jeryst

I have a 1998 Legacy Outback wagon. The other day, I got in to go to work as usual. When I turned the key, all of the dash indicator lights came on for a second, and then everything went dead. Assuming that my battery had just died, I jumped the car, and it started. Then I let it run for about 10 minutes to charge the battery, but when I shut it off and tried to restart, it just acted like everything was dead. So I replaced the battery with one that I pulled from another vehicle. The car started immediately, so, thinking that my problem was solved, I got out to shut the hood. It was then that I noticed my parking lights were blinking on and off. I checked all of my light switches, including the 4way switch, but none of them were on. My signal indicators on the dash were also not coming on. I turned on the 4way switch and my 4ways came on, including the dash indicators, so I turned them back off since that didnt seem to be the problem. Fearing that my battery would go dead again, I got in touch with the person I got the car from. He told me to push the alarm reset button under the dash, which I did, and the lights stopped blinking. So here are my questions: 01. If the alarm was going off, why wasnt the horn blowing? The horn works fine otherwise. 02. Why didnt the alarm reset after a few minutes instead of going until it killed my battery? 03. Is there a fuse for the alarm system? I've looked through the owners manual and cant seem to find one. Since the horn didnt blow, I was not alerted to the fact that the alarm had been triggered. I dont want this to happen again, and wind up with another dead battery and being late or missing work again because of it. Any help would be greatly appreciated. NOTE: Somehow this got posted twice, and I cant figure out how to delete one of them. Can a mod please delete this one?

I have a 1998 Legacy Outback wagon. The other day, I got in to go to work as usual. When I turned the key, all of the dash indicator lights came on for a second, and then everything went dead. Assuming that my battery had just died, I jumped the car, and it started. Then I let it run for about 10 minutes to charge the battery, but when I shut it off and tried to restart, it just acted like everything was dead. So I replaced the battery with one that I pulled from another vehicle. The car started immediately, so, thinking that my problem was solved, I got out to shut the hood. It was then that I noticed my parking lights were blinking on and off. I checked all of my light switches, including the 4way switch, but none of them were on. My signal indicators on the dash were also not coming on. I turned on the 4way switch and my 4ways came on, including the dash indicators, so I turned them back off since that didnt seem to be the problem. Fearing that my battery would go dead again, I got in touch with the person I got the car from. He told me to push the alarm reset button under the dash, which I did, and the lights stopped blinking. So here are my questions: 01. If the alarm was going off, why wasnt the horn blowing? The horn works fine otherwise. 02. Why didnt the alarm reset after a few minutes instead of going until it killed my battery? 03. Is there a fuse for the alarm system? I've looked through the owners manual and cant seem to find one. Since the horn didnt blow, I was not alerted to the fact that the alarm had been triggered. I dont want this to happen again, and wind up with another dead battery and being late or missing work again because of it. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

When I use the recirculate button, the air is instantly much hotter than without it. I mean really hot. A weak thermostat is what I originally thought but it seems like the difference is just to much too quickly. Now that its gotten a lot warmer out, the difference still exists. The temp needle reads just a little below halfway.

In my 97 Imorza Outback Sport, I have also experienced the problem with the windows fogging when the controls are set to recirculate, so I just never use that setting, but it still throws hot air when recirculate is off. I cant understand why the air isnt hot in the 98 Legacy unless the recirculate is on.

I picked up the car a couple weeks ago, when it was brutally cold here, and noticed that the heat was not blowing hot air. It was only barely warm, so I mostly just used the defroster/floor setting, and I made a mental note to have the thermostat changed. The other day, I was fiddling around with the heater and pressed the Recirculate button, but it did not light up. However, when I pressed the dash/floor button, the Recirculate button lit up and the heater began to put out very hot air. This is great because the car warms up quickly in very cold weather, but a by-product of using this setting is that in a matter of ten to fifteen minutes, the windows begin to fog up, so I have to switch back to the defrost/floor setting which clears up the windows, but only produces mildly warm air. So my daily commute of over an hour consists of alternating between the two settings every ten to fifteen minutes. Does anyone know why the heater only puts out hot air when the recirculate button is active and if there is a remedy?

I travel 130 miles daily round trip to work and back, so I am interested in FWD to hopefully save on gas when the roads are bare. There is an unplowed alley behind my house that gets some deep drifts, so that is when I would use the 4WD. Otherwise, in inclement weather, I would be using the normal AWD.

When going into the different modes, can this be done on the fly, or does the vehicle need to be standing still? Does some amount of wheel rotation need to occur in order for any of the modes to function?

It seems so simple, I cant understand why Subaru just didnt add a selector to their cars. FWD, AWD, 4WD. Just like the big boys.

Sorry, I meant Position #3 will OPEN the Duty C circuit giving me 4WD.

So this should work. If I get a 3 position rotary switch, I can set position #1 to close the FWD circuit, which will give me FWD only. Position #2 I wont connect to anything, so that will open the FWD circuit and give me normal AWD. Position #3 will close the Duty C circuit, which will give me 4WD.

Thanks Gloyale, I found the location of the FWD fuse.

When I look at the diagran for the fuse boxes, I dont see a fuse for "FWD". Fuse #14 is marked "Automatic transmission control unit". Is that the one?

When I look at the diagran for the fuse boxes, I dont see a fuse for "FWD". Fuse #14 is marked "Automatic transmission control unit". Is that the one?

If I install the switch on the wire from the Duty C selenoid, will it toggle between FWD and AWD, or will it toggle from AWD to locked 4WD, or neither?

Update: I took the car to a mechanic. After some continuity testing, he found there were some severly corroded and broken wires in a large plug inside the driver side kick panel. He fixed the wires and now my locks work fine with the drivers door switch. Thanks to all who replied and/or read this post.

Another dumb question. Why would the system be designed to send power to the wheel with the least traction? Seems counter-intuitive. If you have two wheels, and one has traction and the other doesnt, wouldnt you want to send power to the wheel with traction to move the car forward? Sending power to the wheel with no traction seems to defeat the whole purpose.

Ok, I thought it went like this: AWD: Power is supplied to the wheel with the most traction. 4WD (unlocked): power is supplied to the front wheel with the most traction, and the rear wheel with the most traction. 4WD (locked): power is supplied to all 4 wheels. Where am I going wrong?

On the current full time AWD, how many wheels are putting power to the ground at the same time?

I'd like an opinion on this from anyone that had the pleasure of owning one of the old push button MT vehicles. Any of you agree (or disagree) that the 4wd in those vehicles was better or more capable in dealing with offroad or deep snow situations?

Current vehicle is automatic. It's just my personal impression that once they got rid of the button and went to full time AWD, the system is just not as good. I had probably 15 vehicles with the push button 4WD, and this is my fourth full time AWD with AT.

So how did the old MT cars work with a push button? They were FWD until you pressed the button and then they switched to 4Wd. All I ever had were MTs until I got that 94.

Ok, so next question. Does it help, hurt, or make no difference if you warm up your car? I live in PA, and drive 65 mikes to work. Every morning I warm up the car for 1015 minutes before leaving. Does that affect HGs in any way?

98 Outback Wagon. My first full time AWD was a 94 Loyale Turbo Wagon, and I immediately noticed a difference in snow related performance compared to the push button 4WD cars that I owned previously.

I've owned Subarus since the 70's. In my opinion, the models that had the push button 4WD were far superior to the current full time AWD. With the push button cars, I used to have fun trying to find places where I could get stuck. They were like tanks that blasted through deep snow like it wasnt there. But the current full time AWD models just dont seem as capable to me in deep snow because even going through a couple inches of snow makes them slip and slide around. I would never consider taking the full time AWD cars to places I used to go with the old push button 4WD cars. I remember reading someplace, that you can convert the full time AWD to the old style 4WD by installing a switch someplace, and rerouting or reconnecting some wires. Anyone know anything about that?

Probably a dumb question, but could the passenger power lock switch be used to replace the switch in the drivers door? Are they two completely different switches, or the same switch but wired differently?