JPX

This is everything you need to know about those little lights. http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=2498&page=1&pp=10&highlight=climate+control+backlight Do it. It will make you feel a lot better a night. I like even the small victories!

I sanded, buffed and clear coated my lenses - what a difference it made. It is important to put a coat of clear something (acrylic in my case) after sanding the yellow off. Factory puts a clearcoat on. But as it wears down, it flakes off. Then the plastic underneath starts to yellow. So sanding will get rid of the yellow, and it will come back if not protected. Click on the picture for the full writeup.

The 1996 seats are truly awful - hard as a rock and zero back support. I stuff a small cushion in the lumbar area. 10 years later they still can't quite get it right?

My Haynes book says that the driveplate to crank bolts are 51-55 ft-lbs all engine sizes.

I thought the sensor was up somewhere in front of the radiator.

Commuter is right, the link in the sticky was exactly what I used to fix my backlights. http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=2498&page=1&pp=10&highlight=climate+control+backlight

This is what I found on my pulley after I pulled it off during my longblock swap. I noticed it was a little wobbly. Big clue - it shredded an alternator belt. The key notch "grew" into a slot! It looked so clean that I though that was how it was supposed to look. Then I compared it to a new pulley.....

My curiosity is satisfied.....and I will also leave well enough alone. Something tells me that the next major thing to die on this car will be transmission related. So I will cross and then burn that bridge when I get there.

You could put a washer on it, but there is not a lot of thread to work with. I just bent mine back so it was flat again and cranked down on it with Loctite.

:confused:Hmmmm....The only two conditions I can think of: 1. coolant temp sensor trips out the ECU at some point and cuts off engine 2. engine seizes? (You'd probably have a lot of trouble restarting after this)

:confused:Ooooo.....this is a good question that I'd also like to get some opinions on. My motor is also out since I am replacing it with a rebuilt CCR longblock. Right now nothing leaking on my automatic. It is a great time to do something. But, part of me is thinking leave well enough alone.:-\

Check the nuts that hold the drive assembly to the inner door panel metal. If they are missing or the hole is gouged out (like mine below), the entire track assembly will be out of alignment.

Never thought of this before. I love it! Now I have a way to extend the life of a blown boot! It truly is amazing how long one can go with a blown boot or even a worn CV. The only exception I ran across was when my rear axle CV collapsed and obliterated itself.

I am quite comfortable with taking out engines and transmissions although it does take a lot of time and space. I am in the middle of replacing my EJ22 with a longblock from CCR. (link to progress here->http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=924535. The logic seems easy to follow that if you go through the trouble of pulling a motor, why not teardown to the journal bearings (or in the case of a transmission, slide all the gears off the shaft)? Some people prefer to pull and rebuild their own crank, rods, valve guides, and do all of that stuff. I'm sure there is satisfaction from the cost savings and a job well done that comes with that. But I have to draw the line on rebuilding a shortblock in my own garage. Here's the thing, I do not find any joy in working on the precision components and the cost in terms of time and even $$$ just doesn't work for me. And my patience when it comes to heads....bah, halfway through I might give up and sell the whole car!

Come now, we can be a little more civilized than that. The drivability of the car kind of depends on whether the leak is external or internal. An internal leak will cause your engine to ingest coolant and push exhaust and oil into your coolant stream. If the leak is small (and you probably can't see big or small when assembled), then you could drive for quite a while as long as you have enough coolant and the engine does not overheat. I had a lot of steam pushing out my tailpipe along with the usual condemning signs like missing coolant and oily crud in the reservior. An external leak will blow coolant out of the engine - most likely along the bottom or rear edges. This is just plain annoying. Again as long as you keep the engine from overheating and keep the coolant level up, you can go for a while in this state. Just remember that either situation does not improve itself. And in fact it still could get worse (my internal leak eventually also started to push coolant along the gasket edge where you CAN see it). So you need to get this checked out if you detect any of these symptoms. In the meantime, there is not a whole lot of preventative measure you can take other than regular maintenance such as flushing coolant every other year (or more).

This link mentioned a source for the download. But it will cost $20-25 for the very brief subscription period. http://home.comcast.net/~skipnospam/Head_gasket_replacement.html

Oh, and another thing..........did they use the correct fluid? You know, being as it is not an American car?

Wow, I have never heard of running the car during an ATF change. Maybe a quick engine turnover to jostle things loose but that's it. I hope this doesn't turn into something more serious or expensive.

I love talking about paint protection film (Xpel, 3M Scotchcal, PPF, or whatever). I put it on my 2004 Suburban brand new - still no nicks or chips! I had the bumper cap (not at crazy to install as a Subaru bumper), hood edge, and mirrors done by a pro-installer. Door trim and mirrors (I did the door edge myself) I also used scrap pieces for my daytime running lights (the crystal clear part - I did not bother putting them on the main lenses....yet). I do not recommend putting the film on foglights because the temperatures are very high. This causes the heat to buildup and either warp the lens assembly or shorten the bulb life. But on the newer headlamp assemblies, the plastic covering is somewhat isolated from the actual bulb and lenses. So this is an ideal application for the film. Since that outer plastic is, well, plastic....it will scratch and pit over time. As the factory clearcoat erodes, the plastic itself will yellow and crazing will develop. I had to sand, polish and re-clear my 1996 lenses. Looking back, I wish I had installed this stuff on my 1996 Legacy. It would have saved me some grief with the bumper and the headlights. You did the right thing having this stuff installed on a new car! Do the headlights.....but more for scratch/pit protection than impact protection. Prep the surface like paint and it sticks just like does on paint.

:brow:Oh, I have lots of experience finding out how many miles you can go......right down to the coasting into the gas station right AFTER the engine sputters out. On the sedan, you can go as far as 70 miles if you are careful about what you are doing after the light comes on. A more "sane and safe" duration is within 40-50 miles of the light coming on. Your fuel pump will hate you if you do this too much. And make sure you change your fuel filter regularly since you are more likely to suck up gunk at the bottom of the tank doing this frequently. In my old Volkswagen I ran out of gas one time 100 yards from the gas station. But luck was STILL on my side - a guy changing his flat tire on the other side of the road had a 55 gallon drum of gas in the back of his truck!

Well, I got as far at 135,000 miles until the head gasket conked out. But I attribute the failure to a crappy no-name waterpump that led to the overheating condition and not the block itself. Further, the first 60,000 miles of was hard service towing a jetski (or two) around and many, many trips to Lake Tahoe (4 hours drive, 8 hours ski, 4 hours drive). So this engine served honorably......now if it wasn't for all the other crap attached to the engine (wheel bearings, alternator, diff seal, rant, rant, rant....)

It is way too much trouble to leave the engine in the car if you have an option to pull it out. Lots of advice and opinions at this link that lead up to my decision to pull the motor out. http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=889819

Don't know much about Volvos.....my soft spot is actually Volkswagens. As an owner of a 1996 Legacy L sedan, I have lots of opinions and general declarations about this car. So ask away! And welcome to USMB!

Check to see if the ABS sensor was reinstalled. When changing wheel bearings, the hub/knuckle assembly has to be removed from the car. And the wire for the ABS speed sensor needs to be disconnected. If this was either not reinstalled or the wire not reconnected, then the wheel will not send a useful signal to the ABS controller.

1. Do the camshaft sprockets have to be removed to remove the water pump or the oil pump? The manual says yes but I'm not to sure. Shouldn't have to remove them unless they really are in the way. 2. Without the special tool, could a strap wrench be used to hold the camshaft sprockets (possibly used with an old timing belt)? There is a small plastic cover where the motor and the transmission meet on the right side (not the side the starter is). Jam a big screwdriver into one of the slots as you try to wrench the bolt off. Never used a strap wrench, but it might work. 3. When I changed my timing belt at 60k (4 years ago) I bought a new timing belt tensioner in case I needed to replace it. I didn't use it and it has remained in it's original packing (box and plastic bag) and stored inside. Any views if it would still be good. Not sure why it wouldn't. Should be good - not like milk or cheese. 4. Shouldn't the crankshaft bolt be torqued to about 125-130 ft-lb vs 69-76 ft-lb per the manual? Uhhh......I think I've used 125 the whole time. But be careful listening to me. This is my idea of 135,000 mile maintenance::-p