D3lux

Sunny Kinghorn, Fife. Probably in the garage pottering the wagon back together. Minature restoration thread coming soon!

A contributing factor to wheel bearings failing is sticking brakes. If they stick on they cause the hub to run far hotter than it is designed to do. Lack of use, lack of maintenance and poor repairs are the main causes of sticking brakes. Pads can stick in the carrier, slides can corrode and stick, brake shoes can drag. Always a good idea to strip the brake pads out, clean the caliper carrier, grease the pads each time the car is serviced. With the rear pads removed, its a good time to check the function and adjustment of the brake shoes (if fitted)

As one of those bad guys who works in a main dealer (not a Subaru one, now) we have the same problem with wheel bearings. Subaru ones arent the worst! We try to make sure we have everything ready beforehand. The technique we use is to roadtest the car to get a bit of heat into everything then try and strip it before it cools down! Doesnt always help remove the bearing assembly from the hub but usually frees off the CV joint from the centre. We try to keep a supply of old cylinder head bolts for removal too. These can be screwed in from behind and struck to get things moving, have used this method any time I have replaced XV or similar wheel bearings. Mitsy Shogun ones seem to work best! If it makes you feel any better, most modern overcomplicated, cheaply made German prestige makes use similar wheel bearings but bolt them to alloy hubs!! Any metallurgists reading this? Have seen several colleagues split the super expensive hub trying to remove the corroded/welded in wheel bearing.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/STALK-ADAPTOR-CONTROL-CTSSU001-FREE-PATCH-LEAD-FITS-SUBARU-IMPREZA-2007-ONWARD/290448174306?epid=5002663513&hash=item43a00f6ce2:g:dAIAAOSwQFVaqOWZ Bought a few things from this seller, seems to know his stuff!

If you follow the wiring from the head unit back into the dash you may find a brown and black plug, each with 8 terminals, these are universal connectors to allow you to swap the head unit with another. That section of wiring is the loom adaptor. One adaptor plugs into the Subaru wiring to convert it to the brown and black plugs, the other adaptor converts the brown and black plug to the Pioneer one. Hope that makes sense! If the existing plug from your head unit doesnt fit (it might if they are both Pioneer) you should be able to get an adaptor to connect your new head unit to the brown and black plug. Wherever you get the head unit or adaptor from should be able to advise if you need to do anything else to get your new unit to work. Last time I had to buy one I found it on ebay. Seller even emailed a few weeks later to make sure everything was ok!

What figures did you get for your current logging? Where did you take the readings from? What models? What are you comparing them to? Why are people with £30,000 cars under warranty turning to independant garages and paying for diagnosis? The E boxer system is based on tried and tested components developed over years by Toyota. What data is an independent garage seeing that 2 car companies are missing? Why would you think there will be more problems with the hybrid system? Its simpler, its developed from tried and tested principles older than internal combustion engines, it has less moving parts. My opinion is this guys dealer probably isnt the most attentive, perhaps the pressure of work made them more dismissive. After lockdown everyone I know in the trade was very busy. I think the guy would receive a more constructive and economical response getting back in touch with them. I know for a fact if he spoke to IM customer service , if the dealer was in the wrong they would have its dealer principle cook dinner for the customer if he asked. This owner is going to get the fastest, cheapest resolution to the problem this way. I have no doubt there are a great many really good independant garages out there (and I would encourage anyone who uses one to stay loyal and keep them in business) but over the years companies I have worked for have made thousands out of 'specialist' garages who have got it wrong. You avoided answering any of the specific questions about your tests and the data you got which makes me think you doubt their integrity too. Where does an independant garage get the knowledge to test such new systems? Are you in charge? So you will have taken the appropriate measures inline with the Health and safety at work, 1974 and Electricity at work regulations 1989 that apply even working on the lv side of hybrid and HV cars? As the responsible employer, you will also understand why the HSE insist you understand the importance of allowing only suitably trained staff do this work. The only reason I ask is I have notes from when I done the Subaru E-Boxer course (at Subaru) that back up your predicted readings but also justify them. Over above that, as a Level 4 IMI Hybrid and EV technician (there are now 30 of us in the UK!) I understand why the current draw appears higher to the 12v battery in these systems and look forward to explaining why this happens and why it isnt a problem. If that still fails to pacify you let me know and I will phone the inside guy I know at Subaru (bet he is higher up than your guy!) and we will get some info about what IM thinks about wake up and current draw. Sadly, I would imagine his first question will be.... Why doesnt he just take it back to his dealer?!

Not really sure what point you are trying to make? Are you suggesting this problem should be sorted based on advice from unverified users on a forum or should the owner speak to the dealer who supplied the car and is authorised to diagnose and repair it? What module monitoring? Thru CAN, thru the HV ECU? Why is it waking up? Why would this drain the 12v system? Are you suggesting Toyota have designed a system that monitors its self so intensly the millivolt signals will drain a 12v battery within a few days Regardless of the opinions of people on here, an HV car still under warranty should be repaired at a Subaru dealer. Problems with a Subaru dealer in the way they deal with customers or how accurate their advice is should be sorted out speaking to a dealer or customer service. Not a forum like this. Subaru dealers, in general are small, family owned dealerships. Bad mouthing them on here isnt going to help them. If they go out of business, big PLC dealer groups will move in and customer service will suffer (happened to many Toyota and Honda dealers) or the UK will be too small a market and Subaru will give up on it (Like Mitsubishi and Daihatsu). Take your car to your dealer, give them as much info as you can and let them sort your expensive new car for free. Until recently I did work at a Subaru dealer (and attended the E Boxer course). I can confirm other models had issues with the OE batteries failing to start the car intermittantly, passing Midtronics battery tests etc. Some cars would start fine but could be immobilised by tapping the top of the battery with a screwdriver handle! I dont remember an E Boxer having this issue but they did have other issues regarding clearing fault codes before leaving the factory etc. These are all things your dealer should be sorting looking at. Subaru have some genuinely talented and experienced tech guys and even if a dealer cannot get anywhere they are always happy to be given a challenge. Again, this is something a dealer will deal with, not a back street garage, not bunch of randoms on a forum. 7

Usual diagnostic flow would be.... 1. Is it turning over ok? Too slow=battery, dodgy starter, dodgy earth, something siezed. Too fast=no compression, snapped timing belt. Flashy lights=immobiliser? 2. Is it getting a spark? You need sparks and fuel. If you check for fuel 1st and you are getting fuel you need to clean it up. If you drop the spark plug you dont spill electricity everywhere! Fuel pump noise isnt good enough because you dont know if its pumping it out, you dont know if the ecu is opening the injectors. Now you have established the basics you can check for fault codes, check alternator output, check fuses, check timing, check for gypsy curses/demons etc.

The car is still under warranty so you or anyone else messing with it risks invalidating your warranty. From what you describe the car has a 'parasitic drain' on the battery or a fault within the battery its self. Battery problems usually show up relatively easy, parasitic drains can take days to trace as the drain may not happen all the time. Your local dealer will have to submit a printed battery test showing your battery as faulty before IM will let them claim a new one. As someone who works in a dealership (not a Subaru one) we were inundated with customers with flat batteries, poor starting faults etc. after the first lockdown. A battery going flat after not being used for a few months doesnt automatically mean there is a fault. For many people, jump starting their car and taking it for a run would solve the problem. In your dealers defence, they may have assumed this was your problem. At no point do you mention the dealer carrying out a battery test or having to leave the car with them to be tested overnight. Perhaps this is the dealer being a bit too dismissive (in which case, there are plenty more Subaru dealers) or you not really giving them a chance. I suggest contacting your dealer again, if they dont take you seriously go to another dealer or phone customer services (their number is in your vehicle pack) rather than posting your winge on here. Customer service works both ways in a car dealership and customers giving dealers a chance to fix their car is just as important as the dealership doing a competent job! Eboxers are high tech and the 12v battery charges up from the high voltage system. These systems are over sensitive and the slightest whiff of a problem your dash will light up with warning lights. The car uses the battery you jump start with to activate the high voltage system. The high voltage system charges it back up and charges the other battery to run the start stop system.

The diameter and width should be cast into the wheel on the back of one of the spokes. (I only know because the measuring bit is missing off our wheel balancer at work and all Japanese and Korean wheels seem to have it cast into the back of the wheel! LOL!)

I personally would check the fuses in the engine bay...

Chain!

As a mechanic who (until recently) worked in a Subaru dealer, diesel Subarus are not very good! Modern diesels in general are kinda built to last a certain length of time. Even gently driven cars with good service history will require expensive DPF replacements sooner or later. Add to this the sensors and carbon build up problems associated with the DPF. This is on the assumption the car has been looked after and driven well. What are the chances a cheap one will have been treated that well? The subaru diesel isnt the best diesel to have and diesels arent the best fuel to use!

Rocker cover gaskets. They leak slightly on mine and the symptoms match.

Argh! I hate these things! I dunno what to say. My name is D3lux. I'm from Scotland. I have a red Wagon (pics posted in members gallery). Er, thats about it! What else do you want to know?