aircraft engineer

Take a look at the headlamp connector plug. The one I was working on last had a problem with the PLASTIC PLUG HAD MELTED (poor contact). I don't know but is that the one with the !_! shaped bare contacts or the one with the plastic surround - sort of looks like a D with the 3 contacts inside? Take a look at your bulb as well - is the filament inside the bulb intact or broken. IF broken, the bulb is burnt out. Did you remember to wipe down the bulb outside with either rubbing alcohol or everclear and not handle the bulb with bare fingers on installation. Those bulbs get so hot, the quartz glass will fail and take the filaments with it.

I can't tell you how it fails, but I can tell you what it does - It's there to pull air thru the charcoal canister that collects the gas vapors off the tank. The "purge" means that it allows the "excess" collected vapors to cycle into the engine intake manifold and be burnt in combustion. If you are smelling a "rich" mixture right at startup, that's actually normal because the purge doesn't start until the engine is warmed up and the gas isn't well "gasified" from the injectors so the engine runs "rich" (and smells like "raw gas" sort of) I SUSPECT (don't know for sure) that it would fail closed unless there is a restriction in the solenoid to hold it "open". Most of those are spring loaded to close because of "roll over" issues in fuel system integrity. You might want to check the hoses first and see if there are cracks

I had a similar thing happen on a Tempo - the steering would just get "tight" in a turn then "thump". A few months after the first "thump" there was a "snap" and the RACK broke in 2. oh well... replace the steering gear... SOMETHING is binding somewhere...

I take it that the FUSE blows in the headlamp circuit? (There is no way the bulb could blow from a short) Have fun - circuit tracing always means that the bad part is located right where you can't get to it without standing on your head and using your left hand only while twisting some solid cable with your right hand (and CURSING!!) Really, though - check and see where the wire bundles go past metal "edges" and look for rubbing. IF you find an open bit of insulation, wrap it with a few layers of tape and see what happens (you could have more than one short even in the same cable)

one of the "other" keys to "worn brake pads" is that the hi pitched whine won't change pitch as speed changes and will go away when the brakes are applied hard, then come right back. that's the shrieker tab just doing its job.

is the same school as "If it don't fit get a bigger hammer?" <ducking and running>

depends - they (PS and PM) sometimes get the hype before the substance (ala - MOELLER and his "flying car"), although PS seems to do it "less". They are trying to be the harbinger of "new technology for the common man"...er "person" to be entirely PC. I've seen some interesting things there that never went anywhere and haven't seen other things that I thought SHOULD be there

32mm socket. have someone sit in the car and hold the brakes on hard 24 inch breaker bar and about 75 pounds CCW load (stand on the breaker bar??) - that will make 150ft lbs - and if it doesn't loosen up, push HARDER!! or get an extension pipe to go over the breaker the detent disappears (gets rounded out to a circle) and the NUT COMES OFF (brute force WORKS) NO TORCH!! NO TORCH!! IT CANNOT BE ON THAT TIGHT!! Maybe I'm just "larger" than some of you others out there 2 ft bar and step on it and it sees 500 ft lbs on the nut

just curious about the term "door card" - a door panel? (not that I'm in Denver...)

yes and no (remember, I was working on an IMPREZA) The panel has a couple of strange fasteners on the inside of the panel that appear to lock going "up", so maybe it's a matter of loosening all of the plastic pop-ins and moving the panel downward about an inch or so to let the "hole" line up with the fastener (instead of the "slot" - you'll understand after you get it off) It seemed like it all had to be loose before it would slide out (and even at that I think I just rattled it around until it came free - I didn't really investigate WHY it came out the way it did) I forgot about the screw in front of the door handle until you mentioned it. The rest of them were the "plastic push pin" variety Getting those metal "fingers" at the top of the door panel aligned for re-installation was, I suspect just a matter of "luck" - keep trying, it will work (putting it back on)

Remember - if you do >> "play swap" then you need to mark the timing belt timing location lines before you take it apart to make it easier to put back together. Those bearings wear out over time so if they sound loose, swap them. Water pump might just as well get swapped out for "the better of the 2" and re-seal the oil pump at the same time (cheap insurance) and LOTS easier with the engine out BTW - I have a chance to buy a "spare in the hood" 89 GL with a bad alternator for maybe $500. Or, Maybe an Impreza for myself (better choice, likely). I can probably only get ONE of the 2 and even at that, something here out of the collection has to go (maybe the old 190E mercedes...)

You OBVIOUSLY LOVE getting "into" your work hey - pinto ain't all bad - as long as the filler neck problem was fixed, they don't go "boom" I'll tell a quick story about why I don't exactly trust Ford. I was there in the early 70's doing truck engineering and crash tests. one of our tests was to do "rear end of cars in collision" (with pick-em-up trucks as the "hitting" vehicle). We ran an instrumented F250 into a Pinto at 35 and saw not much damage to the truck, but LOTS to the Pinto (well, duh) BUT what we saw on the films was what looked like a fuel "explosion" out the rear of the Pinto. We used Stoddard Solvent to "model" gas, so it wouldn't explode, but it was all wet and the film showed it. We made our report and than as an aside, sent a report over to car engineering about "you guys might want to look at this rear ender with a Pinto..." They came over and took away all of our films, reports, the whole lot of it and said in effect 'It never happened, don't try it again...' 3 years (or so) later they had the recall for "fire hazard" on the pinto in rear end collisions - it was cheaper to pay the results of the lawsuits than to FIX THE PROBLEM.

Didn't see any evidence of leakage on the rez at all, just the "normal" collection of "dirt" but not "oily dirt". I blasted the engine before I worked on it so oil would show "easily" The oil is on the cross member (just a bit, but enough to make a couple of small drips) and on the driver's side around the heat shields and is slowly baking off (a lot of it was from the leaking cam seal and the unintentional oil bath from a loose oil filter) I didn't see any evidence of oil on the top of the block (but I wasn't really looking much on top, either) Since the car is 1100 miles away now, it's going to be a while before it gets fixed. I'll ask sis to check and see if there's any oil evident at that location - but it was dry when I had it all apart to do the timing belt (or so I remember anyway) It's behind that pulley shield now, anyway - time for a paper towel test - wipe it and see if it's "clean" or not to verify the o-ring question

Since you are replacing it anyway (the axle) you could probably use a puller (not slide hammer) and push the axle out the back of the hub. You want to push the axle out, not pull the hub off (or maybe Sub's are different from the other FWDs I've worked on.) a chunk of 2x2 cut square on the ends also works for a seal driver and if you want to get REALLY fancy, go buy a driver set from Harbor Freight. http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=35555 Unless you WANT to replace the seals or wheel bearing, don't pull out that hub unless absolutely necessary. When you have the axle out, try the "turn and feel for any binding" test which will indicate a bad bearing put "anti-seize" on the splines before you shove the new axle in the hub and this probably won't happen again

If it's similar to the Impreza - on the IMP - it's a SINGLE SWITCH CLUSTER - all at once, YMMV take off the surround around the inside door handle take out the screw holding the the "cup" to the door - in the bottom of the cup - it's what you pull on to close the door (Phillips #2) Pull out the "push in" plastic fasteners thru the door covering into the metal of the door. (1/4 inch flat driver or 1 inch putty knife) now, loosen the bottom of the door panel and work it free up the edges. Eventually it will all come loose (plastic push in fasteners plus a couple of "keyhole" move "up" to seat, down to "unseat" plastic clips - you'll understand what I meant after you look at it) Now - don't pull it off (there's wiring to the switches in there. Move it away from the metal and look at the switch plugs - they release by pushing a clip at the top and disconnect "easily" - I had to use a small screwdriver (SMALL - maybe 1/8 inch wide flat) to depress the clip. I was working PAX door on the IMP, so there might be more than one disconnect. Once you have the plugs out, you can take the panel elsewhere to finish the job I didn't go into the switch (I was doing a door handle and fixing the window - which wouldn't go down because some nimnoe left a FLASHLIGHT IN THE BOTTOM OF THE DOOR!! so you are on your own as far as actually pulling out the switch pack. IF it's anything like the door latch, look for a surround as well, but be careful, don't break the surround) reassemble in the reverse order and watch the fit-up of the door panel upper surface to the door - it was a bit tight and had to line up "just so" to make it all fit back together Now, if you need "practice" - go find a junkyard and take one out THERE first. save all the "junk" pieces and the screws in case you lose one http://www.subarupartsforyou.com/cp_partlistbymod.php?subcat=Window%2C+Switches has the switch listing so you can see what switches interchange

duh... they were both just done - the car just went thru a timing belt/seals/waterpump/oil pump reseal and valve cover gaskets. Plus there's no evidence of ANY leakage from there - it passes the paper towel wipe down test. Oil smell coming from the exhaust (light oil odor - not like before it got the seals fixed - "Hey lady, you're on FIRE!" was the comment - my sister's car - with the billowing oil smoke) The level in the PS reservoir just keeps receding ever so slowly - 12 hours of driving all freeway (I-5) and the level just keeps getting lower (Veeerrry slowly, maybe 60ml down in the rez cup in those 12 hours. Not bad enough to worry about - just watch it for right now, but will need checked - as in "fixed" - "eventually" I'm wondering if the pipes can come loose and even where the PS attachments to the steering gear ARE) Of course, it's even more fun when the CAR is on the ROAD and I'M not. (I'm near Tacoma and the car at last report was passing Bakersfield)

OK sports fans - any likely location to check for slow seepage? very slow leakage (maybe 1/4 teaspoon per hour of operation if that) but enough to put an oil slick on the exhaust pipe and a slight "oily" look to the X-member with the occasional "drip"

Sort of like me with Tempo front ends - I can strip one down to the axles (both sides) replace whatever I need and re-assemble it inside of 1.5 hours. AFTER YOU DO IT ENUF TIMES... I get to do a steering gear next... (Where's my SUB??)

and the valve cover gaskets (leaking or NOT) go take a look at the recent timing belt thread.

removing cam sprockets - quite simple, really - I found that I could use a crowfoot wrench turned sideways to hold the sprocket (put it - 14 mm I seem to remember - over one of the spokes and use that to hold the sprocket while loosening' tightening the bolt.) Another option is to put 2 allen wrenches into the circular holes on the crank cogged belt drive and use a wrench to hold the crank from turning and loosen the sprocket bolt. The old timing belt is throw away anyway - DON'T PUT IT ON THIS WAY!! Too much strain on the belt!! The crow foot worked for on and off, though. Use a "pick" - like this one from harbor freight to pull out the seal itself - http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=94500 it lets you get in and pull out the seal without damaging either the cam bearing/seal face or the housing - IF you are careful.

I used those guys to fix a 2.2 Impreza. Kit was complete, but I DID opt for the German (Mexican manufacture) timing belt though - for a "warm fuzzy feeling" more than the Chinese belt that comes with their "regular" kit ($10 extra). With the cam/crank seals and O rings, water pump, valve cover gaskets, bolt seals and belt upgrade plus both accessory belts as well, you are looking at probably $275 or so. Thing is that you will have replaced virtually everything on the front of the engine AND PROBABLY WON'T NEED TO DO IT AGAIN FOR 100K miles. They're good guys to work with (and for me, anyway, they are not quite "local" - maybe 140 miles away - so shipping was next day) Remember to check the screws on the back of the oil pump and loctite them before torquing them down and get a tube of permatex anaerobic gasket sealant (the small one is all you need) to seal the oil pump to the block. EVERYTHING else you need is in the kit (and you might even salvage the tensioner if you can find a replacement bearing and sell it to someone else - it's the BEARING that wears, not the tensioner itself, so don't junk it - someone here might want it) THEY HAVE A FULL KIT AS DESCRIBED ABOVE AVAILABLE - go visit their "store" and look, better yet, give them a call.

A/T is easier dealing with hills - there are some nasty hills in Seattle and Tacoma, too. No need to play the brake, clutch, (emergency brake) shuffle where you could use THREE feet if you had them

According to this - no, you can't different part numbers for different years http://www.subarupartsforyou.com/cp_partlistbymod.php?subcat=Struts%2C+Front If you have access to both of them, you might do a side-by-side comparison and check, though. Sometimes it's just an extra or missing hole that's the difference. Others might be a "1 way exchange" - this year will fit that year, but not the other way around

with the trans "pulling" harder into gear and the releasing when the throttle is lowered, it's internal - probably a bearing in thrust going bad. Like I said, I don't know Sub trans at all, but it's what my Mitsu was doing before it ate the CLUSTER gear when one of the cluster gear bearings failed.

It wasn't a SUB but a MITSU Montero that I had popping out of 5th problems - what it turned out to be was bad BEARINGS (of course, a different trans layout) but the problem sounds almost identical. Would just jump out of gear by itself whenever it felt like it on decel. the mainshaft bearings were both bad. I solved it by getting a different trans and swapping guts