Phate

I decided to try out the Mobil 1 5W40 Turbo Diesel Truck for an oil change or two. So far so good, I seem to burn slightly less of it than I did with Brotella.

The subaru pretty much had zero braking, even after I refilled the master cylinder. When my honda popped a line, there was a ton of pedal travel, but in the last inch or so it would lock the remaining intact diagonal circuit.

To be fair, most of these were caused by idiots stacking up floor mats to the point that they were blocking the pedal. Just mashing the brake pedal/putting the car into neutral allowed it to stop just fine even with the throttle pinned. Tested it myself in several toyotas. There was a woman that killed three pedestrians with her highlander fairly local to me while all of that was going on, and said the throttle stuck. Obviously it got a lot of attention, and people were speculating that it was related to the other "unintended acceleration" cases. Driver was wearing flip flops, which allegedly got stuck in the pedal. Would have happened in literally any car.

My mom's 2012 Legacy 2.5i dropped a valve guide somewhere in the mid-60k range. A 2.5i, CVT car, that doesn't burn oil and has been kept up to date on service, basically needed an engine before 100k. My point is that car has had a very easy life and is well taken care of. 3 weeks and a grand or so later (Subaru covered part of the repair, could have probably gotten more but jumped at the lower number) and the car was fixed, and hasn't missed a beat. Just like with my car, and yours, once the issue has been fixed the car goes right back to being the wonderful vehicle you like so much, but some experiences just completely shake your confidence/enthusiasm for a vehicle. I would be extremely surprised if she ends up in another subaru. If you ignore that time the car lunched the motor (or at least the top end) and was stranded on the side of the highway, it's probably been one of the best cars we've ever owned. If I had to guess, she'll be going back to a toyota product (like AWD Lexus sedan), because her old 2003 camry was troublefree right up until the moment my sister totaled it.

Next batch of head gaskets or brake lines, lol? Things that just break the car are annoying for sure, but I'd rather get a phone call about "the car shit the bed, come pick me up so I can tell you that older cars are a bad idea" than find out it lost the brakes and piled into the back of another car.

Yikes dude. Something like that is the biggest thing that's holding me back from suggesting my girlfriend get into a legacy or an outback from this year range. Don't really want to think about what would happen if the car lost a brake line with just her, or just her and the kid in the car. I'm gonna have to take a look at the brakes and lines on her Honda Fit next time I get a chance.

In Upstate NY, the land of salt, mid-90's honda's with normal "northeast car" levels of rust tend to start popping brake lines after 15 years or so. My 97 accord cracked a brake line in 2011-2012 when I was blasting through snowbanks in a lowered car. It killed another line in 2014. A friend's 95 accord killed a line in 2013 as well. Also it's worth noting: 90's honda's with dual diagonal brakes stop a whole lot better after they lose a brake line than LGT's do.

Even easier than the carb cleaner is to stick a piece of tubing over the end of a propane torch, turn the gas on, and poke around in the engine bay near suspect areas. It's the same principle, but you're not spraying carb cleaner all over things.

I think mine is the CalVan one, but it was under $40 so I can't imagine we're looking at an especially large difference in quality. I bought it a few years ago, not 100% on why I picked that model. It might have covered more line sizes than the $10 ones did.

Get an inline flaring tool. You'll thank me later. I have a cheap crappy one, and it's worlds better than the bar style I've used before. Currently in the middle of doing the brake and fuel lines on my accord with nicopp tubing. Also adding an adjustable proportioning valve because racecar (more accurately because it's getting a rear disk conversion soon).

Also, the fact that they'll look at lines that are obviously trashed, spray some wax on them, and call it good seems pretty half assed. If the wax was applied within the first few years, that'd be one thing, but it doesn't help much of anything once they're already well on their way to rusting. I've popped a line twice in my 20 year old accord, and it's currently on jackstands getting all new lines (among other things). There's no recall for it, because there wasn't anything to indicate that they rusted more than any other car in the northeast.

Exactly. My situation was slightly different because the recall had not been performed yet, but if they're rusting out, throwing some waxy gloop onto them isn't gonna suddenly make them stop rusting. The dealership I brought my car to was great, mostly because everybody seemed really shocked that I wasn't angry or freaked out when I went in there to tell them about how my car tried to kill me by completely losing the brakes on the highway. As a heads up, if you do end up replacing the section of line yourself, grab some nicopp tubing and custom-bend them based on what's left of your old lines. Stuff is WAY easier to work with, and is designed to be extremely corrosion resistant.

Lucky you, I had mine let go at 70mph when I was slowing for traffic that backed up on the exit ramp. Pumped, got a little of of braking, then downshifted to third while holding the handbrake to scrub speed. Limped it the rest of the way into work where I took this picture. I then limped it home, and later to the dealership. Mine ended up being covered (I was under the impression that it had been done, I was wrong). I'd call SOA, if the recall was done only 3 years ago, it looks like they half-assed it at best, which could open up a can of worms the company doesn't want to deal with.

Yup! It's totally something was was intended to be serviced by taking more things off (like the intake manifold), but I got mine out without pulling basically anything apart (just the intercooler, obviously) by modifying a socket to be able to angle into the spot I needed, and also swearing at it a lot. I grabbed a pair of used ones from 541 Motorsports for like $20 or $25 each, in case the driver's side one was flaky, but it's generally the one closer to the hot turbo that craps out.

I know exactly what you're referring to, those hard stutters are kinda terrifying when they happen at full throttle. I thought I had blown a charge pipe the first time it happened. If you can get the 10mm bolt out, you can get the sensor out. I had to dremel down a cheap 10mm 1/4in drive socket to do so, but I got it out.