hop

found a trusted place in Ashland OR (where I'll be in a few days anyways) that will do it for ~$500. Will probably have them do the timing belt and I'll do the less intensive stuff myself.

I suppose I could attempt some of the work myself - I've worked on a'68 Chevy (!) and just recently replaced my alternator so I'm only a partial moron when it comes to cars. Could you guys help me figure out exactly what parts I'd need? I don't want to get all sorts of parts and realize they're the wrong ones. What tools would I need (assume I have none)? Would I need to pull the engine for any of this?

got the estimate back. Is $1000 about right for this? Timing belt kit (includes timing belt, timing belt tensioner, all required timing belt idler bearings and water pump) Water pump gasket Thermostat and gasket Coolant/antifreeze Install timing belt component kit with water pump and thermostat NGK G-power spark plugs Ignition wire set Fuel filter Engine air filter PCV valve Perform ignition tune up

Dealer? NO WAY! I don't have the tools/skills to do it myself so I was thinking of having Adam at http://www.nwrallysports.com in Bellingham do whatever I needed. He did the STI conversion for my friend featured in the snowboard movie GO! and has a great reputation amongst the Suby crowd in the area.

I've had my trusty Legacy wagon since summer 2004/115k and now it's almost 10 years later and she's got somewhere in the 205k miles on the ticker. I couldn't find the maintenance schedule online so I was wondering if there was a 200k service I should pony up for and what it would cover? How much should it cost ballpark? I have never done the timing belt but I assume it was done before I bought it. Clutch was done right before I bought it and AFAIK it's fine. Never touched shocks or struts, only changed the odd CV joint, alternator, oil, filters, brake pads and rotors when I waited too long... Currently there's a bit of a shudder in the brakes at slow speeds. Mysterious wiper issues have plagued me since 2007ish. 98% of the time they only work on fast. 1.5% of the time they work as they should w/ "int" and "slow" functioning. 0.5% of the time they don't work at all. Check engine light's been on since about 20 miles after I bought the car. I've changed O2 sensors repeatedly but the light always comes back on w/in a day or so. Mileage has averaged 25.5 mpg over the past 10 years, min 17 fully loaded max 31 so I stopped caring. So there's that. I'm expecting if I do everything I'll probably be putting at least $1k into a car worth about $2k. Ideally I'll drive her into the ground. My other longshot option is shopping around for a newer manual legacy wagon 05-09. I figure we've probably gone long enough to know what the failures on those are by now, right? If so, what are they? Are the engines as bomber as the EJ22?

Well, the problem is intermittent and of course when I brought the car in it was working fine, so he couldn't diagnose and wouldn't check stuff out until he could duplicate the problem. I totally respect that he's not willing to dive in for exploratory surgery but it's extremely frustrating, not to mention dangerous, to have wipers that crap out while driving. I need to find someone that's willing to check stuff out even if the wipers are functioning. It could be a simple "oh, that connection is loose" or it could be some major electrical gremlin, but I can't figure it out myself and I can't magically transport myself to a mechanic the instant the problem manifests itself. Rod's Japanese Auto has been recommended 2x. Will try there.

FML. ...anyone want to buy a Legacy wagon? Wipers work 99% of the time. Or recommend a mechanic (not NWRS - already tried and he's probably the only honest mechanic on the planet) that's willing to replace the entire wiper system (whatever that entails) somewhere in the Bellingham WA region.

I've been living with only having one speed (fast) on my wipers since 2007. Every once in a blue moon my wipers would "fix" themselves and work on Int and Slow for one minute/a couple of days before going back to only working on fast. I considered this a miracle and enjoyed the wiper control when it came back, but it always would end shortly. My wipers started working normally again this fall (October-ish) which has been a super ultra miracle, but the downside is that when they fail they TOTALLY fail, no speeds work and I'm left completely wiperless. This has only happened three times but they've all been in the last week of driving and (duh) always when it's raining/snowing. Needless to say this is crazy dangerous and unsustainable. Once I made it home using a little 6" inside squeegee to clear my windshield using my hand - only looking down the leftmost 6" of the windshield and having your hand out the open window every 100' of road when it's snowing out is not fun. Twice I pulled over and turned the car off and when I turned the car back on the wipers worked 100% again. That's great, but what if this happens on the interstate? I can't just instantly pull over and turn my car off/on. Now the problem is this: I took my car to the shop but my mechanic can't duplicate the issue so he can't diagnose/fix anything, and even though I've asked him to just replace EVERY component in the wiper system, he won't do it without a diagnosis. Who can help me figure this out?

Fixed. A fishing expedition with some long hemostats to grab and pull the broken wire from the 1st repair was the savior. The wire's been replaced by some cord from a line-throwing gun. Had I not been able to grab the end of the wire I'm not sure what I would have done. I took apart the entire seat but there is absolutely zero access to that spring-loaded latch unless you're going in from that side, and if it's stuck shut, you're not going in from that side w/o saws, knives, and massive damage to the seat. If this ever happens to you and you don't have a wire to grab I think the best thing to do is nuke the rest of your car from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.

Hi all, Hopefully someone can help me out with the latest problem with my 97 Legacy wagon: The little post that you pull up on to fold the rear seat down has broken off and the seat's locked up. This happened once before but I caught it before the seat locked in position so I just took the seat back off and put a wire in place of the rod that broke. Now, years later, that repair failed and it's stuck. Any ideas? I tried to get in through the hole (impossible) and through the back (equally impossible) so I figured I'd check here before I start unbolting the entire seatback. Of course this would happen on the eve of a big move. Drat. On a more positive note, after being stuck in ~23mpg per tank for the past three years, I got exactly 27 on the last tank.

I did a search and found some helpful tips on snow vs. all-season and other wintery stuff, but nothing specific for summer tires. Last week, I switched from my dedicated snow tires to my current summer tires and I was informed I think about new ones soon since they're getting close to bald. Then, yesterday I ran over a nice chunk of metal that made "soon" turn to "now". '97 Legacy L wagon, 205/50-16 summer rims. Some personal rec's have included Kumho Supra Ecsta 712, and tirerack reviews include Yoko S drive, General Exclaim UHP, Firestone Firehawk Wide Oval. The General has a nice price but unfortunately it's backordered. Anything else I should be looking at?

I've got a set of snow tires on rims that have a total of maybe, oh 15,000 miles on them? Unfortunately, the front ones have uneven wear on them from an alignment problem that has since been fixed. My question is can I just replace the front two and leave the rear two as-is or do I have to replace all four? I seem to recall hearing that having tires with mismatched wear (and therefore slightly different circumferences) will put added wear on my AWD system. Any ideas?

My wipers are only working on high-speed and I don't have time to futz and troubleshoot and repair them myself. I'm going to have to bite the bullet and have a shop do it. Argh. Does anyone have any recommendations in the Marin County area?

A search on similar topics revealed a few things I will check out but I didn't see any threads on this particular problem. This is for a '97 Legacy L wagon. A few months ago my wipers started to randomly quit then resurrect themselves when wiping in int and slow continuous speeds or in spray mode. They'd just stop wherever they were on the windshield. Sometimes they'd come back if I turned the wipers off and back on again, other times they'd take a while. High-speed wiping never had any issues and now it's my only option which is quite annoying when it's not raining hard. I'm guessing it's not the motor since high-speed works.... Anything else I should check before I start ripping things apart? Oh, I don't have the owners manual so any part descriptions/locations should be pretty specific. Thanks in advance, and thank Jeebus for summer!

I tried searching but didn't find any suitable answers, so here goes: My Legacy has two extra 12v sockets where the ashtray should go. Bonus! However, neither of them work. I have traced the wires as far as they will go and haven't had any luck figuring out what the deal is, and the fuse in the fusebox by the driver side door only deals with the standard cigarette lighter socket on the far right. Can anyone help me get these things to work? Thanks!

I got the codes read and replaced the rear O2 sensor like they said. Now the light won't go off. Well, it did, when the mech. reset everything, but it came back on within 20 miles. I went back to the mech. and asked them what was up, and they didn't know. reset again, back on again after 30 or so miles. went back, and they told me that w/o changing both front and rear o2's they won't know for sure. maybe I got a bad replacement Bosch, but how to tell unless they take the car and do their tests for $48989 an hour? I don't want to go replacing everything but at the same time I'm a bit pissed off at this. In other news, same thing with my battery and/or alternator. Now the car won't start when I leave the radio on for 10 minutes. I could change both, or I could change the battery (but a bum alt. will kill a new battery, right?) or I could change the alt. Sounds like that might be the way to go. Or I could just turn off the radio....

I sold my 89 v6 at camry sedan to get a 97 mt legacy wagon. they get about the same gas mileage city/highway. About 24/29. I maxed out with 31 with four people and four surfboards on the roof of the wagon, but when I had anything on the roof of the Camry it was painful. parts/labor/work/maintenance so far has been about the same, although I have only had the Suby since July and had the Yoda for 6.5 years. The Yoda was getting to the point where it wasn't reliable w/o some serious upkeep, and with nearly 230k on it, I decided it was time to sell. My first impressions on the suby vs. the yoda are: The yoda felt a bit more solid when you slammed the doors, etc. The Suby has some squeaks and rattles. The v6 had a lot more pep. Duh. Both trannys are smooth. The suby body style is way nicer looking than the mid-90's Camry shoehorn wagon.

Bueller... Bueller... Anyone... The direct-from-subaru part costs 126.95 according to my mechanic. That's a fair amount more expensive than a 50-80 dollar Bosch.

Got the codes read (code red code red... sorry) and they tell me it's time for this to be changed. What's the ballpark price range/hourly charge I should expect? Searching here led me to some $49-89 Bosch sensors, but are those as reliable as the Subaru-specific factory sensor? Thanks!

Thanks. I already have Thule bars from my old car and was thinking of getting the 415 feet for the front and then a rail attachment for the rear, so I can incorporate some of the ridiculous factory rack. However, from your post I assume the 415 will fit on the car around the FR. I guess my next step is to get to a rack dealer and see what my options are. Anyone wanna buy some Thule 380 feet? Fits 87-92 Camrys among others...

Hey all.... the standard '97 Legacy roof rack that I have seems to be set a bit far back on the car (like every other one I have seen... why'd they do that???) Does anyone have any experience putting a rocketbox-type box directly on the factory rack? Does the tail end hit the tailgate when opened? I'd rather not put another aftermarket setup on there if I can avoid it, but it would be nice to have everything a bit more centered on the car. My surfboard only barely fits on there as it is. Thanks.

I'm coming up on the 120k service and would like some recommendations on honest Suby mechanics in the Bellingham WA area. The dealer claimed a standard issue 120k service (assuming nothing was out of the ordinary) would run something in the near-but-sub-$500 mark. Sound about right?

I've been dreaming of adding a Westfalia-esque addition to my Legacy. I've seen some van-conversion bubbletops (non-popping, but improving headroom) on small foreign vans, so maybe it's possible? Any ideas on this? With a pop-top upstairs, I would have the ultimate weekend vehicle.

'97 manual tranny (obviously). What are the recommended RPM's for shifting between gears? I know some cars are designed to shift w/ higher RPM's and can be damaged/worn prematurely with low-rev shifts, and vice-versa. On a different note, I just got 29mpg with four people (and assorted weekend crap) in the car, and four surfboards on the roof! I love this thing!

Chilton only goes up to '96, and I haven't found a Haynes at my local shop. Is there one out there (basic is fine, but of course more complete is better) or is '97 too "new"?