SVX Ownership off to a tumultuous start...

BoxerFanatic · #1 07-07-2009, 11:48 PM

Well, as some of you know, I bought an SVX, sight unseen, in order to save it from being crushed mercilessly.

The deal went down quickly and well, and the car was thankfully, and generously delivered to me in the midwest, from california.

Since then, it has been an interesting time. The car mostly drives quite well, and is very interesting to get to know all the ins and outs... I was aware before-hand of the sun damage to the leather of the driver's seat, and the rear seat back, and signficant clear-coat damage to the roof, and a couple other sections.

But other things have come up...

The starter seems to be slightly intermittent. It occasionally decides not to respond at all, and then minutes later, perhaps with a tap from my trusty D-cell maglite, is ready to go again.

After washing it the second day I had it, the driver's side door card had some very brown, ugly liquid in the pocket behind the suede panel, below the switch panel trim. I hope that doesn't mean that the driver's side door has clogged water drains. I have yet to pull the door card off to look inside. The driver's door window also is a bit less than smooth in it's operation, but it does operate.

Then, I noticed that the tires on the driver's side are a bit low, and I inflate them. Days later, the driver's rear tire is nearly flat.

Since I was at home, I pulled out the rolling floor jack, and jacked up the car.

Good thing, too, the original jack was not included. Glad I wasn't out on the road somewhere when I noticed the flat.

The compact spare had less than 15 PSI, but before that point, the retaining bolt was extremely stiff, and in the process of unscrewing, broke off. so now there is a stub sticking out of the trunk well... I am going to have to find my extractor and see if I can pull that out, and get another one, along with an OEM or other portable jack, for roadside.

So, the car sat on it's now-inflated temporary spare for a couple of days, while the Legacy toted the wheel and tire to the service station to be repaired, which it was.

Tonight... I decide it is time to put the main wheel back on, and I have two sets of wheels for both of my other cars, so not counting the SVX, I have 16 other wheels and tires, and change them twice a year, for snows and summers. The SVX makes 20. (although hopefully will negate the need for steelies and snows for the Miata, and it can slumber through the winter...)

So, I am well used to changing wheels. I knew I shouldn't have been in a hurry, and one of the lugs wasn't absolutely effortless to thread... but I did thread it by hand, and turned a few relatively easy turns, and then went on to the other 4 lugs. Cross-hatch tightening... and the 5th lug gets tight, and it isn't seated yet.

GREAT, now it won't back off the stud, either. A bit more leverage, and the stud snaps off in the lug.

So now, the car is sitting stationary on 4 lugs on the driver's rear wheel... and now I need a new lug, and a new 12x1.25 wheel stud.

I posted a question about installing those, in a tech thread... I hope to get some info there. http://www.subaru-svx.net/forum/show...8&postcount=28

But this is turning out to be an interesting ownership experience already, and it hasn't even been two weeks yet.

I hope it isn't going to keep up with this sort of frequency of required down-time. I was hoping that the car and I would get along well, after saving it from being metal confetti, and all...

But, maybe it is making me earn it a bit above the buy-in price, I dunno...

I usually don't break off screws and bolts that frequently. I may have to treat the SVX even a little more gingerly, if it is susceptible to breaking threaded parts like that...

Manarius · #2 07-08-2009, 04:31 AM

You're just finding all the broken things now. Once you get past that step, you shouldn't have something new broken every other week.

Ownbot · #3 07-08-2009, 02:54 PM

Well if you call this stuff a "tumultuos" start then you better just get rid of this car right now. You would be extremely LUCKY if these were your worst issues.

BoxerFanatic · #4 07-08-2009, 04:00 PM

Mostly I was just looking for a word that implied a bit of drama. Tumultuous is a bit strong... but I didn't take the time to search out a lesser impact word from the thesaurus.

Honestly, they are pretty small things... but i am hoping that they are isolated incidents, and it won't be a constant "nickel and dime" situation. Some work occaisionally is fine, but I bought the car for the road, not for the garage.

I knew the SVX was unique, but I didn't realize it to the extent that the specialized lug nuts for the OEM wheels, would be so unique that they would cause wait-part down-time in an instance like this.

RojoRocket · #5 07-08-2009, 05:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BoxerFanatic

........ and it won't be a constant "nickel and dime" situation. Some work occaisionally is fine, but I bought the car for the road, not for the garage.

I knew the SVX was unique, but I didn't realize it to the extent that the specialized lug nuts for the OEM wheels, would be so unique that they would cause wait-part down-time in an instance like this.

Welcome to The SVX Zone!!! You are in luck though, as this board contains a wealth of info, and the "slightly zany" ownership group is always willing to offer assistance (and opinion)

Glenn

svxfiles · #6 07-08-2009, 09:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RojoRocket

Welcome to The SVX Zone!!! You are in luck though, as this board contains a wealth of info, and the "slightly zany" ownership group is always willing to offer assistance (and opinion)

Glenn

Welcome to The SVX Zone!!! You are in luck though, as this board contains a wealth of info, and the WHACKED RIGHT OUT OF THEIR FREEKIN SKULS!!!!!" ownership group is always willing to offer assistance (and opinion)

Fixed it for ya!

Mike621 · #7 07-08-2009, 05:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BoxerFanatic

Mostly I was just looking for a car that implied a bit of drama.

Fixed your post. Congrats on buying a suitable car.

BoxerFanatic · #8 07-08-2009, 08:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mike621

Fixed your post. Congrats on buying a suitable car.

Nice fix, and appropriate, too.

I like my dramatic cars to move... hopefully this down-time won't last too long.

I got a wheel stud today, hopefully I can get a lug nut fairly soon.

At the auto parts store, there was a crashed but running Geo Metro with a rattle-can flat black home-brew paint job, a fart can, and at least one of the wheels had only three lugs, and one broken-off wheel stud, on the right front wheel. Good for power and steering! That car truly had nothing to lose, if it ever did, it had long lost it.

Still not going to be keen on driving the SVX on 4 wheel studs, though.

Subix · #9 07-20-2009, 11:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Manarius

You're just finding all the broken things now. Once you get past that step, you shouldn't have something new broken every other week.

If only that were true...

dcarrb · #10 07-09-2009, 05:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BoxerFanatic

The starter seems to be slightly intermittent.

Search "Bosch relay" for considerable material on a possible remedy to this problem.

Quote:

The compact spare had less than 15 PSI, but before that point, the retaining bolt was extremely stiff, and in the process of unscrewing, broke off.

The spare in my silver was obviously unused and completely flat; I wondered if it had ever been out of the well. And I broke the retaining bolt, too (and thought, aww, man, this is a baaaad sign). But the stub drilled-out easily and there were enough threads left on the business end to keep it working.

Turns out she's a good old car, one that has never let me down. Good luck with yours.

dcb