The_Bronze

Hi all, So I've now turned my attention to the chassis on the Impreza. I want to effect a few mods to the power and handling side of the car but externally I want it to remain looking like a stock 2000 Turbo. I've just fitted a Whiteline 22mm adjustable rear ARB and the difference is crazy! gone is the mild, floaty understeer, car feels to have a lot more grip and is now more predictable, happy! definitely for £139 all in! Also incredibly easy, I did it in the rain last night under feeble torch light in 25 minutes, and I'm not the fastest worker. I'm going for a full bushing refresh with all the main suspension bushes being done first, I'm going to do it gradually over time. I'm not a fan of polyurethane bushes so I'm going to be going with Group N stuff where possible. I'd also like some uprated springs but again, to maintain the stealth look and to retain full driveability I'd prefer uprated springs which either don't drop the car at all or only very, very slightly ( one inch or less, ideally.) I'll also be fitting new dampers, probably KYBs. I don't want coilovers as good sets are costly and also seem to ride way to firmly, so does anyone know of a set of springs which are uprated but don't appreciably lower the car?

!Removed! hell, that's a pretty decent saving! cheers for letting me know about it! :)

Savage, Gambit, You know, I never actually thought about contacting OPIE over this, I think OPIE and I just think oil really, doh! haha! Cheers chaps, I'll ask the man and see what he recommends, club discount is never a bad thing ;)

Hi all, It's a topic which is done to death everywhere and with conflicting advice, but being honest I trust people on this board the most so your thoughts would be greatly received! So in anticipation of a boiling hot Summer (ha) I was going to do a coolant change on my MY00 Impreza UK Turbo. The coolant doesn't look bad in all honesty but I don't trust the previous keeper and coolant is relatively inexpensive to buy. I've seen people suggest using IAT types (the typically blue/green/yellow bog stock stuff you change every two to three years) and OAT (the typically orange/pink extended life stuff, don't worry I know they're just dyes). I assumed there's no issue using IAT but for the laziness factor and in anticipation of keeping the car a lot longer I thought I'd go for maybe OAT but I've heard OAT can cause issues with certain engines, knackering soldered joints, prematurely aging some types of rubber seals etc. Any thoughts on that? I was going to use Comma XStream as it's purportedly good quality stuff and comes ready mixed 50:50. Or would you all stick with the IAT stuff? obviously a good flush is needed as mixing the two isn't recommended. So far as I know there's no performance advantage with long life coolant, it's just the extended service period which is a bonus. Seeing as I intended on using the car for the odd track day this year I also wondered about the use of something like 'Water Wetter', is this something people would steer clear of? Cheers all!

Hi fella, thanks for the reply and apologies for taking my sweet time getting back to you! Actually I'll have a poke around and see if the switch just needs adjusting or if a wire's damaged, after the previous owner's 'attempts' at doing things to it I want to make sure! Thanks for the offer of the reverse light, if it does indeed turn out mine has karked it (likely) then I'll happily take it off you if you name your price! :) Thanks again!

I'm not even sure if this is really the place for this topic, apologies if it's not the right area to post this in! Hi all, after working intermittently for some time the reverse light switch in the gearbox has finally died, not good. I've been trying to track one down from local factors to no avail. Looking on ebay, there's loads to fit the 1.6, 1.8 and 2.0 non turbo models but when I do a parts compatibility check the switches for these cars are listed as unsuitable for my car :( (my car being a year 2000 UK Turbo model.) Does anyone know if the switches from the lesser models do indeed fit and work or are they different? Finally, if anyone's got one that they don't need please let me know and I'll happily buy it from you! Cheers all!

Possibly had a new set of replacement shocks at some point? I do recall most OE spec Monroe shocks were mid blue!

Whats this pill you refer to never checked the boost on mine but would be awesome if a few standard psi were to be had from her I only stumbled on it by chance myself to be honest! From what I understand, the earlier 3 port solenoid cars (pre '97 I think?) had a boost restrictor, but the less restriction on a 3 port car means more boost, so either larger 'pills' were fitted (a little piece of brass rod with a prescribed size of hole drilled through it) or the 'pill' was completely removed. For the later cars fitted with the 2 port solenoid system ('97 onwards, though from what I've read the odd exception does exist) the reverse is true, the smaller the hole and therefore greater restriction in the 'pill' the more boost will be achieved, though this does need to be monitored on an accurate boost gauge. The 'pill' is located inside the pipe marked as '2' in red: For clarity's sake I've also included another view of the turbo and vacuum pipes I can't take credit for the photos, I just ripped them from a google search! This is all assuming the car is standard and not fitted with aftermarket bits and bobs! If your car doesn't have the right size or a pill at all I've got a fair few left over welding tips I bought so let me know!

I've seen new sensors on ebay for £50 so not quite so bad! That said, try a full system ECU reset, I'm not sure if this will also clear ABS fault lights but I think from memory it resets everything. That said, if there's a genuine fault the light will just come back on. Check the wiring to the wheel sensors and fuses for the ABS system. Also check the wiring plugs at the sensors to make sure they're making good contact and that there's no water or corrosion present, I find cans of cheap brake/carb cleaner are excellent for cleaning contacts! Also check the sensors themselves, if there's any muck, dirt, grease or metal shavings on them it can affect the way they work. They're held in by one bolt I think so just whip them out and clean them if necessary. If that doesn't help also check the condition of the toothed reluctor rings to make sure they're not cracked or damaged or dirty (though they're pretty well protected from the elements in these cars unlike some others). Again, a solvent type brake/carb cleaner is excellent and ideal! Has the car been through any deep water or in really muddy conditions before the ABS light came on? Is the ABS system definitely disabled? you can check by finding some gravel somewhere and just diving on the brakes at a low speed, if you lock up then it's definitely down! The ECU reset procedure is here : http://www.scoobypedia.co.uk/index.php/Knowledge/ECUReset I'm not at all sure if this will reset the ABS light though. Don't be alarmed when you do this, the car will start clicking its relays, priming the fuel pump off and on continually and running the radiator fans at different speeds, it's all part of the procedure so don't worry! There's a good source of info and reset procedures here aswell: http://www.saxonfields.freeserve.co.uk/Scooby%20Page/ECU%20Diag%20Page.htm#_Reading_ECU_Codes

Hey bud, Not sure on those to be honest, I did find this though: http://www.type-ra.com/subaru-forum/threads/subaru-fault-codes.4535/ and http://www.troublecodes.net/subaru/ Not sure if that's any help though! They're a knowledgeable lot on here though and hopefully someone can go into it a little more detailed than I can :) What's actually wrong with the car?

Very cool tech indeed! Thanks by the way man, really happy it's all sorted now, along with the power folding mirrors now fitted along with the found lost boost I'm really happy with it! :)

So, project 'rolling money pit' is coming on now (I kid, asides the sump everything else has been my choice!). I've noticed since I had the car that it always felt quite quick but you had to wind it up to get any decent go out of it, not like my old Impreza was. I also noted that while it could shift along ok it's never really felt any faster than my old Golf VR6 or my E39 535i. Boost gauge fitted, 0.5bar, disappointment! :( I've read that from factory they should boost at around 0.9bar, so I delved into various forums and replaced the heat hardened vac line to the T piece (between the boost solenoid and the actuator) and then took the short pipe off the turbo body to look for the 'restrictor pill', which I've read for the euro spec (ie UK Turbo) should be 1.2mm internal diameter. I looked inside and saw something, so flipped it out with a screwdriver, it looked like the bottom of a sawn off banjo bolt and was approximately 3.5mm in diameter, boost issue probably found! I fitted a 1mm welding tip in addition to said new vac line and took the car out, noticeably quicker, more urgent, and with a noticeable increase in low down torque. I'm boosting to just a little over 0.7bar now which is an improvement but still lower. Also, does the restrictor pill go by the T piece or at the other end? I assume it could make a difference! my is by the T piece currently. I need to check the actuator is working correctly and not sticking or opening prematurely because of a weak spring next. One thing I noticed mine doesn't do is that tiny little fast 'chiff' noise the dump valve makes when making quick foot down short shifts, my standard old Impreza did, and as I mentioned mine started randomly doing it then stopped again. It also sometimes feels when I'm slowly accelerating at part throttle it's quickly surging and backing off but the boost gauge doesn't fluctuate whilst this happens, it's only very, very slight but I can just about feel it. There's also a slight uneveness at idle but again it's only very slight. I've cleaned out the solenoids out with carb cleaner and also just did the ECU reset procedure http://www.subaru-impreza.org/forum/electrical-including-ice/11204-ecu-reset-how-many-different-methods-there.html - bottom of page. Here's a pic of the 1mm welding tip and the whatever the hell it is that Subaru definitely didn't fit: From what I understand the earlier 3 port solenoid set up benefits from enlarging or even removing the restrictor, the later type (MY97 and on I think but don't quote me) benefits from decreasing the restrictor size, wires crossed maybe? I took the car out just now before posting, holy hell, boosting at close to 0.8bar now (according to my ageing Speedparts gauge) and it's transformed! will report back on the slight surge thing and see if it goes away over due course.

Sorry for the slow reply! Thanks for the replies chaps, all very appreciated! I ended up plumping for using clear high temp RTV with a cork gasket, so far so oil tight! :) Getting the sump back in was a total pain though, you foul the left hand manifold shrouding with the dipstick tube stub and the other side fouls the oil filter pipework, took lots of jiggering and swearing! I also whipped the oil pick up strainer assembly to clean some bits of what looked like sealant out of the mesh. I used new 'O' rings on the pick up strainer pipe fastening and also on the dipstick tube, cost around £4 inc VAT from Subaru and Holdcrofts Subaru local to me got the bits next day for me, awesome stuff! I observed no swarfy looking debris in the strainer or in the sump which I took to be a good sign! It was also quite clean inside which means it's had regular oil changes. As a final note, I'm impressed by the standard sump baffling system and also the plate which keeps excess oil away from the crank, these cars are a lot more specialised under the skin than most people realise.

Hi all, So, my Impreza's always weeped a little oil since I bought it, and it's constantly annoyed me, too. After inspecting the sump some time back I noted that the front was looking like rusty orange puff pastry, lots of oil weeping out of the 'puff pastry too, but none above. Fairly atypical Japanese car problem, porous sump due to severe corrosion, balls! I cleaned it up and as a temporary stop gap I slathered the offending area with Chemical Metal (don't look at me like that), it worked an absolute treat, no more oil loss! well asides the small amount that hits and burns off the headers, rocker gaskets to do at some point, then. Then after accidentally going through a particularly jarring pothole the car started weeping, then virtually wetting its self, deep joy. Soooo, the car is off the road, I'm in my comfy armchair of a Focus estate (great cars, actually!), brand new sump is ordered and on route for Friday. Now, here comes the bit which pertains to the thread title, I've read so much conflicting advice within the confines of internet land that it's not funny any more. So far as I know, they left the factory with just RTV liquid gasket and no actual solid gasket in place. I purchased some ultra high temp clear RTV, some say RTV is fine, some say threebond, some say various other Loctite products, and some advocate the use of an actual gasket in conjunction with RTV, some say use RTV/threebond on its own yada-yada, you get the idea. I have found that there are a few suppliers on ebay who can supply a sump gasket. In the past when refitting/replacing things like sump gaskets I've just used RTV in conjunction with a separate gasket and this has never provided anything but oil-tight sumps and various other water and oil bearing engine parts. Is there any specific reason why RTV and a sump gasket would be a bad idea? Cheers all!