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fgf

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fgf last won the day on December 14 2016

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About fgf

  • Birthday 04/26/1947

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  • Location
    Mason, NH
  • Occupation
    Engineer
  • Vehicles
    95, 96 Legacy 03 Outback

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  1. Be careful about the heater wattage. Oils convect away the heat much more slowly than water or coolant, so a heater intended to heat coolant can overheat the oil and damage it. No more than 4.5 Watts per square inch for oils versus up to 40 watts per square in for water according to www.hydraulicspneumatics.com/hydraulics-at-work/article/21886513/how-to-heat-hydraulic-oil-without-cracking-it
  2. Not always the charcoal canister or plugged vent hose; in the case of my 03 Outback the problem was a failed vent valve. Best to test rather than guess...
  3. per GD: Spiders or mud wasps nest in the charcoal canistervent line/fitting into the frame rail. Or an exploded charcoal canister. Or a failedvent valve. GD
  4. Do you hear the pump running when you turn key to run position? Listen close to the fuel pump cover. If not, check for voltage at the connector - blown fuse?
  5. When replacing a Legacy BJ I slather the bolt with anti-seize and also paint some into the female threads with a small brush. I also pack enough chassis grease into the BJ pocket so that it squishes out of the slot when I insert and tighten the BJ, then wipe off the excess. My goal is to fill with grease all the cavities that might hold salty water. With that approach I've found that years later the BJ is still easy to remove and find no evidence of rust. Our Rust Belt is an exceptionally nasty environment. My son brought me a 96 legacy from Wyoming - many dents underneath from the back country roads but not a spec of rust and every bolt came out clean. Wyoming certainly has Winters, but they don't use road salt...
  6. May not be relevant, but on an '03 2.5L I did have the rubber gasket at the bottom of the radiator cap swell to the point it sealed the outlet to the overflow tank. This resulted in excessive pressure in the radiator which caused radiator failure (radiator cap crimp failed). Swelling was the result of oil contamination of the coolant (from head gasket problem) - visual evidence was a small amount of black "goo" floating in the overflow tank. Rubber gasket in radiator cap should not extend beyond its metal backing plate...
  7. The road salt used during winter is pretty much off the road (and into the surrounding land) after the last snowstorm has melted away. HOWEVER, calcium chloride or magnesium chloride are widely used on unpaved roads to reduce dust in Summer and both are corrosive to metal. Application is usually done in Spring once dust becomes a problem, and sometimes repeated later in Summer if the problem returns. Most often applied as a 30% to 40% brine, but sometimes as a powder (flakes). Both are hygroscopic (meaning they absorb moisture from the air) and deliquescent (meaning they can "melt" into liquid form once they have absorbed enough moisture). This helps keep the road surface damp and thus helps bind the dust ("fines") into the surface. Mostly used in areas with good (high) warm-weather humidity; ineffective in arid ares. The concern is that some of that treated dust can get thrown up into your wheel wells where it can form a sticky and corrosive coating. Driving over a just treated road is probably a bad idea... I could not find any good info about the severity of the problem after the brine has soaked into the road surface. Periodic thorough hosing downs of your undercarriage during Summer may be wise if you drive in an area with treated dirt roads. Our addiction to roads that are snow-free in Winter and dust-free in Summer is expensive. Consider that in the Northeast a new car that could last 20+ years is pretty much rotted away within 10 years due to corrosion from salt - we are paying a "salt tax" of several thousand $ per year...
  8. I don't know if the rear wheel well sheetmetal design in the Imprezas resembles that in the Legacy or Outback models, but there is a well-known issue with an improperly sealed joint in the 95... Legacy/Outback rear strut tower which results in rust breaking through in the lower rear corner of the doors. Salt spray goes up into the strut tower, leaks through the unsealed joint into the inner fender area (which it rots) and drips down towards the rocker panels. See: http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/topic/119859-the-fantastical-rear-wheel-well-rot-thread/ especially the second page. Also: http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/topic/135273-00-04-outback-rust-in-rear-door-openings/ Hard to inspect - one of those Harbor Freight "Digital Inspection Cameras" with its flexible shaft can help. The problem appears to be an overlapped sheetmetal joint which was never sealed...
  9. Check wires to relay coil. I had exact same symptoms about 10 days ago and they were caused by cracked wire leading to the connector. The copper strands can fatigue crack inside the wire insulation.
  10. Some test info: '96 Legacy, EJ22 engine, key off & removed mA meter between -battery post and post clamp. 65 mA steady current after 1 minute (to let ECU settle down) = 1.5 Ah/day = 47 Ah/month Group 35 batteries used in the '96 typically list ~ 40 Ah capacity, so could discharge battery in a month... Leaving my UltraGauge (OBDII viewer) plugged in doubled the draw - apparently it keeps checking to see if the key has been turned on yet - so only 2 weeks to discharge battery. Got bitten when I didn't start the car for several weeks followed by a sub-zero cold snap (discharged batteries freeze easily)...
  11. Check http://rockforddriveline.com/catalog specifically: http://rockforddriveline.com/catalogs/11_Universal%20Joints_2012July.pdf see page 28 Determining factors are the bearing ODs and the spacing between the insides of the yoke. The inside surfaces of the U-joint yoke needs to be flat, parallel and centered because this is where the retaining clips fit. Some (e.g., 1995) yokes were unmachined, but I've had success carefully machining the surfaces. Key is to get the right spacing and to have it precisely centered on the yoke's centerline...
  12. Drive shaft U-joints? In neutral with rear wheels off ground try rotating drive shaft by hand to check for any binding in U-joints or diff or rear axles?
  13. Check the stabilizer (aka swaybar) bushings too - they can cause klunks. Also your ball joints...
  14. When you have the trany off, check the back of the engine for signs of leaks. The usual culprits are the rear RH camshaft support and, as mentioned above, the oil separator cover. The camshaft support comes off with 2 screws and contains a thin O-ring. The O-ring in my 96 was hard, brittle, and leaking oil - an easy fix (get the O-ring from Subaru). The separator plate in some models was plastic and tended to crack. Replacement from Subaru is metal. Check the snout of the trany - that is what the throw-out bearing slides on and it can get worn. If badly worn you use a clutch kit that includes a sleeve that slides over the snout and a throw-out bearing with over-sized ID to match. Other items to check - the clips that hold the throw-out bearing to the clutch release lever and the pivot that the lever pivots on - both cheap parts worth installing if originals are worn or corroded.
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