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Trans and other ?'s, new 2 subaru


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I recently purchased a 99 Forester L for my wife, with the 2.5L and Auto Trans. Coming from a domestic car upbringing, Subaru mechanics are new to me. For starters, there is an electrical connection on the drivers side top of the trans that is leaking. The mechanic at the dealer said this was common, and is from an o-ring. Anyone know a part number for that o-ring? I can't seem to find it at any parts store, so I'm sure I'll have to go to the dealer for it.

 

Also, what kind of things do I need to be looking out for on a Subaru with 93K miles? I'll be going over the car front to back soon, replacing all filters and fluids just to be safe. Also, I was planning on replacing the timing belt and water pump at 100K or so just out of habit, and would love any advice in that area.

 

Thanks for any feedback for a new guy.

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I recently purchased a 99 Forester L for my wife, with the 2.5L and Auto Trans. Coming from a domestic car upbringing, Subaru mechanics are new to me. For starters, there is an electrical connection on the drivers side top of the trans that is leaking. The mechanic at the dealer said this was common, and is from an o-ring. Anyone know a part number for that o-ring? I can't seem to find it at any parts store, so I'm sure I'll have to go to the dealer for it.

 

Also, what kind of things do I need to be looking out for on a Subaru with 93K miles? I'll be going over the car front to back soon, replacing all filters and fluids just to be safe. Also, I was planning on replacing the timing belt and water pump at 100K or so just out of habit, and would love any advice in that area.

 

Thanks for any feedback for a new guy.

You will never find vehicle specific parts like that at the general parts stores, get it from the dealership.

 

I would also change out plugs and wires. I think timing belt is good to 120k, but talk to a shop first.

Since you live in Colorado, there are a ton of great independent Subaru shops. I would recommend you stay away from dealerships. They do not trouble shoot issues at all, just throw parts at it.

 

Welcome to the list!!

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Here’s a list of the stuff I did at 60,000 and it’s probably about what the owners manual called for. It may have already been done on yours, but the only way to be sure the work was done, is to do it yourself now. It may be possible to slip through some of this stuff, but most should be done for sure.

 

I would do an antifreeze replacement every 3 years on this car. I never used to do coolant swaps, but have seen more failures in recent times, with so much more aluminum in use in the cooling systems. I do it every two years now on all my vehicles. I just drain a gallon, and add a gallon of 50/50 mix more or less. I am normally worried about heater core failure, and having to pull out the dashboard, but the rest of the engine cooling system will benefit as well. As the engine is prone to head gasket failures at a greater than normal rate, keeping the coolant fresh can't hurt, and may give an additional benefit here as well.

 

The way the Subaru is made, the engine thermostat is where the bottom radiator hose connects to the water pump. This makes it hard to refill the engine. There is a small screw vent plug at the top passenger side of the radiator, but the trick in engine refill is this:

After getting a good drain on the system, close the drain and add a couple of quarts of mix to the radiator to get started. Next, pull the top radiator hose off at the radiator, and pour coolant down the hose into the engine. That hose connects to a pipe that goes to both sides of the engine. Now with coolant up into the hose a little bit and the engine backfilled, reconnect the upper radiator hose and fill the radiator. You will get it over 90% full doing this, and it’s way easier than any other thing you could do. Now you can run the engine with no danger of overheating. Do a final fill after it’s been fully purged. It drains a bit better with vehicle aimed downhill, and fills a bit better with vehicle aimed uphill, but can be done on the level with no real problems.

 

I did my thermostat while doing the coolant swap, and at every 60,000 miles from now on. If you do replace it, Use a genuine Subaru thermostat (and gasket), it’s an oddball item.

 

You should replace the fuel filter, it’s a real easy swap, located on the drivers side shock tower under the hood. It’s fine to get one from NAPA, or Autozone for this, I used a Subaru filter, as I was already ordering the thermostat and some other stuff anyway. Only trick with the fuel filter is to have the fuel system depressurized. I usually just let the car sit overnight, and it will bleed down pretty good. A bit of gasoline will come out, so be careful.

It’s necessary to replace the spark plugs. I like NGK plugs, but any double platinum is probably OK. For my engine, NGK were $10 each at advance auto and $15 everywhere else. There are good alternatives you may want to pursue, Best alternative is probably an Autolite Double Platinum APP3924 (A bigger Wal Mart may sell these, ours only had the single platnum AP3924). I believe these are about $5 apiece. Another choice would be a Denso (ND or Nippondenso) PK20PR11. I think these might be near equal to the NGK, and list for about $10 each. I decided I was not going to pay $15 each, but hated going with another brand. (I like NGK or DENSO in Japanese engines, and Autolite in American brands). I found that advanced auto sold the PFR5B-11 discounted to $10 each, and that is what I got. The Autolite would be fine to use, in any case, these are all probably a special order, call ahead one day ahead of time from your supplier. All these plugs are double platinum design and are gapped to .044", use anti-seize compound on the threads here and any other time you are threading steel into aluminum.

 

Replace the air filter element now and maybe every 40,000 to 60,000 thereafter with a Fram from Walmart, or really any brand you care to use. The cover is tricky to get on and off, so take your time with it. There is about a 1" diameter hose that comes off the bottom of the big rubber hose up to the engine throttle. The 1" hose likes to pull off doing this filter and the motor will not run with it disconnected, so be careful to slip it back together. This stuff all has to come off to do the spark plugs, so that’s soon enough to do it for now.

 

Subaru recommends replacing the front and rear differential fluids every 60,000 miles. I’ve never changed gear oil on a car, but decided to do it on this one because of the way the all wheel drive system works. The back is very conventional with a drain and a fill/check level pipe plug. The front differential is between the engine and the transmission, and has a yellow handled dipstick on the passenger side of the motor back by the firewall. The front drain plug is on the drivers side in front of the drive axle. Use an 80W-90 GL-5 gear oil, this is the most common variety. The front holds 1.3 qt. and the rear holds 0.8 qt. I had a tire store do this, because the car needs to be lifted while level to get the levels correct.

 

I also changed the automatic transmission fluid, once every 60,000 miles should be fine for this service. The filter is external and is a screw on type (99 and up). The Filter is not normally replaced and is a bit expensive if you do replace it. The transmission has a drain plug so the pan does not need to be removed. You can’t get a 100% drain on any automatic transmission, so either do a drain and refill and then drive a bit and do it all over again, or have a professional flush done, or be satisfied with only a partial change. That is a lot more than most people do.

 

The brake fluid should be changed about every five years on all cars, but nobody ever does it. What happens is brake fluid absorbs moisture from the atmosphere, and becomes corrosive. It is especially hard on aluminum. These cars have an aluminum master cylinder, and an aluminum ABS regulator. The latter is probably an $800 part if I had to guess. Fluid replacement is quick and fairly easy to do, one quart of DOT-3 brake fluid (the regular stuff) will be needed. Takes two people and all four wheels have to be briefly removed. Manual says to bleed at each wheel till clean fluid is visible, do in order, Passenger Front, Driver Rear, Driver Front, and finally, Passenger Rear. Suck the old out of the top and put in new first thing, then make sure you keep adding fluid to the reservoir as you bleed to prevent getting air into the system.

 

I would change the oil now, to be sure it was done, A refill is supposed to be 4.8 quarts including filter. I use Purolator 14460 oil filters which are sold by advanced auto for a couple bucks. The factory oil filters are made by Purolator, so why not? The engine oil drain is on the sheetmetal pan just under the engine. To avoid confusion with the other two drain plugs which are much farther back on the transmission. It is easy to do the drain and the filter on these cars, they are close to the front, and you can even reach them without jacking up the car. The oil dipstick on the other hand never seems to read right, always lingering oil from the dipstick tube messing up the reading.

The timing belt interval is 105,000 miles by the way, and it's important to have it done on schedule. I would replace the water pump at this time, as it's driven by the timing belt and should it fail, it is the same as a timing belt failure, which is bad. You may find a bad timing belt idler at this time, but probably not. It is important to service the oil pump when doing the timing belt too. The pump itself does not fail, but has three potential leak paths, and oil leaks are a bear on these engines. The major source is the lip seal that rubs on the shaft and is pressed into the front of the pump. With the belt out of the way, it is easy to remove the pump and replace the o-ring between it and the block. There are several screws on the back of the pump that have been known to work loose, It is best to clean and loctite them in place to prevent any future loosening. The pump body itself is then glued to the front of the engine block using a grey engine assembly RTV sealant. That should take care of the work you would be likely to do in the near future.

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The service intervals that NOMAD327 posted seem to differ a bit from what's in my manual, so I will just add that you should follow the severe service interval for service items as dictated by your owner's manual. Very few people qualify for the normal service interval, so I would err on the side of caution and use severe service.

 

The outback is my wife's car. She drives 30k a year. I do the following annually:

 

Coolant

Tranny fluid and filter

Front and rear diffs (75w-90 synthetic)

Brake fluid

PS fluid if I remember

PCV valve

 

I change the air filter every 15k which is the severe service interval for the outback. We live on a dirt road. I think 30k is the normal service interval. I would not go beyond 30k.

 

The brake pad guides should be lubricated about every 15k.

 

I recommend using only OEM parts. I tried a parts store air filter in the outback and it would not fit. Learned my lesson.

 

To depressurize the fuel system, remove the fuel pump fuse and start the car.

 

I offer this not as a guide to car maintanence, as I am completely insane regarding car maintanence, but as a point of reference.

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