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sweet I'll be really happy if that is it. So I hear a scratching sound when the cluth is depressed all the way at idle. Heard it when I got home tonight, I would assume its the clutch scrapping on the pressure plate?? It only happens when the clutch is all the way down.

Well I pulled the heat shield out of the way, the center carrier bearing is cracking and looks dry/old. There is about a 1/2" of free play in any direction when using both hands. All other u joints fell tight. I am still stumped on where this center diff is. - never mind, I searched "center" and came up with some good stuff.

thats sweet, but I think you could have done it w/o swampers. What size tire are you running?

So I just checked the driveshaft for any play int it. I will tell you all that i could do not really knowing if any of it matters: I can twist the driveshaft about 1/8 of a turn. At the center of the two drivshafts I can get the entire drivshaft to move up and down with only 2 fingers (damn heatshield in the way). I would guess this is where the center diff is, but I couldn't see anything that looks like a diff. Does this mean I have a bad center carrier bearing??? I'll prolly go out in a lil and pull the heatshield out of the way, sucks that its 80 and like 95% humid

Where is the vent tube. With all these people submerging them in water and mud this should come up more often. Maybe you have a bad seal - since fluid was leaking out in the first place? Maybe I dont know what I am talking about?

alright I'll get under the car when it stops raining...hopefully tom. I really hope its a joint or bearing

Ok I am going to mention it. If the cenetr diff. does need to be replaced, will it cause more damage to anything else if I wait a few months? If the only thing that a failing center diff. will damage is itself, I'll go till I cant drive it anymore. I will search, but I dont know where to check for u joints and center carrier bearing? I only know how to do very basic stuff. I am the 4th owner. yea #4. The tires are all the same and have good pressure. It is very likely that I drove around 500 miles with a 3 - 6 pressure difference in the front driver compared to the front passenger tire. The front driver when I filled it was 29 and the rest were 35.

I got a 4th and a 3rd gear start today, with the loud metal rattling sound. So either way I need a new clutch. I am hoping the clutch will solve the other problem, but I am not getting a new clutch till september :-\. I went to the parking lot 30 seconds down the street and did 360's right after I started the car in the morning. I still had that swaying feeling when taking the tight circles, not really a "jump" like last night when it was warm. I did notice a clunking type sound very so often while doing this. Could it be a bearing? I do not notice clunking sounds while driving or in parking lots.

I should elaborate on the first gear starts. If I am not absolutelt perfect on reving and letting the clutch out. (I should state this is my 4th manual car, so I do know how to drive, but the soobie takes some higher rev finesse.) Ok, back to starting in 1st....If I do a "bad" job at this I will hear a metallic rattling that is very loud and sounds very bad. This is not the "cricket squell" from the tranny, but something metal hitting something metal and making loud noises. The whole car is shaking when this is happening from the clutch shudder. The clutch shudder is the entire reason I have had to adapt to the higher rev starts in first gear.

I kinda know where the parking lot thing is going..... Fourth gear start didn't work. I only tried it once and it was a slight incline so I will try again. I am also going to check the tire pressures and do the parking lot again.

good news . Tell everyone you know to never go to that mechanic.

The feeling is there in 3, 4, and 5th gear at the same speed. I also did really tight 360 turns in a parking lot and there was a slight, dare I say, "bucking". It was more of a wobble feeling at about 180 and 360, like a slight "jump" in the smooth circular motion. Clutch slips every once in a while....uphill accelerating and switching gears, accelerating hard as soon as the clutch grabs on a upshift, very hard first gear starts (shaking and rattling). When the clutch does slip the rpms dont skyrocket, they just kinda go up slowly but the car doesn't move as fast as it should.

117k. Failing clutch....I should have added that in the first post. Could it be the clutch just kinda shuddering while moving. My mpgs are on the bad end @ 22 after recent tune up. So could the clutch be kinda slipping/shuddering and I only feel it whil maintaing a certain speed?

the tensioner could be bad if its original, the belts would looke fine while skipping a toth might not by seen with just looking at it??

I doubt the dealers would even tell you how to install it. They want your money.

Could it be that one lock/connection is bad on one of the 5 doors and therefore not letting the other doors operate properly??

I'm way to descriptive :-p

I've never driven a 3.0. It is really up to you if you wanna be spending the extra cash. I would say NO because you can get a different "make" (pontiac, acura...) with 6cyl, getting the same or more power using regualr 87 gas. I don't understand why a naturally aspirated (no turbo or s/charger) would need premium fuel.

The light thing is for old school cars.

legacy outbacks are only 96-99. In 2000 Outback got its own platform. The outback sedan he is talking about is in fact a outback, all outback sedans are outbacks - not legacys.

This should be moved to new gen. If it is recommened to use premium, by all means, do it. Your car will run like crap on anything less.

Link isn't working for me Edit: forget it...you got one to many "http:" Sweet ride. Nice pic over-looking the bridge

3.0's take premium??....thats crap

So when I am driving at 38-42mph in 4th gear I feel a very minor bucking. Almost like going over very small bumps. New plugs, wires, fuel filter, rear diff., tranny oil (3k), motor oil, oil filter. So I dont think it is a maintance problem. I don't know how to describe it better than "bucking".....I don't like saying bucking because the rpms arent changing, throttle is light just to keep it around 40mph, and my head isn't jerking back and forth. I also noticed today when I rev the engine up to 1500ish there is vibration that I can feel through the gas pedal and steering wheel and my knee on the center console, my gf could feel this on her side a little bit. I am wondering if I need new motor/tranny mounts?? is there a easy way to check the mounts, like rocking the car??

No joke, he is Richard Dean Anderson.