Wrenchin... Adventures under the hood... Put em here.

[Obstruction]

Aftermarket Cats that don’t suck? Is there such a thing?

So my daughter’s 07 Outback needs a new Catalytic Converter. P0420 code with wonky voltage in both up and down stream sensors. Verified with a top notch Subaru inde. Dealers wants stupid money for the part - $1400. So I’m shopping for a decent after market product. I know after market cats have shitty rep but even if I have to warranty one and pay to have it installed twice it’s still way cheaper than the dealer route.

So the question is does anyone have any experience/opinions to share on aftermarket cats particularly for Subie aftermarket cats.

Oh and I’m sending this job out. First I’m not real keen on exhaust work but definitely not in the driveway in December. Second I’m willing to bet the manifold studs on this old beater are going to be a serious whore to deal with and Call me a bitch but I’m not willing to take a chance on screwing up the heads.

[Obstruction]

That's a good point I wouldn't have thought about. Sounds like Raybestos or Centric from Rock Auto ought to do it. Anyone have any experience with Callahan reman calipers? Those look to be the popular ones in the kits on Amazon like this

I'm going to pick up one of those power bleeder things because I don't expect to have anyone around to help, the garage I have access to is in my FIL's empty home in a mostly senior development. I thought bleeding sequence is farthest to closest, I've been told to start with right rear.

I’ve had good luck with Raybestos products on my Subies.

I’ve done a bunch of brake jobs using the one man bleed method Todd described. You can also gravity bleed. It works fine just requires patience.

[bodywhomper]

Need help soon! 2001 legacy. Small hose end was disconnected from something, but I’m not sure what. See photo below. I think I knocked it loose while retrieving a wrench that fell deep into the engine (wrench slipped while changing battery in the rain).

[bodywhomper]

Lol

I washed my hands, took a dump, took another look... it carries washer fluid. Ha!

[uglymoney]

No help on what kind of cat to get but I bet the manifold studs will come out with no problems at all.

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[Todd Zander]

Aftermarket Cats that don’t suck? Is there such a thing?

So my daughter’s 07 Outback needs a new Catalytic Converter. P0420 code with wonky voltage in both up and down stream sensors. Verified with a top notch Subaru inde. Dealers wants stupid money for the part - $1400. So I’m shopping for a decent after market product. I know after market cats have shitty rep but even if I have to warranty one and pay to have it installed twice it’s still way cheaper than the dealer route.

So the question is does anyone have any experience/opinions to share on aftermarket cats particularly for Subie aftermarket cats.

Oh and I’m sending this job out. First I’m not real keen on exhaust work but definitely not in the driveway in December. Second I’m willing to bet the manifold studs on this old beater are going to be a serious whore to deal with and Call me a bitch but I’m not willing to take a chance on screwing up the heads.

have you considered a drilled out spark plug non-fouler for $7.99?

[fatnslow]

have you considered a drilled out spark plug non-fouler for $7.99?

I would 2nd this before trying a new cat. I think they have other plug and play solutions to address the po420.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzm52m0AWSQ

[riser4]

Damn. Cracked manifold in the SkiBumMobile.
Very effective at screwing up tomorrow’s ski day.
Attachment 305203Attachment 305217

Not like the crack that you put in a pipe
But crack on your forehead here's a towel now wipe

[Todd Zander]

and start spraying the rear sensor with pb blaster now, try cracking it loose when its hot.

[L82thegate]

That's a good point I wouldn't have thought about. Sounds like Raybestos or Centric from Rock Auto ought to do it. Anyone have any experience with Callahan reman calipers? Those look to be the popular ones in the kits on Amazon like this Attachment 305838

I'm going to pick up one of those power bleeder things because I don't expect to have anyone around to help, the garage I have access to is in my FIL's empty home in a mostly senior development. I thought bleeding sequence is farthest to closest, I've been told to start with right rear.

My bad. You do start at the furthest bleed screw, then work next furthest and so on to the last, closest. Brain fart!

[El Chupacabra]

My bad. You do start at the furthest bleed screw, then work next furthest and so on to the last, closest. Brain fart!

Actually, Google it for your specific vehicle. Sometimes that's not the right order for bleeding - depends on the way the master cylinder is designed.

[uglymoney]

My 02 Subaru and 03 4R are diagonal. You have to bleed the front brake opposite side if you need to bleed a back brake, or vice versa. I never worry about what order. If you change a caliper and don't bleed the diagonal brake you'll have air and a soft pedal. It will probably still be fine to drive and have brakes but with a soft pedal.

So basically if I am doing both rear brake calipers I ignore the guru voodoo stuff and just bleed all 4 corners twice once I get it bolted back together and I have a nice firm pedal. Ymmv.

Also...if you can't break the old bleeders loose on the front calipers using all the tricks order new ones because you probably need them anyway and drive it carefully till they arrive.

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[The Reverend Floater]

Dumb question. I’m having weird transmission issues in the fj80 so I need to check the tranny fluid. I let the truck warm up to operating temperature, drove it around for two miles, parked on a flat surface, cycled through all the gears, put it in neutral and checked the dipstick while the engine was running. Results were in the “cold” spectrum of the stick but this is how I have always done it on other vehicles. Am I low on fluid or did I do something wrong?

[powdrhound]

Yesterday, replacing worn-out motor mounts on my granddaughters Mazda 6, required 15mm and 18mm wrenches. No Metric vehicle in my experience ever used a 15 or a 18, so those combo wrenches are not in my tool roll...
A couple of bolts couldn’t be loosened without taking out more parts than should have been needed. Damn!

[uglymoney]

18's becoming common...like with Moog aftermarket stuff. Kinda weird I agree but I have a rarely used 18.

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[gravitylover]

My 02 Subaru and 03 4R are diagonal. You have to bleed the front brake opposite side if you need to bleed a back brake, or vice versa. I never worry about what order. If you change a caliper and don't bleed the diagonal brake you'll have air and a soft pedal. It will probably still be fine to drive and have brakes but with a soft pedal.

So basically if I am doing both rear brake calipers I ignore the guru voodoo stuff and just bleed all 4 corners twice once I get it bolted back together and I have a nice firm pedal. Ymmv.

Also...if you can't break the old bleeders loose on the front calipers using all the tricks order new ones because you probably need them anyway and drive it carefully till they arrive.

The kit I'm going to order has all 4 calipers so rusted bleed screws won't be a problem. The current ones are probably ok other than needing some new seals but because they've been sitting for so long I'd rather just put in reman's and know that they work as well as they're supposed to. It's the wife's car and she won't want to deal with wonky. I'll probably rebuild the old ones later just to learn how to do it, the rebuild kits are cheap.

Re: bleed pattern - So start with rear passenger to front driver and then rear driver to front passenger? Since I'm replacing everything it looks like it really is just remove the old pieces and bolt the new stuff in then bleed. I feel like this description make it sound too easy. Should i get the new small hardware bits too knowing that I'm ham fisted and have a history of breaking existing stuff or is it pretty robust and hard to screw up?

[Obstruction]

4 wheel disk and caliper swap doesn’t involve a lot if any small bits on that generation outback. Caliper bracket bolts, slide pin bolts on the Caliper itself, knock the rotor off and detach the brake line. Only potential hazard is the abs monitor that goes into the hub. Careful not to destroy that. You’re dust shields may be shot too but I’ve always opted to cut the rust away with some tin snips rather than screw with them.

Also suggest testing (loosening) caliper bleed screws on the bench before setting the calipers in place and attaching the lines. Some of the can be a real bitch,

You might want 13 mm and 10mm line wrenches (I think check the sizes). They come in pretty handy where the flex line meets the junction box.

I’d suggest a full brake fluid flush if you’re doing all that break work. Basically it means that you’ll be draining brake fluid until it’s clean and new looking rather than just free of bubbles.

[uglymoney]

Solid. I think you have this. Just have at it and deal with any rust belt issues as they come up. Don't waste time thinking about the bleed order.

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[The Reverend Floater]

So my trans on the fj80 was two quarts low. Odd, considering the trans got serviced 4K ago. No leaks, either. Thoughts?

[claymond]

So my trans on the fj80 was two quarts low. Odd, considering the trans got serviced 4K ago. No leaks, either. Thoughts?

When it was serviced maybe they didn't fully fill it. Have you driven it for a long period of time/after being under load and checked the level when truly hot? The method you described above sounds correct, but maybe the transmission just wasn't hot even tho the engine was.

[highangle]

Thoughts?

Service your own transmission next time?

[The Tortoise]

I recently swapped the transmission fluid in my highlander. 2 miles was nowhere near long enough to get the transmission up to speed. A 20-30 minutes was more like it, but the temps were around freezing.

[VTeton]

I removed the cat's out of a lexus and put fake sensors in that went nowhere but gave ecu a good reading.

To be young and stupid again. I sawzalled them out in lieu of pulling the engine.

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[The Reverend Floater]

I recently swapped the transmission fluid in my highlander. 2 miles was nowhere near long enough to get the transmission up to speed. A 20-30 minutes was more like it, but the temps were around freezing.

Yeah, so doing it again last night and I drive for 20 minutes. That still yielded 2 quarts low.

[happytimefunbox]

Second goddamned alternator in 2 weeks. Tundra no where as easy as the Merc. But goter dun. Shop quote was stupid. 7 hours and remove radiator? Bitch 2 hours and come at it from the wheel well loosen power steering pump and booyah almost drops out the bottom. Santa need that money. Glad I got long arms. Job interview today with grease underfingernail. Oh to the Joy'z of maintaining high mileage autos