My beloved baja, which I have had for exactly 1 month and 6 days, died on me on my way to work today. Not sure what is wrong officially, but to me its seems like the timing belt went out. I thought the 60k mile checkup could wait a little longer, where they check the timing belt, and was planning to do it this weekend but apparently that wasnt soon enough.
I'm really sorry to hear that. I hope your baja gets better soon
I'm right at 93k also. I just flushed the tranny fluid the other day. My belts seemed alright so I didn't replace them. I did however have to replace the upstream O2 sensor 2 days ago though ($170!) If it's the timing belt that broke I really hope it didn't do any other damage. Best of luck!
sorry to hear that....I am not sure if these boxers are interference motors or not, but damn that sucks...if you are under 60K and it went kablooie and you are beyond your powertrain warranty (call SNA Cust service to find out for sure) you can ask for the customer care manager and see if there is any kind of goodwill extension possibility due to your vehicle having a failure under the milage parameter for necessary replacement...but Subaru would have to acknowledge and accept that and step up if they are to do anything, and then they'de refer you to a dealer for the repairs with a case refferral number.
I agree, it sucks. I am nearing my 60k recommended service. I asked the local dealership what they replaced at 60k and the timing belt was not mentioned. Naturally I asked why not and they said it wasn't needed until at 90k maybe later. Was further told that the belt was made to last past the 60k and that I would be wasting my money if I replaced it at 60k. Perhaps speaking to SNA Cust service is not a bad idea (worth trying). Good luck and keep us posted
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You must be the change you want to see in the world.-Gandhi
well, I got a call from the subaru dealership; it was not the timeing belt, which is good, however they are not really sure what the problem is, which is bad. Apparently after the cruck got dropped off he was able to start it right away with no problem, but the check engine light was on, the check engine light was not on before hand. They hooked it up to the machine and, well I work nights, so unfortunately I was kind of half asleep when he called so some of it is a little fuzzy, but there were apparently problems with multiple sensors, mostly involving air flow, again I was only half awake. They didnt have much time to do work on it today, so I said to go ahead and keep it over the weekend. Hopefully everything will be alright in the end. Regardless I may have to spend some time talking to the dealership that sold me the thing, I certainly didn't sign up for this.
*edit* in the repair manual I bought It listed the timing belt as something to be checked at 60k, 30k as well I believe, it doesnt schedule it to be replaced until 90 or 100k, which I had plans to do this weekend.
Hopefully the warranty will cover it. I had a full powertrain warranty until 70k on mine, which I think is the standard. Also, catalytic converters are notorious for going out around 70k (or so I was told by the dealership) New belts should run you around $20 - $30 each. When my upstream O2 sensor went, It's didn't cause my cruck to die. I just got loss of horsepower and a small bit of "surging". I hope it doesn't hurt your wallet too bad and you're back on the road again. If there's anything (info/etc) I can do to help, let me know.
OK, so an update on my Baja. sent it in that thursday and they obviously were not able to look at it that day since it was pretty much closing time for them when it got there. Looked at it the next day (fri.) Found some buildup in part of the fuel system (they told me three times what it was and cant for the life of me remember what it was) cleaned it out, got some errors on the computer and wanted to look at it some more, it ran, but they werent 100% sure what was going on with it. I said OK no problem, go ahead and keep it over the weekend, if there is a major problem I didnt want to make it worse. Monday comes around they give me a call, seems it was a problem with the battery, it tested really low and they wanted to replace it (it was still the original battery) and the original owners had apparently put some stuff on it that prevented corrosion and that was making a bad connection. They replace the battery and clean the connections ($200 for labor and new battery). A couple days later My car wont start, like it has a dead battery. I hook my battery box up to it, it works just fine, even starts up ok later. OK thats strange. Next day same thing happens. I decide to go get a second opinion from a friend of mine that knows cars in general pretty well, he thinks it just has a bad connection. he takes a look at it, sands the contacts a little and it works just fine. yea, Im thinking twice about going back there.
BTW: Have done most of the 60K tune-up by now. some fluids could use a flush, but nothing serious. Changed the spark plugs, spark plug wires and also the valve cover gaskets (found some oil on one of the spark plug boots), still need to check the timing belt, change the fuel filter, air filter and wheel bearings, everything else is looking good. My girl is driving even better than before (apparently the spark plugs were very well used and gabbed to wide for a baja) and I am looking forward to many years of proper maintenance!
ok, so the battery problem is in fact not fixed. If I jump it it starts up and will restart just fine, but if I let it sit for awhile it wont start and has to be jumped again just like I had left the lights on. I checked the alternator and it works and its a new battery so it should be fine as well I even checked to make sure everything that could drain power was turned off and I couldnt find anything. Right now Im thinking I may have some sort of short in the wiring system. does anyone have any experience with this? I havent been able to really find anything in my searches.
