Hi eveyone! I just sold my Subaru Outback and moved up (I hope) to a 2001 S80 with the 2.9 six.
Since the purchase, I have had numerous comments stating I was going to be sorry for that move. My wife and I have never owned such a luxurious car and hope these stories of mechanical failure are hogwash. I just drove the car from Tulsa to Virginia and back and the car perfomed past my expectations in both the ride and comfort as well as fuel milage(30-32mpg). Can someone tell me what I can expect from this car. Does this year model have extensive problems?
Billy

 

Is anyone out there or am I alone in this forum?

 

You might have a throttle body issue at sometime.There is supposed to be a recall soon for it.

Some of them experience transmission problems as well.But it is hit and miss.Some cars are great for 100,000 miles and some have minor problems with 20,000 miles on them.

Overall a good car and most people I know love their car.

 

Thanks tech, I will be watching for the recall.

 

It might take a little while to come out but it is supposed to.

 

I wonder if the problems are related? I misdiagnosed hard shifting as a tranny problem when it was really just a very sticky throttle. The Cadillac transmission they put in the early U.S. S80s seems OK to me anyways. Maybe I just got lucky and got a good one, I dunno. Still need to remove the throttle module to clean other side of body though, as car is drive-by-wire. Whatta pain... anyone know proper torque for those four bolts when reattaching? I suffer from 300 lb gorilla syndrome and have a tendency to break bolts off in all sorts of inconvenient places. So "tighten until snug" directions don't work so well for me. [] At least it's not a turbo, and 2003 2.9L just has a flexible hose with a couple clamps between MAF and ETM. Everything up to there is squeaky clean now anyways. I sucked about a pint of beach sand out of the air filter box. [:'(]

 

I guess 18 ft-lb should be about right.

 

Dang, that was easy. I read instructions for a T6 and got worried. Literally took me five minutes. Bolts came off easily, and when reattaching 18 ft-lbs seemed like a lot. So I turned the torque wrench down to lowest setting of 10 ft-lbs. I don't hear any leaks and car runs great.

I also didn't feel like risking throwing a code or not waiting long enough for the car to go into "sleep mode" or whatever it's called, so I didn't disconnect the battery or control module or anything like that. Instead I hung the entire assembly with a thin piece of rope from one of the hood latches/loops. Two hose clams and four blots later, and I'm cleaning the other side of the throttle body. Installation exact reverse of removal. It really is that simple, on a 2003 2.9L non-turbo anyways.