porcupine73

I don't know exactly what model years this bulletin applies to, but it may be of interest (may only be applicable for US spec soobs too) NUMBER: 09-34-96 DATE: 09/13/96 APPLICABILITY: LEGACY, IMPREZA, AND SVX WITH EGR SUBJECT: FUEL INJECTOR REPLACEMENT If you should receive a customer complaint of a Legacy, Impreza, or SVX being difficult to start, after a long cool down period (such as overnight) under extremely cold temperatures and high relative humidity, it has been found that under these conditions ice may build up at the tip of the injector and cause a no start or hard start condition. OBDII equipped vehicles will illuminate the MIL and exhibit trouble codes, P0301, P0302, P0303, P0304 (P0305 and P0306 for SVX). A newly designed injector is now available to prevent the condition. All injectors should be replaced with the newly designed injector as a set of 4 (6 for SVX).

hehe..sorry about that, I should start reading the post! Very sharp vehicle indeed nonetheless!

I've done it depressurizing and without; now I just open the gas cap some and wrap a shop towel around the fuel hose before pulling it off. Some fuel will spray out but not a ton. Wearing chemical splash goggles is always a good idea. Here's a connector that can be undone if desired (this is how Haynes says to do it) then crank a few times: Fuel filter:

Ah ok....well, I don't know those early Legacy's too good...

Hm...okay, so they flash in conjunction with the corner lamps near the headlights? Sweet!

That car is in good shape....a little surprised though at the 'best offer' considering the mileage and age. Are the foglights those yellow lamps in the bumper? Sorry I don't know those early Legacy's too good...

hm...good diagnostic work. You can probably ignore my long shot hunch since you have codes to work with. There's a good articles on endwrench.com for the 4eat phase I. Yes those early 2.2L Legacies are pretty quick, maybe it was before the ODBII emissions requirements or something. Make it a turbo and fllllyyyyyy

Are you sure that thermostat is good? Test it in hot water and see if it is actually even opening, or run without t-stat to see if it still overheats.

Just don't let 'er overheat; no need to add headgaskets to the job! I'm doing this same work on my '96 2.2L right now, and I was putting the thermostat in backwards too. Fortunately the oem wouldn't fit backwards though.

Drive it with the heater on full heat max speed might help, or, well, not hurt anyway.... heat: -->

The part with the spring goes into the water pump. It needs the hot coolant coming back from the heater core and throttle body bypass circuits to hit the springed/thermostat part so it can open. Otherwise I don't think it will open.

Also maybe double check the thermostat for full opening in nearly boiling water. I turned my old stant thermostat into a 'blank' for testing purposes. The gasket still stays in place to prevent leaks between the water pump and thermostat housing. If you do this to your old thermostat, and run that, and still get the overheating, then you can rule out the thermostat.

Are you sure the aftermarket thermostat is installed in the right direction? The OEM thermostat is long enough that it can't be installed backwards at least not easily, but the aftermarkets are shorter and might be able to go in the wrong way.

Did you replace the thermostat along with the water pump (I see you said it seemed good). Otherwise if it wasn't doing this before the work was done, sounds like either air trapped in the system or the new water pump isn't up to snuff. Was it an OEM pump?

Hi. Hm, interesting. That seems backwards from the way they describe it working in the service manual. It's supposed to be more prone to hold top gear with the cruise on to improve fuel economy. Factory service manual can be had on CD for about $200 from techinfo.subaru.com or there are other subscriptions available like 72 hours where you can download the portions you really want/need. If you want print manuals often the OEM manuals can be found on eBay for maybe $200/set. Or alldatadiy.com has subaru oem service info on a subscription basis. Of course there are the $5 ebay cd's.

Hi Rev. I could be waayyy out on a limb on this one but I think possibly a bad/dirty TPS could cause this issue. The power light comes on when the TCU switches to 'power mode', which basically happens when you press down on the throttle fast enough (rate of change). So if you're cruising along at say 20% throttle and that happens to be bad spot on the TPS and say then the TPS tells the TCU you're now running at 60% throttle that might be enough to make it go to power mode and downshift for a split second. Anway there are excellent detailed articles about how it all works for the phase I 4eat on http://www.endwrench.com just click archives and search for 4eat.

I used this for an ATF filter.

Cool. Do you think those filters are the same as the fuel filter just without the hose barbs bent? They look very similar anyway.

hehe...too late for that. All the new ones are already installed. I used the yellow Scorpion/King Springs. I still have the new Legacy springs I was sent (though I ordered Outback springs); will probably use those on my '94. I might have some pics of the OEM legacy spring side by side with the Scorpion spring but I"d have to look. Anyway in the pic both struts are fully extended.

Banana perhaps! Fortunately Subaru is just assembling the Camry's in Indiana at this point, not engineering them..... although AFIAK Toyota owns some portion of Subaru now. Better than when GM owned a portion though no doubt (in my opinion).

Sweet! No problem flat towing it then all wheels on the ground. Sounds like it should be back in top condition with a new engine!

That should have the phase I 2.5L dohc. If it's an auto trans don't just tow it behind another vehicle or anything; get a flatbed.

The PCV valve is typically on the intake manifold right near the throttle body. As with most parts you are generally better off paying the extra couple dollars and getting the Subaru OEM part.