Tommymc

I just did an oil change...Please educate me about the problem with Fram filters....I've used them on most of my cars when they're on sale.

I dunno nipper....Your link shows the 1990-1999 2.2L at 60k. BTW, I read that from 97 on, the EJ22 had solid valve adjusters. Since this is a used engine, I don't know for sure what year it is.....any way of telling? And would that make a difference? Update: I took it into a local shop that specialized in Subarus today, and they seemed to think it had solid adjusters. Also that the noise was loud but "normal".

Long story...my daughter was driving the car when the water pump went. She was at school out of state but had a friend who's father was a service mgr at a Volvo dealership. He worked on the car after hours as a favor. After replacing the pump, he found that the engine ran poorly and had been damaged from the overheating. We ended up replacing the engine with a used one.....he swapped out the new water pump and replaced the TB. I'm pretty sure the replacement interval is 60k on this engine.

The engine has about 163k (going by the salvage yard figures) We had a new T-belt put on when we replaced the engine about 50k ago. Yes, I know that the belt is coming up on it's change interval at 60k.....just another cost to factor into things.

Thanks John. The mileage is a moving target as both the engine and tranny have been replaced. There's 230k on the clock but I think the engine has around 163k and the tranny has 150k. We bought the car with 70k and have had to replace several wheel bearings....more than any other car I've owned. I'll continue to drive the car for a while and see if she quiets down.

The back story: I have a 96 Legacy wagon with a EJ22 engine. It was a "spare car" for the kids to take to college. College is over and now it doesn't get run much. Last fall I was fixing it up to sell and it needed a muffler to get by inspection. The muffler shop talked me into the cheap route of welding in a generic muffler. I think it was from some model of Ford. Anyway it's smaller and a bit louder. Circumstances changed and I never sold the car it sat around all year and was only driven a couple of thousand miles. Now one of the kids wants it. I've been driving it for the last week and noticed that it's a lot noisier than it used to be. I'm pretty sure there's a rear wheel bearing going but there is also a lot of valve noise. At idle, it's just a ticking, but it gets a lot louder while driving, especially under load. I know that Subarus are known to have loud valves, but this seems over the top.....I just don't know. Anyway, I'm wondering if the muffler might have caused or be adding to this problem. It seemed to develop about the same time. Different backpressure? And then the decision of what to do with the car. Repairing a wheel bearing seems pointless if the engine is on it's way out. If swapping out the muffler would help, it might be a deciding factor. Any advice is appreciated.

Here in the Northeast, rust is a constant enemy. It seems that rust forms in predictable places...on all cars....and Subarus are no exception. I've fought the slow progression on my 96 Legacy wagon for many years and no amount of rust converter, tiger hair, bondo, undercoating, etc seems to do anything to stop the spread. After watching this progression on different cars, I'm starting to suspect that the root cause may be less obvious than salt on the roads. Certainly salt is a factor...all the under-side is exposed. Salt kills the suspension, brakes, lines, fuel tank, etc...but what about the body panels? For years, I've assumed that salty water gets in to the fender at the lip where the inner and outer parts are crimped and welded. From there it migrates to the lowest spot and rusts from the inside. Well maybe that's so, but I've gone to great lengths to seal this area. Lately I've been wondering if the moisture doesn't originate from condensation. In the winter, the inside of the car has warm moist air which can condense against the cold body panels. There is no way for it to drain from the inner fenders....it may eventually evaporate...or not. This would explain a lot about the way the corrosion moves. If this is the actual mechanism, would it make sense to fill the cavities with expanding foam? No air = no condensation. What do you all think?

Thanks for the replies. My thinking was that for under $200 I could replace both pipes and have it look good for inspection. Um, the rocker panels are getting punky (I just patched them with tiger hair) so I was hoping to limit the times this thing goes up on a lift. I do have a local guy who will probably weld for cheap. I'm just not sure the muffler can be saved. The pipe is separated as it enters the muffler chamber. The metal "looks" solid there...the sheet metal of the chamber isn't rusted. I guess I can have my guy check it out.

My 96 Brighton wagon needs a muffler. The pipe behind it is rusted to the point that there isn't enough left of the flange left to work with. I could bring it in to have a new muffler welded...or for about the same cost, I could buy both pipes and replace them myself. There are some online parts retailers that sell the parts at a substantially lower price than I can pay locally. AutoPartsWarehouse has the parts with free shipping. I'm looking at these parts: http://www.autopartswarehouse.com/sku/Subaru/Legacy/Bosal/Muffler/1996/Brighton/4_Cyl_2-dot-2L/W0133-1654272.html?loc=Rear&tlc=Engine+%26+Drivetrain and http://www.autopartswarehouse.com/sku/Subaru/Legacy/Replacement/Muffler/1996/Brighton/4_Cyl_2-dot-2L/REPS961102.html?tlc=Engine+%26+Drivetrain I'm not too concerned about length of warranty...I'm fixing the car to sell. Just need to get it by inspection. Any down sides to ordering online? I'm mostly concerned with the proper fit.

Thanks for the info. Since the car is in Rochester NY and I'm in VT, I have no way to check the sender myself. Unless anybody can recommend a good mechanic out there, I'm going to check the Car Talk Mechanx files and find somebody nearby. She has AAA so towing should be free.

My daughter is away at school with our 96 Legacy wagon. The 2.2L engine has aprox 150k on it. She called and reported that the oil light came on....the oil was a little low but not enough to trip the light under normal circumstances. She has topped off the oil and let the car idle for a minute or two, the light is still on. The only thing I can think of is that the oil pump must be shot.....or the oil pressure sensor. Any thoughts on this? I've told her not to drive it until we get the problem resolved. I'm thinking that we need to tow it to a garage (she has AAA) Thanks for any insight.

Thanks Dave, I found the website online. If the stuff is as good as it claims, I've got a lot of other uses for it too. I agree with you, the leak isn't coming from the oil pan. The whole front of it is really rusty though, so I'm thinking an ounce of prevention here. In VT at least, I'm told they rust through a lot.

Looks like it might be just what I need. I tried find it at Advance Auto and Tractor Supply but neither of them carry it. I can order it online, but I wonder if you know of likely sources locally.

So here's the update: I installed a pair of re-manufactured calipers today. The operation went smoothly as expected. After bleeding the lines, there was a little more pedal but not up to where it should be. I decided to bleed the rear, and while I was at it replace the rear shoes. They had some life left, but shoes are cheap. After everything got back together and adjusted, the brake pedal is up to where it should be. I have a suspicion that one of the rear brake adjusters wasn't working as well as it should causing excess travel to activate the shoes. In the end it seems there were several issues that were contributing to cause a big problem. Thanks for all your help and advice.

Well I cleaned the whole pan off, and it's only rusted in the front. The rear of it where all the oil was is solid. It's leaking from either the seal around the pan or something above and to the rear. I'm not worried about a small leak at this point unless it gets a lot worse. I think for now I'll try to treat the rust and just keep an eye on things.