My car is fucked. Please help.

doritos

doritos

Active member
Ok, so my car has had quite a few problems recently that I've just kind of let go and things came to a head today... I need some people who know something about cars. I've been religious about changing my oil every 3000 miles (currently 1000 miles since my last one, and I put it an extra half quart a week ago). My coolant used to leak, I kind of rigged it and it's worked ever since... I put a cup in the other day and after five minutes of running it was below the full line. I drive a 96 Subaru Impreza.

- Brakes

They make a weird, grinding noise every four or five times I press on them. If I let off the brakes and then press them again, it goes away. I think it's the ABS, but I'm not sure. Anyone know? Anyone know about how much whatever it is costs? Would it be better just to disconnect the ABS system (if that's the problem?)

- Clutch

I know this thing is shot, but I'm going to explain what's wrong with it because maybe (hopefully) it's causing some of the other problems as I'm getting it replaced Monday. Basically, it's been soft as shit since I've owned it, But what's recently been happening is if I press the gas down past a certain point I'll gain RPMs like mad, completely randomly. For example, I do around 2500 RPM at 45mph in 4th gear normally, but if I press down on the gas much past halfway it shoots up to 3000-3500 and stays there until I let off the gas. So that's that, the clutch is sticking, I just need to know if this applies to the following problem.

- Engine Temperature

The other day I saw my temperature spike and return to normal. It started running hot whenever I was doing "abnormal" driving, such as keeping it in 1st gear for extended periods in heavy traffic. Today when I drove it, the temperature started to climb... then went right past halfway where it usually sits and went straight into the red zone and stayed there. I also noticed that my car was only blowing cold air when I turned the heat on, even though the car had obviously been running long enough to get warm air going. My hope is that when the clutch sticks and I gain RPM like I explained earlier, I'm flooding the engine a little and so by the time the car warms up, it's been fed enough extra fuel and whatever else happens when the clutch sticks to overheat it. But I honestly have no idea. It was dark but the coolant looked like it was where it was supposed to be when I checked it out. My radiator is in great shape, although it is possible the hose leaks where I rigged it.

Thanks much, sorry for the novel...

 
I'm not sure about the brake problem so sorry on that one

The clutch problem you speak of sounds like it's slipping, so when you get your clutch replaced that'll be fixed most likely.

For the overheating, you might have a bad thermostat.

Is the CEL on. Even if it isn't you might want to have the car scanned for codes (96 and up is OBDII so any autozone can scan it for you usually) and then if any codes pop up post em here and I can try to find someone to tell me what they are (I work with Audi's mostly)

hopefully some of this might be helpful
 
Sweet, thanks man, I sure as hell hope the heat thing is just the thermostat, but the fact that my heat stopped working at the same time that the temperature gauge started going nuts is disconcerting. I don't know if there's a computer that tells the car not to blow heat if the thermostat is so high, which would be a huge relief because then it might just be the thermostat, but if not... egh.

The CEL light came on about three months ago, took it to the shop and they said the oxygen sensor was broken but since the car is pre-'97 it didn't need to be fixed so they took it out. It came on again, I took it to them and they said it was the same problem and that unless I got it replaced it wouldn't go away permanently so... I basically never know if my engine is actually fucked up or if it's just the Oxygen Sensor because it's literally always on... I'll have them look at it though.

 
If the car has multiple problems they should all show up. I have like 3 different things wrong with my car right now but only one of them is semi important, so whenever I scan the car I just look for new codes

good luck tough, It's never fun to have a broken car.

And Ive always thought you need and O2 sensor but I cold be wrong. (my car has 3 so I guess there kinda important or something)
 
You say you put some coolant in, and within 5 minutes it had lost some of it? And you have overheating issues? Sounds related to me. Do you notice any "smoke" in your exhaust. Particularly a white thick smoke. If so, you are burning coolant and not getting enough to cool your engine.
 
Well no, I just put a cup in because it looked low and I was told if it's somewhere around full after the car's been running for a bit it's good to go so when it was a quarter inch below... didn't seem like a big deal, and given that it's roughly 40 degrees out, I kind of doubt it was. That being said, I didn't get a good look at it because it was nighttime so I may have lost a lot since then and not seen it. I didn't check the exhaust, I had a friend follow me home because I was worried about it and sure enough he ended up giving me a ride so I didn't have much time to check stuff like that. Will in the morning, thank you.

As for the CEL light, the guys do inspections and they said pre-'97 cars aren't required to have a working O2 sensor but if the little machine they plug into your car when your CEL light is on shows everything it can't hurt to have it checked. Thanks again.
 
dont disconect the abs just get some new pads and get them cheaked out as for it reving high it might not be the clutch it could be the throtle body getting stuke in the open position if that makes sense and as far as your tempreture gauge jumping up it is probably your sensor either that or its your cooling system
 
what are the brakes? 4 wheel disk or just front disk? where is the sound coming from? if its from the back brakes and you have drum brakes then is could be a small stone but not very likely if its a persistent problem, the other thing is it could be the self adjusting brake pad things in the rear drum, try and back up and hit the brakes a few times, if this still does not work jack up the car take off you wheel(s) and then take off the drums and check out the pad adjusting things and put on some rust remover/ un-ceasing stuff. I did all thes steps to my van. the last one did the trick.
 
Haha, well the future of my car's ABS depends largely on how much all of this shit is going to end up costing me.. I got bills to pay haha, it can't all go to my car. If worst comes to worst I'm pumping my brakes a lot this winter... I mean, the brakes work fine, stop on a dime whether or not they're making the noise, which is why I think it's just the sensor for it or maybe the whole system is just messed up somehow.

I don't know enough about it to say one way or the other, but when the RPM thing happened to my friend's Subaru the clutch was the problem and since mine is going fast... I just assumed. I'll have them look at it though.

Temperature gauge is what's really worrying me, I'd be content with the sensor explanation but... the only thing I don't understand is if it's just the sensor, why would the heat in my car stop working the second my gauge started tweaking?

 
alright, one thing that kinda jumps out at me is head gasket. if you have a bad head gasket it could explain a couple different things

1) The disappearance of your coolant. most likely this coolant is mixing in with your oil and causing to drop and eventually just be vaporized with the oil through your exhaust. one tell-tale sign of this is puffy white smoke (vapor) coming out of your exhaust on cold mornings and this is caused by your engine burning off the excess water (coolant) from the oil going through your engine. Watch for this next cold morning.

2) A faulty head gasket can cause your engine to overheat and blow cold air. When you run coolant through your oil lines your engine isn't able to properly cool itself and thus spikes in the temperature commonly occur. another thing that happens is your heating system won't work properly because the coolant system isn't able to recirculate the hot coolant (which warms your cabin air) and therefore when heat is selected many times it will just blow cold air.

As for the brakes, visually inspect them and if you somehow have a micrometer handy, check the width of the rotors and see if they are in-spec. if they are big enough, you could probably have them turned to see if that fixes the problem, but if you are certain it is the ABS, i strongly recommend NOT messing with the ABS as you could mess with various other components of the braking system. best thing to do here is just get them checked out professionally.

my parents own two subarus, and one has recently had the head gasket replaced because it shared similar problems with yours. i hope for the sake of your wallet that i am completely wrong because the job is not a cheap one...

best of luck and keep us updated.
 
I have AWD so... I can't imagine I'd have anything but 4 wheel disk. Just another assumption on my part though, can't say I'm 100% on that. I'm pretty sure the sound is coming from the front brakes... I back up and hit the brakes a lot just from normal city driving/parking and that hasn't helped... the other thing could but I think I'll just have the mechanic look at it when he does my clutch. Mainly I want to have a better idea what's wrong with things so I don't get ripped off haha. Thanks everyone, you've been really helpful so far.

 
Ahhhh shit... I don't know much about engines but I know a blown head gasket would probably total my car. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Thank you very much... I'll talk to someone about it ASAP.
 
Alright, so I did a bit of research on this head gasket shit because I'm poor and really worried that I'm going to have a totaled car on my hands. Unfortunately, my questions here are going to require someone who knows their shit.

Alright, so I currently have two definite symptoms of a blown head gasket, 1) high temperature and 2) my heat doesn't work. I didn't get a good look at the coolant or the oil so I don't know about that, but my friend who drove behind me says he would've noticed white smoke coming out of my exhaust and he didn't see it. Apparently if there's not enough water in the coolant thing it can fuck up the temperature and in turn, the head gasket. I put one cup of straight coolant in recently, could that have fucked it up? I only drove it three miles or so with the temperature in the red zone, is that enough to blow it or is there a still a decent chance I caught it in time to get it repaired?
 
When I first read your post I was thinking exactly what chroniclines said...your headgasket is gone dude, the coolant is going through into your oil and therefore it isn't keeping you engine cool and also making your heat no workie.
having that replaced, depending on where you have it done and if anything else needs to be done...about $500-$800 bucks...so definitely not gonna total your car by any means, but get it fixed cause driving it like that ain't good.
If this doesn't convince you, just drive to your nearest pro-lube, they'll look at your cooling system for free, and can usually tell you in about 10 mins if the gasket is smoked.
 
your clutch is done for, it'll be about $500, you can keep driving but sooner or later you'll be able to rev it all the way up and not push the car an inch.

your brake pads migh be gone to, so the backplate is grinding on the rotor, did they squeal like nails on a chalk board before the grinding started?

 
They squeaked a little bit, but nothing like that. The fact that the grinding only happens every so often and goes away when I let off the brakes and press them again leads me to believe it's the ABS, but if my car isn't totaled I'll look into it haha... clutch I planned on having repaired.

I really need to know about this head gasket thing... I mean I guess I can just as easily find out tomorrow but even though I'm tired as shit I can't sleep because of it haha. Even if there's no white smoke, does a high temperature and a broken heating system mean that my head gasket is irreversibly broken and unable to be saved for less than a grand? I hear it costs around $1400, and with the clutch, that'd ring up to t.o.t.a.l.e.d.
 
Basically, yes...my Toyota did't smoke white either, but the gasket was gone.
Have it looked at by the pro-lube guys, but I'm pretty sure its gone.
And a '96 Subaru is worth more than 2grand....so I dunno how you figure it's totaled?
 
Well, if it was in the condition I bought it in that'd be one thing but I had an accident earlier this summer and didn't have collision... So like most poor college students who get into accidents without collision, I rigged it up with the cheapest parts available, namely an unpainted (black) right fender and a headlight and quarter lens that don't look exactly like their counterparts on the other side. The bumper looks OK but certainly not good, there's a gash on the left side and a lot of the scrapes and shit on it are currently being covered with touch-up paint. It also catches on something I haven't had the motivation to check so it makes a weird noise when you back up. The windshield needs to be replaced... maybe that's it? Oh yeah, it has new snow tires!... Haha, so yeah... Totaled.
 
Alright, well I have work at 10 tomorrow so I really need to sleep. Thanks everyone for all your help, I will check this thread in the morning if you have anything else to offer... but for now it's time to dream about throwing all of my hard-earned money I saved for an apartment and school despite irresistible temptations like food, alcohol, and drugs into an enormous bonfire oddly shaped like a green hatchback.
 
yo dude. sucks that you're having problems...

first off: www.nasioc.com is a great resource for impreza owners, you'll be able to find some good answers on there, just search!

next, i'm not a mechanic, and its really hard to tell what is wrong with a car over the internet. But from what i read here's what i think.

brakes sounds like you have a problem with your pads, not abs. it is possible that you have a rock stuck in between the pad and the rotor, but i think it would be more constant if it were a rock. when was the last time you had your brake pads changed? it sounds to me like your pads are wearing out. you should keep an eye on them, because if they wear out all the way it is possible to start wearing through your rotors too. buying only pads (~$150 parts only depending on quality) is much cheaper than buying pads and rotors (~$300).

your clutch is fucked. sounds like its slipping. you should also make sure to have it replaced before it runs all the way out, if it does you won't be able to get your car in/out of gear, and you'll have to pay a tow bill as well as the clutch bill. luckily for you, you can get an impreza clutch for pretty cheap, around 150, again depending on quality, but you're going to have to add the cost of labor on top of that (i'm going to have to spend 500 dollars not including labor when my clutch runs out!)

finally, its super hard to say whats going on with your motor from what i heard. if you seriously overheated your car it would have probably started smoking, you would have noticed lost coolant, and you would have definitely been able to get hot air to blow through the vents. are you sure the a/c wasn't on or you left it on cool? the first time you noticed the temp rising did you try to turn on the heat? or at least pull over to let it cool down? it is possible to get air bubbles in your cooling system, which will cause the thermostat to rise, but go back to normal pretty soon. it would really suck if you overheated, cause you would probably have to replace your head gaskets, and you would have to pay a lot of money for labor.

what you really need to do though, is take it to a mechanic. sounds like you have some stuff on your car that needs to be replaced. it will probably be expensive, but trust me, if you wait longer you're just going to have to end up paying more. i would always recommend a certified subaru dealership too. its true you can find a local mechanic shop for cheaper, but the subaru guys will always know what they're doing.

good luck dude, hope everything works out for you, worst comes to worst with your engine you can always do an ej20 (wrx engine) swap >:)

 
why dont you go buy a repair manual and do it yourself, you will save a lot of money. i never took my car to the shop, just only for minor check up, but for changing parts, i did it all myself cause all i pay for is the parts.

for the brakes, it sounds like brake pads maybe? but its cheap and really easy to replace it. i got mine for like 40 bucks i think and it took me like 2 to 3 hrs to do both front brakes.

i dont know much about clutch but it could be an easy fix.

headgasket would be a bit more complex to repair yourself, but it is possible and it is also time consuming.

if you want more help, then go to subaru websites and do a search relating to your problems, and most likely they will already have it especially the head gasket and they should have a DIY to help guide you step by step.

here are a few you should check out and do a search on each of these sites

http://www.legacygt.com/forums/

http://http://www.subaruoutback.org/
http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/
 
Awesome, thanks. I'll definitely look at those. I'm sure I had my heat on, though, because my friend had a problem with his heat when he overheated a few days ago but it got much worse than mine (He got a nice, loud pop and some black smoke) so I knew it was a bad sign and made sure to try it. He still doesn't know what's wrong with his car, looks like I get to tell him we're both in a world of shit today haha.

I have an appointment with a mechanic for my clutch and brakes on Monday so I guess I'm going down to visit my car this morning before work and see what needs to be done from there... thanks much, everyone.
 
I have owned the car for 10,000 miles and I haven't had the brake pads changed... I have the car's entire service record, I could check, but it was owned by old people who otherwise took great care of the car so I imagine they probably got them changed at the right time. I'll see when I go down to visit my car today and when I take it to the mechanic Monday... thanks a lot, dude.
 
Sick, I'll look into it. I don't think I'd trust a clutch I installed haha, but if you say the brakes are easy... hell, it's one less expense...
 
this guy has it on the nose.

as far as your breaks thats something i would need to see/hear in person. it could be a few things from needing new rotors to new pads to the cylinders that push your break pads on the rotor are getting stuck.

if you have to put a little bit of oil in it every few days or something i would say you might have bad piston rings.

the reason for your coolant going down could be a few things and the overheating... they may go together, maybe a headgasket
 
brakes: might be a bad abs sensor, or just completely worn out pads...

clutch: is shot nothing to do but replace it

coolant/overheating: you are fucked, sounds like a head gasket, common problem on 2.5 liters, but i think yours has a 2.2... anyway take a look in the coolant reservoir and see if its clean, if it has black scum etc. in there it is a good sign of a blown head gasket. also with the engine COLD take the cap of the radiator and start it up, if bubbles (compression from the engine) come to the surface also sign off head gasket. there are treatments ("Bar's Leaks") you pour in to plug minor head gasket leaks, worth a try they cost $10, i payed 1300 for new head gaskets....
 
so I took a look at all these other posts and I hadn't even thought of a head gasket. if that is the problem you can DIY that and be fine, just take your time and get good instructions.

If you wanna tell if you have 4 corner disc or front disc only just look at your brakes, if they look like disc breaks all around then you have 4 corner discs.

As for checking you pads, that can also be done by a visual inspection. Just look at them and there should be some kind of material between the rotor and the back of the break pad (but if it was gone break pads you would probably be grinding a lot more than every so often (but that could be a sign that your ads are getting low as some new break pads have vuilt in squeakers( I don't know what else to call them) that alert you to the fact you need new pads so you don't also have to replace the rotors.

I don't think the TB wold be out of the question as the cause of the abnormal revving but it seems like his clutch is probably the main problem.. If it was the TB it would probably just be a snagged wire or something (my best guess)

hope your mechanic can help you out some, a lot of times if you talk to them they'll give you a deal on labor since your a kid
 
i would just have a mechanic check it out. you could replace the clutch. it would be nice to have a brand new one anyway.. and check out the brake calipers and pads.. you may need to replace those if you're having trouble with your brakes.

as for the engine temp, i'm not sure.. maybe try getting a cold air intake? it would give you performance gains anyway.. haha
 
Haha, I remember when I didn't understand how much shit actually costs, too. If it's so broken that it would cost more than a new car, than obviously I would but... between actually buying the car, registration, the slew of new problems I'd face... besides the fact that I absolutely love my car (when it's working), I doubt it'd be worth it.

In any case, I have an UPDATE, and it's a very good one. I checked my car out this morning, and my coolant looks like coolant and my oil looks like oil... not the head gasket. I literally skipped into work after that haha. I talked to my dad and a mechanic and they said if the coolant and oil both look OK it's either the pump that takes water from the reservoir to the radiator or my thermostat, both of which are massively less expensive than a head gasket. No news on the brakes, but all the problems in my first post aside from perhaps the windshield are being looked at and addressed Monday for much less money than I anticipated when I started tweaking shit last night on this thread. Thank you so much everyone, you've all been mad helpful.
 
Yeah that is good news, thermostats are cheap...like 15-20 bucks + installation, cheap.
Water pumps are a little, but usually in the $100 range for the part.
I'm so excited to get my scooby doo...getting a 99 impreza wagon...only thing that sucks is that I'm partial trading my Yoder for it, and my yoder has a 5 speed while the impreza has an automatic....I ate automatics like nobodies business. But hopefully I can swap in the EJ20T and a speed tranny somewhere in the future.
 
tranny swaps are a bitch dude. especially converting an auto to a manual. if you really want a manual car, i'd say just buy one, instead of getting an auto and trying to convert it.
 
I figured as much, but I'd be pulling the whole engine and tranny as a single unit and drop the other in it's place...it may not be worth it though, at that point I might be able to afford an actualt WRX wagon with a manual.
 
Yeah dude, I'll never drive an automatic haha... being able to get speed when you want and slow down without the brakes is priceless (not to mention how much more fun it is...). Good luck with that trade, although if I were you I'd hold out for a manual one so you don't have to spend all the time, money, and energy involved with a transmission swap... I love my Subaru to death though, it's such a fun car to drive, you'll love it.

Karma bit me in the ass though, I went back to get my car out of the parking lot I left it in to avoid the tow... in return for getting out of a blown head gasket my car decided to start leaking coolant like a motherfucker out of what looks like one of the hoses (probably just pressure from when I was running it hot but...). I have an amazing mechanic who I trust for all my big repairs (When I first bought the car I brought it to him to replace my clutch because I was told it was definitely shot and he told me I didn't need to replace it and adjusted it so it didn't slip any more for 25$...) but unfortunately he's 45 minutes away so I can't exactly drive the car all the way there like that because I would literally lose the entire gallon of coolant in 10 minutes, it's one hell of a drip. Unfortunately no one can repair the hose until Monday which is when my appointment with the good mechanic is and he doesn't have another opening until Thursday so... looks like I'm out a car until late next week. Better than a 1400$ repair I suppose.
 
i don't know how many miles are on your car, but if your water pump is bad have them replace the timing belt while they're at it. Even with your mechanics trick on the clutch it's still about to go out, start saving.
 
Oh no, I know the clutch needs to be replaced. I bought the car 15k miles ago, he just made it so I didn't have to spend 550$ on a clutch right after I spent 2 large on the car. I'm at 112k miles now, I'll probably do the timing belt with all the other ones at 120k unless there's a good reason to do it along with the pump. Thanks!
 
you will have to pay for labor twice, it takes a while to get deep under the hood. In fact, if the mechanic doesn't reccomend you get the timing belt done at the same time, he's ripping you off.
 
Well, I'm at 112k and when the mechanic replaced my water pump he said my timing belt looked good. My brakes turned out to be my ABS, they disconnected them so they don't sound retarded any more. My clutch is brand new, changed the whole way my car drives, it's pretty fun. Got a new thermostat and radiator hoses in addition to that water pump. $894...
 
dude, you might want to try this amazing thing called a TL;DR it means too lazy didn't read were you summarize your story in a sentence... and i didnt read it cause it was like a book.
 
if it is the head gasket, theyre not terribly hard to replace, but you have to do it exactly right, otherwise you fuck yourself. if you want to do it youself, order a new gasket, and get a torque chart for when you reinstall the head, it will show you what pattern to tighten the bolts in, and what torque they need to be tightened to. you will obviously need a decent torque wrench for the job. i replaced a head gasket on a bulldozer a few years ago, and the actual job wasn't very hard, but i fucked it up by breaking one of the bolts off because it was rusted in, and i had to redrill the hole, put a helicoil in, and that was a bitch of a job. a good tip i learned, if you have a bolt rusted in a hole, take a torch, and heat up the bolt head cherry red, and the expansion and contraction will break the rust. it works amazing, and can literally save days of labor.
 
Dude, you might want to try this amazing thing called not being an idiot. If you don't want to read it, that's your choice to waste your time doing something else on your computer. Clearly no one else had a problem with it, and if they did, they just closed the thread and moved on. Don't bust my nuts because my car was a piece of shit and had a lot of problems, although learning to read a lot may somehow be helpful in the grand scheme of your life.
 
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