Forester Axle Bearing Problem in Hawaii

Dude, Hawaii IS in the USA. I think you mean "the mainland". :)

i bought my '02 legacy wagon used with 85,000 km on it, so i was a bit nervous. to play it safe, i had it serviced at a dealership, and in addition to a major service (timing belt, differentials, etc.), they also rotated the tires, and off we went down the highway on a family vacation.

we got about 750 km away from home. there was a loud noise on the right side at highway speeds, which seemed to vary with speed, but didn't change when i dropped her into neutral. had to go to a strange dealer in a strange town, a long way from home. the mechanic's first guess during the test run was wheel bearings, and he had me convinced, too.

about an hour later, i got a call from the shop that my car was ready!

turns out the wheel bearings were fine, but when he started to pull the wheels, EVERY SINGLE lug nut on both the front and rear wheels on the right side was loose! (i.e. not even finger-tight.) he checked over the bearings, torqued the nuts, and 15,000 km later, everything's still fine, touch wood.

the fancy alloy wheels that came with the wagon need to be retorqued - it would be nice if someone had told me that (and even better if the owner's guide would include recommended torquing values).

....... tom kle> Just another witness to the recurring axle bearing problem.

Finally found a capable mechanic friend to do the job after weeks of unfruitful/unpleasant calls and visits to the Subaru dealers here in Hawaii.

To clarify, Schuman Carriage Motors is the sole Subaru distributor here in Hawaii. They are not affiliated with Subaru of America as they get their cars directly from Japan. Schuman operates one dealership on their own as the Waialae Subaru but also sells thru Ohana Subaru in Waipahu and Five Star Subaru on Nimitz.

Parts picked up from Schuman parts department (also doing business under Subaru of Hawaii) for this repair:

28016AA030 roller bearing $63 (be careful not to get the OEM 28016FC001 ball bearing) 28016AA050 oil seal $12 28016AA110 oil seal $11 28016AA110 oil seal $13

It took about 3 hours for us. Taking apart the old, replaced bearing.. this irregular wear mark is visible in both the inner and outer races on one end stretching about 60 degrees.

Word of advice if you must go to one of the Subaru dealers here... DO NOT give your car key or vehicle registration paper to them BEFORE you are given a written estimate detailing the parts, labor rate, and labor hours. All three Subaru dealers here tried pull the otherwise on me. One still stuck it to us on the interpretation that an open hourly labor rate with no estimate of labor hour constituted a legit fee for the diagnostic that now conclusively proves to be false! Another popular line used is "we don't have the parts here so we can't give you a written estimate right now"...

Hawaii state laws entitle you this despite what the service dept people at these Hawaii Subaru dealers may lead you to believe...

The Forester is getting rave reviews from this year's Consumers Report... perhaps it is a reflection of the hardwork put in by Subaru of America and the mainland dealers... somehow I just can't buy that the same applies here.

The $11 oil seal is meant to be 28015AA100 in my last post.