JT95

Yeah--I've gotta switch filter brands. I'd always used Fram, but reading up on filters has decided to go a different route--I think I'll do a NAPA oil filter next go around...

The discussion on the newly unveiled 7 passenger Subaru suv got me wondering about this new grille references are made to as being the signature grille of the next Subarus. Sorry if there pics are old news to you all--I just looked them up. If Subaru goes to this style with their current successful cars, do you think they'll sell? Now, I realize that concept cars are lots of times far off from what actually hits production, but evidently this new look is on the new B9X...

The body line of the rear door over the rear quarter section looks good. That's about it. What amazes me is that people get paid great gobs of money to create these ugly, distorted looking designs. Who, in his right mind, would look at the front of this vehicle and say "Wow, that's really a nice looking suv." Nothing flows on the front of this thing...it looks like some melted Chrysler grille design gone severly awry. And, by "new signature grille" do they mean this is what is in store for all future Subaru designs????? Surely they showed the concept design of this mutant to test groups--you can't tell me Joe Public said he liked it. I was on a consumer survey list for over 6 months with Chevrolet when they were making final designs on their new Equinox--they asked for gobs of response before I ever saw anything publically publishe/advertised about that suv. As far as the "I'm not really a truck" suv category, other than the Subaru clan this is a nice looking design. They look good up close. I'm scared to see this new Sube creature in person... I'll have to say that there are very few praiseworthy automobile designs out there today. Part of the problem is they get art institute people to sketch concept designs and most of those folks aren't "car people".

I know some people here frowned at Valvoline oil, but I recently added my second batch of Valvoline Max Life oil to my 2.2. The first time I filled my 95 with it was with a $14.00 rebate for buying 5 quarts. Can't beat 5 free quarts of oil. This is the busy season, and I was bad and was late at changing the oil--went almost 5,000 miles with it. When I changed the oil two weeks ago it looked great--still that nice, light honey brown color. I don't know if there is any real difference between this Max Life oil (my car has 157K on my odometer) and their "regular oil, but I'm going to keep using it and see how things go.

Yeah, mine has the 50/50 power split when in 1 or 2. I did a lot of driving in 2, but when this fish-tailing sensation happened I was in 3 or D, as the speed I was traveling was too fast for 2. I wish my car had a nice 50/50 button to push whenever i wanted. The new Baja turbo I looked at was neat with a 40/60 split--I bet that would be a fun drive...

I had my first winter weather driving experience last week (I'll post a few pics when I get the pics in a few days) and overall my 95 wagon did really well. The roads were, for the most part, packed snow with many places a slick layer of ice crusting the top. As far as driving through snow, which was a little over a foot, my Subie did great. The road handling was good as well, although you can't expect too much from any vehicle when ice is on the road. Anyway, as the sun went down and the temperature dropped closer to 0, the roads got extra slick. This is my first AWD car. Both my wife and I noticed, whle driving, that we would periodically get a mild fish-tailing sensation from the car. Not a big, out of control fish tail or anything--just a light and slight movement of the rear of the car. It wasn't anything major, but the feel did catch me off guard the first couple times it happened. My guess was that the car's AWD system would send more power to the rear wheels when it would sense slippage of the front wheels, and, since we were pretty much driving on ice, when the power would get transferred to the rear that would cause a bit of slippage back there, giving the fish-tailing sensation, as the back of the car is not as heavy as the front. Sound reasonable? Any other people have a similar experience with their AWD cars?

I'd have to totally agree that you should steer clear of a dealership that tells you rusty brake rotors need replaced. Look at any brand spankin new car on their lot and you will see rusty brake rotors. That's not to say the rotors aren't worn on your car, but why in the world would a mechanic tell you they are rusted??? I would notify SOA.

Now, there's a thinker. I'd get my trusty floor jack out, put the car on four jack stands, and start her up.

I drove a Subie in the winter elements for the first time last week. We live in KY, but my wife is from northern OH, so we were up there last week before Christmas. After passing through Columbus--heading north--Wednesday morning, the snow started. By that afternoon/evening the gound and roads were covered in deep, deep snow. That night a crust of ice covered everything as well. I was impressed with how my 95 Subie wagon did in the snow. Most of the road driving was over iceed over packed snowy roads, and there's only so much any car can do on ice. My tires are far from snow worthy tires (they are in need of being replaced), so I would have loved seeing what the car could do with appropriate tires. My only gripe was ground clearance. I have a Legacy, and my undercarriage drug, which was not always pleasant because some of the stuff we went over/through was hard packed and iced over. I only got hung up once--in my brother-in-law's driveway, which was 1.5 feet of hard snow with two ice-slick tire paths cut by a 4x4 pickup. (I think my lack of ground clearance is what hurt me there.) My brother-in-law is a die-hard UAW man, so I'm sure he was thrilled to help me give my Japenese car a nudge. My wife was glad that the car got hung, though, because that allowed her to slide behind the wheel and take over for the rest of the day. Most of the roads we traveled in OH were never salted or scraped, which both surprised an annoyed me. Most saw no attention until after day 2. We headed south on Saturday. I have never seen so many cars stranded on the sides and in the middle of the interstate. It looked like the aftermath of a war zone. I didn't see a single Subie abandoned and covered in snow, though...

Welcome aboard. I recently started driving a 95 Legacy LSi wagon. It has the overdrive auto tranny, though. I have 156,000 miles on the original 2.2. I think you will love the 2.2. It seems to be a very durable engine that is a joy to work on as far as routine maintenance type things. (Oil changes and spark plug swaps are a snap--so easy to reach everything...) I would definitely find out if the car has had its timing belt replaced. If you can't verify this for sure, go ahead and have it replaced. It is supposed to be done at the 100,000 mile mark. Now, you'll also need to find out exactly when the replacement engine was put in the car and the story behind it. Was it pulled from a salvage yard Subie? If so, what model/year and how many miles were on the doner car? It is possible that your engine could actually have more miles than your car. Of course, it is also possible that the engine has much fewer miles as well. Still you need to get the story on it.

I think it's pretty obvious that the car had a mangled rear door that was replaced. I have found that finding the exact replacement part you need for a Subaru from the salvage yard is not always easy. For one, Subarus are not quite as common on the road (and thus in a junkyard) as are Mustangs or Cavaliers, but also anything newer Subaru that is remotely fixable gets snatched by the rebuilders pretty quickly. I'd say the power window door was all the dude could find and did the best with it with the minimal hassle. (At least it works--a lot of people would have left it non-working.) Anywho, just ask the dude who owned it how the car had been hit. You already paid for it, so it's not like it matters what he tells you anymore. Look at all your rubber moulding/trim on the exterior of the car--does any of it have a thin line of paint on it? If so, the car was partially or totally repainted. If that is the case, then you may have a little bit or mounds of Bondo hidden beneath. (If done right, Bondo isn't necessairly a bad thing, though.) If you notice that the power window door's paint is just a tad out of shade with the rest of the car, then that was probably the only thing damaged and replaced/repaired/painted. My only concern would be the alignment of the car. Make sure the car was checked for proper alignment after being hit (if the hit was moderate to hard) and find out if the car was put on a rack and pulled. Sometimes a rebuilt wreck will have unnatural wear/premature wear on tires, even after going to the tire store for an alignment job. To me, that's the only real worry of a car that was rebuilt--assuming it has been repaired "correctly" and with TLC. I'm driving a '95 Legacy LSi wagon that had a salvage title when I bought it. The car looked straight and drove fine, but I still had a body man put it on the rack and straighten it, even though it was a very minimal adjustment. Other than that, I did all the other repairs myself. Factory parts are expensive, and salvage yards rarely have exactly what you need for a Subie. If the the guy repaired your car with TLC, I wouldn't worry too much as long as he'll tell you the story behind what repairs were done. Personally, I'd find someone who knows electrical systems well, and have it rewired so it didn't work with the car off and leave it. Just call that side the "VIP Seat" of the car and that's why it has the only power window. I've been driving my rebuilt Sube for 4 months now, including a couple of big road trips, and it is great. Get the whole story on it, though. Since the title is clean, it doesn't sound like the origial damage could have been that bad.

Welcome aboad from a 4 month old member. I've got a 95 Legacy Wagon. As mentioned, this site is both wonderful and amazing. For one thing, the passion for Subaru u feel here is enough reassurance as you'll need for new Subie owners. I've rarely encountered a bunch of people as detoted to a car manufacturer as Subaru owners. This site is a great resource, and many of the people here go out of their way to be helpful.

Have you tried the local salvage yards? (Or the not so local ones.) Find a car that has been hit in the front, but still has the factory fog lights in good shape, and you should be able to get them cheap. If the bumper assembly is all good, then expect to pay a little more for them. If you don't have any salvage yards within driving distance, try junkyarddog or any of those other online junk yard services. The best bet is to pull it yourself, as most salvage yards just snip and pull.

If it were a thermostat problem, she should notice the car running hotter than normal and/or overheating. Check and make sure the coolant is up to normal level. If the fluid is low, you'll not get heat. If the fluid looks normal, proceed with the "burp" that was mentioned. Search this site and you should find some explinations of how to properly do this. I recently changed the thermostat in my 95 Sube, only to have overheating/no heater problems a week later. I thought maybe the water pump, but it didn't seem that wold be it. The fluid level looked to be normal, as I thought maybe I'd had a leak from my thermostat swap. No noticable leaks. My upper radiator hose was hot, but I couldn't feel movement inside. I squeezed it, and my radiator gurggled (the cap was off) and the fluid level dropped. I did it again, then proceeded to fill the radiator, periodically squeezing that upper radiator hose to gurgle out air. I'm sure this method is the wrong way to properly get air pockets out of your cooling system, but my car has not overheated since then. This is my first Subaru, so I don't know if this whole air and "burp" business is a Subaru issue--I'd swapped out thermostats and flushed/refilled radiators on Detroit steel for years and never had an issue like this. The Subaru dudes and dudettes here can probably shed a lot more light on the situation than I can.

OK--I figured it out....at least all good so far... I figured the reason it was blinking was the security system "thought" someone was trying to steal the car and was tinkering with the battery cable. So, I unhooked the battery again, put the key in the ignition ON position, and then hooked up the battery. Problem fixed. I guess you have to tell the alarm that you, the owner, are the one messing with the battery...

Was the engine that was put into the car as a replacement from a salvage yard? If it was pulled from another Subie around your model year, then it would still have the bad factory HG. I'd pay the cash to have the head gaskets replaced with the correct OEM kits. OR, I would buy an engine from the whatchamagigger place mentioned earlier and feel good about it with its warranty. As far as powerless 2.2s go--I just test drove a new 2.5 and it didn't have much over my 2.2. If you do 2.2 swap, they are good engines. Someone on the board just recently posted a lot of good info on his recent swap to a 2.2.

Help--I'm supposed to take a road trip tomorrow morning in my Subaru and I'm having problems w/ the factory security system. I had disconnected the battery today while I cut off a bad headlight plug and spliced in a new one. Now, the factory security system is acting weird: the parking lights will flash every few seconds with the car turned off. I lock/unlock the door w/ the key and it does nothing. I start the car and turn it off and that doesn't stop the #X@#X blinking. If I drive the car, the lights don't blink, but I can hear the blinker-click in the dash. I am supposed to hit the road in the morning. Obviously, I can't park the thing without my battery going dead if the lights flash every few seconds for hours. When I first bought the car, it had a dead battery and I remember having the same crazy won't-stop-blinking parking light problem when I put a new battery in. It kinda quit on it's own and haven't had a problem since. How can I get this to quit? Is there a reset? Can I just cut a stinkin wire somewhere or pull a fuse to kill the system alltogether? Thanks for any help, especially from anyone who has dealt with this before. We're heading into a snow storm and I'd rather be in my Subie than my wife's rear wheel drive Volvo. By the way, my car is a 95 Legacy LSi.

Well, I was on the interstate this morning and hit the brakes when the high pitched whirr started up--nothing happened, so I'll assume it is not brake related. I'm going to my somewhat but not really local Subaru dealership next week to test drive a Baja, so I will probably have one of their mechanics look at it.

I've got a 95 Legacy. Not a speck of rust. It originated from TN, though, so it probably didn't see the road salt other cars have in different regions. I think this car was garage kept before it made it's way to my driveway, though. My last Japenese car was a Honda. That thing was rust waiting to happen. I've done a lot of driveway body work on different cars--foreign and domestic--and I've never seen anything like that Honda Civic. No kidding, I would sand it down to bare metal on a dry, sunny day and rust would form on the metal in a matter of hours. Japanese cars have always had a reputation for rusting, but that was really founded back when American cars were made of significantly thicker, better sheetmetal. I doubt there is much difference between the two now.

Hail damage should make a noticable difference in price, especially on a newer vehicle. You take into consideration what the "normal" book value is for the same car w/ no hail damage, and then figure in what it would cost to replace and repaint the damaged hood, trunk lid, etc. Mostcar lots, from my experience, don't knock enough off the price to make the vehicle a true value. The only good deals I have ever seen on hail cars is at a salvage yard. New cars that have enough of a labor bill from the hail damage it totals the car. An at-home body man can pick one of those up and have a great car after a LOT of hours and elbow grease. Still, you have a car w/ a rebuilt title if the resale issue applies to you.

I recently picked up a 95 Legacy w/ 150,000 miles on it and my 2.2 is the smoothest high mileage engine I have ever driven. It sounds and feels great. I've heard nothing but praise for these engines, and I look forward to pushing my over 200,000 miles. If you can't verify the scheduled maintenance on the car you are considering, though, go ahead take care of those issues.

Thanks for those leads. I probably need to have the brakes checked out anyway. I thought of CV joints--I'm sure they might need replaced at 154,000 miles, but I'd always just heard popping from previous experience.

I don't think it is wind noise, because it is not a constant noise and it doesn't sound like any wind noise I have heard before. Plus, when it does occur, it starts off as a very mild, soft sound and gradually gets louder and louder before quieting down and then disappearing for another 5-10 minutes. Shouldn't be the wheel bearings either. I had them replaced two months ago and this sound sounds nothing like what those worn bearings did. My only guess was something transmission/fwd related. No warranty here--a 95--and I'd like to prevent a bigger bill that might be avoided.

95 Legacy Wagon: The past week or so I have experienced a high pitched whirring-whistle sound while on the interstate. It is not constant, and while on my 25 mile commute on the big road, it may come and go two or three times. Starts off very soft and gets to a pretty loud, high pitched tone before dying down and disappearing again. I have only noticed this at speeds between 70-75mph. It doesn't seem to make the noise when I stay below 70mph. Sounds more like it is coming from the driver's side of the front of the car, but I'm not for sure. Does not seem like it would be any type of wind noise, as it doesn't sound like a whistle of wind resistance from a stationary part of the car (and wouldn't come and go, would it), but the whirring is a sound of motion/spinning I believe. Any ideas? I do not think it is RPM related, as I have revved past the 3,100 RPM point of 75mph at slower speeds and heard nothing. Thanks.

Yeah, I agree that GM is more interested in stealing from Subaru..well, since they own 20% I guess that would be borrow. Subaru is kind of a category in itself, and I think GM sees that. I have grown up always driving/owning at least one Chevrolet. My first car at 16 was a Datsun 210 while I was fixing up the '70 Monte Carlo my parents had bought new in '69. (That was in 1990.) In college I drove an El Camino, which was a great car. ('81 model, V-6, emmissions stripped and built up with a 4 barrel Holley w/ dual exhaust.) I actually took my driver's test in my dad's 80something Subaru wagon. My most recent Chevy was a '91 Caprice Classic, which was a solid car and great until it neared the 200,000 mile mark--it was leaking oil pretty well by then. In my opinion, the demise of the Caprice Classic marked the death of "real" cars for GM. I hate new cars--they all feel cheap and chitzy--even the foreign ones, unless you go into the mid$30K and beyond. Mechanically, they may be sound, but Toyata has never impressed me. I owned a Honda and it was okay, but nothing special. I LOVE my Subaru--it is a 95 Legacy wagon and is VERY solid. Over 150,000 miles on it. I'm impressed by it. Runs circles as far as quality around any Toyota or Honda I have been in. I going to test drive a new Baja next week, so I'm curious how solid the Subie feels. I had vowed never to buy a brand new car because what you get isn't worth the $$$ you plunk down and that there were no new cars I really liked. The Baja is the only new car I have drooled over. (I did drool over the original Nomad Chevy concept until they ruined it by making it a compact car wannabe.) My 95 Legacy was built in Indiana. I'm not for sure when they opened that plant, though. I'll have to say I had been guilty of saying to myself in the past that Chevrolet should just swallow their pride and buy their drivetrains from Subaru... I don't think we'll ever see "real" cars hit the showroom floor again...