Grumble7

I'm definetly going to try the jumper wire test this weekend. I'm also interested in the ignition switch portion too. The ignition switch is a bit flakey these days. Thanks Again and I'll post as soon as I get some time.

First, I'd like to apologize for not getting back to all the great posts in a timely manner. I've been tied up at work and could not get to this at all. I did do a load test and the battery checks out fine. I replaced the points prior to purchasing and installing a brand new oem starter. Same symptoms either way. Jumping battery doesn't improve starting. I still have a 50/50 chance of starting up. I never thought about the relays... I'll check on that this weekend. I also think the cables might have a lot of corrosion which may be causing the voltage drop that prevents starting. Not 100% on that though. Again thanks to all who took time to help. I'll post results as soon as I can try these ideas out. I expect to have some time this weekend if not then within a week or so. oh and its an automatic tranny

Yeah, i removed the cables and cleaned them well. also cleaned the posts well. I used a standard wire brush post/terminal cleaner. I thought about the starter being bad too but its the same symptoms as before I had the points replaced on old starter. The mechanic replaced the points and it still did this. So in short, these symptoms have been present from the original starter, after mech replaced points, then still after a brand new starter. I'd like to try something else before I try the starter again, but I'm at a loss as to what to do next.

My 95 legacy starts grudgingly 50% of the time, but other 50% just "clicks" starter. If I keep trying or have it sit for awhile it starts up at a higher % (80% of time). I replaced the alternator, starter (new not rebuilt), belts and tested the battery to make sure it's ok. Not sure what else I can check. I cleaned the terminals really well and checked all the connections to the starter. The only thing I can think of is that there might be a voltage drop over one of the wires due to corrosion underneath the insulation. other than that I don't know what other components affect the start up of the car. any ideas? Before I replaced all these parts, I had the old starter's points replaced and this still came up.

Thanks for all the replies, I topped off the coolant and threw the stop-leak in there anyway and have been rolling at normal op temp since. It might have been a fluke or just low on coolant.

No gunk in overflow, it overheats while I'm driving and cools down when it feels like it. When it is overheating I will not have any hot air, then out of nowhere i'll get hot air and it will cool down. I do get bubbles at radiator cap when I'm topping it off. Makes me think that there's a blockage too but mech said its most likely a hg issue. gonna throw some bar's stop leak in there now. See what happens. I drive about 115 miles/day all year round so I'm killing this thing.

I'm getting coolant temp fluctuations from normal to overheating on a regular basis now. Checked the t-stat, coolant level, and before all this I did a full timming belt job. Local mech said it could be a failing head gasket. Oil not milky, no white smoke from exhaust, coolant still green. If I keep the car i'd like to get this done at a place that does these kinds of jobs often. Anyone know a subaru specialty shop up here in orange county ny?

The front driver side tire wore out pretty bad on one side and the alignment tech said it was because that wheel is at a slight tilt, he said that is what the wedges would be for. I have access to a military auto hobby shop that also provides an alignment service for a fee. I'll check with them. These guys are salaried and don't have the incentive to scam. plus I can rent a lift and install the tie rod myself while i'm there.

Thanks for the reply, I have a lifetime free alignment thing with this car so all that is included. The problem lies in the alignment tech saying the car needs some camber wedges in the front to fix up the front end and a tie rod end needs to be replaced as well. I told them to do what they can for free and I'll do the rest of the work myself and bring it in again for another free alignment. I'm just having problems finding these dumb wedges lol. Everywhere I go online, they are not listed for the front. Just the rear. They did a pretty good job when I saw the before/after computer printout. But i want to get this resolved because I need new tires and don't want to kill them prematurely like the current set.

I did the exact swap you are asking about on my 1995 legacy wagon. No difference that I could tell but your odometer will show less miles than you actually drive due to the size difference. 1 inch doesn't sound like much but after 180k miles it added up to about an extra 25k. My math might be a bit off but there are internet based calculators you can use to find the differences.

I'm having a hard time figuring out what parts fit this car. I was told by a firestone rep that I needed alignment/camber wedges for both front struts (firestone part 13582a) but when I look up the parts online I can't find anyplace that lists cam wedges for this car. While searching, I found info pointing to moog part #k8358 but on the moog website it does not say that this is used in my car. Anyone have this issue before?

Yeah, luckily I saved the good t-stat and plan on doing the swap next week. The autozone crap looks sooo cheap compared to what I got from allwheeldriveauto. I'm surprised it works at all.

It was definetly an air bubble. Runs great now, no issues. Now for a couple mpg tests to see if it improved any. Big thanks to everyone who posted and helped me figure this out. I hope detailing this here will help someone else out.

I'm thinking air pocket or gunked up coolant passage myself. Still gonna let someone else clean it out. This is my daily driver so i need it yesterday. I don't think the radiator is messed up. I think the coolant just cant get through the engine right for some reason.

Flushed the radiator by using drain plug and running water through it. replaced t-stat with cheapo from autozone. still over heats and i notice that i dont get hot air when i turn on interior heater. so i think there's a blockage somewhere. the upper hose gets hot so the t-stat seems to be working. gonna have this thing power flushed in the morning by local mech that i know well. This sucks.

Going to flush the radiator out good, and replace the thormostat. maybe the new one got gunked up between the last 2 radiator pulls. wish me luck. BTW can being off on the timing mess up cooling without the engine running rough or making noise? And if the water pump was messed up wouldnt I hear some kind of noise? Thanks

Okay, well I used the "starter blip" method of getting the crankshaft bolt off and it worked like a charm. I replaced all the usual timing belt stuff, the crankshaft seal, and I replaced the crankshaft pulley with a grimmspeed lightweight pulley that fit perfect. (I know, I know. Why would you put a lightweight pulley in an old beater? Well, my only reply is "For shoots and giggles") Anyhow, after sweating my b@lls off and stressing out over timing marks that seemed to disappear whenever I tried putting on the lower toothed bearing, I put everything back together and started it up..... within 15 min of bleeding the radiator an engine light went off, the temp gauge started to rise a little but I ignored all this and drove it out of the garage. (i know...dumb move) It overheated within minutes of driving it. I limped back home and parked it. Gonna wait till morning to troubleshoot. During the timing belt job I changed the water pump, thermostat, and hoses. So at the end of all this I'm at a loss as to where to start. Maybe go with another new thermostat? It was running well before so I don't know why its bad now. The engine code was a temp sensor code or something of the such. I installed a new temp sensor a while ago so not sure why this came up. Any ideas from the pros? Thanks.

My 2 cents: I've only had 2 Subaru's a 1978 Subaru DL 1.8 and my current 1995 Legacy Wagon 2.2. I've put about 350k miles between the 2 and all in NYC and Upstate. Rust can be an issue but I've only seen it on places that I got dinged really bad (enough to chip paint) the important parts of the car don't have any issues due to salt. Just run it through a cheap automated car wash once a week or so during heavy salting season and you'll be good to go. Get some well rated all season tires and you will not have an issue at all. You will be passing stuck cars left and right during snow storms. Not even kidding either. If you like wagons then the outback works out well. The 5 door impreza is great too, kind of like a short wagon to me. You can drop the rear seats and put junk in the back like a wagon. Edrach wasn't kidding about the timing belt service either. Trying to do it myself on my 95 Suby and it's a project all right. And you need to tell most mechanics exactly what needs to be done or they will just change the t-belt but not the pulleys, tensioner or seals. Even the local Subaru dealer (middletown, NY) failed to mention the pulleys and such when I had them change out the t-belt. Good luck!

Thanks again for the offer O. I ordered the Grimm speed Crank Bolt tool and a lightweight pulley while impulse shopping:grin:. Gonna get knee deep in this next week and give it another go! I have a hard head when it comes to stuff like this. I'll update as I go along. I changed all the other stuff though (injectors, belts, hoses and all the hose clamps). Those stock hose clamps suck, and of course they were all turned away from any good angle to unscrew them. I ended up cutting all the hoses just to get the radiator out. At least I was already planning on replacing them all and had the parts on hand. Now the clamps are all easily accessable and new. BTW, the car is running exceptionally well. Noticeable improvement with new injectors. Gets up to speed easier. PITA to replace though, they were stuck in there good.

Well, I ran into the old "can't get the crankshaft bolt on/off" issue. Going to tray making my own tool for the second time in a few hours. The first tool (2x4 and some bolts) broke right away and bent the bolts too. I have to go to lowes to get some stronger replacement bolts and maybe a stronger piece of wood. Might even have to shelve this thing entirely if I can't get this fixed up by tomorrow afternoon. This blows. At least if I shelve this job, i'll have some new radiator hoses, thermostat, and injectors! LOL.

Thanks GD and O for the replies. I'm going to try the Autozone/Advance loaner. And I appreciate the offer O. I'll be operating on this car Friday morning. wish me luck! LOL!

I understand that no special tools are needed for this but some of the how to's describe the need to use a torque wrench at 79ft lbs to tighten the crank shaft nut. Is this truly necessary? Or can I get away with just my standard socket wrench? Hate to blow 120-150 bucks on something I wont use very often.

Thanks for the info, I'm ordering parts today. I'll let you all know how this repair goes.

Okay, after some investigating on the internet and searching this and other Subaru forums I still have not found some info that might just be very common knowledge to many of you here. The vehicle in question is a 1995 Subaru Legacy L Wagon. Looks like a CA emissions setup too. (Sticker under hood says "Federal and CA emissions certified" or something to that effect.) 1. I'm getting the above engine code a bit more often than i care to these days and I can clear it with my scan tool but it's getting annoying now. Plus I'm going to need to get my NYS inspection soon and this will fail me if it happens during the inspection. I'm assuming I can just replace the injectors with reman's (all 4 at once as recommended) or follow the following advice from seemingly respectable Subaru specialty shop that I found recently "the exhaust valve guides in the head can become loose and shift in the head. Or sometimes the valves become sticky and can also cause misfires. Something that a machine shop can inspect." I failed to explain the "open Circuit" code though, I just told him I was getting an engine light. 2. Timing belt time! I read almost all the posts regarding this very common repair but so far I have not come across anyone that stated they needed any special tools for removing and replacing the crack shaft gear (besides adj torque wrench for tightening crankshaft bolt). I'd like to be as prepared as possible. This is my daily driver and my spare car is a gas guzzler that although fun to drive it is missing some key features (a/c, radio, power steering is gone LOL) I am trying to keep this car alive till 500k at least, I'm up to 260K right now. Any advice would be much appreciated.