johnceggleston

also, the 96 outback auto had the 2.5L engine. all of the legacys L, LS, brightons, and the outback w/5spd had the 2.2L.

there are several causes of torque bind in multiple combinations. if it's not tire related, most common is the failure of the duty-c solenoid. (usually you get a flashing AT TEMP light at start up) this is a 75$ part from an online dealer and labor is about 300$. second is the transfer clutch plates. these are not terribly expensive either and the labor is about the same. the risk is doing one and not the other only to find you need to replace both. therefore the good fix is both for 800$. some of the earlier AWD trans could suffer from dirty fluid , plates and/or duty-c. 97 is about when they made a correction, but i think 98 to be sure. usually this was helped by a fluid change. but not always. some people have had success with an additive. you need to figure out what's causing the problem first. put in the FWD fuse and see what happens.

the other thing to consider is that you already own a 92 2.2L engine. it may not be as compatible as a 95 or 96 but you do have it. of course you would be car-less while the work was being done. and then you'd have a junk car to deal with. i'd do the swap. drive the 98 w/the knock and sell the 92. it may run fine untill you sell the 92, if not you'll need a tow. use the money from the sale to pay for the swap. it shouldn't take more than 2 days, most time one day. p.s.: you don't even have to recharge the ac, you just unbolt the compressor from the engine and leave it attached to the car & ac hoses. then whan the new engine is in you bolt the old/existing compressor to the new engine.

your point is well taken, the rear diff is very hardy, failures are few. but there still, some do fail.....

if you find you do need one this is a pretty good place to start. some members may have one cheaper, but they are heavy and it may be expensive to ship. www.car-part.com sort your search by distance. manual or automatic?

if you have comprehensive insurance i'd make a claim. this is no different than water damage.

any chance something like a bad cam sensor on that side could cause this? is it cam = fuel and crank = spark, i can't remember?

the difference between the 97 legacy 2.2L auto with the 4.11 final drive w/ 195/70/14 and the 97 outback 2.5L auto with the 4.44 final drive w/ 205/70/15 is none. the difference in the final drive ratio is made up for in the tire size. so if you put the right size tire on the svx you might be able to live with the 3.9 ratio. this, of course would be the easy solution not the best. 2 tire sizes would more than do it, one tire size would would almost do it (roughly 60%). if there is enough tire clearance it might work. so if you didn't need to swap the bell housing to fit the engine maybe you could save some work. just a thought. probably no clearance and it might look funny too.

what's a rev limiter?

i had an outback that sounded funny under acceleration, i thought it might be an exhaust gasket leak. but my son wrecked it so i never found out.

used struts and springs, how much did you pay for them? what year did you use?

mail sent, both. in addition to the assembly instructions, there is some heplful tips on the last 2 pages after the exploded parts views. a question you'll soon know the answer to, is the pinion in the 3.7 different than the pinion in the 3.9? the gearing difference is the 37 vs. 39 treeth on the ring gear, the question is did they make a different 10 tooth pinion to match. it sounds like they did according to gloyale. same question applys to the 4.11 vs 4.44 in the legacy auto (9/37) vs. outback auto (9/39). does the different size ring gear need a different size pinion tooth. it seems a no brainer that they would use the same 39 tooth ring in the 3.9 you're working with and the outback auto. obviously this is an engineer/parts question but i'd check before i pulled the pinion. it sounds like a lot of work.

gary, i found the info, but it's a pdf file. send me your email and i'll send the file title: transaxle assembly.

someone posted a great write up on it pictures and everything. i thought i bookmarked it but i can't find it now. in a nut shell you adjust the ring gear assembly from side to side untill you get it bear just right onb the pinion gear. they sell some stuff to apply to the gear teeth so you can see where they are bearing. then you back off one side a certain amount and tighten the other the same amount to move the ring gear a little in one direction. then you lock down the retainers. this give you the right clearence, and the right wear on the teeth.

needless to say all the talk about reworking the heads may be BS and he's just trying to support his asking price.

i can't believe they reworked the heads before they realized part of the block fell on the floor.

my experience is limited to my legacy & outbcak, but i've never read or heard of the front and rear final drives being different. not in a sbuabu or any other car for that matter. do some cars really do this? i can see where the right transfer ratio and the right final drive ratio could make it work, but what would the advantage be?

talk about bad head gaskets, check out this ebay listing. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1999-SUBARU-OUTBACK-WAGON-AWD-LEATHER-SUN-ROOF_W0QQitemZ130196592250QQihZ003QQcategoryZ31870QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem http://i5.ebayimg.com/02/i/000/d8/73/55b1_1.JPG

have you checked for torque bind? if so does it go away with the fuse installed? a bad duty c will cause flashing. i would have thought if it was the duty c it would have shown up with the other tcu but who knows.? try a third tcu, maybe 2 out of 3 would be a clue to the cause..

2000 was the last year for 2.2L engines in legacys and 2001 was the last year for the impreza. from there out it's all 2.5s in all the legacy / outbacks and 2.0 or 2.5 for imprezas. the 2.0L in the impreza seems like a step backwards, was that a turbo engine?

this was the first start of the day, and the fuel filter has not been changed by me. so that's easy. i'll try the mister trick. i'm glad to hear that njdr solved his problem, it gives me hope. but it is unsettling to think that this may linger. thanks for your help, i'll let you know what i learn.

today for the first time ever, my 97 obw - 121k was hard to start. it didn't start on the first crank as usual, i cranked it again , longer without pressing the gas pedal. it finally did start but then it felt like it had an occasional miss. no CEL. i drove about 1.5 miles to the store and parked. by the time i came out, 45 min., it was fine. because of the weather this morning , (warm moist air moved in on mostly cool obects and everything had condensation on it) i assumed it was a dampness/ wiring problem. new oem wires and plugs last year. new t-belt, water pump and seals at 98k miles when i bought it. currently 150 miles into a full tank of gas, so not the bottom of the barrel. any suggestions? what wiring i should address first, coil, crank or cam sensors? would the nighttime mister trick be first? any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. thanks, john

i have some good news and some bad news, the bad news first, you are old!! and the good, you are going to get older!! it's more fun than the alternative.

this is a great tire comparison calculator. http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html

ok, here's my dumb question of the day, hopefully the only one, i thought 95 leg only had one o2 sensor???