avk

JK: so is that true that the dashboatrd harness has the appropriate connectors for the navigation screen, GPS box, and for the wiring that runs to the disk drive under the passenger seat?

How long did the factory boots last?

It's not hard, just remove the "H6" cover and also the air intake horn to gain more room for the ratchet. Some money can be saved by either replacing bearings, or buying generic pulleys: it's all beaten to death on subaruoutback.org. As to the valves, I seems no one was ever able to adjust valves on this engine as regular maintenance, with engine installed in the car (if someone proves me wrong, I'd be happy to hear how they did it).

The bushings of that design are a wear item on all models.

Maybe that's how you drive (not that there's antything wrong with it). Mine still has the original set at 62,500 miles. I know it will have to be replaced due to age.

It's not the belt, it's the idler and/or tensioner pulleys. A well-known wear item for the 6-cyl. engine. I checked the pulleys at 60K and found noticeable play, so they were replaced preventatively. I did replace the belt because the old one was off anyway, but there was nothing wrong with the old one.

"I84" must be one of the connectors in the instrument panel harness that plugs into BIU. If you looked it up on the wiring diagram, there also should be figures showing the harness layout and component locations. I did want to say that BIU might a be a culprit in the problem you had, but that would be pure speculation on my part.

Among the three vehicles listed, the over-priced Impreza still has the suspension set-up from the original Legacy platform. The two others, 3d gen Legacies, have hockey-puck control arm bushings in the front that are prone to cracking, and in the rear there's multi-link that doesn't have as much travel. The engines are the same though, head gaskets and all.

Are there really drop-in LED units that come in that size (the size of the RadioShack bulb referenced above)?

Koyo.

They are easy to find for around $30 and even less.

Looks like sometimes there is a seep from a flared fitting where the high pressure line connects to the control valve (by the shaft). Both my '95 Impreza and '06 Tribeca do that. Very hard to reach if you wanted to tighten the flare nut, but not much to worry about.

What brand is the suspect part from Autozone? Probably better than what's in the picture, anyway.

I have a 2006 model. Bought it (just over a year ago) because it was put up for sale nearby, and wanted to try the 6-cyl powertrain. I do like it. Ours is a 5-seater. It does appear that the third seat was squeezed in only because the SUV market competitors were offering one, and those looking for a true 7-8 seater should shop elsewhere. Pricewise, it's a bargain compared to something like Acura MDX or Toyota Highlander of the same age and mileage, and easier to work on (except maybe for replacing the spark plugs). As to lifting and other modifications, one importantt factor is that aftermarket parts are not available, so it has to be an in-house job. Perhaps factory lifting spacers from 3d gen. Outback can work in the front, although something would still need to be done about the struts, but rear suspension is unique to the platform. There's no final word on whether the Tribeca will be discontinued. It might soldier on until somethiing new, jointly developed with Toyota, would come out. afterbang: I recall you sold because of a transmission problem, no?

At that mileage, could just as well use new brake hoses. No need to cut the brackets then.

Is it a good idea to let someone else work on a car that is 17-18 years old? A strong chance they overlook some things and bugger up some others. What was the part number for the ball joint?

On my Impreza, the rear end was sagging. Since I didn't know if it was only because of the bad struts, I ordered a pair of rear springs. But you wouldn't normally have to replace them. A pair of US-made Moog springs was around $55 shipped but the fit was questionable, so I ordered OE springs ($62 each) and am returning Moog. Diasppointed with Moog in this case, even paint was peeling off.

On my '95 Impreza, the rear mounts were corroded. A part of the metal "skirt" on the bottom side, outside the rubber, had rusted away over a good portion of the circle. I left the front struts for later because they're not completely gone like the rear ones, but I'd be getting new mounts for them as well. New bump stops were needed too. I bought boot kits with bump stops. Bump stops without boots are OE part only, but would cost more than an aftermarket boot kit.

Unfortunately, stupid me didn't mark the parts before disassembly, but the seats were rusty at the location of the cut end of the spring, maybe because the paint was rubbed off, even with the insulator in place. It was deep rust that had to be removed, luckily in a single spot on each side. So I would indeed be able to re-position the upper seats. I am actually replacing the springs. Bought new ones just in case because the rear end was sagging, and it wasn't clear if that was only due to the blown struts. The springs are Moog brand. They are correct for the wagon, according to the catalog at Federal-Mogul, but are wound a little tighter than stock and the top end is at a different clock position. They still fit because the upper seat is not indented and hopefully, they'll work fine with the original clocking of the parts.

Thanks. Those offsets, by radius or by angle, cannot be exluded yet, and I'd have to look more closely. The initial eyeballing wasn't enough to tell. Now, there is more of the tricky business, with clocking of the upper spring seats a.k.a. perches, which is also not documented in the FSM. The rear strut assembly/disassembly section refers to the procedure for the front strut. The spring seat on the front has a single orientation mark, "OUT", that should point to the steering khuckle. The rear spring seats, however, have three notches, something like 15 degrees apart, marked "4WL", "FF", and "4WR". I am reading this so that on an AWD model, "4WL" should point to the knuckle when installed on the left side, and "4WR" should be used on the right. FWD models would use the middle "FF" notch, whatever the second "F" stands for (perhaps just meaning the same notch on either sides). I checked with opposedforces and verified that there is only one number for that part, same for AWD/FWD and for left/right. None of that is mentioned in the FSM.

Simple test: I held two mounts against each other face-to-face so that their studs in each corner would align. Rotated 1/3 turn and they were still in alignment.

The new top mounts came in. As far as I can tell, they're fully symmetric with respect to 120 degree rotations about the center hole.They do have part number marked on one side, but there is no way to tell how that side would be different from the two others. No instructions are included, except for a tiny piece of paper that refers to FSM or to the instructions included with replacement struts. I do have the latter, but they say to mark everything with paint before diassembly, which is obvioulsy of no help here. I'm starting to think that the purpose of the FSM instructions is to ensure that the mount is re-installed its original position, should it be removed from the car and put back on.

The short answer is, "more than one can guess". There were year-to-year changes as well, both to covers and gaskets. I did try to source all of them when working on my '95, and it was a success except for the gasket behind the right-side cover which I couldn't find. Fortunately, it was foam and could be replaced with 1/8" weatherstripping. In the hindsight, that was a pain and probably not necessary. But if you do want all of them changed, go to opposedforces and get the numbers.

Thanks. I ordered Monroe mounts from RockAuto. They have not arrrived yet. Hopefully they're marked in some way, but what if they're not? Presumably, orientation is important because the axis of the center "cup", where the shaft goes through, is not perpendicular to the triangle.

Thanks again. I'll probably stick something into the bolt holes on the bottom and twist the strut to align it with the knuckle. Also, I wasn't realizing the mounts would fit only one way.