ron917

I haven't yet needed removed the tie rod end on my '99 Outback, so I don't know if this will work on Subarus. On my non-Subaru cars, I've been successful in using a jack to press up against the bottom of the tie rod end ball joint. Just a bit of pressure - you're not trying to lift the car. This adds some extra pressure in the taper where the ball joint fits into the knuckle, and stops it from turning. Also, make sure that the taper on the ball joint and the knuckle are clean and free of grease or oil. Cleaning the threads, as you mentioned, can only help.

On my '99 Outback, the head gaskets were replaced at 105K miles. The 96-99 2.5L DOHC engines eat head gaskets. It's an internal leak from the combustion chamber into to the coolant. Classic symptom is bubbles in the coolant overflow tank while the egine is running, especially when hot. If there is black crud in the coolant, that's another sign. Yet another sign is coolant level in the overflow does not drop as the engine cools. Definitive test is done with a chemical that detects hydrocarbons in the coolant. This leak can not be detected with a compression or leak down test. Coolant will not be found in the oil, nor will it leak into the cylinder. It's a small, one-way leak of combustion gasses into the coolant. Subaru has updated the head gasket design, and the problem is supposedly solved. If a car you are looking at has had the head gaskets replaced with the latest Subaru part, it should be OK for a long time. If not, plan on spending $1200 for a head gasket job.

I have the one from JC Whitney mentioned by Uniberp, which looks the same as the NAPA BK 7759096. It works well, it is ideal when you want to re-use the ball joint or tie rod end. Note that this is for smaller joints - I've used it on tie rod ends, but never on a suspension ball joint. You'll have to measure or try it to see if it fits the joint you want to separate. I also have a pickle fork style kit made by Lisle (ZX136312Y at JC Whitney) that comes with three different size forks that screw onto a handle (for whacking with a hammer) or an adapter for an air hammer - all included in the kit. This one also works well, and is ideal when you don't want to re-use the ball joint or tie rod end or the joint is too big for the lever type tool.

"Extremely reduced" is right! When I totaled my old Volvo 240 (hit a deer), I bought it back for $50. It wasn't worth fixing due to rust, but it's worth way more than that as parts for my other Volvo. Heck, it's worth more than $50 as scrap metal! I used the rest of the insurance payout as the downpayment on my '99 Outback.

The car has been running perfectly for over a week now, so I guess I can call it fixed. The problem was....loose connector on the crank position sensor. What's annoying is, car never threw a code or lit the check engine light. Since it wouldn't misbehave in my driveway, checks with a VOM and oscilloscope were inconclusive. I found the problem by disconnecting and reseating every connector I could find. The CPS connector wasn't "clicked" on to the CPS - it came right off, and I had to push hard to get it to click. I guess the connection was OK until it heated up a certain amount, then it would get flakey, and on cool-down, it would be OK again. Prior to finding the loose connector, I checked the spark plugs (new Densos, all good) and all sensors per the FSM. The O2 sensor was a little sluggish, everything else was OK. Yesterday, I changed out the O2 sensor. I also replaced the fuel filter, ignition coil, ignition wires just because of age/mileage. That cleared up some roughness when idling.

Any smoke or other sign of running rich? O2 sensor would be near the top of my suspect list. Check the engine temp sensor, the one used by the ECM, not the one that drives the temp gauge on the dash. On most cars, if the temp sensor fails open, the ECM thinks the temp is -40 degrees, and it runs a rich mixture.

My '99 OBW also does it, especially when the fan is on high, the seat heater is on, and the rear defroster is on. I figure the 7 year old, original equipment battery is getting a bit weak.

On my wife's Pontiac Montana van, some critter (mouse?) made a nest in the cabin air filter. I don't know if your car has a cabin air filter, but if so, I would check it out.

I looked at the factory service manual for my '99 Outback (2.5 DOHC). It doesn't say anything about new bolts. So, for this engine at least, re-using the old bolts is factory approved.

If you want the durability, ease of repair and low cost of repair of a Volvo 240, you won't find it in a Subaru with a 2.5 liter engine. I've owned 3 240s (still have '90 240 wagon plus a parts car), and I help my brothers maintain thier Volvos. The don't make them like that any more - nobody does, not even Volvo. At least for the '96-'99 DOHC 2.5 engine, parts are very expensive and the engine is very complicated and difficult to work on compared to a Volvo B230. The Subaru 2.5 engines have a bad reputation for eating head gaskets (mine went at 105Kmiles). Besides the fragile, complicated and expensive engine, I'm impressed with the toughness of my '99 Outback. It takes a lot of abuse, and is probably as safe in a crash as a Volvo 240 - the 240 is a very safe car, but it was designed in the early 1970s, and many advances have been made since then. For the folks saying to go with the 2.5 because the 2.2 is slow - remember, the dude is driving a Volvo 240. It is NOT a performance vehicle.

A short circuit will theoretically read 0 ohms on an ohmmeter. In reality, the wire and connectors have some resistance in them. If you find a reading of 1 ohm or less, you are definitely looking at a short. Some high current circuits, like the starter, may read very low, so be aware of that. If you are blowing a 30 amp fuse, using Ohm's Law, we know that the circuit must have a resistance of less than 0.4 ohms. (12 volts divided by 30 amps = 0.4 ohms). Add in a max of about half an ohm for the wiring to your meter, the connectors, and car wiring, and we know we are looking at less than a 1 ohm reading on the meter (my meter reads 0.3 ohms for a dead short, see what yours reads by touching the leads together). Remove the battery, disconnect both positive and negative leads before starting. DO NOT SKIP THIS - you could damage your meter, your car, and/or yourself! Remove the fuse for the circuit you wish to test. Then, you need to figure out which side of the fuse socket leads to the circuit you wish to test. I haven't been inside of my Subaru fuse box, but if you can get into it, you'll see that one side of each socket fuse connects to the positive power from the battery, and the other side has a wire (or wires) that lead to whatever cirucuit that fuse powers. If you can't figure it out that way, use your ohmmeter. Connect one lead to the positive battery cable (you disconnected it, right?) and touch the other to one side of the fuse socket - the side that reads a short circuit is the battery side, the other is the load side. Now, connect one lead of your ohmmeter to a solid ground or the negative battery cable (you DID disconnect it, right?). Touch the other lead to the load side of the fuse socket and take your reading. If necessary, turn onthe ignition switch or whatever causes the fuse to blow. Is it less than 1 ohm? If so, you've found your bad circuit. Next, you have to find where the ciruit is shorting out. You need to disconnect each item on the circuit and check it for a short. You need to check each connector and wire in the circuit for shorts. You need a wiring diagram to do this properly, but you might get lucky and find something obvious. This is can be a time consuming process, but you will find your problem if you keep at it.

I second the ohmmeter idea. Remove the battery, take out each fuse one by one, and measure the resitance between the load side of the fuse and ground. When you find a very low resistance, you've found a suspect cirucit.

Thanks. Went to fetch the car this morning, and it's running fine again I was hoping the ECU would store some info. I did some more research, and looks like OBD-II will store a code and snapshot sensor info when the CEL lights. Hopefully, there is something useful in there. I ordered a scan tool and the FSM, both of which I've been meaning to get for a while now. Not cheap, but they will probably pay for themselves quickly. These intermittant problems are the worst. I'll get to the bottom of it eventually, I've been through this before on other cars. It's always something simple, but it takes forever to track it down. I'll update the thread when I know more, hopefully it will help someone else.

OK, now it stranded me on the way home from work. Sputtered, then stalled, was able to restart and go another mile or two. Repeated that twice before I parked at a shopping center and called my wife for a ride home. Still no Check Engine Light, except when the car stalls after running for a bit. The CEL goes out when (if) it restarts. When it's running, there's a definite miss and no power. I'm debating weather to get it towed home or to a shop tomorrow. -Ron

'99 Legacy Outback wagon, auto trans, 108K miles. Head gaskets, timing belt, all engine seals, water pump, spark plugs, belts and hoses replaced 2 months ago. The car has seemed a little sluggish intermittantly lately - power would be off a bit, then it would recover. It hasn't been bad enough to force me to investigate. This morning, as I accelerated from a stop light, the car started bucking, then recovered. After the next stop light, the car started bucking again, then stalled - at this point, the CEL came on. Coasted off the road, and tried to restart, but it wouldn't catch. I opened the hood and poked around a bit. Two ignition wires on the coil pack, both on the passenger side, seemed a bit loose. I reseated those. The car started instantly when I tried again, and I made it to work with no further issues. Check engine light is OFF. This is the first time I've had a problem with an OBD-II car, so I'm not sure if the ECU would store a code and not turn on the CEL. So, is it worth it to stop at AutoZone and get it scanned even though the light is off? What are the usual suspects for this type of problem on this car? I'm guessing the coil pack or crank position sensor. Or maybe I got lucky, and it was just loose ignition wires. Thanks for any advice. -Ron

You need to ask your insurance agent about that. It depends on your policy, what coverage you selected, and the laws that apply. Years ago, I was in a hit-and-run. They never found the guy who hit me and ran. I had the minimum possible insurance coverage on my car, and it covered NOTHING in a hit-and-run. Hope you have better insurance coverage than I did. Hope you feel better, and hope they nail the idiot that hit you. -Ron

The "quietest" oil I've found is the house brand 10W-40 at Advance Auto Parts. I tried it before I got my oil leak fixed, because Mobil 1 is too expensive in an engine that leaks 1 quart per week. I was very surprised at how quiet the piston slap was at startup, and how quickly it disappeared as the engine warmed. It slowed the leak considerably, also. One strange thing - a bright yellow goop formed at the oil filler neck. I don't like brightly colored goop in my engines, so I haven't used the stuff since. I don't know what the shop put in when they fixed my head gaskets and oil leaks, but it's slapping pretty loud. I'll try the Delvac 1 next oil change (coming up in 300 miles). -Ron '99 OBW

Haven't been on USMB in a while, but I figured I would follow up on this old thread. I did end up going to Broadway Automotive, as suggested by nickb21. I dropped in at lunch time one day to "interview" them, and found that they REALLY know Subarus. Jim and George knew exactly what the problems were when I described my symptoms. They were happy to use the genuine Subaru parts that I supplied. And best of all, they respected me as an intelligent person - no BS like you get at some places. They fixed my car in early February, and I'm happy with the work they did. No related problems after almost two months - I haven't lost a drop of oil, and there are no more bubbles in the coolant. The price was fair, and the work was done well - I normally do all of my own wrenching, and I am very particular when I let someone else do it. They changed my head gaskets, all engine seals, timing belt and tensioner, water pump, belts, hoses, and spark plugs. The machine shop found that I had a leaky exhaust valve and some loose valve guides, so I had them re-seat and grind all of the valves and change the valve guides as well. That cost a bunch of extra money, and an extra week because the exhaust valve guides were not in stock anywhere locally. Seems like a lot of work for an engine with only 104,700 miles on it. Broadway Automotive, on Route 57 in Broadway, NJ, about 2 miles west of Washington in Warren County. Phone 908-686-2226. Thanks to nickb21 for the tip! -Ron, '99 OBW

Not off road, but a few months back, I passed a Forester resting on its roof on I-80. Didn't see it happen, and emergency services was already on the scene. What amazed me was there was no broken glass - the roof and supporting structure held up. There were lots of people standing about, none lying down, so I assume that the occupants were OK (for sure if they were belted in).

My '99 Outback has had the same symptoms for the last 12K miles. After a while, you will be able to smell exhaust in the coolant. My car has never overheated. In warm weather, after a trip on the interstate, the overflow tank will be higher than normal, and the coolant will not be sucked back into the rad. I use a baster (stolen from the kitchen) to transfer coolant back to the rad in that case. It's never more than 4 to 6 ounces of "extra" coolant in the overflow. I check the level religiously, every 3 days at most. Since I now have 100K miles, a leaky crank seal and/or oil pump, old belts and hoses, and it's due for a timing belt in 5K miles anyway, I'm just gonna tear the whole thing down and change the head gaskets, all seals, water pump, timing belt, etc, etc. The car has never needed any other major work, so I should be good until the next timing belt at 200K miles.

Nick, thanks for that hint. Broadway isn't very far (I'm in Andover, used to live in Phillipsburg). If you remember the name of the place, please post, otherwise I'll do some digging and maybe go for a drive. Gary, thanks for the tip. I've seen posts by SVXpert, his place near Philly is a little further than I want to drive.

The timing belt should have been replaced when the head gasket was done, it had to come off anyway. Do you have the paperwork from that job? See if it's listed. The interval is 105 K miles otherwise.

'99 OBW with almost 100K miles needs head gasket job plus seals, timing belt, water pump, etc. It's been bubbling in the coolant for a while, and would probably be OK for a while longer (no overheat), but now it's draining oil from the front crank seal or oil pump seals at 1 qt per week. It lays down a pretty good smoke screen ;-) I bought all of the parts to do the job (genuine Subaru from 1stsubaruparts.com), but I simply don't have the time right now. I need to find a good, honest, mechanic that knows Subarus and is willing to use my parts. In or near North West NJ. Will drive a reasonable distance if I have to. Any recomendations? Thanks!

Good points, Cookie. The donor Volvo is too old for airbags and sensors, but it does have heated seats. I don't know what's in my '99 OBW seats, besides the bun warmers. Heater connections should be trivial to work around, sensors (if any) would need to be swapped over. I'll definitely check if/when I try this.

Have you ever mounted Volvo seats in a a Subaru? That's one of the things I keep thinking I might try. The seats are my only complaint about my '99 OBW and I've got a Volvo 240 parts car in the yard. Volvo truly does make the best seats, no exception.