TOPIC: bad luck abounds

Well, if any of you have good luck, it's because I've managed to soak up most of the bad luck that's out there. The most recent example is my daily driver... 1999 subaru forester. 94K miles on it. Started a rough idle, now throwing check engine lights. Replaced plugs, tested plugs, wires, coil, etc. Did a compression test today... #4 cylinder scored a 55! Yuck. Now it's a toss up as to wether I scramble to fix it or try and find a $500 truck to drive until some overtime comes up at work. Not gonna be a cheap fix, I imagine, as all signs point to bad rings. Don't really want to empty the bank fixing it if I can put it off a bit.

So, anyone nearby have a cheap pickup they don't need?

I have a 99 Ford Bronco. Full size. 5.0L/stick. It ain't beautiful, but then it never was. Its wheels.
Neil

Yes it sounds bad. My son bought one purely on their reputation and the good condition of the car. It didn't have high miles and was taken care of. He drove it awhile and it started leaking oil. Not real bad, then it started leaking anti-freeze. We got the gaskets ordered and was ready to pull the engine and just put new gaskets in when it started leaking gas like mad. OK we'll put a tank in. You have to literally tear the back half of the car apart to replace it. He traded it on an Explorer and said never again.

I think Frank had an (expensive!) similar issue with his Subaru recently. Started out fairly minor, then needed a head or something replaced. I used to think they were reliable cars, but not so sure about that anymore? Guess you can get a few bad apples with any brand of vehicle.

i feel for ya!
we had bought a kia sportage,nice looking suv,and drove well for just a little while,then things just started going to crap,i was getting something fixed at about once a week.
and the parts were so expensive,55 bucks for a inline fuel filter.
and so on.
in less than a year i traded it for a chevy pickup,the salesmen followed me home to get it,they had to get towed after only going a few miles.john

i love my subaru, don't get me wrong. every person in my family has had at least one, if not two. this one is the 3rd one my wife and i have owned. up until now, i never had a single non-wear-item issue (and my relatives that own them haven't had ANY issues either). and NOTHING i've ever driven has done better in the snow and the yuck. since i like to snowboard a LOT, i spend a good chunk of my winter up in the mountains. i wouldn't trade my subaru for anything. love it love it love it.

the oil leaks are common among these cars for some reason. for all the benefits though, i'll keep an extra quart or two of oil on hand and park in the gravel, not in the driveway.

and yeah, mark, everyone makes a lemon or two. i've seen guys with dodge pickups with 4 transmissions by the time they hit 100K, a chevy car i bought brand new developed an oil leak before it hit 1,000 miles... Ford truck i used to own threw a timing chain for no reason i could discern... mitsubishi eclipse i had in high school blew up a tranny and 2 motors (i WAS in high school... i am not saying these issues didn't happen for a good reason)... everyone has a couple bad apples. good thing i buy them all!

i laugh about this now that i know it was only running on 3 cylinders... i was still getting 25 MPG! AWD and a dead cylinder and still getting good mileage. i can't imagine what it'd get when in top shape.

i do plan to fix or replace the motor, whichever ends up making more sense. i don't want to can it, that's for sure. but repairs won't be cheap, so if i can run around in a beater truck in the meantime, i can take my time redoing the motor and make sure i get it all fixed up right... so i don't have to do this again any time soon.

Neil - i'd be interested, depending on price. little on the broke side right now. shoot me an e-mail and we can talk about it.

Riceman, Things come in threes you know. Sorry to see the diversion from you boating projects. See if you can find yourself an older Jeep, I have a '98 cherokee that I bought used 6 years ago, has the 4.0 with the asian auto xmis. Just turned 270,000 without a hitch other than the normal replacing of water pump, alt and belts, the normal stuff that gets old and worn but never any problems with the motor. I put on around 2400 miles a month. Things are bullet proof.
PS if you check my Herters rebuild thread you can determin to stay away from deer on the freeway.

1-208-816-2664

neil - i'll give you a call tomorrow. it's closing in on 10pm here and i've just managed to make it inside for the day. any time in particular work better for you?

i managed to find a motor today. with a mere 297K miles on it for only $900. =/ compression and oil pressures look good in it though, so maybe. we'll see. i still need to pull the head and take a peek. perhaps my awful luck spared me and it'd just be a head gasket that blew in some obscure and super rare way... bwahaha... not likely =) it's a good thing i'm used to my miserable luck. stuff like this just makes me chuckle any more.

Any time from noon on would be fine.

neil - my e-mail address is This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

thanks
chris

an update:

well, finally got the motor pulled this past weekend. i had already yanked the head off about 2 weeks ago and found out that the valves had been VERY poorly adjusted (if they'd been adjusted at all) and the exhaust valves on the #4 had been stuck open for some time. LOTS of deposits had accumulated and they weren't able to seal any more. apparently the spark plugs had never been changed either. dang neglectful owners...

anyway, the motor's out. i'm going to tear it down to a shortblock, get the valves reground (just lapping them back in after cleaning 'em up isn't going to work. they're too far gone), reseal the motor, replace plugs, wire, coil (had a corroded terminal anyway), timing belt, water pump, clutch, etc. and put it back in. my dad ended up having to go out of town long term for work, so i've been able to borrow his rig in the meantime.

i'm just relieved that the motor isn't broken in some catastrophic fashion and i'm not stranded. phew.

-Chris

Riceman,

Boy I hate to think of what you would call serious.

I am glad you are able to fix it up. And thank God for Dads!

Yes but I bet it still can empty your Bank Vault. Good Luck.

robert-lorigan wrote:

Yes but I bet it still can empty your Bank Vault. Good Luck.

no joke! this is my first encounter with torque-to-yield head bolts. $11 each and i need a dozen of 'em. good news is i've got lots of time, and now i've got an excuse to buy all sorts of tools that i'd wanted but never had a good enough reason to buy!

plus, when this is all said and done, i shouldn't have to do anything to the motor (except PROPERLY adjust the valves) for a long time. i don't put gobs of miles on it, so it aught to take the better part of a decade to get to the point that i need so much as a spark plug.

-Chris