johnceggleston

sounds like a loose connection in the door, as gary mentioned. i'd double check all the connection points in the door. my haynes manual says there is a relay in the dash and to start looking there, but if it works better after fiddling with the door, it's probably in the door.

look here: www.car-part.com sort your search by distance. a $500 engine nearby equals a $350 engine you have to ship for $150. if possible you want to get a 95 or a 96 2.2 engine. they are non-interferrence engines, this means no damage if the timing belt breaks. if you get a 95 you may also need the exhaust 'y' pipe, first section of the exhaust which blots to the engine.

you've got mail at gmail. i'm sure you carry a tire plug kit and air pump. that would help with the occasional nail. not much good for that cut side wall when you drive over the waterfall.

the virgin switch? is that when you marry a virgin and on the honeymoon you find out that not only is your spouse no virgin, but you're dead meat.

one good way to check for hg leaks into the coolant, this will cause the over flow tank to over flow, is to do a hydrocarbon test on the coolant. i've not done it but i think you can get a kit. this will tell you if the exhaust/cylinder gases are leaking into the coolant and causing it to overflow. exhaust gases in the coolant will also produce bubbles in the coolant and muck in the radiator / overflow bottle. you might also look for water or coolant in the oil when you change it. (light milky stuff almost like coffee with cream.) this another internal HG leak. although much less often. but as stated above, a radiator cap is only 6 or 7$, a cheap repair. mine leaked but not until it reached full operating temp. i drove it home one day and let it idle in the driveway. sure enough, it started to drip. new cap, now no leak.

when it's my car , i fix it the way i see fit. some times it makes it easier to steal, just use a screwdriver, sometimes it means you can start it with the clutch out and the car in gear. i learned to drive on a car that you could use the starter motor to back it out of the driveway so you could roll it down the street and pop the clutch. but now that's a no-no. it's my car, it's my call. just my $.02.

so that's what's wrong, his new wife isn't draped across the hood.

95's have 2 bolts on the inside of the door that thread thru a bracket on the door into the door handle mechanism, also a spring clip. on 95's, one bolt is easy to reach, one is much harder, for me any way. i have had my door lock cylinder / keyway and handle out of the door. when i reassembled, i left out the 'harder' bolt, but put in the easy one and the spring clip, (same side as the harder bolt). everything works fine. in earlier posts, (last year?) 93 owners have said door handles are easy. 93's must be different than 95's. you might run your hand inside of the door at the bottom, if screws fell out that's where they'd be. go slow in case there are any sharp edges.

so , did hte canoe become a missle or a torpedo?

i read the miata description, and disagree on one point. replace the timing belt, seals and everything else that's original. you may not ever get to go into this engine again. (although, there probably is a way to release locktite.) when this happened to my 93 leg the shop said they could fix it, but that this was the last time anyone could. i don't know if that was an exageration, but we did the water pump, seals, belt , etc. i bought it with 98k miles, drove 55k miles and then made this repair. it ran great. my repair price was only slightly more than same work without a bad keyway, but if it got me another 60k miles, it was worth it. i wrecked the car the following year (20k later), but it was running great. i sold it to the insurance company for 2500$ in 2000 with 173k on the clock. edit: before the failure, it did have the crank pulley wobble mentioned in the miata write up. ( i was not smart enough to know it was a problem, what a dummy.) i also noticed this on my 95 leg a couple of years later, and imediately had it repaired. keep an eye on the crank for wobble. has any one seen this problem on 2.5 liter engines??

how do you keep subaru owners busy??? give them a picture and tell them to find the fault!!!

if it is the gear in the diff, i'd replace the cable to the speedo and other parts as well. something caused the failure, i'd hate to go through the process of front diff removal only to have it fail again. but as 777 said it could be the piece pictured, and thats easy to check.

ok i'm a dummy, what's a tone ring and what's it look like??

you might check with goodyear and see how long the belt is supposed to last, 60k or 100k? but regardless, if it fails all it will hurt is your arrival time at your destination. 95 is non interferrence engine and t-belt failure does no harm to the engine.

FWIW this is probably not related, but my 95 leg steering started making noise and hard to turn. topped off the fluid no change. was planning on replacing the pump. a week later the belt failed, new belt , no more problem.

www.car-part.com here's a good place to start your search for used parts. these things aren't too scarce . sort your search by distance. another option would be to buy a wrecked outback with a 4eat. even if the trans in your car is good, you'll need front diff parts. as mentioned above, they usually come as a set. there is an ID plate under the hood on the driver's strut tower with your trans part number. an identical part will work, 97 and 98 outback will also work. what is your trans part number, TZ102Z2ABA? the 'bold 2' defines the final drive ratio, (actually it means it's a 2.5L engine but this defines the final drive ratio on automatics). legacy trans of the same years will work but you need the rear diff too. (legacy final drive is 1:4.11, outback is 1:4.44) i understand you and your son have more time than money, but i would hate to see you do the work on the diff, just to learn that the trans has problems. and the AWD unit already has torque bind. so 2 of the 3 sections in the transaxle need work, get a used one.

in my opinion, as long as the rear output shaft on the 4eat is spinninig and the speed sensor on the rear of the trans 'sees' it, the car will be happy as a FWD car. no binding, no undue wear and tear, no more damage to the AWD/trans. as nipper suggested, the weak link will be the support bearing for the front section of the drive shaft. long term, it may not be happy and start to vibrate at high speed.?? but i don't know.

this is not normal, mine did this just before it failed and i almost had to scrap it (93 leg). my second one started doing it and i had it repaired (95 leg). i don't recommend letting it run this way. if the bolt gives up the only thing holding the crank sprocket is the key. if the key gives up you have a real mess. i wonder if the crank sproket has a wobble? the difficulty in removing the key may have been due to some damage there. ? i don't know. just my opinion.

i can't help with the part number, but, somewhere i read,,, that the trans side of this shaft and the 'whatever-it-is-called' was welded together. this sounded so strange to me i didn't believe it. but before you go and start tearing it apart , you might double check. i found this unbelievable info when looking for the difference between AWD and FWD. FWIW.

maybe these real time pics wil help. see if 'image013' helps. 3 down 2ND from the left. http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v204/All_talk/Subaru/4EAT/?

your color code should be on the id plate under the hood on the drivers side strut tower along with the engine and trans numbers. as for colors available in 95, try http://www.cars101.com.

they are almost, if not exactly, the same, except for the diff ratio. common wisdom here is to also get the TCU that went with the 95 trans. this will ensure the trans will work, but it will work like a 95 leg not a 98 obw. my guess is you won't need the TCU but i have no experience to base this on. if you do this swap you will have a slightly lower final drive ratio, 4.11 instead of 4.44. i would love to know how it drives & handles. the difference may be so small it's not worth mentioning, but subaru chose to put different ratios in the outbac vs. the legacy. but the outback final rdrive ratio was determined by the engine size not the weight of the car. the 97 leg gt sedan has the same rear end as the outback wagon.

check the id tag under the hood. if the trans number starts with TZ102Z2... then any 97-99 with the same 7 digits will work. if the trans number is TZ1A2... (or something like that) then you have a phase 2 trans and have to use the same. (phase 2 trans wiring harness is different). '99 phase 2 was a 1 matbe 2 year trans, by 01 they have a different part number, i think. all my soobys are 95 -97 so i tend to forget info '00 and beyond. why do you need to replace it?

i don't know for sure, but i would start with the part number list above and search it at one of the online parts suppliers. one of them will give you actual subaru part numbers. most of them will let you look up a subaru part number for price and what it fits. foresters are a pretty late model vehicle and the trans may be different. but i believe impreza and legacy use the same part. when i was checking the price at the local dealer, the parts guy comment ' they should all be the same', but i would double check. i would be surprised if subaru developed a different AWD unit for each model. but i continue to surprise myself.

is this AWD or Fwd? the fuel pump access is from the trunk/cargo area just behind the rear seat (on 95 - 99). AWD have 2 access panels since the gas tank strattles the rear diff. there are several fuel lines accessible there. from the wheel well, they go forward in the passenger comparment and run along the rocker panel on the driver's side to the front fender. i would think you could splice onto good fuel lines at the fuel pump access panel under the carpet in the trunk/cargo area. have you got good/sound fuel lines on the lower end, in the wheel well, before they enter the passenger compartment so you can splice on them? good luck.