biglittledog

Hey Jamal, thanks for your great write up with lots of pictures on changing a Gen 1 Legacy to the more modern harness. This car had the stereo stolen when we got it and the wires were hacked off inside the console. I actually used your great instructions and the links to the pinouts a week ago. I got a used radio harness from a 2000 WRX in a local boneyard and wired it in and didn't need the reverse harness since I was starting almost from scratch. I soldered and heat shrank the connections and should be good to go. They didn't have the changer but gave me the factory subwoofer under the seat because the wiring harness went to it!

This thing may be fried but I thought I'd ask for your collective wisdom before I tossed it. My AC would only run for about 10 seconds and then cycle off and not come back on for maybe a minute. The air would get pretty cold for the short time it was on. I tried to add refridgerant with a can and a hose that has a gauge on it. The compressor doesn't stay on long enough now to take refridgerant in. Only a second or two. I jumped the compressor clutch and made it engage for about 5 seconds and a cloud of refridgerant came out the back end of the compressor. Not good. Is there anything I should check before I try another compressor? Did I trip some safety pressure valve somewhere? Any thoughts on used/rebuilt ones and where to get one? Thanks in advance...

Thanks for the advice. Yes, I'm aware of the sticky label trap...they jam things and also throw the CD out of balance (its spinning pretty fast in there and I've had trouble with them in my home player). So I've just used a sharpie for years. I've should have mentioned that I'm interested in playing regular 80min standard CD's and not mp3 CD's. They are great but I usually just burn an album onto a CD and leave it at that. [i'll edit the first post to reflect that] I'm looking at used players so I'm trying to figure out if I can go back to 2000 or so and still play my homebrews. Thanks!

[edit for accuracy]I'm thinking of getting a better head unit for my kid's '94 Legacy and I'm looking at newer Sooby ones like the 6 CD changer. It seems like stock radios always lasted longer and were more robust than aftermarket stuff. It's also a lot less prone to thievery than something like an Alpine unit and this car will be in Chicago/Rockford for the next two years. It has nothing in it right now and I know some older players (my '95 Grand Cherokee for instance) won't recognize a burned CD. I want him to be able to play CD's he burned on his computer...regular 74 or 80min CD's not MP3 CD's. What year is your stock CD player and does it handle discs you've burned yourself? Anybody got a 1999 or 2000 with a stock player?

My '94 at 169k and is groaning at me too...

Holy Crap! I mean double Holy Crap!! Those are both amazing stories and you are both tenacious individuals. I probably would have given up long before.

Be careful of those Fiats! They know how to rust out like nothing else I have ever seen. The engines will soldier on forever but the body (read collapsed shock towers, other suspension mounting points, floorboards, etc.) can become very unstable. Mine had the front crossmember crack almost in half once...terrifying ride! Other than that, they are okay cheap little sportscars. The Pinafarina ones (early eighties) were supposed to be really good but much more expensive and probably worth it. I've learned my personal lesson with Fiats and moved to bmw 325i convertibles. That's a well built and surprisingly affordable conv't nowadays and man does it drive nice! I'd really like it if you get a chance to post the AC stuff when you're done since I'm going to be checking mine out in the near future. Mine runs cold for about 20 seconds and then shuts off. All I've had time to do is a quick R134a recharge.

You may have already done this...it's old testament stuff from when cars were simple: Turn on your headlights when it won't start and see if they dim when you turn the switch all the way. I had an inhibitor switch problem in my Nissan PU and the headlights would stay at full brightness so we knew it wasn't the starter motor. I hooked up a voltmeter (you could use a continuity tester) to the starter solenoid and found no power there and it was a safety switch circuit. Unfortunately this means you have to stop and test it while its failing...usually not convenient!

I replaced one a year ago on our 2000 Forester and its in almost the same place on the engine block, there's just some other misc. crap around/above it. Our car was throwing the same code. Since your in town...I got my knock sensor at Checker to save money. If you order on line and pick it up in the store you save some more cash. Here's a link but I'm not sure exactly what you're driving: http://www.partsamerica.com/ProductDetail.aspx?MfrCode=NIE&MfrPartNumber=WA1751&PartType=412&PTSet=A 71 bucks and you can probably find it online even cheaper. If you need tools cheap, you can go to Harbor Freight. Buy their extensions or the 13.99 "wobble extensions" set. cheap torque wrench (better than guessing...) 20 bucks or borrow from neighbor down the street since you probably won't use it much if your just doing maintenance stuff only. You know the guy that's always revving his Camaro up in the driveway Sunday mornings. Go ask him, he'll have one and will probably end up helping you swap the sensor. PS- Harbor Freight tools are cheap but if you use them infrequently maybe that's for you. I'm a Craftsman wrench guy and figure I'll use most basic tools for the rest of my life so it's an investment plus I can't afford to drop the cash on Snap-On stuff although I'd love to. I'd also normally buy OEM for sensors and thus a Bosch unit but the knock sensors suck and fail no matter what...

That's a great pic showing the location! You also get the idea that it is pretty hard to see any cracks way down in there. I didn't have any trouble getting mine out with a socket and extension. Getting the new one in isn't bad either if you squeeze a couple of fingers down in there and get it started by hand...then just use a torque wrench to set the bolt and you're good to go. Some engines may be a little harder, I don't know except my 94 Legacy L and wife's 00 Forester are the same. 5 minutes tops after you've done it once. Just do it when the engine is cold to make life a little easier.

Ha! I can only DREAM about the good 'old days of in state tuition. My youngest graduated from the School of Mines in Golden with a Chemical Engineering degree and now is about to start his 2nd year of out of state med school. $$$$$! Right now he has a summer internship at Mission Control in Houston helping with some cardiology research so I can't enlist him for any wrench turning. We're proud but poor parents! Gulp! That's why I'm fixing the Sooby myself...so he can repair my worn out body parts in a few years when he's a Doc! I have to mention to you that I really like most of the CU kids most of the time. This past year I was in McGuckin's hardware and saw a pair of female students who were obviously from the "entitled" class attending Ski U. They were getting frustrated at the hardware guys who were having trouble fitting a Yakima rack on their new Porche Cayenne SUV. They had to be able to carry the mountain bike AND the snowboard at the same time, you know. Can you imagine the conversation? "But Daddy it snows there and I need that car to get to class..." You gotta laugh or you'll cry. Now, back to Subarus after this short break!

The PO seemed to know nothing about it but I spotted the pulley wobbling and he cut the price more and more until I thought the gamble was worth a shot. Sorry I get a little edgy when I'm spending my precious spare time wrenching and its near 100 degrees here in the foothills. No bad feelings at all and we'll all see how this lasts. This board is a great resource!

Thanks Nipper! That makes sense to me now. Also my wife asked me about the running lights when following me home in another car Saturday night. She said they "lit up" but I was too tired to figure it as a clue. I didn't give her enough credit and thought she was just saying they are lit up..."yes, dear". l'll have to check the bulbs tomorrow morning early and I betcha you're right about the crossed filaments.

Okay, I should calm down because the guy probably meant no harm. I wouldn't mind (and probably welcome) questioning the repair. I just don't like the fact he thinks I'm going to turn around and sell it to your unsuspecting grandma. In fact, somebody sold it to us and never told me he had it apart but we got it super cheap so I don't mind putting some repairs in on it. If it blows up I haven't lost me shirt and I'll know better next time. Peace and goodwill to all posters! PS-I did stick with OEM Subaru timing belt and plug wires and oil filter, other stuff I bought aftermarket but its still usually Bosch etc. when you get it out of the box. No reason to pay big markup on some things if you don't have to.

This is probably a stupid question, but is my Legacy telling me it thinks a bulb is out? I can't find anything wrong including all 4 center brake light bulbs. When I touch the brake pedal the brake lights come on and all the parking lights come on as well. Please tell me what the car wants me to do...

Hey Jerk, I never said I was selling my car, I'm trying to keep it going! I'm putting lots of time and energy into this thread so other people here can possibly repair a car they would otherwise have to get rid of or worse...get talked into a new motor for $$$ they may not need to spend. Nobody says you have to do this or trust the repair, it's just pics on how I did it myself plus references to similiar repairs on Miatas with the same problem...by an engineer that works for Loctite. It's good documentation if you want to try this is all it is. It's my kid's car and he's a starving college student so I'm gonna try and keep it going as long as possible for him. You try and be helpful and look what you get...

This is the worst I've seen and it's not a great design by any stretch of the imagination. The new one is stronger in some way that I can't see but we still had to replace it in our 2000 Forester after 5 years. I thought it would help folks to see what the little troublemaker looks like...

Just because I couldn't find any pictures in this forum and I had a bad one in my hand... here are pictures of an original (discontinued) grey connector knock sensor from my '94 Legacy 2.2L motor. I never got a Engine light or ECU code for this so it was still functioning to some degree. I replaced it with a new one for 45 dollars and the car ran better immediately afterwards. What you see from above after its been wiped off... Much more damage from the two side views. You won't really be able to see this clearly until its out of the car. From underneath you can see the damage to both sides and in the last picture I broke off part of the casing and you can see tons of corrosion inside. Keep in mind that the sensor is really a piezo microphone: two thin plates of metal separated by a thin layer that generates a tiny amount of current when it is vibrated.

Nebraska is a little more "interesting" than Kansas...there is some undulating terrain to watch but its still a loooooooooooooooong day crossing. There's a reason its called flyover country. At certain times of the year it (Nebraska) is downright beautiful and I love the wide openness. Unfortunately the heat of summer is pretty bleak. Lots of nice folks living in those parts. Have a great trip! PS-Kansas/Eastern Colorado: The world's largest prairie dog is made of cement and the two headed calf is stuffed. I wouldn't blame you if you stopped anyway just to get out of the car and support the local economy though.

Here is the last pic showing what an idiot can do if left to his own devices... When I put the new timing belt on and lined up the cams, the crankshaft position was way off. I realize now that what idiotboy did instead of fixing the keyway was shift the belt by 4 teeth to try and compensate for the worn groove. This adjusted the ignition timing while accelerating only but also permanently threw the valve timing way ahead of the pistons...not good. He also never thought about the computer which was now getting conflicting signals from the crankshaft position sensor and the camshaft position sensor. The valves weren't opening at the right times, the mixture was off, the manifold vacuum was low and went to zero with any increase in rpm. The car would maintain a constant speed or idle nicely but would bog down terribly when you tried to accelerate at all. If you floored it from a complete stop it would just sit there unmoving at about 700 rpm. My clues were watching with a timing light and seeing the computer going crazy trying to adjust the timing and a vacuum gauge showing no pressure when accelerating which was a clue to the valve timing being kableweee. My last pic was taken with the new gear and belt but the original crank position. The Green block is the crankshaft position sensor in case you haven't seen one yet. The small Green block is the tab on the timing gear that should line up with the sensor at TDC. The two Yellow circles show the new belt correctly at TDC and the gear incorrectly 4 teeth off. The Red lines show the difference in timing. Straight up is where it should be and about 2 o'clock or 40 degrees is where was. People who do things like this should have their tools forcibly taken from them. I hope this is informative and at least mildly interesting. If nothing else it let me "share my pain". The good news: The car runs great now. It has wonderful off the line accelleration and shifts smoothly through all the gears (AT). It's like a completely different vehicle! Only time will tell if this fix will hold up...I post again on this if there are problems.

Fellas, Here are some more pictures of the damage now the timing gear is off and the crankshaft is cleaned up. I got a new timing gear, timing belt, bolt, and key and installed these using Loctite 660 as described in the repair link in my previous thread about this. Loctite 243 on the crankbolt. The other pictures show what happens if you are an idiot... bad repairs cause bad damage. Apparently when the key originally went south, this guy kept tightening the bolt and trying to start/drive it. This dug a huge groove in the timing gear and also cut into the crankcase metal. You can compare the old and new gears and see the wear... I did not replace the crankshaft oil seal because I was afraid of what might happen if I tried to get it out. It's not leaking at all anyway.

Yes, that is the worn area. Also there is no taper on these cranks unlike later Miatas. I think the guy is right in saying the key is never meant to carry a load. It is only there to maintain alignment primarily during assembly. Maybe not the best engineering on SOA's part and really no room for error in fit of all parts and torque value for the crankbolt. The crankshaft could've been longer and the pulley had twice the contact area with the shaft and we all probably wouldn't be worrying about this. The new timing gear has no slop whatsoever on the crankshaft and I should never have to take it off. It's fit with Loctite 660 and should be permanent. The pulley is the bugbear for this engine... A design with no room for error plus a BIG error in the torque value for the crankbolt in all the manuals equals lots of messed up 2.2L cars...

I agree with you and I spent a long time yesterday talking with the guys at our local Subaru-only repair shop here (tons of Soobys here in Colorado and this is the biggest independent Subaru shop in the USA plus they are actually nice). They have a used and new parts dept and we were comparing my parts with some replacements. I have meticulously cleaned the shaft and reassembled the parts with a new timing belt, perfect used timing gear, new key, and new bolt torqued to 125 ft/lbs with loctite 243. I used the 660 locktite on the shaft and key and locked the timing gear to the shaft with it also. The timing gear should never have to come off again for the life of this engine (168k already). I used the 243 on the crankbolt and the pulley as I may remove it sometime in the future. Interestingly, none of the pulleys they had were any better than mine so they suggested locking the timing gear on pretty permanently like I have now done, and then checking the crankshaft itself for wobble from bearing wear. They agreed this repair should hold if the crank is straight. They also said when the pulley wobbles, the face contacting the timing gear wears until it's not flat. This makes things even worse. They said almost every used pulley they see has some problem so we thought buying a new one was a good idea if everything starts and runs okay. If this works I'll probably go to the later style pulley with the big rubber block in the center. I need to let the Loctite cure for a day before I start her up. I have some more pictures of crazy stuff the PO did including jumping the timing belt 3 teeth to account for the worn shaft! No wonder the car wouldn't run right! I'll post the pics tonight...

Thanks and I will double check on which Loctite to use. I don't have a DOHC engine so I'll be selfish and not worry about them now plus this is the crank pulley and timing gear so it shouldn't matter SOHC/DOHC. If you reference another link from the Miata fix, it gives a great description of what to do and it's written by an engineer who works for Loctite...can't get much better than that! Here is the second article: http://www.miata.net/garage/hsue/Softtop.htm An interesting quote from this: "Keyways of this type are normally used for the purpose of alignment. Assembly forces are usually transferred to other areas such as tapers - which from the photo's seem to be absent. This means that the force locking the assembly is the clamp load exerted by the bolt then holding the pulley against the shaft shoulder and any interference between the pulley and the shaft. Even a partial loss of this clampload (bolt stretch, thermal cycling, vibration) would lead to the entire load being transferred to the key - and subsequent key failure. It would seem that this design is only good engineering practice if a retaining compound is added during assembly. That's what I suspect originally shold have occurred and that's what I have proposed. The Loctite 242/243 or Quick Metal that you have added to the shaft cures to a tough thermoset polymer between the mating faces, keying into machining marks and micropores of the metal. This process turns the whole of the mating face area into a keyway (after alignment you could actually remove the key altogether and it would make no difference to the performance of the assembly). This assembly will dismantle with the standard puller. "

It's pretty easy. Socket and extension gets it out. Buy a low range torque wrench to put the new one in. Cheap at places like Harbor Freight Tools. Then you won't crack the new one in 6 months.