Rooster2

Just happened to "find them in the basement of a house he bought." O sure, really! I think this falls under the catagory of "hot wheels," meaning they are stolen. It is bad biz buying stolen property!

Agree fully with you, especially the part about starting to "sound like my old man." I am age 64, and that is exactly what my old man would have said, God rest his soul. Funny how my old man got smarter and smarter the older I got. Never would have believed it.

Glad to hear that you found the electrical gremlins, and got them sorted out. Subarus are well manufacturerd without shorts and loose grounds. Sounds like previous owner or shop he took it to caused the wiring problems.

Last summer I bought KYBs from Auto Parts Warehouse on line. Price and delivery was good, with no sales tax. Shipping was free. Check out their website: http://www.autopartswarehouse.com

Bet the batteries were installed low on water, read my later post!

I have been using Wal Mart's EverStart Maxx in all three of my cars. It is a very good battery, and you save a few bucks. I have installed all myself. However, for some strange reason all three batteries have been low on water at time of purchase. Typical of the morons in Wal Mart's automotive section, they don't have distilled water available to fill the battery. However, Wal Mart sells a plastic gallon of distilled water for less than a buck. Good to pick up a gallon of the distilled. It is sold in the beverage section of the grocery side of Wal Mart.

10W-20 sounds like a "typo" error to me. I have never heard of that oil type. Both my Subies are high millage, with over 100K miles each. So, I use 10W-40in the winter, 20W-50 in the summer with no problems.

Hard to believe an elderly lady would buy a new '91 Subie turbo, 5 speed, and keep it well maintained all these years. This is not the type of car that appeals to little old ladies. This ad does not sound believeable. "Elderly lady" translates to me as someone in their 80's, but maybe not to the latest owner. Tread lightly on this deal!

I think you are going off the deep end too soon to worry about a bad HG. The bad water pump will cause coolant to leak and cause little puddles like in your photo. A small coolant leakage can flow and travel quite a bit from the source to show up on an exhaust manifold. Also, seems like all Subies with age and miles will leak some oil as both of mine do. A slight oil leak is not an indication of a bad HG. So seeing a bit of coolant and oil doesn't mandate a bad HG. Did your car ever over heat prior to the bad water pump? Or has it ever over heated? If it were me, I would replace the T belt, water pump, tensioner, pulley, and a new radiator cap. That may be all the repairs you need to make. Suggest also, going to a spray wand car wash, and clean the motor thoroughly. Afterwards, keep an eye out for leaks. If you see any leakage, it will be a lot easier to find the source. Remember the main indicator of a bad HG is engine over heating. I haven't read that you ever had that, unless it was caused only by the bad water pump. Hopefully, you shut down the motor quickly if you detected over heating.

From the picture, it looks like the wheel is towed in. Suggest getting the car up on a lift to see what is broke or bent. I would not so much think that there is a problem with the right rear strut, as probably a bent suspension issue. I bet the previous owner knows what caused this. A good slide side ways with some speed, with an abrupt slam into a curb would be a good way of causing the tow in damage.

ditto on Gloyale's comments. If the heater core was plugged, you would not get any heat output, or very minimal heat. Also, the heat output would be constantly poor, as coolant always moves minimally through the heater core. The air pocket theory is a better idea, as the air pocket is not a constant. Sometimes coolant is moving through the heater core, sometimes not much, depending on the air pocket, and the water pump circulating varying amounts of coolant/air pocket. As Gloyale suggests..........a bad HG, or a radiator cap. My vote is a bad head gasket.

The burping is a good idea. Also, it is possible that you have a bad head gasket which allows exhaust gas to enter the cooling system. This causes engine over heating and poor heater performance. That could be causing the need for 'burping." Car heating systems rely on coolant flow through the heater core to provide warm air to the cabin. A "gas" added to the cooling system reduces heater efficiency. I had a 91 Leggie that blew a head gasket resulting in pressurizing the cooling system resulting in a leaky radiator. Is it possible that same thing happened to your radiator? The early 2.5 engine introduced in 1997 gets the bad rap for blowing head gaskets, but the earlier 2.2 engine (as in your car) can still blow a head gasket. Check your radiator over flow for bubbles when the engine is warmed up and running. If you see bubbles, you have a head gasket issue.

It has been a while, but I remember about 15 years ago that a shop tested my VW for head gasket trouble by using chemically treated paper which was inserted into the neck of the radiator into the coolant. Upon removal, if the paper changed to a certain color, that was the indication of exhaust in the cooling system. The process reminded me of using Litmus paper to detect an acid or a base from High School chemistry class.

If you can pick up this car on the cheap, and as you say the body is clean with not that many miles, it can be worth your while to put some time on getting the motor to run. If you get it to run well, then resell for a nice profit, or drive it yourself, and look for a 5 speed elsewhere. Since the '90 has the 2.2 non interference motor, you will not have a concern of valve damage from T belt problems.

I have a 99 Leggie OBW. Yes, it is the DOHC motor with potential Head Gasket problems. Ask owner if HG has been changed. If previous owner can't be reached, Subaru mechanics can look at the head gasket ends (over hang)that protrude where the head meets the block, and tell by the material if it is the newer design HG. The 99 also has issues with the automatic transmisson of delayed shifting into forward gears from park or reverse. This can be remedied by adding a can of Trans-X to the trany. That product fixed my problem. Otherwise, the 99 is a good car!

ditto on using OEM wires. Cheapie wires from cheapie chain auto parts stores just don't work well in a Subbie. I learned that the hard way. Seemed like I was always changing cheapie wires at least once a year to clear up a miss fire problem.

I have never heard of removing the radiator, so it could be sent somewhere for testing. I have had many cars that developed sort of a scummy oily dard residue inside the over fill tank. There never seemed to be a problem. I just figured it was old antifreeze additives that were presenting themselves. A quart of oil every 500 miles isn't that bad. If it were me, I would keep on driving the car the way that it is, and just keep a close eye on the temp guage for any over heating. The radiator testing just sounds like BS, and a waste of your money. Suggest that you remove your remove your over flow container, clean it out real good, and reinstall. Keep an eye on the over fill. I bet it takes a long time to get yucky again.

Sounds like you were luckier then sh*t. It would have been my luck under same circumstances, to have the timing belt break, and chew up the valves. It is a lot cheaper to have the car towed, then to rebuild the motor.

I am on my third AWD Subie, and never knew what the FWD fuse holder was for. Yes, I knew that installing the fuse resulted in FWD, but never knew that it was intended for use when the donut spare is installed. Guess I should have read the car manual carefully. Guess, I am lucky to never have had a flat. Thanks for the fuse education............Rooster2

I had a 91 Subie Leggie that had a blower fan that made a lot of noise, and ran poorly. It is easily removed from inside the car, behind the glove box on the passanger side. Upon removal, I found the blower squirrle cage clogged with tree leaves and gunk. I cleaned it up, reinstalled, and it was good as new.

If you are serious about becoming a dealer, then you need to learn the business from the inside out. Take a job at a Subie dealership as a mechanic or salesman, or whatever you would want to get hired as. Without understanding the biz from the inside, it would be extremely difficult to be successful.

Alternator is an ez swap out do it yourself job. No special skill or tools required.

I wouldn't be all that concerned about buying a former rental car. A buddy of mine did that some years back, and it turned out to be a good reliable car. Car rental stores do a good job of oil changes, tire replacements and front end alignment, but sell the cars before needing brakes. A few years back I bought a use Subie from a Toyota dealer. We haggled down on price, then I talked them into replacing the timing belt as part of the deal, which they did. However, with just 38K miles on the odo, that is not a concern for you. Give it a drive, and see how it drives, if not done so already. Try haggling hard, and complain that it was a rental car, and therefore telling them that the car is less desirable to you. You may be able to write a super deal on this car. Remember that car sales are way down right now. Dealers are hot to sell at reduced prices.

The same ATF that goes into all GM cars. I think it is Dextron. If on the can it says made for GM cars, then you know that you have the right product.

The additive product is Trans-X. I am the guy who has fixed the delayed forward engagement problem in three auto trannies. The problem seems to present itself in the '99 & '00 models. Works great! Suggest you drain and fill your trany at least 3 times to drain out old ATF, as a single drain only actually drains out about half the fluid.