Advice please for a new owner?

[stilettoimp]

Hi,

I've just bought a 2004 WRX turbo wagon and intend to maintain it myself.  It's the first Subaru I've owned although I have much classic car experience but would appreciate some advice on the best parts, etc to maintain a car that is well overdue for some TLC!  A service is priority No 1 so any thoughts on which synthetic oil is recommended for these engines, do I use a Subaru or other make oil filter (ie Manns) and looking into the engine bay, how on earth do you get the spark plugs out?  There must be a trick - which make plugs are best for this engine? It has been chipped, up-rated.

Sorry for all this, but I know other owners will have many yrs experience of these fine cars!

PS. I have play in both f.wishbones bottom ball joints (alloy arms) and will need to replace the joints if possible, or the complete w/bones - any advice welcome on this too!

Many thanks

Its a nice rust-free car, and will also be breaking out the waxoyl inside the cavities to keep on top of it

Regards

Nigel

[stuartie]

Hello not really on the ball with the newage stuff but they are pretty straightforward to work on even though it doesn't look like it, for the likes of service kits try Opie Oils they will sort you out with the correct grade oil and filter, for most other parts I use import car parts they have a good stock of oem parts at reasonable prices, spark plugs can be changed from underneath or if it's much the same as the classic layout you can take the Battery out and I think the air filter housing and you can get them from the top, you will need a wobble joint extention just to make it a bit easier to get in to oh and a swear jar and some plasters 😂, not sure about the lower arms but I think you can get the ball joints separately 👍

[stilettoimp]

Hi Stuartie,

Many thanks - very useful information.  Early days with the car, so any advice is a help.

Nigel

[Ryu44]

YouTube is an absolutely amazing tool. There is a channel which has a lot of videos on the same model but the saloon and they are made really well.

Spark plugs are covered on there but if you are not fully clued up with the boxer engine then check the video as it is not as straight forward as a traditional engine layout. If the car is chipped then it is recommended by tuners you take the spark plugs down a heat level. Double check that. 

 

As for oils, I recently took my car to a Subaru specialist and he used Millers Oils Nanodrive CFS 10w40.

Added the link below those videos. Just do some searching through that playlist and you will find most of what you need.

 

 

 

 

[stilettoimp]

Thanks very much - I will look through You tube guide. Incidentally, my car was originally sold new by a dealer in Croydon!

[Ryu44]

Mine was originally from Derby and I drove to Norfolk to get it!

Also, I forgot to mention I was told by my specialist to make sure you use a genuine Subaru oil filter at all times.

 

And try to find out if the up-pipe has been swapped out for one without a cat. There is a lot of information out there which says the moment you tune them you should swap up-pipe out

[stilettoimp]

Hi, I have just changed the oil (Millers Nanodrive 10W40) and fitted a Blue type Subaru Oil filter following your recommendations!  I've also ordered some new plugs and managed to extract an old one which is NGK PFR6B so I will stick to these for now.  Interesting advice over the exhaust, as mine has had the centre cat removed and stainless system fitted with single box.  Although it can be a bit loud, and don't get me wrong it is a lovely sound, but may get tired of it one day?  Would reverting to a sports type cat be an option, do you  think, or does this upset the ECU mapping?  I was told that my car is roughly to PPP spec. but not actually by Prodrive.  Totally new to all things Subaru - a lot to learn but it will be worth it!

Regards

Nigel

PS. I also need to tackle front bottom balljoints which are worn - can these be sourced separately from the alloy arms? Fingers crossed......

[Jay762]

Opt for an exhaust system with a resonator as well as a back box silencer, that will lower the noise and be less cost than a sports cat also no issue with the ECU map

[Siluro]

On 5/20/2021 at 9:57 PM, Ryu44 said:

Mine was originally from Derby and I drove to Norfolk to get it!

Also, I forgot to mention I was told by my specialist to make sure you use a genuine Subaru oil filter at all times.

 

And try to find out if the up-pipe has been swapped out for one without a cat. There is a lot of information out there which says the moment you tune them you should swap up-pipe out

Why do you have to swap out up-pipe out of interest (is only 2 liters cars)? I ask cause my Hawkeye is mapped but otherwise standard bar backbox and panel filter.

 

I have the opposite issue, mine is too quiet.

[Ryu44]

@stilettoimp

Well done, sounds like you are on your way with some of those DIY bits. 

My car is totally stock, apart from having a Prodrive cat-back exhaust system. It is lovely! It doesn't idle much louder than a stock system, and when cruising it isn't offensive at all. When you open up it still has some refinement in comparison to aftermarket units which tend to be a lot louder. If you read through a lot of exhaust topics loads of people think the Prodrive system is the best OEM+ option.

If you change any performance components I would have thought a map is necessary. But double check this with a tuner first as I'm not best placed to pass judgement.

 

Regards ball joints, I'm not sure I'm afraid.

 

@Siluro

So the up-pipe on the 2.0 has a cat, and sometimes once the engine is tuned there have been reports that they have been sucked in to the turbo by owners.

This is for the WRX from what I remember.

The STi and Hawkeye models don't have the cat in the up-pipe from what I remember reading. Subaru sorted that out. But just to make sure I would do a bit of research on your model.

[Siluro]

@Ryu44 that makes sense now you explained it. Forgot they have that cat in place