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I believe those are just plugs that cover openings for sand to exit internal cavities after the casting process. Similar to the mini "freeze plugs" on the oil pumps.

And can still happen in an automatic too when bypassing the starter switches involved with an auto. Dad used to have a bad habit of leaving our old ‘71 Torana in drive when he got home after work. One weekend he asked me to move it out of the old wooden farm shed. I didn’t know he bypassed the starter switch when it wasn’t in anything but P and N. Being an old carb fed engine it needed some pumping and revs to keep it going which I was accustomed to - and in this case I almost drove it through the back wall of the shed! Gave me the fright of my life. When I told Dad he shrugged it off and made it out to be my issue because I didn’t check to see if it was in Park or Neutral before stating the engine. My comeback was “who does that unless it doesn’t start?!” So yes, an auto can still be bypassed and start in gear unless there is another part of the system in play - so you need your foot on the brake for it to start?

2026 we’re scraping and scrounging. Couple of hints. Old school Beck Arnley parts are often a genuine Subaru part in their wrapper. But not B/A made the last couple of decades. If you hunt eBay look close and be try to be sure it’s not made these last 20 years or so. I mean those probably aren’t really bad but certainly they begin to play the no name deal with bearings etc. Atsugi and Paraut pumps and clutches you can’t go wrong. They were also suppliers to Subaru. Match up any old dealers still in existence with your old dealer locator manual included with the owners manual packet from the 70s / 80s. Call after saying a prayer. Akebono - brake parts Tokico - suspension sometimes those will yield some hits and they are also factory suppliers.

Subaru says to repack every 60,000 miles or 5 years, whichever comes first... I don't do that... I repack them every new CV joint, which comes well before either of those! lol Did you put in new seals last time you did the bearings?

Nope. It's an 84. it has the honeycomb grill where the 83 would have a horizontal. I had an 83 Brat in the same color as well.

Thank you. That's what I thought but was puzzled by the short life. I greased them up good and filled the cavity ten years ago but I have not greased them since and the car gets driven through icy water a lot. I ordered the new bearings and seals today. I have a seal driver set. I snowmobile in to my cabin in the winter so I'm hoping they might last until spring but I kind of doubt it. Yesterday when I cranked the axle nut enough to gain another hole in the castle nut it seemed to tighten them up a little. If they wear down and loosen up again I'll change them out. That just means that I'll be doing it in the snow on the side of the road where I park in the winter. But hey it's a $300 car that I have been driving for 15 years.

im prety sure its related to the knock sensor i have questions though. as the title says it has no power until around 2500 rpm then like a light switch bam it takes off full power. if i unplug the knock sensor it has normal power at all rpm. i did some experimenting and moved the knock sensor onto the intake manifold and with the sensor mounted on the intake it does not pull power away and i can drive the car normally. i do not hear any knocking occurring with the sensor here. would it be safe to run the car with the sensor mounted to the intake? im 95% sure the sensor is reporting piston slap as the engine does do that. i do not hear any real knocking though beyond the piston slap. it is a 2001 outback with the 2.5 i have a small collection of used oem knock sensors and aftermarket ones they all work normally on a 2001 forester i have and have same issue when installed on the 2001 outback.

(A few months later, 'cause I had to clean out enough of the garage to get the car in over the pit and buy a Warn Pullzall (110VAC comealong - got a smokin' deal on it) to pull it in, then wait for a break in the weather, since the garage is unheated...) But now the cover's off and I've confirmed that the driver's side chain broke. Since the driver's side chain drives the passenger side chain, what sounded to me like just the crank and no cams cranking was in fact just the crank and no cams cranking. It's not clear whether the chain broke on its own, or whether it was caused by a guide fragmenting, and there are some loose plastic bits in there. Doesn't matter much, timing kit is en route from Rock. As for whether anything got hit, jury's still out. It's so damn tight along the sides of the engine that I'm not sure I can get a compression gauge in there. But I'm also replacing the steering rack while it's over the pit, so I'll be dropping the exhaust and can take a peek up at the valves. Otherwise, I'll just see how things behave once the new kit is installed. I do have an untested junkyard motor on the shelf (bought as a spare a couple of years ago), so I can draw upon that if necessary. But I'll see how it goes over the next few days.

Definitely an automatic transmission.

I found a $7 walmart oil filter socket (the many-sided polygon that fits certain brand oil filters) that was the perfect size for my gen2 wheel seals, and the thin wall fit around the seal lip perfectly. I've never done gen3 seals, but it's an idea you might check for a seal driver.

I'd recommend buying the sealed wheel bearings. Then you remove one seal from each bearing and face the unsealed sides inside the knuckle. Pack the inside of the knuckle with grease like normal. That way you don't have to worry about installing the seals. Installing the front bearings with the right tools is a cake walk. Installing the seals can be a challenge. Unless you're a heavy equipment tech, I don't know who'd have sockets that large to install the seals.

Yes, that temporary wire should work to crank the engine. Just a note of caution: If doing this on a Manual Transmission (MT), make 100% certain that the gear-shift is in Neutral (otherwise the car might leap forward)

No, the fronts are not adjustable. If you have play, and the axle nut is not loose, you need new wheel bearings. If they only lasted 10 years, they either didn't have enough grease, weren't repacked often enough, or got water in them from bad wheel seals.

I haven't resolved the starter motor not cranking when I turn the key, so I put a female connector on a wire and hooked it to the spade connector on the solenoid so that I can crank the engine by touching it to the positive terminal of the battery. It cranks beautifully but the engine doesn't start. As far as I know this should start the engine when the key is on, correct? It seems like the problem is greater than just the starter.

You give good advice. I should have listened to you years ago when you told me I was operating off a dead platform. But I still soldier on against the odds. Unfortunately the older gentleman at my local parts store retired a few years ago. He used to start putting huge, dusty parts catalogues on the counter when he saw me walk in the door. Now I rely on you guys.

I have a couple of dual range MTs from '88 DL and '83 DL.

Hello people. Long time, no problems with the old GL. Can I take the play out of front wheel bearings on my '88 GL by tightening the axle nut? Is that what that sleeve inside the hub is for? For the bearing to tighten against? Bearings were replaced ten years ago..

Thanks. Looks like a pushbutton 5 speed will have to do for now. This morning we towed home an '87 GL turbo parts car and that is what it has. Hopefully with the parts car the turbo swap will just be a lot of "doing" and not so much figuring out what to do and how.

Have driven the Impreza a bit more and the bottom radiator temp sensor continues to be at ambient temperature the majority of the time. One time after I was only stopped for ten or fifteen minutes it and the intake air temp had soaked up to about 50F and stayed there for the short drive home. It seems that the ultimate temperature it reaches is in the 190sF at the top of the radiator and 220sF at the top of the engine. That sensor on the engine is probably less accurately calibrated and generally just reads 10F or so higher than the ones in the radiator even when the car's been parked overnight. I bumped up the temps the fans are coming on at so they're not running all the time once the car warms up. 220F on the engine temp sensor is basically when the temp gauge just starts to creep up above the middle. Have now seen a temperature drop of 180F across the radiator (it's been cold here lately), so I think the radiator is doing its job. I rebuilt the rear struts in B's Forester. No major issues, mainly changed the dirty shock oil, replaced a couple little things. B replaced the rear suspension bushing that was shot and went over a few other things on his car.

Another issue I have noticed is that the radiator fans come on when you turn on the ignition. I believe the fans should not come on if the engine is cold. So I thought maybe a bad coolant temperature sensor. I swapped it out but no change. Maybe this is related to the starter problem?

All these 3 must be satisfied, to energize the starter solenoid: - Ignition switch to 'Start'; - Starter-relay energized; - If MT: clutch-pedal depressed to close clutch safety-switch; or if AT: in park (or neutral) to close start-inhibitor safety-switch. These 3 are all in a 'series' circuit/logic; this requires that all 3 work, before the starter is energized. On my 2002, these devices are all in challenging locations to reach. May be easier on your 2009.

Can’t tell you where the relay is that you’re chasing - I wanted to share with you a common mod on the Gen1s in the early 90’s. Often with an issue like this ppl would add a horn relay to the system. This would hive direct power from the battery to the starter solenoid by using the start wire as the rely trigger reference. Worked a treat and might be something that will work for you. Just ensure there’s no rodent damage to the start wire to the starter solenoid.

At first the starter would engage and turn the engine over a couple times and then quit. After trying a few times it was only silent, not even a click. I replaced the starter motor but the solenoid does not appear to be receiving power from the signal wire. I looked at the owner's manual list of fuses and for the fuse and relays in the engine compartment and it says something like "except starter motor.". The passenger compartment fuse list in the owner's manual says fuse 21 is the starter relay but the fuse is still good. Somewhere I think I read that the blue boxes to the right of the small fuses are relays and one of them might be for the starter. Can someone tell me where to look? My battery is good and the voltage at the positive connection on the starter motor is the same voltage as the battery.

Its at the very bottom