99obw

They are standard thread, and pretty darn tight. I would use a 1/2" drive socket with a breaker bar and a pipe for the sprocket bolt. A piece of wood or a pipe on the wrench might help. Be very careful not to damage anything under the valve cover with the wrench. In skip's picture it looks like the wrench is really close to the head. I used a homemade tool, after breaking the right intake sprocket while following the advice in the haynes manual. I welded a 2-3/8" 3/4" drive socket to a 2' piece of 1" angle iron. Some have said to use a strap or chain wrench. If you choose to try that be very careful not to break the timing covers.

Definately good advice for us salt belt folks gbhrps. I like to coat the heads of the bolts as well to prevent corrosion of the hexagon.

I have seen those before. I think it is a fun gadget, but certainly not capable of precise measurements. If you have the time and money go for it, it would be fun. I think it would be nearly impossible for a DIYer to do a meaningful calibration. First of all, what does each LED mean as far as oxygen concentration goes? The oxygen sensor I worked with gave a signal related to the percent oxygen (from 0% to 20.9%) and the temperature of the element, and my electronics calculated the oxygen concentration and output it to an LCD in %. I don't think the automotive sensors work in the same way. I think it gives you a signal related to oxygen content over a very small range. The only calibration I can think of is to feed in a voltage corresponding to the voltage you expect the LED to light at, and adjust until it does. A quick look at the schematic leaves me with some unanswered questions: 1. Is the 2.2uF cap on V+ supposed to operate as a power decoupler? If so, it is connected incorrectly. 2. Does the LM3914 require power supply voltage regulation? If so, none is equipped. A little bit of low pass filtering on the input would reduce the fluctuations of the LEDs due to normal noise, but that may be built in to the LM3914. You may be able to add a precision voltage reference and use the DIP switch to add a calibration feature. I can take a closer look as time allows.

I can probably help if you can be more specific. My senior project in college was a computer interfaced oxygen sensor/thermocouple, and I interned at a company that makes car computers for GM and Ford.

Where did you buy it and how much did it cost?

Doubtful. I suppose it could be leaking, but I think you would notice that. Usually the Subaru water pumps tend to fail by seizing, and you would know if that happened for sure.

The failed head gasket will allow exhaust gasses to force coolant out of the radiator and into the overflow, which will eventually overflow itself and cause a net loss of coolant. When the engine cools the coolant will be drawn back into the radiator from the overflow and both can be low. If you have time try the procedure I described and let us know. It sure sounds to me like your coolant loss is due to exhaust gasses forcing the coolant out the overflow.

The caliper has two bolts that hold it to the pad guide. Remove those bolts and the caliper should slide off of the pads. Be sure to tie the caliper to the spring with a bungy or rope or something so it doesn't hang on the hose. The pad guide has two bolts, remove those. At that point the rotor should come right off. I have had the best luck replacing the rotor and pads together with OEM parts. Be sure to buy OEM pads as they come with the guides and shims that you will need to do a proper job. Take the brake reservoir lid off and make sure that the brake fluid won't overflow when you press the piston back into the caliper with a large c-clamp. Sparingly coat the guides with neversieze and the shims with brake anti-squeal. Install the pads in the pad guide. Clean the new rotors thouroughly with brake cleaner. Spray off the new pads with brake cleaner and carefully put it back together without getting any dirt or grease on it. A tip from the FSM, NOTE: If disc rotor seizes up within hub, drive disc rotor out by installing an 8-mm bolt in holes B on the rotor. These are the holes that don't have studs through them.

The OEM plug in our '99 with the Phase I 2.5l is the NGK PFR5B-11, Subaru part number 22401AA570. I have had really good luck running these for 60k mile intervals. Unfortunately they are about $12.50 each.

If you plan on keeping the car a long time you will thank yourself for always using a good quality oil, change it at 3-5k or 3 month intervals, and use an OEM quality filter or equivalent. I would never take it to a quick lube place, they are mechanically challenged. I think a lot can be said for using the same oil at each oil change, excluding seasonal adjustments to viscosity that you may decide to do. In the southern california climate I would be tempted to use a 10w-30 all year. I think one important benefit of good oil is it's ability to keep the engine internals clean. Follow the Subaru maintanence schedule and it should last you a long time. Use only OEM parts. You probably don't have to worry about a lot of the issues that us salt belt folks face. Enjoy!

Make sure that the radiator is properly bled of air when adding coolant. A little bit of air can cause it to overheat. I found my headgasket failure by warming the car up until the fans came on, then driving it around hard, 5k shifts, etc., then immediately raise the hood and look in the coolant overflow bottle. Rev the engine to 2-3k, do you see bubbles? Mine looked like boiling water from all of the bubbles. Before I knew what the problem was for sure I replaced the thermostat and radiator cap. It didn't actually help anything but it is a cheap place to start. Good luck.

I think I will go after the lateral link bolt first, rather than removing the CV shaft from the diff. I should start soaking stuff in penetrating oil now. alias20035 has finally gotten me off of the bearing grease fence, and I am going to clean it out and repack it. It still doesn't all make sense, the grease on the seal and all, but I will do it the way that I am sure will last. You are going to love your hub tamer, I have used it to install rear bearings in my '92 dodge and a couple of times to press new seals into timing covers. I can't wait to actually use it to do what I bought it for. alia176 , it looks like you will get your bearings done first. :-)

The FSM for our '99 outback shows the fuel temp sensor being part of the fuel pump and says the following: "NOTE: Fuel temperature sensor is a unit with fuel pump. If replacing it, replace as a fuel pump."

Just saw your most recent post. First of all you need to get the oil leak fixed. I don't know the minimum to do that in your case but the estimate I gave should serve as a worst case. The timing belt absolutely has to be changed due to oil exposure. If your timing belt breaks so will your wallet. Everything needs to be cleaned of oil. Make sure the PCV valve gets changed. That should get you to 100k.

Based on records of parts I have obtained at the local dealer and prices from Auburn Subaru (better prices) I estimate roughly $300 for parts, more or less depending on where you get them. I will guess that labor will be about an equal amount more, or $600 +-$100 ($500-$700)total. That includes the water pump and thermostat, and doesn't include any idlers or the tensioner. There are some gaskets that go on the timing belt covers that you may want to replace based on condition that I haven't included here. The DOHC Phase I really is a fascinating engine, are you sure you don't want to do it yourself. Just kidding... BTW: Keeping the PCV valve changed may prevent oil leaks. It pulls a gentle vacuum on the oil side of things and "holds it in" so to speak. When they go bad the pressure that builds can force oil out.

I would guess in the $500-$700 range including labor, but I really don't know, as I do my own work. If I have a chance I can add up the parts cost and estimate the labor, but I have to run and put the kids to bed.

I don't think that the second sensor affects performance, it's just there to verify the catylitic converter is functioning. My understanding is that the O2 sensor outputs 450mV when the mixture is ideal, and the closed loop control works to keep the mixture centered on this value. The voltage should be somewhat higher after the catylist if the catylist is working, as oxygen would be used to "burn" the pollutants. A voltage divider (sort of a non-adjustable potentiometer) would be the simplest method, but it would be subject to changes in the battery voltage of the car. That may or may not be a problem, I don't know. A simple solution with some regulation would be to use a zener diode combined with a voltage divider, but I think this type of circuit would dissipate a fair amout of heat. A more ideal method would be to use a precision voltage reference and an operational amplifier. If someone measures the voltage you are trying to replicate I may be able to suggest a circuit using common components.

FWIW, A good friend of mine has a '97 legacy wagon with a 2.2 and a '01 outback wagon with a 2.5, both with 5 speeds. His driveway is about a 40% grade (mine has a section that is about 20%). He doesn't run snow tires at all, and he says that the '97 will climb his driveway better than the '01. Our '99 outback will climb our driveway with snow tires with virtually no slipping, certainly no loss of control. I find a good set of snow tires to be the most important feature of any car in the winter. My point is that I think you will be pleased with a Subaru LSD or not.

I don't know that not having it will cause the engine to run open loop, it may just generate a MIL (check engine light). I have seen some O2 sensor "eliminators" on ebay. Someone here could possibly tell you the voltage that the second sensor typically puts out (probably not the usual 450mV nominal), and you could rig up a voltage divider or regulator to provide that voltage to the ECU.

I would say main seal, oil pump o-ring, re-loctite oil pump back cover screws, cam seals, timing belt, valve cover gaskets, valve cover bolt gaskets, spark plug hole gaskets, and PCV valve. Make sure he checks the timing belt idlers and tensioner. Water pump and thermostat maybe depending on how much you want to spend. You want to change the water pump before it fails, because if it seizes your engine will be toast. If you do all of that work now you won't need to be in there for another 105k miles, which would put you at 169k. I changed my water pump at 120k when I did the head gaskets.

I have heard the bounce the car trick for years, but I don't think it works. You really need to observe how the cars behaves when driven. If it bounces more than once after hitting a big bump on the road it may need struts. I had a car that was almost undrivable the struts were so bad, but I could bounce the car and it would only bounce once. Car springs are certainly dangerous. I do struts routinely myself, but it isn't necessarily something I recommend that people do. You need to be pretty experienced in the shop before trying it IMHO. I have seen cars where the compressor doesn't seem to fit in a way that seems safe, and cars where it works great. The struts on our 99 at ~145k miles are pretty much toast. KYB does make the OEM strut on our 99.

I have had an intermittent speedometer on our 99 outback with auto tranny for quite a while. I have been too lazy to fix it. Our cruise works regardless of whether the speedometer is working. Please try something for me...When the speedometer quits working hit the front windshield wiper button several times very quickly. Does it come back on? Works almost every time on ours, which makes me think it is the speedometer head or a bad ground. I think the sensor(s) are further back on the top of the tranny. I can look in the FSM and let you know if nobody else chimes in.

I personally would never replace just one of them. The additional parts and labor to do the second one is small, but very large if you have to do it in the future. I don't know the average longevity of the Phase I replacement head gaskets. Ours has about 30k on it. (fingers crossed)

I agree that the bulbs will burn out faster, but let me put it in perspective, 150 watts is about 0.2 HP. For those of us without DRL, running with the lights on all of the time is a cheap way to increase safety.

The CV joints are getting a little loose, but this vibration has been there for a long time. It vibrates under acceleration only from say 10 mph to 30 mph IIRC. I seem to remember a problem with the CV shafts causing a vibration on cars around '99 or so. I really don't mind the vibration that much but if the bearings in the diff are going out I would like to fix them. I get the impression from the FSM that the diff/tranny needs to be removed to replace the bearings, but the manual isn't very clear on that. No sound. No hood deflector. Definately drive train vibration.