greenmachine

I just went out to the car, removed the relay, then popped it back in and the ABS light is off and the ABS unit is quiet when the battery is connected. More evidence of the relay, no?

I have the same problem as described by others with regards to the ABS light. It has gotten worse though it seems. Initially it began when I drove in the snow and the ABS engaged. It would work once or twice before the ABS light came on and disabled the ABS. I could turn the car off, then restart it and usually would be fine. Now, the past month or so I have started to experience another, possibly related problem. I would hear a high pitched metallic ringing coming from the engine compartment (alternator?). It comes on, then it goes away, then sometimes it comes back. That parts a mystery, and I will probably need to take it to the shop to diagnose, but its hard because it doesn't happen all the time so the mechanic can't hear it. Then just today, the ABS light came on when I started it up. I drove it 10 miles, and it was still on. When I drove home, the ABS light was still on and when I got out of the car I heard a spinning sound coming from the ABS unit. I figured it wouold turn itself off like a fan motor or something, but 3 hours later it was still going so I unplugged the battery. Thoughts? Is this the relay problem or something worse?

It's not on all the time, rather it has a toggle switch to turn it on/off...but the key thing here is that if you turn the CC on, then restart the car, the CC will STILL BE ON. This is what I would like to see in ALL CARS, instead of the stupid way that Subaru does it now.

All I'm saying is, why does the cruise control have to switch off every time you start the car? What issue of safety would this feature compromise? Do you know what SUBARU says about this one eh? ...er and how is it supposed to be so smart to NOT question the status quo? and authority, and all that tuneed?

My girlfriend's Volvo 240 has cruise control that is always ready, in other words...all you have to do is hit the set button. I have to say some of you guys sound a bit sheepish with your, "It's so dangerous to have it on all the time!!" What are we here a bunch of ninnies? Ever try the brake to kill CC? or shift into N (auto)? and how many times exactly have you a) had the CC go wild on you and not be able to cancell it except by hitting the on/off switch on the dash, or hit the resume button by accident? The other question is, when driving with CC on at highway speeds then getting into around town driving, do you really reach down and turn the on/off switch off? I'm sorry if I have offended, but this all seems like common sense to me and it really drives me nuts that Subaru engineered the CC in such a moronic way. Plussly, there's no real easy work around it seems (for those of us with a death wish, must be the Evil Kenevel in me).

That's the same idea I had and I think it would work! Now, I just need to know where that famed relay is...anybody ever seen it? I went digging around in the dash by the glove box but didn't see it, although not sure I would recognize it if it were right in front of me. Any tips here? I guess when all else fails we all have to go back and RTFM, which is probably what I should do.

Hmm... I guess that's a point, but it still seems to be within the bounds of sanity to offer a toggle switch instead of the Subaru, always-off-when-you-start-the-car type of switch so that if you're inclined to always use CC, you can but if something goes horribly wrong you could still switch it off. Make sense? I think this would probably require an aftermarket toggle because the current design looks like all it does is toggle current to the solenoid/relay for the CC, its not like the foglights or the defrost switch which toggle current on or off. What if I was able to rewire a junkyard bought defrost switch to my CC harness, and bypass the CC relay? Is there even a relay down there? I hear it click every time I turn it on but I tore the glove box out and couldn't see it so not sure. Oh, and as for the death wish...well maybe so, but hey as for LIFE, well nobody gets out alive.

I really like subaru's but one thing they really have done wrong is the cruise control. In my 95 Legacy, the cruise control is way way too aggressive when going up a slight incline, and it will kick into 3rd going 65mph pushing 4000rpms. The other problem, which I'd like to fix is that you have to hit the CRUISE switch every single time you start the car in order to be able to set it. Why? I ask, why not have it always on? It's not like you can't cancel it after its been set, what is the purpose of this switch? If possible I'd like to bypass this switch, or somehow change it so that its always on...anybody done this already or have any idea of how to do it? I've taken the switch apart, but you can't hard wire it because it uses a relay or something that resets itself every time the ignition is turned off. Mike

I have a 95 Subaru Legacy LS with 140K on it. I bought it used about 4 months ago and I know it was not well cared for since I replaced so many things on it since. For the past few months it has been producing a bad smell when I come to a stop or when I get out of the car. I'm thinking probably ATF, since it doesn't smell like burning oil and I've inspected the brake lines that go over the exhaust y-pipe. I changed the pan gasket on the tranny since it looked like it was leaking there, right at the front of the pan, then dropping down and dripping onto the Y-pipe. I could see white puffs of smoke when I got out and looked under the car, as small drops of the stuff landed on the hot exhaust. One weird thing is that I can see these same puffs intermittantly that seem to come from inside the heat shielding on the down pipes that come straight out of the engine. No clue, but would really like to get rid of the smell.

Well, Dickensheets gets the prize....sure enough it was the heater "bypass" hose from the water pump. It had two holes on the bottom of it, and it only leaked when it was fully pressurized. Thanks for your insight guys, this message board kicks rump roast! Saved me from sleepless nights and mispent hours of diagnosis. And what's more, now that the soobie's back in action it looks like I might be able to take it out to do what it was meant to do...go windsurfing! Cheers!

My soob is a 95 Legacy LS, and last week driving along the highway I noticed it was way overheated. I pulled over immediately and waited for it to cool down. Luckily I had my water bottle in the car with me so I popped the hood to check the level. The overflow was empty, and when I touched the radiator cap it was not hot so I opened it to find that it was also empty. I dumped the water in and limped it on home (about 3 miles) without it doing too much overheating. First thing I change is the radiator hoses (upper & lower) since I know they are getting old anyway. I start the car (with water in the radiator) and bring it up to temp so the thermostat kicks in (upper hose gets hot is how I tell), then rev it up...what do you know? Fluid comes gushing out from where the lower radiator hose is. Here's the problem, I can only get it to leak out when I rev the engine so I can't pinpoint where the leak is (radiator bad? or water pump? hose?). Can anybody tell me what the problem most likely is? Mike

Well, after having a thorough look see at the top and bottom of the engine I've found that there is no leak in the PS system, anywhere. But there is another leak which I'm 100% is the cause of the smell/smoke. About 2 months ago I changed the AT filter and pan gasket. Now, I can clearly see that the gasket is leaking fluid at the front edge, it's spilling down onto the bell housing and dripping onto the Y-pipe. When the car heats up, the fluid becomes less viscous and is able to leak out more easily. During driving the fluid sprays backwards onto the ground and wherever else it lands, but when I come to a stop it drips straight down onto the Y-pipe giving some really nasty smelling stuff. I'm considering doing the job again myself (changing the AT pan gasket), but it appears I don't have a clue. Is there any trick to getting that bastard to seat properly? Is it possible to over torque the screws and cause it to leak? or should I just take it to Jiffy Lube and have them do it?

Yes, after I have been driving it for a bit and then parked it and noticed smoke or the smell, I have looked under the car near the engine and seen white smoke wafting off of the exhaust pipe. Its right where the pipe Y's, and slightly aft. It looks like something is dripping on it because of the way the smoke appears intermittantly while you look at it. The smell is very bad, so I'm pretty sure its not oil...but thought maybe ATF. I like what you are thinking with the PSF, I know that last week when I was driving around a lot of windy roads and then parked it it had LOTS of smoke drifting out from under the hood. This adds up with your conclusion of PSF. Where should I look to see if it is a PSF leak?

It shifts pretty well, but intermittantly, if you give it some gas as you are starting out--you get a hard shift from 1st to 2nd. Other than that its as smooth as glass. The procedure for checking the ATF that I used was to drive it for 10-15min, then on a level surface, I remove the dipstick and wipe it clean. I put it back in the tube about 2" short of all the way, then take it back out and wipe it. Then put it ack in the tube about 1" short of all the way and repeat a few times. Then I insert it all the way and take it out and check it. Last night when I checked it this way, it was over the HOT F mark. I've also been using a rag and wiping down the outside of the filler tube...last time it came back with SOME black stuff, but not goopy. There should be NO black stuff at all if nothing is boiling over, right? Do you think its safe to use this method as a litmus test to see if anything is boiling out of the tube? Mike

I have a 95 Legacy AWD auto tranny 'ubaru that has a bit of an intermittant smoking/burnt oil/atf smell when idling after being driven for a bit. I'm thinking that it may be ATF because it tends to smoke quite a bit more when going over hills or driving when the tranny has to shift a lot. My oil level is stable, and for the life of me I can't seem to get a good reading on the ATF, its always gooped up from fluid in the dipstick tube or whatever. I'm thinking that during my recent ATF flush that I did myself that I may have overfilled it, and now the fluid is bubbling out of the filler tube when overworked and dripping on the exhaust? Anybody have any thoughts on this? Mike

I took my car to the shop yesterday, and sure enough it was the U-Joint, the front one where it connects to the transaxle. One of the swivels is badly rusted and is hanging by a thread. So I'll be driving it in FWD mode untill I can figure out how to fix it. I've read somewhere here that you can replace the u-joints with a ford part that actually allows service. Otherwise its a whole new driveshaft.

Ok, I took it to the shop today. I told them what's up, and they said they had a guy in recently with the same kind of symptoms and it turned out to be the clutch pack. Not sure though because when he said "clutch pack" he had $$$ in his eyes and gave me a sort of grin. Yesterday I was accelerating somewhat aggressively off the line, then I quickly let off and heard a distinct sound. It was a knock of metal on metal like something big was rattling (I only heard one or two knocks though). This would seem to indicate that something is loose, like a tranny mount or a motor mount. Still weird though as the problem is 100% gone with FWD fuse put in. I've got it lined up to be looked at in the shop this Wed, depending on how fast they troubleshoot they may not charge me. I'd really hate to drop $800 for the clutchpack, especially and even worse if that was not the problem. Any thoughts?? ...one other thing, is the problem is totally gone when I drive in Reverse.

It doesn't make any noise, and in fact it couldn't be a clutch or flex plate because the symptom goes away when you put in the FWD fuse to disable the AWD. I guess its' most likely a U-Joint or clutch pack or maybe a trans mount. I wish somebody else had this happen as I'm just not sure yet. I'll probably take it in to have it properly diagnosed next week. If I do, I'll post the actual diagnosis here afterwords.

Sorry, this is an auto. Don't they have clutches too? I don't know much about autos, wish I had a stick but such is... It's most definetely an auto though.

I just replaced the 2 front CV joints & axles, I checked the rear CV boots and all looks good. Could this possibly be a transmission mount? or maybe a clutch/flywheel problem?

I did do the tranny flush, and didn't help much if at all for the shuddering issue, but seemed to help a bit with the kicking from 1st gear into 2nd quite well. What kind of tranny conditioner? can you recommend the best one?

I have a 95 Legacy LS with auto tranny and it has bad chugging or shuddering rather in low rpms, when you start out. Has nothing to do with cornering, so maybe this is the same as yours. I'm going to check the tranny mounts too. Thanks for the post!

After searching this forum thoroughly I've decided to post since I couldn't find another user with my car's problem. Its a 1995 Legacy LS automatic with the 2.2 L engine. It has a chatter or shudder that feels like its coming from the front of the car when you first take off, but it doesnt' have anything to do with the way you turn the wheels. It doesn't happen except when the car is in gear, and it goes away completely when the FWD fuse is in place. The torque bind could be at play here since there was a tire size issue that I discovered--the inside edge of one tire that was badly worn, but the outside and middle were within spec of the other 4 tires. I replaced the two rear tires since then so all tires are within 1/16" tread of each other (all are same brand). I've read that torque bind symptoms occur when you turn hard in the car, but mine happens mostly when going straight. I've checked the front and rear differential fluid levels and both are good, with good clarity in the fluid. Would it help this problem if I replaced the fluid with synth? The chugging/chattering/shuddering seems only to occurr at low rpms, when headed in a straight line, when starting out in 1st or in very low rpms (and much weaker) in 2nd gear. The car also has a hard shift from 1st into 2nd gear, but not always. This symptom is very intermittant and seems very arbitrary; I've tried easy accelleration and aggressive, and both ways seem to return random results. The shift from 1st to 2nd is late and it kicks into 2nd when it happens. Any help appreciated!