jwox

I agree with changing all the hard to fix in the car things before I install the motor. The guy I chatted with at the salvage yard was at work the day the car came in and talked to the owner of the car when he came to pick up some personal effects inside the car. He told him that he was really bummed because he'd just had the head gaskets changed a few thousand miles ago and now the car was wrecked. Judging by the timing belt condition I believe him. It's in very good shape and you can still easily see the numbers on the belt. Because of the importance of a good timing belt(I found out that's what broke on my old engine, not a bearing failure)I still might replace all the timing components but not do the head gasket. I'm also going to reseal the wrist pin access cover seals inside the bell housing to make sure they don't leak any time soon. It's dry inside the bell housing now but I'd like to make sure it stays that way! The new engine is bone dry on the bottom of the heads and oil pan too. I am just about ready to loosen the motor for removal. I have the exhaust, motor mounts, and torque converter bolts to remove yet. It's a pretty easy motor to get our really. I'm looking forward to rebuilding the original motor and getting a good deal on another Subaru with a bad motor to put it in!

I ended up buying a 2000 motor w/178k on it for $999.99 plus tax. At least I kept the price under a thousand! The other motors I looked at weren't pulled yet and wanted a core so I went this route. In 6+ hours I'll have a good motor to install so my wife can drive, drive drive:burnout:! Thanks for the info on the differences between the years motors for future reference. I am very thankful for the online resources like this for getting information from knowledgeable people!

My wife's 2000 Legacy timing belt broke even though the car only had 54k on the belt. We bought it used so maybe the installer didn't change the bearings when he did the job. Anyways, the car has 272k on it so I thought I'd just buy a lower mileage engine and install it. I want to learn to rebuild these motors so I'll fix the high mileage one later. I located a '02 with 148k, no core charge, and a 90 day warranty for $1150. The salvage yard said that according to his book there's a few differences, throttle body was one, that are different on the '02 motor compared to the 2000. I'm wondering what it would take to buy this motor vs. a 2000-2001 motor. I have a lead on a '00 178k mile motor for $1000 w/no core but I'd prefer the newer engine if possible. Thanks for any advice!!

My wife owns a 2000 legacy l and the headlights are frosted pretty bad and one of the adjusters is stripped. I plan on buying a new set but would like to put the headlights from an Outback in instead. Is this possible? I think the split headlight look is nicer and the overall shape is the same so it might be possible. I wonder how much wire changing there would be with the swap. Thanks for any info!!

Yes, I replaced those, and the plugs, with new and it seemed to fix the problem until I took a short drive, then it came back. It now does it right away even when it's cold. I'm wondering if crank sensors will cause a problem like this? It doesn't seem right to me...

We own a 2000 Legacy with an automatic and 265k. One morning the car had a terrible miss after driving fine the previous day. I figured out it was a coil so I bought one at a salvage yard and the car seemed to drive fine on my test drive through town. On a trip to a nearby town, however, the car had an occasional miss after we had driven about 15 miles. The car seems to idle fine but when a load is put on it, it miss fires. I had a previous check engine light that said I had a oxy sensor and knock sensor problem so I replaced those. The miss was still there and while trying out the car in the driveway I got a flashing check engine light. When I checked it, it said I had a miss fire in cylinder #2. I replaced the plug wires and plugs. It seemed to fix the problem that night but the next morning the problem was back. I also replaced the cam shaft position sensor and, again, it seemed to fix it but after a 10 mile drive the problem came back. I thought it might be a bad coil but, when I switched coils from my daughters '99 Legacy, which had the same part number, the miss was still there.:mad: I'm wondering if this is something a bad crank sensor might do or is there something else I'm missing? Thanks mucho much for any help!!!!

It worked terrific!!! My wife(and me) really likes the new look at feel of a top of the line steering wheel. It made me feel a lot more confident that it would work after reading that others have done the same. Thanks for the help!

I guess I didn't think of that. I can disconnect it at the salvage yard and see if the connectors are the same. The salvage yard is about an hour away but I'm planning on going to Minneapolis tomorrow and I go right by the yard tomorrow so I'll stop by. I really hope it fits because the wood in the steering wheel sure looks nice!

This may be a reach but I'm hoping that someone on this forum can tell me if this will work. I recently bought a '00 Legacy L with high miles(262k) but a terrific maintenance record. It runs and drives terrific. My wife really wanted a cd/cassette radio instead of just cassette so I bought one out of a '01 Outback LL Bean. I knew my wife would really like the steering wheel with it's wood inlays so I bought that too. They wanted $25/each. The radio went in without a hitch and works well. I took off the old steering wheel and put on the new wheel and it looked terrific. But when I went to put the air bag in it wouldn't fit. Apparently the bag for the H6 LL Bean model is a different size because my bag was too big. I called the salvage yard and they'll sell me the air bag that came with the steering wheel for $65 but can't guarantee that it will work in the '00 L model which I certainly understand. I'm wondering if anyone has ever done this swap. It might have the same connections or it might not; I just don't want to pay $65 to find out! Thanks in advance for any info!

I forgot to say that it has 192k on it. The car still looks surprisingly good for being in Minnesota. I thought I'd do a search for checking the EGR and oxy sensor as either might be getting old. I bought the car from a small dealer so I have no idea who owned it previously.

I went out to the car to take it for a drive. The transmission engages into drive right away so I'm guessing the delayed engagement isn't the problem. (thank goodness!) I had to do some cement work today so I didn't get any checking done with the car. It seems to run better today though when I did take it out. I'll go over it tomorrow and see if I can find something. I sure like how the legacy's drive! When my daughter buys another car I'm thinking that I might want to buy it from her and keep it for us. The all wheel drive sure is nice during the snowy season! The temp is really dropping so it won't be long.

The check engine light isn't on, I changed the fuel filter right away when I bought it too. I'm going to clean the MAF sensor and see if that helps. I didn't see any vacuum leaks but I'll look better today. The car runs the same when it's cold, or warmed up. I don't think the tranny is slipping at all. The car just doesn't have much for acceleration until it revs up a bit. It was fine when she drove it to work, but when she was heading home after her shift the car started acting up. I didn't know there was an issue with the AT transmissions on these cars. I haven't had it flushed yet so I should get that done. Thanks for the ideas! I'll do a little more checking and see what I can figure out.

My daughters '99 Legacy sedan AT recently developed a strange problem. The car starts fine but when you give it gas it hesitates pretty bad. It doesn't miss and, if you're light on the accelerator, the car drives okay. If you keep steady pressure on the gas it slowly accelerates and then the car leaps quickly with good power when the car reaches around 20 mph. Then, when it shifts, the car hesitates again. When I bought it for her graduation gift (about six months and 3k ago) I had to replace the anti-knock sensor so it shouldn't be that. I'm hoping that the experts here can point me in the right direction!!! Have a good weekend everyone!