porcupine73

If resources are not a problem and you are in a time crunch, then I'd either just sell it for the offer. Then later on you can get into a different project car if desired. But if you really have a heart for this vehicle, then keep it as your project and use the available resources to get something else for use as a daily driver.

That e-mail from the dealer looks reasonable. It is well written, and by someone who obviously knows the issue at hand. I'd consider yourself fortunate to get that good a response by e-mail from a dealer. Yes, that price in my opinion is completely reasonable for parts and labor. Now keep in mind the dealer diagnosing the issue by e-mail is tricky, since that might not be the problem at all, and until they actually have the vehicle in hand they won't know for sure.

I never go for extended warranties on anything I buy, I know I come out ahead that way. It gives some people peace of mind, and if viewed as insurance, then that can be ok for them. For warranties the direct from Subaru warranty would probably be the best bet. But yes buyer beware on those aftermarket warranties. There are tons of scams out there. I've heard of someone's engine losing the engine oil from some failure, and the warranty paid for the engine oil that was lost, but not the resulting engine damage! With any warranty you need to know what it covers for how long, and especially what things are specifically excluded.

haha sometimes in the rust belt everything on a soob just takes on a rust tinge in the mind's eye, even if it's a new part. The red bumper looks like it's in kind of rough shape, but those really only come into play if you bottom out the suspension. Those red bumpers might not be original; all the original ones on soobs I've seen are a like a white polyurethane that seems to hold up quite well.

I don't know specific dealers off hand, but you could give Joe Spitz a try. His site is http://www.cars101.com (which is a phenomenol Subaru reference guide).

If my '94's auto belts ever clunk out I might be interested! I have seen many people in that case get the belts from a Canada spec soob of the same year, which didn't get auto belts. I have gone to the local dealer for parts a few times. You know, it's like if your child has a cut and needs a band-aide, it's really hard to order a box of band-aides and wait for them to arrive, when right down the street at the drug store you could get a box and be done with it. I don't like to see my Subaru's suffering, I want them to get the attention they deserve.

Yep I understand that. Glad you got the right part. On a small purchase the local dealer can be the way to go because then there is no shipping charge and if they have it in stock you get it immediately. Glad the seat belt repair is getting covered. There have been a number of people get that coverage. That didn't start until around 95 or so iirc. Its probably a good cya for them in a lawsuit so someone can't say they couldn't afford the seatbelt repair they can say 'we don't charge for seatbelt repairs for the life of the vehicle'. The earlier models that had the funky 'automatic' seat belts are a pain when they go honky.

Sounds good! You might also want to check out some of the Subaru dealers who sell online such as subarugenuineparts.com 1stsubaruparts.com subarupartsforyou.com and there are dozens of others, just for price comparison. I used to think I was getting a good deal at my local dealer until I realized that they were marking up the Subaru list price about 40%, then giving me 40% off, so I was still paying the list price price (which is pretty high). On some parts, the genuine part is actually less than the aftermarket part or not much more in price.

That is generally acceptable for MT's. Here is the Subaru details: http://www.endwrench.com/pdf/drivetrain/TowSubaruVehicleInfoW01.pdf Note: that article was from around 2001, so though it says 'through current model year' it was the current model year like 10 years ago.

Good that the new tires are matching. However in the past, it may have been run with mismatched tires. For the VLSD we are talking about the one in the center diff inside the manual trans, which, if the vehicle is AWD, it has. There might be differences in which models had or didn't have the limited slip rear differential (which uses the same silicone viscous fluid principal as the one in the MT, and can be damaged similarly).

You'll get her there. Yes I hate all that driving around too for parts. I don't live near a parts store either. If I have the time to plan it in advance usually I'm ordering my parts from Subaru dealers selling online (which is generally way cheaper than local dealer walk in sales). I like that because it's good parts, it's the right part the first time based on VIN# so I'm not driving back and forth because the part didn't fit right, etc.

Sounds good. It's great to have Subaru brothers on the board. I wish my brother liked Subaru but he is a Ford man. sigh. Anyway, not sure on the whine, with the AT the whine is known that is the final reduction gear drive, but for the MT not sure. If the MT was run low on gear oil it might have blued up some of the gears in there and made some whine. Or maybe lifting the wheels off the ground and shaking them to check for looseness and spinning them while holding the coil spring to see if there is anyway oddness there.

Sounds good, thanks for the information as always.

Yes stick with the genuine thermostats. And cam and crank seals. I've found this Lisle tool to be very helpful in pulling the cam seals. I had scratched up a few cams before I found this tool:

Also, just throwing this out there, if the timing belt hasn't been done yet, it is overdue, and there's a number of things that should be done at the same time. Just mentioning it because that is an interference engine.

It could be torque bind, on the MT's generally it happens from running mismatched tires (Such as putting new on the front or rear only, or getting a flat and replacing only one tire), improper towing such as towing with the front wheels off the ground but the rears on the ground, running with a soft or flat tire for a really long time, etc. Getting stuck in snow and spinning the tires like crazy for too long could probably do it too. In the MT's, it damages the silicone fluid in the center differential that transfers the power to the rear wheels. The fluid gets thick and then when overheated too much it stays thick, and then there's your torque bind. Changing the gear oil will make zero difference in the MT for torque bind, since that silicone fluid is a separate fluid sealed inside the trans and it is not serviceable.

Hm, maybe you have some sort of tweenie '96 which got a fair amount of leftover '95 parts. Buying parts at a parts store is always a challenge in this case. Subaru dealers would always know the correct part based on the VIN#. If yours is truly a '96 (maybe you can do a VIN# lookup on say carfax, for free it will tell you at least the year and make of the vehicle). If it's a 96 it would really surprise me if it didn't originally have the rear o2 sensor. I thought that was required for ODBII, which all cars starting in '96 had to be. (95 Subaru's were ODBII as well but they did have a few quirks).

Those cam sprockets are some kind of polymer on that engine. People have broken then trying to use a wrench on the flat spots. If you have the valve covers off the cams might have a flat spot you can use to hold the cam while breaking loose the bolt. Many people break loose the cam bolts before removing the old timing belt, then torque them back up after the new belt is on. This is the Subaru tool for doing it (at least on the sohc's): I've used clothes pins, but that was on a sohc, more as an experiment to see if it helped keep the belt where i wanted it while lining things up. It was kind of helpful.

I wasn't sure if the Loyale had a transfer case or something that the Legacies did not. What I posted about not being able to tow auto trans AWD Legacy with any wheels on the ground is completely true. You will damage the transfer clutch and possibly other parts of the trans in a auto trans AWD Legacy doing that. It doesn't matter if it is in neutral or not. No ATF is circulating during the towing which doesn't help. Now the manual trans AWD generally having it in neutral and towing with all wheels on the ground is acceptable.

1" is going to be tricky, because basically the spacers, the strut mount 'top hat' mounts to the spacer, then the spacer mounts where the strut mount goes. Since the studs on the strut mount stick up probably 3/4" above the fender already doing a 1" spacer seems like it would be tricky. There is someone on here that makes these kits, maybe he could fab something up for you. Or if you want a little extra, maybe some lift springs along with the Outback struts.

'97 should have solid lifters. Not sure if the adjustment is the set screw type on that engine or the shim type. '96 was the last year for the hydraulic adjusters. The timing belt, water pump, seals, etc., all seems like reasonable work. If I'm remembering correctly that engine is interference so make sure the idlers get replaced too. I would pass on having the HG's done, that is going to add a lot to the cost and unless the job is done properly it might not even last as long as it would have if they were just left alone.

It's possible it's the propeller shaft.

Hey if you want to upload the pics to http://www.porcupine73.com/upload I can make them show up in the thread. Or if you click 'manage attachments' when posting (you have to be in the 'advanced' view) then you cna upload them there too.

I'm not familiar with that specific model, but an auto trans Legacy of the same year cannot be towed with any wheels on the ground. Unless you have a transfer case that you can disengage the rear I would not do it. Because if the propeller shaft to the transmission is turning that will be bad for any distance.

Really it goes to 100% duty cycle with the FWD fuse in? Interesting, good info I hadn't seen that before. Just that the solenoids were driven around 50Hz 5% to 95% duty cycle typically.