Bargain or Nail: Hello from a cheap skate

[TonyD90]

Hello Scooby People, 

I have recently dived into the world of Subaru ownership. After overcoming the temptation to buy one of the abundant dirt cheap saab aero estates, I have purchased a Subaru Legacy R Spec.B (UKDM) for a very "reasonable" price. "Why have you put reasonable in quotation marks?" I hear you ask. Well, there are some issues I knew about when I bought the car and there are some that I have found in the last few days of ownership, so it may end up being a money pit

Issues I know about:

• Front O/S inner CV boot in two pieces, CV grease everywhere!
• Rear N/S wheel bearing play/noise
• Gear shifter is a wobbly mess 
• Slight pull to the N/S under initial braking (suspect bushes)
• Cruise control didn't work (already fixed see; issues i didn't know about)
• The handle that lifts up the boot floor is broken
• The rear wiper doesn't return to a position, when you switch it off it just stops where it is
• Whine from auxiliaries 
• Exhaust has a rattle (might be something else, comes from middle under the car at about 3krpm)

Issues I didn't know about:

• The CEL was on, the cluster had been taken apart and had black elecy tape put over it so it didn't light up
• The CRUISE light had had the same treatment as above.

Now, I know you are thinking what an idiot for buying a car without checking the CEL, but let me prepare you for me being even more of an idiot: I noticed the CEL didn't light up on ignition but i liked the car so much that i told myself that "maybe these cars don't have it come on when you turn the ignition on", which is stupid. Don't do what i did kids, check the CEL. I've taken apart the dash and pulled off all the tape and reset the CEL and so far no codes, this also made the cruise control work again so fingers crossed. The code it had stored was P0056, so potential for the O2 sensor to need replacement but I was happy that was the only one when it could have been far worse. Hopefully the bodgey scam artist who added the tape (might not of been the previous owner as it came from auction) hasnt bodged anything else. 

So plans are (in no order):

• Fix CV Joint
• Change suspension bushes, full poly-bush kit
• Change gear linkage bushes <- anyone know of any good 6 speed kits?
• Give it a service; Oil, Filters, Aux belt/tensioners etc
• Check timing chain tension (if i can work out how)
• Work out how wipers set their park position?
• Tint the rear windows (nothing drastic, 40%?)
• referb the curbed wheels 

I'm going to be searching around for solutions to the problems I have listed above, if anyone wants to save me some button clicks and tell me where I can find anything relevant that would be excellent!

Anyone who read all that, well done. 

Cheers, 

Tony

 

[LowVoltSurgeon]

Is that a dent in the front wing or just the camera angle and light?

 

[TonyD90]

17 minutes ago, LowVoltSurgeon said:

Is that a dent in the front wing or just the camera angle and light?

 

That is the roof of my neighbours house reflected in the wing

[Jay762]

Wotch and welcome - seems like some straight forward issues to resolve - keep us posted. I get a lot of my parts from ICP

https://www.importcarparts.co.uk/

[TonyD90]

3 hours ago, Jay762 said:

Wotch and welcome - seems like some straight forward issues to resolve - keep us posted. I get a lot of my parts from ICP

https://www.importcarparts.co.uk/

Unfortunately have had to take it straight off the road as the 'pull to one side under braking issue' was bushes + rust...

 

[shms]

ouch...☹️

[Jay762]

Wow!