[98 Legacy Outback noise at 60+ mph]

Hi everyone! I have a 98 Legacy AWD with 45K. She has a loud noise when I reach 60 mph. It's not a grind, more like something vibrating in wind so to say, but it is very noticable. If I let off or press down more on the gas the noise with go away for a few seconds then re-occur. It hasn't affected the performance (yet) but I'm concerned about continued driving like this. I've been under the car and cannot find anything loose (exhaust, underbody, trans, etc) Any ideas you folks have would be appreciated.

 

thanks again!

 

If you can reach far enough under the car, check the drive shaft. That's probably a long shot since the car only has 45k, but it's worth a check. There are 2 or 3 universal joints in the drive shaft. If you can reach them, make sure there isn't any give.

['94 Imprezza Smelling funky...???]

I had the same problem in my '96 OBW, but it turned out to actually be my bad cat that did a #2 in my back seat on the way home from the vet. Just thought I'd share.

[? legacy speaker upgrade?]

I don't know if there are Sube specific brackets, but drilling holes to mount speakers isn't very difficult. I would suggest buying a good quality 1/8 inch drill, and using a little bit of lube on the drill bit will make it last longer. After I got the door panels off, drilling the holes and installing the speakers in my '96 Legacy OB took about 15 minutes.

 

-Collin

[What Engine is this?]

As I recall, if the 6th character in the VIN is a 4, then it is a 2.2. I don't remember exactly what the 2.5's number was, but if it's anything other than 4, it's a 2.5. I'm not 100% positive on that, but I think that's what my Hanes book says.

 

-Collin

[hatchback open indicator stays on]

I had the same problem in my ol' Ford Probe. The solution for me was a good squirt of WD-40 in the latch mechanism. As it turned out, the switch was just stuck and needed a little bit of lube to get it switching again.

 

-Collin

['96 OB door adjusting and timing belt]

Does anyone know if I can adjust the front door positions in my 96 Legacy OB? my passenger door doesn't fit exactly right. it takes a lot more effort to close it all the way than the driver side door, and there is a bit of wind noise on the highway, even after wiping the window stripping with silicone lube. I bought the car about a month ago, and my theory is that the door got a good bump somewhere along the line that pushed it out of whack with the frame. there doesn't appear to me any actual damage to the door itself. It just seems like it's a 16th of an inch out of line. The Carfax report didn't show any wrecks, and the previous owner said the car had a clean history. My Hanes manual is at home (which is quite a ways from my school) so I won't be able to get at that for a couple weeks. Any ideas?

 

As for the timing belt... I didn't think to ask the previous owner if she had changed the timing belt. The car has just over 90k miles on it, so that is a significant concern for me at the moment. After consulting my Hanes book, i decided that it would be more practical for me to pay to have someone check than to try to get the cover off myself since it would involve a lot of work to get it off. Unfortunately, I can get ahold of the last owner, so does anyone have any ideas on how to find out of there's a new belt? My local Subaru dealer said they wouldn't be able to get any information on my car and that I should try to contact the original dealer to see if the work had been done there. Any suggestions for this problem?

 

Thanks in advance!

 

-Collin

[matinence durring clutch replacement]

I'm getting a new clutch in my '96 legacy outback. Is there anything I should check on while i've got the tranny out? also, what would you folks recomend as far as which clutch to put in? I've heard lots of bad things about Subaru's clutches, so I'm probably going aftermarket with a lifetime warrenty. Thanks!

 

-Collin

[96 outback amp installation]

Just a quick question about installing an amp in a '96 Outback.

 

First of all, does anyone have any suggestions on where to mount the amp? I just bought my OB, and I'm working on installing everything I ripped out of my old car before selling it. I had the amp hidden in the back of the passenger seat, but I would occasionally run into over heating problems since there isn't any air flowing through the seat.

 

Second, is there an accesible hole through the firewall where I can run the power wire from the battery? Most of the cars I've worked on have had a gromet somewhere that could used for the power wire, but I didn't see anything after a quick glance in my engine bay. I'd really hate to drill a hole through the firewall if I didn't need to, as it's a tight workspace, and drilling through a firewall is never fun. :-)

 

Thanks in advance!

 

-Collin