rverdoold

It could be that your brake fluid is saturated with water since it is very hygroscopic. Otherwise #3

My battery is dying, al least last week I needed a jump-start twice. The outside temperature dropped to 50s 40s but not freezing yet. I suspect the 5 year old battery not holding charge very well, but I will have to look into parasitic electric eaters too. The current battery is 60Ah and measures 232 x 173 x 225 mm (LxWxH). Preferably I want a bigger capacity battery. Does anybody has any experience putting and fitting a bigger battery in a 2008 outback/legacy (AT)?

You can get the same tire and have it surfaced till the same circumference as the others.

bad sparks, bad high tension cables. Dirty valve body. Could be many things. As long as it does not run bad after it, it is fine. Perhaps a thinner oil.

I also did not manage to set them off in an 2005 outback hitting a tree. Most euro cars only got airbags end or 90s some even only early 2000s. But yes a vw, they have not changed design the last 30 years and they are environmentally good on paper only (in europe).

I have had marters rodents eating my high tension cables a couple of times. I got an ultra sonic piezo emitter and never had issues again.

The previous owner said there only 20 in The Netherlands in red leather as an anniversary edition (5x aut, 5x mt, 5x 3.0L and 5x diesel outback).

Few months back I replaced my 1999 Impreza (1.6 lpg) to a 10 year newer and bigger 2.5 Outback, also LPG converted, all options and red leather special for the 20th year of Legacy/Outback in Europe. Outside looks clean, engine bay must be cleaned as well, and there is a minor oil leak somewhere (but, with the exception of my 1.6, all other subarus we have had leaked oil somewhere).

No neck pain issues? I found the subaru headrests until 2005 not high enough (1m90cm, is that 6ft?). Interestingly it did not set her airbags off.

I love guess the picture games but without a car model this is a tough one.

At first I would have thought in the direction of the thermostat but that one must have opened since the overflow tank water was 'boiling'. I am curious if the front ventilators work, as the car starts to overheat when there is no airflow through the radiator. In order to test this connect the two black connectors under the dash, this will put the car in self diagnose mode. If you turn on the ignitions the ventilators will start to run in a pulsative mode (on/off cycle). Option two, broken or bad water pump, but this would also spike the temp while driving. Option three, broken pressure cap of the radiator, or radiator leak, but this would not spike the temperature, only if you are at high altitude. Option four, Crack in hose, you have been loosing coolant and it slowly starts to boil out the system since there is less water to cool. A small crack will also spray water everywhere. Option five, indeed the blown HG. I would let it dry up, test if the ventilators are working fill it with water and start the engine to see if there any leaking pipes, most prone are the ones leading and coming from the radiator. Remco

VDC is Subarus answer to ESP only with VDC power can be distributed along the symmetric drivetrain. Normally it is always on and will help the driver to stay on the road in bizarre moves to reduce skidding. The button on the console is there to switch it off in case you want to skid or not have the traction control kicking in all the time. Now, in your case it is failing, the question is where. The first check is to see if the brake pads are not worn (there is a ground pin on the pad which will set the VDC light on when the pin touches the brake disc). If the pads and ground pin on the side of the pads are fine then check if there are any codes stored in the ECU. The VDC system consists of wheel speed sensors in each braking disc or hub, and a computer that measures yaw, pitch and g. It could be that one of the wheel sensors is out, but a ECU error code should appear indicating which one is out.

The 1.5 was/is sold in EU and probably elsewhere to compete with high fuel economy competitors. Best performance boost on that car would be: Keep the air filter clean (but not one with bigger holes = high pass filter) Keep the gaps and performance of the spark-plugs good (replace with NGK every 30k KM since they are cheap anyway. AC is the biggest power taker if it is on. Power steering does not take that much, maybe under drive the PS pump. For the rest there is not much you can do (except De-cat which is illegal).

I have a 2009 euro Outback (fourth gen) which has the factory HID lamp units including lamp washing installation. In the manual it states that the HID bulbs must be replaced by the dealer. Currently, my both bulbs are fine but I know eventually they will fail. I know the type and where to order a replacement bulb on internet. Now should I follow the manual or are they easy to replace like an H4 bulb. (it states Danger High voltage everywhere). Additionally, how do I change the marker bulbs (T10/ W5W bulbs), since I can not access them with the lamp unit in the car. So basically: How do I get the lamp unit from the car? Is it really that dangerous replacing HID light bulbs? Suppose I disconnect the battery.

Could be worn brake pads on the disc brakes.

I have a 2009 euro outback with 2.5 (this is the 03-09 series) and parking sensors mounted to the back bumper. Now I want to mount a towbar but not sure if I must get one with removeable head. From a price point of view I want the fixed head, also other drivers on the parking lot will be a bit more careful then . Does anybody have experience with fixed towbars and parking sensors? Any ways of testing if a fixed head would work? (I was thinking to hold a screwdriver from the trunk to see if it activates the beeps).

The only thing I found nasty is the oil filter is now cramped in between the exhaust pipes and O2 sensors (2.5 non turbo EU). The 1.6 was so much easier to work on. I use 5w-40 but I think it makes no big difference with 5w-30.

you could get a 12 dollar OBD usb-cable (k-line) from internet and use FreeSSM to check the computer.

Yes I do, it is illegal to park a car unlit at the side of the road outside city limits in at least the Netherlands and Germany. Only the subaru one is an overkill it leaves on both sides sidemarkers and rear license plate lights. Usually with other cars here to point the indicator to the side you want the side markers to be on.

Which two wheels are you driving, front or rear? How does the center diff handle that?

Ok giving this thread a bump up! I was driving with my propane converted 2009 outback 2.5 when it was giving a hissing sound, like leaking gas under pressure. It was like oops! yes the consumption of propane seems bit higher then before. After getting propane it did not switch to bi-fuel and remained driving on gasoline. Then CEL + VDC + cruise and a code PO171 bank 1 lean. The hissing sound had to be a leak, luckily it was a vacuum leak of the propane controller. I could fix it quickly and the car seems to run fine now. (I used freeSSM and a VAGcom OBD cable to read the codes)

Ah, OK. Thanks. I thought VDC was only electronics add-on as part of the ABS system.

Yester I became the owner of a 2009 (4th gen) Outback with for Europe all options including VDC and limited dark red leather. It has a 2.5 bi-fuel system linked to the 4eat. This is quite a big step forward from my 1.6 impreza from 1999 with no options at all (no airbags, abs no nothing not even a/c). My car before that was a FWD automatic legacy (1st gen). But now: The user manual states to use the AWD-fuse in case of mismatched tires when no VDC system is present and it is an automatic. However it does not state what to do when VDC system is present on an automatic. I have not checked if the fuse location is present.

OK, going to look for an outback 2.5, automatic from 2009 (last of the 4th gen) It has all options (euro) including vdc, BT, navigation etc. it has run 109k Km and is converted to propane. It does not have a tow hook, so it has not been used for towing yet, considering the mileage and the age it has mostly been used on the highway. I will look at: Service book (timing belt should have been done at 105K km). Oils (engine and automatic and smell the auto oil) check tires for equal wear (size ect) do the torque bind test (full steering at low speed notice for ... jumping right?) Check the cleanness of the engine bay Thinking of reading the ECU with my laptop and freeSSM Could you please give input what other important things I should look for?

Going to follow this thread: Looking for a newer subaru to replace my impreza wagon. I was thinking of a 2007> 2.5 or 3.0 outback depending on the price and milage. Does the 2.5 and/or 3.0 have a stainless steel exhaust system? How is the valve adjustment done in both engine since I am planning a propane conversion (more wear on valve seats = more important to have valve adjusted properly).