Here we go with warranty crap...

[_F-R-S_]

i use water for all my fluids.. works well on the transmission.. not so good for gas

[xwd]

Originally Posted by feldy

Have not heard that before about Toyota. Heard nothing about horror stories about Subaru. Mainly about Sti's but still.

There are horror stories from every make. Toyota just hasn't made a real performance vehicle for awhile...

[jamal]

Changing out the whole diff seems a little excessive but hey it's under warranty. It's a pretty beefy part for such a light and low powered car IMO.

There are a couple of diff covers with extra cooling fins and more capacity, plus Matt Monson (Guard Transmissions) knows a little about making them better.

[Sccabrz192]

Originally Posted by feldy

Have not heard that before about Toyota. Heard nothing about horror stories about Subaru. Mainly about Sti's but still.

Just one example, I bought a 97 celica off the used lot at a local dealership with a certified used car warranty. Less than 20k miles later it had developed a rod knock. When I took it in they said the catback exhaust on the car was what caused it... I told them that is B.S. and the muffler was on the car when they sold it to me anyway so there's no chance in hell I would be paying for them to fix it. After a few weeks of arguing with them I finally got everything rebuilt (they still charged me $500 for seals, gaskets and a timing belt replacement which i didnt authorize) and it took dealing with the owner of the dealership before it was resolved.

Thats just one of many stories.

[MSTiFK8R]

would you share info - what is allowed to modify not to loose warranty?

I know dealer can't prevent you from changing the tyres, but hey, is that fair when you are rolling on 235\40\17 instead of "allowed" 215\45\17 and claiming that some suspension bushings fail - would the dealer point it's finger on the 235s blaming them and refusing with warranty bushings replacement?

Also have you ever faced situations that dealers hounding trackday photos to mark your car as a @sports event noticed, so writing you off the engine warranty?

[sho220]

Originally Posted by pcasso87

Damn man, looks like the stock diff and fluid are not up to the task.

Because of one smelly diff? Is there an epidemic of diff failures I haven't heard about?

[sho220]

Originally Posted by MSTiFK8R

would you share info - what is allowed to modify not to loose warranty?

It's a crap shoot. Nothing should really void warranty unless it is what actually caused the failure...Moss Magnusson act and all that crap...but a dealer could probably tie in any mod to suit there needs. If you mod, you're taking your chances...some dealers are better than others...

[mla163]

Sam,

Hopefully your diff was a one-off problem. For the rest of us, what does burnt diff fluid smell like?

[track_warrior]

Originally Posted by sho220

Because of one smelly diff? Is there an epidemic of diff failures I haven't heard about?

Not really but i changed my fluid anyway to veruspeed just to be safe.

[Sam Strano]

Originally Posted by celica73

Would you get better service in Richmond - not like you want to go that far.

I bought it from McGeorge (we're friends and he buys his goodies from me, so I thought I should buy the car from him). But it's 7.5 hours down there. I will if I have to, but a big reason I bought the car was because I could get it from Rod, and there is a dealer in the next town for warranty stuff. *sigh*

[FT-86 SpeedFactory]

Sounds like I need to check ours too and swap the lube out with something else. Maybe have a sample sent out for analysis. We have 4 autocrosses on ours with two to three drivers ever event.

[Sam Strano]

This could be a fluke. Maybe a bad bearing, whatever. I don't know because they don't know and are literally swapping it based on fried fluid. They never even drove it anywhere. Dropped the fluid, it stinks, waited for the field service rep, and they are ordering it from the land of the Rising Sun..... Based on what beats me.

Of course they did notate it's a one time fix because it's "used in off-road competition", that's actually hand written on the RO. I guess stickers and coil-overs make it a RACECAR! Beware.

[fastmike]

Originally Posted by mla163

Sam,

Hopefully your diff was a one-off problem. For the rest of us, what does burnt diff fluid smell like?

It smells like burnt azz.

Subie should think first, react later...

[feldy]

Sure hope it's a fluke. I have 86 autocross runs on it so far. Have only a handful of events left in the year.