Rooster2

For what it is worth, I searched for leaks with a UV kit. I looked all around wearing the special glasses and special light. I couldn't see any stains that showed leakage. Today, I replaced the O rings on both hoses that attached to the compressor. It is very easy to replace the O rings. As I posted earlier, tighten up the core of the Schrader valve where you see bubbles. If that fails to fix the problem, then replace the O rings.

System was open just a few minutes to replace the O rings, so I cannot imagine that much humidity entered the system. I know better then to leave the system open for days. I used a small 134 can....hose....connected to L port. I expected you guys to chastise me for my "red neck" work, so I am not surprised or offended. When you are short of money like I am, it is all about stretching the dollars that you do have.

My 99 OBW developed a refrigerant leak. I tried a can of 134 on two separate occasions. System would work for a while, then only blow hot air. Reading a recent post here, someone said that most likely the inlet and outlet hoses to the compressor developed O ring leaks. I replaced the O rings, then added a can of 134 to test if the system had stop leaking. So far, so good, system seems to holding pressure. However, I added the can before having the system vacuumed out. Will the atmospheric air in the system cause any problems? Yea, prolly some moisture has entered the system with the atmospheric air, I know, but is it enough to damage any of the A/C components? I am also guessing that the atmospheric gas is taking up some of the space that should be filled with 134, so the system is not as efficient as it could or should be. Anyone with any thoughts, or suggestions? My money situation is tight right now, so I would prefer to not spend $129 to have a shop vacuum and recharge the system, particularly, if my A/C system is still leaking. Thanks for any advise.

Removing the cat is a bad idea. It won't improve the millage. Doing so would add air pollution, and if you live in an area where e-check is done, your car would not pass e-check. Also, if a shop removed your cat, they are leaving themselves open for a large $ fine. You may be able to swap exhaust systems from your WRX to your OBS. Something to think about.

Pretty sure that you can buy the Schrader valve stem insert from most any auto parts store. You will also need the stem insert removal tool, that is needed to unscrew and remove the stem. Prolly best to telephone a parts store to see if they carry replacement Schrader vale stems and a removal tool, and have both in stock. You may get lucky, and only need to tighten up the leaky Schrader with the tool. I would try that first before replacing the valve. Yes, the green liquid indicates that someone added dye to the system to find where the refrigerant is leaking out. That dye is fluorescent, so a special colored light is needed with special tinted eye glasses to see the dye leakage.

I thirdly agree that your cupping problem has not been solved. You are still driving around on warn suspension components. Plan on buying another set of tires within 6 months if you don't truly get this problem fixed. Recommend you get a second opinion from another mechanic.

Yes, HEAT is a brand name for dry gas. I remember years back, my brother had a Mazda that got a tank full of gas with some water. Like yours, his car would idle okay, but put that engine under load, it would hesitate and lack power, and want to back fire through the carb. It took him several tanks of gas, and dry gas added to each new tank of gas to finally get rid of the water. Seafoam is a good product, but will not address water in the gas. Try the HEAT, you will know within 10-20 miles if it helps your engine to run better. If not, it has cost you very little.

From what you describe, it could be a bad tank of gasoline. Maybe some water in your last tank of gas. Try adding a "dry gas" product to the gas tank to see if that helps.

Yea, I use the can-and-hose kit. Latest version has a spring loaded squeeze handle control attached to the hose. Seems to work okay.

Good advise..........thanks!

Thanks General Disorder. I wondered about the integrity of the coil pack. High humidity and storm water entering the engine bay even when not driven can cause problems. I drove the car a round trip of 50 miles tonight with no drive ability problems, and no CEL code(s). I will remember your advise should this problem occur again.

Very timely that this is posted now. My 99 OBW A/C just went out recently. I charged it with a can of 134, but that only worked and lasted for one day. The following day, the system was back to putting out only warm air. The compressor is not turning on, because of low 134 pressure. I will take your advise and change out the two O rings, and hope for the best. I was dreading spending hundreds on getting it fixed, as no matter what, any shop is going to charge minimum of hundreds to fix any A/C system. They also like to add new parts to a system that are not broken.

Plugs and wires are about 5 years old with about 55K miles on them. The wires still look good, I pulled wires 3 & 4 off at the coil pack to find that all looked well. I will do the water misting at night to see if I can cause arcing. I have done the misting test years back on previous cars to know that the test works well. Thanks for the reminder. Maybe all the humidity in the air caused the wires to short out. Running the car for a while, then returning 10 minutes later with a heated engine bay maybe dried them out.

My wife reported that her Subie motor was running poorly. Upon checking it out, I could tell that it was not running on all cylinders. It was throwing a CEL, idled poorly, then stall, and lacked power. Upon restart, I revved up the motor a few times, and held the idle at 3,000 to 4,000 rpm, but it didn't run any better. A little later, ( 10 minutes later ) I started the car again. This time the motor ran well with power, and idled well, as if the ECU had reset itself. It seemed to drive alright as well. I then drove to Autozone to have the stored CEL code(s) pulled. Results were code PO303 for both cylinders 3 & 4. I pulled the pos battery cable, waited a bit, reinstalled the battery cable to clear the CEL. The CEL remains off, and the car continues to run well. Any idea what caused the engine to do this. BTW, the car had not been driven for 4 days. It sat outside and endured a couple of very heavy thunder storm rains during this time span. It is hard to believe that storms would cause this. Any advise and thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

I can't remember where I heard or read about this. I just remember a fix for this was described, as inserting a deflated rubber or plastic bladder inside the door panel. The bladder is then inflated with an air pump, so as the bladder expands to press against the dent, it push the dented area back to normal or near normal shape. I have no idea where such a devise is found, or how well it works, but maybe someone here on the forum can give added advise on the bladder devise. Pulling a door panel and trying to pound the dent back out with a hammer never worked well for me. I tried that once, but found too many obstacles (window cables, window winder mechanism) in the way to make it impossible to swing a hammer towards the dent.

I am thinking you somehow have the wiring hooked up wrong to cause a short. You prolly know this. Somehow your hot lead is wired directly to ground, when you push the switch to turn the light on. Use a test light or multimeter to trace the flow of electricity to and from the switch, and to where the wiring grounds.

What a very nice conversion. It really looks good. I wonder how the lift gate was converted to be a tailgate that pulls down?

At next oil change, you might try going to 20W-50W oil. If the heavier oil quiets down the knock, then I would say that it is rod knock.

I just cut off the wires going to the 02 sensor at the sensor, then use a spark plug size socket on a 3/8" drive. Then I slide about a 2 foot bar over the end of the drive handle for added turning leverage. Install new sensor with an open end wrench.

I too have a 98 OBW, that I changed the spark plugs on a couple of years back. It is a really nasty job on the 2.5. Just so little room to work wrenches. It took several hours, and a lot of four letter cussing to complete. There is plenty written on this subject in the past, so it you pose the topic on the search function of the website, you can read what others have done and said about changing the plugs. Glad to hear that plug wires fixed your hesitation problem.

Same thought I had. Get insurance company to total it out, then buy it back from the insurance company on the cheap. Then you can transfer all your wrx parts to another Subie. O yea, you said you were an insurance adjuster once upon a time, so you know all about how this is done. Sorry to hear about your loss. There are always paybacks in life. The joker who trashed your car will get his payback. Life always works that way!

Like said the adapter pipes can be made to work, but they rusted out and broke in 2-3 years. For the price that they cost, it is not a bad way to go on an old car. On old cars, it just doesn't pay to invest much money on them. Just enough to keep them running and safe to operate, particularly with good brakes and tires. On exhaust, I now go to a family owned torch, bend, and weld muffler shop for repairs. Very reasonable cost when compared to new from dealer, or any of the chain muffler shops. I can get them to repair only what is wrong in an exhaust system, and not get hosed from a shop that wants to always replace the entire system from the cat back.

I suggest pulling the codes again. You may find codes for something more than one for the knock sensor. If so, those extra codes will point out other problems that need to be addressed. When my knock sensor went bad, it produced an intermittent CEL. So, the system can reset itself. With a bad knock sensor, my engine ran poorly. It was down on power, but it never stalled. I am thinking that with new knock sensor and wiring being repaired at a repair shop, that their work should have cured your problem. Replacing the ECU hasn't rid you of the knock sensor code either, so I am thinking you still have issues with the knock sensor system. Maybe the shop over tightened the installation of the knock sensor, and in doing so, cracked the plastic cap? Maybe their rewiring was done poorly?

I replaced the knock sensor on my 98 OBW. I don't remember seeing two wires crimped together to make one wire. That doesn't sound right at all.

Just my 2 cents worth..........I have used those exhaust adapters several times before on a few cars. Yea, you can get them to fit and work, but I never found the quality of the steel to be good. They are prone to rust out and break, long before the pipes and muffler in the rest of the exhaust system.