Roamer

I have a 97 OBW and a 96 LSI wagon, I am suspect about the 96 currently I think the heads do have a minor leak but nothing that needs to be canged right away, on my 97 OBW no problems so far. Respectively the 96 has 99K miles and the 97 has 172k miles both with original head gaskets.

Well it snowed 27" this past weekend here in NYC, when this happens I like to take my Subies out and do some tricks:) Anyways there would be times were my ABS light would come on and then not turn off. But when I would turn off my car and then immediately start it up the light would go off and the ABS system would go back to working properly, this happens usually when I run the car hard and purposefully try to make it lose traction. Any suggestions on why this would occur? Thanks in advance

If you can dream it you can do it:) But really this is one thing that you don't want to do, what is the benefit of this?

You should read my entire post or in the alternative pay closer attention to detail. In actuality you payed 8 buxx more for the alternator than I did:)

Well this past weekend I decided to mess around with my 96 LSI wagon and replace the alternator. This was my first attempt at it, but I like working on my own cars, so I was actually looking forward to it. So I called a local subie dealer and he wanted $250 buxx for an alternator but was out of stock. then I call my local R&S Struass auto parts store and they wanted $150 buxx, so whatever I bought it installed it and the Alternator was running hotter than hell itself. So after a poster here indicated that it might be a bad battery I take it back to R&S strauss b/c I had also bought this battery from them 6 mos ago. They check it and say no your battery is fine, so then I ask them so why is my alternator running at a thousand degrees the guy says pull your car in let me look at it. He runs some tests and tells me that the alternator is not fully charging my battery. I look at him like wtf? You sold me this alternator 2 days ago, you told me it was new not re-built how can it be bad, he says I dont know, but it happens. Great I wish I had such luck playing the lotto. So then he offers to give me another alternator, I tell him that I want a full refund and my core back. So long story short I am pulling the alternator out tomorrow and returning it to him. In the mean time I called 1st subaru parts and ordered a OEM alternator for about 70 buxx and am having it shipped 2nd day for an extra 40 buxx. So I think that everyone should learn from my mistake which is to simply not mess with aftermarket parts. I am an attorney here in NYC my billable hourly rate is $250 (this is what the partner bills me out as , i barely get to see 50 buxx of it so don't think I am rich:) , I have probably lost over $1k worth of billable hours so that I can rectify this situation, and all I needed was an alternator!!!! Never ever again will I install a aftermarket part and neither should anyone here:)

This is a dumb question but, how do you make sure the belt is adjusted right? This was my first attempt ever at installing an alternator. To adjust the belt all I did was pull as hard as I could on the new alternator to get it into positon and then tightened the bolt. I think I am going to just order a Subaru alternator, and take this as a lesson learned, not to mess with aftermarket parts. I didnt think much things could go wrong with an alternator.

I just replaced my Alternator in my 1996 LSI, it is an aftermarket one from R&S Strauss. This is my first alternator that I have ever installed on my own, Upon completion and turning the car on I noticed that the alternator got extremely hot. I am no mechanic but the thing is running hotter than the engine block itself, it seems to be working fine but I never noticed the previous alternator running soo hot. You cant even touch this thing for 5 seconds without getting burned. So my question is, is this normal for a alternator? Are these things suppose to run this hot? Or is this a sign that its a crappy after market one? I cant imagine a mechanical part running soo hot?

Thanks!!! Looks very easy, now I am more confident with this....

I want to tackle this task on my 1996 LSI wagon, I can do the regular, oil change and tune up stuff but I have never replaced an alternator. Can someone possible post step by step instructions or in the alternate point me in the right direction as to where to get the info. Thanks.

The first part of this is repetitive but I just want to start with some background info. Last night a block away from my house as I made a turn both my speedometer and tachometers went dead, but the car ran fine, no CEL or anything. So then I shut it off and tried to restart and I get nothing engine wont even turn over as if it has no starter but full power in my head lights and radio. So tonight I go to trouble shoot and the car starts, I check for loose wires and stuff under the hood trying to replicate it shutting off, no issues that I could detect. But what I did notice was a STRONG Burning smell coming from the alternator. So I check my dash board to see if the battery light is coming on, b/c from prior experiences before the alternator dies the battery light comes on, but there is no battery light on. So my question is, could this smell be linked to a failing alternator, and if so wouldnt the battery light have to come on when the car is not charging as it should be. And my econd question is would this bad alternator effect my tachometer from just failing? By the way when I started the car tonight everything was working fine, tachometer and all power. Any thoughts? Thanks in advance.

Thanks Nipper, I was too tired to mess with it last night but when I get home from work I will start to do a more "traditional" approach at troubleshooting. As a previous post suggested I think that I got that p1103 code after the fact the car stalled. But when the car wouldnt turn over my first gut instinct tells me its the starter, b/c I had all power in the radio and lights but absolutely no response from the car. But it makes no sense if is is the starter why the car would die soo suddenly out of no where.

Something very weird happen to me right in front of my house in my 1996 Subaru LSI. I made a right hand turn and then all of a sudden my tachometer and speedometer stopped functioning. Then my abs lights came on, but the car had full power. So I turned the car off and then tried to restart it, nothing wouldnt even crank over as if the starter was dead. So then I go into my garage and get my OBDII scanner, now no check engine light ever came on but I figured something must be stored in the computer data. So I hook it up and pull this code P1103 which means "Pressure Sources Switching Solenoid Valve Circuit", which means absolutely nothing to me. Anyone ever get this error code? What is it? Why would this cause my tachometer and speedometer to just fail and then not allow the car to even turn over? Please help me I have a dead car in my driveway and have no clue where to start. Thanks in advance:)

Perhaps its the fly wheel?

I am beginning to think that as well after reading some old posts regarding the issue. Well I don't care what the problem is as long as it can be fixed. I also read from previous posts that the engine does not have to be pulled for a head gasket job. Is this true or simply hearsay? Also does anyone know of a mechanic in the NYC that has done a subaru HG job for them, that they can recommend me to. Lastly has subaru ever been sued regarding this crappy products defect, not that I am a sue happy person but it just seems so unfair to me that Subaru never addressed this issue with a recall. Who here will be on board with me if I can initiate a class action suit against Subaru?

My water pump went about 2 months ago on my 96 LSI wagon, had it towed into the shop and they replaced the pump,timing belt and radiator (radiator cracked from over heating). All was well until a few weeks ago when I was driving on the highway and I noticed the temp needle going above the middle mark. So then I took it in the shop again and told them that the water pump must be bad, the mechanic could not duplicate the problem, and attributed the overheating to air in the system and supposedly said that he aired it out. All was good for a month. Tonight, I was driving and the same thing happened the needle started to rise, I turned the heat on and it subsided. So then when I was a few blocks from home I tried to duplicate the problem by driving the car hard with the heat off, it started to over heat. So then I pulled into my driveway and checked for bubbles in the over flow tank found none. As a matter of fact the coolant level in my overflow tank never changes, so I am assuming that it is not the head gasket issue, but then again I am having my doubts now. Anyways while my car was parked in the driveway and I reved the engine the temp needle went back to normal. I could not get it to overheat again while it was parked and constantly keeping the rpms high. So I am wondering why it would over heat only while the car is in motion and having soo much air blown into the engine? Any thoughts? Also I am in NYC and it is winter time right now so for the car to over heat in such weather means nothing but trouble when summer arrives. I am just so perplexed and pissed off right now any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

In my 97 OBW the passenger side seat heater does not work. When you hit the switch it does not light up either. But the drivers side works fine, and the drivers side switch lights up as well. Any suggestions? Not a big deal to me but I wouldnt mind it working of course, thanks in advance:)

On my 97 OBW Automatic, I started to hear a high pitched whining noise, almost as if it was the flywheel. Long story short flushed the fluid and went to Synthetic, noised continued for 3k miles but now it is completly gone. I have 171k miles on my OBW, and these are all NYC miles and my tranny is still going. But generally my experiences with auto subarus are that the trannies fail at 120k miles.

Well I also have a 97 OBW, and never realized that at one point in time these buttons where illuminated. I also have a 96 Legacy and like the outback when purchased the buttons where also not illuminated, so I just assumed that it was the design. I guess I was wrong, from reading your post. but how come the lights in the dashboard dont burn out? Do they use a better bulb?

Can anyone fill me in as to why Subaru overlooks sometime the obvious. For example the climate controls and stock radio, why did they fail to illuminate these things for night drivers? At first I had thought that it was just my car, but now that I have a Legacy Wagon and an Outback, I see that it is a just a retarded design flaw. How did they manufacture the second generation Legacies for soo long without rectifying this?

On my former 1990 legacy this happened once, it was basically the speed cable that runs into the top of the transmission. You should check 1st to see that this cable is actually attached, if it is then you should pull it and then place the car on a lift and run it in first gear. While the car is running look inside the tranny unit and you should be able to see a gear/nut turning this is what turns the speed cable and transmits the info to your dash. If this thing is turning you have a bad cable, if it is not you have a bad I dont know what, but it requires some minor transmission work. I am not a mechanic so I hope this made sense to you?

I have the same exact issue on my 96 legacy wagon, but have not gotten around to it, have just been topping off the brake fluid every 4 days or so. I am curious as to how much one of these units costs at a yard. I got a quote from a local dealership for over a thousand buxx.

Definitely sounds like a bad waterpump

I use to drive a crappy 1990 Ford Taurus Wagon, and I use to always get a headache/clogged ears which led to pain in my neck everytime I drove the thing long distance. It was a mystery to me why this would happen, b/c whenever I drove my dads subie long distance everything was fine. It was a very serious problem for me, but I couldnt explain the phenomenon to anyone, they just looked at me like I had 3 heads. Long story short the problem that the Taurus had was the venting system, the Taurus does not allow any air to flow naturally into the cabin of the car when the vent controls were off. The Subaru has I guess what I would call a free flow through air system, which you can regulate by either the passenger side and drivers side air vent. Which allows air to naturally flow thorugh the cabin. The Taurus doesnt have this option at all it will not allow any air into the car unless you have the A/c/Heat on. So what was happening was that during long trips the pressure inside the Taurus would not match the air pressure outside which would then lead to my problems, so I would have to every often either turn on the vent controls or roll down a window. So possibly, it may be a far strech but I guess you should rule out everything else, check to see if your vent is in the on position and allowing air into the cabin.

If you know that it is definitely the heads just have them replaced, find a shop willing to touch it. Not worth risking a junkyard engine and at the sametime not worth the $$$ of a rebuilt engine. But definitely dont junk the car on the count of bad heads. With 135k your car has plenty of life left in it and investment in replacing the heads is well worth it, should not cost more than $1200, and that is on the high end side IMO.

Was this just a recall done in Canada? I have not heard of any US recall due to head gaskets, nor have I heard of this special Subaru coolant, can someone please clarify this for me. Thanks.