cannonball

IIRC some of the guys here have been able to add a switch to the solenoid switch that will lock the center diff. I also think that the split for the 4eat is 50/50 in 1 and 2 gear although not truely locked.

I thought the camber was adjusted via the strut tower by loosening the bolts at the bottom. Am I wrong?

Nipper do you think that it would be safe to say that more than likely the front O2 sensor can be replaced without worrying about the rear one since most idling problems are related to it's function?

With an open diff tire size shouldn't matter, but with an LSD it does.

My (un)educated guess is that a wheel bearing is in the initial stages of failure. Esp. since it changes while cornering. At least that's what happened to me in my 00 OBW. I swore it had to be the rear diff, and I was prepared for the worse. The shop replaced the bearing and I'm riding quietly now. It's possible that the grease in the bearing settles after sitting and then relubes after driving a little bit. It could be the seal itself is damaged and making the noise.

He probably wants to know if it's an Impreza or Legacy OB. I think the "sports model " you refer to is actually the Impreza version.

that I thought may be rear diff noise wound up being a bad bearing after all. I got my car back yesterday, and she is sooo quiet now. Little background... 00 OBW Limited 157000. After going on vacation a few weeks ago the rear end started making a horrible roaring noise. I did the quick bearing check and there was no play in the wheels. At this point I though it may be the rear diff or tire noise of the worst kind. At first the mechanic wasn't sure what it was either, but he ran more test and pinpointed the problem. $200 later and I'm a happy camper. I just hope the other bearings hold up now. I personally think that the bearing has been damaged for sometime because I don't remember my Subie running this quietly in a long time.

I notice in the attached file that it says to shake the wiring harness and monitor the voltage to see if it moves more than 8 volts. Why would shaking the harness have anything to do with voltage unless Subaru is saying that the harness could be faulty(shorted)? Am I reading that correctly?

The chance of a bad cat is probably nil to none. The O2 sensors are notorious for going bad prematurely albiet alot of times you can ride like that for a while before having to deal with replacement. Although you might as well replace both while your at it. Do a computer reset to see if it clears it out for a while.

When you say ominous what do you mean? My roar is constant in pitch, yet fairly constant in volume as well oddly enough. I would say it's the same volume and pitch from 30-60 mph. This is what befuddles me. I would think there would be a direct correlation between tires rotating and pitch.

I drove on a half flat tire for about 25 miles like a DA one time. I was wondering why the steering was all cockeyed. That's before I learned of the importance of equal tire size.

If the grinding noise was gone and when turning sharply doesn't cause any ill effects I would think that you got lucky and shouldn't have to worry about it.

I think I may have done the same thing to my rear diff as well. 2000 OBW with LSD. After I bought new tires I noticed that the rear end was noticeably louder which I attributed to tire noise. I went on vacation last week (5 hour drive at freeway speed) and noticed when I got there that the noise was a little louder. I had the car loaded down with stuff so the back end was weighted down. On the way back when I got of the exit ramp to get to my house I noticed that when I turned left at speed the rear left tire sounded like a whump,whump,whump noise. It didn't do this to the right or straight ahead. There was no smoke though. And no bucking at slow speed albiet I have a manual. I'm still driving the car right now back and forth to work until I can get it to the mechanic on friday. My other thought was a bad half shaft or wheel bearing. I guess I'll have to wait and see.

Yes that it what I meant. My torque wrench's lowest setting is 20 ft lb, but the torque requirement is 16.6. I'm not as concerned about stripping the nut and bolt. It was more about putting to much tension on the inards(sic) of the pulley(bearing?) itself. I've wrenched around on a lot of bicycles in my day, and I know how easy it is to strip an allen bolt. I went by feel, but 16.6 is not a lot to me. At the same time I forgot that I could use my Park torque wrench for my bike as it will get that low, but hind site as they say is 20/20. As for the belt tension I went by the recommendations here. Thanx for the replies.

How critical is it to have a properly torqued BT pulley nut (AC drive belt) on a 2000 OBW? The manual says 16.6ft lb but since I don't have a torque wrench that goes that low I did it by feel.

Check out BF Goodrich Traction T/A's. They are a good all season tire. I just put my 3rd pair on yesterday. As for 18,000 miles on the tire that is way to short a life. I drive 60 miles a day w/ 1.5 miles of that on gravel rd. going up a hill (both ways I might add;)). About 1/3 of that is curvy mtn rds as well. My first set only lasted me for about 25,000 miles which I wasn't to happy about, but I attribute that to poor alignment and balancing issues. The 2nd set I got 37,000 miles out of which I'm satisfied with yet the edges were a little more worn than should be. The tire shop actually pro rated my tires for me, and I saved about $40 a tire. I didn't argue with that. I believe our AWD systems may cause a little more wear, but I have no scientific proof. Just a hunch.

As for the WXW80 recall, I assuming this was just for certain 00 models. I haven't gotten a notice for my 00 OBW although my car has the same problem with prematurely wearing out O2 sensors. It happened around 80,000 and 115,000 w/ the CEL. I have had 3 recalls performed on my car but none were in regards to this campaign. Any one else have any thoughts?

Any idea what kind of code that would pull up?

Well it's been 2 weeks now and I haven't had any clutch judder yet. The compound bow action of the clutch pedal seems to be breaking in a little although that could be me getting used to it. I will say that I'm pleased with the performance. Glad to hear that the price was fair. I think I lucked out on that. I will post back if the the judder returns.

It's been a while since I posted, but I wanted to give my experience with clutch replacement. I have a 00 OBW with 152,000mi. The clutch had been slipping in 3rd for about the last 10,000 miles. I took it to an indy shop in Hendersonville, NC. They went ahead and replaced the passenger side axle(torn boot) while they were at it. They also did brakes front and back and replaced the stripped studs on the front passenger side. All this for $997. Can't say if that good or bad, but I feel they weren't taking advantage of me since my wife and I have been taking our vehicles there for a long time. The clutch was in a kit that included the TO and pilot bearing and pressure plate. He replaced the seal as well. I drove my wifes Xterra all yesterday and when I got back in my car I almost put the clutch pedal through the floor. This reminded me of how butterfly light these clutches are. It also engages right at the top of the pedal stroke. Now I will be curious if the clutch judder I had is gone. Only time will tell.

Cookie's right.

Better yet, buy some gasket sealant and run a bead down the gasket along the top. You will find that the gasket is cracked. Taking the tailight assembly apart is not that hard. I have been leak free ever since.

BTW I forgot to mention now that I know how to do it correctly it almost as easy as changing the oil, well almost. I had a hydraulic jack to lift one side to make it easier to get under there, I also removed the tire as well. This is neccesary to pull the broken bar out and put the new one in. Unbolt the endlinks, bushings, and the plate in the middle. You have to work it, but you can snake the new bar back in. Reverse procedure.

Correction, I undertorqued the link bolt on the drivers side. I discovered this yesterday. Doh. Now the popping's gone. How did I break it? Driving through a freshly plowed farm field following a farmer. I design ag irrigation systems so I get to have a little fun now and then on the job. I think it's been weak for a while though because there is a tremendous difference in stiffness now. And how did I install it incorrectly? I'm embarrassed to say. Let's just say I was in a rush to fix it, and since I had never changed one before I had no reference to how the endlinks should point (why the hell didn't I look at the rear ones the first time). How did I figure it out? The first time I locked my steering wheel to one side it made a horrendous scaping noise. Anyways lessoned learned. When tooling around make sure to keep a level head and be patient. It's not worth the hair loss.

00 OBW 145,000. Broke it in 2 places right at the bends. Made a nice pop. Anyways I got a new one from the dealer, and after installing it incorrectly the first time I was good to go until I started hearing popping at slower speeds the next day. I'm assuming the endlinks or bushings are bad as well. My question is this. What are the torque specs for the anti swaybar endlink connection? There is a good chance I overtorqued them. Next question is a good place to purchase them over the net so I don't have to go back to the dealer? Any other thoughts are appreciated as well. BTW it did make a tremendous difference in the front end stiffness.