Bigbusa

Take your car to a small local muffler shop (not Midas or Monroe). Many small muffler shops will repair exhausts by welding in pieces where necessary. Most car repair shops aren't set up to do this. Plus, they make a lot more money off you by selling you more parts! My 96 OBS got loud all of a sudden. I took it to a small local muffler shop (broadway service in schenectady NY) and asked them to fix it. They called me later that night and said it was done. I hesitantly asked how much I owed them and he said $40! I said $40?!?!?!?!?! He said yeah! I'm like, are you sure it's only $40?! He says, well, I can charge you more if you like! I figured it would be $300 or more as subaru exhausts are known to be expensive. The pipe coming out the back side of the cat had rusted out. They welded in a section about 6 inches long. It's perfect now. I'm sure a car repair shop would have tried to sell me an very expensive OEM system from the cat back.

The lurching doesn't mean your tranny is going bad. It means you have a major case of torque bind. Like everyone else said the surging is just your drive train "relaxing" after you turn off the engine. KIRBY - did you just drain the ATF right on the driveway?! WOW! What a mess! I'm surprised your neighbors didn't call the EPA on ya!

I don't think our 96 OBS has a FWD light.

That would be a good time to put in a LSD!

Looks good! I recently put new monroe shocks on my imp and sadly they didn't seem to do anything?! I was hoping to get a smoother, less harsh ride with the new shocks but honestly, I couldn't feel a difference between the old worn out strut shocks and the new Monroes. :-\ My imp has 190k so maybe my original springs are weak and causing the harsh ride?

lts see some pics!!!!!!!!!!

I am very close to pulling the trigger on a 96 OBS with 115k miles and auto tranny. It's a 3 hour ride away though. Surprisingly, there's none of the usual rust over the rear wheel wells. Owner says it starts and runs like a new car but just confessed to me today that if he fills it over 1/2 tank he smells gasoline. :-\ Said he took it to a shop and they said it's probably a rust hole in the top of the tank. Also mentioned that a new tank is $200 at BOND auto store. That sounds pretty low to me! If I buy this car... is the gas tank swap a big job and is a new tank really $200? How much should I offer for this OBS with a leaky gas tank? Any advice?

Do you guys think that this magical TRANS X stuff would help with torque bind?

I missed out on the TB cover threads so... lemme say that I think running without a cover or with a faulty cover would be just asking for trouble. Those covers are made to be as air/water tight as possible for a reason... to keep human extremities, kittens, squirrels, dust, water, oil and general engine goo away from the rollers, tensioner, belt, pulleys and oil seals. When I installed my TB kit, I found a broken plastic cover too. I went to a local junkyard and got a used one. Spending all that time, money and effort installing all those brand new TB parts made me not want to go through the repair again anytime soon so I replaced the broken cover. Allowing dust and water to get on those moving parts is just asking for lesser parts longevity. That'd be kinda like running your CV joints without their rubber boots!

Gary great advice thanks! I ended up buying the used parts from you instead. I paypal'ed you a while ago.

Gary I don't think it's good business to have to send numerous emails back and forth over a 3-4 day period to find out the part is out of stock ...and... they have no idea when it's coming in. I'd rather talk to someone on the phone and find that out immediately even if it costs a bit more. Shipping time is never a problem. Even from Ca to the east coast. 2 -4 days is fine. As for being opinionated... I have owned subarus all my life. I feel like I deserve to be a bit opinionated.

A member here said this company was the cheapest. I like cheap so I searched for their phone number, couldn't find one and finally just emailed them. After emailing back and forth 4 times in the last 3 days, I find out that the parts I need are both on back-order. I could have found this out in a 5 minute phone call if they did business like most people do... by phone. I think it's ridiculous for a company who sells 1000's of parts to the public to only do business through email. :-\ It takes 3-4 days (and numerous emails) to look up, order and finally pay for a part that could have been looked up, ordered and paid for in a 5-10 minute phone call. I'd much rather pay a few more bucks for a part from a company that I can speak with on the phone. Can anyone recommend a place? thanks

No, but I have a 2.2L in my impreza outback. The OBS weighs about 500 lbs less than the 97 legacy outback limited. I find the 2.2L to be pretty anemic and not all that great on gas mileage. Yes, it's adequate in the OBS but it's no powerhouse. If I was used to a 2.5L I couldn't swap in a 2.2L and be happy with the loss of HP, performance all while getting the same MPG as the 2.5L.

does your AT temp light flash right after you start the car and then go out? Do you have torque bind? If you do, it'll kill your MPG because your car is basically stuck in AWD all the time. My impreza is lucky to get 18 mpg because of TB.

You'd lose around 30hp with the 2.2L. That doesn't sound like a lot until you push the gas pedal and not much happens. :-\ 130HP (at the crank) isn't exactly a lot when it's trying to move a 3230 lb. car adequately. Heck, I had 152 (rear wheel) HP on my 500 lb. Suzuki Hayabusa motorcycle. Now that's a nice HP to WT ratio!

I put 2002 wrx wheels on my impreza. I like them.

160 on all cylinders... someone in a post above mentioned the numbers should be nearer to 180-190 on a rebuilt engine. Is that correct? If it is, I wouldn't accept an engine that has numbers of 160. You have been waaaay more patient than I would have been. I probably would have have the charges reversed on my credit card after the 1st engine was found to be bad. And positively reversed the charges after the 2nd engine was bad. I'm sure that your credit card company would side with you given the situation. The length of time that's passed would normally be an issue but since the circumstances are unique, the time shouldn't matter to the CC company. If I were in your shoes, I wouldn't accept another engine from CCR. Call your CC customer service number on the back of the card and see if they can help you out of this nightmare. If you don't or can't do a CC chargeback... have the shop check the compression on engine #3 BEFORE installing it. That way, if it's way off you can just send it back without the install and uninstall process later.

thanks a lot!

How did you guys end up working this out? Can you give me any pointers on the job itself? Like, remove this but don't remove that etc. etc. etc. My 96 impreza outback (2.2L auto w/190k miles) is doing the same thing. Torque bind. Its been getting worse over the last 1000 miles. I've added the tranny medic fluid in my tranny, I've installed the FWD fuse, I've driven in circles repeatedly in each direction (someone mentioned this can free up the bind) and nothing has helped. The torque bind is not getting any worse at this point. I assume this is as bad as it gets. My miles per gallon is horrid. 18 MPG is the best I can get. I'm sure this has to do with the awd system being locked. I'm going to do the work myself and was hoping you guys could tell me what parts I should have on hand to complete the job. I will be using a friends garage and don't want to tie it up for weeks while I wait for parts that I should have ordered but didn't. I'd rather be safe than sorry. Thanks!

Let's see... you had to install new gaskets in the rebuilt engine to stop oil leaks. Now the engine is puffin' the blues?! I dunno... doesn't sound real promising to me. :-\

update?

Gary I'm gonna hang on to the old rims and probably use them for snow tires. My obs does handle a lot better now with the wider lower profile tires. I definately feel a difference! No rubbing either. The 2006 2.5i in front of my OBS is the wifeys ride. We bought it new. 2 more years of $421 a month payments. :-\ Payments $uck! That'll probably be our last new car ever. Here's my old lifted Brat. I should have never sold it!

I'd suggest going to craigslist and doing a search for "subaru" in the auto parts section. You'll probably find some good used tires (with wheels possibly) for cheap money. That's how I found mine.

Thanks guys. They look and ride awesome! I think my obs sits about an inch higher now too. BEFORE AFTER

I got a new pin with the new caliper for my 96 obs. I couldn't get the old pin to come out so I just used it and tossed the new one.