obsolete's 2008 WRX maintenance & mods

lol yeah. It’s different

 

Driver's door power lock broke today. It no longer locks or unlocks from the button on the door or from the remote. The other 3 doors are fine. Is there a plastic piece that gets brittle and breaks in the cold, or do the motors just die? It seems like it still locks and unlocks manually, but I guess I'd better go check whether it's actually locking...at least I can still get in and out.

 

Or a very elaborate prank someone is playing on the both of you.

 

Shhhh...

 

Confirmed that the door does lock and unlock manually, so this looks like an electrical problem (sabotage?).

 

Did a little research on the door lock, looks like the actuators just use crappy little brushed DC motors and can be fixed for cheap (new motor off eBay) or free (clean and lube old motor): https://www.subaruoutback.org/threads/door-lock-actuator-motors.190850/

Probably something that's going to have to wait until this car is not my DD, though.

 

In my experience... if you wait, it'll never get done. Fix it now or it won't be a priority when it's not a priority.

 

I hate how right you are...finally got enough other stuff out of the queue to get back to thinking about this car again. Ordered the motors on eBay. We'll see how difficult the surgery is.

I upgraded the rear view mirror over the weekend:


The car already had a Homelink mirror, but it wouldn't pair with my garage door opener. Turns out my opener is new enough that it will only accept Homelink version 4, and the old mirror is Homelink version 3. I didn't even know that was a thing. Old mirror was Gentex ZTVHL3, new one is WZLHL4. It came out of a 2015 WRX. I had to get the harness as well; the mirror side is different, but the white 3-pin connector on the car side is the same, so that makes it easy plug and play. Red display hidden behind the mirror instead of in a cutout feels pretty fancy and matches the rest of the interior.

I also replaced this little plastic piece at the bottom corner of the windshield, 91423FG010:


It was loose because all of its clips were broken:


This car had a windshield replacement, so it was probably damaged by the glass installer. Other side is damaged too, but it's still hanging on by one clip, so I'm leaving it alone.

I also swapped the cabin filter and replaced a front turn signal bulb. Luckily it was the passenger's side, so I only needed to remove the air box to get to it. Why do bulbs on modern cars have to be so hard to change? It's like nobody cared when they were designing them...I guess maybe that's the reason.

 

Interesting. I had old garage door openers when I moved into my house. Never paired it up and always had an opener in the door pocket. Since I was the only one that drove the car, I never touched the mirror. That windshield was probably replaced in 2014-2015. I wish I knew who I used so I can't skip them next time.

 

Yeah, I like to use the Homelink feature on a car if it has it. It just feels fancy! They are sometimes finicky to get paired, though. I was just getting frustrated, couldn't understand why it wouldn't pair until I turned up the Homelink 3 vs. Homelink 4 thing via some Google search. Once you know, it's obvious in the mirror model numbers which ones are which, they end in either HL3 or HL4.

More frustration today, after changing the turn signal bulb yesterday, I got CEL, traction control, and flashing cruise light this morning. Read the code, MAF error. I guess I made it angry when I unplugged the MAF to remove the air box. I unplugged the connector again, blew out both sides with compressed air, then sprayed contact cleaner in the wiring harness connector and plugged and unplugged it a few times. Cleared the code and hasn't come back. Just 17 year old car things.

 

No need to take out the airbox, or battery. Just unclip the pins on the fender liner and pull it out from that side. Just had to do one myself.

those little bugger clips on the windshield are a pain and always break.

 

Yeah? Even without jacking up the car or removing the wheel/tire? That's good to know, thanks.

 

Correct, just turn the wheel so that it's not in the way. There's three/four little clips if you miraculously still have the small one, most of the time it falls out. Then just peel the liner back a little bit. it's tucked in on the top, but it can be untucked. No need to remove the clips underneath that mount it to the bumper as it should give you enough space to get in there, and then it's right there.

 

Not only did I replace the door lock actuator motor over the weekend, I wrote up a how to about it: https://mnsubaru.com/threads/door-lock-actuator-replacement-08-14-impreza-ge-gr.55650/

Fun times:

 

I also replaced the blower motor with a Four Seasons from RockAuto, because the original one was squealing sometimes. The new motor is even louder, it has a constant "bad bearing" whine at every speed, fresh out of the box. Sucks because I've had good luck with that brand in other cars.

 

I got one from Apremium, which seems like a high end Chinese brand, and had the same thing! I’m going to wrap it in sound deadening material and hope for some comfort. wish our cars had a cover plate for the blower motor like the 15+ has

 

I feel like that's kinda how it feels buying just about anything these days, especially from Amazon. There are so many just totally off the wall Chinese sounding "brands" that you have absolutely no idea where stuff is coming from anymore. Everybody copies everyone and everything to the point where you don't even know what's what. At this point it's almost like you just assume it's all made in the worst place possible with zero quality control so you can't help but pick the cheapest option just because you know it's gonna suck so why bother spending more than you have to.

Not apples to apples but I just had to replace a cast made hinge on our LG dryer. It's got one of those weird multi function doors (either open sideways like normal or drop down like a flat door) and apparently it's pretty common for this one specific hinge to break. It's $75 from LG, or you can get it on Amazon and eBay from 50 different vendors, ranging in price from $15-$50. Needless to say I went with the $15 one from a "company" I'll never be able to pronounce because the reviews were good enough and the pics were the same as the $50 one (also with a name I can't pronounce...). Haha.

 

My XT blower motor whines a lot in the cold. I just turn the radio up for now so it's just part of the song. However, I asked about a replacement with Subaru Parts and compared to Napa. Subaru is plastic bottom, Napa is metal. Supposedly they are common in many cars and the metal one is better quality. So I'll get getting that one.

 

Totally agree, and this is why I would always buy the Four Seasons blower motors. I've bought and installed enough of them now to notice that no matter the car, it's always the same motor, made by Unimotor in Canada, just installed in a different plastic housing, and with a different plug crimped onto the wires so that it fits/works in whatever car. This is the first one I've gotten that said Made in Mexico, and also the first bad one. Perhaps the magic is gone. I'm gonna roll the dice on a RockAuto return, we'll see how it goes...

 

Yeah, what's up with that? It even looks like there's supposed to be one:

 

"Budget cuts" and "tariffs". Haha.

 

"Unprecedented times" back in 2008.

 

Yeah that makes more sense. I think in my head I was thinking we were talking about the 2015+ cars not having it, but I was obviously wrong because I misread.

2008 would've been when gas was like $4+ a gallon and everyone was getting their house foreclosed on, so definitely no money available for extra frills like blower motor covers. Haha.

 

@predavore I have my old one lying around you can have it. from an 11' sti but they should all be the same. I'll bring it to ya and help you install it.

@Krazylegz1485 Yeah agreed on all the online ordering bs. just buy the cheapest, or sometimes the middle ground one, just because they're all the same.

@obsolete I hadn't noticed those little notches before....
Once I get bored. i.e. tomorrow I'll try to go to the drawing board to fabricate something up and see what it looks like.

 

Yeah, looks like the 3 holes there were intended for plastic push pins. A curved/creased sheet of something cut to the right shape, with holes that line up, would be the minimum viable product. Maybe some 3D-printed brackets to take care of the angle, then the filler piece wouldn't even have to bend/curve much. Definitely doable.

 

I got the replacement Four Seasons blower motor from RockAuto. Also made in Mexico. It's actually a little quieter than the first one, but not by much. Still makes an annoying whirring noise. I decided I couldn't live with it, so it's getting returned. While it was installed, I made an attempt at lubricating the factory one, and wrote up a thread on that: https://mnsubaru.com/threads/lube-your-squeaky-blower-motor-08-14-impreza-01-13-forester.55652/

 

How have we not gotten any updates in over a month? Also, I have to work on the XT tomorrow. I really miss having a fun runabout car to get parts.

 

that’s a great point lol!
I have some fiberglass and I’m probably going to tackle it this week, with another project. Going to try to find some hooks at the hardware store and mount it all up

 

WRX has been good to me lately. Just putting on miles. It's gotten me to WI and back, up to the cities and back multiple times, and up north and back through the big blizzard a couple weeks ago. Up over 142k now, time for an oil change soon. Probably going to throw a new oil cooler o-ring at it while I'm in there, because I remember the one on my old Outback got brittle and leaky at similar mileage.

I did some Marketplace dealing and got a set of the gunmetal 2012 factory wheels and some 2024 factory tires for summer. Sorry @predavore, the ones you gave me looked good but they were just too old...

Damn squeak from under the shifter is back, gotta dig into that, replace the bushings and grease the hell out of that rubber boot.

 

2012 ish OEM WRX wheels are some of my personal favorites.

 

Me too, seems like they're hard to find for reasonable money. The ones I got are in okay shape, some chips and scratches but no curb rash. Not as nice as the aftermarket wheels from @predavore, but I just had to have them. They would need 1/4" spacers to make the offset the same as the aftermarket ones. Ah, good money after bad...

 

Hella flush for the win. Aftermarket is the way to go.

 

Was working on some fiberglass and figured I'd tackle this! Finally! opted to use the holes instead of the clip spots and I had these little expansion plugs laying around. bored out the hole a little so it'd fit an M4/M5 instead of a little M3. fiberglass looks like heck, but it works. had some felt mat laying around that I glued to it, so it actually looks pretty nice! Though I'll get sick of the light not matching up right and I wish the angle was a little steeper so that it'd drop lower and give more space for the sound absorbing material. used some quick insulation type material for the time being.

 

It was a beautiful evening to be outside, and I've got a bunch more driving coming up in the next week, so I took an hour to change the oil in the driveway today. Holy tiny oil filter! I swear that's the smallest filter I've ever seen on any car. Pretty uneventful otherwise. I could've sworn this had one of the oil-to-coolant heat exchangers on it that sandwiches between the block and the oil filter like my old EZ30 did, but it definitely doesn't, so I guess my memory was wrong. Not sure what I'm going to do with this oil cooler o-ring.

Bad news @predavore, I think the Tomioka bushings are starting to separate:

 

Get a new set and bring them over. I have the best press tool now. I bet that it's still solid since it's not open celled.

 

I'd love to take you up on that, but with how rusty the original arms are now, a set of aftermarket aluminum ones is pretty tempting...

I'm sure I'm good to drive on them as-is for as long as I feel like.

I'm in the middle of a much less fun project right now

 

That orange wire loom looks factory... WTF. Haha.

 

The aluminum ones from the Legacy GT Spec B should fit. The STi ones are too wide. That can didn't have the wide fenders. And they should be fine to drive. My factory ones on the XT were holding on and were torn worse than that. That's at least solid and doesn't have the flex gaps.

 

It is factory, all the orange stuff is 384V DC from the hybrid battery. This is a Chevy Volt.

Miserable. They used the same 1.4L in the Chevy Cruze, and since those are way more common, most of the YouTube videos are of guys working on Cruzes. There's visibly more room in the Cruze bay so it just kills me seeing how much worse the Volt is to work on.

Anyway, I got the front cover the rest of the way off last night:


Confirmed shattered oil pump:



Luckily I caught it super fast when it failed and shut it down before shavings went through the engine, so it should be just a matter of slapping new parts on. Sorry for dirtying up this forum with GM FWD hybrid content, but this car's failure was the reason I ran out and bought the WRX in the first place, so it's related.

You had me worried for a minute, but since these are listed as compatible with the Legacy and Outback, they must be the right ones:

If they were wrong, it wouldn't be the first time for RockAuto, though.

 

Did the swap from winter to summer tires yesterday and the car decided it was time to shed its rear brake backing plates:



OEM part prices put this job into "definitely not worth it" territory, but apparently they're reproducing these in China now and you can get a pair on eBay for $80something shipped. That'll go...somewhere on the to-do list, I guess. Definitely not near the top.

 

Such a great design... I don't think those exist on any of my cars anymore.

 

Coincidentally they also don't exist on my cars anymore... Haha.