porcupine73

Sounds very risky. Even if the tank has been empty for some time there is likely to be some vapor in there nonetheless. Possibly a nitrogen purge on the tank might make it safer but caution would be in order no matter what is done.

In that application I'd go with the genuine SUBARU part. You don't necessarily have to get it at Northtown or West Herr though, there are cheaper places for genuine parts. Especially if that connector has like 5 or 6 wires on it, those are a real pain to match up the generic sensors, and the generic sensors outputs don't always match exactly the genuine part so the ECU might not be as happy with it. Getting them out with the exhaust warm/hot usually is easiest, otherwise they are kind of cold welded in there. Kroil works good too to help it along.

So while driving this morning I stopped at a light and noticed an awful lot of smoke coming out. I pulled off and it looks like coolant, coming out the RH/driver HG. Will see after it gets towed home. 156,000 miles, original HGs AFAIK. 2000 Outback.

If you have a code reader you could try connecting it and see if you read any codes. I'm trying to remember but I think items such as unplugged sensors, etc., would throw codes immediately, even if the engine won't start. I believe I was able to cause that to happen on my '96 Legacy with the crank position sensor (that is, reading the code even though the engine wouldn't start).

Right, removing the covers to look presumes you are looking at the right marks, etc. (which is one of the reasons I changed my status to 'not the arrows!!!' a couple months back haha). Whereas the compression test will not lie.

Not necessarily. You can be a couple teeth off and it won't result in the valves hitting the pistons or each other. EndWrench says one tooth off it will generally still start but run rough and lack power; two or more teeth off it says usually is a no start.

If everything has been reconnected, cam/crank sensors are connected, etc., I would do a compression test next. That's pretty quick and then you know for sure whether the timing belt is truly lined up correctly at all the marks and if by chance there are any bent valves.

It's because they're using partswebsite.com, which as far as I can tell used to be 'trademotion'. Trademotion was always buggy, hard to find parts, and the parts diagrams were very misleading in many cases. Most Subaru and many other dealers selling parts online are using them though.

Better check out your alternator. Some of the dash warning lamps get their ground through the alternator field circuit, so if the alt goes flaky, the brake and other lights might flicker or just stay on for no apparant reason.

There is a seal between the front diff gear oil and the ATF via the input shaft. If it fails it could I suppose allow ATF into the gear oil. Of course it is quite possible a previous owner or shop put ATF in there instead of gear oil. If you drain the gear oil (well ATF that's in there) do you see a lot of shavings/metal stuff? If so it probably let the gears chew themselves up real nice since it needs the GL-5 gear oil for the extreme pressure additives which ATF doesn't have.

I like to get the bolts hot and then hit them with Kroil penetrating oil. That seems to help it soak in. I haven't tried a lot of penetrating oils but the kroil has been working good for me. Sometimes a bolt still ends up getting cut or a nut splitter used on it, etc., because sometimes the rust is just too bad.

For the axle nut a 32mm 6pt socket in 3/4" drive with a big 'ol piece of pipe on it works pretty well. 1/2" drive stuff breaks on this job sometimes. 3/4" drive 6pt sockets in chrome are hard to find; most are impact. I just picked up such a chrome socket by Beta (got it off amazon). When you do finally get it off, note that Subaru does not recommend using a hydraulic press to get the wheel bearing out. There were issues mainly with Foresters with the bearing housing getting deformed when using a press and then leading to a series of repeat failures for the rest of the vehicle's life. A hub tamer type device is what's used now.

Ah, yes my pics of the '96 Legacy would be very tricky. Because that is a '96 Legacy brighton, which is the super stripped down version - rear drums, crank windows, manual locks, etc. - -- - and it doesn't have ABS. I don't know off hand what year Subaru switched the designs. I have a '94 Legacy with ABS, and it has the tone rings on the back of the hub (not on the axle). I have an '00 Outback and it has the tone rings on the axles. As far as I know, the tone ring can be removed from the axle, it's just a slight friction fit. I have seen this in other posts and the suggestion was just knock the tone ring off the old axle and slide it on the new axle.

Regarding the quality of components, I wouldn't be overly concerned. Marshall obviously knows what he is doing to get a good reputation in the Subaru community. I've looked at the boots on the MWE axles and genuine Subaru boots and I don't see much difference myself. If a person doesn't like the free axle nut that comes with the axle they can easily buy one from Subaru; they're only like $4. My last axle had a new joint on it like that too; I didn't ask for it, it just came with it. OE might mean original equipment (which doesn't mean anything other than it might be a brand name; OE and OEM are grossly overused terms in the industry). Now don't forget, Subaru themselves also sell remanufactured axles. So if you want something guaranteed to be remanufactured to Subaru specifications, then that might be a way to go. They vary in price but are usually around $180 on up.

ABS related yes, BUT your soob may not use that type of sensor for the ABS. Some earlier years used a tone ring bolted to the back of the hub; later models used a tone ring on the axle. Did your old axle have the tone ring on it? If it didn't then you don't need one on your new axle either.

When you say your back lights do you mean your reverse lights? I'm not sure about those. But if you mean the parking lights are staying on, check that switch on top of the steering column, maybe it got bumped on during the towing. The cam and crank position sensors you really need a scope or an analog type meter to check the pulse. Looks something like these (cam may vary somewhat depending on the reluctor marks on the back of the cam sprocket)

The relay sounds nice. I definitely wouldn't skimp on a quality relay for this job because if the relay fails closed for some reason or cold welds the contacts it's going to run the starter continuously. If I have to do this job I'll probably use 12ga from the battery to the relay. 14ga is probably heavy enough but definitely wouldn't go less than 16ga myself. If running any wires from the battery + terminal they should be fused as close to the battery terminal as possible. Not putting a fuse on the wire can be asking for trouble, since there is nothing to limit the current if there is a fault and it could start a fire then if there is a fault. (Apparantly the hefty + cable going from the battery to the starter is exempt though.)

Or some combination of those items listed, such as a off-road lifted race stunt vehicle.

I wasn't sure, is it running all the time? Some of them had faulty relays that then made the hydraulic unit run all the time.

Thanks for the info. So far I've just been getting the parking brake shoe kits from Subaru. The hardware kit is separate. On my rusty soobs they definitely need the hardware kit too with the new little springs, cups, etc. I hate this job because it just seems more like an art to get all those little pieces put back together the right way with the springs fighting you and grease all over the place. I always feel like I need about five hands to do it.

If an axle boot ripped and spewed grease onto the exhaust, that will make you smell a nasty burning odor for a long time. Usually it's the right inner, that's right above the exhaust.

Subaru sells the reseal kits with the red niglube packets for maybe $25 or so for a kit that will do both calipers. I have used this kit a couple times. It isn't hard to do but getting the rubber boots around the pistons to seat properly seemed really tricky and a pain to me for some reason. Actually I think I did it wrong because that was one of the calipers I had to replace later because one of the pistons siezed (I think water got behind the rubber boot that I didn't install right). I have seen some calipers where water or something got into them. Then the piston is all pitted up.

I haven't heard that recommendation before. I replaced just one front caliper on my 2000 Outback and the other side didn't blow (yet). I mean if the other side has mechanical problems like a worn seal around one of the pistons etc maybe it could start leaking afterward if you're really stepping on the binders, but in that case the caliper had issues to begin with and replacing the opposite caliper did not cause it to 'blow'. Now I personally would not replace just pads or a rotor on one side only, but the caliper as long it is the same replacement I don't see an issue with that.

Just wondering how many people have had their drum shoe lining separate from the shoes or parking brake lining separate from the shoes. I have had it happen to the rear drums on my '96 Legacy brighton last year, and on the parking shoes on my '94 Legacy this year. In both cases it happened to all the shoes. When I took the drums off, the linings were just loose, separated from the shoes. Which would explain the odd noises encounted in braking and using the parking brake.

On a '99 the battery disconnect will reset the ECU. Just make sure to leave it disconnected long enough, like say overnight. Sometimes weird things happen if you unhook the battery for only like 30 seconds. And if that code doesn't come back right away doesn't mean it is fixed, the ECU does that test only under certain conditions like fuel at a certain level, temperature a certain level, etc. I'm not sure if your parts list is complete; I can't see the vehicle to know what parts need replacing or if any parts need replacing at all. I've got three fairly old rust belt soobs and haven't had any fuel filler neck issues with any of them (yet!) but now look I have just said that so one will probably fail soon.