TYLER R

Thats kinda up to you! lol! The Legacy proly has a bit more weight and might not be as nimble driving through the twistys... I like the WRX myself...

X3 or what ever on ignition switch! My wifes 93 did the very same thing. I pulled it all apart, tested it by starting the car with just the switch, turning it off, etc... I just worked it a few times, attached the battery, and it worked!

You can buy some stuff made by prestone that you just drain, fill with water and the juice, run, drain, fill with water, repeat as many times as you want (at least 3). That was what got all the stop leak out of my car....

Figured I would drop in and say howdy, and give an update on our PITA, the 99 obw that had the heads redone the 2nd time (first since I owned it..) in 30k miles.... She is running great! We made it back and forth to Idaho just fine! Took it up to Packwood a few weekends back for an autocross (didnt race the wagon, dont worry), drove great. Kinda fun being able to haul around 3 people and a baby with room to spare! The car is starting to grow on me in a good way now, so that is good. I am amazed at how peppy and how much power the 2.5 has compared to my 1.8 in my 08 Corolla. Just trying to give the guys posting up their over heating problems a bit of hope. As long as you like the car, it has fair miles, in good shape, and you can get it done for what you feel is a fair price, go for it. Thanks a ton to all the people telling me not to give up on it, and helped with all the tips and pointers as well!! Great group on this forum!!

X2 On the tire ballance. You can wear down a set of tires not doing that for a while as well.

Check to make sure the stat doesnt stick... I had a bad one that I put in. I think my heads were still bad, but I dont think the thermostat helped matters any. Also, gbhrps post makes sense as well. Did you do it, or did you have a shop do it?

Alright, makes sense then... I will forget about looking them up. Thanks!

Alright, got it back, feels fine, no noise after the fix. Mikaleda, I actually forgot all about the hill hold feature!!! It does not work on this car... Is it an easy fix? If not, I wont worry about it as both of us know how to drive a stick well enough to not need. it.

Alright, so it turns out not to be the throw out bearing... cut n pasted from the email he sent me... It is coming from the shift fork wiggling on the push rod from the slave cylinder. Most likely the pivot ball inside the bell housing for the clutch fork is worn. A little bit of pressure on the fork (i.e. a spring) takes care of the free play and thus the noise. Soooooo, we are going to install a return spring on the clutch fork like allot of other Subarus come with from the factory.

Alright, the saga continues... I am thinking of just giving the car to my friend since it likes spending soooo much time at his shop... Started squeeking a bit, we both thought it was just the belt needed to be tighter, until Sunday night went to dinner at my parents house. Pull up, my dad is standing out front... 'I thought they put a new clutch in that for ya'.... me-'they did'... 'what the hell is the squeek then??' me-'belt is just a bit loose'.... 'naww that is your throw out bearing. start it up, work the clutch pedal a couple times, it will go away when the clutch goes in I bet.' me-'ookkk'..... Sure enough... My dad has seen his share of those with his old mazda pick up and Ford Pinto's (hell of a lot more reliable than the subaru!!) that he has owned... So, a new clutch kit again... Bad part in the last one.... Any way to test those out before you put them in?

hahaha! what are the odds?!?!? awesome, that I think would be worth it.

Just a good polish/sand and I would think you would be good. Agree with mikaleda though, you cant really tell from the pic what is marred up. Either way, I dont think you are too bad off. I know that feeling though!!

LOL!! John, you guys sound like you have about the same kinda relationship my wife and I have! wife-my brakes on my truck need changed!! me-I just did them last year... wife-do them again!! LOL!! Arent they great... We could just get a divorce, but those can turn up costing more than just keeping her.... Noooo, I love my wife, she puts up with me, I put up with her. So it does sound like it might be worth picking up the aaa+ or what ever the upgraded deal is they do (I looked at it 5 minutes ago, and dont remember...) That would proly get us taken care of if something simple goes wrong with it. Have a friend on a fly fishing forum that blew his hg on his subaru on I90 in the middle of bfe, towed it to a small town in spokane, gave the tow shop the car after finding out it was the hg and would take a while to fix, called the spokane subaru dealer and just bought a new car, lol. I do not have the money for something like that, but I could get my family to a safe place at least until a friend could come tow us back home.

This is true... We wanted to take the subaru so we could bring all the crap with us we need to bring for a 5 day trip to Idaho with a 6 month old.

So we are going to be going to Idaho in a couple weeks, and want to take the pita... I feel the car is going to be sturdy and run forever now, but.... I was thinking of signing up for AAA for a month, just so we have it for the trip incase something goes wrong near the intersection of bum f#ck nowhere and the middle of nowhere Washington.... Do you guys think this would be worth it to have 'just in case'? My wife and 6 month old son is going with, so I really wouldnt want all of us to be stranded in say Starbuck, Wa. Nothing against the town if you live there... Its just proly not known for its subaru repair shops or any repair shops actually... What do ya think????

Ehhh, proly not Gary. I just know the crap that people do to Corolla's and how it works on those cars.... For all I know, nobody makes decent after market suspension stuff for the 99 obw or it doesnt do enough to justfiy the cost.

Super! Sounds easy enough Gary! We are just used to my 08 Toyota Corolla that I have set up for autocross. Adjustable coilovers, 22mm rear sway bar, front and rear strut tower bars, and I lean towards the all season performance tires. I know we arent going to get the wagon close to that, but it really did feel like it was just a dune buggy with long travel suspension. Nothing clanked or clunked when it was working, so nothing is proly wrong with it, and it was smooth, no bouncing, we just proly arent used to it. I will look into some KYB's though and get those on my list of to do things. Thanks a ton for all the tips on everything!! This is a great forum! I dont know too much about these newer ones yet, but I will look to contribute a bit with anything I do know now that im not pulling out my hair trying to get it to run good. I just curse the guy that came up with the headgasket design for the 2.5,lol...

Texan, thanks for the tip on boxer4racing! Once I pay off the headgasket job and get some spare change again, I know where I will spend a bit o money!

No idea on the struts age. That might make a world of difference on that car. Hell, for all I know they could be original.... Not bad enough of a ride though... Yeah, never been a big fan of the race pads my friends have on their car... One guy made his prego wife drive around in their new mustang with squeeky stoptechs... poor girl. Yeah, not looking to turn this thing into a track car or anything, just trying to get it feeling similar to my car as far as the brakes, and get the suspension just a touch better. Might look into a swaybar. Loved my car after I put one on!

Gary thanks for the brake tips! The brakes were just done (I can see these, so I know thats true, lol!) right before I got the car, so I will proly just live with them unless the wife starts ripping her hair out, then I will go ahead and change out the pads and hardware. So it has been a while since I have had to do brakes, all I remember on my old nova was the clips that pretty much hold the pads to the calipers and that was it. I will have to maybe pick up a chiltons and educate myself on the brakes on the pita. What kind of pads do you run? Once again, a newb with this new car, any tips would help. All I know of are the hawks, stoptech, ebc, etc, from the racing world.... I keep saying, yeahhhh, I might upgrade to those when my oem's in my corolla burn up, or I might just have to go get another set from Toyota since they have lasted as long as they have and arent chewing up my rotors.... Thanks again!

Alright, so I am just looking to see if there are any good low cost/no cost diy mods I should do to my 99 now that its running and worth putting 5 minutes of my time or more into. These arent really low/no cost, but things I would like to do to it include.... -Stiffer springs--It feels a bit like a long travel suspension buggy when driving it on the hwy. Would like it a bit stiffer (i know, i kno, thats what she said....) -WRX/STI brake swap--the brakes are there, they work, but we are both used to my car that can stop on a dime with the original pads etc since new (I have autox'd my car for 3 years and they are just now starting to show wear), so we would like better stopping. -Window tint--pretty self explanatory, tired of the fishbowl already... -Headers and or exhaust--Linda loves the sound of an STi as it rumbles by. What is a good way to get this sound out of the outback?? Sell it and buy an STI?? -Short throw shifter-- Again, have one in my car, the wife loves it. I have a corvette friend that says my corolla throw is shorter than his zr1 vette. -Short Ram Intake--They help with fuel economy, sound a bit better, etc. I pulled 40mph out of my car driving to Idaho a couple years back. Any of those you think I should pass on? Just learning these newer 'baru's... Thanks for the time!

Thanks!!! I just hope it will run as strong now as my wifes old 93 Legacy wagon did back in the day. Never had to do anything to that thing besides oil change, spark plugs once n a while and altenators (chewed one up about every year or so. Any ideas why?). I was smart though and bought a new one with a lifetime warrenty the first time and got I think 4 out of Schucks for the $99.95 it cost for one. I wasnt too familiar with imports back then and couldnt pin point what was wrong with it when it had died. It would fire up, run real rough up until about 40 mph, then smooth as normal. No check engine lights or anything, but I still want to think it was a MAF sensor or one of the many vac lines was cracked. It will forever be missed. We drove the crap out of that car, lol, but it ran like a champ! It had 225k miles on it when it died... RIP Scooby mobile.

Not many people post on here about going for a good drive, so I figured what the heck. Sunday, the wife, son and I jumped into the pita, keeping our fingers crossed it wouldnt leave us stranded up in the hills... The higher up you go, the worse the tarmac gets to the point it just turns to gravel. Through a section known as the woops, the suspension got its first good test, and passed rock solid! Onto the gravel we go! The first bit is pretty chuckhole ridden, so we took it kinda slow (no need bouncing the nuts n bolts out this soon). Once it opened up to nice gravel road, I was able to open it up a bit and feel the great gripping power that is awd!!! After a while of driving we catch up to a old volvo full of teenagers driving that look like they have never been on a semi narrow gravel road before. I figure it is better to pass them then see them take an on coming car head on due to their diving to the inside of every corner... After I get out of range of rocks flying into their window, I opened it up a bit more. Man ohh man, do I miss that feeling and what a dust cloud this thing puts off, lol!! We make it a few more miles up the road, and decide to call it good and head home. Another great, traffic-less trek back down the hill with no engine problems and now a dusty subaru to park in the driveway with pride!!

LOL!! I like that post! Dont worry about it, and you were helpful in letting me know that I am not the only one who is having problems getting it to 'sit' right in the middle spot. He is still rear facing (almost 6 months), but the seat in her car is one of the infant/early todler and he is too long for it already. Yeah, we will keep him rear facing for a while I am sure. I agree about pulling a muscle getting those damn things in!! To get it hooked up in my car (08 toyota corolla),I have to get on the ground on the outside to pull everything tight. But the good thing is, once it is in, it is rock solid! It doesnt move! The one in Lindas car is within the movement limitation, but I dont like the fact that it does have a bit of a wobble to it. The Britax we have is one that is rated for them to use up to a booster seat, so we will proly get another one of those for her car since it will last him a while. Kinda crazy, but I remember when I was a kid in a car seat, I would remember falling over going around some of the freeway on ramps. It wasnt cause my dad was driving fast, they always owned pos cars, but I just dont think the seats were that good back in the early 80's....

So my son is almost outgrown the crap box car seat my parents got him (he would of been better off riding in a milk crate bunjee corded to the roof rack I thought...) and we are looking at getting a new one. What are some that you guys run in your 99 (or same gen.) Outbacks? Also... Do you guys run it in the center with the crappy lap belt or do you move it out to one of the outside seatbelts? Right now we run the Britax Marathon g3 in my Toyota Corolla with out any problems. it does take away from a bit of leg room up front, but I can live with it. I really dont remember if we had ever tried that in my wifes car before it went into the shop or not. I think we did, but it took away from the leg room a lot if I remember right. I am searching as we speak to get more info on this, but my computer blocks the search results out after I search once, so it is taking me a while... I hate work computers....