Jacob's other Wagon

[Laecaon]

I really should get rid of this car...

New tires at the beginning of the month. Bought on TireRack. Smoking deal. $87 per tire, $66 installed, $75 mail in rebate. They are Khumo PA51. Still "ultra high performance all seasons." So far they seem grippy.

Coolant leak is still around. Upper radiator hose was leaking at the radiator. Replaced that, seems fine. I found another leak I think. Down at the transmission cooler... damnit. Ill deal with that another day.

Oil leak. aihsdpf;oiha;skdlfjh/. I removed the clutch fan like 2 weeks ago so it would stop blowing air everywhere, no change in temperature. Still couldnt find the leak. Its freaking everywhere. So I bought a bottle of oil dye. Well it took a few drives to show up, but I found it!

Oil filter O ring is definitely leaking... That is a really tight fit...



...and flowing down the backside. The oil is not super thick on this side. My next oil change is in about 1000 miles....


One random valve cover bolt...


Intake half moon is leaking at the valve cover gasket (yes there is RTV here)


Exhaust half moon too!


Oh I think I found the culprit.


Yea, that oil is traveling!


This was my first time using Oil Dye. I like it. This is AC Delco stuff, it was cheap on Amazon.

So, this non BMW valve cover is crap. I tried a new Fel-Pro valve cover gasket which is maybe even thicker than OEM, everyone says to run Fel-Pro or BMW. Well the recommended install and parts, and its still leaking. Im going to hunt down a next gen valve cover. My engine is a M54. They made a M56 motor, which is basically the SULEV version on my motor. It has an aluminum valve cover and a built in PCV system that everyone says works well.

[wayno]

I look at all the oil leaks you have and wonder if the engine has anyway to relieve inner pressure other than to push oil past the seals, it's like what happens when one deletes the valve cover vent on an L block, oil eventually comes out everywhere.

[Laecaon]

I don't have a pressure issue. The engine pulls a lot of vacuum. But it definitely could be an issue. The new valve cover design should both avoid warp, and regulate the crank case pressure. But at the sacrifice of aesthetics.

[wayno]

Where does excess crank case pressure go in one of them newer engines, in the intake?

[Laecaon]

So cars should be pulling enough vacuum through the intake for it to not be an issue. I was having an issue of too much blowby and it was more than the vacuum, so out the seals it came. Well until I vented to atmosphere.

[wayno]

So your vented to atmosphere now, and under normal circumstances that likely would be fine, but my L20b in the work truck had so much blow-by that the vent in the valve cover was not big enough, just keep that in mind, the seal in the oil filter will not be effected by blow-by though.

[DRIVEN]

I think you're on the right track. Looks like an oil filter O-ring and proper valve cover should take care of most, if not all of it. That dye works great but makes it look dramatic. I guess that's it's job.

If you were to retire it, what are you looking to get next?

[Laecaon]

Hit up the junkyard and found a 04 3 series from California. Yay. Not so yay was that the car was in a front end collision and the aluminum valve cover was cracked/chipped. So I grabbed everything else.

Needed for this conversion is:
The valve cover itself
Valve cover gasket
PCV hose

and thats it if you have a 2002.5+ car. But I have a 2002 car...

so then you need:
Updated coil harness
Updated coils
and modify the new updated harness.

So I snagged the coils and the harness from the JY car. And 2 extra coils. Harness was 1/3rd the price of Ebay, and the Coils are all OEM, with some having a manufacturer date anywhere from 08 to 15. And because I wanted to leave my harness intact, I snagged a bit of harness from another car to modify.

If you were to retire it, what are you looking to get next?

Kinda hard to say. What I want is another wagon/SUV, AWD, more than 200hp, better gas mileage, manual. In that order of importance. I like cars more than SUVs due to the seating layout (more reclined).

So the quick list is:
the newest Outback 3.0R I could afford (with the lowest miles). But that seems light such a down grade from my car.
Same with a XC70, T6 would be cool.
I have driven my mom's 08 X3 a bit and really like it, so maybe one of those.
Or maybe just a more modern AWD version of my car. (But the E90 chassis 328xi is rated at the same gas mileage and while up 10hp, is down 20tq, bleh)

[DRIVEN]

Of those listed, I'd probably go Volvo first. As much as I like Subarus, I'm not a fan of the H6.
Kinda slim options, given your requirements.

[Taterhead]

I’m pretty satisfied with our outback. Although it is a four-cylinder, automatic with paddle shifters, and it’s a 2016 model. It seems to have plenty of power and torque for the driving I do but with the snow more prevalent up there I don’t know. I’ve only driven an M3 BMW so I can’t tell ya how it compares to your car. Although, I think ours is pretty well appointed and it is not even the premium one.

[Laecaon]

Did some work yesterday. Valve cover swap done. Which means the ignition coil swap is done.

Started off with doing the necessary wiring. I was able to actually de-pin the connector to the ECU and swap it around to what I needed. Also needed to swap the plug for the power, but that was just 2 wires.




Everything I dont need is gone here:


A pile of the stuff:




And everything buttoned up:



Besides the valve cover and coils, I put new sparkplugs in. I dont remember the last time I changed those, probably 60k miles ago or so. Also put a new air filter in.

Besides the oil leak I was hoping to solve a few other issues. Car had a severe misfire when cold, also car has been complaining of being lean P0171 and P0174. I had originally changed a rear 02 sensor since it was not responding. That did help the misfire, but did not cure it.

So far with the new coils and sparkplugs, the misfire is far reduced, but not gone. Also the car is still complaining of being lean. So Im gonna live with this til we get a bit of drier weather.

[DRIVEN]

Can the MAF be cleaned?

[Laecaon]

Yea... I should try that... Especially since its both p0171 and p0174. Has to be intake related. Driving the car is fine, 0 issues driving. its just noticeable at idle.

[DRIVEN]

Was a common thing with Fords. They seemed more sensitive than most other makes I dealt with. They'd all get dirty but Fords set codes and had drivability stuff.
Hopefully it's something easy like that.

[Laecaon]

I know these MAFs get tired. They start reporting slowly, way before they die.

Its just weird, the car was fine until August, then the codes came and it started leaking oil like crazy.

[Laecaon]

So this car got pushed to the back burner. Still dating a girl, got a new car, moved twice, and lent it out to a friend for a bit.

But I guess its time to sell it... but I kinda really like it still... sigh.

So first up on the chopping block. I messed up the front bumper again. Like 6 months after I fixed my bumper from tearing it partially off on the parking stop rebar I did it again. Sigh. Well I neglected it and eventually while my friend was driving it ran over something and it ripped out the under shielding/wheel well guard. Also ripped out the outside temperature sensor...

So onto repairs for that.

Here is the old liner piece.



Between the bumper and wheel well. Shouldnt be this open...



Here you can the majority of what I am replacing. I am also replacing 2 bumper brackets, and I got a new grill insert that departed.



Bumper looking mostly good. Meh, its an 18 year old car with 210k miles.



I need to find 1 more panel clip, but its all back together. (also notice, the ZR in the tire size... and the 500 treadware, and the AA traction rating...MMMM)




I also replaced the Front driver turn signal socket. This is the second time I have done it. I grabbed it from a JY car. Of the 3 that I found there, I grabbed the best one. I dont know why but they all had some corrosion like mine. I think the electronics of the bulb check ruin it.

Next up, I have a slight coolant leak. Lets air in, and coolant out. Should be an easy fix. Right now the issue that shows up is that the coolant level light comes on and off.

Still have that misfire at idle problem, while running great under throttle. I got a smoke tester, but I need to find my air compressor in storage.

And then just general clean up.

But man, driving it again. This car loves to be thrown around, and driven hard. It takes off hard, and it takes corners so nicely. But I cant afford car insurance on 2 cars...

[Laecaon]

The cars traded spots.




Rear end completely removed...




Replacing all of the bushings. As well as the driveshaft guibo.

[Laecaon]

Holy shit. Replacing all the bushing on a IRS rwd car sucks. Most of the time was spent dealing with that. Overall not bad, but so not fun.

I was really hoping that another clunk from the rear would be gone, but no. I guess its the shocks.

Just driving it to the street was noticeable how tight it was. Now to schedule an alignment.

[HRH]

Hey, I found the thread! Winning!! Yeah, IRS has a wonderful amount of crap. At least it's not an Audi, they are infinitely worse with individual control arms leading and trailing front and rear. 4 different arms per side. Talk about making something overly complicated.