ron917

You can drain and refill the automatic transmission, or have it flushed. I do the drain and fill routine every 15K to 20K miles- it's simple on my '99 Outback, just like changing the engine oil. Subaru puts drain plugs on the tranny, making it simple. You refill through the transmission dipstick tube. Although the tranny holds 9.8 quarts of ATF, only 3.5 to 4 quarts will come out if you just drain the pan. If you drain, fill, drive for a week, repeat two more times, you will have replaced most of the old ATF with new. After that, just drain and fill every 15K miles, and you'll be good for a long time. The '99 Outback has the spin-on external filter that is supposed to last the life of the car. I don't believe that, so I changed mine at 100K miles.

I've had the same thing happen with my Subaru and with other cars, and not necessarily when it's cold. Running the car for just a few seconds to move it in/out of the garage, or to another spot in the driveway, is the common factor. It doesn't happen every time, just every once in a while. Cars run very rich when first started, and I guess they don't always fully "clear out" the extra fuel when run for just a few seconds.

Ditto what 99obw said about DIY car repairs, or be willing to pay for it. This is true for any high mileage car. Just keep repeating to yourself "It's cheaper than a brand new one" as you fork over the dough. Just get her what she wants. You will be happier. Trust me on this one, I learned the hard way.

I replaced the engine in my '99 Outback a month ago, at 118K miles. One of the camshafts siezed. It had horrible piston slap (maybe it was really rod knock?), so I decided to get a rebuilt from CCR. Your $2500 estimate is a bit low - the 2.5 DOHC is a very expensive engine. Call CCR for a quote. Ask for the USMB discount. Since you are in Colorado, you'll pay less for shipping, or maybe you can go pick it up. If you can't install it yourself, figure 10 hours of labor for a shop to do it.

When my old Volvo had a plugged cat, it did ping on hills when it was acting up. Mine got to the point where it would barely move on a hill. The temp gauge would climb, I guess the engine got hot enough to cause pre-ignition. The catalytic converter core had broken up, and there was big chunk that could block the exhaust outlet. When it acted up, I could stop the car and bang on the cat with a something (e.g., jack handle) to temporarily clear it. For a short term fix, I removed the cat, broke up the core with a steel bar and dumped it out. Of course, I had to install a new one in order to pass the emissions test.

Good prices, that gasket cost me $12.39 at my local dealer. My '99 didn't have those fancy bolts, they were just normal, long bolts (6mm?) with washers and nuts. They may not be the originals. Whatever, it works and doesn't leak. The old gasket was a pain to get off. Whoever worked on it last really crushed it down. I used a cold chisel to cut through it and took it off in pieces.

A bad catalytic converter can cause power loss symptoms as you described. If it is clogged, or if the core is loose and blocking the outlet, exhaust flow can be impeded. I've had it happen in two cars. Bang on the catalytic converter (when cold, don't burn yourself). If it rattles, sounding like there are rocks inside, it's a problem.

Has Subaru gone to a "sealed" auto tranny like many other manufacturers have? I've seen them on Ford, VW and Chrysler products - you can't even check the ATF level without going to the dealer.

ipd sells a kit with seat bottom and back heating elements, wires, thermostat and switch. They spec it for Volvo 100 and 200 series, but it should work in any car. It's not cheap ($89.95 per seat), but nothing is cheap at ipd - it's probably available elsewhere for less. They sell stuff mostly for Volvos, and some Subaru stuff as well. http://www.ipdusa.com/ProductsCat.aspx?CategoryID=488&NodeID=993&RootID=629 Edit: Heated seats have been standard on Volvos at least back to the mid '80s. The 200 series (I've owned 4 of them) had a single position switch. There's a thermostat in the seat element to keep it from overheating.

I typed "toy subaru outback" at google.com, and it brought back a bunch of stuff on eBay. http://toys.search.ebay.com/wagon-hatchback-toyota-matrix-subaru-outback-volvo-xc70_Toys-Hobbies_W0QQfsiZ1QQsacatZ220 Some Volvos and other things in there, too, I don't know why google came back with all that stuff as well.

I bought mine from tirerack.com.

FSRBIKER, we're almost neighbors - I live in Byram. Just wait until your son gets older, then he'll take your REAL car! My 17 year old son has been taking my '99 OBW (also green, like yours) to school for the past two weeks. He gets away with it because my brother left his Jetta TDI at my house, so I've been using that. Besides the fuel mileage, we like driving the Outback better. A search on eBay found a lot of Imprezza WRX STI's, and a few Legacy models, but nothing like your '97 Outback.

Only 1 million miles? Last I heard, Irv Gordon's 1966 Volvo P1800 had passed 2.3 million miles, and that mas more than a year ago.

I filled it through the radiator neck, with the radiator bleeder open. Took a long time. Several times, I put my thumb over the bleeder opening and squeezed the upper hose to help burp the air out. Today I parked on the steep part of my driveway, nose of the car up, and let it warm up with the radiator cap off. Got a lot of air out when the thermostat opened. Put the cap back on, and let it cool down for a couple of hours. It sucked coolant out of the overflow, and the level in the radiator looked fine. Drove around for about 25 miles at speeds up to 60 MPH, and all seems to be good with it now. Temp gauge doesn't rise above center, the lower rad hose gets warm, the heat is blowing hot, and the overflow level rises and falls as it should. I'll keep a close watch on the coolant and oil levels over the next few weeks. A search on the forum, which I should have done BEFORE I started filling the coolant, revealed a better way: http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=21681

I just finished an engine install today, and the genuine Subaru radiator hoses have arrows that show the flow as you described - out from the top of the engine into the top of the radiator, out of the bottom of the radiator and into the bottom of the engine at the thermostat/water pump. This is on a '99 Outback 2.5L DOHC.

Finally got it all back together, and it runs! Thanks to all of you and this forum as whole for all of the great info and advice. My major worry now is making sure I get all of the air out of the cooling system. After filling the cooling system with the bleed screw open, I idled the car in my driveway, topping up the radiator several times. Then I put the rad cap on let it warm up until the fans came on and the thermostat opened (bottom radiator hose was warm). Let it cool, filled it up again, then went for a 5 mile drive. The temp gauge was normal the whole time. When I got back, the fans were running, the top radiator hose was hot, but the bottom one was cold. The heat was blowing hot. I let it idle for a few more minutes, and the fans stayed on the whole time, but the bottom radiator hose never got warm. Temp gauge stayed in the middle, it didn't overheat. I'm guessing there's still more air in there, so I'll try some more burping tomorrow. Note that the radiator is new. The engine came with a new water pump. The thermostat is geinuine Subaru, but it is not new (8 months, 12 K miles old).

You're probably feeling the torque converter unlocking. If you pay attention, you'll feel it lock and see the RPMs drop when you're up to speed and running on a level surface. Makes it feel like there are five gears. BTW, the torque converter will sometimes lock when in 3rd gear as well. It's annoying on one particular hill I climb every day on my commute, it's a long one at 35MPH.

I've had crank and cam sensors go bad on my Subaru and on other cars. Classic symptom is a no start after a hot soak - letting a hot engine sit while you run into a store or whatever, then no start afterward. Let it cool down for 20 minutes, and then it starts right up and runs fine. I never got a code for the problem. Apparently, it sorta kinda works, so the ECU thinks it's OK, but it's not working well enough to provide a proper timing signal.

Holy cow, I didn't think it was possible to make something like that! I was really wishing for a ratcheting flare nut wrench last week as I was removing my EGR pipe. The threaded fitting is a mile long and there's not much room to swing a wrench. I wouldn't use a 12 point wrench to break the nut loose, it's likely to round the nut. Use a GOOD 6 point to break it loose. Good ones grip on the flats, not the points.

I had similar work done on my '99 Outback (EJ25 DOHC) at 105K miles. Head gaskets, head work, valve job, all engine seals, timing belt, water pump, tensioner, oil pump resealed. That's not a rebuild, but it's a lot of work. At 118K miles, I'm replacing the engine with a warranteed, completely rebuilt, engine from CCR because a camshaft seized. Was the problem related to the prior work? I doubt it, as it was perfectly fine for over 13K miles. Just my experience.

I'm anti-seizing anything that has exposed threads, or is at the bottom and likely to be splashed by salt water in winter. The very bottom studs that connect the engine and transmission, for example. Exhaust fasteners, exhaust manifold studs, motor mount studs. The bolts connecting the front and rear timimg cover get anti-seize to avoid breaking the rear cover next time they have to come out. The tiny M6 screws that hold things like the fans to the radiator and the washer fluid bottle also get anit-seize because they break often. You're right, though, most things on the engine don't need the anti-seize. I know the important fasteners are already torqued properly, but I guess I'm just obsessive about doing it by the book. So, I use a torque wrench on just about everything.

Note that a replacement engine may come with a coolant fitting for an oil cooler. My old engine had a plug in that spot. The fitting was just behind the oil filter on my CCR rebuilt. A call to CCR verified what it was, and that they leave them in the blocks that have them. They offered to send me a plug to replace it, but I was able to swap the plug over from my old engine. The plug needs a 14mm allen wrench, which is difficult to find in a store. I just happened to have one - it's one of the many things I found at the recycling center and brought home just because it might be useful some day. The coolant fitting came out of the new engine with a 24mm deep socket. There's sealer on it, so it was tough to turn, but the impact wrench made quick work of it. I put Permatex Ultra Grey on the plug when I installed it - hopefully, it seals.

Four hours?! Maybe your '92 Legacy is easier than my '99 Outback, but that's still a fast job! Mine took me a good part of three days, I estimate about 12-14 hours to get it out. My new long block (CCR rebuild) is bolted into place now, and I'm guessing at least 8 hours for me to get everything else put back. Of course, I don't do this very often, and I work very carefully and methodically. I'm cleaning and anti-seizing everything that needs it. I'm also torquing everything to spec (less about 25% to 33% to account for the anti-seize where used). Anyway, good luck to you!

HINT: make SURE that the motor mounts are installed correctly before trying to drop your new engine in! It took about 15 minutes to get the new engine lined up with the tranny and bolted together. By pure luck, the torque converter and drive plate bolt holes lined up exactly! When we tried to lower the engine down onto the cross member, I discovered that I had installed one of the motor mounts backward. It is possible to remove/replace the motor mount without removing the engine again. The Outback is high enough to do this without lifting the car, especially when the suspension is unloaded because the engine and tranny are raised up by a crane. However, it is much easier to install a motor mount in the proper orientation when the engine is out of the car.

Sorry, no pics, except for one my wife snapped of my son and me standing next to the engine as it dangled from the crane. Porcupine answered the load leveler question. Mine is similar to the HF one - bought it at Advance Auto for $35. I removed the drive plate from the old engine while it was hanging on the crane, then mounted it to a stand. I bought 4 bolts and washers so I could leave the old engine on the stand without using the engine/trans bolts needed to install the new one. The bolts are M10-1.25. 80mm long worked with my stand, you may need a different length depending on your engine stand.