Manarius

One thing I didn't notice if you said you did, but did you stick the torch to it? Heat tends to loosen those types of bolts up.

I was under the impression that torque bind actually comes from the tailhousing and how there's some sort of shield in it that wears out over time and that causes the binding. The Solenoid C can also stick too, but I've never heard of the valve body being the issue for that particular problem. As mentioned, messy shifting is usually the result of the valve body being messed up.

I've seen rain guards for that generation. Unfortunately, they've JDM only so pretty rare to come by.

Have you examined all the boots on all your drive axles?

Paper Clip in the lock mechanism... Unfortunately, I can't find the website any more that has the exact instructions...

I actually passed on the vehicle and am instead looking at a 2002 LL Bean Edition Outback with 87k miles. Trying to get the vehicle down to 8k in price.

117k miles. I couldn't do the HG work myself, I'd have to pay. It's at a dealer and the dealer showed me paperwork that the timing belt had been replaced, but nothing about the HG's. I looked in the coolant overflow tank. It looked a little low, but not that low. Color was a dark green. It's not dealer certified and I don't know about what kind of certification or warranty could be obtained (the dealership is a used car dealership and the guy seemed kind of hesitant to let me drive the car for some reason...)

They fail 100% of the time? I know that's the case for the Phase I DOHC 2.5, but I didn't know that was the case for the Phase II SOHC 2.5. My friend has a 2002 and I was looking under his car and noticed that his were weeping a little. So, he got the conditioner and eventually had them replaced (before they even caused any issue) for like $1700.

After doing a lot of research/pricing, I'm nearly convinced that I want to buy a semi-local 2000 Outback Limited Auto. It has the dual sunroofs, leather, heated seats, etc. Having done some research, I know of a few major issues with the 2000 Outback, but my question is how often do these things happen. Are they guaranteed? I don't want to drop nearly 6000 on a car only for one of the listed issues to happen: 1. External HG leak. I can handle this if it actually happens as repair is permanent after being fixed. I looked at the car and didn't notice a serious leak. For as long as the car had been there, the oil spot under it looked tame (maybe 3 in. in diameter). The car had the timing belt/water pump replaced just over a year ago, so that's a plus. 2. Transmission delay (this one worries me the most). Is this something that happens on all the autos or is it just something unlucky? I don't want to do the trans-x fix every year if I don't have to. I didn't get a chance to drive the car (dealer wanted an offer before he would even let me get behind the wheel....), so I don't know if the car actually has the issue or not. 3. Another issue I could be missing? I know about Subaru issues, I drive a SVX after all. But, at 196k miles, it still runs basically correctly and I spent way less than 6000 on it. Any thoughts/help would be much appreciated; TIA.

It's not illegal unless your state or local government says so. For example, in my county in Pennsylvania, my car needs only pass a visual exhaust inspection. My car is so rare, I doubt a mechanic would know whether or not my car has two pre-cats or two resonators and a collector cat. He probably wouldn't know that a resonator was cut out of my car before I got it because it was buzzing. In Indiana, they don't even have vehicle inspection. Hence why I said "depending on your exhaust regulations".

If your emissions regulations are not very strict, I'd just put a resonator there instead.

TPS = Throttle Position Sensor

That's what the book says. The car is supposed to use pre-programmed a/f settings, but in my experience that doesn't work. If you remove the MAF, the car just flat out won't start. When my MAF was busted, the car would just shut off randomly, not run for very long, and then eventually not even start. If the TPS was busted, the car would probably just run pretty poorly.

What you describe is exactly what a malfunctioning MAF sensor causes.

However, without the pressure of the driveshaft, all the ATF would just leak out the tail housing.