robertwheeler

I got a closer look at the socket this afternoon. The nearly entire connector for the brake light circut is just missing... I guess when I scraped away the lead I may have taken it off also or it might be on the bottom of the bulb I threw away. I wasnt able to get the proper socket for this but I got a generic replacement and I think I can mangle it enough to go on and Il gasket seal it... really the bracket isnt that differant and I think I can make short work of this with a cutter and fit the baby right in.. otherwise its electrical the same. Supposed to be a nice day tomorrow.... if I can get out of bed I can do this in no time... Robert

This comes under the heading odd so odd I can hardly believe it happened and maybe it happened to you. I blew the fuse for the interior / brake lights 3 times before I found out why it was blowing the fuse. The socket much have been going for a long time and it was getting hot and it caused the lead from the bottom of the stop side of the lamp to melt and it grounded to the inside of the socket. Every time I hit the break I blew the fuze.... 3 or 4th from the left on the top row... What a very odd thing to happen... certainly its never happened to me before. I removed the lead bridge with a screwdriver and tommorrow Il get a new socket... Has this ever happened to you? Robert

Good tip on several levels. I changed the plugs today , they were about as worn as you might expect after 20k miles... but they werent shot. I have never seen plugs that have burned so clean in my life.... no oil no over gas.. No specs of dirty buildup. I guess the motor isnt in too bad a shape.... but the problem remain. Im still leaning towards the coil being bad.... breaking down at high Rpm but the leaky intake isnt totaly out of the betting either but with the state inspection stick on this care going to expire at the end of november I dont want to spend too much on a car that cant pass inspection. Thanks Robert

I never thought I would be posting in this section of the forum again... But I am still a Subie owner I have long suspected this subie needs a new coil... not dead yet but the engine has taken to doing a burp backflip thing when I get on it.... its like the engine stops , takes a deep breath and then resumes... Im almost certain its an ignition problem. Comments gratefully welcomed

No point in making a new thread.... the car starts ok and I havent had a cel in weeks but I am either getting a missfire or a crossfire and the engine seems to suddenly lose power and shuttle. I am almost certain that its a bad wire or after that a bad cap... If the temp would ever drop enough for me to get in there Id pull the plugs and see how they are firing.... and look really close at the wires. The wires are champs.... not my favorite brand... certainly never for plugs but I got these at napa and I think they are lifetime. I did at one point find out the hardway that lifetime dosent always mean as long as you have your subie.... sometimes it means until the company that makes the part decides its reached it limit of expected use... The plugs on the passengerside are a snap.... the others.... well Ive done worse but they take a bit longer. Do you think 20k Miles is a lot for plugs?

Thanks for your replies I guess there really wasnt much I could have done cept jump start it and they had that part in hand... Ya i was glad to avoid the pepper spray Robert

I went in to get gas tonight and a young lady in an outback was brokedown by the pump in front of me... I would have helped her if I could but she seemed scared when I went up to her. Just wondering one thing... I carry spare belts for my 87 Gl... would these have been any help with a maybe 2001 outback coupe? Robert

It seems to have passed the hill test.... but I wasnt pushing it too hard.. Have to see what happens over time.

All Adjusted.... well Im gonna drive it for a while and see if its a bit too loose. All I had to do was put a vice grip on the end of the cable.. otherside of the nut and then a deep 12 spun that baby loose in seconds... I wish it was all this easy.... Oh and the noise i thought was comming from the wheel seems to have gone.. maybe i dodged that bullet Thanks for the Help Robert

I tryed to adjust the cable.... but i couldnt get the nut to spin.... Il try it again later. I did get the new cv and balljoint in... The balljoint that I had put in about 2 years ago had near the same wear as the one on the otherside that had been there for years. Im getting a low ticking sound that might be from the bearings on this side... and im not sure how critical the inner tie rod end is.... I pulled it and pushed it by hand and i couldnt find enough play to worry about... alignment.. yeah gonna need that I think. I was getting a squeek from the outter cv boot... I think its gone now. I busted my new breaker bar.... maybe i was just pushing too hard... I wish I had a pic of the way I rolled onto the road when it snapped.

You have the same car eh? I hope yours is in better shape then mine.... oh its nothing large amounts of money wont fix... hehe For reasons im not really sure of im dead on my feet... really on my seat. I dont have the energy to make individual reply's to all the kind comments and im trying to burn dinner as I type. Thanks for your comments and yes I do really like the people on here and I like the soob even though its turning out to be a royal pita I have to change the driverside cv shaft and balljoint in the am... This shouldnt bother me as the cv shaft isnt hard and the ball joint shouldnt be too stuck... i changed it a couple of years ago and then of course i got to play with the clutch cable. Im not sure If i have lost the bearings I put on the drivers side less then a year ago.. or if the outter cv joint is just so bad it puts a major shudder in the wheel... I suspect this is the issue as it dosent feel like bad bearings but the wheel is oscilating a bit. This soob is also gonna need an inner tie rod on the driver side... but it was nice of the subaru people to put the rack in front of the motor , makes it a lot easier. Robert

I have learned a lot from working on this car. I just wish it wouldnt keep breaking down in the middle of nowhere at 3am Putting a clutch in here is beyond me... I hope its only a tight cable.

I know this is going to sound really odd but I think saying it will help me center my thoughts. I have had this car for about 6 months and I got it from my brother. While he had it (about 3 years) it was fairly dependable.... But since I got it , it has left me broke down 5 or 6 times and even though I manage to patch it well enough to get it home... It scares the hell out of me and driving this car is a daily trip into terror and this conflicts with the fact that I really like the car. I dont have the money to get another car but my brother is helping me with the parts and I do what I can.... He is a great help but he cant understand that I dont do well working on cars because I tend to lose my focus.... I have the knowlage and the skill... But even working on the car is scarey.... read some of my prior posts and you will see it. My brother tends to get me the parts I need and then RUNS away at full speed.... I feel like I working on the Ghoust of Jason x or something. This is truly an odd situation.... I dont sleep at night because just thinking about the car scares me... and no one.. not even my girlfriend has a clue about this.

Thanks for your comments. This car is a lot of trouble but if Im lucky loosing the cable will fix this. I guess i suspected that the cable was tight but it wasnt an issue until it seemed it might be slipping. There is literaly no play at the top of the pedal.... I know this isnt normal for most cars ive driven and I even unwittingly changed a clutch in a datsun for just this reason.... and when I got the clutch out.... it wasnt so bad. This car has me so extremely stressed that its making me feel unwell. I dont have money for another car and the market being what it is now... I could spend 500$ for a used car and get the same issues that I am dealing with or have dealt with in the past with this car. But it shouldnt be too hard to find where the cable goes into the trannie and then I see how to adjust it... but in the meanwhile i gotta take it slowly. Robert

Well I can hope that the cable is just too tight. There isn't any play in the pedal at all. I will be changing the driver side front cv shaft on Monday... the characteristics of a cv cutting lose and a clutch slipping aren't quite the same of course. Question.... In 2 wheel drive does this car tend to mostly use the driver side wheel? And If I lose the driver side cv shaft... even with a new one on the other side... will it take out the entire front drive train?

Can you adjust the clutch on this one? I dont think its hydralic.... I think I getting some slipping up hill.

You have a Gl right? I recently got a knuckle from the junk yard and im still not sure if the bearing is good. Its almost the same amount of work except instead of detatching the knuckle from the strut you can unbold it from the top and pound then bad boys out in no time... this is a bench or at least a floor job. You can get a knuckle for under 40.... whereas the parts to change all of this might be 60-70$(per side)... but changing the bearings will give you a great deal more confidance in the long run. This isnt a hard job.... remove the caliper... push the cv shaft through... remove the rotor (purely to make more room)..Remove the outer tie rod end and the grease seals and then I used a 6 inch 3/8 extrension.... pretty much destroyed it but it was soft enough to do the bearings both ways. I have a post on here somewhere from when I did it. Working off the ground it was a bit over 2 hours for me , but it went supriseingly well.

THe cotter pin is intact.... how does the bearing suddenly come loose? This thing had been impacted even. Robert

Thing was about 1/2 a turn loose.... I tightened it and now we hope for the best. I broke my 1/2 inch breaker bar doing this..... talk about a missed tool. At Any rate it snugged the bearing right up.... I was going to start on the other side.... really hard without the breaker bar.

Thats what I have to check when its light enough , though I suspect it had been tightened with air tools when i got the knuckle changed. It was fine.... then suddenly its making noise.. as described a few posts back... I am so stressed , I used almost all the money I had fixxing the passenger side last week and I was going to do the drivers side this week. I still have the bearings from the original knuckle and the old ones from the other side... After I changed these I couldnt find defect in them and I filed them for closer examination. Btw Thanks for being awake

Your not going to believe this. I went to pickup deb from work and on our way back I hear a womp womp noise... It gets louder when I put the clutch in. My first guess is that the cv shaft on the driverside is developing problems. We get home ok and I rock the wheels... The passenger side which I had just changed the knuckle on seems to have blown a bearing or 2. It too dark to be sure but when I pulled the wheel I could feel the bearing moving side to side. Robert

The new knuckle is on.... Im not overly concerned that the joint is going to fall off again. I guess Eric dosent subaru much... he walks up to me an ask's why the new knucjkle doesnt have a hub pressed in... I explained it to him and then it took him about 45 mins. MOst of my noise is now proven to be comming from the front pads slamming against the rotor , I guess sone of the parts rusted and tell off. It makes a horrible racket.

Hi Thanks for your reply! My brother had this car for 3 years before I got it and I think my Father had it for 2 (before my brother). I am the one who did most of the work on this car and the last time I changed the plugs they were all burning clean. Generaly the car dosent smoke.. though it did once when I put an extra 1/2 quart of oil in it. I love this place... after I made this post the system was kind enough to point the way to several threads that were a great deal of help. I checked the plug wires to make sure all were on and the one on the driver side rear (by the dist) wasnt on all the way. Running at full power now but the hard to start problem remained and I think several posts made it clear that I need to check the coolant temp sensor.... If it's at the bottom of the thermostat housing then it might explain my intermitten CEL and the fact that sometimes I do have to floor it to start it. Im gonna clean that thing up and make sure it has a good connection and go from there. Robert

Runs really bad. A lot of times when I start this ea82 it will run for a second and then die... then I have to spin it for maybe 30 seconds before it starts. Other times I just suddenly lose power and it stalls or burps and recovers... at least enough to get off the road. Sounds like an ignition problem.. what do you think?

Uncle I called my brothers mechanic and he said he will put the new knuckle in for 100$ and then I hope it will be all done.. for good. Friday morning at 8:30 , I have to keep it going ontil then. This job is within my abilities but i just cant deal with it any more... Not to say some air tools wouldnt help....