Cars

The last few weeks have been full of car drama. Most notably, the STi blew a CEL (check engine light), started underperforming, and then started making a really nasty screeching sound when coming off of boost. It got parked in the driveway and the Outback got a warm spot in the garage. This meant that the Outback would brought into daily driver service.

Since I was now driving the Outback, I decided that I had better check the rubbing sound that gets faster as the wheels turn faster. The last thing we need is to have a wheel bearing going and have an accident because of it.

I took it to Hampton Automotive at the end of the work day so that Gary could have it for the next day. Gary - bless his heart - drove it home that night so that he could hear the sound. I got a phone call later in the day:
"You didn't leave me much gas..."
"I planned to get some after you were done with it."
"I wasn't going to make it home on that little in the tank. So I put a couple bucks in it."
"Home??"
"Yeah! How do you expect me to diagnose it?"
"I expected that you'd drive it around the block, not drive it home!"

Lesson learned - never give your mechanic your car with nearly nothing in the gas tank. You never know what he might do to diagnose it!! ::embarrassed:: LOL

Gary said it wasn't a wheel bearing, it wasn't rotors rubbing weird, though he had them machined, and it wasn't brakes. The only thing it could be is inside the axel and he said it's not a safety issue. Just drive the car and be done with it. Sir, yes, sir!

"Oh and bring it back sooner than 7000 miles to have its oil changed."
"It's only been 4000 miles..."
"No, it's been 7000.... that's 4000 on top of the 3000 from when you were supposed to bring it in."
"I thought that was when it was last done..." (pause) "You're right." ::facepalm::

Again, appropriately chastized for being a moron. You'd think I'd know better by now.

So a week after all this, the Outback blows a CEL. !!! NOOOOOO!!! But it was running fine just getting horrible gas mileage. Must be an O2 sensor.

That's when we ordered the code reader. It arrived shortly thereafter. The Outback had a slow reading O2 sensor. Steve cleared the CEL and not only has it not come back since but mpgs is back to normal. Then he read the STi.

The codes on the STi (yes, there were two) indicated two possible issues:
1. It didn't like the oil... this could be anything having to do with oil.
2. It could be a blown turbo.

We crossed our fingers, and Steve changed the oil/filter last night. Much to Steve's horror, the wrong filter had been put in the car. As a result, the oil was black and nasty. No wonder the engine hated it. With the correct filter and fresh oil, both Steve and I took it on separate drives and boy did that feel better; even shifting into 5th gear is smooth again. So in a couple hundred miles, Steve is going to change the oil and filter again, just to make sure all the junk is out. I want to say that the dealership changed the oil last, but I don't remember anymore. Wouldn't surprise me if they got it wrong, though... they've gotten it wrong in the past more than once on multiple cars. We've found puddles of oil on our garage floor one too many times after a dealership oil change.

Speaking of dealerships screwing up: one of my friends is likely to need a new engine because of it... more on that in another post about this past weekend's National Pro Solo in DC.

We are SOOO thankful that the STi is ok. We were scared to have to dump a horrible amount of money into it... Yaaay! 3 working Subarus!! Now we just have to replace the diff in the Miata.... it never ends, does it??