Glenner55

Narrower winter tires will hslp in deep snow as is common in Manitoba, been to Flin Flon myself years ago. I have a 98 GT wagon and switch out my 205/55-16's for a narrower 15" 60 series winter tire on OBW rims, that works well here in Vermont. Biggest concern would be staying close to the same diameter to not affect speedo readings and of course clearance issues. Not sure if they are available in Canada but I use Semperit Sport Grip snows also offer an Ice Grip model that has worked real well and didn't cost an arm and a leg like Hakki's. For your summer wheel options any of the 16' wheels off Outback's or Legacy's will fit your car. Glenn

Problem was traced to a bad ground wire off the main fuse box, once fixed guage was good as new. Something to watch in older cars perhaps as it also led to false CEL readings and stalling at idle speed. Glenn

Check on the door sill and in the owner's manual for the correct tire size, I think it is a 225 tire. If the 235's on the car have the same aspect ratio (60, 65 etc) then these tires will have a larger overall diameter and your speedometer reading will be off. You will be going faster than the speedo indicates as the speedo counts wheel revolutions based on a certain diameter. The wider tire will also cause a slight disadvantage in snow as a wider tire has more contact area and will not cut through the snow as well. If you plan to be driving in heavy snow going to a narrower tire but with the same rolling diameter works well. A simple visit to www.tirerack.com will help you find the correct size based on the year and model. Glenn

The rear wiper uses a steel shaft that the blade attaches to. It passes through an alloy housing that is bolted to the rear door. The steel binds as the alloy corrodes and before you know it the motor is cooked as it is working very hard to turn the seizing shaft. If it's caught early lubricant will work but remove the arm and plastic covers to get oil into the area. I thought my motor was shot but after removing the whole assembly I was able to tap the shaft and motor out of the housing. Once apart I drilled out the alloy housing very slightly to increase the clearance. Once back together it works fine, 2 years later no problems. New motor was about $75 from the dealer. Lots of corrosion gets thrown up only the back window so regular oiling is critical. Glenn

Just go to the Dunlop website, or other tire manugfacturer to check outside diameter of each size. Typically changing the aspect ratio by 5% equates to 10mm in tread width hence they will be close in diameter. The 205's being a bit narrower will get you a bit more bite in deep snow as they have less floatation. Just look at the pro rally cars and the skinny tires they run in winter events. Trade-off should be good dry performance while getting a bit better deep snow performance. The 205/70-15 is also a more common size and should be easy to find for less money. Glenn

for anyone checking this posting here is the solution. Bad ground on main fuse box was causing the problem. Pulled the fuse box cleaned up the contacts and ran an extra ground wire off the battery terminal. That solved all the issues created by the bad ground causing the ECU to get erratic readings. Glenn

I picked up 4 used rims off an Outback, $100 at a local Subaru specialist. They were alloy but pretty ugly so I painted them gunmetal grey to mount my winters on. Look for places that buy wrecks for rebuilding. Given the number of Subarus here in Vermont there are cars in virtually every wrecker's yard. Auto Creek In Vergennes and Junction Auto in New Haven Vermont might be a place to start looking if you're local. Since I have a 98 GT I could use 15" of an Outback and run a slightly taller tire (60 series) to get the same rolling diameter as my 16" summer tires. On a newer Outback you probably need 16's to clear the brake caliper and to find an acceptable tire (diameter).

Had the same problem with my 98 GT wagon at 134K miles. Got the HG job done and it runs just fine. Looked at my alternatives and went to the local dealer for new head gaskets, cost was $1200. We have 5 Subarus in my extended family and regularly drive my wifes OBW with the 2.2L, it really lacks power in the hills. We have a beat 92 Legacy Turbo that puts out the same power at the GT and has been bomb proof for 196K miles. It's being retired to a local ice racer as the body is shot and it's too hard to swap it into the GT. Your best bet might weel be doing the HG job provided it was not severly overheated and has had the bottom end or heads damaged. Glenn

There are multiple threads about the infamous DOHC head gasket issues so do a search. I had the same happen to my 98 GT at 134K miles. Got it fixes now runs fine. There is talk of a class action law suit on one of the threads. Glenn

Had the exact same problem with a 98 GT (134K), it was the head gaskets. Car was fixed by the dealer for $1200 and seems to be fine except for poor resting idle speed which is tied to the idle control valve. If you keep driving it you risk damaging the heads which will be VERY expensive. See previous post today about overheating and welcome to the unofficial 2.5DOHC head gasket club. Glenn

John, As noted this is a common problem with the DOHC engines and is not being acknowledged by SOA as something they need to fix or be concerned about. The recall was not applicable to this engine, as I chased SOA on that point only the later version SOHC in Legacy/Forrester/Impreza cars in 2000 and on. My 99 GT had the head gasket go at 134K miles and was fixed by the dealer for $1200, luckily no head damage as I was told. If you're going to chase SOA with any sort of class action suit let me know since I share your belief that SOA has failed to address an obvious and well documented problem. While I had a lot of faith in Subaru and have recommended them to many people I'm beginning to suspect that they are moving towards a more marketing driven approach at the expense of some of their reliability and longevity. Glenn

Looked thru the thread and wanted to put a good word in for Semperit Sport Grips. Have run them for two winters on a 98 GT (205/60-15) mounted on old Outback mags bought from a local wrecker. Summers are 55 series 16 inch. Have had Falken EuroWinters that were only so so. Semperit is onwned by Continental and these tires were made in Portugal, go figure. Directional thread pattern not unlike the Hakka 10's but much less expensive. I used Semperits year's ago on a BMW rally car so they've been around at least 25 years. Comes in Winter Grip and Sport Grip models depending on size. I paid about $52 a tire from Tire Wearhouse here in Vermont. This tire on an AWD car really gets the job done and still offered very good dry weather performance. Great fun heading up the Sherburne pass and watching all the SUV's sliding off the raod on their all season tires. Glenn Vermont Winters

Sorry forgot to address your snow question. I have a seperate set of 15" mags from an Outback that I use for my snows. Car is great and only issue has been clearance on very few occasions. Tire Warehouse carries Semperit SportGrip snows for a lot less than Blizzak or Hakkas, I use a 205/60-15 snow to get same diameter as my summers.

Mine is a 98 so it may be a bit different. There are two hex head bolts that hold the assembly in place. Remove them and the whole unit come out. You were quoted a price for the entire light as the lens can not be changed by itself. If you pull the unit you can look to build a screen that will cover the lens area. You will get some snow trapped between the lens and the screen in winter. FYI I have 138K miles on mine in Vermont and have not broken the lense yet. Glenn

Still getting false gas guage reading after repalcing both sending units in a 98 GT wagon. Basically everything has shifted up the scale. Reads beyond full when I gas up and sits between 1/2 and 1/4 when the low fuel light comes on. Resistance across the sender is suppossed to be 0 to 50 ohms (empty-full) so that's the next check. Any other places you know of to look? Glenn

I have a 98 GT with fogs down in the lower bumper. Lense is plastic so pretty hard to break but easily pitted. No covers I know of so you'd have to make something yourself. You could easily use a screen material using the attaching bolts which sit up on the top front edge of the lights. If they are pitted you can clean them up somewhat with a plastic polish as used on the headlights. I noticed that mine were aimed very low at the factory so I turned them up a bit without affecting oncoming drivers. Also using a yellow coated bulb helped in the fog. Glenn

Car is a 98 GT so it has the 2.5 DOHC motor. Have had a bunch of work done recently and am getting check engine light but it comes and goes off with no set pattern. Had head gaskets done a month ago after which car developed poor idel, stalled at a light. Dealer says it's the idle sensor so we change that, runs fine for 2 days then problem comes back and light goes on again. Car won't start one morning so trace that to bad battery connection and to be safe replace the battery. In the worst case car stalls once warms up, about 20 miles, then when I restart it I have aterrible misfire, low power etc. Stop the car wait a minute fires back up and all is fine but still have the check engine lights. Leave it sitting for two days and when I start it no check engine light, runs fine for 50 miles then it's on again. Have even had it go out after car has sat for 10 minutes. Can't find a common condition to trace it to. Was there a recall from Subaru on the Mass Airflow Sensor on these cars? thought I heard that but of course the dealer never mentioned it when I had the head gaskets done. I did get a free alternator though on recall. If anybody out there has seen this please tell me where to start loking please. Winter is coming and I hate being stranded in the cold. Thanks, Glenn Vermont

I have mounted a pair of Cibie Oscar Plus long range driving lights on top of the front bumper of my 98 GT, they sit just inside the headlights so they don't block the radiator. They are wired to the high beam circuit so they will only come on with my high beams. They have a seperate switch so i can disable them and use only the high beams when I need less light. Have them professionally installed with a relay to protect your electrics and don't use anything bigger than a 55 watt bulb. With a large lamp, they're as big as a 7 inch headlamp, the reflector size will create a lot of light without the need for high wattage bulbs. As noted in another reply to your post you get waht you pay for. I've used Cibie lights for 20 years on a variety of cars they're among the best. Cibie lights are avaiolable on the internet at www.cibie.com but they aren't cheap. \

Just had both fuel tank sender units replaced but still getting bad readings off the guage. It won't get below 1/4 tank reading even when I'm down to 2 gallons left in the tank and the low feul light comes on. Once filled needle goes well above the F (full mark) and stay at full for 100 miles or about 4 gallons of use. Any experience with this please reply. Car is a 98 GT wagon

I have mounted a pair of Cibie Oscar Plus long range driving lights on top of the front bumper of my 98 GT, they sit just inside the headlights so they don't block the radiator. They are wired to the high beam circuit so they will only come on with my high beams. They have a seperate switch so i can disable them and use only the high beams when I need less light. Have them professionally installed with a relay to protect your electrics and don't use anything bigger than a 55 watt bulb. With a large lamp, they're as big as a 7 inch headlamp, the reflector size will create a lot of light without the need for high wattage bulbs. Cibie lights are avaiolable on the internet at www.cibie.com but they aren't cheap.

I have a 99 GT with the 2.5 DOHC engine, had same problem which turned out to be exhaust gas blowing by the head gasket into the cooling ports in the engine. Not pretty kept filling the expansion tank by pressurizing the cooling system and not allowing the collant to cycle thru the radiator. Leads to major overheating and a $1220 repair. Keep an eye on it and ask about Subaru's recall on some of the 2.5 engines. They were extending warranties to 100K and using some additive to the cooling system. Hope for your sake it's just a rediator cap. The head gaskets are a BIG problem and perhaps covered elsewhere on this site.

I got one from a wrecked car to wire driving lights on a 98 GT. Fits in empty space next to fog light switch. Be sure to clip the end plug off to connect to those leads. If done right, using relays, you'll be fine. If you can't find one try Auto Creek in Vermont they have a pile of parts.