Well, it looks like this may be the beginning of the end. If you've been following along, you know that I replaced the cylinder head in my 1995 Subaru Legacy daily driver earlier this year, which supposedly cured a misfire issue I;d been having.
As of this past week, the misfire is back, unfortunately. The car threw the same P0302 code again. I did a compression test and verified that I have low compression in cylinder 2. This is the same test I did back in April. I had meant to re-test the car after replacing the cylinder head, but never got around to it. Earlier this year, cylinder 2 clocked in at around 70 PSI. This time, it's showing around 100 psi, which is still bad compared to the other three cylinders, which are showing 165, 165, and 160.
I'm not 100% sure why the misfire took so long to return, but it may be because I cleaned the carbon buildup off the cylinder 2 piston when I replaced the cylinder head. To buy myself some more time, I ran a can of Seafoam through the car this past weekend and replaced the spark plugs. As it is, I think I'll get through the winter (most likely with the check engine light coming on at times). But, come springtime, I'm hoping to be driving the Mercedes project, and hopefully can start looking for a "new" daily driver.
I was hoping for more miles out of this car (I've put around 45,000 very well maintained miles on the car as of now). But, the car has never run quite right for me. I'm guessing that cylinder 2 has been problematic for as long as I've owned the car, most likely due to mistreatment by a previous owner.
Because of the car's overall poor cosmetic condition, including rust, a rear suspension crossmember that's suspect, an aging transmission, an already-patched gas tank, a leaky cooling system, and numerous other issues, it's probably not worth it for me to try and replace the engine, and rebuilding it is out of the question. So, I'm most likely going to end up replacing the car. With what? Time will tell.
As of my last post, I had just gotten my daily driver Legacy back on the road after a cylinder head replacement. All went well there, and the car has been back in daily service, seeing around 90 miles per day since then.
So, now that I had transportation again, I decided to get back to working on the Vanagon again. I spent the next few weekends working on it, starting with installing the flywheel on the new engine. Eventually, I got the engine bolted into place and installed.
Finally, last weekend, I got the engine to start, albeit briefly. It doesn't seem to be getting fuel, so I suspect that either the fuel pump went bad from sitting dry for six months (I drained the gas tank when I put the van into storage), or there's a blockage somewhere. I need to do further diagnosis.
But, here's a video of it starting on starting fluid (sounds pretty good for an engine that sat for at least a year and a half):
I would have done more diagnostics this weekend, but I was busy with something else... As you may remember from previous posts, I've been looking for a new car for my wife for quite some time now. I finally found it, and it's something familiar:
No, you're not looking at my 1995 Legacy. This is my wife's... 1995 Legacy. Actually, the only difference between the cars is that hers has an automatic transmission, fewer miles on it (115,000), and has a working air conditioner. I didn't buy the same exact car on purpose. It was just the first decent 2.2L Legacy I've seen in my price range in a while. I've been buying tune-up and repair parts all week and will be working on this car shortly. Once it's done, I'll be selling the 320,000 mile green Impreza.
Egad! It's been nearly a month since I updated the old b-log. And what an unfortunately eventful month it's been.
I'm not going to beat around the bush. The Vanagon is dead. Well, "mostly dead" anyway, to steal a line from Billy Crystal. As per my last post, I was having suspected oil pressure problems. I plumbed in a gauge and drove it locally a bit. Everything seemed more or less OK. I even attempted to install a tachometer:
The results of the second oil pressure test with the tach installed were inconclusive, due to poor quality aftermarket gauges. So, I decided to drive a little more locally to test the van. I was planning a trip to New Jersey, which should have happened this past weekend, and wanted a few more local miles under my belt before I took a long trip in the van. So, a week and a half ago, I decided to take the Vanagon to Transporterfest, a VW bus show at the Larz Anderson Auto Museum in Brookline, MA.
The van handled the first part of the trip OK, but as it really heated up at highway speed, the oil pressure began to drop. By the time I got there, the light was going off intermittently. Not a good sign. So, I enjoyed the show, and when it was over, I decided to head home. It was a 40 mile trip there and back. Well... I didn't make it back. Actually, not true. I did make it back home, but with the help of AAA and a ride from my wife:
Long story short, the van will probably start, but a scant 300 miles or less since I completed all the work, and the engine is pretty much dead. As I don't have the money to fix it (yet), I de-registered it, de-insured it, and am preparing to get it into the garage for long-term storage.
Bottom line, I don't want to sell the van. I don't need to, and in its current mechanical condition, it probably wouldn't sell for much. So, I'm a bit sad. After almost eight and a half years, the van is no longer usable. But, this is where we get to the point of this particular blog post.
In the past, every time I've had major car problems, I've learned something or otherwise gained from the experience. Conscious of that trend, I'm trying to take as many positives out of this experience as possible.
Most of all, I'm going to use this to complete a long-time goal of mine and learn how to swap a Subaru engine into the van. Once I can save enough money for the conversion parts, I'll be dropping in a Subaru EJ22 engine, just like in my Legacy. I know the engine very well - even better than I know the Vanagon's engine at this point. Putting one in a Vanagon, though... that's going to be a learning experience.
But, it'll be a long while before I have the money for the project. So, in the meantime, I'm going back to working on the Mercedes 220D project. I dug it out this past weekend:
It hasn't even been started since April, 2010. I'm hoping to have it running again this weekend so I can get it out of the garage and clear up that space for the Vanagon. I'll be resuming work on the Mercedes outdoors. As much as I didn't want to work outdoors in the winter again, I'd prefer to do that rather than leave the VW outside. When it's done, I do plan to enjoy it a bit, but will eventually sell the Mercedes to help fund the Vanagon engine swap.
When we last left off with our intrepid blogger (yours truly), I spent the past winter driving a 1990 Volkswagen Jetta Gl diesel. If you read my last blog entry, you know I didn't enjoy it one bit. I was going to hold off selling it until spring, but I just reached my limit with the car's issues, and decided to sell it and take my chances finding a replacement car.
I was on Craigslist within an hour of selling the Jetta. I got a lead on a low mileage Subaru Impreza in Connecticut. I called the seller, and very shortly was on the road to go see it. The Impreza was an hour away from me, and I had cash in hand from the sale of the Jetta. Unfortunately, I was only five minutes away from the Impreza when the seller called me back to let me know it had been sold.
So, after wasting a bunch of gas, I turned around and headed home. I checked Craigslist again, but nothing suitable showed up. The next day, after I got home from church, I hit up Craigslist again and found another candidate. This car was also an hour away, but in the opposite dircetion, in Lynn. I called the seller, and pretty soon, I was on my way to see it.
Before I knew it, I was outside a dirty mechanic shop in Lynn, which was shockingly busy for 4 PM on a Sunday afternoon. Shortly later, the seller showed up. It was around this time that I realized that this was a small time car dealer, and not a private seller. I've only ever dealt with private sellers before, and if I'd known this was a dealer, I never would have made the trip in the first place. But, since I made the trip, I figured I'd check out the car.
We walked half a block down the street to a dirty storage lot. There, along with other cars, was a maroon 1995 Subaru Legacy. 5-speed manual transmission, EJ22 engine, AWD - just the configuration I was looking for. So, I checked it out.
The ad said that the interior was clean and that all the car really needed was a new rear muffler. I opened up the car and found that although it had been vacuumed, the car had been smoked in and the upholstery was dirty. The body was fairly clean and straight, so I started it up. With a rusted out rear muffler, it was loud, but ran OK. I had nothing to lose, so I took it for a test drive. The car seemed to run OK and track straight.
I thought about it, and knew the dealer was asking too much based on the car's condition. I also knew that because he was a dealer, he wouldn't be too flexible on the price. I offered $200 under asking price, and he agreed. We did the paperwork in the back of the aforementioned busy shop, and I was out of there shortly. I would have passed on the deal entirely, but this car was configured and optioned the way I wanted it, and I was having a hard time finding a comparable car. So, I figured I'd just deal with any issues the car had. Aside from condition, this was exactly what I was looking for.
I had driven there in the Vanagon, and now I had two cars to get home. Luckily, I had a plan. I put my plates on the Subaru and drove it a mile to the Lynn commuter train station. From there, I walked back to the shop where I'd parked the Vanagon. I got in and drove it to my office in Cambridge. From there, I took the red line (subway) into Boston and caught the evening commuter train out to Lynn. I picked up the Subaru at the train station parking lot and started on my way home. On the drive out of the city, I noticed that the Subaru's CV axles were clicking. So, I knew I had to replace those along with the muffler.
(actual video of the rotted muffler)
(video I did, after the fact, of replacing the axles)
I took the train back into the city the next morning and drove the Vanagon home. I ordered the muffler and axles for the Subaru, which arrived in around a week. I replaced those, registered the car, and put it into commuter service.
Of course, as luck would have it, on my way home the first day driving the "new" car, the brakes failed, due to a rotted out rear hydraulic line. I had to go back to driving the Vanagon until I could fix the brake line the following weekend.
When all was said and done, I replaced the rear brake lines, front CV axles, tie rod ends, and steering rack rubber boots. A couple of months later, I did a full tune-up, as I had no service record on the car. That included spark plugs, wires, pcv valve, all hoses, belts, fluids, water pump and timing belt. Here's another long video of all that work:
Although the car needed a lot of catch-up maintenance, I knew how to do all the work, as this car is, mechanically-speaking, nearly identical to my old 1994 Legacy. So, it was time consuming, but not really challenging. So far, I've put around 10,000 reliable miles on this car and am pretty happy with it. I've long since given the interior a deep cleaning, and have only a few minor outstanding items to fix.
As I mentioned in my previous post, when I bought the 300SD, I was living in Waltham. About a year after that, I moved out to Worcester. This made my commute by bike no longer an option. While I do have a commuter rail option, the schedule doesn't work well for me, and compared to driving, it's more expensive. So, as soon as I moved, I switched to commuting by car.
I moved in the early summer, and spent my first months commuting in the 300SD. I didn't like driving such a well-kept (and big) car into the city everyday, but I didn't have any choice other than the Vanagon, which would use more fuel. I knew the winter was approaching fast, and that since both of them were rear wheel drive, that neither the Mercedes nor the Vanagon would be a suitable car for the snowy, icy Massachusetts winters.
I decided that adding a third car to the fleet was my best option at the time. I'm planning to keep the Vanagon forever, and I was too attached to the Mercedes to let it go, either. So, I started looking at my options. I knew I didn't have much of a budget to pick up a front or all wheel drive car. My new roommate at the time had a lead on an old, low-mileage Ford Tempo. For whatever reason, I never went to look at it.
The first car I remember looking at was an early 1990s Nissan Pathfinder. It was in my price range. I went to check it out one night after work. The engine didn't sound quite right, the 4WD was difficult to engage, and the frame had large, dangerous rust holes. I decided to pass on it.
Being a Vanagon owner, I'd been doing research for the past few previous years on engines to use for an eventual transplant. Most Vanagons will need an engine replacement. Many owners opt to install something other than the notoriously leaky stock 2.1L waterboxer. In the course of my research, I learned about Subaru engine transplants. Now, having moved, I suddenly realized that an AWD Subaru would probably make a good commuter car for me.
The next car I looked at was a Subaru Legacy sedan. I didn't know much about them at the time, so I brought along my roommate at the time, who knew a little more about them. The car was OK, not spectacular. In the end, it came down to price and condition. It just didn't seem to have enough value in it.
Finally, I went to look at a 1994 Legacy station wagon. The car had recently been brought to Massachusetts by a couple who moved from Colorado. The car had more miles on it than I'd hoped (204,000), but had been meticulously maintained by its previous owners. It didn't look perfect, but ran almost perfectly. Plus, it was in my price range. I made an offer, and returned two days later, after work, to pick it up. For what I paid, I just hoped the car would last me one winter, and then I could consider possibly picking up a lower-mileage car the next year.
(seller's photos, copied and saved from the original Craigslist ad)
The car soon became my winter car. The only repair it needed immediately was a clutch. The original was almost completely worn out, so I had that done about two months after I bought the car. By spring, I realized that even though the snow was gone, I was still primarily driving the Subaru, as I liked it so much. I hadn't counted on liking the car, but fell in love with it quickly. I'd been driving for a decade, but this was the first car I'd owned that could handle winter travel safely.
In the summer of 2007, I had an axle boot fail on me, and had my mechanic (I'd finally found someone half-reliable at this point) replace the axle shaft to the tune of $300 (parts and labor). I realized that with insurance to pay on three cars, along with inspection and registration, not to mention maintenance and repairs, that having three cars was expensive. I hoped it would be a long while before the next repair. It wasn't.
Not long after the axle, I heard a new scaping noise when braking, and realized that my rear brake pads were worn out. I panicked, as I'd never had a brake job done by a mechanic that turned out to be inexpensive. I realized that if I wasnte to keep three cars, I'd need to step it up in terms of doing my own repairs. I did some basic research and decided to try and tackle the brake pad replacement on my own. Armed with a repair manual, I budgeted a whole day to do the job, as I'd never touched brakes before in my life.
From the time I raised the car up on jackstands to the time I lowered it back onto its wheels, the entire repair took me less than 45 minutes. Of course, I still had to test the brakes. I put the car in gear and backed down the driveway toward the street. Then I hit the brakes. The car stopped correctly and silently. A quick road test later and I was good to go. From that point on, I attempted (and succeeded) pretty much all my own repairs, including, but not limited to replacing the Legacy's timing belt, and then the transmission, when it failed.
Four years later, the car that I hoped would last me one winter had survived (and thrived in) four years of salt belt commuting. At this point, the car had 292,000 miles and I was starting to plan how I'd mark the occasion when the car rolled over to 300,000. That didn't happen. In October, 2010, the Legacy died suddenly on the Masspike on the way in to work. In retrospect, there had been a strange, momentary noise when I'd started the car that morning.
I had it towed home, thinking the fuel pump had failed. I spent weeks of evenings doing diagnostics to no avail. The car had fuel, spark, and seemed to crank just fine. It just wouldn't start. I checked sensors. I did everything I could, but the car wouldn't start. Here's a (long) video I did (my first Youtube foray, actually) to solicit help from online. It shows the car cranking, but not starting.
Since it was taking so long to fix, I lost hope and bought another car (a 1990 Volkswagen Jetta GL diesel) as a commuter. I was going to ship the Subaru off to a junkyard, but upon some advice I got, I did one last check on the Subaru and found that an idler had seized and the timing belt had jumped, but not broken. I replaced the belt and idlers, and the car returned to perfect working condition. See here:
Of course, this was AFTER I deregistered it. So, I flipped a coin and decided to keep the 200,000 mile Volkswagen instead of the 300,000 mile Subaru (bad decision - I'll get to that in a later post). I put the Subaru back on Craigslist, where I'd found it.
A few days later, it sold for pretty much book value, due to all the work I'd done on the car when I'd owned it.
This car was important to me mostly because it was the car I learned the most from, in terms of hands-on experience. I know it's still out there, and has probably passed the 300,000 mile mark flawlessly with its new owner.
