porcupine73

Hi all, I'd like to put a skid plate under the front of my '96 legacy brighton (AT). Anyone have any suggestions of if anything is available and/or where to look? It'll be getting Outback struts and springs if that makes any difference. Also any other suggestions like diff skid plates are welcome too. I'm sure there's probably lots of posts about this already but nothing popped out at me in the search.... thanks!

Hi all, just wondering if anyone has ever ordered from replacementshocks.com. They seem to have not too bad prices on KYB GR-2's. I searched and there was one person who said they bought from them back in '03 but didn't say how it went. I would just buy them from Summit but they are out of these particular Outback struts (235632, 235633, 335020, 335021) for at least a week.

You can tee in an aftermarket oil pressure gauge into the same block port as the original pressure switch (located sort of underneath the alternator). The oil pressure switch port on Suby's is something like 1/8" british standard pipe taper thread (BSPT) which is close to national pipe taper thread (NPT) but off by a thread per inch and the thread angle is different, so what I"m trying to say is buy or get a set of adapters (Stewart Warner makes them) because the aftermarket unit will almost certainly be 1/8"npt. Then you just need a 1/8"npt tee and maybe a couple 1/8"npt street tees depending on how you do it. Autometer makes nice gauges and you can get them a summit for not much more than those sunpro's at the auto parts places. I like electrical gauge for oil pressure because if you have mechanical and that little vinyl tube breaks in the engine compartment, well let's just say that if you do have good oil pressure you'll definitely know it. The minimum oil pressure is listed in the repair manual; something like 14psig at 650rpm with oil at operating temperature (let's say 180 deg. F).

Hm well that doesn't sound like fun! When you say 'toasted' do you mean the valves were scorched, like esp. the exhaust valves? Or do you mean they were bent?

The whoosing sound that sounds like compressed air - I got that exact sound and it was sucking air around a couple of the injectors, so it could very well be some sort of vacuum leak. I couldn't tell at all where the sound was coming from, but a mechanics stethescope made is super easy to pinpoint the exact source of the sound.

What do you guys think of like these armstrong flare nut wrenches? These are 12pt which probably isn't the best but what's the deal with how it looks like the flip open and then close around the line, it seems like that'd give a nice tight connection. Or maybe that's just so they can ratchet. Anyway I"m sure they're not cheap.

I've had good results finding the 10.8 or whatever it is grade of self locking nuts at Sears Hardware and especially at Ace Hardware, I couldn't believe the wide selection of stuff Ace has. They also have the flange bolts which are really handy and kind of hard to find at Home Despot and stuff plus they're cheaper on these items it seems. Some loctite can really handy too, in fact I think I saw on the loctite web site or the packaging that self locking nuts can be reused if the proper loctite is used. I don't know what that solenoid valve is, it's not the PCV valve or IAC valve is it?

I wonder what those other wires are for. Maybe an rtd or something to measure temp I have no idea. Are you aware of the recall for front o2 sensor replacement on these vehicles? I don't know if yours is in the VIN range but mine was replaced under recall before I bought it, something about some little piece on the tip could break off and get stuck in the cat or something.

Do you think it's a programming limitation or an actual physical limitation of how fast the throttle can move with whatever actuator is on it?

I had this issue with the correct sized flare nut wrench on a wheel cylinder connection so I gave up. I since saw these flare nut wrenches that actually look like regular wrenches but have a little flip to opening so you can close it around the tube and then close the flip so you've basically got an actual 6pt wrench around the fitting.

I'm pretty sure sodium bicarbonate is just baking soda, which is a bit basic but not terribly so if diluted with so much water, and EndWrench has a chart showing the corrosion rate of aluminum at various ph's so for a couple days I wouldn't think it would be so bad to run. Probably a lot better than prestone radiator flush which leaves a very soapy residue behind. If I were going to do it, I would dissolve the baking soda in water before pouring the stuff into the radiator, use RO or distilled water in the mix, then flush at least once with RO or distilled water before putting in the final coolant mix. Are you going to use OE Subaru coolant? Otherwise BASF G-05 (licensed to Zerex) might not be a horrid choice.

There's a lot of things that it just makes sense to do (if not done recently) when getting in that deep, like cam seals, crank seal, water pump, etc. Actually I just replaced the oil pump on my '00OBW, and on the oil pump, a couple back cover screws near the bottom were loose, and the ones at the top were so tight I stripped them out trying to get them loose. It's not the bolts that hold the oil pump onto the block that tended to back from from what I know, it's the phillips head screws on the rear cover of the oil pump that holds the rotor set in place. The oil pump is located directly behind the crank pulley which is in front of the crank sprocket that connects to the timing belt. The crank seal is in the oil pump right behind the crank sprocket. good for holding the cam sprockets whilst loosening the bolts to do the front cam seals.

Ok dude I'll go out and look at mine right now, first I have to find a flashlight, man it gets dark here before I leave work now, then I'll edit this post with the results. edit: well gadzooks! You're right that connector does have 6 pins. And it has at least 5 wires going to what I'm guessing is the front o2 sensor right where you described it. So I don't know what to think other than is some o2 sensor type I am unfamiliar with, or not all those wires are used. I'm pretty sure that connector goes to only the front o2 sensor, at least that's what it appears to be. Here's the best pic I could get of the subject connector in the dark.

I've never taken one apart but yah the contacts are in there somewhere. It can be a lot cheaper to replace them than to replace the starter with a new OE one, but salvage yard starters are very inexpensive so it depends how much you want to mess with it, and that might not even be the problem; maybe there's a bad connection between the ignition and the starter or something.

Well that sounds like the result of additional load, like when someone wires in trailer lights and then the turn signals blink faster. Usually those flashers are a bimetallic strip that is normally closed, when energized it starts to get hot and then opens the connection, so then it starts to cool and recloses. Extra lights or load make it get hotter faster so then it flashes faster. Also, I don't know your state's inspection requirements (if any), but will changing the lighting configuration like that be an issue?

Hm..reading this post makes me think about some ground wires I've seen on my '00OBW; I guessed they were there from the factory but I'm not sure. They're like 12 gauge maybe and there's probably three or four running from various places on the engine to the body.

Hi, I have an '00OBW, but the front o2 sensor was replaced under recall so I haven't really gotten a good look at it, although if no one posts anything conclusive by tonight I'll take a look when I get home from work. Are you sure the harness you were looking at was only for the front o2 sensor and not that plus something else? As you already know usually they're three or four wires, one or two for the heater, and two for the signal.

If that's true then it's probably because it's cheaper than whatever they were buying before and many consumers probably won't really care as long as it doesn't void the warranty. Though pretty much any oil these days that has passed the API S whatever sequences is sufficient. The additive packages are almost always bought from a place like lubrizol who does all the testing and then suggests a basestock to go with it. Isn't Coastal the one that ran into an issue with some of their 5W30 actually being 10W30 some years back? I don't know who makes that oil.

I don't know the exact years but on the 2.2 the oil pump rear cover screws tended to back out thus resulting in oil leaks out the crank seal. Did you change the oil filter recently? Maybe the gasket was bad or the old gasket was still on there or something? That'd be something easy to check.

Yah, contacts. Maybe it's happening only when the starter is resting in a particular position (like intermittent contact) and banging on it or anything gets it going again. Someone posted recently about a contact set that was actually for some other vehicle like GM or something available at autozone that was the same size as what we need.

Good morning Vietnam! Wow sorry to hear about that. How long ago did you have the HG's done the first time? Maybe you actually got old stock OE gaskets that time rather than the updated multilayer version? Wow the pin was still in the tensioner? Fortunately it didn't jump any teeth then I guess? The coolant conditioner is actually the holt's radweld from the UK. I don't think it's too unlike a lot of other stopleak products; I think it's better at sealing those small external leaks on the HG's than at preventing an HG blowout.

rpm's are rpm's but power is the desired output so recall that power=speedX(cross)torque, so if the speedXtorque is higher at some lower RPM then that's more power, plus consideration must be given to where the vehicle will be in the power band after the shift.

My guess would be maybe one set is for the intake and the other color the exhaust? Maybe when the stop tears it down they/you can see which color is where in the existing stuff?

Hi xcracermg, welcome and congratulations on your Subaru! If front o2 sensor was never done it may be past it's useful life. How about a nice fuel system cleaner like redline si-1 (can get at pepboys i think and maybe autozone)? When it's somewhat dark outside, you could idle the engine and look for any sparks around the plug wires and coil pack maybe? Especially after misting some water over it all with a spray bottle.

lol well it has to be someone's fault! Thinking about it, I have never heard an electrical motor referred to as an engine; however gasoline and other non-electrically powered devices I have heard called both motors and engines, for example how reference two pointed out things like 'small boats may have outboard motors and then are often called motor boats.'