Subarus: Playa Damage - feralcoder/shared GitHub Wiki

Top Level Public Wiki: feralcoder shared I do car, sewing, wood, and other work in my SHOP One level up: Car Work

FUCKING BURNERS

What part of "the playa will destroy your car" don't you understand? Wrap your car!

WRAP YOUR CAR!

EVERYTHING CAKED IN PLAYA

My old Subie, the 2005 Outback. This is why it's my "beater", my "off road toy". Because all of its plastic is already shot, it smells like dust, and because I expect to have every bolt out at some point.

Maybe it was a multi-year burn vehicle, or maybe it just lived in an alkali desert, but I literally scooped cups-full of caustic mud out of my doors. I had to completely disassemble all my doors' internals, including removing all window, sound, motor, all internal assemblies. And I hosed out the doors, with a garden hose, and the bottom drains were clogged with hardened clay, so I was scooping thick mud out of my doors with a plastic cup. All of my doors. Same idea behind all my panels, everywhere, inside and out.

Every time I removed a suspension component for the first time, flip a coin, a bolt may have been previously cross-threaded or otherwise neglected. I've dismantled everything, recovered or replaced all the threads, except for 1 which I need to rebuild somehow in the middle of my crossmember. It's in a sheet metal suspension component with limited backing nut, so my options are limited... There's another bolt there, and the assembly's not at risk of coming apart (under non-crash conditions), but I can hear it creaking underneath me.

2024 Update: I have removed almost all suspension, brake, steering, and maybe soon all transmission and AWD-related bolts. I've pulled out and restored everything in the doors and cabin save the dash. It no longer smells like dust. You can now appreciate all the subtle nuances of cracking-but-oily dash plastic and orange crumble seat foam.

ELECTROMECHANICAL DAMAGE

All exposed electrical components have corroded and failed, including every window motor, door switches, and multiple door lock servos.

Engine electronics and mechanics have had high failure rate: I've replaced all coils, lower emissions sensors, and a couple under-hood connectors, due to corrosion. The coils were all ruptured, some spectacularly, and I'm sure that's why I need a new catalytic convertor.

Internal electronics have also been glitchy to broken - window and lock controls which could not be activated or which would not turn off. Windows which would sometimes work - leaving you parking in the Tenderloin with a down window, or driving on highway 80 in Way Out Nevada in a blizzard (happened (sucked)).

Even center console button/control issues. I've sprayed cleaners and chemicals into my dash trying to make problems go away, and they have...?

Grease everywhere was compromised by clay intrusion. Multiple windows would not roll down, for example, because their slides were full of hardened bentonite clay. I dismantled every door component for thorough cleaning and greasing with appropriate lubes. While everything worked better, all of the motors were flaky, failing at different points.

As with the window scissors and slides, the lock mechanics were fully seized, contributing to a couple servo failures, too.

2024 Update: Most problems are stably resolved, except for a slot parasitic draw when everything's off. I have checked EVERY circuit at the fuse boxes and haven't caught a draw in the act. I'm wondering if it's not just conductivity over surface dust caked into connectors. If I leave it parked a couple of months it depletes the battery, so I've added a battery cutoff switch and a high-durability AGM battery. Otherwise the electrical issues have been hammered out.

HEAT DESTRUCTION

Plastic and rubber everywhere, as well as all under-hood insulation, were destroyed.

All suspension bushings were shot. I pull all suspension off the car to burn out the old bushings, restore the now totally heat-damaged parts surfaces, and press in new poly-urethane bushings. The results were very satisfying.