Red92

On the Loyales, the crank is in a small pouch which can be found snapped to the front of the rear seat, near the floor, on the passenger side. The pouch is made of carpet material, so it is easy to miss. I looked all over for mine before finding it, because I had thought it was *under* the seat. (Yes, I do know that this thread is 7+ years old... but it still comes up in the search, so I figured I might as well add on to it in case anyone else finds it in a search and is wondering where their crank is.)

Just to add a bit of information- At least on my car, this fuse isn't the only one for the auto belts. I found that with the fuse removed, it made the belts automatically power themselves to the rear position. My rear limit switch must have been a bit sticky, as the motor buzzed a bit (with the belt all the way back) before it decided it was done. So if you're looking to *fix* your auto belts, definitely check this fuse, but note that there is at least one other fuse somewhere. And if you're looking to *disable* the auto belts, the same applies- there is more to it than this, and it might not solve anything if your rear limit switches (or their wiring) are flaky or non-functional.

Sounds like the ABS. When it buzzes, do you feel the brake pedal pulse? And more importantly, is it snowy/icy/slippery when this is happening?

To me, 'handbrake' is a type of brake, whereas 'parking brake' and 'emergency brake' are functions of a braking system. For example, the 'handbrake' is a great design for use in emergencies, as you can hold the button and modulate your braking force easily to control your stop. It also works as a parking brake, so both terms would seem appropriate. The "modern" push-on push-off foot brakes however? I don't think of them as emergency brakes, only as parking brakes. Because in a true braking emergency, their "on/off" nature and the inability to modulate braking force could actually throw your car out of control rather than helping the situation! As for the 'why' question... well, my bet would be that the handbrake was replaced by a foot brake because modern hydraulic systems have proven themselves "reliable enough", and consumers would rather have the extra cup holder space.

Thanks for the tip! Which TSBs are locked? I downloaded 87 for my Legacy and 154 (!) for my Loyale, and all of them that I've tried have opened fine. I haven't started on the wiring diagrams yet though...

Yep, I would have bought that one too. Good luck fixing it up!

Do you have a link to the old thread? From those recent pictures, it sure looks like it's worth a heck of a lot more than $400 to me...

This is just the Subaru's way of letting you know how it feels about your recent Landcruiser talk.

Here's the flickr page for it, which includes a huge high-resolution size. http://www.flickr.com/photos/lindatreichphotos/4576029001/sizes/l/in/photostream/

Yeah, there are all kinds of ways to bend that definition and make it fit. Particularly for the states that include "test drives after vehicle maintenance" and "to and from a place of repair" in the descriptions. Drive a car that is old enough and needs enough work, and it pretty much always applies. But think about it all the way through though. I was going to go this route for a car that genuinely fit the intent of the description (<200 miles/year of driving)... but I found out that it would have been a huge hassle with insurance of all things. Anything registered with the state under any of the "collectible" categories gets you into this odd category... My insurance carrier had higher premiums, required proof of covered & locked storage, and wouldn't cover it if it wasn't 100% stock. A third-party "specialty" carrier would have done it, but they required the same covered/locked storage as well as an appraisal. I also would have lost my multi-vehicle discounts, as the specialty carrier wouldn't do "normal" vehicles, so I would have had to use two carriers. In the end, it was far cheaper and far easier to just keep it registered as a "normal" car.

Do you have the buyer's name? Was the buyer a USMB member? If you know the VIN, you can pull up the vehicle history report and see where it was last registered, or if anything serious has happened to it.

Ok, in the daylight with a flashlight, I found the problem. The passenger side plastic end tank is cracked, about a quarter of the way down from the top on the front side. :-\ I also noticed that the bottom of my radiator isn't sitting right in the supports, and the air conditioning condenser is deformed (pushed back by several inches in the center). It looks like you would expect from a low speed collision with a trailer hitch. :-\ So even with a replacement radiator, I'll probably have to straighten the condenser before I can put the radiator back in the supports.

Here's the formula to calculate a safe redline: Redline = 5000 + [your mechanical ability from 1 to 10] * [number of spare engines you have] * [number of other drivable cars you have] / [minutes until the store closes] * [how much you like the exhaust noise] / [how far below E the gas gauge is] + [1000 if engine was recently rebuilt] + [1000 if engine needs a rebuild anyway] - [500 if you live in California] + [1250 if friends are in car] - [1500 if AAA membership is expired] + [1500 if you have an aftermarket intake and stickers] + [(random guess) if you don't have a tach] - [2000 * (number of miles from home) if noise becomes worse]

I had a truck once (non-Subaru) that made more engine noise after a servicing... it turned out that the pulleys (crankshaft, alternator, A/C, etc) were slightly misaligned, and the old serpentine belt was quieter because it had worn down to accommodate the misalignment, masking the problem until I got a new belt. Just throwing that out as a possibility, but I'm not sure that this situation would persist for 15k+ miles...

Thanks guys. I'll give it a good visual check today. I'm assuming that the best way to locate the leak is to clean everything, fill it back up with antifreeze again, run it until it warms up (pressurizes), and then see where it is leaking from? I've been reading that cracking of the plastic end tanks is pretty common, and it looks like the radiator at RadiatorBarn ($155 with free shipping) is listed as "all metal", so that's good. It looks like they only come in the "Manual and Automatic Transmission" variety though - you get the trans cooler regarldess. If it comes down to it, would it be better (cooling or reliability wise) to source one without the auto trans cooler in it?

You must be dreaming. The split boots on the air-cooled VWs were only for the swingaxle transmissions (spade axles with fulcrum plates as a universal joint), designed as easier replacements since it was so much work to pull the axles on those to replace the non-split boots that they normally had. Any ACVW with CV joints would have used non-split boots exclusively (IRS trans, for what it is worth). I don't think split boots were ever available for CV jointed ACVWs, probably because it was so much easier to pull the axles off.

Ugh... so just this morning, I picked up my car from the shop after getting the rear brakes replaced (thread here: http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=128637), and this afternoon I came out to where I had parked it, and there was a puddle about a foot in diameter, right under the front of the car (passenger side). This car doesn't leak anything, so this is new. I figured the shop might have forgotten to close a bleeder on the ABS pump, since the puddle is directly under it, and the tray under the ABS pump is damp... but the brake fluid reservoir is still full. I pulled out a flashlight, and the fluid puddled in the suspension arm is green. It must be coolant. The overflow tank still has some antifreeze in it, but when you pull the radiator cap it isn't completely full. It's hard to tell how much is in the radiator though, because of that bend in the filler neck. Do I even want to know how much a radiator costs? We've had some really cold days here lately... temps down in the single digits at night. But it was slightly above freezing today. Not sure if they are related. A leak would also explain why the coolant was a bit low when I bought it.

Hmmm... Is/was it a promotional vehicle? Or perhaps a bizarre creation from your parts stash, a Subaru homage to Johnny Cash's "One Piece at a Time"?

The tapping would be if you have to replace the studs due to damage to the original aluminum threads. If the nuts all come off the studs nicely, you shouldn't have to tap or replace them when changing the manifold. But since the mechanic said that they can't tighten the nuts, then either they are rusted solid (which means that the stud will probably come out if they are loosened), or they have already been tightened until the aluminum yielded and they are just spinning. As for why you would need to re-tap the aluminum: It could be that the aluminum galled up when the studs were removed, or that the nut on the exhaust had been overtightened and pulled the original aluminum threads out. It could also be that the exhaust was changed at some point, the stud came out (rusted nut, etc), the replacement stud wasn't installed deep enough when it was put back, and then (with fewer threads engaging), it stripped out when it was tightened. I've also seen aluminum heads (non-Subaru) where the exhaust studs had a thicker knurled section, so that as you screwed the stud in (the FIRST and presumably ONLY time), it would chew up the last section of the aluminum threads and lock the stud in place. When these come out, they pull that chewed up aluminum out, and you are left with an enlarged hole and fewer threads for any replacement stud to screw in to. I'm not sure if Subaru studs were designed this way... but I suppose there is always a possibility that one could have been put in after the fact.

Is it one of these?

Yes, I know... yet another automatic seatbelt thread. But I searched, and didn't find an answer to this. The automatic seatbelts on my '92 Loyale have been dead since the day I bought it, "permanently" parked at the rear position. This was fine for me, as they had failed in the "safe" position. A few weeks ago though, I pulled the battery to give it a charge (since the car doesn't get enough long drives to keep the battery up), and when I hooked it back up, imagine my surprise when the drivers side seatbelt moved forward! But unfortunately, it is now stuck in the forward position and won't come back. I've read about the hex crank (supposedly under the rear seat on the passenger side), and that there is a cover to pop open on the pillar to manually crank the seatbelt back... but the question I have - once this thing is cranked off of its limit switch at the front, isn't the motor going to try to automatically start pulling it again, one direction or the other? Do I have to unhook the battery, or disconnect some other wiring to keep this from yanking the wrench out of my hand once I start cranking? How much of the trim has to be removed to get at the wiring connector on the motor, or is there a fuse or other more convenient way to disconnect them? Thanks

An update- I took one more shot at it last week, but couldn't get the right caliper to budge. With that, and with the weather we've had (daytime high temperatures in the teens), I decided to just take it to the shop. :-\ I got a call from the shop the next day, and even with a torch, things were so rusted that they couldn't get the caliper off either! So now I have the car back, with two new discs, new pads, and... a replacement caliper. It cost more than I wanted to spend, but brakes are too important not to fix properly.

Well, the new year has arrived, and here is your chance! http://desmoines.craigslist.org/cto/2773233177.html Good luck with the sale, bheinen74.

There's a ton of info about Legacy suspension swaps over at LegacyCentral. In particular, the threads linked in this thread: http://bbs.legacycentral.org/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=35322

Welcome to the forum. There's a ton of info about Legacy suspension swaps over at LegacyCentral. In particular, the threads linked in this thread: http://bbs.legacycentral.org/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=35322