Leaderboard

You ain't kidding brother. I work on this junk every day and it makes me appreciate real non-disposable machines. All this stuff made in the last 10 years or so is COMPLETELY disposable. Subaru is already setting a trend of throwing away parts after about 10-15 years. Third generation Legacy parts are already being discarded. One of my former tech's works at the dealer parts department and he priced out an FA engine rebuild after a piston skirt failure and was over $9k in just parts. How long before that's WAY more than the value of the car? And when the electrical systems go haywire and you can't get any replacement parts or repairs..... the 4th gen Legacy HVAC panels for example. Anything that has CANBUS errors - it's basically a lost cause because no one will spend the diagnostic money to fix them and they can't pass inspections with a CEL. I had to let go of virtually all my old Subaru's as they aren't viable daily drivers anymore. Can't get any parts for them. I decided to go back to the Chevy Small Block because they have a WEALTH of available parts and Subaru has abandoned their early philosophy of simple and reliable and over-built to last. At least the SBC, designed in the 50's, was built to last and be repaired. And now my old Chevy's are well supported in the reproduction market - I can literally rebuild them out of a catalog. Not only can I get every part - I can get it in steel, stainless steel, or billet aluminium, and 15 different colors. The arduous search for non-existent parts is tiresome and I have a real life to live that doesn't involve that nonsense. And to top it off - my cars are appreciating in value while I drive them! Try that with a Subaru! GD

You're supposed to tell them - Old Gen in morse code or smoke signals, new Gen in binary and hex.

pads aren't the concern - specifically check the pins, pad clips, and emergency brake mechanism. one of those is corrupting pad movement. they'll hang in a general "range" of movement sometimes making them hard to diagnose and having intermitten or condition/speed related symptoms, until the pad starts to wear at an angle and symptoms escalate. clean each pin, regrease with high quality grease (not generic permatex). pad clips can get bent, rusty, or corroded/built up and cause pad movement issues as well. emergency brake can stick at the hub. or it's suspension related - a ball joint/bushing is moving under load. Can you tell which corner it's coming from - you should have a vague idea where it's coming from if it's an audible noise. if not - have someone stand outside the vehicle and listen or change seat positions to listen from inside.

Most of this points to axle / wheel bearing / brake problems. Very different than the pinion shaft bearings above. I have not had any other major transmission bearing failures.

Thanks! She's not mine. I just designed and built it. But the customer lets me use it for promotional purposes. GD

We use Aisin, or sometimes NPW. Both are quality Japanese. The Gates pumps are no-name Chinese. GD

Get a factory PCV valve.

Anecdotal, but I had a 1996 legacy a few years ago with a bad MAF and no codes. Swap MAF, all good. You probably know this but knock sensors are routinely problematic on those as well. I've installed a ton of $6 ebay specials with no issues. Pull the sensor and the bottom is usually corroded/cracked. Usually you get a code obviously. I assume there's no check engine light or pending codes if read?

Use ONLY the Subaru OEM 642 or 770 gaskets for the turbo models. Don't use anything that is sold for your engine. Nothing else will work long term, and nothing else will provide better sealing than the 770. GD

Here's my 86 1/2 3-door turbo, my baby for the past 21 years, currently 242k miles.

Here's my 1989 XT6. Running strong with 162k miles.