deks69

Ok I have chaced around this oil leak many times. Replaced oil pan gasket (per mechanics request) and many others, valve covers etc. They are telling me its the main seal, but when I had my clutch redone I told them to check it and they said that wasnt it, and now my new mechanic is telling me that's the only place it could be, because where its always wet is right at the back of bottom of the motor behind the oil pan. I was wonder how you all felt about adding some stop leak for the oils system.? I am not a fan of this kind of junk and it's against my better judgement, but the car doesnt leak oil sitting in the garage, it just looses it driving over a 100 miles round trip then I need to add a half of quart or more. Or is my car actually burning oil? Which also doesnt seem to be (maybe alittle) because my exsaust smoke isn't blue are really that abnormal. So do you think so oil stop leak would hurt anything and maybe fix the leak after the aluminum gets up to running temps. I don't even notice a burning smell while driving. Could be rings, but compression tests dont show any problems. What do you guys think? THanks

I just ordered one today from a junk yard, if its not the right part I will look into this. However, the clockspring and the combination switch is one piece on this car. You can't easliy seperate the combination switch from the roll connector (clockspring). So is this what you have?

Thanks, they have a ton of these, wish I heard about this website sooner. Thanks, the factory service manual shows this to be a pretty simple job. Thanks again.

98 Legacy GT 2.5, 105K. Just got back from having my Airbag code read, and they said the problem is the clockspring. Horn, and Cruse is affected by this too. They qouted me $508 to fix it, part alone is $250 dealer said. Anyone know where I can get this cheaper? Maybe a used one? Can I fix the old one? And what years will work if I can find someone on this board parting out a subaru? Im not paying the dealer 300 in labor just to pull the steering wheel either. Thanks

Like I said I wasnt sure what was blocking it, that was over a year ago when I put it in, could have been the cup holders, but I couldnt get the thing to even open, anyway, yes it works perfect in the bottom din, I dont have the glare issue you speak of. I wish the dimmer worked though, bright as hell at night. I attached the dimmer cable from the car to the deck, checked it twice and still wont manually dim. Hmmmm.

I put in an alpine, CD, IPOD deck, and put a plastic pocket I got at best buy at the same time. Pocket comes in handy for extra storage of my crap, and looks nice. Word of warning. Put your deck in the bottom din if its a detachable face. I put it in the top din first and it hits the top of the cooling controls, or if im not remembering correctly it just wouldnt open up on top, something was blocking it. If you use an IPOD, Alpine has the only true intergrated IPOD support, I just plug the IPOD into the alpine IPOD adpater that I have sitting in my glove box, and forget it. You control the IPOD with your deck, little off topic I know, but just say'en.

If it wasnt for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all. But hey looking on the bright side, I've replaced so much ************ on that car theres nothing left to fix! So without saying, hollowing out that back cat, and seeing if that fixes the code would be the way to go? And if not then replace the front o2? Or will having a hollowed out cat with a new 02 sensor still throw the code? I can live with the CEL, (a little electrical tape works) as long as it's meaningless. My 96 couger had the CEL light on same deal o2 sesor in rear cat, dealer said it's not doing anything bad, nor is your car suffering from it, its a known problem and what they could do was put in a dummy plug just to stop the CEL from showing. Didnt waste the money after I knew the car was fine.

LOL I seem to be the 2% that has everthing go out on me. The damn car still runs and drives too good to let it just rot away. Still handles like a dream.

(98 Legacy GT 2.5 107K) This thing has been nickeling and diming me since the HG's went about 2 months ago. Airbag light just came on, have to bring it in to the dealer, BS price to just read the code, but that's besides the point, Caliper locked up the other day, and all of a sudden my inner passenger side CV Joint boot ripped, and oil pan started leaking! I refuse to but anymore money into this. Now my cat is triggering this P0420 code. I understand that this is most likley caused by the front 02 sensor and not a bad cat. The thing is my rear cat is rattling inside like a bunch of broken metal. If you tap on it with your hand you can hear it. It's friggen anoying as hell driving it to. I'm thinking about just hollowing it out. Would anything bad happen other then more pollution? I dont have to pass an emission tests. Would this clear the code, leave the code or make the car run worse. I am getting worse gas millage since It popped the code, my private garage mechanic thinks there shouldnt be a big deal by hollowing that out. If I still have a code then replace the front 02? Or will a hollow cat cause the 02 sensor to run a code, or make he car run leaner or richer or whatever it does? I figured if I hollowed out the cat, and removed the debri that's in the way, and then replaced the front 02 sensor if the code didnt go away, that It should be good to go. Or am I missing something here? I know I've done this with other makes and the car actually ran better, however, this is a subaru, and Im just not sure what hollowing out the cat would do.

The car has always started and ran like a top, but it does go through Oil, and the CEL light has been on since I bought it, ( the dreaded Missfire code on cyl #1,) that I have never been able to fix. A rebuilt 2.2 from CCR is 2250 bucks, and Im pretty sure I could do the swap myself. I will see what the mechanic thinks, there was also some ticking when I drove it, I thought it was exhast because it started after I had the clutch replaced, and they forgot a new rear seal and had to take the exhast off again. What does piston slap sound like? But with all these other possiable issues, maybe putting in a 2.2 might be worth it. I will miss the extra HP, because I already think the 2.5 does have enough. But I would rather have a reliable engine then a slightly peppier one. I will find out how much this guy is going to charge me for the job, and have him see if the tick is serious, and if its truley burning oil, or just leaking to make it smell that way. All in all I cant get a better car for either the repair or a replacement. CCR wants $3350 for a 2.5, wonder way its not much more of an engine then the 2.2L. It looks like my Radiator is newer, so I would just have him replace the HG, and Timing belt, make sure he knows he has to adjust the valves, (which will probeable clear up the CEL) and just check out my front axles as the front tires seem to drift sometimes, tie rods maybe? One thing scares me though, it apears that this car has the updated HG's, and if CCR says they never see problems with the Updated HG's then what happened with my car?

Dont get me wrong, love the car, it will be repaired or a new engine will be put in. Only 102,000 on the car and engine. Body is mint and drives better then most new cars. Im just tring to decide given the nature of the 2.5's if I should just invest into a 2.2. I have CCR qouting me on the 2.2. Maybe even the turbo 2.2 So you say the 2.2 has more torque? I was wondering how that engine compaired to the 2.5, which I dont think it's all the powerful. Then again I used to own a WRX, so maybe I set the bar to high. LOL Thanks for the replies, it strengthened what I was already tring to deny. I suppose where I need to drive during the week I could squeeze some more driving out of it, but I'll park it till its fixed, probable did enough damage to it driving it hot trying to get it home last night. I have a back up truck. The mechanic I talked to, (very good) but he said, "never did a HG job in one of those, but there is always a first" didnt get my confidence boosted. I could learn on it if I had the time, that's not the point in having someone else do it. Kinda have to do this job right the first time.

Ok I posted on this awhile back, after driving my 98 Legacy GT about 40 miles and then parked it, let it idle when I came out the need in the temp gage was pegged at the high mark just below the H. After moving it to a different spot the temp went down. Never turned the car off. Well last night after driving for about a 100 miles on the way back the car started getting hot. Every time it gets hot I loose my heat, however, I can switch settings on my heater thermostat between defrost and vent, etc, and I can get the temp to drop back to normal. Sometimes I can even rev out the car and bring the heat back down. But last night it got into the high mark and after doing all these things the only thing that would bring the temp down was to turn the car off, I'd do this about every 5 miles. At times I could keep the temp in normal range but switching settings on my heat or reving the car up. I opened the radiator cap slightly to keep pressure from building up, but still it got hot. Is this the HG? I read somewhere when the HG goes, nothing but shuting the car down will drop the temp, but I was able to drop the temp doing the things I did above. Any thoughts? The oil didnt show any signs of Antifreeze but the antifreeze resavoir looked like it had small peices of brown crap in it. Damn car was supposed to save me money for what I paid for it, but now it's allready sucked up that on repaires. Should I even bother changing the HG or just swap motors? Im at a loss here, I thought it was just a thermostat acting up till last night.

Well my code is the 9004 or something, detects a missfire on cyl#1, (this the code your getting?) and its been tripping that code since I bought the car. I think mine is do to a valve not adjusted correctly, (vacume test was the only thing I didnt do) because I replaced everything else ike Plugs, Wires, Coil, etc in attempts to stop tripping that code. Mine only does it after I have been driving on the highway for any extended period of time, hovering around a constant speed anywhere between 70-80. If I drive 71mph or any constant speed after about 60 miles it will trip the code, (trips the code more using cruse) but if I variate my speed it ussally wont trip the code, I have learned to live with the CEL. I dont (at least w/my car) beleave it has anything to do with the HG. More then likely they didnt adjust the Valve clearence correctly when they replaced the HG the first time, (if they indeed did) I only think this because there is mechanic paint on all the engine parts (like when You pull engines apart to make sure it goes back together the same) and it looks like updated HG's. Nothing in car fax showed up that the car had been worked on for HG's, so its just an educated guess.

Yes Now I Feel like a dip ************. The coolent was only good to -10 below. Looks like some new coolent should do it. I feel kinda stupid now. Any thing I should watch out for when changing the coolent? If I pull the plug on the radiator, or even unattach the bottom hose and put some new antifreeze in will that be fine? I read somewhere that changing the fluid can be a pain with air bubbles and stuff on them. Or is that replacing the radiator and having no fluid in there? I should be able to get the freezing point down buy just draining the radiator (not the block) and putting the proper mix in right?

Yes it cooled down without me turning it off. I only turned it off when the temp started to go down to check the oil. So maybe It was something different. I can only hope. Like I said before I do think its got the updated HG's, so obvioulsy it had to have been done to get the newer style. Who knows maybe the Fans didnt kick on, but it was pretty cold out that day. Im going to check the anti-freeze freezing point tommorrow. I cant remember if it was this car or another one I own that said it was only good to 10 below. Could have been the problem. Iced up or something. I can only hope. I'll check it tommorrow. And finding the right Mechanic that knows subarus will be an issue. Im in ford country where I live and I dont trust some back yard mechanic to do a job like that. I would trust myself over them. Could do it with all the manuels and how to's I have from this site, but no time. Thats why I figured the dealership was the best beat since they are at least a subaru dealer. I'll let you know what I come up with.