tcspeer

Porcupine 73, you do really good work with your pictures, along with the other people here who post pictures. I find them to be very helpful, to me and Iam sure to many others. I guess I will have to get my son to teach me how to do this.

I would think the T-Stat is probably stuck open, but if you want to try something easy first you can take the radiator cap off when engine is cold then start engine with heater on and add coolant as you get room in the radiator this will take a little time. Also the temp. control lever for the heater may not be working right.

I have a clunk in the front of my legacy and it appears the inner tie rods are wore out on mine, you might also check the ball joints.

Thanks for the suggestions, I will check these things tomorrow and also will clean the battery posts and cables. And yes it is a factory radio and I have not been doing anything under the dash lately.

1997 Subaru Legacy Wagon, 2.2 engine. When driving down road Radio goes off, for a few seconds. Then I notice it also goes off when I step on brake. After watching more close I also notice that when Radio goes off the speedometer drops to zero and also the R.P.M. gauge. I dont have to step on the brake for it to do this, but if I step on the brake it does it more often. Does not seem to affect engine when this happens. Any ideals?

Thanks Hocrest, I have never done these and was not sure about the correct way.

Gary, I need to replace the inner ones also, I have never changed inner tie rods they look strange are those little washer things just locks to keep them from unthreading? Must I have the claw wrench to undo these or can they be taken off with vice grips or small pipe wrench?

If you have never used junk yard dog.com now would be a good time to try it. You just put your part request in and it goes out to many yards around the U.S. and the ones that have your part will contact you by e-mail. Their is a few yards that contact you every time and ask you to contact them but you will learn these after you use the service a while and be able to deal with the good ones. I really like this service when you find something you like check them out with the B.B.B. and make sure they are reliable.

1997 Subaru Legacy Wagon, are the threads on the tie rods all left hand? And is it better to remove rods at inner and then put in vice to remove the outers.

Cookie, if I remember right I think it was you that first told me of the dangers of changing them seals, It's a good thing I listened or I might have had to change that transmission a couple of years earlier.

John & Gen. those are two very good posts, I have heard this here but never did understand, (in fact still dont) but I know enough about it now that I wont change them even through it's looks like a very easy job. Thanks for the insight.

You may be right, it seems that is stated here quite often, could you please explain how this sets the preload, I did not see how this could be but I must admit you hold the more common belief here so I can not argue that point.

You will need seals and O-rings for that. I bought some for my legacy wagon and was going to change them but got scared off by the things Gary was telling you about, but it was from other people here and not him. So I ran mine untill torque bind set in and then changed the transmission with one from the wrecking yard. After I got the old transmission out, I then took the covers off and removed the seals and O-rings from where the axle stub went in, if I remember there is a little bolt you need to remove then spin the outer housing off, You will see the O ring and seal from here both are easy to get to and change. I did not see why this would affect anything internal as it looked to me like it just covered the hole and let the axle stub have a place to come out, my thoughts are, this is the front diff. and not the transmission and the gears in this unit are very large and I dont see this changing much, but I AM NOT a transmission person so wait for someone here to say for sure or ask at a transmission shop before doing it.

I was able to do it with the instructions from a haynes manuel. The drivers side is easily because the exhaust is not in the way. Just be sure to break the axle nut loose a little bit before raising it up, but not much so you wont damage the bearing.

You need to go to a body repair shop, they have the tools to fix it very cheap. They can straighen the hinges. In fact I have seen shade tree body repair people do wonders with just a block of wood placed in correct place and a little pressure on the door.

I went to a radiator repair shop, and was able to buy a new one from them much cheaper then Auto Zone or the other places I checked and it was a metal one. I would be sure and compare prices before buying as their was a big different in prices.

Your knock sounds like a main bearing, because mine does that and that is what a couple of mechanics have told me.

Have you added freon lately? The A.C. on mine will knock if I get to much in it.

I think on some of the old Gen. they still use the hammer and punch. My cars are used in mail del. so wheel bearing go out quite often because of the heat from brakes and the heavy loads and ussually one wheel off of the side of the road. Before the Subaru I ran a Chev. Malibu now those are easy bearing to change after removing the caliper just take the nut off and pull hub off and give it a shake and they will fall into your hand. I wish Subaru had this type of bearing.

Both of these kits says for front wheel bearing, Will they do the rear also if drum brakes are on the back? I still like the press it does both front and rear and there is very little pressure put on the bearing or housing if everything is cleaned and greased and if you have it straight when you press it in. If so much pressure is needed (as stated in the end wrench article) then it would seem someone is going to have fun taking the old bearing out and putting a new one back in with a slide hammer, or the tools in the hub tamer kit. But I have never used or seen anyone else use these tools so it may be very easy.

I dont know about the Forester bearing, but a good way to take take care of the bearing is to buy the spindle and hub with the bearing from the savage yard and change it that way, around 75.00 dollars. Then you can get a low cost press and bearing seperator from Harbor Freight and play with the old one that you took off until you figure it out, then you can buy new bearing and seals for it and have a spare. I listed the basic steps for changing the bearing on a Legacy, the Forester should be close to the same. You can find these steps under the thread How to conquer the wheel bearing.

Did you change locations? Maybe you are using the brakes more causing the fluild to go down as the the pads or shoes wear.

I have heard the story also that their should be a little drift to the right but very little. I also have found out that just a little drift right or left can sometime be changed to the other direction by switching the sides with the front tires.

I would have the U- joints looked at.

Could also be the coil pact has went bad, did you check and make sure the big air vacum hose that hooks to the air breather is on good?