DeSubiefan

I am looking at a 99 Legacy L wagon with 107K at a local Subie dealer. He was on the fence as to selling it or wholesaleing it out. It is literally the little old lady car. I test drove it and it drove and handled as expected. It is extremely clean. The paint is in good shape and the interior is immaculate. My mechanic ( a factory trained Subie guy) looked at it and it is in good shape. No signs of seepage from the HGs, no signs of leakage from the water pump, in fact, this car has far less oil seepage than about 95% of the Subies I have seen. Here is the catch: Someone has rigged up a small bottle on the firewall that catches ATF coming out of the tranny vent tubes. The tech who safety checked it at the dealer thought it was because the internal differential seals were bad. He said they will need to be replaced at some point, but there is no reason the car cannot run as is for some time. The tranny shifts normally, in fact, its very smooth. For $3850, is this worth the risk? Any help would be appreciated.

Questions: If I am looking at an ad for a used Subie that does not indicate which engine, is there an embedded code in the VIN that tells if it is a 2.2 or 2.5? Also, what is the latest model that had 2.2's? And, are all the years of the EJ25 subject to the dreaded HG issue, even the Phase IIs? Thanks, much

How many miles were on the 01?

Sadly, I totaled my beloved 95 Legacy L wagon last week. I'm pretty sure I want to move to an OBW this time. Since the dealers are desperate to sell, there are several 01-03 OBWs for sale in the area with 60-70K on them in the $10K range. Are there any caveats to watch for in those 2nd Gen OBs? Or, would I be better off looking for a late 1st gen (98-99) with faily low mileage Any thoughts or advice will be appreciated. Thanks.

The ABS pump on my 95 Legacy L wagon is leaking brake fluid from the weap hole. I don't really care about the ABS not working since I unplugged it months ago because the relay kept running. I just wanted to see if anyone has suggestion less costly than buying a new unit @ $1100. I have posted for the part over on the Market Place board and I have gotten one promising response. But wanted to throw it out for comments here to see if anyone has an idea. Can you just bypass the whole unit?

First of all, Delaware DMV inspection is a joke. All they do is, check horn, wipers, lights, turn signals, pass a mirror under the car to make sure the cat hasn't been removed. Then they have you accelerate to about 15-20mph in the lane and stop on a skid pad. You can have pads down to the metal and paper thin rotors, but as long as the car stops on the pad, you pass. They put a probe in the exhaust of older cars, or plug into the newer cars w/ OBD connectors to test emissions. Then they open the hood, pinch off a hose by the charcoal cannister and replace the gas cap with theirs thats attached the pressure testing gear to test the tank pressure. Thats what I failed. Thats about it.

It can't be that since they use another cap that attached to the test equipment for the inspection.

Never had this happen before. Took my 95 Legacy L wagon though inspection and it failed the gas tank pressure test. I have a friend, a factory trained Subie guy that does all my work. We took the 2 access panels behind the back seat off, looked at all the hoses and connectors and then looked at all the hoses and connectors around the tank. found nothing. Went back to DMV and it failed again. It could be the charcoal cannister, but the guy at the Subie parts counter said they rarely fail. Any ideas?

No, aftermarket

The main crank pulley does have a slight wobble. Would this have an effect on the pump?

I bougght a 95 Legacy 2.2 wagon one year ago from a private used car lot. The dealer claimed he had changed to water pump and TC prior to the sale. When the water pump failed in April, my mechanic (I use a friend who is a factory trained Subie guy ) said it did not look new. The water pump again failed in November. The parts store gave me a new one under warranty, but I was still out the labor. Two months later, this thing is once again dripping coolant, apparently from the from front housing cover, so its likely its the pump again. My question is this: is there anything that could be wrong that could cause the water pumps to be chewed up? Obviously, I won't know its the pump for sure until he gets in there, but I thought I'd throw the question out there. Any help is appreciated

Im very interested in this since I also have a 95 Legacy LS wagon What exactly is this cold weather package?

Did you have to deflate the tires?

Looks good. BTW - whose sunroof air deflector do you have and did you install it yourself?

My Dad's 2000 OBW did that - He just removed the cross bars