club.liberty.asn.au

Hi Guys and Gals?

An update on my sticky and cracking dash:
The Wrecker that the Subaru dealer pointed me to turned out to be a no go as the before photos of the installed dash were good, yet the second lot of photos I asked for before parting with the full price of the removed dash revealed cracks sadly.
I again approached the Subaru dealer in Lismore NSW 2480 and requested an inspection. Not interested, car is too old out of warranty etc etc. Some dealers are at least taking us the buying public seriously others are stone walling. I for one will not consider buying any car from this dealer in the future.
On Checking eBay Onboost (http://www.onboostautoparts.com.au/) had a listing for a MY08 GT dash pad for $250 plus $45 freight, after a phone call and payment the dash arrived via TNT 3 days later, very well packed and true to their word a pristine dash and air bag. On discovering the air bag recall I checked my current and the new to be installed dash Vin numbers with the dealer to see if either were in the recall batch. As luck would have it neither are effected. The airbag recalls are Vin number related according to the Service manager that handled my inquiry also they have nil stock of the necessary new airbags at this dealer.

Question time:
To those that have removed MY08 dash pads. How do I go about removing the two windscreen pillar covers that also hold the dash pad in place? As far as I can see these windscreen pillar pads stop the rear of the dash pad being lifted to allow access to the center speaker connections also the a/c sensor that also has to be removed or disconnected and transferred to the new dash pad> I have also failed the test in unplugging the passenger airbag from its harness. I have checked with two of the local smash repair places with no luck, and hints would be much appreciated. Given the fragile nature of some of the panels I am reluctant to go in GUNG-HO for fear of the damage bill

As I have time on my hands, I have take this down time to install a reversing camera into the SatNav, after a false start with a Pal camera a dual NTSC/PAL camera. Fixed the problem. This became a need to after visiting a local Auto Detailed in the search for a solution to my stocky dash problem a tradesman parked a low bin directly behind my car with a resulting $300 damage bill owing to the blind spot.
Led reversing lights, brake lights, parking and LED blinker can have also gone in.

After putting the spec B over 2000klms of our wonderful and poorly maintained county roads I feel that after bottoming out and bouncing from mid corner bumps way too much. What are my alternatives to a softer yet controllable ride to take the stress off my fillings from the hard landings. I have in a previous life had other fast cars that have had Koni, Bilstein Shelby and Pedders shocks and springs. All were set up towards heavy shocks and light springs rally style driving. I recently set up a 2000 v6 Camry with Whiteline suspension rubbers and pins also front and rear anti roll bars plus Kings gas front and back shocks and raised springs for some light off road use when camping and bush walking as my back up vehicle. This transformed my "Mums Taxi" to a very nice touring vehicle with very predictable road manners wet or dry.

What are your experiences with softer suspension on our second class roads ??

Any feedback on these questions would be appreciated.

Have you got the Subaru Service Manual that can be downloaded free as a PDF? You can find it on the forum. It goes through every step with diagrams.

Wow, that was lucky to have both VINs unaffected. From what I've heard, no dealer will have stock of airbags until at least March next year.

The A Pillar covers have one round plastic clip near the middle, and the later ones like your 08 have a metal clip near the top. You need to insert a flat blade screwdriver or similar into the top, to push down and compress the clip - then it just pops out.
I didn't have my dash out far enough to do the centre speaker (only lifted it out to recover things from behind it). The service manual doesn't seem to cover it either actually.
The Airbag connectors are tricky, but keep trying - you just have to push down the retaining clip and they'll come apart. They just need a fair bit of force.

Maybe just a swap with non SpecB spring and shocks? You could get a set cheaply from the wreckers. I don't know the exact difference in specification, but SpecBs are known to ride firmer. And STI Libertys are even harsher on the STI springs.

Tom, thanks so much for your pointers .
With right angle needle nose piers the airbag clip popped straight undone. The A pillar covers took a little more, but thanks to your pointers they popped
off in 5 minutes. With those both out of the way and the front speaker wire and the A/C sensor unhooked the dash came out in about 15 mins top.

Just a tip that seemed to work for me: Sards wonder oxyplus spray stain remover on the A pillar black tide marks from the old dash work a wonder.
I sprayed the stains and left them to soak for 15 mins then gave them a brisk rub with a clean cloth with clean water and the stains were very much reduced after the stains dried out.

No problem. Good to hear!

BIG NEWS UPDATE!
just received a call back from Subaru Customer Service regarding my sticky dash, cracks and white all over it.
they will be replacing it free of change including labour due to the time restraint and 'out of goodwill'.
they have forwarded the information regarding the issue to my local dealer to have parts ordered in, and will be in contact to book it in to get it done in the near future.
great result.

That's great news!
We'll see if that translates to an Australia-wide policy.

Kids got me a dash mat for Christmas.... out of sight out of mind!

How did you go with the new dash? Subaru Australia just rang me and booked me in this morning with my local dealer, he said it was the worst he has seen took all the photos and sent it off for warranty so just have to play the waiting game now

I got a call from Subaru Darwin today as they finally got my new dash in stock. They will replace under warranty. I have to travel over 300kms to have it done and they tell me it'll take them 2 full days. What a croxk. Means i have to take 3 days off work to account for travel as i dont travel at night due to so mich wildlife.

I told them i will take everything out apart from the dash cluster and the dash itself. Maybe leave the air con module in as its hot. I reckon this will cut down on time and theres no way they can tell me it'll take 2 days after that. Id love to look up the recommended time allowance for the techs.

At least they're doing something about it i suppose. I just emailed Subaru Australia directly and they got straight onto it. I did have to follow up with the dealer numerous times as most places are pretty bad at making phonecalls up here unfortunately.

Brunsy3.0 wrote:I got a call from Subaru Darwin today as they finally got my new dash in stock. They will replace under warranty. I have to travel over 300kms to have it done and they tell me it'll take them 2 full days. What a croxk. Means i have to take 3 days off work to account for travel as i dont travel at night due to so mich wildlife.

I told them i will take everything out apart from the dash cluster and the dash itself. Maybe leave the air con module in as its hot. I reckon this will cut down on time and theres no way they can tell me it'll take 2 days after that. Id love to look up the recommended time allowance for the techs.

At least they're doing something about it i suppose. I just emailed Subaru Australia directly and they got straight onto it. I did have to follow up with the dealer numerous times as most places are pretty bad at making phonecalls up here unfortunately.

The removal and install is a 6-7 hour job. I haven't heard of anyone's taking more than a day or being requested to leave for more than a day. Most people have had to take theirs back to get small issues rectified so be prepared to have to book in again. I would be disputing the 2 day turnaround, or change your date and tell them to not book so many oil changes in!

CAAD7 wrote:

Brunsy3.0 wrote:I got a call from Subaru Darwin today as they finally got my new dash in stock. They will replace under warranty. I have to travel over 300kms to have it done and they tell me it'll take them 2 full days. What a croxk. Means i have to take 3 days off work to account for travel as i dont travel at night due to so mich wildlife.

I told them i will take everything out apart from the dash cluster and the dash itself. Maybe leave the air con module in as its hot. I reckon this will cut down on time and theres no way they can tell me it'll take 2 days after that. Id love to look up the recommended time allowance for the techs.

At least they're doing something about it i suppose. I just emailed Subaru Australia directly and they got straight onto it. I did have to follow up with the dealer numerous times as most places are pretty bad at making phonecalls up here unfortunately.

The removal and install is a 6-7 hour job. I haven't heard of anyone's taking more than a day or being requested to leave for more than a day. Most people have had to take theirs back to get small issues rectified so be prepared to have to book in again. I would be disputing the 2 day turnaround, or change your date and tell them to not book so many oil changes in

mine was dropped off at 8am and only just ready at 5:30pm the next day....

Wow, that's slow! They must be doing services in between. Because I removed and refitted my dash in a day (I'd say 7-8h). And that was my first time and I'm usually pretty slow because I do things meticulously.
To be fair I didn't fully remove the dash, but it was fully loose with everything incl Airbag disconnected. I just needed to get to some things that had fallen behind the dash, but it wouldn't have been more than another 5min to lift it out of the car.

Yeah i call bullshit on 2 days.

This weekend im gonna tear evwrything out besides the dash, cluster and steering wheel. It'l be a 15min job by the time they get it

Brunsy3.0 wrote:Yeah i call bullshit on 2 days.

This weekend im gonna tear evwrything out besides the dash, cluster and steering wheel. It'l be a 15min job by the time they get it

well they had the car for 2 days so that can't be bullshit, but yes i do call bullshit to them working on it constantly for 2 days, probs were doing other jobs inbetween...

Anyone had this addressed lately ?
I had Subaru Aus respond to a tweet I posted last week and asked me to obtain an independent report about the dash. Sounds like they want to help.