pulloff

It was my vent valve, and filler neck. I'm in the un-fun process of moving and things were just too hectic so I had Pats Radiator in Naples, NY do the work, great price and very knowledgeable about Subaru's. I hate paying anyone to work on my car but I had to bite the bullet on this one. Now all I need to do is find a dark blue hood and it will look like new again.

I'm a week overdue on inspection and I was thinking about trying to reset the CEL and then keeping a full tank of fuel (more than 9.6 gal) to fool the CEL. Not sure what kind of history criteria the car needs to pass NYS inspection though. Car fills with fuel fine, nothing ever leaks, doesn't overflow, I don't (excessively) top off the tank. As for the filler pipe, I need to get all the plastic shrouding off but an inspection is eminent.

Thanks 0B99W for the links, I think I understand the system much better now, I’m still lost but a little less lost. I started out with the easy things first and I checked all my fuel lines and everything looks perfect: no visible cracking, good tight clamps, nothing out of the ordinary. I suspected the minor surface rust on the filler neck-gas cap connection so I did a quick cleaning with a wire brush and got it looking new again. I put a little grease on the threads of the filler neck to make sure the gas cap got a good seal. I disconnected the battery cable and reset everything and (not surprisingly) the CEL was back on in no time. I’m planning on temporarily swapping gas caps with my fathers Subaru for a few days to see if that is the issue. I do have one other possible symptom that may be related: about a year ago the car started to chug and hesitate immediately after I filled up the tank. It would chug for a split second and then run smooth for about 5 seconds and then chug for another split second then run smooth for another 5 seconds. This cycle would last for about 30-90 seconds and then everything would smooth out and the car would run as smooth as silk for the rest of the tank. Next refill the cycle would start again. My gut tells me the chugging is related and was an early symptom of one of these failing: - Pressure Control Solenoid Valve - Vent Solenoid Valve - Canister Purge Valve I’ve got no experience with any of these valves and don’t even know where to look or what they look like.

Thanks for the help, seems we’re thinking along the same lines. I went through all the non-Subaru adjusters at the parts store yesterday afternoon and couldn’t find anything close. I called a couple of local JY’s and nobody seems to have a broken headlight with intact plastic adjusters. I guess the plastic gets pretty fragile with age or the JY’s I called just don’t want to look that hard for something that isn’t in their computer inventory (most likely the later). I’ve decided to try my hand a whittling a set… well not quite whittling but close. I straightened my adjuster screws and gave them a good cleaning with the wire wheel and they look almost brand new. I’ve got a chunk of nylon and I roughed out a set of the plastic “sockets” using a hacksaw, file, drill, and dremel. I drilled out the end and then did some preliminary grinding to round out the inside of the socket with the dremel. With a little grease it easily snapped over the ball end of the adjuster screw and seems to hold in there very securely. I’m feeling pretty good about a free fix, I actually think they are going to work but time will tell. I’ve only got about 30 minutes time invested in the two I’ve roughed so far and I’m going to get out my calipers tonight and file them to final dimensions (and make them a little more aesthetically pleasing, I know nobody will see them but I’m anal and I care!). I hate to kluge something together but at 222,210 miles I’ll take the free fix, if it works that is, if not I guess I’ll be calling the local JY’s and seeing if they will let me walk the lots with them to examine broken headlights. (unfortunately walking the lots either by yourself or even accompanied by an employee is getting more and more difficult in our sue happy society).

I’m in need of new headlight adjustment screws for a 99 Outback. I tried NAPA, Autozone, Parts Plus, etc and none of those places can get me a new set. I tried Spurr Subaru and they told me I needed to order a whole new headlight assembly. My local JY’s aren’t any help either. I actually only need one of the plastic pieces that connects the adjustment screw to the headlight but I thought I’d replace all the screws while I was at it. If anybody knows where I can get a new set I’d appreciate the help or if anyone has one of those plastic clip sitting around I be happy to buy it off you. Thanks in advance for any help.

Thanks for the tips I'm going to start looking everything over tonight and see if I can find anything out of the ordinary.

My 99 Outback's NY State inspection is due by the end of this month and . . . I hit a deer a week and a half ago and took out the hood, bug deflector, grill, left headlight assembly, lens, and bent some of the brackets the support the radiator, headlights, and grill. The hood bracket and headlight/grill bracket assembly pushed the center of the radiator back about 3 inches and gave the radiator a nice dish but no leaks. Bumper, and fenders didn’t even get a scratch. I bought a headlight and lens at the local JY and straightened all the brackets and thought I was all set for the inspection (I'm still hunting for a dark blue hood if anyone has a lead on one close to Western NY) . . . then last night on my way home from work my Outback threw on the dreaded CEL. Code PO440 – EVAP Emission Control System Malfunction. It's a 99 Outback with 222k, with the last 40k of those on a transplanted 2.2. This is my first issue since the transplant. I'm going to check all my vacuum lines first and make sure the deer hit didn't give me any other surprises but other than that I don't know where/waht to check. Any help or ideas would be greatly appreciated.

I’ve got a 95 EJ2.2 transplanted into a 99 Outback. I’m a nerd too and I’ve recorded every tank of gas in Excel since the transplant back in May of 05. I’m averaging 26.295 with a high of 33.117 and a low of 21.368. My low MPG reading all have notes attached that say “lots of idle time to warm up car” or “car load of people for trip to Adirondacks”. I also graph the MPG for my vehicles (1998 Tacoma) vs. the average daily temperature. The temperature trend vs. MPG is very obvious. (I also graph gas prices for each tank an it follows the temperature pretty close). I’m not much of a lead foot, half the time I drive like a 75 year old woman trapped in a 32 year old mans body (50-55 mph on back roads). Every once in a while I act my age but most of the time I’m not in too much of a hurry.

HG may be inflated on this board, I’m only speaking from personal experience, but I know 4 people who own 97-99 OBW’s besides myself. All 4 have blown the HG’s. I know that’s a small sampling but 5 for 5 (me included) tends to be more than a coincidence in my opinion. As for AWD don’t forget Mitsubishi, Ford, Chrysler/Dodge, or a minivan from Saturn and Toyota wouldn’t be far off as far as MPG is concerned, and that’s just what is being offered this year. Who knows what the next few years will bring, tons and tons more! Don’t get me wrong I’m not turning my back on Subaru, but I do feel that they have turned a blind eye on their customers with the “over” blown HG issue. Why did they redesign the HG so many times? All I am saying is if I was car shopping tomorrow I would have a few more choices than I had in the past and a harder decision.

I own 2 Outbacks, I’m obviously a fan of Subaru, to give my opinion on the original question… yes I think Subaru has or is close to peaking. I want a fuel efficient reliable car that’s AWD, Subaru was the closest thing I could find at the time, but times are changing and now I have tons of options. I am still a fan of my cars but I am more than a little turned off but their lack of accountability on the HG issues and their lack of developing a more efficient engine. All I hear on commercials for any car company is HP this and HP that, Subaru included. I’m sick of HP! I’m starting to care more about MPG than HP. Where is Subaru’s hybrid? Where’s their turbo diesel? I don’t owe them anything but I think they owe Phase 1 owners some acknowledgement of the HG issues. Next time I go car shopping I will buy the most reliable, AWD, efficient car I can. I really don’t care who puts the badge on the hood. If it’s a Subaru fine, if not oh well!

Dirty sensor was my first thought. There hasn’t been much snow here lately until 3-6 inches fell last night. When he told me about the light the first thing I had him do was take the car to a car wash, he did, no luck. He took it to the manual wash and gave everything around the backside of the tires a good bath, still no luck. As far as why he should not disable the ABS…you are preaching to the choir. I’d fix it right, but it’s not me and it’s not my decision. I’m just helping him find out if it will hurt anything with the car if he disables the ABS.

I just got a phone call from my father and he said he just got an ABS light on his 2000 OBW. He said he looked into a new module and it was $900! He’s not sure if the module is bad or just a wheel sensor. He is a cheap son of a gun, if it's a wheel sensor he will fix it, if it's the module well, that’s more than he will spend. He’s wondering if there are any adverse effects in just pulling out the ABS fuse and going old school? The obvious disadvantage is no ABS but that will be easier for him to swallow than the money. What could no ABS fuse in a 00 hurt if anything? Are there any other systems on that circuit?

I agree about the rotten eggs smell, definitely not normal. As for the compressor cycling, this may be a stupid question but are you sure it’s the compressor? It may be the cooling fan pulling some air through the radiator. Our fan (03 Outback) cycles on and off at roughly the same interval. It dims the lights and makes the tach jump a little. We have a friend who has a 02 Outback and it does the same thing. Fan seems to cycle on and off all the time when at a standstill, even in cold weather, although the interval is increased. Newer cars seem to run on that fine line of “perfect” temperature. This was just a thought but the two things may not be related. My advice would be to pop the hood and take a look at the fan when you hear the noise.

I would agree with everyone else about the oxygenated winter gas/ethanol (»10% ethanol in NY). Some other factors - If you are doing really short around town driving for short periods the car may not have a chance to get up to optimum operating temperature. Temperature will have a significant influence on [in]complete combustion of fuel. Cold temperatures will also cause more friction due to viscous oil. Lighter weight winter oil may also help with mileage on short duration driving. The effects of the short operating duration, viscous oil, and winter gas may compound for poor mileage.

Here’s a quick update: Last Saturday fellow board member 99OBW and I took a trip to a local JY (they call themselves a recycling center which somehow makes it seem friendlier to the environment). I mad the comment that their mud was actually light brown, not the usual JY black so maybe they are protecting our planet. They had (4) 95 Legacy’s engines to choose from. We took a quick trip out in the yard and immediately found a usable 95 EJ22 with dual port exhaust and EGR. The car had 82k on it and was hit in the right rear corner, it had an auto tranny. The engine was complete and looked good. So I made the decision that this was now the new transplant candidate. The yard said they had an additional 95 EJ22 on a rack inside that I could have and it had similar mileage. It was up on a rack and out of site but I wanted to check for EGR before I agreed to take it. After climbing up the rack I found out that it did not have EGR and the printout said it was a manual. So it appears there are 2 different legacy motors for 95 even though most JY will tell you otherwise. Earlier that morning on the way to the yard 99OBW was telling me about his theory that the 95 EJ22’s with automatics have EGR and manuals don’t and it looks like his theory is correct. We are still not sure that the theory is 100% accurate but it sure seems to be leaning that way. I returned my non-EGR 95 to the other yard (after much hassle, a $50 restocking fee and a cocky know-it-all owner). The owner would not admit that there were 2 different EJ22 for 95 even though one of his employees found a discrepancy in his book. It lists only one motor for 95 but it lists different exhaust bolt pattern heads for that year, a 2 bolt and a 3 bolt. So apparently there were single port exhausts on some 95 motors, I had previously thought all 95’s had dual port. I addition to that there are also different left-hand heads for the three bolt heads, one head for the autos and one head for the manuals. So if anyone else plans on doing this swap they need to make sure they get an engine from an automatic transmission Legacy to get EGR. I should be picking up my new donor motor this week, and I’ll keep adding to this thread as info and work develops.