ron917

Piece o' cake. If you've done it on any other car, you'll have no trouble. If not, get the Haynes or factory shop manual, and go to it.

Mine does. I read about it somewhere, if not in the owner's manual, then it was on endwrench.com. The TCU has a "slope mode", which changes the shift program if it thinks you're going down or up a hill. Trouble is, it's not very smart, and it can be annoying on some hills.

Another vote for Sears Craftsman for home/hobby. They have a Craftsman Club, which will give you 10% off on certain days in exchange for being on their mailing list. The 10% will be taken off of sale prices, too. And occasionally, Sears has a "Super Saturday" where they take 10-20% off everything in the store, even sale prices. When the planets are perfectly aligned, you can get stuff for 50-75% off the regular price.

Start here: http://mysite.verizon.net/vze730qe/Head_gasket_replacement.html Use only genuine Subaru headgaskets, they've been redesigned several times, and it appears they finally got it right (I hope). Best prices are at 1stsubaruparts.com, excellent service, too. I just got $400 in parts from them in preparation for changing my headgaskets. Now I just need some time to do the work.

In a pushrod engine, that might be true. In an overhead cam engine, like the one we're talking about here, that's impossible. The relationship between the camshaft and followers will not change. On the EJ25 DOHC, the head bolts are under the cam shafts, so it makes no sense to do the adjustment with the head off the block. Unless you don't mind disassembling the thing again to bolt the head to the block...

Oh, yeah - do the brake fluid every two years. It aborbs moisture out of the air. There is a vent in the brake fluid cap, and the moisture does get in there. Cheaper and easier than new calipers and master cylinder.

I'll echo what the others said, go with the NGKs. They used them at the factory, they are good plugs. I paid about $10 each at Advance Auto, expensive, but they work well and last long. DO NOT use Bosch platinum! I don't know why, but they just suck, even in European cars. You'll see the same sentiment in other forums.

Google on "Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act", you'll find lots of info about the US federal law regarding this. In a nutshell, the manufacturer and/or dealer cannot require you to use their parts or service unless they provide it for free. Your only obligation is to follow the recommended maintenence schedule, using products that meet the specifications listed. Any brand-name oil and filter you find at a reputable parts store will meet the specs. You can do any of the service yourself, or have it done at any shop, just keep receipts and a log as proof. There's more to it than just that, but that answers your question.

When I bought our Outback (used), our salesman made a big point of explaining that swtich, and ensuring that both my wife and I knew it was there. He said almost every Subaru customer comes in at some point complaining that the lights won't turn off, and he wanted to save us the embarassment.

Absolutely true. I've always run dedicated snow tires, my Outback being the only exception this winter. Once snow is a few inches deep, the Subaru can move forward and climb hills better than my snow-tire equipped cars, but the snow tires make a HUGE improvement in stopping and turning. On ice or packed snow, the 2WD cars with snows are FAR more stable. I'll be buying snow tires for the Outback next winter.

Snow gets packed in around the ABS sensors and tone rings, especially if you're flogging it.. We've got 6-8 inches so far here in Northwest New Jersey. Just got back from picking up my wife from work (2 miles), and had to take one of her co-workers home, adding an extra 12 mile drive (each way). The coworker didn't want her daughter to pick her up because she has lousy tires, so she was gonna WALK 12 miles in 3degF weather with blowing snow, at night!. I told her I didn't want to read about her in the newspaper tomorrow morning. The Subie did great on plowed and unplowed roads, and my very steep driveway. I have to take it easy, because I'm running all-season tires. Got a little bit of slip, but easy to correct. The biggest problem was the windshield and wipers freezing up, even with the defrost blowing. Had to stop a couple of times to knock ice off the wipers. We're under a state of emergency right now, so there were very few vehicles out on the road. Mostly plow trucks, and the odd Jeep. Had to drive my teenage son to/from work earlier today, before the snow got deep. The idiots were out in force, some going 2MPH, some trying go 60MPH and weaving traffic. Saw a 4Runner struggling to climb a hill, rear wheels spinning like crazy - the idiot driver probably wonders what that extra lever is for.

You've got a short or broken wire or connector somewhere. With symptoms like that, it's most likely a broken ground. Some circuit is missing it's ground, and is finding ground through another circuit. That can cause some really weird stuff to happen (que "Twilight Zone" theme). It will be a pain to find, but easy to fix. I lost the ground in the hatch in another car. The rear defroster came on every time I stepped on the brakes. If I turned on the defroster, the wiper would also start. I wasn't sure if I needed an exorcist or a mechanic

The rotten egg smell is usually from excess sulfer in the gas. Try a different brand.

My wife and I are the target market for these things. Late 30's/early 40's, two kids (11 and 15), two cats, a dog, elderly grandparents, all our friends and siblings have kids. Wife "upgraded" her Volvo 245 to a Montana minivan. Besides being ugly, the B9 and similar vehicles have a major problem for us: the rear seat is small, difficult to get to, and there is no cargo room. We looked at the Chrysler Pacifica, a similar conept (but not as ugly), it has the same problems. The boxy minivan with sliding doors is the best configuration for us. All of the seats can fit real-sized people, are easy to get to, and we can fit a fair amount of stuff behind the third row. With the seats out, we can fit full-size sheets of plywood in the back. We didn't get AWD (blew the budget), but a set of 4 Blizzaks make it good in the snow. You can get wagons (Volvo, Audi, probably others) with rear-facing third seats, but they are sized for pre-schoolers. When the seats are full of kids, there is no room for their stuff. For a SUV/mini-van cross, the new Pontiac Montana SV6 is better idea. They took the minivan and made it look more like an SUV, instead of shoving a third seat into a small/medium size SUV.

Smeared on the left frame rail, along with the skin from my knuckles

Mine started easily this morning at -1°F, with a 5 year old battery and 10W-30 (Mobil 1). It did crank a little slower than usual, and the piston slap was espcially loud.

I think bearbalu is speaking in metric. 0.01mm is 0.0004in. After changing the spark plugs in my '99 Outback, I would never attempt a head gasket job with the engine in the car.

I usually just hose the salt off my cars, but I took my Subie to the car wash last week. Same "tie dye" wax (good name for it!) as you mentioned. That stuff is nasty, whatever it is. It reminds me of silicone grease. After trying a bunch of things, I finally grabbed some paint prep solvent - it's supposed to remove everything, including silicone. Got most of it, but the windshield is still a little smeary. There may be some wax left on the wiper blades, getting back on the glass. I won't be going to that carwash again!

Yeah, what he said. Be glad you don't have a European car - Bosch connectors are the pits!

Steve, Good website! You might want to mention that, in 1999, in North America, the 2.5 DOHC was used Legacy and Legacy-based Outbacks. However, the 1999 Impreza, Forester, and Impreza-based Outbacks got the 2.5 SOHC. I have seen in several places that a small number of 1999 Legacys got the 2.5 SOHC, but I've never seen hard evidence.

Rattling exhaust heat sheild, maybe? Sometimes they sound like your tranny is dying.

Greetings from another long-time RWD Volvo owner. When it came time to park the 240 wagon, I went car shopping with the idea of my ideal car - a Volvo 240 wagon with all wheel drive. The new Volvos just aren't the same.....sigh.... Overall, I'm very happy with my Outback. The one exception is the dreaded head gasket issue. Well, two exceptions - the seats aren't that great - Volvo makes the best seats on the planet, bar none. Otherwise, the Outback is very sturdy and reliable.

Thanks for your input, folks. I think I'll order the tensioner and the toothed idler, and source the smooth idlers locally if needed. Searching other threads and web sites, it seems that those are the two that will need to be replaced sooner or later. The t-belt change interval on this car is 105K miles, and I doubt the original tensioner and water pump will make it to 186,000 miles (that would be the next scheduled t-belt change). I'll check/adjust the valve lash, too, but the shims will have to be purchased as needed. Thanks again! This board is awesome!

No overheat yet, but that's only because I'm checking the coolant level at least once a day. It's blowing a steady stream of bubbles in the expansion tank, and the coolant smells like exhaust. The bubbles have been increasing over the last 6 weeks. A new symptom this week: the level in the expansion tank rises, and coolant is not sucked back into the radiator. When it gets high enough, I use a baster to transfer coolant from the expansion tank back into the radiator. I'm carrying extra coolant, checking the levels, and avoiding the highway until I get this fixed (hopefully next week). I don't have the holding tool for the cam sprockets. I'll fabricate something once I get in there.

It's time to change the head gaskets in my '99 Outback (81,600 miles). I'm putting together my shopping list, and I'm wondering about the t-belt tensioner and idlers. In my other vehicles (VW, Volvo), I've always changed the tensioner and idler with the belt. They only cost $26, and no extra effort to swap out. The EJ25 DOHC has 4 idlers (2 pulleys, 1 gear, 1 pulley on the tensioner) with a fancy hydraulic tensioner. Replacing all of them would cost well over $300 from 1stsubaruparts or $244 from Advance Auto (Dayco kit). Yikes! Are the idlers and tensioner normally replaced with the timing belt, or only as needed? What do you guys recommend? I will do the water pump and all seals/gaskets/o-rings I can get to. Thanks!