Someone Else's Problem: EyeMWing's Correct-Wheel-Drive Lesbaru

We've had plenty of snow. If it's shallower than my ground clearance everything is well. I made some guy in a Jeep who was spinning out all 4 going up a hill look bad. I stopped (on the hill) to let him crab himself off into the roadside ditch and then ran right up the hill on my own (had to kill the traction control because it pulled too much power to get started moving again)

There was one minor incident wherein I slid sideways at low speed into a snow bank, but that was pure driver hubris (ha! who needs brakes!) and not at all a function of the vehicle. No damage, except to my ego.


It gets a bit iffy if you have to hop one of those crusty ice embankment things that snow plows leave in front of your driveway. Lots of undertray scraping action. Nosing in, I tend to get out and kick any bigger blocks out of my way. Backing over them, the rear end clears much more easily and I just use the undertray to smash the stuff down so the nose doesn't hit.
 
EyeMWing said:
We've had plenty of snow. If it's shallower than my ground clearance everything is well. I made some guy in a Jeep who was spinning out all 4 going up a hill look bad. I stopped (on the hill) to let him crab himself off into the roadside ditch and then ran right up the hill on my own (had to kill the traction control because it pulled too much power to get started moving again)
Click to expand...

ITT: why proper rubber is infinitely more important than four wheel drive. And that's before you even start mentioning stopping and turning.
 
So this thing is still around and has approximately ungodly mileage on it. I am almost certain this is the highest mileage privately owned BRZ on earth. At least among people who post on the internets.

I just now figured out that the car has a cabin air filter (oops) which is supposed to be replaced more or less every oil change (OOPS).
One $10 carbon-activated filter change later, and the aircon smells MUCH less like ass. In fact, it smells like NOTHING. It's awesome! Carbon activated filters are badass! Old filter was full of dead spiders, trees, stink bugs, etc.

Changed back to summer tires - Dunlop DZ102's this year. They... Kinda suck. For autocross, I like them less than the factory tires. They handle exactly the same but don't communicate their woes to you in advance of just letting go.

Here is the state of the union:
Passenger side rear wheel has some damage (not from a curb!) and may be out of round slightly (or just out of balance). Haven't bothered taking it in for a rebalance attempt yet.
There's a rattle noise coming from the shifter above 4000RPM. This is allegedly the fault of a washer on the linkage that's too damned thin. Next time I have it on the lift (maybe tomorrow) I will evaluate that per the stolen picture below:
26frec.jpg

Warranty is totally and firmly dead.
It's time for new trans and differential fluid.
It's time for spark plugs.
It's probably time for engine and transmission mounts (POLY!). The engine mounts have to come loose for spark plugs anyway..... And there's a super-cheap aluminum transmission mount......
It's time for an accessory belt.
The side bolster on the driver's seat is worn through at the seams. Frak.
The leading edge rubber 'air flap' (that's the official name of the part) in front of the driver's rear tire was torn from god knows what. I replaced it.
The passenger side front inner wheel well plastic panel is torn and deformed from an autocross cone. May replace this.
My lugnuts are permanently stained with grease for unknown reasons. Will replace at next season.
My winter lugnuts are rusted to shit. Will replace at next season.
My winter tires are in need of replacement.
New brake pads are far noisier than expected, but far less dusty.
My windshield is more or less made of chips and pits.
There are a few paint chips all around.
It is literally always time for another oil change.
It's time to clean and oil the K&N. That means it's time to convince me I'm about to kill my MAF sensor!


Are coolant changes mileage based or time based?


I fucking love this car and drive the pants off it.
 
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Spectre said:
Both.
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After consulting the manual, allegedly the factory fill is good until well north of 100k, and then 75k thereafter. Screw that business, I'm gonna do it at soon.

I'm also actually 10k late on spark plugs and severely delinquent in brake flushes. Guess I need to find some RBF600 now that I have pads that merit it. Oddly, the clutch fluid is MUCH darker than the brakes.
 
EyeMWing said:
So this thing is still around and has approximately ungodly mileage on it. I am almost certain this is the highest mileage privately owned BRZ on earth. At least among people who post on the internets.

I just now figured out that the car has a cabin air filter (oops) which is supposed to be replaced more or less every oil change (OOPS).
One $10 carbon-activated filter change later, and the aircon smells MUCH less like ass. In fact, it smells like NOTHING. It's awesome! Carbon activated filters are badass! Old filter was full of dead spiders, trees, stink bugs, etc.

Changed back to summer tires - Dunlop DZ102's this year. They... Kinda suck. For autocross, I like them less than the factory tires. They handle exactly the same but don't communicate their woes to you in advance of just letting go.
Click to expand...

Unless you're north of 100k miles, you're not the highest ive seen. Ive seen at least 2 past 100k in one of the ft86 facebook groups im in.

I should probably do my cabin filter as well...

I have DZ102's as well. I actually thought they were better than stock for AutoX but on the street, they seem to make more noise and resonate more with the various types of pavement on the highway. The resonating may be the wheels though.

Glad to see yours is still holding up. Mine seems to have some typical Subaru issues but nothing too big. Mines probably going under the knife next winter for more power so any issues will be dealt with then.

Also, i still have the auto dimming rearview mirror if you're still interested.
 
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The cabin filter is cake. Less than a minute and done.

I used this part: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004A6PLV8/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Rockauto also has it for about the same price, but you have to pay shipping (I have Prime). This is the only non-OE carbon activated filter I could find. Probably the same as the OE part.

I have a bunch of the old teething issues still - fuel pump crickets eventually showed up (whatever), parcel shelf still makes noise every once in awhile.


Interestingly, the Subaru maintenance schedule has me coming up on fuel filter replacement. The fuel filter is part of the bloody pump assembly and is not separately serviceable!
 
EyeMWing said:
The cabin filter is cake. Less than a minute and done.

I used this part: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004A6PLV8/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Rockauto also has it for about the same price, but you have to pay shipping (I have Prime). This is the only non-OE carbon activated filter I could find. Probably the same as the OE part.

I have a bunch of the old teething issues still - fuel pump crickets eventually showed up (whatever), parcel shelf still makes noise every once in awhile.


Interestingly, the Subaru maintenance schedule has me coming up on fuel filter replacement. The fuel filter is part of the bloody pump assembly and is not separately serviceable!
Click to expand...

Cool, i'll have grab one of those filters soon.

If you have to replace the whole fuel pump, it may be worth it to upgrade it instead of a simple replacement. Recently, i've been hearing of fuel starvation issues when taking corners hard below half a tank.
 
Alright. Now we're talkin'.

Most likely due to my deferred-longer-than-the-recommended spark plug change, at idle the engine will occasionally stumble and drag down so low that the LED running lights give up.

Yes, Subaru is actually serious. Change those Iridiums at 60k miles.

I guess I'll have to get out the engine hoist......
 
EyeMWing said:
Alright. Now we're talkin'.

Most likely due to my deferred-longer-than-the-recommended spark plug change, at idle the engine will occasionally stumble and drag down so low that the LED running lights give up.

Yes, Subaru is actually serious. Change those Iridiums at 60k miles.

I guess I'll have to get out the engine hoist......
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Hey, it's not that bad. I helped my friend do the plugs on his WRX and it only took us 4 hours.
 
My car has 30k spark plug intervals - and from experience, that's a conservative estimate :p
 
EyeMWing said:
4 hours is about right for an engine remove /reinstall. I presume you used the "faster" in-car method?
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We used the patented "swear at the car a lot and drink excessive amounts of beer" method
 
Welp. Just did an epic sprint oil/tire rotation/serp belt change.

Oil was on schedule. I skipped tire rotation last oil change (oil change before that featured the installation of brand new tires).

I now have... Like 25% tread on the front (previously rear) and 75% tread on rear. If I skip the rest of this year's rotations, I might actually make it to winter tire time... This might be a 2-set-summer car with my commute, or maybe I should buy reasonable people tires to commute and another set of wheels to put the performance rubber on. I will have to meditate on this.

The belt changed turned out to be unnecessary - the belt was fine. My entire engine bay, however, is covered in brake dust. It's pretty dramatic. That was causing some belt slip on startup. I'll need to be washing that.....
 
On second look, what appeared to be brake dust actually seems to be coming from the aircon clutch. WTF? I keep it in fully automatic all the time which basically means the compressor is always cycling, but it cannot possibly make that much dust, can it?
 
EyeMWing said:
On second look, what appeared to be brake dust actually seems to be coming from the aircon clutch. WTF? I keep it in fully automatic all the time which basically means the compressor is always cycling, but it cannot possibly make that much dust, can it?
Click to expand...

It can if the clutch material is grinding off or if the compressor is damaging the belt.
 
Spectre said:
It can if the clutch material is grinding off or if the compressor is damaging the belt.
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It's definitely friction material, rather than belt.

There's some FUD on the interwebs about older Subaru models using marginal compressor relays that wear early and stop delivering enough current to fully engage the clutch.

Pure speculation, but if it's the same part, my high miles and A/C all the time approach would have the same number of relay cycles as a normally used older model.

I'll pull the relay and mess with it tomorrow.


---

Thinking about adjustable coilovers. I'm due for shocks soon, especially given potholesylvania.
 
The bad news is that it then was grinding off clutch material and you're likely to need a replacement clutch in the near future.
 
Spectre said:
The bad news is that it then was grinding off clutch material and you're likely to need a replacement clutch in the near future.
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Likely. I lost my calipers so I can't check wear at the moment. There's still enough there for it to work quite happily for now, however.

And it's only available as a complete compressor assembly, too.

17 bucks for a goddamn relay, though, is criminal. I might bodge in a $1.99 Bosch (triggered by the OE relay, of course, since god knows a Bosch coil is probably far too manly for the sensitive CANBUS components on either side of the OE coil line). I've never seen one of those even remotey approach 1 ohm, nevermind 1.5.
 
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