roadie

Dave, I never had a transmission error code that I can think of. As far as the power light blinking: they (power & manual lights) happened to be part of the connector that had the problem so they also did not work. Strange thing is that the dealer said the power/manual switch worked even though the lights didn't. The lights now work fine since fixing the connector. To remove the instrument panel first remove the bezel around the panel. You have to pop out the air vent to the left of the steering wheel and center of dash (pry out with knife or sharp instrument). Next pop out the power mirror switch (the whole unit as one) and rear defrost/cruise switches (again as one unit). Pop out switch or blank panel to right of steering wheel (I'm not sure if you have something there but mine is blank). Next pull drink holder all the way out. Comes out like an ashtray. Behind all those items you pulled out are screws holding the bezel. There are also two screws above instruments and two above climate controls. All told there should be eleven screws. Now you have to fish bezel out and over steering wheel. Have fun. When you get it partially out, disconnect the hazard switch. Once that is out of the way, there will be four screws holding on the instrument panel. remove those and the panel will be loose. The only thing keeping you from gaining access to the back of the panel is the speedo cable. Slide that off and it should pull out far enough to see the back of it. If it means anything, the connectors I had problems with are top center. I hope you find your problem. I know how you feel. I've owned this car for four years and I rectified this problem just a month ago. It seemed to bother me more in the winter than during the fair weather months. Good luck.

Dave, I also have a '90 legacy w/4eat where the awd did not work (drove me up a wall). When I bought the car I did not know it didn't work until after the first snow I drove it in. One afternoon shortly after that snow storm I noticed a square green lighted box around the "D" on the instrument panel come on (did not know that these lights even existed). Also found out the little car meter at the top of the instrument panel worked. About an hour later they went out. Over the course of the next few months they would come on for a short while and then go back out. I thought nothing of it until they came on in a snow storm one afternoon. To my surprise the car kicked butt. I put my wife behind the steering wheel and got out to check the situation. Sure enough the back wheel spun as well as the the front. When the lights went out I got out and checked again and nothing happened at the back wheel (the epiphany). I took the car to my local Subie dealer and told them the problem. They told me "yes the lights don't work" and "yes your awd does not work but we will have to diagnose it further because after a couple of hours of looking we can' t seem to locate your problem". So I unhappily paid my bill and drove my non working awd legacy back to square one. I messed with a bunch of possibilities but resigned myself to the fact that I had a fwd that was supposed to be an awd. A little while back I read your post about running a switch from the tcu. I liked the idea (what the hell nothing else worked). I went into the garage to check things out and decided to rip the instrument panel out just to see if maybe there was a problem with the connection to the the meter and gear indicator lights. When I grabbed the connectors the lights came on. There seemed to be a bad connection between the the panel and the connectors. I wiped everything off, applied a little dielectric grease, put a cable tie around the wires and put it back together. So far so good. If I remember correctly I think you said your indicator lights didn't work. If thats the case this could be a possibility. I hope this will help.

If you do find the problem please post it. I have the same year car: 1990 legacy awd wagon with 4eat. I have owned this car for three years with the same problem you are having with one twist: The meter lights and power/manual lights come on every now and then. Maybe once every three months. Especially in extreme temperatures(be it hot or cold). The other strange thing is that the awd system is not working when the lights are out. I know it sounds absurd but we proved it out in the snow on a couple of occasions with lights on and off. I even took it to my local Subaru dealer for a look see and they were completely baffled. They said with the lights out the manual/power button still worked but the awd was not working. They told me to bring it back in when the lights came on and they would recheck it but it doesn't happen at a convenient time. Sorry to be so winded but I wanted to shed a little light on a strange and unknown Subaru situation.