Red92

I found these pictures a few days ago... another red ('Cranberry Pearl') '94 Legacy GT that was for sale a while back. What do you guys think of the wheels? They're the same as the wheels I have, just painted a bit deeper brass color instead of the very light (faded) goldish-silver that they came in. They look a lot sportier to me when they're painted, but I can't decide if I like 'em or if it is too much. Mine again for reference:

I can't quite tell... are your wheels silver in color? Or are they that light shade of gold? They almost look silver in the pictures...

An EA82 wagon convertible would be pretty sweet too! zzz

You could build one of these!

Sounds like the exact same symptoms as my '94 Legacy with a broken spring on the strut. Check both sides, but particularly the side that it pulls towards. It helps to jack the car up so that the suspension is fully extended, but be mindful of where your hands are at and make sure the car is supported properly. Mine actually has *two* breaks in the spring, but you can't see the top one when the suspension is compressed. You couldn't really see the lower coil being broken either unless you poked around at it and made it move. Broken lower coil: Broken upper coil:

I too would be interested to know this.

My brother had a car once where the alternator was dying. The battery would get low enough that when you hit the brakes, the electrical load from the tail lights dropped the voltage enough that the engine would quit. I'm not sure what electrical part quit first- fuel pump, ECU, ignition... but it would run and drive great, just die at lights or when you were slowing down. In his case, this also made it harder to start though. So if yours starts right back up fine, it is probably something else...

I called one of the local dealers here about some other parts, and they always ask the standard questions to make sure they're getting you the right parts. I told him it was a '94 Legacy GT, AWD, manual trans... non-turbo... wagon.. he said "Ok, with the 2.5". No, the 2.2. He looked for several minutes in his computer and couldn't figure it out... it kept coming back as 2.5L. So I asked him if the 2.5 was even available in 94? He thought about that for a second, and then concluded that their system didn't have the '94 GT in it. So it's not just KBB!

FYI - be sure to do some reading on the 2.5 head gasket issues before you decide to go that route...

Found another good reference on Legacy Central - how to fix the broken off connector on the rear window defroster: connecting rear defroster wires http://bbs.legacycentral.org/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=45294

I should also link in a separate thread I have going for my lock issues: Re-Keying a '94 Legacy? (3 separate keys!) http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=126804

Thanks for the write-up and the pictures! Clunking aside, were your old bushings noticeably worn out at all?

It's not in 4WD mode, is it? (either intentionally, or stuck due to a failure) More info in this thread: http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=11390

I just found a pair of really good threads over on Legacy Central about replacing the shifter bushings. Diagrams, how-to guides with pictures, and part numbers! Shifter bushings... Floppy shifter questions with NEW pics* http://bbs.legacycentral.org/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=40266 P/N's and pic of shifter bushings (now with 56K warning) http://bbs.legacycentral.org/viewtopic.php?t=37134 It sounds like a time consuming job, but everyone says it is worth it. I probably won't do this right away, but eventually I will.

Hmm... Are you using the regular Simple Green? I know a lot of automotive people have quit using it, particularly on wheels, because it is corrosive to aluminum... They apparently make an "aviation grade" version of Simple Green that is safe for aluminum, but I have no idea where to buy it (or how much it costs).

Those seats look great! Much more in tune with what I am looking for. :cool: Is it just my eyes though, or is the car an auto in one picture and a manual in the other? Yep, mine is a 5-speed manual. I'm not a big fan of automatics in general. I'm looking at a '92 service manual... it looks like there are two engine mounts up front, a pivoting mount up on top ("Pitching stopper rod"), and a crossmember assembly with several different "cushions" on it. Without crawling under my car, it seems like that top one would be pretty easy to change.. and my hunch is that those rear mounts on the trans would be easier to change than the engine mounts. Those are just guesses though, I've never changed any of them before.

What's your technique for engine detailing? Mine is definitely going to need a good cleaning as well!

Ok, I drove it a bit tonight, and have a few more things for the repair list. * The right front speaker doesn't work at all * The shifter moves forward/backward a bit when you accelerate. I'm assuming this means the transmission or engine mounts need to be done? Any tips on which ones are most likely to be the problem, and how difficult they are to replace?

Huh. I guess this isn't as rare of an occurrence as I thought.

Or you can make a donation ("Paid Subscription") to USMB, and get access to the "Pictures & Albums" right here on the site. Nice and easy!

Hmm, that's an interesting thought. I bet you're right. It certainly is rusty on the broken ends, but I attributed that to the ends being exposed unprotected metal. The majority of the spring still has its protective paint and looks pretty good... but I suppose it will always break at the weakest point. So if the protective paint got nicked or cracked and it rusted in those two places, then that's where it would break. The first-gen Legacies are out there! When I was looking for an EA82 wagon, it seemed to be a 20:1 ratio of cars for sale, with Legacies everywhere. Not a lot of "good" ones, but plenty of average ones. Are you looking for one now?

Thanks everyone. I re-keyed an old VW a few years back, with the same sort of technique with the wafers... only I just bought a few spare locks, and took 'em all out and sorted through to find the ones I needed without filing them down. So I think as long as I can get the lock cylinders out, I should be OK with that job. Thanks for the info, 987687. For the ignition, I've replaced the electrical switch portion before, but not the lock cylinder. johnceggleston- you mention that it comes apart without removing the plastic - does that mean that the ignition cylinder comes out the side, and not out through the bottom? Also, here's another puzzle. On the rear hatch, the key will unlock it... but the same key won't lock it. I can't remember - can these hatches be locked with the key, or were they supposed to just self re-lock with the power lock when you closed it?

Yeah, mine is missing both of the hatch badges as well. They tend to fall off after a while... I lost one on my other Legacy as well. Do you have any pictures of the WRX seats? Were they a straight swap? I took another look at the broken strut today, to see if I could get that loose coil out so that it would be safer to shuffle the car from place to place without worrying about it getting caught up. After trying to free the coil, however, it seemed like it just wasn't free enough, and I couldn't figure out why... then I turned it around, and found that it had a pair of wire ties (one sturdy, one just a thin twist-tie) holding it in place! So someone in the past had known that this coil had broken, and decided not to fix it, and to rig it instead. The previous owners said they hadn't known it was broken until they took it in for some brake work... and I'm inclined to believe them... so perhaps this has been broken for the whole 4+ years they owned it? That would explain the wear on the front tires... and the rust on the broken ends would back up the theory that this wasn't a recent breakage. So I unwrapped the wire, and jacked the car up so that I could slip it past the strut center where it is smaller (above where the plastic boot covers). Anyone need a new earring? I decided to check the rest of the strut out, to see if I would be OK with just a spring replacement, or if I should replace the whole thing. The rest of the strut was fine, but I found out that the TOP coil of the spring had also broken off! It is still sitting in the top mount, wedged in place by the spring pushing it up from below. I don't know what they did to this poor car to cause a spring to break *twice*! :-\

Thanks everyone. 1982gl4 - What all parts did you transfer over to your L? ShawnW - Thanks for the offer, I'll definitely keep that in mind. I'm going to try to find parts locally first I think, as I *********ume the shipping costs would be quite high for a pair of struts... But again, thanks. I'm hoping to do this suspension change pretty quickly here, as I'll be quite busy late October / early November, and I *really* want to get this drivable and get a few more things done to it before the snow hits.

I had a similar problem on an old VW when the fuel line had some debris in it. It got enough gas to idle just fine, but once the fuel demand increased, it couldn't get enough through to the carb and started to stumble.