mikec03

My 02 started leaking at the head gasket at about 85k miles. I had the HG replaced at 92K miles. I think that you can count on the HG leaking at some point and the leak will get progressively worse. On the other hand, nothing else on the car has failed, and it rides great. I now have 115K miles. I wouldn't pay $4000. I think that the market is more like $3000.

Numbchec and Rampage have the right idea. I also have a 95 subaru. This is an old problem well known and discussed years ago on the subaru forums for the 90's subaru's. To summerize the previous posts, buy a high voltage solenoid [I got mine from advanced auto], mount it on the firewall near the starter, use the energize wire from the starter to energize the solenoid, and run a new wire from the battery/ to the solenoid/ then to the starter. It fixes the problem forever. The power wire and grounds to the starter don't need to be changed.

Bump. Surely someone has put the newer organic acid based antifreeze in their old subaru. I'm worried that it will peal off the scale and plug up the heater/radiator..

What be the problem with switching from the old green coolant which has the silicate/ phosphate etc to the newer acid based coolants, such as amsoil poly organic acid technology. The car is over 20 years old. Of course I would clean out the old coolant. I just wonder if anyone actually has done this. Of course, the mgfs say that the new coolant is compatible, etc.

I sympathize with the OP. It would be better for posters who is going to ignore the OP's request to start off with "Its impossible to find a quick strut for older subarus" which is really what the OP wants to know. Then it would be instructive if the poster would talk specifically about their own experience. Such as, " I live in Dayton and I had to go to 15 auto shops before I could find one who would assemble my strut. The one I found is on 15th st, etc" So many people recommend a "reputable shop" but don't give any details, I wonder if any of those shops actually exist anymore.

Thanks for the replies. I especially appreciate FerGloyale who corrected my understanding and also provided a link. And wonders of wonders, Harbor Freight accepted the print out of the link that FerGloyale provided, so I could buy the floor lift at a sale price. Thank you. So I put new pads on the front of my 2014 subaru. I'm still a little curious of where people put the jack stands, but in my case i use the pinch welds with a hard rubber insert on the jack stand as shown on the attached photo. It works great and is very stable. It doesn't do the pinch weld any harm.

I'm sorry that I didn't explain in my original post. My jack stands have hard rubber adaptors that I bought so that they fit the pinch points better then the scissor jack. The problem with the floor jack is that the cheap ones [less then $100] are designed for a lift to only 13 inches which is hardly enough, and there are questions on the internet if they actually can get that high and hold the height long enough to get a floor jack under the car. And anyway, in the case of using the floor jack on the front crossmember, where would the floor jacks be positioned? Is the position that I show the frame rail? While it's not totally relevant to this discussion, is everyone aware that the dealership is using the pinch points to lift the cars without special adaptors? Of course these are nearly new cars but still?

I would like to lift the 2014 from the jack point in the picture, and then put a Jack Stand under the pinch point. I need to lift 3 3/4 inches. Do you think that this lift point would support the car without deforming? The jack would be right on bolt head shown in picture. The photo is taken looking toward the front of the car.

You are very fortunate to get a code. Of course replace it immediately. I had very similar symptoms as you have on a 95 and it drove me crazy because I didn't get a code. After a half dozen stalls, I finally got the MAF code and was then able to solve the problem. I think this sort of failure is caused by an intermittent short in a solid state device.

I have a 251 engine in an 2002 so I'm familiar with the engine. If that engine had a MAF, it would be the first thing to replace, but it doesn't. First, you have tighten all the supply and ground wire connections Second, you should replace the ignition wires. Why didn't you do this already? OEM only. Third, I had a serious hesitation problem which took me months to figure out. Of course this is not the same as stalling. The cause turned out to be the upstream O2 sensor [which I changed after I changed everything else]. So I would replace this O2 sensor as a general principle. At that age of the car it's a no brainer anyway

I had a couple fail but not while the cars were running. They are easy to change so you might want to get a used one and put it in.

Can we assume that you are posting about your 2005 subaru? And did metal connection rust off or did the hose pop out of its ferrule?

In addition to ebay, car-parts.com is a great source of used parts. Posted for others reading this thread.

If you get the code, you have to change it. Just get a used one for $30.

It's tough to solve a hesitation problem without codes. I don't disagree with anything written above. However, if were me, I would do the following: 1. Replace the MAF with a used one. It's probably only $25. I have had a 90's subarus where the MAF was a problem. It caused random stalling but not exactly like the OP's. 2. Replace the upstream O2 sensor. It's about $60 for a new bosch one. Although, I never seemed to have a problem with the 90's, I did have a problem with an 2002 that the O2 sensor was the cause. Besides, at 200K, it should be replaced on general principles.

I updated the thread in the first post for those who skip to the end of the thread.

You should disconnect the heater hoses and back flush the heater with a hose and funnel.

Thanks numbchuc for naming what that brace is for = subframe brace. For those who haven't looked, the bolts in question attach the subframe brace to a welded fixture which is like a rectangular tube, 2" x 5," along the edges of the car in the vicinity of the rear wheel. So I'm going to use the scissor jack where the rounded corner slot is on the picture. I'm using a 2 x 3" plywood piece to spread the load a little. Then I'll set the car done on the jack stand at the pinch weld. I tried it and it doesn't seem to bend anything. As mentioned before, I have rubber adaptors for the jack stand to support the pinch weld.

I have rubber adaptors for my floor stands which fit the pinch weld. But the original question is where can i put the jack stands so that I don't have to buy and store a floor jack. Surely there are mechanics on this board that have lifted up 13 year+ outbacks on a rack! Where do you put the lift points. Or do you put them on the pinch welds? The hydraulic jack is a unique idea. But can you trust a hydraulic jack while you are under the car? I'm not going that route anyway.

Where do I put the jack stand on the rear of my 2014 Outback? On the older subarus, the trailing arm had a pivot point near the scissor jack pinch lifting point that could be used. But now they moved the trailing arm inward and other things are in the way. The photo is looking up at the bottom of the car in front of the rear passenger tire. At the top of the photo, you can see the indents for the pinch point for the scissor jack. The two bolts, that are close together, are too close to the pinch lifting point to use as a lifting spot. Towards the front of the car shown in the photo on the right side, there is flat spot where a rounded corner slot [1 1/4" by 1/2" ] is located. The jack stand would fit there. The metal is 3/16 in. thick. Does that seem strong enough? If not there, then where? I know one alternative is to get a floor jack, then jack at the differential, and set the jack stands at the pinch point. But isn't there a simple way. ps The black at the bottom of the photo is the plastic protector bolted on the car bottom. UPDATE: So i went ahead and lifted where the rounded -end slot is shown on the photo. I used a 2x3 piece of plywood to spread the load It didn't seem to bend anything. I changed both rear brakes, rotors and pads. Incidentally, I used "Seven Sparta" jack pads on the jack stands to prevent damage to the pinch welds. These are hard rubber and they stood up without any damage to them. Highly recommended.

Idosubaru has a great point. The timing belt hasn't broke, so it's no problem. Just change it immediately after purchase, change everything the belt touches, and do it with the OEM or Aisin kit.

The seller knows where it was done so just ask the the location and call them. I would assume that it wasn't done. And it's a timing belt, not chain.

This must be a dumb answer, but why not use a small vice grip to get the nut started? Also it's really strange to have the nuts rusted or rounded off in that location. And I have had owned a number of 90's subarus for years in the snowbelt.

What if it goes to 8 qts/5K miles? I have bought 4 or 5 subarus new [I can't remember exactly] and run them until 200K+ miles. Then I drive them to the junkyard. That's the problem. Would I be able to do it with this car?

My 2014 has been using increased amounts of oil. I'm outside of the engine block replacement court settlement. I'm only at the consumption edge of it anyway. What should I do. 00-15 K miles about 0.5 qt/5000 mi 15-40 K about 1.2 qt/5000 mi 40-50K about 1.4 qt/5000 mi I change oil at 5K mi intervals. I use 0-20w penzoil, and subaru filters. I collect and measure the oil use. I already have an old subaru that uses a qt per 1K miles and it is a pain. I wanted to keep the 2014 for 200k miles but I don't like the increase in oil consumption. I'm thinking about trading it in for a new car. In the lawsuit against subaru, the lawyer said that the oil consumption would steadily increase. Does this seem reasonable? Those with FB engines that don't consume oil don't have a problem and don't have any useful experience to share for this thread.