What Should I do?

[GizMo22t]

Howdy All;
I have a problem, well more that one. My Legacy ad been making some ticking noise for some time now but just recently it got bad. Almost like a bent rod or valve or something. I'm Not sure what to do. I love this car. I think it will cost more money to fix than the car is worth. Plus i still owe the bank money on it. About $2,300. The car has had a verry good life with more than 230,000 miles on the original motor and trannie. i'm not sure if i should fix it or what. I need your help to weigh my options. BTW the car is stuck on FWD my AWD isn't working so i need to get that fixed aswell. What should I do??????????????

[scuzzy]

Drop all the question marks.

One will suffice to express that your sentence is a question.

Why do you owe money on a car made in 1993? If you took out a loan on it, that was very poor investment.

the best immediate thing to do is a compression check. if all of your cylinders are within 10% PSI of each other, then you're not losing compression. that rules out a bent valve, cracked pistons or broken ringlands (all three will cause compression loss)

remember to do the compression check with the injectors unplugged, the throttle all the way open and no spark plugs in the cylinders.

the ticking could be anything, start by changing your oil, then running some seafoam on a fresh change of oil, drive 100 miles, no more, then change the oil again. if it's something stuck in the HLA's then it should clear up.

assuming the compression checks out fine and the seafoam didn't stop the ticking, it could be a bad HLA, they're pretty easy to replace, just time consuming - they're not the end of the world either, you can go on with them ticking forever, but it's a good idea to change them if they're bad.

[quicklook]

could be a loose sparkplug or sparkplug wire.

did the awd just stop working?

and do what scuzzy says

[ericem]

Sticky lifter? heard a similar thread in the USMB forum, he ran alot of injection cleaners ,, and seafoam through the crank, and no more noise, and he said it got really loud. Also make sure ur oil is good.

[GizMo22t]

Sorry my user name got locked out.
IT's more of a knocking than a ticking. It's so bad I could feel it through the staring wheel and the gas pedal. The car was lagging real bad too. I didn't give it too much gas just turned around and went home. Haven't drove it since.



scuzzy Posted: Sun Nov 19, 2006 6:14 pm Post subject:

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Why do you owe money on a car made in 1993? If you took out a loan on it, that was very poor investment.


Had to refinance car to pay for my bills after my roommate left me high and dry. It was a bad investment but I didn't have many options.


quicklook Posted: Sun Nov 19, 2006 7:55 pm Post subject:

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did the awd just stop working?

AWD didn't stop over night but over time. I made some posts about the subject but never got anywhere. Most shops wanted to charge me more money than i thought it was worth just to look at it.

[scuzzy]

Sorry my user name got locked out.
IT's more of a knocking than a ticking. It's so bad I could feel it through the staring wheel and the gas pedal. The car was lagging real bad too. I didn't give it too much gas just turned around and went home. Haven't drove it since.

you've changed the oil like you're supposed to? I'm assuming all of the other maintenance was kept up to date.

get on that compression check asap before you drive it, if everything else checks out fine and it definitely sounds like a knocking, you have rod knock.

if it's RPM dependent, I would say chances are it's more than likely rod knock. Our engines are tough, if you get in there with tooth and nail and change the bearings and inspect everything is in good clearances, you can get by with just a bearing replacement.

alternatively, if you don't want to fix it, you can switch to a slightly thicker oil, but don't do this unless you're 100% it's rod knock, it will make it worse for short trips but lessen the wear once the engine has warmed up (thicker oil for better bearing cushion)


all things considered, change the oil, throw a heavier weight oil in if you're sure it's rodknock or a mechanic has told you he's sure it's rodknock, that may buy you some time, but with the AWD being shot (bad DUTY C solenoid) and the engine developing symptoms of death, I would look into getting another vehicle, probably another subaru.