gregdavis

Thanks for all the input. I bought and had installed struts for the legacy L model and they fit just like they were supposed to. No more clunks in the front or noise from the cv joint. This whole thing is just strange to me on how multiple parts stores had the wrong strut listed for the vehicle (legacy outback). I may start a new topic with this but the mechanic also discovered that when taking a tight turn the awd system is not working together like it is supposed to. It acts a little jumpy when making a turn. Considering the miles on the car he suggested just running it in fwd by putting in the fuse. Then in the winter months either pulling the fuse out for the winter or just for bad weather. I'm not overly excited about this but I don't really want to put more money into this vehicle if I don't have to. I live in northern Minnesota so I really like having awd atleast 4 months out of the year.

johnceggleston- The new struts that are on the car now are for a 95 Legacy Outback and the ones that were taken off were for a 95 legacy. The spring seat does sit higher for the outback strut that was the most noticeable. According to Napa the outback strut is about 3/4 of an inch longer. uniberp- your cv joint explanation is the same one the mechanic gave me. He thought it would settle in. I just don't want to cause damage to something else and have to put more money into it. If i don't have to replace the rear struts I won't as long as it won't cause damage having the car sitting higher in the front. I guess it just looks goofy. I'm not sure how much more I want to put into this car. This project was already $700. But I thought it would be worth it because it runs really well.

1995 Legacy Outback L 183,000 / 2.2 Here is my dilemma: Just today I had the front struts, coil springs and lower ball joints replaced on the front of my car. The struts that were taken off were about an inch shorter than the new struts that were put on the car. The mechanic double checked with Napa and made the decision to just put them on anyway. I thought fine, if it rides smooth I won't worry about it. Even though visually you can see that the front sits higher. Well it doesn't ride smooth, it still has a clunk in the passenger front and when I take a corner there is a clicking noise. (what I would say sounds like the axle joint). I had not heard this sound before. The clunk I had heard before but thought it was related to the broken spring or bad ball joint. When I got home I did some research and with a trip to Napa found that the strut that was taken off the car matched a strut from a 1995 Legacy. I then had them search by the VIN number to determine what should be on there and sure enough the longer strut is supposed to be used. It appears that the shorter legacy strut was put on the back of the vehicle as well. Questions: Will it do any harm to the vehicle having longer struts in the front? Should I have him put the strut on that matches the one that was taken off? If I have him do this I am out the money of the strut because I can't return a strut that was installed and I also have to pay for the labor to do this. I do mainly in town driving.

Sorry I don't have a solution but I can tell you what I tried when I had this problem. I had a 94 legacy and it would do almost this same thing. It would crank and crank and crank when the engine was cold and would eventually start. Usually had to jump it to start it as it would wear the battery down. Once it was started though it would run just like nothing was wrong. Even if you turned it off right away it would start right back up. I thought I was losing pressure in the fuel system so I tried turning the key on and off about ten times so that the fuel pump would run. Then I replaced the coolant temp sensor, mass airflow sensor, throttle position sensor, and even the ECM (not at same time). Nothing worked. Luckily most of these parts were free cause my friend had a junker. I lived with this problem for months because the car ran great once it was started. After about $300 and three mechanics didn't figure it out I finally traded it in for a 95 legacy. Since then I have wondered what the heck it was.

Here's an update. The same place retested today and found all cylinders between 120 - 130 psi. during the dry test with battery jump box. Wet test was at 180-190. It should be at 156. Would this be just engine wear for 108k miles? I had my brother drive the car because he has a 2003 obw. He said it had more get up and go then his. Neither one of us notice any decrease in power even at higher rpms or going up hills. It is not a screaming deal but I would say it is a good deal. I'm curious what folks think of the new numbers.

Thanks for all the feedback. I talked to the shop yesterday where I had this done and they confirmed that yes the psi should be higher. They are going to do another test for free today and focus more attention on the cylinder psi (engine warm, throttle closed etc). . Last time is seamed they were just trying to confirm that the hg were good and didn't pay attention to the psi because they were all pretty equal. They did do this test with a gauge because they mentioned the spark plugs should be replaced soon. Seams like if the psi numbers stay the same it is a car I should stay away from. I don't notice any decrease in power though. I'll update later. External hg leaks can only be visually inspected right? Is it obviuos to see?

Thanks for the feedback. The car has 108,000 miles on it. If the engine is getting tired will it get worse in a hurry? Or will it just have less power and possibly burn a little oil. The car seamed to have plenty of power for what we are used to. Compared to my 95 outback it was fine. The other problem I'm having is putting money into all these tests for a car I don't own. I know that it could potentially save me more in the long run. (it already did with the forester) So I guess the big question is, is this a sign of possible high cost repairs that need to be done?

I'm looking at buying a 2000 Outback Limited. Because of all the head gasket problems I have been hearing about I had a compression test done to make sure they were good. (did this on a forester and found out the head gasket was bad, saved me a lot of money) They said that the test came back good and that there were no head gasket issues found. I was excited and everything else on the car checked out well. When I got home I looked at the paperwork a little closer. It reads "Did a compression test and found all cylinders between 100 and 115 psi". Does this seam low? Seams like they should all be around 150 psi. Is this a sign of bad rings or valves? I read somewhere that it is no big deal what the psi is as long as they are within 12-14 lbs of each other. Any input would be great, Thanks.