got a kick out of some posts I saw in one of the other forums (you people know who you are- ) and thought I'd offer my insight.

* If an SVX transmission is not 'thrashed', has a generous-sized ATF cooler and filter installed, and is filled to a correct level with a good grade of synthetic ATF, it should live to a ripe old age (mileage). (Mine's doing fine at 131,000 mi's., thank you.)

* If you experience a bearing failure in your SVX (it can happen) but do not install it correctly (i.e, beat the crap out of it to drive it 'home'), nor fail to remove the 'storage' grease and completely repack with a good grade of synthetic bearing grease, you will probably be forced to do it again and again until you 'get it right'. (-remind you of grade school?) (Again- I have yet to experience a bearing failure at 131,000 mi's.)

* If you consistantly drive your SVX to high speed and repeatedly 'stand' on the brakes- and/or- you let some dimbulb work on your wheels or tires and 'airgun' them back on (instead of using a torque wrench at the proper setting, you will experience warped rotors. (I had to have my rotors 'touched up' only once so far.)

Eventually, every car I've ever owned needed to have the rotors 'turned' due to at least some level of warp and/or wear. Many years ago, I did get a shocking enlightenment from the Chrysler dealership when I returned our Grand Voyager to have them inspect and 'turn' the warped rotors (after a mere ~25,000 mi's.!?) only to have them announce that rotors are a 'wear' item and weren't covered under their (so-called) 'bumper-to-bumper' warranty. (Note- I've had the Subaru dealership replace headlights and other bulbs, as an example, without hesitation 'under warranty'.)

Well, (as my wife used to say-) 'am I right, or am I right?'

-Mark
Amen...
As I've tried to say before...we (members of this forum) are the vocal minority of SVX owners... The vast majority of the SVX owners out there (the ones that ignore us when we honk and wave... ) drive their cars and have them maintained just like the Buick that they owned before.

Kids racing, mod'ing and abusing cars seem to cry MORE about fixing them... I'm not saying that we don't have our problems with the car. I'm also not calling all of the younger members kids...
Just the ones that beat their cars and then whine about how bad the repairs hurt
You've got to believe somewhere deep in your heart that the 10,000 or so cars that aren’t discussed each day in this forum are running fine....at least I do.... in my heart I mean.....
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  #17  
Old 02-25-2004, 10:55 PM
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UberRoo UberRoo is offline
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Every vehicle should outlast fate. Many cars don't reach 200k miles because of driver error; they get totaled first. I think however, that every car should reach that mark without any troubles, any special care, and even with some mild abuse. For every model vehicle that has a chronic problem, there are dozens that do not, which demonstrates that each specific chronic problem is avoidable. It's rare however, for a car to have NO chronic problems. But why should it be?

I've had several cars over 200k miles that I've beaten the **** out of. I regularly go 15,000 miles without an oil change, never check any fluids, spark plugs, cap, rotor, or anything else unless the car threatens imminent death. If it sputters, I find out why - otherwise I continue to drive the piss out of it. I do the bare minimum - period. These cars I speak of have all been junk cars I paid almost nothing for. One of them in particular (my Honda) I secretly wished would die, but couldn't bring myself to purposely destroy. Neglected as it was, it lived on. I still own it and it still runs fine, (dammit.)

So if my $100, 200k mile Honda lets me drive over curbs, run it out of coolant repeatedly, add oil only when the check light comes on, and never-ever-ever-ever gives me any trouble; why then should my expensive, top-of-the-line, high tech, low miles, modern Subaru SVX get all "bent out of shape" about a little hard-braking?

It's a big car. They used small brakes. That's why. Either the engineers screwed up, or somebody else made a lousy [cost-cutting] decision. Sure, a lot of cars warp rotors, but not all. I've had the ones on my Honda glowing red, and faded far beyond the point of stopping my car. (Closed course, familiar road.) And the same goes for the transmission. Except under extreme circumstances, a tranny should NEVER fail - and even under those extreme circumstances, a well-built product should be able to deal with it. The rear bearings? Same thing. There's no excuse. Every other manufacturer seems to be able to make their rear wheel bearings last. Bad packing grease? Maybe, but even the factory-installed bearings tend to fail. Subaru's people aren't any dumber than Ford's people. (The other way around is debatable.)

What's the real issue? Failure rate. The question is if the failure rate of the SVX is too high. In my opinion, (and basic logic tends to back me up,) the SVX should never have failures. Unfortunately, this is no so. No doubt planned obsolescence is part of the equation, but the SVX suffers an abnormally high rate of failure - a high rate compared to the average rate of all other automobiles. This is reflected by their resale value. One major appeal of the SVX to me was that I could get a lot of car for the money, but the reason for this is that the car came with some strings attached; high maintenance.

In my not-so-humble opinion, the SVX is lemon. There are worse lemons - much worse - but it's a lemon nonetheless. ...a neat lemon though, and I'd buy one again regardless.

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Last edited by UberRoo; 02-25-2004 at 11:07 PM.
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  #18  
Old 02-26-2004, 12:16 AM
Paxton71
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well written uberroo

I agree. The SVX is high maintenance and breaks more than it should because it has design flaws that are up to us to redesign or to simply live with.

My 1989 toyota 4runner weighs the same as my SVX. It has 221,000 miles on it. All of the wheel bearings are original. The front ones were last packed about 80,000 miles ago. The rotors are original and not warped. The only thing the SVX has that my truck doesn't is an extra 80 horsepower. I can't say the trans is original becuase I swapped an even older tranny in place of mine to get a lower first gear.

Maybe my truck doesn't work as hard as my SVX and that is why it lasts longer?

I flat towed a Jeep CJ7 over 500 miles with the 4runner. Try slowing 2 cars down pouring down I-70 in Colorado with the SVX brakes! I haven't put brake shoes/pads on the ol' truck in 80,000 miles. My truck gets 4wheeled in the rocks. There are some pretty serious torque situations when you have a 240:1 first gear ratio. Shoot, I still have the original U-joints on the thing. Abused? You bet. In fact my gas tank has 2 gallons worth of dents in it from rocks. With only 150HP and 35 inch tall big fat mud tires I run floored on the highway for hours at a time. Whimper? nope. but you'll only get up to 96MPH (downhill!). I get 17 MPG and it'll run on the cheapest fuel you can find from here to panama. I've never changed the O2 sensor. It has the original catalytic convertor too. She still passes roller smog tests no sweat. I even have the original ALTERNATOR on it!? Keep in mind the back-to-back 100 foot winch pulls that flatten the battery even WITH the truck running heating up that ol' alternator. Now that is a load.

My truck's known "weak spot" is the head gasket. Mine have (v6) 221,000 miles on 'em. Yeah, pretty shoddy, you only get 250,000 miles on a set. The joke is that toyota starters are only good for 1,000,000 starts.

OK, the extra 80 HP on the SVX should cause some additional strain on things. The lateral g's you can get with a low, heavy car are greater than I can get with my lifted 4runner on the street, but do you drive your SVX up and down 45 degree slopes with 1 wheel in the air? how about 35 degree sidehills? Never mind the dirt, mud, headlight deep water, extra 2 inches of offset, and 35x12.50 tire's affect on bearings. *shrugs* Put it this way, most of the driveline parts on my 4runner are 50% larger than those on the SVX. That is why toyota truck lasts so long.

The SVX is a fun, interesting, good looking, cool car. It has moderate performance and excellent comfort. It just doesn't stay together like a toyota or a honda. Is that a bad thing? As Subaru's former flagship...yep. I expect a lot more. A quality car should last 200,000 miles with a minimum of effort. My Volvo did it. My 4runner did it. MY subaru SVX didn't make it. 2nd major tranny repair/replace at 103,000? warped rotors (still on there)? all wheel bearings replaced? steering rack replaced too? That is a lot of major work for only 100,000 miles in my Toyota biased book.
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  #19  
Old 02-26-2004, 06:46 AM
Chicane Chicane is offline
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Sorry guys. Mark says you are wrong.
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  #20  
Old 02-26-2004, 09:51 AM
LarryIII LarryIII is offline
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Quote:
Originally posted by Ron Mummert
My SVX was owned by an OLD WOMAN. She was over 50.


Holy crap! How did she squeeze her walker into an SVX cabin?!
Guess who else turned 50?

Christie Brinkley.

Time flies, Rob. Enjoy your yout'.


Ron (I'd Rob's left nad to be 50 again).
Ron,

I surprised that you didn't ask Rob for the original owner's phone number. Though a fifty year old woman may be too fast for you.
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  #21  
Old 02-28-2004, 08:33 PM
JBnAR
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I think he might be talking about me too, possibly. But like one other guy said "consider yourself lucky". You may very well be in a significantly small percentage of svx owners. I will admit i drove my car fast... but isn't that the point of an all wheel drive sports car with a torquey, high revving H-6??? Just because i drove it fast, doesn't mean i abused it. I abused my first car (a 1990 honda accord 5spd) for real and it had almost 400,000 miles on the original tranny when it was totalled (thanks to someone else).
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