hankosolder2

It smoked and popped a bit, no big deal. I wouldn't try this "procedure" near anything flammable or conductive. Thinking back on it, I may have just connected the cord to some of the internal voltage regulator terminals rather than the main output terminal, as I don't remember tripping the house's circuit breaker. I keep that "nasty wall plug set up" well out of the reach of children when I'm not busy frying alternators! Just a thought- is a possibility that you overtightened the drive belt and caused the bearings in the Alt to wipe out? (I still lean towards the sub-par Autozone rebuild theory, but you have to consider all the possibilities.) Nathan

Re: Testing the alternator. I once had an intermittent alternator (charged OK when cold, put out NOTHING once the car had been driven for 1 hr.) Spoke to the counterperson at TRAK (now defunct?) and they told me the alternator had to test bad to exchange. I explained that it was a themally sensitive intermittent problem, counterperson claimed that alternators are never intermittent. Out of sheer frustration, I took the bad alternator, hooked the output terminal and the case up to each conductor of a 120 VAC wall plug and plugged 'er in. (I do not advise doing this!) They want an alternator to test bad, I'll give 'em an alternator which tests bad! Alternator was exchanged, problem solved (which verifies my original bad alternator diagnosis.) I love the idea of a pro-rated refund on a lifetime part. What fraction of a lifetime did the part last, sir? Perhaps they would like to divide infinity down into 8 month increments? Good luck with your new alternator. Failing reasoning with Autozone, if you paid by credit card, you can try taking the issue up with your card issuer and see if they'll let you do a charge-back. Explain that the original part failed to last a year, that you could be stranded if the replacement part (if Autozone were to supply the replacement part) fails in the NEXT eight months and you've just generally lost confidence in Autozone's ability to supply you with quality goods. Worth a shot. Nathan

Those are excellent points. Additionally, let's remember that the ENTIRE car (spring mounted on the suspension) is vibrating to an extent when it is sitting at idle. There are cars which use harmonic dampers mounted in the front bumpers, tuned to a particular resonant frequency to oppose 4-cylinder induced idle speed resonances. In the pre-airbag era, some cars had masses mounted under the steering weel pad to damp out vibration, etc. etc. Almost any part which is mounted to the car can potentially improve or worsen idle vibrations, let alone a part of the drivetrain itself, such as a half-shaft assembly. Nathan

Sounds like head gaskets to me. Nathan

Nipper, My point was not that worn struts are a great thing for the braking and handling of a car, but rather, that ABS takes a less-than-ideal situation (a car with worn struts) and greatly worsens it. The test I was speaking of was measuring the stopping distance of a car with one worn strut with and without ABS enabled in dry conditions. Without ABS, the car stopped significantly sooner. Let's face it- especially in states without vehicle inspections, a signficant number of cars on the road are going to have worn struts...it's worrying when a 'safety' aid like ABS is a detriment to safety under several not that unusual conditions...loose snow and worn suspension. Nathan

The other problem with ABS which hasn't been touched on is the effect of bad shocks/struts on the functioning of the ABS system, even in dry conditions. I read an interesting paper about how even one faulty strut can greatly increase stopping distance- the ABS computer interprets even minor wheel "dribbling" as lockup and tries to equalize speed. Personal experience- I have an old BMW with somewhat tired struts- because it's a fairly stiffly sprung car, it doesn't give the "wallowing" feeling which says "worn struts" to most folks. Tire wear is normal. However, if I have to brake moderately hard over a choppy surface (say, railroad tracks) the ABS will activate and lengthen the stopping distance significantly. Yep, got to do something about that one of these days. Nathan

My theory would be to store them in as close to the normal working position as possible (i.e. partially compressed.) Then again, you'd have to tie up a lot of vices! Fully compressed is probably fine. Nathan

Why not install a more permanent oil pressure gauge in the cockpit you can monitor when the problem occurrs? Perhaps T it in with the factory oil pressure switch so you have some backup protection. With all these corrosion issues on this car, I wonder if it's possible you have an engine/ecu grounding issue or a bad connector. If the timing gets all whacked out due to a bad ground, perhaps you are hearing really bad spark knock? Finally, there was a lengthy tread here a while back about folks who experienced a mysterious miss/loss of power in early Legacies, usually under load which would go away on restarting. Many people said they had the symptom. Fellow claimed it was a design error in the ECU, he had some sort of fix for it and was developing a kit. It sounded a bit dubious to me. Nathan

Engine should be a '95 EJ22 from an AUTOMATIC equipped Legacy complete with intake manifold and engine wiring harness. MT vehicles have no EGR in '95. My so-swapped vehicle has passed Illinois OBD II emission inspection with no problems. Only a VERY knowledgeable inspection station would be able to physicaly notice this swap. In our case, the inspection is a scan only with no hood opening involved. Supposedly, you can also use '96, '97. 98 ej22s, but they have the single port exhaust, so you'll need the front Y pipe- expensive. Nathan

I found the endwrench note and it doesn't give a specific RPM; it just states that then the ECU determines it has lost control of the IAC, it kills the injector pulse to one cylinder at idle. Nathan

Greetings All-- My '98 Legacy OBW 5MT has a high idle 1100-1500 rpm when hot. I think the problem began after the car sat for a week. I don't think it's the CTS as the fans cycle normally when the engine is warmed up- so the computer knows the engine is up to full operating temp. I did a cusory check for vacuum leaks. I suspect a sticking idle air control valve. Attempted cleaning of the IAC didn't do it. I'll track down the problem, but I have a question- I know that the ECU is programmed to cut fuel to one cylinder & set the CEL when the idle RPM exceeds a particular number. (I read this somewhere and experienced it first hand a while back with a stuck open IAC on an engine which had sat for a year.) Does anyone know what the magic RPM number is? Nathan

A rag is probably better than running in circles, screaming and shouting. IMO. Natan

I'm sure you're correct about respective weights of the base oils. All I meant when I said "thinner" was that _at normal room temperature_, a synthetic oil of the same LABEL viscosity will pour noticably easier and appear less viscous than dino oil of the same weight. You don't have to have much of an imagination to see how this could dramatically accellerate leakage on a car with seal issues. Nathan

Well, what he should have said is that synthetic oils are thinner and accellerate leakage/oil consumption issues. That has been my personal experience on multiple vehicles. There is really no argument that a full synthetic oil is superior, but the fact that you can get 250K+ miles out of a well cared Subaru engine using only dino oil suggests that for almost any application, dino oil is more than good enough. Nathan

Key word here is "have been offered." Focus doesn't count, as I was limiting the discussion to Japanese cars and quite frankly Subaru/Toytota/Honda buyers aren't cross-shopping Focuses IMO. I think the Accord and Camry went through one, possibly two generations of offering wagons and they sold about twelve of them! With Subaru, it's almost hard to find a car which ISN'T a wagon. As always, quirk is in the eyes of the beholder. Nathan

Nipper, I don't mean to be overly contentious about a minor issue- I have no doubt that, as you say, if the owner of the car tops up the coolant as needed, he will probably have no cooling system issues. I seem to recall you mentioning driving a loaner Subaru with an untracable burning coolant smell a while back... I honestly think that there are a lot of cars out there with trace leaks. Does it matter? No...as long as they are kept full, it's not going to be a problem. I never said it was impossible for coolant to evaporate from the expansion tank, but I don't think it will evaporate at the rate the original poster was complaining about. No one has offered an explanation for the wide difference in frequency of coolant top-ups needed for different vehicles. If, for example, the underhood temperatures on a Honda were vastly lower than a Subaru, I'd say "ah, that's why the Subaru needs top ups." It's an interesting question, and one to which I don't claim to know the answer. Nathan

I think that perhaps you are setting the bar a little too high for your definition of quirk. Frameless windows. Boxer engines. no non AWD option. Station wagon body configuation All those are nearly unique to Subaru 'features' at least compared to other Japanese cars. I do fully agree that the examples you pointed out are MORE quirky than the average Subaru. Nathan

Nipper, I have had very different experiences to you in this regard; I have had any number of Hondas which will go 2+ YEARS and many tens of thousands of miles without needing any coolant top-ups. It IS a sealed system; only a very small portion of the total fluid volume is unsealed (the fluid in the expansion/overflow resevoir) and even that is almost sealed- the vast majority of any evaporation will condense on the sidewalls of the expansion resevior. Also, only half of the volume of the resivoir is even water- (50/50 mix!) All of the cars which I've owned which required coolant top ups were eventually found to have a leak- how many times have you pulled a radiator hose off to find the crusty white residue of dried leaked coolant? Windshield wiper fluid contains alcohol and is not a valid fluid to compare with coolant. Nathan

I'd think that in this day and age of photoshop, cheap laser printers and clear plastic stock a DIY inspection sticker wouldn't be too hard to make. Do they have holographs or anything fancy on them? (Only emissions inspection here in IL , no stickers, no 'safety' inspection- they just suspend your plates if you don't comply -w- emissions.) Nathan

That's terrible...I'm always afraid that'll happen right after I do a major repair to a car! Supposedly, the HG problem for 2.5L was fixed in '03. You could also just buy a Legacy equipped with the ej22...those were built up to '99, I think. Search a bit here and you can find plenty of info for the ins and outs of the HG failure modes for the phase I and phase II ej25s. Nathan

I haven't looked closely at Subaru's setup, but most MT cars I've seen have one clutch switch for the cruise/engine control computer and another for the starter inhibit. You can look to see what's by the clutch pedal up under the dash; if there are two switches, pull the connector off one of them and see if the car will start at all. If not, you've found the right one. Jumper it and you're all set.

Nipper, You never addressed my point, namely that with variable valve timing, tuned intakes, etc, today's engines have much wider torque bands than ever before, and should be able to have good performance and economy with the same or fewer gear ratios! The 'sweet spot' is wider than ever. Can you imagine having to pay for a transmission overhaul on one of these six speeders? I can't wait 'till the local AAMCO takes a crack at that! Car makers spend millions restyling cars, sometime with no functional or even cosmetic improvement- that should be proof that the lure of a marketing 'gimmick' is sufficient motivation to make carmakers willing to spend millions. BTW, computer controlled CVT transmissions can be programmed to have discrete shift points. The MG MGF was sold in England with a computer controlle dCVT option- you could have 'seamless' CVT shifting or something like eight 'ratios' (steps) which could be manually or automatically shifted between depending on dash switches & paddles. I'm not totally sold on CVTs, but it's a possible option. Nathan

Is it possible that the different AWD mechanisms (AT vs MT) might come into play with the mileage discrepancy? I doubt it, but it seems POSSIBLE that the stong FWD bias in the AT cars might result in less drivetrain losses? I agree that the trend towards ridiculous numbers of gears in automatics is silly. Five well chosen ratios are plenty for a country which does not have an Autobahn! Variable valve timing increases the width of the torque peak on modern engines- hence fewer gear ratios should be sufficient! Nathan

Does Subaru offer 6spd manuals on normally aspirated cars? That seems like the way forward... I see Nipper's point about how torque converters will allow 'auto' cars to run taller gears, however, I suspect that Subaru also designs their manual trans gear ratios so that minimal downshifting is needed on the highway. For example, my '99 Honda Accord is doing just about 80mph at 3K rpm in 5th. '98 Outback runs at over 4k rpm at the same speed in 5th and is really irritatingly buzzy. The irony of this is that the Honda is an engine with a much higher RPM torque peak than the Subaru. Nathan

Nipper, I think the point here is that if you add a large enough volume of oil to a cylinder, it effectively reduces the volume of the cylinder heads (by taking up air space with a non-compressable liquid) and can raise the compression ratio tremendously. This is why sucking water into your engine can hydrolock and destroy it! As to whether the quantity of oil stored in the spark plug recesses would be enough to cause this- probably not, but I don't know. Nathan