It wasn’t until April 2016 when I got around to the next mod. I purchased used STI mirrors with the signal markers on them. Since the ’13 WRX Limited was wired for heated and blinker mirrors the swap was a direct PnP.
Before:
After:
And another angle, I’d like to disclose that I don’t park like a oucheday. I parked like this to avoid door dinging a fellow WSC’r! Naturally we park beside each other in the parkade.
Before:
After:
Things until now were great. I had kicked off a few of the more aesthetic modifications I had planned for the first year of ownership. The improvement in headlight output was night and day so I had nothing to complain about there. BUT, dun dun dun…. there was this mysterious ticking noise…
But seriously.
And that’s when all the fun started.
I headed over to Subaru Calgary where it was loud and clear and thankfully not one of those “I swear it’s making a weird noise” moments, which was a relief. Turns out it was the throwout bearing which was replaced under warranty. This was done the first time in March 2016. Not more than a month later in April 2016 and the same noise is back so once again I bring it to Subaru Calgary.
After another lengthy diagnostic they deem it is the “snout on the transmission where the release bearing slides has grooves in it, this is causing the release bearing to stick and cause the chirping noise. There is no repair to be made without replacing the complete case.” And so just like that, the complete case was replaced like the throwout bearing, under warranty.
This process took 21 days before I was called to come pick my car up and I could not have been more excited! It seemed like a lifetime by this point. Well, 12km from the dealership and driving on SB Deerfoot I downshift…wait what? 4th feels blocked. What’s going on?? I’m only going 90kmh so 3rd is my next option. No 3rd. *coast* get into 2nd, and get enough speed to get back into 5th. So I head straight back to Subaru Calgary to kindly let them know I do not have 3rd or 4th gear. I should mention that earlier that day they called me to tell me they’re coming to pick me up. I stood outside for the better part of 45 minutes before I called to see where the driver was, and well, the driver had just forgot to pick me up. After 13 more days and replacing the transmission shifter arm pins, I was finally able to pick my car up decidedly for the last time from Subaru Calgary on May 25, 2016. Yes it was running, for now…
June 30, 2016. The day before I leave to BC for a 10-day holiday to Kootenay Lake I was driving spiritedly along Blackfoot Trail on my way home from work. Now I mean this was not hard driving, I was having a little fun on acceleration between lights, as much fun as you could have in traffic at 4:00pm. As I am pulling up to the next red light I hear over my music…
Knock, knock x RPM.
Well that doesn’t sound good.
I head over to Centaur Subaru, which I have now established as my dealership of choice and ask if somebody could come outside to listen. “Holy itshay man, do you have a Hemi under this thing?” Yes, that was the first response I got. Not quite what I was hoping for but I knew it didn’t sound good.
After deciding against the advice of the mechanic that it was ok to make an 1,100km round trip I left my car in the hands of Centaur. This is where all the scheduled maintenance from the previous owner I mentioned before came in really handy. Because I had spun 3 rod bearings and the engine was chattering louder than you could imagine, Subaru Canada wanted oil change records, all dealership records, what/if anything had been done, and after all that Centaur tore out the ECU and sent it to Subaru Canada for testing just to confirm the engine had not been modified. Everything checked out and I got the call that I would be having the long-block and turbo replaced only 150kms shy of the 60,000km mark. In some ways you could say this was good luck because it fell under warranty. On August 2, 2016 I finally got Betty back.
In those 5 months (March – August), I figure I drove my car for a total of about 3 weeks. So I’m sorry for the lack of photos over this time.
By September I had completed the recommended break-in period (which I did not do a hard break-in despite what some people say) and took the car for the first long drive with the girlfriend out to Jasper and back. Of course, the landscape did not disappoint.
It only took one month for another thing to go wrong and it really did feel like she was cursed. Since detonating an engine I became very meticulous with my pre and post drive inspections. The infamous throwout bearing….again. UGH. Centaur replaced this under warranty no qualms and so I drove home and the next time I went to drive I noticed this.
At this point I had AMA tow my vehicle straight back to the dealership where they told me that a rock must have punctured the oil filter…hmmm…
After that the problems seemingly stopped. I’m not sure if it was because of all the repairs or because karma was finally turning and my streak of bad luck was over. Regardless, I’m not complaining about it. Winter was a blast and I got out with a few other WSC members (diamondedge, kijho, daduke99, redbimmer93, and 05LGT) and we had a little fun at a “top secret location”. Pictures courtesy of Kijho.
In February after leaving Castle Mountain from a incredible day skiing I was unfortunate enough to hit a bridge deck abutment because the gravel road had washed out before it but standing water and reflection from the sun made it look solid. Well I sure as heck hit it solid, solid enough to brake my passenger wheel hub assembly. We made it back to Calgary but I booked an appointment the following day at Balance Auto where Jackie took care of things finishing off with a wheel alignment.
