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Wow - this has been dogging you for more than a year? Awful. This is not going to be easy. It's easy to say "look for a bad ground". It's quite another to find it. Get the drawings for your exact model and year, because here minor variations count. Then trace every ground and +12V wire, and make sure that both the wire itself and the terminations are good. Here's the example I usually cite: I had a 1997 Jeep Grand Cherokee before moving to Subarus. Ran great for years, until the high-miles motor blew (rod through block). Then it sat over a winter until I dropped in a new engine in the spring. When I started it up again, all of the electricals were wonked out. Turning on the stereo affected the wipers. The lights affected the heater. All of this unrelated stuff was suddenly functionally coupled in the most chaotic manner. I bought the big thick book for that year's model from Chrysler and started tracing wires. Eventually I found that where the big harness passed through the firewall (in the most inaccessible spot, of course), a tiny pinhole in the insulation on a +12V wire had let in enough moisture over time to corrode clean through the copper conductor. Absent that supply line, a bunch of stuff found alternate supply paths - through other things, the result being that both were semi-powered and acted nuts. The lesson is that because the effects were so random and crazy, it would have been a waste of time to try to think them through - you just have to check every wire that can have that kind of global effect, what we call "exhaustive search". The other example is a simpler one: After I had the motor out of my (first) '99 Outback for I-forget-what, the AT got all kooky - the shift points were all over the place. Everything else in the car was fine. Turned out that I hadn't tightened down that big, most-obvious-ground-in-car ground lug on top of the intake. Tightened it and all was well. So the effects can can be globally insane, or just localized to some weird thing.

My problem was a stupid radiator cap and how it fit (improperly) to the filler neck. The cap seemed to fit great when I installed it but unseen by me was the fact that when it was installed, the overflow relief spring was fully compressed and therefore, would not allow excess pressure to vent to the overflow bottle. It was basically a radiator cap with no safety relief whatsoever. I had just installed a new radiator, new cap, new clamps, all new hoses, new thermostat and new temp sensor but had to stay with the original heater core as it was not blocked and working fine until then. Guess which part split open when the coolant pressure was unable to vent? Note: I bought the radiator and cap from the same vendor who showed them as a correct fit but clearly they were wrong. Moral of the story here is to carefully check the fitment of your radiator cap to the filler neck. Half the stuff being sold online these days shows as "compatible" when it isn't and it cost me a heater core repair, which is a nightmare. After that mess, I got one of those radiator cap testers and confirmed that the cap released pressure properly. I also used a caliper to confirm the depth of the sealing ring within the radiator filler neck and compared it to the requirements of the radiator cap.

Not looking into the diff; it's just sitting on a jackstand (because we had no intention of messing with that) and hard to see in there. But the CV came out of it with a "reasonable" amount of prying, so my inference is that it's fine. I just don't know how to proceed with putting this joint back together. Obviously, Haynes can't be trusted absolutely, but prior experience with the older-style CV - and common sense - say that there should be a retaining ring... and a groove to hold it. So I'm kind of stuck.

Glad you got it worked out. To hot not to have a/c.

Proud owner of a new '83 GL just checking into the forums.

Picked up 5, spoked wagon wheels last night from a guy in Nashville that came off his BringATrailer Brat. Got a great deal as the tires are like new and Kuhmos. Dude even hooked me up with the spare tire retaining screw that I was missing. I was sad to see the retaining plastic rings are discontinued from Subaru. Guess I'm going to have to find someone to 3D print me some. https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1024984#files

It should have a groove with a C clip in there. And very odd that it doesn’t have one. If there’s no groove that’s even more odd. Can you see a groove internally in the diff? There should be one in there. Cheers Bennie

^ plausible!

I should add, it's just my *theory* that not having a reservoir makes them crack. I've had a lot of problems with them cracking, and here's what I decided: With no reservoir, the radiator always runs with a bubble on top. Even if you fill it to the brim, when it warms up and expands, it'll push coolant out the cap, and pull air in when it cools. At idle, the bubble is at the top of the radiator. Coolant entering the upper hose at low velocity drops by gravity and slowly flows through the tubes, with the top couple tubes filled with air from the bubble. At throttle, the high-velocity coolant against the resistance of the tubes causes coolant to flow through all the tubes, including the top ones, and the bubble is pushed to the outlet side of the radiator. You can see this if you look down the cap with it running - the level drops when you give it any throttle. So, at throttle, the top tubes are filled with hot coolant, and are hot. As soon as you go to idle, and the bubble moves into them, the airflow over the radiator instantly cools the tubes down to air temperature. Then you give it throttle, and they get filled back with hot coolant, and instantly heat to coolant temperature. Then you go back to idle, and they drain and instantly cool to air temperature. And paper thin aluminum can only take so many 100 degree temperature cycles every few seconds before cracking... especially since when they cool, they contract against the force of the rest of the hot tubes expanding the tanks apart... I couldn't find any other claims about this when I extensively searched for info on them cracking - just lots of other people having mysterious cracks in fairly new expensive radiators. So, with no other competing theories, I'll go with the one I came up with!

I got a universal stainless steel one on ebay. Google, ebay, or amazon for universal coolant reservoir, universal coolant tank, and searches like that. There's tons of nice-looking ones available.

Got a source on those? All I can find is references to swayaway, which seems to be out of business...

I've been awfully quiet, not even lurking, just in one of those not-many-car-problems periods, which is fine with me. But now I'm back with a question. Daughter and I set out to change a couple of ball joints on her '03 Forester today. They were, of course, a PITA to get out, and at this point one is changed. But we ran into a bit of nastiness in the process: The inner CV pulled apart, which was a really rude surprise. I'm accustomed to the older cylindrical type that are roll-pinned to the diff shaft. This one just presses in and the housing is hexagonal. But the shaft and tri-pot roller assembly just pulled out of the housing. Haynes says there's supposed to be a retaining ring in there, but there's no groove for one. So do you just have to be careful never to tension one of these type, because all that's keeping it together is the boot, and if it slides off, you're SOL?

Wow - 2019. So many cars since then. Nice that I indicated which it was, otherwise I'd just be guessing. The '01 Forester must have been my daughters' car at the time, since sold, they briefly had a Jeep, then unloaded it in favour of one or both of the Subarus (one '03 Forester, one not-sure Legacy) they have now. I'm perfectly happy with all of the Mahles I've used. In fact, I think that one set I bought was actually of Subaru manufacture, according to the logo on the gaskets. So yeah, I think they're fine.

Here's how I set up my valve. I planned to get a proper piece of EPDM hose and a fitting but there's nothing more permanent than a functional temporary fix. The stock hose does fit on the "rear" fitting, but I also used a tight hose clamp. I soldered the wires to the terminals in the polarity you see in the photos. Red (with the blue heat shrink) is +. In the engine harness connector, the top terminal closest to the connector hook (latch thingy) is -, the bottom vertical terminal is +. :]

I had to replace my EGR solenoid as well. I used an AISIN VST-026. The fittings for the hoses is a bit too small, but you could adapt it by wrapping electrical tape around the solenoid fitting or get a smaller piece of tube and a fitting to adapt it to the stock hose. The AISIN part isn't cheap, but I've heard they outlast the Toyota's they're made for, and that's not too shabby. I'll post a photo later tonight to show the wiring. It's + & - even I can do it.

So, what does most people use for the overflows now? Mt. Dew bottle zipped into place? Rather use something that looks somewhat factory.

Ok, I was finally able to figure out which connections would allow me to pull codes. The last owners seem to have done some interesting wiring changes so the typical connections were not available. I'm getting code 34 and 21 (I wish I had figured out the wiring sooner). These codes would confirm the EGR solenoid and coolant temp sensor are having issues. Just checked and both are getting power but the components have failed. RockAuto has the coolant sensors in stock for a reasonable price. The EGR solenoids seem to be elusive at best but I've heard it's possible to simply bypass with a direct line and some resistors. I've also read you can use old Toyota solenoids but it looks like the threads referencing this have a link to a website that no longer exists. Does anyone have a walkthrough on either the bypass or Toyota solenoid solutions? Cheers!

Wow, did not realize they were heavier.

I ordered some wire and terminals for the big three mod to see if that helps a little as well.

I went to start the car this morning and got a couple dim and blinking lights on the dash. No cabin lights and the car wouldn't start. Battery is charged and it drove fine yesterday

Just wait until you get into torsion bar specs. Brumby/brat are heavier than the wagon. And a mob over your way makes new ones that are 30% stiffer from what I’ve heard. Cheers Bennie

Pressure switch is forward just off the condenser in the HP line. I unplugged it, jumped it the plug and the AC worked. Plugged it back in and the AC works. A little corrosion cleaned maybe. It's so tight up front you can't see the connector very well. We'll see what happens! Thanks to all.

You're not the only one. I fortunately, didn't spend much time directly under the brats that I owned. If anyone has any spare parts, shoot me a PM.

Hrmm, I could have sworn the 2wd still had it, but it's been so long since I've seen one, I seem to be mis-remembering!