Scomber

Well, I've failed to get any of these parts for shelf spares, but I have had some work done on the car. I had the transmission gear oil changed at the dealer and the right stuff put in, and the clutch adjusted. The tech says he thinks it has the wrong clutch cable, but he did a fine job getting the release point up off the floor. And the synchros are working just fine now. The transmission is still 210k miles old, not exactly silk, but not bad at all. Despite the seller saying that it's going to need a clutch, there's no sign that that job in immanent. Now I just need to keep the rust chased, sort out the interior trim a little, adjust the headlights (rusted adjustors) and get a better stereo and I'll be all set. I'm feeling much better about the car than I was a week ago.

Okay, here's another one: There's a '02 Impreza with a 2.2 and a 5 speed. Is that the same tranny as my '98 Legacy?

Since I got my '98 Brighton six months ago, I've been finding more and more reasons to be suspicious of it. For instance, just now, the transmission synchros seem ornery. I've fixed a bit of rust and I'm mostly trying to make it last, and I'm keeping my eye out for certain parts that might come in handy if the car decides to have a grand mal on me. There's a guy who's advertizing some parts from a pair of '97s, both 2.2 auto. There's a 200k mile engine for $100, and it seems like if I were to have an engine problem, this might be a handy thing to have on hand, but it's for an automatic tranny. So my question is, how much work would be involved in mating this thing to my 5 speed?

Now and again my clutch feels funny, so I pull the floor mat back out from under it and it feels better again. Scomber

Being New Years Eve, I haven't been able to get it properly checked yet, but the light has gone out. I did speak with a local Subaru mechanic and he says a bad gauge sender is common enough. I'll get it done as soon as possible (Monday, I hope), but there are no suspicious noises coming from the engine. Scomber

Mine is bad too. I haven't figured out if it's an electrical problem, but as a stop-gap until I fix it right, I used some spare vinyl tubing and connected the rear washer pump to the windshield. Once I go ahead and do the proper troubleshooting, I understand that if it's a bad pump, NAPA will sell me an aftermarket universal replacement pump for about $20. Scomber

Mine is on. What are the odds? It could be the sender, or the pump. I haven't had a chance to get it checked with an actual mechanical pressure gauge yet. If the pump is bad, what kind of bill am I looking at to get it fixed? I just had the timing belt done a couple months ago. I sort of wish I'd had it looked at then. It's a '98 Legacy, 2.2L, 5 speed (if it matters), 206k. Scomber

I had a code come up that said I had an evap error. Will this thread help me with that? Scomber Sanctus

Now that I have electrical power again, I'm thinking of a CD player. My wife has one in her Scion that plays MP3 CDs, which would be a lot of music on one disc. I just talked to someone at the wrecking yard, and they say they've paid thousands of dollars for software that will tell me exactly what will fit in the '98 Legacy Wagon, and that there are only two years worth of radios that work, and I'm out of luck. So what will really work? As I said, I want MP3 CD. The aftermarket stuff is really expensive or really cheap looking. I'm thinking my best bet is Subaru original equipment, from sometime in the last few years. Scomber Sanctus.

I replaced the alternator this morning. One thing I noticed driving home tonight was how bright the headlights were. Obviously (20/20 hindsight) the reason the headlights were so dim before was that the alternator wasn't putting out enough juice. The accessory belt that drives the alternator was slipping, and I had it replaced as part of the timing belt job. So the new belt overcame the resistance in the alternator, overworked it, and finished it off. If your headlights seem dim, check your system voltage. Lesson learned. Also, I learned that my multimeter (the old one that happened to be in the car) is inaccurate, so Last night when it said I was down to 7 volts, I was actually around 11. Scomber Sanctus

I am home. A friend came and got me. Once we jumped it, the system voltage stayed at 7 volts. Clearly there's an alternator issue, most likely a bad wire from when the timing belt was changed today and the alternator was temporarily moved out of the way. Tomorrow I will bring a fresh battery and drive it on battery electrical power alone (no headlights) to where I need to go to get the issue fixed. Thank you all for your diagnostic help. Scomber Sanctus

So does that mean I should have continuity with the positive terminal from there? The wires have a bit of corrosion and a few strands are broken, but I don't see why they shouldn't carry current. Scomber Sanctus

Potentially Important Clue: The timing belt was replaced this afternoon. The alternator belt was also replaced. Scomber Sanctus

Bad alternator or bad battery. The things I like about these two options are that they both explain how loads that are touchy about voltage dropping out when other, larger, non-voltage dependent loads are engaged. Because the issue was briefly intermittent, I'm guessing alternator. I have jumper cables on board, and a friend is coming to get me eventually. So I can bring the battery into a parts shop to be tested, or I can test the alternator once it's jumped. I'm guessing it's the alternator. How do I test the alternator? It has to be pulled, doesn't it. Scomber Sanctus

DAMNIT! Mayday Mayday Mayday. The car died in the middle of traffic. I had to push it to get rolling down the side street, and it's now in the back post office lot in town. So, what would cause radio, speedometer, brake lights, and turn signals to cross? Battery now reads about 9 Volts. Scomber Sanctus

Here I thought I was just about all set with this car. But today I'm having the radio and speedometer drop out. They go dead, then come back a few seconds later. Several times it's happened just as I signal a right turn. Where do I look for the short? It's a 98 Legacy Brighton Wagon. The radio isn't the original, but it is Subaru, with cassette and weather band. Scomber Sanctus.

Congratulations. Drain what? And what oracle do you consult when you do research? Scomber Sanctus

Would that be true for a 98 as well? Scomber Sanctus

My 98 Brighton has less than brilliant headlights. At Maine's best surplus and salvage store (and worst source of Governors) I got a set of 55W fog lights for $15, and now I'm trying to install them. Despite the Impreza on the box, I had to drill new holes to fit them into the fog lamp spots in the lower bumper. Now I've got the lamps in place, but I'm trying to decide some things on the switch. Because my headlights seem to point down more than they should, and the adjustments are rusted up, I'm thinking the fogs should point up a bit, much like high-beam boosters. I've never had a car with fog lights before. What's traditional? Should I attach them to the high beams via a relay, drawing power off the battery? Should I put the switch on the dash somewhere? If so, where is most convenient? Scomber Sanctus

I just wired my 98 Brighton for a trailer. I built the trailer too. The tricky thing is that most trailers are set up with one wire for tail lights, and one for turn signals on each side. Somehow, the brakes get worked in too. In my case, without a bunch of diodes I didn't have handy, I had to wire for a flat 4 plug plus one separate wire. The separate wire does the tail lights. The flat 4 plug does left, right, and brakes. If anyone else uses my trailer with a flat 4 plug, it will work. If I use another trailer with a flat 4 plug, it will work until I have to turn on the headlights, and then the trailer will stay dark. Scomber Sanctus

I've got a '98 Legacy Brighton wagon with 14" rims. But 14" tires seem to be going away, and I wonder about replacing them with 15" rims with the same load capacity and outer dimensions. Has anyone done this? How's the ride? Does it fit the hub right? How has it effected how much you pay for new tires? Is the new, low aspect ratio 15 any easier to come by than a stock 14" tire? Scomber Sanctus.