4FOR4

It's from a small dealer of used Subarus in WNY. I think he does alot of EBAY sales too.

My son's hot on the car purchase trail. He has his eye on a '99 Impreza RS. What's the board's opion on value? 90,000 miles 5 speed manual just had head gaskets replaced seems to have a front end hobble (could be tires or alignment?) check engine light is on a couple burn holes in the seats body rust and dent free blaupunkt cd player aftermarket muffler I did a carfax check and it indicated it originally was owned by a leasing company, for the first 47,000. Does that mean it was leased or was it a rental?

Gussets are probably the problem. It's some weather stripping or gasget that goes around the mirror mounts.

'94 sounds a bit early for the head gasket problem in the 2.5 liter engines. Is your '94 a 2.2? Symptoms are that of the head gasket. Could be a thermostat sticking occasionally, which would explain overheating and no heat coming out the vents. Also, if its only happening in city driving maybe, the temp sensor controling the cooling fans. If you have a slow leak in the coolant system, fluid could get low. On the legacys when you fill there is a plugmon the left side of the radiator that has to come out to filll top of engine. If you fill just from the cap side you could develop a bubble.

Not that I'm proud of the story I'm about to tell, but it may offer some encouragement to those of you who have to drive a car with the head gasket problem. While diagnosing my '98 OBW the shop let it run hot, for what I thought to be about 1/2 an hour(I watched in horror). It also went through the ups and downs of bubble formation probably half a dozen times, the first time 2 years before it repeated the symptoms (I was not aware of what the problem was then, just thought I had a bad thermostat). After all the episodes of high temps, the engine was repaired and 3,000 miles later, holding tough, no leaks and no overheating. During repair it was noted that the heads were not warped, and internals were in exceptional shape. Again, I am not recommending you drive your engine hot, but a couple of times doesn't insure a death sentence. How much does a life time Subaru enthusiast have to hate the head gasket problem and SOA for not accepting responsibility, before he leaves the fold and finds another vehicle to love? Can he ever purchase again once he has lost the trust he once knew?

There was just a posting about Subaru sending out a letter stating some amount of responsibility for head gasket replacement if there is a need before 100,000. You didn't mention the mileage. I had my 98OBW done at 133,000. The symptoms are not hard to see if you know what to watch for. Sometimes months go by with no troubles, it's all in the way the cars being driven. Basically what's happening is there is a small failure in the head gasket that allows exhaust gases to get into the cooling water circuits, causing a void or bubble. Flow stops and hot spots develop. The radiator will be cool because the heated coolant isn't being pumped out of the engine. I watched for about 20 minutes once and the temp needle would start to climb, I'd go look in the radiaitor reservoir and bubbling would start. Once the bubbling stoppped I'd look at the temp gauge again and it would be back to normal. Many owners on this site have had the pains your feeling now. Get the head gaskets replaced, make sure its someone who knows what their doing, Depending on miles on the car also replace: timing belt water pump oils seals Good luck. You've come to the right place for info you'll be looking for, or a support group when the bill comes.

Ejlain: On my '98 OBW Just had a shop do, head gaskets, a couple idler pulleys ($120 a piece), thermostat, T belt, water pump (I may be forgetting something) all for $2100. That includes a lot of screwing around because they didn't believe the head gasket was a problem so there are probably more hours in there than necessary. It was part of some collision repair work so insurance paid for majority. One comment the mechanic made was that he was totally blown away at how good the 2.5 looked after 133,000. So although there is that head gasket thing, they are better than most.

Of all the Subies I have owned past and present, nothing comes close to the reliability of the '92 Turbo sedan. We've driven it about 100,000 miles now (bought it with about 90,000 on it already) and have had no major problem. Replaced cooling compressor and front rotors, the only other complaint is that on very cold days the engine doesn't turn over unless you hold the key for about 30-60 seconds. Maybe trouble in the ignition switch. Not very often, just one of those minor nuisances. The 2.2 engines are fantastic.

It is most definetly the gussets, which are the seals around the mirror attachments. My '96 started getting loud and I had them replaced. It stopped. My '92 Legacy has the noise bad, I just can't bring myself yet to paying the $300- $00 to get them fixed. If you want I 'll try to find the exact price I was charged from the dealer. If I remember correctly, the parts were $120 a piece and the labor doubled the cost. I try to avoid taking doors apart so I'm probably not the one to ask about do it yourself.

WAs there a 2.5 in the '96? I thought they were 2.2. Anyway, the real test is to load the engine up after its warm. I got it to over heat 3 seperate times disproving the repair shop telling me there were no problems. What I did was get it on a thruway or some road where you can go ten miles so or. After its warm, slow down alittle to like 40 then jump on it to get it to rev at about 4,000 rpm. After a couple of those start to watch the temp gauge. It will rise and fall pretty quickly, getting close to H then going back to center. Once the process starts, pop the hood and look inside the radiator overflow resevoir. You should see bubbling occurring. The temp needle will rise, bubbles start, temp falls. When you get a big bubble it will cause flow to stop in the coolant circuit and the temp gauge will read H but no heat will blow from the heater core inside car. The fewer times this happens the better. Overheating and getting coolant onto oiled interior engine components is bad JUJU. MY 98 did it at 130,000 also. While its apart do the maintenance thing: water pump oil pump seal, timing belt etc. I also bought a pulley and an idler that bearings were going on. The whole thing, at a shop, ran $2,100

91,93,94Legacy, I don't know all the symptoms of your problem but the binding while turning problem is something I recently had. It felt like binding, jumping in rear of car like it was in 4 wheel drive on a dry road. The problem was some grooveds that develop in the reduction drive gear, caused by the drive plates pushing in while going straight. Then when its time to turn they don't slide smoothly, get hung up in the little grooves and cause the binding. If You look at Legacy777's second picture, the parts I'm talking about are #15, the reduction drive gear, and #3 the drive plate. They weren't very deep or noticable, but after I had the old one out I could get it to do it by trying to slide plates along reduction gear. (Excellent info Legacy777, as always) I don't know what other problems you're experiencing, the through the turn drag was what I noticed the most. Hope this helps. By the way it was on the 98 Outback this happened, at 133,000 miles

Seems to me front rotors need replacing about every 30,000 due to warping. Any one else experience that? $60 a piece if you do it youself. You could have them turned but there pretty thin to begin with. The most frustrating thing, if they haven't gone already, are the gussets used for mounting mirrors to doors. you'll know there bad when the car sounds like a wind tunnel when driving. They were about $200 apiece installed at the dealer. I bought an amp instead and cranked the tunes. I replaced cooling compressor at about 145,000. The starter I replaced at about 120,000 because I was having starting trouble but it didn't fix it. I still have it happen when it gets real cold but its something I can't figure out so I'll live with it. All above were on 92 Turbo Legacy Sedan. Turbo is still whistling right along.

I recently had a problem with a coolant leak and it turned out to be a hose running into the bottom of the carb. It had a small rip and I couldn't see it unless the engine was revving. It looked Like the leak was coming from the front top of engine but I couldn't tell until I started moving stuff around and happened on it. I hope someone else can explain better what its for but I believe there is some kind of sensor that the coolant passes by to control some carb function associated with engine temp. I couldn't find it in Chiltons. If thats not seeing proper temp or is sucking air it could be an issue. By the way, it's quite a pain to get at. Its tucked up behind a bunch of rigid vacuum lines, in front of engine, right side of carb as you look from front of car. I was going to change the hose with a new original (its got a couple bends formed in it) but the other end runs behind alternator mounting bracket so I trimmed and reconnected. Just postponing the inevidable.

I think I was calling it a vapor separator. Carquest And NAPA had no listing for the thing. Advanced Auto Parts has a pretty good computer set up. We looked under fuel filters and it listed a half dozen or so various brands. One of the listings was labeled '3 port'. The guy clicked on that and it was the beast I was looking for. Two 5/16" ports at the bottom coming off in a peace sign, a 1/4"port at the top, which I assume is the vapor return line back to the tank, but I'm not sure about that. Had to wait for it to be shipped from main warehouse, the showed 3, only 3. It's made of white, somewhat see through plastic, located where I described earlier under the hood. The 'other' fuel filter on the Brat (I have '85 and '86, both the same setup) is located down by the fuel pump under car behind driver door. It looks like the one under the hood but no 1/4" port on top. Both CarQuest and Napa, after checking their computers will give you a fuel filter with ports coming out in two directions instead of the V or peace sign arrangement. Doesn't fit real well in the holder under the BRAT but it works OK.

A work associate, knowing I own many Subies, came to me with a problem he's having with his Impreza RS. He describes the noise as coming from the rear, and it sounds as if he has snow tires on. I hum if you will. He put new tires on and it persists. Anyone care to speculate?

98 OB same problem. Rusty return spring doesn't get handle back to correct position I sometimes can't understand why the galvanize, paint and uncoat everthing except the handle mounting piece on the lift gate. My 98 has no other corrosion other than that piece which is nothing but corrosion. I had an 88 Chrysler van that had the same thing happen.

Mine was done in 2 days, but I think it was in conjunction with working on a couple other vehicles. Tell him to tke his time and do a good job.

Thanks to all that helped. It ended up being the part with many names: 2nd fuel filter vapor separator liquid separator liquid diverter It's the 3 port fuel filter lookin thing on the fire wall above brake master cylinder. On the way to the parts store it would start to sputter at about 4,500 rpm. Changed it in the parking lot and on the way home I could red line (almost, 5,500) it and it took it like a Brat (Not that I condone going 70 in 3rd, but it was in the name of science). Another example of how regular maintenance is the key to happy motoring.

Went back to the yard to tell them the motor they sold me was bad. I tried to use the $50 to make other purchases since I figured all yard motors would have problems. They wouldn't go for it though and would only replace the motor. I told the guy to pick the OB with the lowest miles (they had 10 98s to choose from!). This version looked updated with a different wiring setup and the screw at the end of the motor shaft wasn't there. It works, turns smoothly. I hope it last a while.

Thanks 99OBW, I think I'll go with the new one. It might help to spray some lube down the end of the shaft housing after the cover is off. The 2 I had apart where both corroded in the first half inch.

I'm trying to replace the non working rear wiper on '98 OB. I bought one ($50) from a yard, but when I plugged it in the motor was spinning but not the wiper shaft. Since it's a holiday and the yards are closed and I have a hole in the rear window where the assembly should be, I thought I'd take the motor assembly apart to see if I could fix it. After disassembling the original and the replacement I've concluded that these must all fail the same way; Corrosion sets in right around the shaft where arm connects, and when it gets too cruded up to turn the motor starts breaking teeth off the plastic gear it connects to. Both had about an inch of teeth missing, and both shafts were set up tight in the housing. If the plastic gear was available seperately, these things wouldn't be that hard to rebuild if you can get the shaft freed up. The rest of the components are metal. Has anyone had success installing junk yard wiper motors? What's the chances of finding one that won't have the same problems? What do you think a brand new one will cost? As always, all opinions appreciated, thanks!

The Outback is Back! Seems to be running fantastic! Only time will tell if timing or headgasket caused any other damage. The mechanic said he was amazed at how little wear there was in the cylinders etc. Everything looked to be in alot better shape than the 133,000 would usually look. That's some good news. While they had it apart for the TB I had them put in a new water pump, a couple of idler puleys that seemed to have worn bearings, and a thermostat. Along with the new head gaskets the engine should be good to go for a few miles. Thanks to all for volumes of information and insight into the trials, tribulations and triumphs of Subaru ownership. Your input is a huge asset. Happy New Year.

Western NY has been unusually snow free this year, nothing like the 7 feet we got last year. Studded snows all around and nothing but mud. OK mud will work! Please continue to share. We own and drive these marvels so we can go in the snow, be proud!