vwbuge1

That motor is rick solid. The only thing you need to know is timing belts and oil changes. What VW? I have 2.

so far so good. 1100 miles on the way home, no problems. (knocking on wood)

I am flying to FL to pick it up in 2 weeks. Should be a fun drive home. I looked at production numbers for that car. They only made 101 in 2004. Glad I got the 6spd so I won't have any probs people experience with the auto.

Never said I wouldn't be back.

I hope not. At least it will be a lot more fun to drive! The notorious problems with the VW have been addressed already. Plus, the car comes with another 10,000 miles bumper to bumper warranty.

Just a quick good bye. I have been a member for a while and most of my posts have been in the tech forum under the newer cars. I sold my 2000 Outback Ltd. yesterday. I have owned Soobs my entire life. I had a few Brats and a couple of wagons. After owning the Outback for a little over a year I had to get out. The car made good power, got good mileage and handled well but just too many damn problems. I hated that thing. I wouldn't mind getting another, just not that era. I tried to get something newer ('05 or up) but just not in the budget yet. I just purchased a 2004 VW Passat W8 4Motion. I hope I will be much happier.

This may have been covered here before but I am looking into newer Subaru Outbacks. (2005 or newer) Have there been any HG failures on 2005 or newer cars?

not if I feel it in the steering wheel. Rotors are getting dropped off to be turned. New calipers to be installed. Car is to be sold.

Even with the calipers sticking, I don't see how I overheated the rotors. There is no bluing on them or discoloration. I have never felt excessive amounts of heat at the wheel or smelled anything funny. I know Subaru's are great cars but this generation sucks rump roast. I plan on having the rotors turned or at least checked for run out before I mount the new calipers.

I am done with them. Bled them out this morning and flushed with new fluid. Still a wobble in the wheel when I hit the brakes. I am going to have the rotors turned next although I don't see how they could be warped. I don't think they were sticking bad enough to heat that much. I am so done with this car. Very disappointed. Maybe the newer ones are a little better? I was looking at the Outback XT and I was told to run.

I had a shimmie in the front end when I hit the brakes. Felt like warped rotors. I just took both my front calipers off. Removed the bracket and cleaned and lubed the pins/slides. I then used compressed air to pop out both pistons. Cleaned them up with some fine sandpaper. They were not all that bad. I then cleaned out the inside of the caliper, lubed everything and put it all back together. The toughest thing is getting the dust seals back in with the clip. Momma is sleeping so I will have to wait until morning to bleed and test. If this happens again, I am heading straight to Advance Auto. Remans are $75 a piece.

I have done all of the above except do a full flush.

Does anyone have any remedies besides taking the calipers apart every couple of months?

Anyone have one? How do you like it? Is the 2.5 turbo suffering any of the head gasket issues?

Took my dad's '97 Outback Wagon for a road trip. It is AWD with Auto. We got almost 22mpg highway and he says he gets around 17mpg city. Car has 147k. New air filter, recent spark plug change. Is this normal?

I think it may be possible to put a turbo on it but I don't think it would be correct. I am pretty sure turbo motors are much different, lower compression ratios.

I forgot to ad. This can also be accomplished with a typical grease gun. I have seen it done on motorcycle calipers so I imagine it could work with automotive calipers.

I see your point. I used to work at an air compressor factory so I actually have 3. I find it easier and less expensive to spend a little bit of time trying to fix the parts that I have. Not everyone has the money to plunk down for a brand new caliper. I realize that not everyone's experience level or tool bin is up to the task but I figured I'd post my experiences anyway.

You guys are probably right but I figured I would take the chance. I read my codes again yesterday. The "fan rationality check" and the "fuel level sensor" codes never came back from the last time I cleared them. I dumped in some more Sea Foam and cleared the catalyst code again. I will let it ride for a little bit and see if it comes back before installing the sensors. Will post back with update.

you need to more than just lubricate the slide pins to be effective. I have had sticky calipers on the last 3 subarus I've owned. My current one is doing it now in the rear and I've been putting off getting to it. Remove the caliper. Carefully remove the dust seal. Force compressed air into where the brake line attaches. This will pop out the piston. Look at the inside of the caliper and see if it needs cleaned up with some emerey cloth. Clean it thoroughly with brake cleaner. Now look at the piston. Chances are it will need hit with the emery cloth also. The should be NO signs of corrosion. Inspect the rubber seal on the piston also. On reassembly, give the piston a generous helping of synthetic brake grease. Reassemble everything and also lube the slide pins. My car was shaking up front when I would hit the brakes. It almost felt like I had warped rotors. When I took everything apart, the rotors and pads were fine. One of my calipers was sticking and the slide pins were almost completely stuck. When I do my car I plan on taking pictures and posting the procedure here.

Yea, I took a chance and I may be posting later about how dumb I was. I only paid $60 for the front sensor. I am going to try it anyway. If it still throws the code I will try to replace the front again with genuine Subaru before I take the step to replace the cat. I plan on selling this car ASAP.

It has been giving me the code for "catalyst efficiency below threshold". I have heard alot of people here claim that it is the cat that is bad. I have also heard alot of people tell me to replace the O2 sensors first. I figured the O2 sensors were easier and cheaper than to replace the cat. We will see if it works. I took a chance and ordered a 4 wire universal for the front. I have a 2 wire here for the rear. I am going to replace both and clear the codes and see what happens.

Nobody has had success with an aftermarket part in the front? $130 plus shipping is alot of dough.

I am going to replace both O2 sensors on my wagon to try to eliminate a few problems. I see there are several different types listed for my car. I just want to know if anyone has replaced theirs and how many wires there are? It is snowy/rainy here and about 30 degrees. I am too much of a wimp to crawl under to look. I want to have them ready to go in when I clear a spot in the the garage. Thanks 2000 Outback Limited 5pd

So I noticed my car overheating the other day while at idle. Coolant is topped off. The car ONLY does it while sitting at idle. Is this a bad thermostat switch? Has anyone ever dealt with this code? Not sure where to start looking with this one.