jmmctighe

Excellent replies everyone, thanks! When I asked about using rubber the NAPA guy, who I know and trust, very knowledgeable, was saying the ATF properties seep into the rubber and make it spongy. I was kind of doubting this since part of the lines on this vehicle are rubber but I'm just a DIY'er, what do I know about rubber hose properties. Bought a metal fuel line that I was gonna use but I'll switch to rubber and replace all the clamps. Thanks again guys! John

Hi all, Need some advice for repairing a rusted auto transmission line in my 00 OBW. The line has rusted where it connects to the rubber L hose that connects to the radiator. The only replacement part I can find for this is that L-shaped rubber hose, which is fine. Anyone know of where to get the metal hard lines or a suitable way to utilize a rubber line to replace it? My fear is that using rubber over the 3-foot distance may degrade from the ATF fluid and heat and would prefer to use the hard line. I see this, http://tinyurl.com/6dqelz5 but is listed only for the GT and L model legacy. Would this work and if so, what hose couplers should be used? BTW, I had the hose clamps on this thing and will replace them with you more typical clamps. TIA -John

'00 OBW, there are I believe 12 horizontal elements running across the rear window. The top 6 elements work, the lower 6 do not. Any ideas on why this would occur? Anyone know if the entire rear windows is on two circuits or if this is the result of a break btw say the 6 and 7 horizontal grid line? I've taken my multimeter to some of the non-working elements and didn't see any continuity Has anyone else experienced this? John

That happened to me on my 95. The hood sheet metal isn't too thick so I hammered it out with my hand on the side of the road so I could get the hood down (and secured the latch) so I could keep driving to work. You should be able to hand-hammer with a rubber mallet enough to get the hood closed but it wont ever go back to flat. I had a wavy hood till I traded it it. The bigger question may be why your hood let loose. Do you know why? I'd fix that before I do anything. My problem was I popped the inside latch to change my oil the night before, but never changed the oil and forgot about it until the next day on the highway. Luckily I saw the hood begin to move so what was a surprise wasn't as bad as it could have been. -- John

when the wiper is "at rest" how far from the bottom of the windshield/cowl is it? As said before, iether the nut holding the arm is loose and the arm is flinging too far with low friction (wet) or the nut is loose and when dry is tight enough to hold but when wet acts a s alube to allow the arm to move. Bent linkage I would think would result in less travel, not more. John

Well, I just filled with 93 octane from Mobil and though the ping is lessened, it is still there. I'd think at 93 octane there shouldn't be any pinging whatsoever (I'd also think this on 87 for any well running, good condition vehicle). Hell, the 95 LS I traded in with 170K NEVER pinged on cheepie gas. Can't say I'm thrilled. I think I'll need to look elsewhere, perhaps a vacuum leak or....I dont know, its just frustrating. Having worked on cars all my life I would never accept tht a ping is normal. Anyone know of a way to modify the timing w/o use of a replacement chip? The reason I started the post was that when I asked the Service dept about this they claimed it was the ethanol causing the increase in ping and hesitation complaints they've received. As I look on this forum there doesn't appear to be many, if any, ethanol realted issues on this.....interesting. Is this just another convenient excuse used by the service dept? John

I seem to be having a pinging problem on my '00 OBW. I currently have 76K on it and plan on doing a tune up since I'm not exactly sure what the dealer did prior to my purchase. They claim the plugs were changed @ 60K and wires don't need to be done until later....I've always replaced wires by then. I did change the air filter and recently did an oil change with castrol syntech (not that the oil matters but I want to show I'm keeping up with maintenance). Anyway, is one effect of ethanol a ping on light acceleration or going up steady inclines? I've used 87 and 89 octane, added a big bottler of techron, and even with the techron, I still had the ping. Any advice? John

Move the driver's seat all the way back (optional if you're skinny...I'm not) Crawl under the dash Look for the box that has <part number> DRL. It's black, right in the middle. There are two plugs here, unplug the white plug (I think, see note below) As long as you leave the black plug as is, your headlights, parking lights, fogs, dash lisghts will work as they should. If you unplug both, nothing will work NOTE: If this doesn't work, I may have the colors reversed. Plugging/unplugging does no damage

My 95 legacy 4EAT had 175K when traded. Standard fluid changes at required intervals is all that was done. I'd think the tire sizes and inflations have more to do with the differential than the auto tranny itself. -- John

Traded in my 95 LS wagon three weeks ago, 175K with original springs and struts. Remarkable considering the moon craters we call roads around Boston. -- John

Thanks for the replies. I was clued in over at AAS that the OEM autodim mirrors for that year were from Donnelly. However, after checking the docs that came with the vehicle, one card for the mirror is from GETNEX which does the 05 and 06 subes. So it appears the original mirror was replaced at the dealer by the current OEM. Now the wierd part. The line runs up to the front bumper but the probe and mount are not there. So I figure either the probe and mount broke off (but the connector plug is still there intact) or the front bumper was replaced. May explain why the fog light covers are missing also. I dont mind, I like that look better. I checked over the car carefully for signs of panel replacement etc and didn't see any so whoever did it, did a good job. Now, do the dealers sell the mirror componenents or just the entire assy? -- John

Hi all, just got a new-to-me 2000 OBW ltd. One item I need to fix is with the temperature display on the mirror. What I thought was 0 degrees C (it was 32 degrees F outside at the time) was reall the display "OC" or Open Circuit error. Can anyone tell me where the temp sensor is on this vehicle or if there is a fix for this besides replacing the mirror. I'm hoping its simply disconnected but if not I want to follow the line with a meter to see where the break is. TIA, John

My '95 manual states to use 10W-30 or use 5W-30 in colder climates...also says not to use 5W30 if you do high speed driving for prolonged periods of time. So what about me where I live in MA (cold winters) and drive 40 miles to work on the highway (80mph)? So scew it, I run castrol 10W-30 from April to Novemeber, Castrol Synth Blend 5W-30 from Nov thru March. 175K to date, runs fine

95 LS 2.2L auto, I have an oil leak which appears to be from where the oil filler neck bolts to the valve cover. Oil is only leaking in tha area does not appear to be the valve cover gasket as there is oil above this location, but not above where the neck bolts to the cover. I've tried the usual place like 1stsubaruparts but all the have is the valve cover or compete engine gaskets. Any idea where I can get just this gasket? Can I simply use RTV silicone gasket or should I start comparing to thermostat gaskets to modify one to fit? -- John

Have you checked the front tire pressure? I had a similar issue and the LF tire was down to about 26 PSI -- John

Update, Part Deux So I took the control arm to Boucher's Auto Machine Shop in Rowley, MA. $10 and 8-tons of pressure later the damn stud finally pops. Freeking thing. I don't think testosterone and a 3lb sledge could've done that. Get it home and an hour later I'm driving, still have the shimmy when accelerating at the same speeds. Maybe its the other axle, who knows. I'll do that one later when the CV goes. This time I'll let the ball joint soak in PBB overnight to avoid this whole fiasco. Live and learn. Thanks to all who spoke up and helped out, all of it good info and makes boards like this priceless. John

Glad to hear I'm not alone Seriously, You should spray it with PB Blaster and use a screwdrive or other flathead like tool to separate the slot where the pinch bolt was and keep working it with your bent digger. Eventually it will come off. OR you can disconnect the pivot bolt form the control arm (the bolt in the fron NOT the two larger ones in the back). I've read others in here that they've done this and it allows enough room to pull the hub out and slide the axle out of the hub and knuckle. Good luck, John

Update: Oh yeah, this is real fun......so I fnally got the ball joint out of the knuckle and true to form it came out when I was close to giving up. Now the damn stud is stuck in the control arm. No amount of PB Blaster or hammering has been successful. So I cut-off the upper ball section thinking I could drill it. Nope, metal is way to hard once you drill past the stud into the lower part of the joint. So I yanked the control arm, soaked in PB and wailed the crap out of it. Now I have a flattened stud STILL in the arm. My only other option I think is to let it dry and take a torch to it to see if I can pursuade it out with heat. Other than that I think I'm looking at replacing the arm just for a freeking ball joint. Any other ideas? 1stsubaru has the arm for $150, more than I want to spend since I'm into this job for $130 (minus $40 core on the axle). Oh yeah, the axle came out no problem. Figures, right?

Heh, we could meet somewhere in Kansas. Once you cross the state line you'll see me 300 miles on the left.

It was up on jack stands but in reading other related posts it was suggested to lift the vehicle on the balljoint stem. I'll try that so at east I can get the control arm separated from the knuckle to get the axle on. From there I figure I can soak it in PB Blaster and have more room to work at it until it comes out. It's gonna have to wait until next weekend. I at least hope the weather is suitable.

Yeah, I removed the sway bar link and the pinch bolt was all the way out. I took a large screwdriver and tried to pry open at the notch but it seemed that the metal on the knuckle seems to be scoring instead of separating a bit. I'll try again with some PB Blaster soaking overnight. I guess my only other option would be to detatch the control arm completely. -- John

So I finally decided to replace the left drive axle on my 95 legacy to cure the shaking issue on acceleration and decelleration. Also the CV started knocking on hard starts when taking a left turn. But dammit, I can't get the ball joint to separated from the steering knuckle. Everything else went smoothly but the ball joint seems stuck in the knuckle socket. I was using a prybar inserted into a pipe (total about 3.5 feet) and still couldn't get the damn thing unstuck. Soaked the sucker in Liquid Wrench and even standing on the thing (all 250lbs of me) didn't work. BTW, screw Haynes' "separating the pinch-bolt holes will allow the joint to be easily removed". HA! So close yet so far. Anyone have any advice how to get it out? I picked up a new one as I tried to pickle-fork the damn thing to replace it but still nothing. Wacked my hand in the process (two minutes for slashing). So now I have a battered balljoint and the old axle still in. Funny thing though, the shaking has lessened quite a bit so at least I'm hopful of that resolution. No noise from the front either. Hmmmm

Hey all, still looking for a fix and I'm most likely making this more complicated than it needs to be. I while back I posted about my 95 LS auto 167K giving a shake/shimmy when at certain speeds. See http://tinyurl.com/bl28n Definitely drive train related since I had the FWD fuse in, front jacked up with wheels off and still had the shimmy at 35-40mph on the speedo. So by this I've eliminated all wheel/tires issues. I mentioned here that both of my drive axles have lateral play in them, which most would agree isn't correct. Looking in the Haynes manual I notice each axle has an inner baffle plate about the same width as the movement my axles have. Is it possilbe to replace an axle without this baffle plate and this is causes the shimmy? Do these baffle plates usually come with reman'd non-subie axles? Can these baffles wear down to cause the movement? I guess I'm just avoiding having to justify replacement of axles that are 1-2 years old. Any thoughts?, this sube is not longer fun to drive like this. John

Look under it carefully! The filler tube for the gas tank is typically gone on rusty models and needs replacement. My 95 had this issue and now there is a leak at the top of the tank somewhere. In the AWD vehicles its a pain in the rump roast to drop the tank for repair. The driveshaft, differential & axles, control arms all have to be removed. This would be the first thing I'd check. Even then, if it doesn't leak now it will sometime in the future. If you're really interested, pull up the rug behind the back seats and unscrew the two access panels, this will at least give you *some* idea of the rust nightmare that may be present. John

OK, couple more clues: I feel this shimmy more on the gas pedal and in the seat, not the steering wheel I only feel it when there is a load on the drivetrain, accelerating I've already discussed butalso decelerating downhill. There are a couple steep hills around here and when I have my foot off the gas at the speeds mentioned, I feel it. I think this would rule out any suspension componenets. I think I'll revisit the driveshaft and see if it threw a weight or something. I didn't check that when I was looking last time. Otherwise I'm just gonna have to live with it until maintenance calls for a replacement of something. John