DougZ

Hey guys,

I am a long time....long as I got on here as soon as I got car, I got on here. Its a 2002 standard Impreza WRX...non STI.

this is gonna be a long post, so I sincerely appreciate anyone who reads all of it and responds.

For those have responded to some of my posts in the past..I appreciate it....and for anyone that was wondering what happened with my smoking turbo issue...as odd as this sounds...it went away on its own.....I think it was a hose or something non crucial, that maybe sealed it self back on or something..I know that sounds odd....but I have no other explanation.

OK, now onto some maint. questions:

1. I had some squeaking rear brakes a while ago...thought it was the fronts......checked those,..they were fine. I got pads for the back ones...thinking it was them....went to change them....they still had a lot of meat too..changed them anyway. A little while after doing that...the squeaking was still there. I thought it was just the brand of pads I got...but then the more time went on...the more it squeaked...and for what ever reason, one day, while going down the road...I hit the E brake a bit...and the squeaking went away. Light bulb: I did not realize that there was another set of pads in there for the e/parking brake. Looked up the brakes on my handy dandy Ebay repair CD...and low and behold...there are pads there...explains why when I went to buy the disc pads for the rear, the dude had a set of drum pads on his screen...at the time I was like WTF?

OK, so, here is the first question: How hard is it to change those pads....the drum ones? Any special tools needed? I ahve done disc brakes, both on my cars and bikes plenty of times, but have never had to do drum style brake pads. Any hints, suggestions, or help would be appreciated. Especially if there are any special tools I will need.

2. The car has about 125K miles on it. I am a very bad owner for this....but I have yet to have the timing belt replaced. I know my dealer was rec'ing it get done at about 90K miles, but I never did it, nor have had the money to since. I did ask them if they have heard of one breaking, and they did say no.
Does anyone here have a higher milage car with the original timing belt?
If the belt happens to break, is it destructive or non-destructive? Some cars, from what I hear, it will not hurt..outside the engine now being useless...until repaired.

3. Clutch: I had to have the clutch replaced under twice under the " cold clutch shudder warranty"...the first time they got tired of waiting for the proper clutch to come in..after a couple days, and threw in a "heavy duty" clutch..that was at 18K miles....promptly at 25K miles...it started again, and this time I brought it in, and made sure they installed the proper clutch per SOA's notice.
I now have about 100K miles on this clutch, and it is yet to starting slipping...I try and make it once in a while...by doing the old..put it in 4th or 5th doing about 20 MPH.....hammer the gas.....and watch the tach to see if it moves up much faster than the speedo...so far, so good.
BUT, it recently has started to do " cold clutch shudder" like symptoms....I have to be really smooth and give it more than normal extra gas to ctart out in first.
Is this a sign it may finally be going?

4. Exhaust baffles: I think I have a rattle from what I believe is an exhaust heat sheild or what not. Anyone else have anything like this?

5. Values: Due to breaking my leg last year in a motorcycle track accident, and still 9-10 months later, trying to dig out of financial hole that was created..I am thinking about selling it to get out from one of two $440 a month car payments. My soon to be wife has a ford explorer(with a payment) on the road...and a 2001 cabrio( paid off) off the road..that we tried selling last year...with no success. So, the plan is sell my WRX, get rid of the payment...I will start driving her explorer, and we will get her Cabrio back on the road for her to drive. I know, its a shame to go from a WRX to a SUV..much less a ford...but it will help financially.
I looked up values on KBB, and was surpised, even with over 120K miles, this is what I got:

Excellent: $10, 150
Good: $9310
Fair: $8215

I would say its at least in good condition..if not close to excellent....but with the issues...which I am an honest guy and would let any buyer know about the timing belt and clutch potentially needing to be changed soon....I was thinking of try to get $8K for it...that would pay it off and lave me just enough to get her a new muffler for the cabrio and pay to register it.
What do you guys think of that value? BTW..I am the only owner and the car has never been in an accident.

Thanks, as always. DougZ

Wingless Wonder

iTrader: (7)

Try to sell it to get rid of that car payment. Neither of you need to start out a marriage in debt. Just sell your WRX as is, but be forthcoming about what work it needs, including the timing belt.

I don't know if the timing belt breaking would lead to any open valves making contact with the pistons' upward travel. I failed to have a timing belt changed on a different car, though. It was also a factory turbo car with low compression pistons and the valves did not make any contact when the belt broke. I was, however, left stranded about 75 miles from home on the side of the freeway when the engine abruptly died. Timing belts need to be changed on schedule because you never know when it is going to fail, based on driving habits, climate, etc.

Mulder

1. You should never have to replace the e-brake shoes since they don't wear, unless you use the e-brake while moving or accidentally drive with it on. In your case it sounds like the brake mechanism may be hanging up slightly and not releasing completely, causing some amount of contact between the shoes and drum (which is inside the center section of the rotor). Before buying new shoes, take a look in there and see what they look like. You may just need to service/lubricate the mechanism and also adjust the cables.
2.Plan on changing the belt soon, and expect damage if it breaks. That said, there have been few if any reports of WRX timing belts breaking.
3.Shudder by itself does not mean the clutch is wearing out. It just means something is causing the clutch to engage unevenly. Assuming you have the proper TSB parts installed from the shudder fix, the problem could be any of a number of different things- flywheel glazing, pressure plate imbalance, broken springs, and so on. Since the fix requires disassembly and inspection, figure on a new clutch if it bothers you that much.
4. Fairly common, as the car ages and things rust the heat shields can get loose. Another possibility is one of the catalytic converters is loose inside the exhaust, sometimes the catalyst material breaks free and rattles around inside.
5. $8K may be about right, but to get a better idea of what it's really worth look around at the used car classifieds here, at NASIOC and elsewhere to see what similar cars are actually selling for.

DougZ

OK Mulder, thanks for the replies to all the questions. I really appreciate it.

DougZ

Just an FYI guys...once I saw Mulder's last response..about the fact that damage can occur if the timing belt breaks..and the fact that we just got my girl's Cabrio on the road....and I can use her truck now...I have stopped driving the WRX.

I am gonna get the timing belt replaced before I sell the car, I would hate to sell it to someone...have them spend between $7-8K on it, and then have the belt break and cause who knows how much $ damage. I think its the right thing to do. I am also gonna replace the squeaking rear emergency brake pads...before officially putting it up for sale.

As far as the clutch..I will let any buyers know how many miles are on it, and the fact that its still not slipping, but might not have much life left in it. Its a wear item though, so anyone buying a used car should expect that they may have to change it.

So, if you know anyone looking for a used WRX..please send them my way....its negotiable for around $8000. Thanks.