edrach

Welcome. Nice to see someone who cares enough to take care of their wagon.

I think you found your problem. And I was with GD on the faulty bushing. A common issue with our 25+ year old distributers.

As to your lighting issues, you don't have a shorting/grounding problem. You have just the opposite, an open circuit or bad ground problem. A shorting/grounding issue will blow a fuse or smoke some wires and you don't seem to have that.

If your outback is the legacy version, it should. But if it's the Impreza Outback, no. We're talking wagons in both cases, right?

I've learned lots of "what not to do" at the local pull a part.

Find one in a junkyard. If I'm not mistaken, the dash from an '84 GL wagon or '85 to '87 EA81 hatch is the same. It is difficult to replace. If you have a pull a part yard in your area, practice on one with a crappy dash so you don't ruin the good one you want to buy.

Great information. You should post this in the USMB repair manual forum so that it won't get lost in the future.

Our 99 Forester speedo will intermittantly "sticks" at 43 mph. Rapping the instrument panel on the left side a couple of times fixes it temporarily. Does my symptom fall under the same heading as a faulty ground?

If you can get a can of Yield rust penetrant, that'll work better than PB Blaster. Best of luck with it.

If you do swap the carb, I'd suggest a weber if the local emissions station don't look under the hood and just check the exhaust. Good luck.

Coming up soon, a combined Primitive Rally School and ORG rallycross. October 8, 9, and 10th for the rally school. October 10th for the rallycross. http://www.writerguy.com/primitive/nwrallyschool.htm http://www.oregonrally.com/rallycross.cfm http://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/findweather/getForecast?query=Hillsboro,%20OR&wuSelect=WEATHER

Check your owner's manual; I believe they specify 75W-90. I like the Redline (without the NS for lower mileage transmissions AND the rear diff). NS for high mileage transmissions; but stick with the non NS for the rear diff.

Drop me a PM with your phone number. I have a collection of hold down bolts. If I can find my collection, I think I can find you a longer set. Secondly, if you want the best price on batteries, try the Interstate distributor just north of us....north on I405, north on I5 to the 2nd exit, left across the highway, left at the next traffic light (not onto I5 south!), and Interstate is just around the curve to the right on your right. Sorry I forgot the address but you could google it. Convenient that we're both in Bothell.

P0420 is an emissions related code; that code shouldn't cause you to go into limp mode. Check the code again.

What's the mileage on your L? I have a '97 Impreza L which is my daily driver and I've been active in rallycross with it for over 5 years. I'm approaching 195K miles with it and there's no sign of an issue with the steering rack. Start with the simple (i.e. less expensive) things like wheel balance, tires and the wheels themselves. After that other suspension related things.

You mean you stop to eat before checking the internet?

PM'd about a shop in Snohomish.

Anyone hear whether the event went off or not? If it happened, any pics available? Posted results?

All the emissions places here in WA state.

That's about right. The people who claim 30+ are stretching the truth.

Well, I think you got a great deal. Enjoy the restoration; you'll be happier with what you've done than buy a fully restored one for more money. And to be honest, my Brat won't command the price I wanted for it in the current economy. My wife also decided we should keep it. So it is out of the garage now and is an occasional daily driver for when we need its unique capabilities. It is not a "parts hauler" or anything messy. Sometime when I find a power steering rack and assembly, I think I'll install that so it's a bit easier to drive and park.

I ran mind for three months with minor symptoms (i.e. only binding under hard lock turns) before I finally replaced it with a new viscous coupler. It took that long for me to give up on trying to find a good used one.

Looks like the one I recently posted in the ebay/craigslist forum. Nice pickup.

Early Imprezas are amazingly "clean". Looks like what I've gotten on our early model a few years ago. Don't have it now anymore so I don't have anything to compare it to.

Well, it's out for me. Maybe qman was correct and the rallycross is off also. I haven't had any updates since my last post.