eagleb

I might have found some black leathers from a 99 outback... I'm hoping they're in good shape. Does $250 sound reasonable for front and rear seats? The fronts do have the seat heaters, so I'll have to find the control units eventually. Also, they don't have the door inserts, so that's something else I'll have to keep an eye out for. I'm hoping to hear back from the place before the weekend so I can go check them out... Good ol' bloobaru deserves an upgrade after keeping my girlfriend and roommate safe in their fender bender.

I know for my 96 OBW there were two different sizes of front pads. Something about changing the style in the middle of a model year just doesn't seem nice to me.

The rear drivers side quarter panel was pushed forward a bit when the car got hit from behind. It moved just enough to cause the door to sit slightly off and keep the rear seat from latching properly. All they did was pull the panel back, didn't even need to do any bodywork (luckily).

Got bloobaru back from the shop yesterday. Just dropped my car off at the shop, signed a couple papers, got my keys, and drove off within 5 minutes. He got new front and rear bumpers, new badges on the liftgate, new muffler and tailpiping, and a nice cleaning. Not totalled, just feeling a little bit fancier. I'm definitely happy to have my soob back. eag

Well, I called the shop yesterday. They say the car is most likely not totalled, but that will depend on if much bodywork is necessary after pulling some of the body panels back into place. Exhaust is going to be replaced from the cat back (they say the cat is still good ), and the body panels will be worked out. They said there was no frame damage. So it looks like I'll be getting bloobaru back as good as new. So much for upgrading to leather and sunroof

Excellent info. Thanks for the help. I'm going to call the body shop today and see if I can see where the car is at. Been there since Thursday, so they should have an estimate ready by now. I've seen comparable 96s for sale from 2500 to 5500. Research is my new best friend.

I'm sure if I hadn't stayed at the body shop to show them parts of the car that may have been affected by the crash, they wouldn't only known it was hit by the paint smudge on the rear hatch. The drivers side rear quarter panel looks like it got moved a bit, so the door on that side sits a bit cockeyed and the seat won't latch upright. Just puts it closer to being totaled. Anybody know of the best way to start making my case about the value of a 96 outback wagon, 114k, auto, 2.5L with updated headgaskets? Car only shows some normal wear and tear (paint chips, seats well loved by years of butt, etc.) I want some solid info in case I have to fight for the value of my car.

I've also seen 30th anniversary legacy wagons for sale around here. And since those do have the sunroof, it wouldn't be too hard to put some OB struts and springs on there to make a legaback. Let's hope my car had minimal damage so I don't have to make any real car decisions any time soon.

Well, I've been driving around a Mitsubishi Lancer rental car, and even though it's a decade younger than bloobaru, I want my soob back. Still no word from the body shop about an estimate, but I want to start shuffling through my options as far as keeping/replacing bloobaru. I'm sure it's pretty easy to total a 96 OBW, even with only 114k on the clock. If this happens, I'll probably lean towards purchase of a newer soob. There's an 04 35th anniversary legacy wagon with ~35k for $16,000 at a dealership, but I would be happy getting another Gen 1 outback, probably 98-99 OBW with as many options as I can find (did either come with a sun/moonroof?) I'll post a damage update as soon as I get one in.

At least I might be privy to a new catalytic converter. Nobody seriously hurt, just some minor whiplash which my insurance will definitely take care of. The car will hopefully be heading to the shop tomorrow, still drivable, can barely tell it was in a wreck. I'll post an update once I know the extent of the damage. I do love the soob, did exactly what he was designed to do. Keep people safe while providing fun transportation.

My girlfriend got rear ended in bloobaru (96 OBW) yesterday, hit at about 25 mph by an old lady in a buick. impact pushed the car into the van in front of it. Damage to front end: cracked fog light (still works, adds character) Rear end: couple cracks in the bumper, slight dent in rear hatch. Buick: front bumper was pushed up into her radiator. Bloobaru drove home, albeit loudly due to a possible crack in the exhaust near the cats. Seems like the rear drivers side door isn't shutting very easily, so there may be more damage than meets the eye. Fault is completely on the other driver, the van in front confirmed that story with the insurance agent. Now bloobaru gets to go in for a little fixin, while I get a rental, and no out of pocket expenses. I do love my soob.

Just like Subee Ted, I'm fairly sure my cylinder 3 misfire was also a stuck/dirty valve. Replaced plugs, wires, coil, injector, no luck. Code never returned after the headgasket job was done, since the shop cleaned the valves in the process.

Cylinder 4 misfire, not necessarily the plug.. plug, wire, injector, maybe dirty valves?

I've been having the same problem since I got my 96 obw. Just haven't found the motivation to tackle the problem. The link below has some information as to what the problem may be. http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=20661 I'm curious to see what happens eag

HA, thanks nipper, I better go take the car off the jackstands... I think I hear traffic backing up

I just changed the knock sensor and did notice an improvement in power around 2 - 3k. Maybe I'll pull the sensor off and clean the contact area a bit and see if that helps. I had a helluva time getting that guy in there, and I'm sure some gunk found its way between the contact points. I'm also prepping myself for an oxygen sensor swap (I'm assuming original sensor at 115k, fuel economy has slipped a bit). Still trying to assess the best point of attack for that job. eag

Excellent, that's what I like to hear. This was the first major drive I'd taken since getting the headgaskets replaced early in the year. It was sooo nice to see that temp gauge sit just below the halfway mark for the entire trip. Helped to keep the bloodpressure down a bit. Thanks for the responses, USMB is the cure for auto-hypochondria. Bring on the Cascade Range!

Just drove to the coast last week, up and over highway 26 from Beaverton, OR to Cannon Beach. One thing I've noticed in my car, when accelerating uphill, the first downshift will put the rpms around 3k, but there is almost no acceleration (car actually feels weak at this point). However, when I downshift by putting the petal to the metal ( ), the rpms get up to ~4k and you bet there is some power there. Enough to keep the car at 70+ uphill. Question: Why does the car feel weak at the 3k rpm mark (approx 60-65mph)? I can never tell exactly what gear I'm in during these downshifts. I know I should try just using the gear selector to determine what gear produces a specific rpm range. Also, sometimes if I accelerate rapidly, or rev it up in 3rd to 3k or so, the car will stay at that high rpm while coasting for a bit, and then will upshift on it's own or I'll have to mess with the accelerator pedal to trick it into shifting. I made it to and from the beach with zero problems, and probably averaged 65+, even going over the pass. Does this sound normal enough? I only ask because I might be heading over to Bend for the 4th, and those mountain pass roads are steeper and much longer. Thanks for the help! eag

Fair enough, if I find any threads that seem to say it all (correctly), I'll add them. Thanks for the info.

Just a quick question/comment... There are a lot of repeat questions regarding the replacement or cleaning of sensors on the new gen soobs. There are also a lot of awesome pictures detailing the processes. Would there be an easy way to sticky the best and most accurate of these descriptions? I can try searching out what I think are the best, but I'm not a mechanic and don't want to pick the wrong ones. Anyway, just a question, feel free to delete this post if you feel it's unnecessary. eag

did you try http://www.car-part.com?

If they do bring it stateside, I may not have to leave subaru behind. My mind is set on a diesel for my next car. Now if they ship their new diesel bio-d ready, I'm pretty much sold.

UPDATE: AFAIK, the misfire has been fixed. The valves were cleaned during the headgasket job, and I haven't had a misfire since. Hopefully that gremlin has been exterminated.

No upgrade, can't bring myself to settle for payments on a car that runs on gas, simply due to the ever rising price of fuel. So, I've decided to stick with blubaroo and do the necessary repairs. Besides, I like my outback. It's one of the originals.

Still haven't had the transmission fail me yet, but I also haven't taken a long drive in quite a while... I'm hoping the thing doesn't give out going over the coast range or up to mt hood. I am still having a few problems with the car though around 2k - 2500 rpm the car shakes a bit and the engine feels like it has low power. From reading other posts, I think it could be the knock sensor (car still has the original AFAIK). I ordered a new one from subarugenuineparts, so I'll install that to see if it helps. Along with the low power at the above rpm, my gas mileage has been fairly low compared to last year. Seeing as how the car has 114k miles and the O2 sensors are original afaik, would it be worthwhile for me to replace at least the front sensor? I guess I can wait to see what the knock sensor does. And finally, would someone mind giving me a list of sensors that could use a cleaning? I want to hear ol blubaroo purr like a happy soob should. thanks