JPX

Well, I tore down one of my rear wheels to take the hub off. I wouldn't call it a walk in the park, but it can be done in an evening. I personally hate working on brakes - and the rear brakes are a double whammy since even though they are discs, they have a tiny drum brake assembly inside for the parking brake. This is what took the most time for me to deal with. Once you get the brake hardware off, you take off the axle nut (a beast) and pull the CV out. You'll have to remove the "long bolt" to disconnect the suspension control arm off the knuckle. Here is what everything looks like disassembled - except for the two strut bolts holding it on the car. For reference, here is a clean fully assembled photo. Notice that the shiny bolt head on the right is the one your mechanic appears to be worried about. It's true it is rusty back there. But an impact wrench or a good breaker bar should be able to take care of it. The real issue is if it is overtightened at assembly. Over-torqueing will distort the knuckle and eventually damage the bearings. On the bearings themselves, you'd have to get a machine shop to press them out and press new seals and bearings back in. Many chain shops will farm this out to a machine shop as well due to the big press needed to change them out along with all the adapters they use to push out the bearings and hubs from the knuckles.

Factory configuration is that the driveshaft u-joints are non-replaceable and requires replacing the shaft assembly. But it seems like the u-joints could be machined or cut out and replaced with a more conventional u-joint. Rather than buying a $700-$1000 shaft assembly, has anyone had u-joints replaced for considerably less?

Might be CVs. If you have split axle boots, the joint will get grit in it and click away. Watch for spun off grease around the blown boot. You can go an amazing amount of miles in this condition. But it would be best to replace the axle assembly before a big drive or the next winter season. Check the steering rack boots for tears. If there is a tear, then the inner tie rod may be contaminated and it will make noise as it binds. I had popping noise on certain turns under braking - the passenger inner tie rod was the culprit. http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=66318 Other possibilities could be ball joints or front strut mounts. When was the last time the front struts themselves were replaced? I repainted my front bumper with rattle cans:http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=862222 It took a lot of prep work. But once the paint started going on, it really came together quite well for the low $$$ put into it.

Game on! Way to go putting low $$$ into a fully operational car!

Coming on to 145,000 miles now. Cold mornings are a still a little irritating with that sound. But the car still keeps running. That engine may end up out of the car again at the end of the year. The rear oil seal appears to be leaking. Great time to check for a cracked flex plate I guess. I'm quite sure the driveshaft has a bad u-joint and carrier bearing - yet another expensive project to look forward to. Need a louder stereo so I can drown out all the noises.

Funny - my 96 Legacy sedan's rear speakers just completely blew 2 months ago. Speakers back there take a lot of abuse from heat and sunlight. This followed several months of a new Pioneer CD player that I am sure over-drove the stock speakers. I replaced them with some freebie "Dual" speakers I got with the stereo at Best Buy. They needed an extra hole drilled into them to fit the factory screw holes, but otherwise were a quick and cheap replacement for the blown rears. They aren't polys, but new cones beat blown cones. I expect the door speakers need to be replaced soon as well. I hate cutting factory metal, so I try to stay with stock sized speakers. Oh, and the stock tweeters are not a massive improvement - but I will say this.....you'd miss them if you already had them. You might have to investigate the crossover settings and gain if you run another amp.

You might very well be able to run the CVs until they die. But I bet that you'd be more likely to have a CV joint crap out because of a blown boot first before the joints have actually worn out. Change the boots when you switch sides and game-on!

It stayed put, but I can imagine that it could pop out. Here is a shot of the inside of the diff with the shaft pulled and the side plate removed. Long story about the "dent" in the plate. But this shows the spline tip that goes into the diff.

This is very impressive! No oil leaks anywhere? Wow!

For my 96, it does not have roll pins on the rear CVs - only the front. You need to take a large prypar, land it on one of the screw heads (not on the housing) and then pop the CV off. There is a circlip on the end of the spline shaft that goes into the diff. Make sure it is accounted for on either end. In my case, it stayed inside the diff instead of on the shaft. This is what you are trying to fight as you pull off the shaft. Reassemble by popping it back in.

Wow, I really appreciate everyone's interest in this matter. At 144,000 miles now, the motor currently has just short of 6000 miles on it. Just finished up an oil change with nothing out of the ordinary in color. We've been driving the car very frequently now since my Cabriolet has been in an extended surgery for a master cylinder and a wheel cylinder replacement I've be procrastinating. On cold mornings, the knocking is louder briefly at start as the oil flow gets going. It quickly calms down a little once the engine is turning for a few seconds. The knocking sound is very much still present. But there has been no oil loss (other than what appears to be a seep at the rear mail seal:mad: -does it ever end?) And power delivery has been consistent. To answer some previous questions on the lash adjusters, I did pump them up and install them. Since I was in and out of the valve covers several times, I checked the HLAs each time and they were all firm. I had also made it a point to clear out the pinholes for the oil in the rocker train. So I believe that the rocker assemblies are operating correctly. I have NOT conducted a compression check yet. I'm banking on the engine builder getting this right for now. :-\ I did try the spark plug test a while ago with no discernable change in the tone of the knock. Other than front brake work and some investigation on the driveshaft center bearing whine, we'll just keep running with it I suppose.

The bearings on my Autozone alternator were making a "marble-ballsy" sound right before I took it back for it's lifetime warranty replacement. It was hot as hell. The replacement is hot - but with bearings dying, the old was was a lot hotter. Charge was okay.

And for everyone's reference: My worn contacts at 89,000 miles ................and the $7 replacement contacts: So even after the replacement, 51,000 miles later on the contacts, this is what they looked when the car hit 140,000 miles.

Every other oil change if I remember or am not too tired/out of garage time. I had one set of Michelins actually last me the 80,000 miles they said they would. For $100 a tire they were certainly worth it even though the sticker shock was . I had cords showing at the very end - and I am positive tire rotations were key to getting so far.

It could also be a spring clip sliding out of position - this would cause the brake pad to sit lopsided. Then one side of the pad will almost always be pressed against the rotor.

Subaru makes things interesting by using a light colored primer under all paint colors. This is particularly a PITA when it comes to dark colors. The front hood edge on these cars is very prone to chips. And since it is winter when everybody without mudguards is driving in front of you, you are a magnet for chips. Unless the paint is simply flaking off which would be an indication of an adhesion problem that you could argue the dealer with, there isn't much you can do about this. Repairing paint chips is tedious - and should be performed on chips that expose metal and invite rust. Otherwise you'll be better off with a hood repaint. That being said, a 3M clear bra (paint protection film) would prevent this from happening - or if you can tolerate the removable vinyl bras or hood deflectors, then there you go.

And here is a checklist for pulling the engine to help keep things organized. It is a very straightforward job, but I didn't want to take any chances forgetting something. http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=59033

So if fuel injector cleaner helps the gauge operate better, wouldn't it make more sense to pull off the rear seat cushion, pull out the sender and douse it in cleaner directly?

Neutral when I care - 1996 Legacy 2.2L sedan.

Love the car? - Get it diagnosed to see what repair it might need. And you could check into getting your hands on a used transmission. Are you "done" with the car? - dump it.

Maybe.....but as an owner of a 125K mile 1996 EJ22 engine that cooked a headgasket due to a failed waterpump, I stand solidly behind the advice already provided above. Changing the waterpump and all the seals makes sense if you are that far in there with a new timing belt and the parts are original. All the labor required to change the waterpump AFTER the timing belt is replaced will result in DOUBLE the cost to you. Otherwise even after your timing belt change and the waterpump lets go, your next service will look like this.

I think the quality is similar across the board. But I have this icky feeling that there is variation not only in ripples or distortion but also in the glass composition. My second windshield appears to get chips easier than the old one. Might be my imagination.....you know, when you become hypersensitive to windshield damage, EVERY little bit of damage to the new glass will drive you even more insane.:-\ My $235 replacement was done in the parking lot right outside my window at work. Pretty convenient. Just make sure you take it on the highway later to verify seals and trim do not whistle (anymore than normally do) - you'd want them to check that out.

I just bought a vacuum pump similar to a Mityvac. It takes a different frame of thought to use it in a manner that works well. I applied some teflon tape to the thread areas just above the bleed hole. That way it is not an integral part of the brake fluid space - but it limits some of the air bubbling that comes with doing a vacuum bleed (as opposed to pressure bleed - pedal or otherwise). Okay - on to the usage. It was a bit more work than I expected. But it worked fine for all four corners of my Cabriolet and the Legacy. The Cabriolet was considerably easier to do with the wheels on and the car on the ground. The Legacy was harder to reach the bleed screws the way they are oriented. As everyone already noted, pulling all the old fluid out of the reservoir first is the best way to start. If needed, pull the grungy old reservoir off and clean it well with brake cleaner (or your choice of cleaner). Then refill it with clean fluid. As you bleed the wheels, you WILL see a lot of bubbles from the threads. But if the color changes from brown to clear, you know the bleed is working. And if your master cylinder and ABS modules are fine, then that color change is a good indicator of a bled system. Pedal feel ultimately dictates the effectiveness of the bleed. Remember to have the bleeder screw under vacuum at the moment you are closing the screw tight to prevent air re-entering the system. And don't forget to top up the reservoir as you do this. It really bites if you bring in air from the top and significantly lengthens the time to re-bleed. I went crazy-go-nuts and used a whole liter of fluid to do all four wheels. So overall - give a vacuum bleeder a try (especially for the price if cheaper than Mityvac). If you hate it, then you still have an important diagnostic tool on-hand as well as a good backup bleeder. If you like it, then all's well that ends well.

Tires very very very easily are the cuprit. Rotate the tires front to back and see if it changes. If it changes (might vibrate differently), then tires are the problem. If there is a howling sound when driving then wheel bearings are up for a change. And check your tie rods, rack boots, ball joints and struts - any one of these can be a problem. Most likely some combination of them.