McDave

Oh man I know exactly what you're saying. There is a nice looking RX for sale near me for cheap. The engine is out of it and it is partially torn down. I figure it blew a hg and when they saw the cracks in the heads and got a machine shop estimate they quit. Sounds like a deal! But my gut keeps telling me it can't be that simple. Don't go look at it. Don't even call the guy. It's been hard, real hard not to.

Doncha hate it when that happens? Me and my boss call it "Can't see the forest for all the damn trees in the way!" syndrome. Then we laugh and remind ourselves to check all the basic tune-up parts and simple diagnostics first. Happens to the best. Glad you got it figured out.

To get a more accurate measurement you'll need to push the boots outwards until you can see the indentation in the axles that the boots ride in, then compare the distance in the axle L there. One or more boot may have slipped inwards out of the groove. But yeah, it does look like the right axle is wrong judging by the three paddings on it.

Many times I could have sworn the front bearings were bad on a car when it turned out it was the rear bearings, or vice versa. The best way I've found to get around this is to have someone else drive while you listen from the passenger and rear seats.

You're welcome. I want to apologize to you and Gary for taking the thread off on a tangent this morning. Brakes are something I feel strongly about, but I could have done a better job of putting my beliefs and suggestions into this thread. Gary, I particularly want to apologize for giving you a hard time. You're here to help too, so why should I rain on your parade? I'm sorry. I'll try to do better. Good luck with the brake job. Lets us know how it turned out.

Yeah, it takes a few jobs and one bad caliper to help you develop a feel for when a caliper wants to stick as you're pushing the piston back in and will cause problems down the road. Something else I haven't seen mentioned in any of these brake threads is that you need to crack the bleeder as you push the piston back in. Otherwise you're just pushing the nastiest part of your brake fluid back up into your ABS controller. They don't like that!

You certainly suggested he could when you said: All rotors need to be either resurfaced or replaced when doing a brake job for the reasons I've already stated. How is he going to do that without removing the caliper bracket and rotor? You can downplay the importance of the rotors all you want but the fact is a too thin rotor that fades too quickly or a warped rotor that applies uneven braking forces is a contributing factor in accidents. I've never had a tie rod break but I have had lower ball joints come apart at speed. I sure was glad I had good brakes to get me stopped before going off the road on that curve! I never said they always need to be replaced. I said they could be resurfaced if there was enough metal left in them. As others have mentioned, replacing the rotor is better as a thinner rotor will warp easier. If the replacement rotors happen to be expensive, or the owners funds are tight, resurfacing the rotors are fine if they have enough metal left in them. Which brings up another important point. What do you consider the interval to be? 100k, 150k, 200k miles? My answer: none of the above. You have to measure the thickness of the rotor to determine when it needs to be replaced. Until you do you have no idea if they are within spec and will likely still be within spec by the next time it needs brakes. They could have already been resurfaced to minimum specs on the last brake job or by a previous owner. If they are already thinner than the 'machine to' minimum spec, they surely will be thinner than the 'discard at' spec by the next time you need brakes. That is getting into the territory where they become a contributing factor in accidents. So they need to be measured with each brake job. How do you go about that? You could use an inexpensive dial caliper to measure thickness, but there's that pesky lip that doesn't wear out at the edge of the rotor so you actually need a micrometer to measure further down at the thinnest point, wherever that ends up to be on the rotor face. Not many backyard mechanics have micrometers. So what do you do? You take the rotor off and have your parts store that turns rotors check the thickness with their tools and let them help you decide if they can be resurfaced without getting too close to the minimum 'machine to' spec, or if you need new rotors. Just looking at the rotors and your odometer and saying, 'that'll work' doesn't cut it.

I like 12, but would like 22 or 23 better if the blue were a bit darker and not so 'electric'.

That does sound reasonable but remember that that is an estimate before even having looked at the car, and it may not include replacing the rotors and/or replacing or rebuilding the calipers. Make sure they show you why it needs more work before you authorize it. Don't fall for the "We can't give you a lifetime warranty unless we do everything" line. You will likely be spending more on work that really doesn't need done. On the other hand, if they refuse to do the job unless xyz is done, then it likely really does need to be done for their own liability protection.

This is bad advice. I saw you post the same in another thread but since it was an old thread that was brought back up I let it slide. If you want to do a half rump roast job on your own car that's one thing, but advocating in a public forum that others do it is wrong. Brakes are the most important safely system on a car and advocating one just slap a set of pads on is exposing the car owner and his family to not only an accident, but financial liability should it be determined his brakes were the cause of the accident. A '99 Legacy likely has over 100k miles by now and is due for new rotors anyway. Braking surfaces on the rotor wear, sometimes smooth, sometimes not so smooth, sometimes warpped. Even if they wore smooth, they likely will have worn to the point where Federal safety specifications mandates that they be discarded. Sometimes the warp-age is so slight it doesn't become noticable nor problematic except in a panic situation. A new set of pads may work better on the old rotor surface, and they may not. They certainly will not bed properly and not live up to their full potential in stopping distance. With the price of new rotors being so low for most applications these days, there is no excuse not to replace them, or ar least resurface them if there is enough metal left in them and funds are tight. No reputable shop will open itself to potential liability in this manner, and neither should you, but that's your choice. At least don't advocate others do the same on a public forum, particularly to those that don't know enough about brakes to start with to make an informed decision if their rotors are good enough to let slide. They never are in my opinion. /soapbox One last suggestion. Once you finish your brake job with new or resurfaced rotors, properly torque your wheels back on as it helps to keep your rotors from warping. Make sure the shop does the same when they rotate or replace your tires too.

Huh? Go back and reread post #2 and click on the Combustion Leak Detector link.

You may even have to start bleeding at the mc. Crack the lines and have someone push the pedal to the floor, tighten the lines, then let off the pedal. Repeat until you don't get anymore air out of the mc.

Ouch! Yeah, once you saw the gas was going to siphon you should have pinched off a rubber hose with a hose clamp or even vice grips. Since it runs fine and you didn't mention anything about noise, I guess you got lucky and didn't bend a rod.

If there's one good thing about high gas prices and a weak dollar is that it's becoming cheaper to manufacture goods here in the US rather than ship them from China. NAPA now sells USA made rotors for many makes in their Ultra Premium line. They cost $1 more than the Chinese rotors. If you can't get the USA rotors make sure you open both of the Chinese boxes and compare them. Apparently they have more than one foundry in China and they don't finish them the same. Some have the proper swirl finish on the braking surface, others will be smooth. Even the metal will be a different tint. If you run across this ask them to show you a third rotor, then take whatever two pair up.

I guess you haven't found a leak detector yet. Check with the tool trucks - Snap-on, Mac, Matco, ect. Or if you know someone with a tail pipe sniffer, they will be able to check for hydrocarbons in the radiator as long as the coolant level is an inch or two below the fill neck.

Thanks for the photos. I was wondering if I would be able to keep the pipe heat shields that are bolted on to my pipes. Obviously not since the bends are different. It does look like a quality part otherwise.

Thanks for the photos. I was wondering if I would be able to keep the pipe heat shields that are bolted on to my pipes. Obviously not since the bends are different. It does look like a quality part otherwise. Edit: Opps, wrong thread. I hope once you finally do get another shot at it you pass this time. You've sure tried hard enough!

The fuel pump relay is actually above the ecu next to the ignition relay on a Loyale, not in the bank of four relays above the fuse box. Someone posted a photo of the pair here a couple weeks ago.

There's a FSM electrical section for sale right here in the classifieds... http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=90835

It's going to be hard to say what all you need since the clutch started slipping before you could get accurate gauge readings. I don't think you have a restriction in the expansion valve otherwise the low side would have headed straight towards zero, but then I don't know how long it took to drop from 110 (static pressure) to 55 either before the clutch slipped. Yes the drier should be changed anytime the system is open for more than a couple minutes, but I doubt it's actually causing a problem at this time. It will need to be changed though since it surely has absorbed enough moisture from the atmosphere to render it saturated, not to mention the possibility of it bursting and spreading desiccant throughout the system in the future. So the question is, do you want to try to replace just the clutch and hope the compressor is good, or just go ahead and replace the whole compressor? When I got my Suby the decision was easy as someone had tried to change the obviously bad clutch and had broken the bolt off the front of the clutch hub. So if you decide to change just the clutch, make sure the bolt will come out before you buy the parts. If you do end up changing the compressor consider switching to R134a (unless you have a stash of those old 16oz cans of R12). Since you will be changing the drier anyway now will be the time to do it. Taking into the account the price of R12 these days, if you can even find it, changing over to R134a ends up costing about the same. The only thing you will need to buy extra is the adapter fittings for the gauges and Pag oil for the compressor. Of course if you don't have gauges for R134a you will need to get a shop to evacuate and recharge the system. It's important that it be charged properly (with both high and low gauges) as it's easy to overcharge with 134. In fact you will be using just 80% of the recommended amount of R12. If you go this route, flush the system again with a liquid flush with the old drier and compressor removed. Backflush both the evaporator and condensor to clean any debris out of the cores and expansion valve. It's impartant to get all the old oil out of the system for compatibility purposes. Then add 5 to 6 oz of Pag oil to your compressor. Put it all together, add the adapter fittings, evacuate and recharge with R134a. Note: On some adapter fittings you will need to remove the core from your original lines, others you will need to keep the core. You'll have to take a close look at how your adapters are designed to figure out which you need to do. Some just have a pin that pushes open your existing schrader valve, others have the check valve built in so you need to get your old schrader out of there. That should do it. Total cost for the rebuilt compressor w/clutch, drier, freon, oil, and fittings on mine was about $350. If you get it right, the temperature out the vents should get down to about 38 degrees before the compressor cycles.

Yesterday I left my car idling with the a/c on while I ran into the house for something. When I came back out I realized that the inconsistent lean misfire at an idle that could be heard at the tailpipe was no longer there. Last week I had treated the gas with a bottle of Techron to cure an off-idle lean condition and apparently it fixed it at idle too. I surmised the problem was with either a gummed up injector, or carbon build-up on the valves. Even though you use Chevron gas, an extra dose of Techron might be worth a try.

You're fortunate to have that trouble code. I've had to gamble on more expensive mafs with even less to go on. Go for it.

I have an aftermarket Bosch on my ea82, but it's just a single wire O2 sensor. It works fine but the wire is about a foot longer than oem. The HO2 sensors are a much more specialized fit so I wouldn't recommend a more universal type replacement, particularly with a lot of the crap that's in the aftermarket these days. Even the "Direct Fit - OEM Type" sensors aren't Exact fit. ymmv Edit: Just to clarify: I prefer dealer parts when it comes to emissions components... hands down.

Yes. The fuse may or may not be labeled HO2 and there will be more than one O2 fuse. A test light tool is the best thing for checking fuses as you don't need to remove them to check them. I always test all fuses as I've found weird things in the past on some makes, like the ecu wired to the same fuse the cigarette lighter uses on a Chevy truck. If you end up replacing the O2 sensor, I would get one from the dealer. That $35 one is likely a cheap universal. It's good that you're having another shop diagnose it. I would let them go ahead and change the O2 sensor if that's what's needed. Some cars have a front sensor on both banks and you won't know which is which unless you can get them to tell you. Plus if that doesn't fix it (remember what I said earlier about O2 codes), then they will need to diagnose further. Gary's right though, if you have 100k or more you're due for front sensor(s) anyway. The wrench size is 22mm.

Yes, Sensor 1 is always the one ahead of the cat, and $500 is too much for just a sensor, or even two. BTW... P03002 is not a valid trouble code. Just for grins check all your fuses, particularly those in the engine compartment fuse box (assuming your car has one). The sensor is the heated type and may have blown a fuse. Then take it to another shop or dealer that can properly diagnose the problem. Not all O2 trouble codes mean the sensor itself is bad, and at this point we're not even sure it's an O2 code.