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I paid about $12-14 for the plastic bleeder screw from a dealer 3 years ago. It came with an O-ring. Certainly not cheap. This thing is hollow so it can be damaged easily by over tightening.

Which store do you buy "raven" brand from? I haven't seen them. Are they more resistent to breakage than the regular beige latex ones?

I had a similar situation 2 years ago. It's a 96 Outback wagon. When I did the left axle, the axle came out of the hub easily by hand. But the right side wouldn't. With an extension pipe added to the wrench, I almost broke the 3-jaw puller rented from Adv Auto but I stopped in time. I then removed the axle together with the hub from the car. Placing the axle vertically on the floor while soaking the splines with PB Blaster all night. But not a drop of the liquid seemed to get into the splines next morning. So in my case, penetrating oil didn't help because it couldn't get into the splines. I've heard that some people broke the hub when using a hydraulic press to separate the axle from the hub so I didn't try that. Ended up just rebooting the CV joint and put it back to my car without separating the axle from the hub.

Is there a write-up somewhere?

I find it easier to get a more reliable reading if I don't leave the dipstick in its tube. I leave the dipstick in my garage and put it in the tube only when checking oil. I also got a 2nd dipstick from junk yard and cut it very short, about 3 inches total length. Put the short one in the tube to plug the hole. I think the presence of the dipstick messes up the reading because some oil gets trapped around the stick and its tube near the bottom. I check oil after the car has sat overnight in my garage. That also helps.

Yes I'm sure. It's leaking from the rear corner of the pan flange on the driver side. I've read about leakage from the same spot on this forum from other members. I wipe it clean one day and the next day pink fluid shows up again right on the spot. My main question is, on a well maintained AT with every 30K fluid change, does the metal strainer actually trap stuff that needs to be cleaned out?

My 96 OBW is leaking AT fluid from the flange. It's getting worse and tightening the bolts doesn't help. I decided to drop the pan and reseal with Ultra Gray next week. This is the first time in this car's 16-year history to have the pan dropped. I've been doing drain-and-fill every 30K since 1996. Should I bother to remove the strainer and clean it? I see I need an o-ring if the strainer is removed. In the FSM it looks like the strainer is not a flat thing that you can easily clean. The dirty stuff, if any, is kept inside of it (right?). If you have done this before, I'd appreciate your opinion. The car has 138 K miles.

Just to share my recent experience buying/replacing my crank pulley. Nothing was really wrong with my crank pulley. Car is a 96 and has 137,000 miles, all these miles driven by my family. I torqued the crank bolt to 140 ft.lb last year when I did the timing belt job so the bolt was tight. After reading some posts about the pulley's 2 metal parts separating due to weakened rubber bonding between the metal parts, I painted a white line on the pulley to test if mine was separating. After several days' driving, about 60 miles, the white line separated about 180 degrees. So I knew my pulley was on its way to failure and needed to be replaced. But I must say I have not had any issues related to the crank pulley. Battery voltage checked overnight has always been around 12.8 V and no problem with AC and power steering. I didn't want to buy a used pulley because there is no way to know how good a condition it really is. So I bought a new OEM from the cheapest online dealer I can find. I paid $150 including shipping from 1stSubaruparts.com and installed it. I thought it was a bit pricey but if I don't want to risk on a used unit, this was my best bet. I was also surprised to see "made in China" on a Subaru parts label on the box. The part # is 12305AA242. I compared it to the old pulley which is the original one from the factory. It's identical in all dimensions.

I agree. My 96 OBW with AT always shifts with a noticeable clunk from 1-2 (but not 2-3). It's been doing so since 1996 when I bought it new. I change AT fluid every 30,000 miles and haven't noticed any change in its shifting characteristics in 16 years.

Does the old-style drain plug (21 MM) of the front diff (96 OBW auto) have a magnet on it? I've changed the fluid 3 times, all with a suction device. The plug has never been removed. If it's magnetic, I might remove it to clean it next time.

A related question. Does anyone know if the front differential drain plug uses the same size washer as the AT drain plug?

Did you swap the hoses back after burping, I guess not? I wonder what is the theory behind this swap. I'm assuming your heater hoses were properly connected to the heater core before the swap.

I got one from Amazon.com about 2 months ago and it's also made in Germany, just like the one you got. The only difference is that the temp carved on the t'stat is 170 F, not 78 C. I put a 2-year-old OEM unit and this new German one in hot water on the stove. This new one opened a tad sooner than the OEM which makes sense - 170 F is a tad lower than 78 F. I installed this German one on my 96 2.5 and have had no problems.

I got a rebuild from MWE 2 years ago. The outer joint was fairly stiff when moved by hand but never had any issues once installed. I was wondering about the same thing back then. Not all rebuilt axles are stiff. I've seen very smooth outer joints at Advance Auto Parts. So I guess how smooth/stiff a joint is does not speak for its quality.

When installing a T-stat on a Subaru, does it matter what direction the giggle valve should face? I'm not talking about which side of the T-stat should be in (or out of) its housing, but if you should rotate it so that the giggle valve is on a particular spot. I'll be using an OEM unit.

I have a 96 2.5. Every time after I changed coolant and burped the system in the past 15 years, I used a modified radiator cap (for a few days) which essentially functions as a stuck-open cap. This way more trapped air can bleed out as I drive the car. I can tell you that, with a properly functioning cooling system (as mine), a stuck-open radiator cap will not cause the coolant to overflow the plastic reservoir (if the coolant level with a cold engine is right at the full line). The reservoir will show a coolant level about 1-2 inches higher than normal with a hot engine, but will not push coolant out of the reservoir. When I shut down the engine with the modified cap on, I've never heard any gurgling sound as you described. Of course, changing to a good cap is always a good trouble-shooting step.

I'd really appreciate it if you can gather the pics/procedures and post it here. I have a 96 2.5. It still has the factory HGs, sooner or later I'll need to replace them. Once you post it, I'll copy/paste it to my hard drive and save it.

Many people here say no to Bosch platinum but I've had good results with them. I've used 2 sets of cheapest Bosch platinum like Rooster2 said with no issues. Mine is a 96 2.5 and I think I used Bosch 4202. Had to reduce the gap.

Just fyi for anyone concerned about the life span of factory-installed 96 axle boots. I bought my 96 OBW new so I know its history. The first to tear open is the left-outer @ 131,200 miles. I replaced it with one from NWE. Works fine. 4000 miles later, I rebooted the axle on the right side even though both boots are still good. I figured it wouldn't be long before boot failure. Hopefully I don't need to worry about the axle for a long time, if ever, on this car. When reinstalling the axle, I noticed that the roll pin comes in 2 different length. The original pin I removed is about 1/4 inch longer than the new one I bought from Subaru dealer. The shorter one fits rebuilt NWE axle perfectly but a little too short for my factory axle.

I have a brand-new OEM idler for the 2.2 engine and I think it's the right part for your car. You'll need to verify that. The pictures and part # are in this post - http://ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=118114 Please note this is just the idler, not including the hydraulic tensioner.

That's what I do to my Outback 2.5. I keep the dipstick in my garage and plug the dipstick tube with something to keep dirt from getting in. I check the oil level after the car has been sitting overnight on a level surface. I find the reading more reliable/consistent this way. If I need to check with a warm/hot engine, I wait at least 30 minutes after shutting down engine. With a warm engine, the oil level is a little higher due to thermal expansion.

According to FSM, crank bolt on a 2.5 should be torqued to 123 - 138 ft.lb, with light weight oil on both the bolt and the hole the bolt goes into. I used 140 ft.lb with Harbor Freight torque wrench on mine, with oil as mentioned.

I use Scangauge II on my 96 DOHC 2.5. I set the temp to Centigrade. 84-86 C when cruising on highway, AC on or off makes no/little difference on highway. During stop-and-go traffic (especially in the winter) is when the temp goes higher. If sitting on a red light for 3 minutes, it'll get to 93-95 C fairly quickly. As soon as it hits 95, both radiator fans kick in and bring the temp down to about 91. After engine shutdown, for a brief period of time, the temp will keep going higher by a few degrees (because there is no coolant circulation). I don't drive my car hard and have never seen temp higher than 98 C. 180 - 190 F is certainly normal in my opinion. I keep my cooling system well maintained. Flushing/changing the coolant every 2-3 years since 1996. Never had any overheating or HG issue. So if one wonders about 'normal temp', it's reasonable to use my data as a reference.

Mine is a 96 OBW. I always jack up the rear at the center of the rear differential in my garage which has a level floor. I've never noticed such a big difference between left/right side as the original poster mentioned. One side might be 2 inches higher/lower than the other but not 8 inches. I jacked up the rear end once or twice a year to rotate tires. Been doing this since 1996.

Mine is a 96 OBW auto AT. Never had any issues with AT. I drain and fill every 30K miles. Never dropped the pan. But I found out that I can drain close to 7.5 qt if I jack up the right side of the car by positioning the floor jack's saddle at lower control arm's bushing clamp near the cat, jacking up as high as I feel safe without tipping the car, leaving the car in that position for 2 to 3 days (> 48 hours). It'll keep dripping from the drain hole on the pan. I did this way twice and measured 7.4 to 7.5 qt both times. Much less fluid drained if I didn't jack up the car this way. Owner manual says total capacity is 8.3 qt for 2.5 AT. That's a lot of fluid coming out without doing a flush. I didn't bother with AT hose at radiator and my car does not have an external filter.