subsince77

That is what I was told by a mechanic friend of mine. Actually he read it out of the service manual while I was standing there. I had asked about the t-belt replacement interval. They say 90,000 but the engine is "freewheeling." i have a friend with a 97 3.4 who did not change the belt until 160,000. The guy that did the work said the belt looked good. I think I'll check that out a little more though - second opinion. I've been reading a Toyota forum, but I'm telling you USMB runs circles around any other auto forum I have ever seen. Great information, and very fast. I can post to my Nissan forum and not get a response for over a week. Thanks all.

Sounds like its unanimous. Thank you. BTW, in two weeks we are replacing our 97 Nissan Pickup with an 02 Toyota Tacoma. I think that between our Subaru, and the 3.4L V6 on the Toyota, we are going to have two VERY reliable vehicles. That V6 is even a non-interference engine. Pretty excited

Thanks, i just wondered because on the aforementioned pickup, I did not follow Nissan's directions for relieving the pressure one time, and there was a LOT of pressure. Since then I have done the pull the fuse and crank thing. I am going to help a friend who just bought a 98 OBW do a tune up on Thursday. I think we'll just pull the hoses.

Does simply removing the gas cap relieve fuel pressure so that I could replace the Fuel Filter? Or, do i need to pull the pump fuse and run the gas out of the line? I have always done the latter, but just wondered. It never seems to to really run that much with the pump fuse out anyway. My Nissan pickup will actually start and chug along for a while, but the Subaru just cranks. Thanks

You are only 25k from your next timing belt and valve set anyway, so if you can have it all done at once you will be good for a long, long time. In the interest of full disclosure, I opted for a CCR rebuild because I was at 196000, meaning due for timing belt, water pump, oil pump etc, and to have the valves adjusted. Where I live, it would have cost nearly as much to get that work done by someone I didn't trust to do it right. I towed it over the hill and had the rebuild put in. But, if I could have done the work myself, or lived where there was a good Subaru mechanic, I might have kept my old engine. it was running as strong as ever.

Just do the search for headgaskets and read. You will find loads of posts. My 97 ran perfectly all through it's headgasket problem, other than the occasional, then more frequent, temp spikes. If you never let it get hot, you can replace them and have a fine car, but 99 chances out of 100, you have blown headgaskets. Most of us have done all the other stuff, radiator, thermostat (Subaru only), hoses, seals, you name it. You will read it over and over again, but everybody ends up at the same place. Sorry. The new Subaru gaskets don't blow a second time, or so I have been told.

At least your car is giving you clear signals. Mine was much more subtle for a very long time. Now you know what has to be done and you can plan for it. I live near a small town and could get to work and back without overheating at all for a long time - until I could get the repair done. You may, I'm just saying may, be able to use your car for short trips for a while, but whatever you do, don't overheat it. Turning on the heater probably won't help for long. With mine, nothing ever brought the temp down once it started to go up. I just had to make sure that never happened.

I don't really know, but Marshall told me that his remans often outlast new. I bought remans. I only have about 30,000 on the rears, and the fronts are new, so I'll tell you in a year or two how it goes.

It says a lot that many of us felt a little twinge of panic there over the idea the MWE might have ceased to exist. I love really good companies that display the best attributes of the free enterprise system.

You might email ccr to see if they know if Marshall is gone for a while or what. He used to work right next door, but has moved his shop to a different location now. They still might know something. If he is just closed for a week or two maybe it would be worth the wait to you. Or not.

Sure I've driven 50 on snowpacked roads lots of times too. Especially when it's really cold. And, of course you can negotiate slippery conditions better with AWD or 4WD than 2wd. But I can tell you that we see this all the time around here with people in both 4wd's and awd's. I think they've been watching too many TV commercials. This is especially true with tourists who don't live in snow country, then fly in and rent a Subaru or a Jeep for a weekend of skiing. I have good friends that run tow trucks and make a fortune off of them. They get going way faster than they should because just cruising down the road they feel in control. I'm not saying that you are doing this, i don't know you. i am saying that sometimes the police are right when they stop someone for driving too fast for the conditions even though that person "felt" in control at the moment. I have done this myself, not gone off the road, but the car feels so solid, that sometimes I underestimate how slick it is. That's all I was getting at.

Is the CTS the one that's buried under the intake? That is about the only sensor that I haven't changed on my misfire happy 97 OBW. I sometimes wonder if it occasionally sends a little lie up the line and causes a fuel change that causes a misfire. Sorry - no hijacking - but is it under the intake? Major job for a klutz to replace? The only reason I asked about simply warming the car up earlier, is that even with all the modern fuel injection technology, a car will still hesitate when it's really cold. I always let mine warm up at least a couple of minutes, especially when it is in the single digits, or -10, -20, etc. It's just simple kindness.

What happens if you let it warm up for a few minutes. It sounds like its cold.

I take the opposite view. I find that because of the great traction and handling on snow and ice, it is very easy for me to get going too fast for the conditions. The problem that we see all the time is that people going off the road, and in this state that can be a long way down, because forget that just because you can go fast forward does not mean that you can safely stop or avoid someone else's mistake. If it's too fast to stop, it's too fast for the conditions.

I thought that was what he was getting at, and it makes sense. I've never noticed much difference between summer and winter changes though. Sometimes I fill the filter before I put it on. It's kind of nice that the Subaru filter is oriented vertically. Anyway, didn't mean to hijack.

Nipper, Everyone else seems to know what you were saying here, but I'm not getting it. Are you saying make sure the oil is warm when you do a change in cold weather? I generally don't, but I always drain the old oil from a warm engine and pour the new into a warm engine. Another note on the original question, you might try a synthetic 5/30. I use Napa brand, which is valvoline, in both the Subaru and our Nissan PU. The Nissan in particular has noticeably quieter starts at cold, below zero, temps with the synthetic.

By late February or march we should be able to ride and run down there. We generally make a few trips in March and April, and also October/November. It extends our season a lot. I'll try to remember to take a couple of pictures. It's beautiful red rock canyon country.

Just thought I would share this. These pictures are of the desert area a couple of hours from here where we usually go to get a break from the Gunnison winter for a while. I've never seen this much snow there, although it's not unheard of. We were able to drive down the steep, slick canyon road to this trailhead, and run a 4 mile loop on packed snow and ice, but it wasn't exactly the spring-like conditions we were expecting. Still, 20 degrees above beats 20 degrees below!

If that's true maybe she can get a 2009/1996 OBW with the 2.2 and 5 speed. We will each take one.

Damaged? I just stopped the fraying, I didn't fry the belt or anything. But, I would never have expected anything on a 12 year old car to be covered by a warranty. I also don't think the small amount of fraying I have will substantially reduce the strength of the webbing. It's just annoying. I guess I should look into buying a new one sometime.

Is that true or a joke? My 97 OBW drivers side shoulder harness is frayed along the edges. I hot-knifed it to stop the fraying. Could I get it replaced under warrantee on an old car?

That is what i was wondering. I thought I had read that. Not a deal breaker,especially since there is no deal yet, but I would like to know. Hey, on the torque bind test, would a problem be masked on a snowy surface? I'm not sure I can find a dry parking lot right now.

Thanks, yeah, not much info in the ad. I don't even know what kind of tranny it has, hopefully a MT. If it sounds good, I will run up and take a look at it tomorrow. For all I know it's sold already. I'll let you know if I, well not I, but my friends get it. I'll just be sort of a step-uncle-in-law to the car.

Hi all, I am helping a buddy look for a Subaru. Someone here in the valley is selling a 97 legacy, 160k, they say it is in great condition but I haven't been able to see it yet, for $2600. The ad just says Legacy, not Outback, so is that going to be a 2.2? If so, is a 97 2.2 still a non-interference engine? And finally, I assume that would be a 60k T-belt interval correct? I'm just trying to get my facts straight before I talk to the owner.