Fairtax4me

I've had that site bookmarked for years. I can and already do with my truck (riding on 31"s), but I drive the truck once a week. I drive the soob every day!

Aww man!!! That sucks! At least he has (had) insurance. Looks like it's come back together nicely though. Guessing you got a nice fat check out of it.

Well 3 of those are Fords, which are THE absolute worst for PS noise. If it doesn't go away after turning the wheel from lock to lock a few times you probably have a bearing on it's way out. Take the belt off and wiggle the pulley to see if the shaft has any play. How much deflection is there in the belt for the PS pump? A belt too tight will eat the bearings up pretty quick.

If you didn't find it yet, the usual cause of a "clunk" is a bad ball joint or tie rod end. But it could be a bad strut or some worn bushings of some kind. The rear bushings on the control arms are filled with grease, if the grease leaks out the back part of the arm flops around and can make a racket. Usually only during acceleration or breaking though. I loved the "Grandma" one myself.

When I did the clutch in mine I had to pry it apart with a pickle fork. (ball joint separator) That part took the longest. I sanded down the alignment dowels really well and covered them with copper grease.

With the trans in neutral it doesn't matter if the clutch is engaged or disengaged the car will still roll. I'm gonna guess your clutch disc exploded. The anti rattle springs on the hub can crack and fall out. Then they bounce around between the disc and the flywheel/pressure plate, depending on which way they fall. This causes mass havoc and the rest of the clutch disc explodes soon after. (like a second after) You can end up with this: http://www.drummerdonnie.com/BossHoss/Clutch-Soup-2.jpg Or this: http://partsforclunkers.net/Images/gary%20clutch.jpg The front diff won't be moving with the trans in neutral if the car is sitting still, so unless you blew up some gears inside the trans (which is entirely possible) I'm gonna say clutch.

One of those pesky water pump leaks probably. Mine did that a few times and has a very small leak somewhere around the thermostat housing. It will dump coolant all over the place when it's cold, but then the engine warms up and it stops. Then it might do it the next day or it might wait a month before doing it again.

How many amps you gonna use? I don't often wire up multiple accesories, but a junction block is the best way to go. Mount it to an easily accessible place, and run a large gage wire to it. (with an inline fuse close to the battery of course)

I've been meaning to check it against a GPS anyway. It's accurate at 25. The radar boxes they put in random places around here always say 23, which I know is 25, they just want you to go that extra 2mph. It's how they get you. I'll do that first and see how it changes with the new tires. What's this black box thing though? After market?

She might have done that yesterday. FWD + lots of power is a LOT of fun until you get to the point where traction in everyday situations becomes a problem. But it all comes down to weight. Cadillac used to run the 300 hp Northstar FWD, and they had some torque steer but no real problems getting the power to the ground because there was a V8 sitting on top of the wheels. Meanwhile most Hondas have a hard time with much more than 150 hp. You might be able to run ~200 hp without much trouble in that car, but it's gonna be a trick to keep it in a straight line. Might invest in a limited slip diff to help keep the tires spinning the same speed. As for a better transmission setup. If you blow up the FWD trans, go find an AWD trans and weld the center diff and see how that works for you.

Got me some big ol' stock 97 outback size tires (205 70 15) to throw on the Legacy. Now since these are substantially larger than my 185 70 14s, it's gonna throw my speedo off by a couple few MPHs. (not that kinda speedo) Any easy way to correct that? Swap in an Outback speedo? Or would it have to be a gear swap? I tried searching but the answer eludes me... as usual.

Awesome! Can't wait to lift mine!

L O L ! My dyslexia kicked in when I read the title of this thread I thought why would you want a reading light on an oil burner? X2

Works fine for me. If you click the + next to any of the other categories do they expand? Java is finicky sometimes, maybe you need to upgrade to the latest version? Or maybe the last upgrade caused it and you need to downgrade.

My car did some screwy stuff when the positive post on the battery was about to break off. There was a thread about it, sometime last fall IIRC. It eventually did break, and any sudden use of electricity would kill the car. I limped it to the local advance auto. The trip was all downhill from the grocery store parking lot where I had to roll start the car. Car stalled when I hit the brakes to turn into the parts store lot. I parked and started taking the cables off the battery. The post came off with it.

I noticed that too. There was some site I found that might have that section, but it's in Russian. Kinda hard to read unless you have use a translator. (actually I think google did it pretty well) You could just use the 99 model FSM for reference. http://www.main.experiencetherave.com/subaru_manual_scans/ I got that page bookmarked. (it's in english)

You can download the FSM for 2000 from this link. http://www.main.experiencetherave.com/subaru_manual_scans/ I can't recall who hosts it, but thanks a million to whomever for doing so. Trans selector cable is on the side of the transmission, you won't see it from above, you have to crawl under to get access to it.

Exactly... once the alternator dies, which is the hypothetical situation he was trying to describe. Airbag light. It took you 7 hours to get from MD to Richmond, VA? You pushing the car or what man?

Might have something to do with the topic discussed in this thread: http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=116101

That would probably be OK, but it's hard to say with wagons. With a sedan the rigid safety structure of the car is generally encompassed between the axles. That structure is generally dual purpose, serving both safety and performance/handling requirements of the design. Whether that aspect gets carried over to wagon designs is probably dependent on if the manufacturer intends to allow seating in the cargo area. Which would be a no in Subaru's case. My non-professional opinion... if that makes sense.

Never done one on a Subaru myself, but usually "press fit" seals have to be pressed or tapped in place. Maybe he has strong hands?

Cleaning the IAC would be my first step, and it's really easy to do. Just pull the hose off and slowly pour in a half can or so of Seafoam, (you can do his by removing the hose from the crankcase vent and spinning it around so the open end points up) or spray in some intake system cleaner in it. You should do this with the engine running to avoid pooling of the cleaner in the intake and possibly hydro locking the engine on startup.

Check in the car first. The center console is easy to remove so you can rule that out before crawling under the car. Open the flip lid, remove the two screws at the front and the rear section pops up. The front section just pops off then there are 4 screws that hold the shifter assembly in place. Checking the cable under the car is a bit more difficult. I can email you the section of the FSM (or the whole FSM) if you want.

I think you guys are making this out to be simpler than it is. If the ring gear has worn, the pinion gear will also be worn. So that should be changed with it. Then you have to deal with setting pinion depth and backlash correctly or else it will all happen all over again. If you replace just the differential and ring gear, the worn pinion will make short work of the "new" ring gear and then you're in the same boat again. I say drive it 'til it quits and replace the whole trans.

Assuming this is auto trans? Differential dipstick on the passenger side, auto trans dipstick on the driver side. How much fluid drained from the diff? How much and what type did you put back? And have you checked the condition of the fluid since the change? Might also be good to know what year and how many miles on the car? Generally once a diff starts making noise it is too late, the damage has been done, and there is no reversal without replacement.