About to hit 6000 km, need some problems diagnosed

-JB- · 06-26-2001, 12:33 PM

I'm nearing 6000km and schedueled for my next service. Before I go in I'd like some opinions from you guys, to avoid extra time/money spent at the shop.

First I don't baby my car, but I did follow suggested brake in, and I haven't auto-x, rally-x, etc..

In the past month I've developed a couple of quirks that have me thinking. Any help at all would be appreciated.

1) Brakes are squeaking. Getting more noticable as time goes on. With only 6000km, I'm assuming they just need a little cleaning or adjusting. Not too worried about this one.

2) My allignment seems to point left most of the time. Gets really aggrevating. And when coming to a complete stop, sometimes my wheel will suddenly shift to one side. Is this a brake thing? Brakes + allignment?

3) This is the most aggravating. 20-30% of the time I will get HARD engine braking in first, second and sometimes third. It may exist in the other gears, but I'm usually not playing with the throttle as much in 4th and 5th. As soon as I take my foot off the gas, the engine will bog down, almost as if I had given the brakes a hard jab. This one worries me because I don't know if I will be able to repeat this with the mechanic in the car...

4) I've had my gas light come on when the tank was just above 1/4 tank. I tried taking a turn heavily to move the gas around, but it stayed on until I stopped and restarted the car. I also noticed when my gas light came on on another occasion (actually empty) I was getting the same engine response as noted before. Really rough deceleration. Could these all be tied to an O2 sensor? No CE lights yet, so I'm sorta lost...

Thanks if you read this whole post.. any suggestions?

JB

wcbjr · 06-26-2001, 01:05 PM

Quote:

First I don't baby my car

1. and 2. - sounds like you don't baby your car.

3. and 4. - sounds like you are cutting out on fuel from not babying your car(hard cornering).

fill up more often.

-JB- · 06-26-2001, 01:30 PM

I know driving the car harder than your average grocery getter, will wear on the car faster/harder, but I am not tearing around all the time. And these problems started to show up around the break-in period..

I can accept that the allignment/brakes may have been aggrevated some spirited driving, but the last two always happen in a straight line. Even driving for two hours in heavy traffic on the highway, I get this bogging. One weird thing is I don't seem to have the hesitation I used to feel around 4000rpm. Maybe I'm just used to it, or maybe this all means something...

zzyzx · 06-26-2001, 04:28 PM

3 & 4 tend to suggest a problem in the fuel system such as low fuel pressure. Perhaps your fuel filter is clogged? Shouldn't be, but you never know. Also, the bog around 4k RPM is generally attributed to too rich a fuel mixture. Again, it's gone, which may be leaning out the mixture and yielding more power at higher RPMs.

Just a thought.

- Steve

FstrMnky · 06-26-2001, 07:15 PM

brake noise/pulling to one side/'engine braking': maybe one of your brake calipers is not retracting properly when you let up on the pedal: this would explain why sometimes you get more 'engine braking' than other times - maybe its just the brakes dragging (you are remembering to release the parking brake hopefully). after lots of dragging maybe the pads on one corner are wearing much faster and are close to worn out and that is why they are making noise. try to narrow down which corner (the noise and the pulling to one side)

the fuel light: i think the light comes on at about 1/4 tank for a little while and then turns off again and stays off until you get to E. thought it was some sort of courtesy/reminder thing as in "oh by the way, you're down to a 1/4 tank". mine seems to do that ('98) anyway, don't know about your model year.

good luck

PS: i would look in my owners manual about the fuel light thing but am too lazy so maybe you should start there

-JB- · 06-27-2001, 04:28 PM

Hehe... yeah I forgot to release the handbrake once, when I was around 16. Realized about 30 seconds down the highway. I've smartened up quite a bit since then though.

The sticky brake seems to make sense to me. This was one of the thoughts that ran through my head. I guess all this and more will be answered in our next next episode of Service with Subaru..

Thanks folks,
JB

06-26-2001, 12:33 PM	#1
-JB- Scooby Newbie Member#: 6060 Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada Vehicle: MY01 Impreza 2.5RS Black	About to hit 6000 km, need some problems diagnosed I'm nearing 6000km and schedueled for my next service. Before I go in I'd like some opinions from you guys, to avoid extra time/money spent at the shop. First I don't baby my car, but I did follow suggested brake in, and I haven't auto-x, rally-x, etc.. In the past month I've developed a couple of quirks that have me thinking. Any help at all would be appreciated. 1) Brakes are squeaking. Getting more noticable as time goes on. With only 6000km, I'm assuming they just need a little cleaning or adjusting. Not too worried about this one. 2) My allignment seems to point left most of the time. Gets really aggrevating. And when coming to a complete stop, sometimes my wheel will suddenly shift to one side. Is this a brake thing? Brakes + allignment? 3) This is the most aggravating. 20-30% of the time I will get HARD engine braking in first, second and sometimes third. It may exist in the other gears, but I'm usually not playing with the throttle as much in 4th and 5th. As soon as I take my foot off the gas, the engine will bog down, almost as if I had given the brakes a hard jab. This one worries me because I don't know if I will be able to repeat this with the mechanic in the car... 4) I've had my gas light come on when the tank was just above 1/4 tank. I tried taking a turn heavily to move the gas around, but it stayed on until I stopped and restarted the car. I also noticed when my gas light came on on another occasion (actually empty) I was getting the same engine response as noted before. Really rough deceleration. Could these all be tied to an O2 sensor? No CE lights yet, so I'm sorta lost... Thanks if you read this whole post.. any suggestions? JB

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06-26-2001, 01:30 PM	#3
-JB- Scooby Newbie Member#: 6060 Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada Vehicle: MY01 Impreza 2.5RS Black	I know driving the car harder than your average grocery getter, will wear on the car faster/harder, but I am not tearing around all the time. And these problems started to show up around the break-in period.. I can accept that the allignment/brakes may have been aggrevated some spirited driving, but the last two always happen in a straight line. Even driving for two hours in heavy traffic on the highway, I get this bogging. One weird thing is I don't seem to have the hesitation I used to feel around 4000rpm. Maybe I'm just used to it, or maybe this all means something...

06-26-2001, 04:28 PM	#4
zzyzx Scooby Specialist Member#: 815 Join Date: Jan 2000 Location: Florida Vehicle: 2013 Boss 302 White 2000 2.5 RS Coupe Silver	3 & 4 tend to suggest a problem in the fuel system such as low fuel pressure. Perhaps your fuel filter is clogged? Shouldn't be, but you never know. Also, the bog around 4k RPM is generally attributed to too rich a fuel mixture. Again, it's gone, which may be leaning out the mixture and yielding more power at higher RPMs. Just a thought. - Steve

06-26-2001, 07:15 PM	#5
FstrMnky Scooby Newbie Member#: 878 Join Date: Feb 2000 Location: Wichita, KS	brake noise/pulling to one side/'engine braking': maybe one of your brake calipers is not retracting properly when you let up on the pedal: this would explain why sometimes you get more 'engine braking' than other times - maybe its just the brakes dragging (you are remembering to release the parking brake hopefully). after lots of dragging maybe the pads on one corner are wearing much faster and are close to worn out and that is why they are making noise. try to narrow down which corner (the noise and the pulling to one side) the fuel light: i think the light comes on at about 1/4 tank for a little while and then turns off again and stays off until you get to E. thought it was some sort of courtesy/reminder thing as in "oh by the way, you're down to a 1/4 tank". mine seems to do that ('98) anyway, don't know about your model year. good luck PS: i would look in my owners manual about the fuel light thing but am too lazy so maybe you should start there

06-27-2001, 04:28 PM	#6
-JB- Scooby Newbie Member#: 6060 Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada Vehicle: MY01 Impreza 2.5RS Black	Hehe... yeah I forgot to release the handbrake once, when I was around 16. Realized about 30 seconds down the highway. I've smartened up quite a bit since then though. The sticky brake seems to make sense to me. This was one of the thoughts that ran through my head. I guess all this and more will be answered in our next next episode of Service with Subaru.. Thanks folks, JB