2004 WRX - Blown heater motor $$$ fog lamp $$$

[Sam Soltan]

I was in Chicago last week the weather was warm (45 degrees) and very wet
raining, inside of 3 hours the temp dropped to 20 degrees and everything
froze up. I it blew both 15 amp fuses. We warmed the car up and put it in a
garage and tried to replace the fuses, they blew again, result $525 to
replace the blower motors (parts & labor)

A rock cracked the right fog lamp and I was astonished that it would tally
$250... I am looking for used parts.

 

[Roger Buttsnort]

I was in Chicago last week the weather was warm (45 degrees) and very wet
raining, inside of 3 hours the temp dropped to 20 degrees and everything
froze up. I it blew both 15 amp fuses. We warmed the car up and put it in a
garage and tried to replace the fuses, they blew again, result $525 to
replace the blower motors (parts & labor)

A rock cracked the right fog lamp and I was astonished that it would tally
$250... I am looking for used parts.

Simply amazing isn't it? Let's look at this clinically and NOT this brand
loyal shit. The car is less than 4 years old. BOTH fan motors fail at the
same time,same failure mode.
What's wrong with this picture? other cars go 20 years without the blower
motors failing and they run 100% of the time! Think it could be poor/cheap
design??
Let's look at $250 for a fucking piece of PLASTIC! $ubaru knows you can't
get it elsewhere, so they **** you on the costs of it.$ubaru is not customer
loyal, how can anyone be loyal to them?
$ubaru designs their cars with a "$" sign in mind. They won't support you,
they won't stand behind their cheap-ass cars, they won't support parts.They
won't recall anything unless forced to.

What is the answer? QUIT BUYING THIS SHIT!! This same issue killed "Daewoo".
They were a cheap car, poorly designed and ZERO parts support. Body shops
could not get original sheetmetal
or internal parts.
It's well known that Subaru has shitty parts quality. Wheel
Bearings,Motors,electrical as well as head gaskets,leaky fuel injection
rails,leaky fasteners (see water in lights, rusted locks and rusted out
roofs) make this one expensive box of shit. The older Subaru's (like the
Brat series) ran forever. The newer stuff is garbage.

Sam... you are going to experiance a car that will nickle/dime and dollar
you to death.
Expect premature failures from....
Rear wheel bearings.
Fuel injection(it leaks in cold weather)
Headgaskets (major problem)
Rust thru the headliner
Water in tail-lights (rust and failure)
Dings and chips in thin sheetmetal (Hood and doors)
Wind noise thru leaky windows (cheap design)
Electrical problems galore
Premature lamp failure in dash cluster/console and radio (have FUN changing
those)
Engine oil leaks.
Windshields cracking due to body flexing (poor design,cheap glass) $ubaru
will blame the windshield heater, it doesnt happen in other Jap cars.

If this car is your daily driver, keep the phone number handy for a
good,close rental-car agency close...

 

[Bugalugs]

Simply amazing isn't it? Let's look at this clinically and NOT this brand
loyal shit. The car is less than 4 years old. BOTH fan motors fail at the
same time,same failure mode.
What's wrong with this picture? other cars go 20 years without the blower
motors failing and they run 100% of the time! Think it could be poor/cheap
design??
Let's look at $250 for a fucking piece of PLASTIC! $ubaru knows you can't
get it elsewhere, so they **** you on the costs of it.$ubaru is not customer
loyal, how can anyone be loyal to them?
$ubaru designs their cars with a "$" sign in mind. They won't support you,
they won't stand behind their cheap-ass cars, they won't support parts.They
won't recall anything unless forced to.

What is the answer? QUIT BUYING THIS SHIT!! This same issue killed "Daewoo".
They were a cheap car, poorly designed and ZERO parts support. Body shops
could not get original sheetmetal
or internal parts.
It's well known that Subaru has shitty parts quality. Wheel
Bearings,Motors,electrical as well as head gaskets,leaky fuel injection
rails,leaky fasteners (see water in lights, rusted locks and rusted out
roofs) make this one expensive box of shit. The older Subaru's (like the
Brat series) ran forever. The newer stuff is garbage.

Sam... you are going to experiance a car that will nickle/dime and dollar
you to death.
Expect premature failures from....
Rear wheel bearings.
Fuel injection(it leaks in cold weather)
Headgaskets (major problem)
Rust thru the headliner
Water in tail-lights (rust and failure)
Dings and chips in thin sheetmetal (Hood and doors)
Wind noise thru leaky windows (cheap design)
Electrical problems galore
Premature lamp failure in dash cluster/console and radio (have FUN changing
those)
Engine oil leaks.
Windshields cracking due to body flexing (poor design,cheap glass) $ubaru
will blame the windshield heater, it doesnt happen in other Jap cars.

If this car is your daily driver, keep the phone number handy for a
good,close rental-car agency close...

Would you care to name a car company that doesn't have models which
don't have these or similar problems ??

 

[Roger Buttsnort]

Would you care to name a car company that doesn't have models which don't
have these or similar problems ??

Sure!
you have heard of them, Toyota and Honda and their high dollar spinoffs
Lexus and Acura.
No parts problems and support on cars older than 10 years. $ubaru can't
claim that!

 

[Bugalugs]

Sure!
you have heard of them, Toyota and Honda and their high dollar spinoffs
Lexus and Acura.
No parts problems and support on cars older than 10 years. $ubaru can't
claim that!

I've had 5 Hondas. Two of them rusted out just in front of the screen in
the windscreenwiper area. Cars garaged, no exposer to salt/ice etc.
Another had the windscreen crack overnight. A Toyota had an alternator
fail. Neighbours Toyota had atrocious paint, faded and went all blotchy.
And that just for starters.

 

[Carl 1 Lucky Texan]

I've had 5 Hondas. Two of them rusted out just in front of the screen in
the windscreenwiper area. Cars garaged, no exposer to salt/ice etc.
Another had the windscreen crack overnight. A Toyota had an alternator
fail. Neighbours Toyota had atrocious paint, faded and went all blotchy.
And that just for starters.

'78 Honda Civic dropped a valve in cyl.#2 at 38K miles.
'81 Civic wagon needed a water pump about every 35-40K - though it was
otherwise rock solid.
Multiple and continuing electrical and oil leakage problems with
daughters' Nissans (90 and 95 Maximas)
In all fairness, most cars nowadays are better than the average car in
the 80s.

Headgasket and cold weather fuel leakage problems are greatly
reduced/fixed by year model 04.

Carl

 

[George Mills]

BULL on Toyota being problem free. I have been handy replacing sockets and
wiring on Corolla due to leaks and "rust"...also, their locks DO fail. And
why, pray tell, do you suppose Toyota designed in a knockout button for
their automatic trans floor shift? So that you can get the thing out of
"Park" when (not if) the interlock fails...its in the manual. Yes, Toyotas
are "generally reliable" and I liked owning one, but then again, they
generally don't get driven like Subarus get driven (like, zero fun
quotient). Have fun changing certain lights on all makes. As far as
electrical gremlins and leaks, learning how to take off a door or other
panel and doing some preventative maintenance (and using a tester if
anything acts up) solves a lot of headaches. Sometimes one ground can cause
a dozen different intermittent unrelated problems. Both motors didn't fail
at the same time..there was likely a moisture fault exacerbated by those
specific conditions. I think that the $525 dealer cost likely included
replacing some faulty wiring elsewhere which was causing both blowers to go
open circuit at the same time. (they saw ya coming) I think I would have
put a car doing that in bone-dry conditions for at least a few days to see
if the problem cleared up. A co-worker took apart all the electrical
connections on an MGB back in the days, sanded them and used electrician's
paster/silicone, and he drove that car 8 years as a daily driver in a heavy
salt use/deep cold & heavy snow winters, and high humidity summers seaside
location with ZERO drivablility and electrical problems.

Those of you who think an AWD will be cheaper to run than an FWD are
sniffing gas fumes too often. Ditto on the parts replacement cost on a
Toyota or a Honda...when something goes, think $$$. The real test is
comparing the cost of running a Subaru, to say, a Jeep. As far as the
foglight and other proprietory bits on *any* make, they are all stupidly
expensive to replace on the newer vehicles. Even the plastic bit for the
hole where a foglight would normally go if you get a model without the
foglights.

I like Subaru in spite of its annoying bits. As a non-mechanical friend
discovered, taking apart an old Subaru and figuring out the sometimes weird
'why', stood him in good stead, and now he can fix all sorts of glitches
without going to a dealer.

Jim B/PEI
Jeep owner x 2 for my sins, but recently driving a Subaru.