Hello all,
I just aquired my uncle's '91 Legacy Wagon. It is a RHD model (he's a rural mail carrier). It's a 2.2 automatic AWD, with 119,000 miles. He bought it with 100,000 miles on it from a dealership, so no previous owner or maintenance history is available. But the whole vehicle, aside from being very dusty is in pretty good condition.
Heres my dilema, I know about Hondas and Datsuns. Not much about Subarus except what is common knowledge. Ive read through the FAQ here and found a couple of helpful sites. But I thought I would ask some direct questions about the issues I am having. I do not have a Hayne's, Chilton's or FSM yet. But will get one in the near future.
1. rough idle
I beleive the number 3 cylinder is not firing at all. It seems to be getting spark, I can see and hear the spark, when I pull the wire out of the plug when the car is idling. However there is no change in engine behavior. I pulled the spark plug (champion plug) and replaced the plug with an NGK (I have replaced all the plugs with NGKs). However, the champion plug I pulled looked like it had never fired before, looked brand spanking new, gap was correct. I hooked up a standard timing light to each wire, and every wire flashed randomly, I'm assuming that is something to do with the nature of coilpacks?
2. oil leak
The main reason my uncle decided to get rid of the car is it has develepoed a noticable oil leak. It seems to drip from the front cover area, the drops on the cardboard I put under it are in a nice row, right under the front cover. There is old caked oil on the block under the alternator also. It is also dripping oil somewhere on the exhaust manifold, I am thinking it is near the collector/catalytic converter. Because the oil is dripping on the manifold, it is smoking and stinking something awful. The leak/leaks dont seem to be too bad, he parked it for 4 months when he noticed the oil leak, and it has only been driven 40 miles back to my house, with no notciable loss in oil on the dipstick.
3. hard shift into 2nd gear
Just a minor annoyance, it shifts very hard into 2nd. Im guessing it just needs a fluid change.
Anyway, sorry for the long first post, but I thought I would throw all that out and see if you guys could help me out.
Thanks for being here.