theidealist

Hey, new to the thread, but awesome that it is so recent and has so many high-quality contributions. subynut, ccrinc, gloyale, grossgary, others -- all usmb legends! The 98 OBW wagon (140k mi. - 5spd) I bought late last year is having similar if not identical issues. Cylinder misfire codes on 3&4 when engine seems otherwise running fine. Bucking (I assume this is when the whole car "bucks" or stutters heavily you as you are maintaining speed and the clutch is fully engaged). CEL light - oh yes. I also have a "high idle" code to add to the bunch. The engine was replaced by a previous owner, as confirmed in the maintenance records I was given, and by the mechanic who performed the HG (Head Gasket) repair one month after I got the dumb thing. In my case I could care less about the CEL (Check Engine Light), although it does annoy me. Sure, I'd love to get rid of the error(s), but to me the most annoying thing is the bucking! That's what I want to fix. Makes driving the car intolerable at times. Anybody got any ideas on how to diagnose and troubleshoot that? I have not even been able to get it to the point where it will *always* do it when I do *such and such*. It is intermittent and severe, which is infuriating! The CEL light may or may not come on / flash at me when it's bucking. The engine temperature does not seem to make a difference. It seems to *maybe* be a little more likely to happen when the outside air temp is cool and/or wet. I can tell when it is about to do it, because I feel the engine go into coasting mode (as if the gas has been removed) even though my foot is still on the gas, attempting to maintain the current speed. The car decelerates naturally, and then at some point, it kicks - bucks - back in as if I had the engine at 5k RPMs and dropped the clutch. It's like the ECU woke up and said "hey! This guy is trying to maintain speed, give it all we've got!" I'm learning sometimes I can feather the accelerator/gas pedal to get a smooth re-engage, but often this is just impossible. It almost always happens when I am driving in the 2-3.5k RPM range, on level or slightly down hill. It has never done it when working to go uphill. Sometimes the cruise control cannot even keep the car from bucking and get it to maintain speed. I would really like to put together a list of things to check, and acronyms to help me. Base on other research, this could be just about anything: Spark plugs (new NGK with HG repair) Spark plug wires Distributor (synonymous with coil?) Injectors TPS (Throttle Position Sensor) MAF (Mass Air Flow) Sensor ECU (Electronic Control Unit - a.k.a. the computer) IAC (I have no idea what this is) Fuel filter (just replaced, old one looked ANCIENT) I refuse to believe it could be the neutral switch/sensor, that is just too weird and unrelated. Comments on others? Likelihood of given? I would prefer to diagnose over blindly replace as I don't have a lot of time or money and I hate replacing things that are working because in my experience you're more likely to screw something up replacing it than you are diagnosing it. Any help/thoughts/flame is appreciated.

Thanks everyone! Man these forums are awesome. Will do the alternator first, 98 OBW does have a recall for that, but I have no idea what that means or how to determine if its been done or what. I'll call my local Subaru dealership and see what they say. Then I'll see what the CEL code is, and proceed from there. Thanks again.

Hello all, Okay, I bought this 5spd 2.5L 1998 Legacy Outback Wagon with 140k mi. last fall to get me through the cold, possibly snowy, and wet weather. So far, it has not been doing well. After about a month, this (blown HG). I guess that was just my "welcome to being a Subaru owner". The repair included new HG, timing belt, water pump, spark plugs, etc. and cost around $1600. 1 year warranty on parts and labor, which is nice. Since then, it's been doing ok. I've had a hesitation issue come and go - unattributable to anything I can find (weather, engine temp, driving behavior, gas quality, etc.) that is very similar to this guy's so maybe it's my front O2 sensor. Just having spent more than $1500 on the HG/water pump, I'm not too keen on replacing the O2 sensor soon. In addition to the hesitation I had some very strange behavior -- very rarely -- where I would come out in the morning and the battery could just not muster the strength to crank the engine. I'd have to jump start it (or push start it on at least one occasion). At all other times it would be fine. It always happened in the morning, when the engine was coldest (although I'm not convinced it was always when the days/nights were coldest). The battery looked old and tired, so I decided it must be just a case of a worn out battery. After a few weeks of good/warmer weather and the issue not repeating itself, I became convinced and bought and replaced the battery last weekend. Since then all hell has broken loose. Okay, maybe that's an exaggeration. On Monday, driving home, the Check Engine Light (CEL) came on and, since then (I think?) the hesitation has not happened. I have not had a chance to take it to AutoZone to get the code read, but I'm guessing it's an O2 sensor failure and now the engine is running in Open Loop mode all the time? The strange thing is, the hesitation used to happen even when the engine was cold and, according to the Haynes manual, the engine runs in Open Loop mode until the O2 sensor warms up, so it should not have happened then. Maybe O2 and something else? Then on Tuesday, again driving home, battery/charge and brake dash lights started flickering on/off sometimes bright, sometimes off, sometimes dim. I'm guessing alternator failure? Today (Thursday, didn't drive it yesterday), driving in, the lights were still flickering on/off and in addition to those lights already mentioned the ABS light decided to join in on the fun. My dashboard looked like a Christmas tree! Looking through the owner's manual I see that the first owner took hand notes on repairs/maintenance. This thing had it's timing belt replaced 3 times in its first 4-5 years of life, and finally its engine replaced in 12/02! My mechanic had told me when he did the HG repair that the engine was not original, this note confirmed it. But that is where the notes stop as I guess the first owner sold it and subsequent owner(s) did not continue the trend. One other crazy thing was that that means the timing belt that was max only about 8 years old (they should last 10-12/ 150k miles or longer as I understand it) when I replaced it a couple months ago, and the mechanic showed me the timing belt that came off -- it had huge chunks taken out of it/gouges in it. It was definitely going. So, my questions are: Is it really the alternator? Or something else? Can this all be coincidence that just AFTER replacing the battery the alternator and (I'm guessing) O2 sensor both fail in the next 2 days, after weeks of working fine? Have I bought a lemon? Should I re-sell it? Can anybody run a CarFax for me (for free) on it? I should've done that to begin with... What's your take on these old-car warranty programs? I don't mind doing light work (I can replace an alternator and possibly an O2 sensor), but I don't want to get stuck paying $3k for a new transmission if this car is just a P.O.S. As always, thanks for any feedback. I love these forums. Patrick

Thanks everyone for the advice and commiseration. It seems like the unanimous recommendation is to simply fix the thing, as soon as possible, and hope for the best. I'll go with this, although as soon as possible is probably going to be at least two weeks. I'll keep my fingers crossed that the weather stays nice and I can ride my motorcycle instead until then. As for whether or not the guy who sold it knew about it, I'm choosing to believe that he did not, because a.) He was just way too nice of a guy (I know, naive), and b.) It doesn't matter (caveat emptor and all) Thanks again, Patrick

Okay, I know this thing is so beat to pieces on this forum that it is almost futile to even report it, but here goes my solicitation for input anyway. Less than a month ago, I bought a 1998 Legacy Outback 2.5L with the full knowledge that the potential for this catastrophic failure was present. The owner had not replaced the HG and was not aware that the previous owners had either. Since the car had 138k miles on it, I thought I had a good chance that this was one of those that would not exhibit the problem. After one weekend of mountain driving and some around town errands, I noticed the temperature climb than fall, and noticed bubbles coming into my coolant overflow tank, which was filling and never being returned when the engine cooled. I took it to a mechanic who has, I think, correctly diagnosed it as a blown HG. My questions are: 1.) How long can I continue to drive it in this condition (without letting it ever fully overheat) without ruining the heads? 2.) Since I just got the car, and have really little clue if the engine is sound at all, is it better to get a replacement engine and have it installed? a.) If so, should I go with a low-mileage 1995 EJ22 instead? 3.) Does anyone here know of a mechanic in the vicinity (zip 97124; portland, OR metro area) who will do this work reliably and inexpensively, or - even better - that would be willing to let me "help out" to save money? I am reasonably proficient at more basic car repairs and would love to learn more; however I live in an apartment without a garage at the moment and have no tools or work area to speak of. Everything I have done to-date is something that can be done in a day. Any and all input/commiseration would be appreciated. I had a 1990 Subaru Liberty (Australian version of Legacy) Wagon before this and now I miss its reliability! Thanks, Patrick