Fairtax4me

So you're saying that the outlet is the lower hose on the subaru? The pump pulls coolant out of the engine and pushes it up into the radiator? See the problem was, if it was 40° it would run hot. If it was 60° it was fine. The colder it got the hotter it ran. I know the thermostat worked, because if I let the truck idle it would sit at mid gauge and not move. When I started driving the gauge would go up, if I stopped it would come back down. I put a sheet of cardboard over the grille and then it stopped. It would sit at mid gauge no matter what I did then. I did a little research online and found out it was a common issue. I guess we'll see if this Scrubaru isn't rusted out 12 years from now. I had to retro the ignition system on that truck when I got it, and after the first winter I fixed the thermostat location. For the next two years it didn't fail me once. I'd have to say it has served me quite well considering that it's first owner used it for hunting and might have changed the oil once a year. And both of my Ford vehicles have treated me better than any GM car I've ever owned.

I'm looking up all the parts that I think I'll probably want to replace on this 96 legacy when I pull the engine. I notice that the thermostat is on the bottom of the water pump on the inlet side. (The bottom IS the inlet side right? would be news to me if it wasn't) My current second vehicle is an 84 Ford ranger with a V6 and has the thermostat in the same place, on the inlet side of the water pump. During the first winter that I owned it, it always would run hot, and twice it actually overheated when the temperature outside was in the 30's. The colder it got the worse it seemed to be. Took me forever to figure out why, until I took the water pump off to replace it and I found the thermostat in the lower hose inlet. Big 3 core copper radiator, and its cold out, the thermostat would close up because of all the cold coolant flowing across it. So the coolant in the heads would boil, and make the water temp gauge sky rocket, while the stuff in the block and radiator stayed, for the most part, cold. Might be part of why it has a blown head gasket now. Is this subaru going to act the same way when it's really cold out? I couldn't for the life of me figure why Ford would have put the thermostat on the inlet side of the pump, I relocated it to the upper hose outlet, and shrugged it off as a stupid American car manufacturer thing. But this Legacy is the same way. Is there some advantage to it that I'm not aware of? If it works, it works, and so be it, I just don't want to have to deal with another car that will overheat in the middle of winter.

I just noticed you're only a 30 minute drive away from me. So how did you finally come to the conclusion?

New friction material is anywhere from 3/16" up to over 7/16" thick depending on the size of the application. I'd imagine they should be near 1/4" when new for this size car.

Cars tend to pull one direction or the other because of the grade of the road surface. Roads are not flat, they are higher in the center and lower on the sides so that water will drain away when it rains. (supposed to be at least) This causes cars/any vehicle with wheels to drift to the lower side of the grade. If you're right of center it will drift right. Left of center, drift left. A drifting problem which slowly develops over time may be an indication of more drag in the driveline on one side. Bearings, brakes, tire pressures maybe. Even normal tire wear can affect driveability. I kind of assume that you've checked the tire pressure in all 4 tires with a known accurate gauge and made sure it is at factory spec. If the roads in your area are rough (potholes) then drifting to one side or the other is something you'll have to learn to live with unless you plan to get it aligned once a month.

The intake valve should not be opening at TDC. TDC refers to the number one cylinder being at the top of the compression stroke. All of the valves for the number one should be closed, and they should not be opening until the cam has moved about 1/4 turn. And it should be the exhaust valves opening next, not the intake. So your cams are off by a half turn. As a matter of fact, it would, slightly. Shaving off the block or heads would essentially move the cams inwards closer to the crank. The distance between the teeth on the timing belt is what 3/8"? There's no way you can cut 3/8" off the block, or the heads, probably not even if you did both. So the number of teeth on the belt between the crank and cam pulleys would be the same, but the distance from the crank to the cam would be shorter, the only way to account for that would be to turn the top of the pulley away from the engine. It would change the angle of the cam slightly, which would then change when it opens and closes the valves. A slight change, yes. Is it enough to matter though? That in itself would probably not make enough difference to let the piston hit the valve, but the head/block being shaved might.

It may run like crap (misfiring). White, sweet smelling smoke in the exhuast. There might be foam/ bubbles in the coolant when it is running. Coolant might be dark green or brown in color. There might be oil in the coolant. There might be coolant in the oil. (looks like chocolate milk) There could be coolant dripping from the bottom of the engine nowhere near any hoses.

There should be a step that sits against the outboard inner race. Otherwise it might be pressed on too far and the hub would rub against the outter race. Then with no room to get a tool between the only way to remove the hub form the bearing would be to destroy it because the outboard inner race would be pulled out of the bearing assembly. The axle nut should not affect bearing preload on this type of setup unless the hub was installed incorrectly. Are you sure the movement wasn't because of a worn ball joint or tie rod end? Were the lug nuts tight or just snug enough to hold the wheel on?

Are you sure the squeaking is from the rear? Drums don't usually squeak unless they're really hot or the shoes are worn out. If the shoe material is riveted to the backing plates it may be time to change them.

Try searching for Torque Bind and see if it sounds like what you're having.

BG 44K is a super strength fuel system cleaner. It mainly cleans fuel injectors, intake ports/ valves, and combustion chamber carbon buildup. If one can doesn't fix the problem then stuff has to start being replaced. I've never heard of it helping a possibly bad catalytic converter. To continue to use it is just a waste of money. At least your fuel system got a good cleaning out of the three cans you did use. So is the O2 sensor... But instead of creating cleaner exhaust it creates a small amount of electricity. I'd change both O2 sensors. Recommended change interval for those is usually 100k miles anyway. What other maintenance have you had done recently? Has the fuel filter been changed? Spark plugs? Plug wires? Coolant flush? Anything like that?

I think you'd be asking for trouble doing that. No doubt it would work, but when it pops loose what's it gonna hit first? You also run the risk of just pulling the car off the jack stands. Be absolutely sure you get all of the fasteners out and work your way around it with a pry bar. That's the best and safest way.

Volt Ohm Meter. also knows as a multimeter or volt meter, or that fancy dohickey that tells you the voltage.

If you set it on the coldest setting does it do the same thing? Some systems will cycle the compressor more often if you put the temperature setting in the middle. Others will move the actuator flap and allow some warm air to bypass the core to control temp.

Probably the dimmer switch. Do you have a VOM?

The compressor has to turn off periodically to defrost the evaporator core. Otherwise it would cover with ice and no air would flow across it. No air flow = no AC. It also cuts off when the engine is revved high. The pressure in the system builds as the compressor turns faster. If it gets too high it can blow the lines apart. So to protect the system from damage the compressor cuts off until the engine RPMs come back down into normal operating range.

The only automatic transmission that I've ever pulled, didn't go back in the car. Engine/transmission separations are kinda hit or miss. Sometimes they fall apart on their own, sometimes you have to fight it for an hour with prybars big enough to lift a house with. The biggest thing is just to get a gap started. Once you get that you can work your way around the bell housing with a screw driver and slowly pry it apart.

Well it ran for about 35 or 40 minutes. Didn't cut off once. Drove it all around the lot at work a few times, it wasn't happy to be driven, but it didn't ever cut off. Killed it and hooked the MAF back up, ran for less than a minute and died. That's the proof positive that I've been looking for.

You could take it apart and measure the size of the gears. Or try to get in touch with Subarus technical help.

Yeah I'd say at least a new bearing as well. Pop the axle out and spin the hub by hand and see how it feels. I believe the bearings have to be pressed out of the knuckle. Take the whole knuckle off and take it to a shop with the new bearing to have it pressed in. They might charge you 40 bucks to do that real quick. To just take the car to a shop and have them do the whole job you're looking at maybe 3 or 4 hours labor plus parts. The clamps that hold those boots on are kinda finicky. If they're not installed tight enough or in just the right place they can slip loose just from turning and fall off. And sometimes things like that just tend to work themselves loose with time. Hard to say exactly.

If it has been making noise then a replacement is certainly the best route. Noise means that dirt and rocks have gotten in there and are chewing up the bearings so there's really no saving it at this point. Don't waste your time with rebuilt axles, buy a brand new one.

Kinda hard to tell how long it has been that way. If you're sure it just happened it would be fine to just clean it and repack it. It kinda looks like there is some grit stuck to the housing though so its kind of a tough call. Do you live on a gravel road?

A thought just struck me. I've spent all this time on trying to figure out what's been causing this problem. It never crossed my mind to just unplug the MAF and take it for a drive. I know it runs with the MAF unplugged, but I never thought to just let it sit and see just how long it would run. It makes too much sense, so I'm gonna do it tomorrow and see what happens. If it dies the same way again, then I can start looking elsewhere. If not, then I'll know damn well that its the MAF and I can rest assured that replacing it will solve the problem.

Is the engine pinging any? Any signs of mice taking shelter under your hood? (random fuzz sticks or straw stuck in corners)

Good to know. What changes did they make to it that made the difference?