porcupine73

Don't know of any major issues with that other than the possible external HG peeping leak. Not sure your region's coverage, but in the U.S. they increased warranty for HG to 8 years from date of first retail sale or 100k miles if the VIN was in the recall range and the goop was added. Timing belt replacement is due at 105k miles and there's a bunch of stuff prudent to do at that time if you want a relatiavely smooth nother 105k miles.

I don't see how what you describe about the bolt could possibly happen if the trans was in 5th unless your clutch was slipping.

Excellent, thanks, post corrected

Right the vacuum does at least two things, one it gets the air out of the system so it can run most efficiently, and second, if you have a high enough vacuum (higher than the air compressor driven units can create), and a high enough ambient temp, you can get the water in the system to boil and then be drawn out of the system through the vacuum pump. But you need a very strong vacuum, then the water will boil as low as maybe 60 deg. F., and then draw it for a long enough period of time for it to travel to the vacuum pump. If the system had a leak for a long time and was never recharged some people like to replace the drier to get fresh dessicant.

Yes and that seems to be roughly what subaru suggests now, many slow easy stops, and saying that modern brake pads require no 'curing' by break in. My guess from reading the stoptech.com whitepapers is most daily drivers don't get the brakes hot enough to require the like 10 stops from 100-0 to put a deposition of pad material on the rotor for cohesive friction. Daily drivers can run with adhesive friction where pad material is not on the rotor if they don't get hot enough to transfer pad material to the rotor.

The pins, you remove them, clean them and the rubber boots, clean where they go in the caliper bracket, then apply a light coat of brake grease to the pins and reassemble. The grease often cooks and gets hard with age and can make them hang up. Keep track of which pin goes where because they are slightly different. If any of the rubber boots are torn replace them; otherwise water will get in there and rust it and you may have to replace the bracket next time.

Hi yes I have a '96 brighton, I looked into the backing plates but at least on the AWD models you have to extract the hub to do it, so I said fugehtabotit. Here's your part #'s and year range; these are about $37 ea from dealers selling online: Looks to be same part as Impreza and Forester until about 2000. 26255AA021 BRAKE SHIELD RIGHT REAR passengers SIDE FOR 1995-1999 LEGACY and Impreza 1993-2001 NON-ABS MODELS FOR CARS WITH REAR BRAKE SHOES 26255AA031 BRAKE SHIELD LEFT REAR drivers SIDE FOR 1995-1999 LEGACY and Impreza 1993-2001 NON-ABS MODELS FOR CARS WITH REAR BRAKE SHOES

If you serviced the caliper pins and they are sliding ok, and the pads are not too tight in the caliper brackets, then the next most likely culprit is yes the piston sticking in the caliper bore. Esp. if you had to push the piston back into the bore to get enough clearance for the new rotors and pads. The part of the piston that is outside the piston seal sometimes will get rust or pitted, then when you mash that rusty portion back across the seal it will stick. Here's a diagram that should be similar to your setup for reference: I will just put a link because it's kind of big http://www.porcupine73.com/pics/brakes/reardisc00obw2.gif

In the EJ22 the plugs are easy enough to get at I stay with the V-power in that application and change them more often. Platinums you may be able to get like 60k out of them but it's hard to beat the good 'ol copper V-power for that engine. In the 2.5L's those are a little trickier to change plugs so you might like a longer life plug in that application.

^ nice rig. I can tell you don't live in the salt belt!

I stole this pic from somone not sure if it is exactly same as yours but....

The dowels can stick if corroded.

Hi and There was a recent thread on this....I think it was in the 'shop talk' section.

It's a combination of the two. The procedure is something like turn the drum adjusters until they make contact, then back off some amount I forget how much, then adjust the nut at the lever so for 44 lb pull on the handle it clicks like 8 times or something like that.

Ah I hadn't heard about the asbestos. Would that explain why other vehicle makes started having HG issues as well around that time?

Yes there have been issues. The point of the post was the issue has been fixed. Subaru wasn't the only car maker with HG issues in that era.

Here's some drawings I saved when I was considering doing this on my '96 brighton

Just upgrading the front to larger rotors and dual piston calipers and leaving the old rear drum brakes on there is probably not a good idea. If you get the rear parts too then you can do the front and rear. The easiest way for the rear is probably to just extract the axle and grab the bearing housing, hub, backing plate, caliper, rotor, parking brake cables, etc.

If you do want any special tools, make sure to check out subaru.spx.com Some stuff might be cheaper on eBay but SPX makes the genuine Subaru special tools.

parts store rebuilts are pretty much just replace the faulty component, clean it and box it. if it is a major part not worth fixing then just scrap the core. Maybe you get new bearings if you are lucky.

Not sure if this helps but : http://www.scoobymods.com/forums/showthread.php?t=7229

Not sure the benefits, maybe easier to find. The '96 or so Legacy alternators remanufactured by Subaru are only about $60, cheaper than the parts store junk alts in many cases.

MAF is mass air flow (sensor). It's in the plastic intake snorkus tube thing right after the air filter. I have heard on here that while the vehicle is idling, if you tap gently the top of the maf with the butt of a screwdriver and the engine stumbles that the MAF is faulty. The MAF tells the ECU how much air the engine is aspirating so it knows how much corresponding fuel is needed. If it is getting a bad signal from the MAF, it will be adding the wrong amount of fuel and then ovbiously the engine no run so good.

How's your MAF? When those things go flaky they can cause a lot of issues. To rule out fuel issues, you could tape a fuel pressure gauge outside the windshield and then see what it is reading when it starts to act up.

The handle itself broke? Usually it is the metal bracket that rusts out. The metal brackets from Subaru dealers selling online are only $20-$25.