It was an easy process to swap out and the shop it was at recently quoted about 60 Dollars to do it. I purchased a new filter on Amazon for about 15 dollars and it took a few minutes to do. My guess is it can be swapped out in about a minute or two if you have done it before.

DISCLAIMER: This post is for entertainment purposes only. I am not  a professional mechanic. This is just explaining how I fixed the issue on my car.  I will not be held responsible for any issues that may arise if you decide to replace yours yourself.  

The Filter

The Subaru part number I found for the 2015 Impreza cabin filter is:  72880FG000 

I purchased a brand called ECOGUARD and they had the part number listed as XC36115. Here is a picture of it below. I also did see a Impreza HEPA filter available from another brand (Bosch). I chose this one this time, but might try the HEPA filter next. It was only slightly more expensive.

The installation

Basically the filter is located behind the glovebox. To get to it you need to do the following.

1. Open your passenger side glovebox.

2. On the right side you need to pull off the glove box stop from the clip. (I have no idea what this is called so here is a picture)

3. Release the clip on each side of the glove box to be able to lower it. I did this by pushing on each side.

4. Once your glovebox is out you will see the Filter behind it. You just pull it out and swap it with the new one. Make sure your new one does not get put in upside down.

5. After swapping out the filter, I put the glovebox back.  A job well done and I saved about 40 bucks.

Summary

Here you can see my old cabin filter after I pulled it out. Yikes it looks bad. This is such an easy change I should have done this a while ago when we first purchased this car.

Now that I know its there, and that easy to swap out, I will probably do this every time I swap out the engine air filter. The engine air filter still looks new since my last change.  If you want to see a video of the Impreza cabin filter change, you can see it at this link here : Video cabin filter change.  

The main tips I can think of are make sure you look at the cabin filter as you remove it to make sure you out the new one back in in the correct orientation. I could see where people wonder what direction does the cabin filter go.

As for the Subaru cabin filter interval, My Subaru manual mentions to replace the Air Cleaner element every 30,000 miles.

Again ,while I went cheap with this filter this time. I think next time I will go ahead and spend the extra 10 bucks and see if the Subaru Impreza HEPA filter works any better. Allergy season is just starting and i wonder if that might help keep more pollen out of the car.

If you are hearing a weird road noise, like a growl of sorts that starts when hitting speeds of around 30+ MPG. You may want to check out this post of the issue we had LINK.

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I had been hearing this light noise while driving my 2015 Impreza. It would usually start up around 30 mph. It was not that loud at first, and barley noticeable. Since it started the family and I have been driving the car just mainly around town and I had not driven it on the freeway in a while. But when I drove it last weekend on a long trip it was really noticeable on the freeway. I would hear it especially loud when I hit a patch of pavement that was quiet. It was kind of a low growl that would change tone with my speed. My first fear was it was the CVT transmission starting to have an issue. I went ahead and scheduled an appointment to have it looked at. I decided to post this as they found what was causing my Subaru Impreza Road growl noise.

The Fix

I scheduled an appointment at the shop and they checked it out. Turns out it was a bad drivers side wheel bearing. I was pretty relived it wasn’t the CVT transmission, as I hear they are pretty expensive to have replaced.  This wheel bearing was not cheap like an older cars wheel bearings. It ended up running close to 600 dollars to fix once you included labor. But that being said I am happy with the result. I just got the car back tonight and it is super quiet on the road now.   

The Cost

I probably should not have let it go this long, and had it looked at when I first heard the noise. But am glad it was finally fixed/replaced. I checked the price of the part they listed on the receipt and it was around $250 dollars if I ordered it from Subaru. The part number listed was 28373FL010A Wheel Brg/Hub Front . They also replaced a 902170049 Axle Nut. So it was roughly about $300 labor.  I did not look up how hard this was to replace myself. But am still pleased with the result as I did not really have time to tackle it myself. Too bad it was out of warranty.

Here are the parts they listed they replaced:

• 902170049   AXLE NUT
• 28373FL010A  Wheel Brg/Hub Front

This is a snapshot from the receipt.

Summary

The drive home sounded great. I had done a quick search of the internet looking for info on this before taking it in and did not find much. Maybe it was my search just terms. I and am not sure how widespread this might be on Subaru’s. Mine has around 70,000 miles. So thought I would post this on my blog just in case someone else has the same issue and might wonder what it could be.

Also if you are looking for a new set of tires, Just wanted to say I am really pleased with this set of OHTSU’s I purchased from Discount tire. I think they are a great deal and basically rebranded Falken’s. Here is my review on them.-  LINK

The post Subaru Impreza road growl noise appeared first on MyRandomTechBlog.com.

Disclaimer: This post is for entertainment purposes only. I am not responsible if you damage your equipment or injure yourself. I am not a professional mechanic and this is not advice on what to do. If you are unsure what you are doing seek profession help. 

Tire pressure light wont turn off

I inflated the tire to the correct air pressure as it was just a little low. After restarting the car a few times the TPMS low pressure light would still not turn off. Turns out after checking the manual I needed to drive at least 20 MPH for the TPMS to take another reading. After driving it over 20MPH the TPMS indicator light did take another reading and turn off.

Just wanted to mention that in case someone was having the same issue and wondering why it might not have cleared after verifying the tires. Another possibility is the air pressure is correct and the light stays on is your TPMS sensor is bad.

I did find that Amazon sells Subaru TPMS sensors HERE for a decent price. Not sure what the tire shops charge but I was surprised they were so cheap as I thought they cost more for a set of 4.  Might be worth bringing my own new sensors to the tire shop if I need new ones.

Also if you are looking for some decent tires at a good price. I reviewed these Ohtsu tires that were rebranded Falkens you may want to check out.

The post Subaru tire pressure light wont turn off. appeared first on MyRandomTechBlog.com.

Disclaimer: This post is for entertainment purposes only. I am not responsible if you damage your vehicle or injure yourself if you decide to try anything I do on your own vehicle. If you are unsure on what you are doing please seek out a professional to assist. (I am not a professional mechanic. ) . 

This is what I had been ignoring.

You can see the battery terminal corrosion was getting pretty bad as it was creeping out from under the positive battery cover.

Popping off the cover you can see it was pretty bad.

When I finally got around to taking care of it, I did a little online investigation and read that you can use baking soda and water to neutralize the acid. I decided to give it a try.

So I mixed some baking soda and water together and poured it on the battery. (Of course I was wearing gloves and glasses for protection )

Once I was done cleaning it you can see the metal was in bad shape. Basically I broke the Battery terminal when I tried to remove it to clean it more. The corrosion had really weakened the metal and after I tried to loosen it, it would no longer make good contact. I had no choice but to replace it.

I ended up purchasing my new terminal off amazon HERE (Sorry link removed, but you can search for the part number 90982-05035).  It was nice as they had free one day shipping and was a great price for a factory OEM made by Toyota part. I thought about going with a cheaper model, but decided to stick with OEM.

If you need the part number this is what I used for my 97 4runner. Toyota part number :  90982-05035 One thing to note is this is for a positive terminal. The neg terminal has a different part number.  Here is a picture of it after it arrived.

Now I decided to treat both of my battery terminals with a little coat of No-Ox-Id-A Special compound (Here is a LINK for it in case your interested ) to hopefully prevent this from happening to me in the future. I had used it for industrial battery terminals in the past. You can read the reviews on it. I always found it to be great stuff.

Here it is, the new terminal in place.

Summary

If I had taken better care and prevented the corrosion in the first place I would not need to go through the hassle of buying a new terminal.  I plan to go and check my other cars this weekend and apply a little “no-ox-id a” to their terminals as well.  I will also update my 4runner cheat sheet HERE with the part number for the battery terminals.

In case you need them, or want to check out what I used here are the links:

Toyota Positive Battery Terminal – 90982-05035 (link removed, but if you google the part, you can find it at many dealerships and online merchants)

The post How NOT to treat your battery terminals! appeared first on MyRandomTechBlog.com.

Disclaimer: This article is not instructions on how you should do anything, I am not a professional mechanic, it is for entertainment purposes only. 

4runner P0441

About a week ago the CEL light came on again. Using my OBD2 reader to check it, I found it was the P0441 trouble code again.

I find it really helpful to own my own OBD2 code reader. I just have  a cheap one like you can purchase on amazon or grab at harbor freight. You can also go to some auto stores and they will pull your code for you. My understanding is that most stores will pull the code, but will not clear the code for you.

This P0441 trouble code is for Evaporative Emission System Incorrect Purge flow.  After digging around online I found it could be caused by multiple issues.

• Leak in Evap system
• Loose or faulty gas cap.
• Charcoal canister issues
• Faulty Vacuum switching valve.
• and a few others items.

So first thing I did was check out my engine compartment. I looked at the hoses and did not see any splits and they all looked good. So I decided to look at my gas cap again. My gas cap on my 4runner was not an OEM gas cap but was manufactured by Stant. I looked at the inside and noticed a lot of rust and corrosion on it. You can see it in this picture below.

One of the articles I read mentioned failing to seal properly and I wondered if the area in the back with the spring was corroded enough to prevent a good seal. So rather then take it in to have the system checked out. I decided to try a new gas cap first. I went ahead and went with an original Toyota OEM gas cap, and ordered one off of Amazon that had next day delivery.

New Gas Cap

This is the Toyota OEM gas cap I ordered from Amazon : 77310-35080

The part number was 77310-35080. One thing that was interesting was when I was searching for the part number I found that they changed the part number on 3/98. The newer part number for 4runners after 3/98 appears to be 77310-48020. The gas cap looked the same in the pictures I found, but included some new printing on the cap. It now says “tighten until clicks or malfunction indicator may come on”. Interesting. I am not sure if that was the only change or not.

The new gas cap from Amazon as it showed up. It was in the Toyota packaging inside a box. It was packaged well.

In this picture below I show my new OEM gas cap and the old gas cap side by side. Looks like the Toyota version will not corrode as easily.

Just a pic after swapping the gas cap out.

Summary

Well.. That’s about it. So far after swapping out the gas cap I have not seen the Check Engine light again.  I will update this post if it shows back up and ends up being caused by something different.

Also if anyone knows if there is a difference between the part number 77310-35080 and 77310-48020 besides the printed text hit me up on facebook at the link in the upper right corner and let me know. I am really curious and could not find anything online about it. The 48020 model was 3 bucks cheaper, and if I knew for sure it would work, I would have picked that one to save a couple bucks.

Here are some links below for the gas cap and an OBD2 reader kinda like the one I own in the picture. Also a link to a Bluetooth reader that is even cheaper and you can pull codes on your phone. I also have a Bluetooth reader and its pretty cool to use with an app like Torque.

Links:

77310-35080
Cheap OBD2 Reader

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The Flat:

I had 48,000 miles on my Subaru Impreza when I hit a screw and got a flat. While the screw was in the center, with this many miles and being close to needing tires anyways I decided to just get a new set. These were the original tires on the car and they were pretty worn.

OHTSU:

Now this is just my daily driver and not used for autocross or anything, so performance is not first on my mind. I am really just looking for a good tire that’s not noisy, has good all season traction and has a decent life span. This got me looking at some of the cheaper brands out there. One of the brands I found was Ohtsu which I have not heard of before. After some searching around on the web I found that Ohtsu and Falken appear to both be brands owned by the Sumitomo Rubber Factory. Falken is a pretty popular brand that I feel has a good reputation. I am hoping that Ohtsu will be as good.

PRICE:

I was looking to spend as little as possible, but still wanted to get a decent tire. Here are the OHTSU FP0612 A/S I ended up deciding to buy. I needed them in a 205/50/R17 size. When I was there to pick them up they were asking $59.00 a tire. I had seen them online the night before for $49.00 a tire and they matched my price. (NOTE: I see these online now as I write this for $46 so don’t be afraid to ask them to match if your decide to try these.) The online price I was checking was for the store I was in (Discount Tire). So the price does fluctuate.

Tread:

Here is a closeup of the tread. In the past when I would go through tires fast on some sports cars I had owned, I had bought blemished tires for a discount. These would be tires that would have some surface imperfection and they would give you a discount. Looking at the tread on this one kinda reminded me of that. I think this has something to do with how they mold the tires. It just did not look as perfect as some other more expensive tires I have looked at. This did not bother me at all, as it would be smooth soon, and for the price I was paying it wasn’t a big deal. Also the sidewalls looked perfect. I am guessing they spend a little less time on the final finish of the tread portion to cut costs. 

Inside:

Here is a shot of the inside in case you were curious.

Here you can see the sidewall, looks good.

Is this a re-branded Falken ziex ZE612?

Now this is where it gets kinda interesting. If you look at the pattern for the OHTSU FP0612 A/S below and compare it to the Falken ziex ZE612 you will see they look almost identical. (They do look the same to me). You can just google the Falken ziex ZE612 and you will see what I mean. I wonder if this might be just be a rebranded version of that tire since they are owned by the same parent company? Anyone know? Hit me up on facebook link at top if you do, I am really curious. Maybe they use different rubber now or something?  But it appears the ZE612 is no longer produced by Falken from what I could tell online. I wonder if they just decided to rebrand it under the Ohtsu name?

[UPDATE] I was hit up on Facebook and it was suggested I just call Falken and inquire with their technical department about the tires. Great Idea! So I gave them a call and they were super helpful. I was told the OHTSU FP0612 is just a rebrand of the discontinued Falken ZE612. This is being produced for Discount tire and it uses the same specs and compound as the original. I thought this was great news and confirmed my suspicions.  For the great price of these, I don’t really care if it says Ohtsu or Falken on the side.

Here is the car on the lift with new rubber all the way around. I am almost ready to roll.

They look good on the car, and for the price I am glad I purchased these. So far they are quiet and ride nice.

OHTSU FP0612 A/S review [TREAD WEAR]:

I plan to update this section as I add more miles to the tires. They are rated for 40,000 miles per the website from the place I purchased them.

8/1/2018 – DAY 0 : 48,150 miles on ODO – TIRES Brand New ~ 2 miles. Starting out at 7mm. I read a lot of tires start at 10mm?  All the spots I checked were ~7mm. I am sure the tire size and type will determine how much initial tread you get.  It seemed like a normal new tire tread depth to me.

[Update 9/8/19] Car has 60,361 miles on it. So the tires have been used for 12,211 miles. Here is the current tread depth. ~6mm. 

OHTSU FP0612 A/S review [TIRE NOISE]:

8/3/2018 : I am really happy with how quiet these are so far. The OHTSU are quieter then my OEM tires, but the OEM are pretty worn.  I will update as these wear down.

11/20/18 : Update , We have a new patch of road by my house and its super smooth and quiet to drive on. When driving I notice that as I hit around 30 mph I do get some tire noise (kinda a low growl) . I do not think my original tires had this noise, and probably would not have noticed if this new patch of road wasn’t put in.  I don’t notice it much otherwise, but will update if it gets worse as the tread wears down more.  Just seems kinda odd and wanted to note it. Still very happy with the tires though. Waiting to see how they do once it gets icy.

OHTSU FP0612 A/S review [TRACTION]:

8/3/2018 : Summer right now and warm and hot. So far great traction. waiting for some rain and snow this winter to see how they do.  Will update this periodically.

3/11/2019: Well I wished for snow and we sure did get it this winter. The tires are doing great, and I am very happy with the traction they provided. We had some deep snow and ice and it did well in both. My wife was actually running family members around in the snow to their jobs as they had 2 wheel drive vehicles. The AWD in the Subaru was great and I had no complaints with these tires.  Here is a pic..

OHTSU FP0612 A/S review [SUMMARY]:

I bought these OHTSU FP 0612 A/S at a local discount wheel and tire. The store price was $59.00 but they had the price listed online on their website the night before for $49.00 and they matched that price. Interestingly when I look now they are at $46, so it pays to keep an eye on the website. Or if your at the store just ask them to match the lowest price you can find. I have had really good luck with Discount Tire and always seem to go back to them over others.

My final price after adding Installation, Disposal and tax was $313.35 for a set of four.  I am rolling the dice and declining the replacement warranty to get out the door for as cheap as possible. Plus the replacement warranty for all 4 tires ran about the price of a single new tire. I will update this post if that was a bad decision, and will post any issues I have with the tires.

I am really happy with the Ohtsu FP0612 so far. The price for a full set of these tires is very reasonable in my opinion and they are quiet and I have had no issues so far. I will update this post with the tread wear, as I am curious how long they will last.

I just found the link to the OHTSU website. Here it is if you want more info… https://ohtsu-tires.com/

The post OHTSU FP0612 A/S Tire review. appeared first on MyRandomTechBlog.com.

Disclaimer: This post is for entertainment purposes only. I am not responsible if you damage your car or injure yourself if you decide to try to follow what I did. If you are unsure on what you are doing please seek out a professional to assist. (I am not a professional mechanic. ) . 

The speakers I purchased and am installing are the Pioneer TS-A1676R 6.5″ 3 way speakers. I had swapped out my factory speakers in the past, but in hindsight I decided I wanted to upgrade to a better 3-way speaker. Having a 3-way speaker gives you separate drivers for low, mid and high ranges, which allows for better sound clarity. The reason I picked these Pioneer TS-A1676R, was partly due to having had Pioneer speakers in the past and I liked the way they sounded. I guess the second part was they were pretty reasonably priced. 

Here are the links for the parts I used for the install.

Pioneer TS-A1676R 6.5″ 3-way speaker
6.5″ speaker adaptor
Toyota wire adaptors

Just so you know. I do not show the 6.5″ speaker adaptors above as I had already installed them.  Also I only used one set of the wire adaptors as the back speakers already had been set up and I could just plug in my new speakers.

Here is what you get when you buy a pair of speakers. (I had purchased 2 pairs as I was replacing both front and rear speakers.)

Installation

I did a quick video of me pulling off the door panel here if you want to see it. Video of front door panel removal

But here are some pics as I did it. I did cut my finger removing a panel, so be careful if you try is as there were some sharp edges.  Also on the rear panel I broke a clip that I might need to replace. It went back together fine, so I am holding off for now.

First I removed this plug on the front of the door panel by sticking a flat blade screwdriver in the back and turning it to pop out the plug and remove it.

Then I had to remove the armrest by tugging on the back.

Once you pull it off you can see all the clips on the bottom.

Next I removed my power window switch assembly by lifting up and gently tugging the clips loose.

Then I disconnected the power window connector.

I have no idea what this piece is called, but I removed it.

Now with the armrest off, I could remove the 4 screws circled below. (Note: the one in the door handle is shorter then the other 3)

Now to release the clips I grabbed the door panel towards the front lower corner and started to tug around the bottom towards the back and sides.

Here you can see the clips releasing.

Now I was able to lift the door panel up and away from the door enough to get may hand behind it to pop out the door handle.  Then I could turn it and push it back through the hole.

Now that I could get to the speaker, I needed to expand the hole in my speaker adaptor for the cable.

Now I could plug in my new wire adaptors.

Speaker adaptor plugged in…

Now it was just a matter of plugging in the speaker and screwing it onto the adaptor.

Speaker installed and just need to put it back together and then do the other side.

OK… Sorry… This is the point I mention I got in a hurry and forgot to snap pictures of doing the rear..

Here are two that I did have. This shows the floor panel that runs between the front and the back pulled up.. Forgot what that’s called. BTW, did I mention this was a hatchback? And wow, look at that garbage on the floor. I should have grabbed the shop vac.

Here is the clip I mentioned removing the rear side panel. 🙁 I was in to much of a hurry and just tugging on stuff. I should have been more careful.  [If I replace it, I will grab the part number and add it here]

SUMMARY:

I am sorry the article isn’t as complete as I had wanted, but I still hope someone finds this useful or entertaining in some way. As for the review of the speakers themselves. They sound great. Much better then the ones I had already in the Yaris. My audio books sound much better as well as the music. The best way I can explain the difference would be they are less muddy. I can hear the voices much more clearly. I do recommend these if you are looking for a cheap 3 way speaker and amazon had a great price.

Now I have an older model head unit the X2600BT which I am really happy with. The Bluetooth works great for playing my audiobooks from my phone. But my head unit is a quite few years old now. If I was going to buy a new head unit now (Which I am thinking about doing) I would go with a NEX model that has both Android auto and Apple car play.  The prices have really dropped and I think I would really like the features. I might transfer my existing head unit into my truck.

Cheers!

• Parts List:
  Pioneer TS-A1676R 6.5″ 3-way speaker
  6.5″ speaker adaptor
  Toyota wire adaptors

The post Installing Pioneer TSA1676R 6.5″ speakers in Toyota Yaris and review. appeared first on MyRandomTechBlog.com.

Yaris Cupholder part numbers

When I went to look for a replacement I had a little trouble finding the part numbers. So thought I would share them in case anyone else runs across this issue.

Drivers side cupholder (Left) part # : 55618-52050-B0
Passenger side cupholder (Right) part # : 55619-52030-B0

Disclaimer: This post is for entertainment purposes only. I am not responsible if you damage your car or injure yourself if you try to follow what I did. If you are unsure on what you are doing please seek out a professional to assist. (I am not a professional mechanic 🙂 )

Here is a picture of my broken Yaris cupholder.

So searching the net I found the part number I needed and got a new one ordered. It was ~50 bucks shipped. I needed the drivers side, which was part #  55618-52050-B0 . Be careful as the part number is slightly different between the right and left side cupholders.

Here is the cupholder after being removed from the box.

Opening the package I was glad to see it was what I needed.

Now to remove the old one, Since the upper brackets were already broke, I just had to pop the old one out by releasing the clips on the bottom. I circled them below.

I just used a screwdriver and was not worried about scratching anything. I thought about wrapping it with tape to be more careful. But I was not worried about it.

Not very exciting, but here is me removing the left clip…

Then I did the same with the right clip.  Wow, does that cupholder look gross. I need to give the car a good detail.

Now just shove the hook portions into the associated holes and push the clips on for the bottom and it is installed. Pretty easy fix and I have a place for my morning coffee again.

Anyways… That’s it… here are the part numbers again…. Enjoy your Yaris!  I love mine. Its a great commuter car.

Drivers side cupholder (Left) part # : 55618-52050-B0
Passenger side cupholder (Right) part # : 55619-52030-B0

The post Toyota Yaris dashboard cupholder replacement. (Hatchback) appeared first on MyRandomTechBlog.com.

I wish I would have done it earlier as it was really an easy fix. I thought I would post a couple pictures to show how I did it. It was really easy to remove the old and insert the new one without taking apart the dash. On a side note my 4runner is at 281,000 miles and still running strong.

Disclaimer: This post is for entertainment purposes only. If you are unsure how to do this you should seek professional assistance. I am not a professional mechanic. 

Ok, now that the disclaimer is taken care of 🙂

I ordered mine on Ebay as I did not initially see them on Amazon. But that was really because my Amazon search did not include the part number (55620-35050). Amazon does indeed carry them if you search for that part number last I checked.

Here is my broken 4runner cupholder.

I actually had popped in the new one, then realized I should probably snap a few pictures to share, so I put the old one back in for these pictures and example. It is really just a couple minute job. But you will see some scratches by the clips on the new one and that is why.

If you look at the image you can see the cupholder has a couple tabs that need to be released to pull out the old one.

To accomplish this you just need a thin tool to insert above the cupholder to release the clips. This could be a putty knife or what I used was a ruler that was about 1/16″ thick. First I released the right side by inserting the ruler and pulling on the old cupholder.

Then I inserted the ruler on the left side and pulled. The cupholder then released and came out.

Once the old cupholder was removed, I was able to just push in the new one.

I was really surprised at how easy it was. Hopefully this new one lasts 280,000 miles as well.

Hope you find this useful. It’s really nice having my cupholder back.

The post Installing dashboard cupholder in 98 4runner. (55620-35050) appeared first on MyRandomTechBlog.com.

My Subaru is a 2015 Impreza with a 2.0L engine.

Anyways I have had it in to be looked at a couple times by Subaru under warranty and they did find something each time. Once they had found a slight seep from EGR cooler and replaced it, then another time they found some coolant seeping by the coolant hose for the transmission cooler by the crossover pipe. I have not noticed the smell as much lately ( it has been colder out), but when I was just changing my oil, I noticed it was a little low again. So I filled it back up to the middle of the low and high marks while cold.

Does anyone else have this issue? I have no other problems, but it just seems odd to be topping off the coolant every 4-6 months. Even though its not much. My other cars never need this done.  The jug of coolant should last me many years, but I still wonder where its going.

This is my first Subaru and if you have any insight on it please let me know.  I have googled and found others with the same issue on a few different Subaru models. But did not find anything definitive.

Thanks

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