BMCracer

Since I had my car butchered by Winger Sublab East Tamaki, I've finally fixed everything and put all the screws back where they should be and cleaned and refitted all the trims properly. Now the airbag light keeps coming on at random times, and takes a while to go out, sometimes up to 10 minutes, so I'm guessing they didn't plug it in properly? Anyone know where the plug is exactly, and how I can access it without pulling the whole dash out? Can I get to it if I pull the glovebox or the centre air vent / cubby out?

Sorry to hear that. Sounds like a right pos that needs a visit from your "mates" when you locate her.

Any updates on this? Did you get your money, or have their arse hauled to jail?

OK so it's update time. I got a powered 4 port hub, and plugged that into the dc/dc convertor, and then fed the Tactrix and the Nexus from it. and you know what, finally it works!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The battery doesn't drain 30% overnight. Now when the car is parked during the day at work, or overnight at home, it loses 3% at worst, but most times either nothing or 1%. So a big thanks to Andy_Mac for that tip. Tonight I put in the FSL21 unit I got from Japan via Import Monster, the Beringer 202 I got from ebay, and also ran a USB extension lead to the centre console ( from the 4 port hub ) so either charge a phone in emergency, but more to be able to upload music to the Nexus without having to pull the dash to bits. So it's 99% there, I just need to figure out why google maps doesn't work offline most of the time.

OK thanks. That will be fun to get to...........

2007 facelift legacy, Spec B with the headlight washers. When you turn the headlights on, the green headlight symbol comes on on the cluster above the tacho and speedo to show the lights are on. Except now it doesn't. I thought maybe it stopped coming on to indicate I had a blown bulb somewhere, but I checked tonight and they all seem to be working fine ( parkers, low beam, tail lights ). Any ideas?

OK, Had the nexus in and out of the car more times than I care to count. Last 4 days before it's flat. So I disabled as many apps as I could, turned other stuff off, basically had as little as possible available to run. Didn't make squat difference. Then I had a thought the other morning at 2am, as you do. When it's in the lounge charging, and I unplug the power for a day to test it, it loses 2% maximum ( over about 14 hours ). The only difference between when it's in the car and when it's the lounge, is that the BtSsm isn't plugged in to the Nexus. So last night I put the Nexus back in the car, and this morning it hadn't lost any charge. So I enabled all the apps again, turned on google maps again and turned on location again. Then today after work, it hadn't lost any charge either. So it looks like the BtSsm is what is draining the battery. But how, why, and what to do to rectify that? I have the OBD2 extension cable plugged into the cars' port in the footwell, and run up in the dash into the device, with the usb cable coming out of it into the OTG Y cable. So as far as I can tell, the car is powering the device through the OBD2 port, becuase when the Nexus is out of the car, the device is still powered because it has lights that change colour like a disco. So the nexus shouldn't be powering it?

So all those settings above are correct? I'll see if I can put an ammeter inline to see if there is any leakage.

This is what the power event manager screen told me this morning: USB Host mode: Active External Power: Yes 1200mA max Charging battery: Yes 52% 734mA Powering slaves: No Fast Charging: yes Firm sleep ( disable wakeup alarms: no Disable secondary USB audio device: No ADB over network port 5555: no Auto activate cam by device detection: no Auto activate cam by FTDI detection: no USBDisk media Server support: no Auto-mount USB drives: no Last screen off duration: 14 hrs 05 min Suspended 100.00% / Awake 0.00% (0.00 sec) Battery charge level / change: 77% -33% =44% External power reconnect counter: 28 Timur's Kernal v4.0 build 105 (c) 2016 Timur Mehrvarz https://timur.mobi

I don't think it's a charging issue, as when it's charging it's always pretty good - I've checked the charging current in the power event manager each time and it's always good, like 0.8 - 1.1A. I think it's more a case of either it's not going to sleep when it suspends, something is still running in the background, or something is draining it somehow. I'll check the on time counter later, might go to the car at morning tea time to check it.

2013 ( second series ) Nexus 7 in a 2007 Legacy. Got a DC/DC step down tranny plugged into the cigerette lighter feed ( no power to cigerette lighter anymore ). USB OTG Y cable into DC/DC output. USB OTG Y cable goes to Nexus. 3rd leg of USB OTG Y cable has the output from the Tactrix. I have the Tactrix with the cable, so cable is plugged into the cars' OBD2 port, not the wireless one. Got Timors ROM on the Nexus, it's in the FI mode, and does the "suspending" thing when the power is taken away ( car turned off ). The Nexus was at 100% last night, 6pm ( had it out of the car for a while but exactly the same thing was happening before ). This morning 6:30 am, it's at 73%. How does it loose 27% just sitting there, supposedly asleep? I drive 25 minutes to work, and it's up to 86%, but will loose another 25%-odd while I'm at work today, small charge on the way home, loose more tonight, so by about Sunday it'll shut itself down due to flat battery, and I'll have to pull it out of the dash to be able to press the power on button once I've recharged it. All I run on it is BtSsm and Google maps ( offline ) at the moment. Any ideas appreciated.

What's a Vti box?

Ok, but how do I clean it?

That was out the other month to get a new windscreen and I don't recall seeing a lot of crap in there, but worth a proper check I guess. I'll check that drain, didn't know about that. Failing everything else, is there any way reasonably easy / simple to clean the coil? or is it a massive job?

2007 Legacy wagon NZ new. Every since I've had it, when you turn the a/c off so it's only running the fan, after a minute or so it starts smelling like a wet dog. Turn the a/c back on and it goes away, turn it off again and the smell comes back. Smell lingers for about 5 minutes. I pulled the glove-box out and pulled out the cabin filter, which wasn't excessively bad, but far from new. Put a brand new filter in, but it didn't change the wet dog smell. So not sure what to try next.

I've got a NZ new 3.0 Spec B auto, and the IAM is very low, like down at 0.125 sometimes. BtSsm picks up lots of knock, and I drive it like a granny. If I put in E10 and reset the ECU, does it need spirited driving, or can / should I just drive it as I normally do? Which mode is better for it to relearn in? I, S, or S# ? I usually have it in S.

It keeps getting worse. Started yesterday afternoon on the car's annual Christmas cleanup. Found 2 screws down between the tunnel and the passengers seat, so some parts somewhere in the dash haven't been screwed back in properly. Then when I was cleaning the back seat ( dust - I've never used it ) there are 2 cuts in the left door trim, and a dent mark in the right arm rest part!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! None of these were there the last time I cleaned the back which was before the airbag got done. So they obviously use the back seat to store stuff when they are doing the airbag job, and just fire stuff in there. So f***ing pissed off with these c***s Pulled the gear lever trim ring out, and sure enough they'd tried to put it in the wrong way which is why it wasn't sitting down correctly at the front. When I had that out, oh look, the tunnel side pieces go over the tunnel behind the gear lever and screw down to keep it all nice and tight. Except when they don't put the screws back in That's probably half the reason why the AUX cable is hanging out the side of the tunnel trim too. While I was sorting that out and tucking the cable in properly, I found ANOTHER trim screw sitting on the tunnel under the black gearlever selector piece ( the round black bit with PRND etc on it ). So once I'd put it all back together and all the screws back in, I've still got 2 screws left over, so they are from somewhere other than the stereo / centre console area. Guess I'll find out where when I pull the whole dash one day to check the replacement airbag is actually bolted in with all its' bolts. The absolute incompetence of the peanut that did my car is just unbelievable. It's also unbelievable they still have a job if this I how they give cars back to people. So if you have even the slightest regard for your car, NEVER GO TO WINGER SUBLAB EAST TAMAKI, because they sure as hell don't.

I looked around here and a couple of other places, and couldn't find a product that was definitely proven to get stuff clean without leaving stains or discolouring it. So I took a punt and tried some Rug Doctor strain remover I had at home for the carpet. Worked a treat!! Spray it on both A pillar trims evenly, leave for a couple of minutes, then lightly scrub in circular pattern with a toothbrush, then rinse off. Had to do each trim piece twice to get all the greasy marks off, but now they are good as new. So this stuff works and doesn't discolour the trim. IMG_2277 by Andrew Metford, on Flickr

Shouldn't that guy be where the feedback page on the Subaru NZ website goes to? In which case he's already got the message I sent to Subaru NZ last week..........

Dealer/Service Centre Name: Winger Sublab East Tamaki Month/Year: December 2018 Category: Recall - Takata Airbag Vehicle: 2007 Legacy Rating: 0 out of 5 Description: Booked car in for airbag recall work. I rang them about a month prior and quizzed them about did they know how to do it without wrecking the dashpad, or damaging anything else. Was told yes they know how to do it without damaging anything, they have done hundreds of them, no worries. Cleaned the dash and interior of the car the day before, so there was no excuses or holdups. Dropped the car off at 8 in the morning, and asked them when they put the dash back in, please leave the central air-vent panel ( the one with the cubby and clock ( facelift car ) out ). No problem. Get a phone call just after midday, car is ready and we've left the radio / ac control panel out as requested. Um no. Had to put them right on that and they said ok we'll refit the radio. I walked down there a couple of hours later and picked up the car. Looks like the dirty pricks had done a suspension job right before they did my car, and didn't wash their hands in between! So the A pillar trim on both sides is covered in dirty greasy hand prints all up and down both sides, as well as a bit onto the head lining. The left A pillar trim isn't clipped in properly. They've managed to put a gouge in the steering wheel ( factory Momo ) in the middle at the top, right where it's staring you right in the face all the time, and, God only knows how, scratched the inside of the windscreen just below the rear view mirror. There are big scratches on the top of the steering column cover ( piece between the steering wheel and the dash ), and the ring around the gear lever ( facelift car ) was not refitted properly and is sitting up proud at the front half. After they've put the dash back in, they haven't bothered to give it and the inside of the windscreen a cursory wipe over to leave it in a state even close to how I gave it to them ( it was spotless ), just chuck it back together as quick as possible and off to wreck the next poor sucker's car. Got to work the next day and opened the door to get out, and the trim panel on the end of the dash fell out, another piece not refitted properly. So I put that back in properly when I got home, and also had to properly refit the lower footwell panel and the plastic trim piece the goes from the lower footwell panel to along the carpet edge on the sill. Spent 1 1/2 hours in the garage cleaning up the interior after this airbag abortion job. Managed to get the scratch / scuff off the inside of the windscreen using coarse glass polish, then did it with fine, then cleaner and finally sealer. Gave the dash a thorough cleaning, tried to get the gear lever trim ring to sit down but no luck, so I'll have to have another go when I've got more time. Only way to fix the column cover is to get a new one. Same for the steering wheel that's got a big nick in it and torn the leather surface. Got to find some kind of decent ulpholstery cleaner now to clean the A pillar trims, I just hope they aren't grease-stained. The other thing is, considering that they screwed up just about everything they touched on my car, have they even fitted the new airbag correctly? Or is that loose or mis-aligned like everything else they touched? Will it work as designed in an accident, or either not work at all or explode and take my head off? I mean, if they can't put some plastic trims back in correctly, how are they going to be able to install an airbag correctly?? Think I might be pulling the dash out myself to give everything a once over. So to sum it up, really REALLY f***ing pissed right off!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! There is no way I will every go back to Sublab East Tamaki for anything every again. My car was even purchased brand new from Winger Subaru, and had it's pre purchase once over done at SubLab East Tamaki ( I know 'cos it's stamped in the service book ). If this is how they treat "their own" cars, how do they treat cars that weren't bought from them?? I emailed Subaru NZ, and 4 business days later have had no reply whatsoever, so that pretty much sums it up for me. They just don't give a s***, and neither do their authorised dealers. Very, very disappointing. Probably my first and last Subaru based on this experience. No good making a nice car if your service is absolutely appalling.

Well your car is probably at least 10 years old, so I don't think another couple of months is going to make any difference. Aren't there about 3 instances of them exploding out of about 5 million of these airbags out there?? You've probably got more chance of winning lotto.

And they obviously don't care about their authorised workshops doing sub standard work either, because they can't be bothered to reply to me. So if you need to get your airbag replaced, stay clear or Winger Sublab in East Tamaki. That's who did mine and made a complete mess of the car.

I know people make mistakes now and then, and no one's perfect. But the number of things they've damaged or not refitted properly on my car is way past the odd slip-up you make now and then. The other thing is, considering that they screwed up just about everything they touched on my car, have they even fitted the airbag correctly? Or is that loose or mis-aligned like everything else they touched? Will it work as designed in an accident, or either not work at all or explode and take my head off? Would you be trusting someone who can't put some plastic trims back in correctly, to work on your airbag that could be the different between you living or dying?

Thank you very much. I will try that tonight.