She's on the road!!

[Nomake Wan]

So the wheels came yesterday.



My dad and I went at the car, taking off the stock wheels and putting on the aftermarkets. Damn they look mean. But of course, the last lug nut on the last wheel refused to come off, even shattering the lug wrench we had put a breaker bar on. I decided to take it to Sears to get that taken care of... but the car wouldn't start. Turn, click, turn, click. Dead battery. So we charged it up and I made a last hurrah for a lug nut removal... and a new battery.

I made it. No new battery, but they did knock that last lug nut off. By some miracle, the lug wasn't stripped. So I brought the car back home and hooked it up to the battery charger so it'd be ready in the morning. My dad also helped me put that last wheel on.



Then this morning, I took my siblings to school in the SVX and began my quest to repair the car. First stop? Autozone. Had them check the battery and alternator, both of which checked out. Then off to Midas to have them run a load test and check the exhaust. Load test checked out, but the exhaust was leaking like crazy from the downpipes. Considering some retard off-roaded the car, that makes sense. Cost to replace? $1100. I told them I'd wait on it, mainly because I'm headed over to Mark Mann's to rip that downpipe out of his ass.

Then across the street to Jiffy Lube, to get everything done. Turns out, the previous owner hadn't touched any fluids. Except the power steering fluid, which I'm guessing Mark put in just before I picked up the car from him. So the oil was changed with synthetic, both diffs were flushed, transmission was flushed, coolant was flushed, fuel system was cleaned. The crap coming out of the exhaust was simply amazing.

Over to the Subaru dealer, to set an appointment to take care of my little grocery list of problems. Valve ticking, transmission code, check engine light sometimes coming on, instrument panel lights don't work, security system may be nonfunctional, automatic belts are acting up, sunroof won't go up on its own, missing/damaged fender well covers... there's plenty to inspect. They set me up for Tuesday, so I'll wait for that...

And finally to the car wash to clean it up, then drive it home. And thus, photo time!













Oh yeah, and I totally remembered why I bought this piece of crap the past two days. When I drove it to Sears, I was in the left lane going to the mall, and this other car was in the right lane. He pulls up beside me, looks over the car, then does an "Oh shi-" as he realizes he has to turn right all of a sudden.

And today while going to all those different shops, all the mechanics (and some of the people waiting on other cars!) were all going, "WOW, you don't see many of those around!! Cool!"

So I guess I'll get over the problems...

After a shower and lunch I headed over to Highway Hi-Fi to see what they thought about the car. For $70, I can have all the electrical stuff fully repaired, all the crap that the previous owner left in it removed and get the stock radio harness wired back in. That's simply amazing. So next Wednesday I'm taking the car over to get it done.

Then I went over to the high school to pick up my sister. I decided this would also be a great time to put in the K&N filter I got, so I popped the hood and swapped filters right then and there. After having owned a '90 Legacy, I must say... the SVX airbox is a lot better! I love those clips, it makes changing filters a snap!! My sister also says that she absolutely adores my new car, because it's pretty and people seem to pay more attention to her when she's in it.

But then I had to race home to get ready for work. Unfortunately, when I stopped and got out of the car, to my horror I discovered this.





So yeah, my radiator has a freakin' hole in it somewhere and it's leaking coolant. Funny thing is, it doesn't do it at all if I drive the car "normally." If I drive it hard, though, it apparently puts enough pressure on the coolant to force it out of the radiator wherever it's leaking. Frick.

*sighs* Well... next week I have a bunch of stuff to work towards... hopefully it'll be a lot better. I will fix this car!!! I will!!!

[ensteele]

Just a couple of things to think about. The lifter seem to tick from time to time and expecially if the car has not been run for awhile. It will tend to taper off. Next, the instrument lights are easy to fix. Get the replacement lights and change them yourself. If they do it, it will be big bucks. Check the How-To Docs for that. The sun roof usually needs a little nudge to get it going. If you lubracate the track with silicone spray, it will be better. If it has not been opened for awhile, it will need to be pushed to get it started.

[Nomake Wan]

Originally Posted by ensteele

Just a couple of things to think about. The lifter seem to tick from time to time and expecially if the car has not been run for awhile. It will tend to taper off.

I read that too, but it's been doing it since I've gotten the car. How long would it take, do you think?

Originally Posted by ensteele

Next, the instrument lights are easy to fix. Get the replacement lights and change them yourself. If they do it, it will be big bucks. Check the How-To Docs for that.

I'll check that out. I think it's just a fuse, honestly. I think I'm gonna just go and replace all of 'em while I'm at it; the fuse boxes are a mess like the rest of the car was.

Originally Posted by ensteele

The sun roof usually needs a little nudge to get it going. If you lubracate the track with silicone spray, it will be better. If it has not been opened for awhile, it will need to be pushed to get it started.

Good to know that's normal. I'll try that silicone spray out. Thanks!

[Nomake Wan]

Oh, reminds me.. there's an exhaust leak on the car. I saw it myself--someone cracked the downpipes, and attempted to just weld it over (poorly). The connection to the midpipe and the midpipe itself are also in pretty poor shape, but everything back from that looks okay.

Midas wanted $1100 to replace the parts. I'm going out to Mark's today to see what he could get the parts for, as well as a few other shops in town.

Anyone here have a suggestion as to an exhaust system for these cars?

[Nomake Wan]

Okay, so today I did another one of those run-around-town trips. My dad suggested that the leaking coolant is just excess or a cracked tube, and that it'll leak a little bit for a while but that I should get it looked at soon. Heading out around 10 AM, I drove out to Mark Mann's shop to see how much he'd charge to replace the exhaust parts that are leaking. It turned out that Mark wasn't there, but Brian (the previous owner of my car) came out and looked over the car. I also found out from him that while he never did anything with the fuel system, he did change the oil and A/T fluid religiously. Why? Because the transmission was practically new. When he got it, the transmission was a Subaru Remanufactured Transmission with only 1k miles on it. No wonder it felt like new instead of like a 79k transmission. He also had replaced all the brakes, which explains why the rotors look new.

So then I leave, but as I'm coming down the dirt path out of Mark's, Mark himself drives up and waves, so I turn around and follow him up. We chat about the car, and he calls his parts supplier to get an itemized price. To replace the downpipes, gaskets and midpipe along with all sensors it'd be $1069. Monroe sealed the leak temporarily for me, and wanted $560 to do a single downpipe. Cole Muffler wanted $600-something to do both downpipes.

Then it was off to lunch at Arby's, followed by a stop at AutoZone. See, I figured out why some of my electronics are being funny. Someone had the bright idea to put the wrong amp fuses into both fuse boxes. So I got replacements and re-did the fuse boxes, clearing out some messy wiring and removing the radio fuse for safety (since I still have dangling cables everywhere). I also installed a ghetto stereo system from my old Legacy, consisting of an iPod charger and some self-powered speakers. Sounds like crap, but music is music!

While fixing the fuses I did notice a little bit of coolant on the ground, but it was a tiny puddle. I again attributed it to excess from the fluid flush the day before and went on my way. Was driving up to the mall to get my sister a manga. I'm sitting in the middle lane of a three-lane road and notice that my engine temperature gauge is a little bit over halfway, which is a bit odd. The light turns green, we start moving... and the needle starts creeping up. Then not creeping, but just going up. I flip on my lights and pull off into a Bryne Dairy parking lot and shut off the engine as quickly as I can, hopping out to find...





The car was just spraying coolant all over the place. I looked under and finally found the culprit.





Someone put a patch on the radiator and hoped that would be enough to hold it together. Well it wasn't. So I got on a payphone and called home. After talking it over with my parents, my dad and I headed out to take a look at the car. We determined that the radiator shouldn't be too hard of a job, and so we should just tow the thing home and order a radiator from online, do it ourselves. And thus...



But as we're doing our best to tail this towtruck (not easy, it kept making it through yellow lights!), a police car makes a left onto the road the towtruck's on as we're sitting at a stoplight. Considering that's the way to the police station, we think nothing of it. But then we pass the police station, and the car starts following the towtruck. At this point my dad realizes what's going on, and I confirm it since whenever he stops somewhere his head goes down...



He was freaking running my plates!!! What a punk!! He did turn off finally, though, so I guess he figured out that the car had just been registered and has a clean slate. But I did get it home, and AAA covered the whole thing.



So now I'm ordering a radiator and replacing it myself. My dad and I are taking the busted one out tomorrow, replacing the hoses, and swapping summer wheels+tires onto our other cars. DIY for the win.

Man... I'm always so close, and yet so far to having this car running right...

[Mike621]

Good Luck

Sounds like the love/hate relationship I had with both of my Pearls. White cars and I just don't get along .

[Sean486]

I just wanted to say I really enjoyed the way this post was written, with all the pictures a stuff in between. Good luck on getting it all worked out. It sounds like you are close to getting it right. Good luck with it.

[ensteele]

That is another good point. Do it right. Don't just patch it together, or you will have nothing but trouble. I am glad to see you are not totally discouraged, but willing to keep on fixing the car. You will get it right and have many good miles together. Do you know where you are going to order your radiator yet? Just courious. Good luck.

[Nomake Wan]

Yep! We ordered from an eBay store that had the OEM radiator. I found a Silla aftermarket radiator for cheaper, but it didn't look like the one in the car... and we want this to be as painless as possible, so we put out a bit more for the one that actually looked like it belonged in the engine bay.

OEM Radiator

I am close indeed. Another hundred and the interior can be looking brand new (found out a great way to clean all that cigarette crap outta the panels, and they'll even take out the crappy aftermarket security system remnants and check out the instrument panel lights), and then I just have to figure out what I'm gonna do about the exhaust as it looks like it's gonna cost a cool grand to replace the downpipes and midpipe.

Sean: Thank you. When I update about a car I usually do that. I find it's easier to do it visually than just describe things.

Mike: Love/hate indeed. Hopefully it'll be all love after a little while...

[ensteele]

That radiator should be just fine. Some members here have had good luck with them. Let us know how it goes.

[Nomake Wan]

Small update.

I went to Mark's today to tell him to hold off on ordering the exhaust parts, because while he did have the cheapest of anywhere for new parts, it was way out of my price range for the time being. I told him about the radiator blowing and he got pissed. He sat for a while, thought, interrogated the previous owner, then decided that he'd make this right no matter what. I tow the car up there, and he'll do what he can for it while we're waiting for the radiator. And when the radiator shows up he'll install it, replace the hoses, replace the water pump and thermostat.

And it looks like he'll be doing it on faith and conscience. He's a good man. After seeing the workmanship he performed on my old Legacy, I knew that he wouldn't be the one putting patches all over the SVX. He, like me, would rather fix it up right.

So now I gotta get the thing towed... but this is a good omen!!