idosubaru

yours is a non-interference motor so if the timing belt (or an associated pulley) did happen to break it would not hurt the motor. so in those terms it's not as critical to replace pulleys as the 1997 and up motors. the ideal situation is to replace the belt, water pump, oil pump seals, all the pulleys and tensioner and the cam seals. that's the short answer...here's the long answer..... this is a mileage dependent question. over 60,000 miles and the water pump and pulleys should be changed in my oppinion. at or before 60,000 and you could hold off until the 120,000 mile point for the next timing belt to do the water pump and pulleys. but you should inspect all pulleys while it's apart...more on that below.... any pulley that has a bearing go out on it will cause the timing belt to fail very quickly. in my experience the tensioner actually seems to degrade less than the other pulleys, particularly the cogged sprocket pulley (the only one with teeth, the others are followers and have smooth surfaces for the back of the belt to ride on). that one always seems to be too loose (lack of grease in the bearings). blindly replacing the tensioner is not the way to go, it should be checked (just spin it, it's very easy to test as explained below). as well as the other pulleys should all be removed and inspected as well. only takes a couple minutes. on 1997 and newer soobs i use only subaru parts since the motors can experience damage due to a broken belt. on pre-97 models with the non-interference motors you can get away with aftermarket parts if you really want to, though OEM is still the best route for this stuff. it's a big job and not a good area to cut corners on , so it is dependent on your financial attitude towards car maintenance. if you want the best of both worlds....not spending loads of money on all new pulleys then the best method is to replace only the pulleys that don't feel good. stop by a dealer and ask to have any timing belt pulley and feel how tight it spins, they don't spin very much at all due to all the grease packed in the bearing. this is how it should feel. one or more of your pulleys will likely be very loose, spin it and it may be loud or it will spin for a long time and not feel tight at all. you will want to replace any pulley that sounds/feels like this. any pulley you install or leave in the motor should feel tight and have no noise to it at all. if the pulley isn't noisey and is tight then it has adequate grease and there is no need to replace it. they sell timing belt kits on ebay for under 200 bucks i believe that includes the belt and all the pulleys/tensioner. they are NOT OEM subaru parts though. but again, you don't necessarily need every pulley just the ones that are described like i mentioned above. if you're resourceful you can even have the pulley bearings replaced by a machine shop. it'll cost 20-50 dollar per pulley to have that done. they may even be able to re-grease them if they aren't sealed bearings but i'm not sure about that. the bearings though can be replaced for sure, but it'll take a machine shop press to do it....unless you're really good. and sourcing the bearings is annoying as well if you've never done it before. easier to just buy the pulleys you need. if time is an issue it would be a good idea to have one of each pulley in hand and install only the ones that are as described above and then return the others that you didn't need. oil pump seals and cam seals should always be done, they are cheap.

i was afraid the CD player was toast, guess i'll source another. i hoped i was overlooking something. thanks guys...thanks john!

you can check out tirerack.com as well, they sell complete sets of snow tires on steel wheels delivered to your door. super cheap too compared to most shops.

this is all subaru equipment, nothing aftermarket. removed my tape player from the 97 OBS and installed the 6 disk changer/tape deck from a newish subaru. radio and tape deck work fine. when i press LOAD, eject (the arrow button the upper right) or CD - nothing happens?can't get a CD into the thing. anyone that has one of these explain to me how this thing works? i noticed on the back there were two plug-in connections on the new cd changer radio. but my OBS only had one plug-in to the old tape deck/stereo. what is that for, is that my problem?

trim pieces are annoying, no way to tell if/where screws or clips reside. got the two screws and the cupholder out and the 4 screws under the trim piece. but i can't get that trim piece off....is it clipped in? i feel like it's about to break if i pry or pull on it any more. how many screws to pull the stereo so i can install the new one? help?

don't think it's tire related. old tires did it, then new tires installed and it still did it. the DEALER asked you if outbacks typically do this? i'm confused why a dealer is asking you what their own brand does? 10,000 miles...isn't this still under warranty? when they do the alignments is everything in spec, are they needing to do major adjustments when doing the alignments? a 10,000 mile car should not need an aligment. i never get my car aligned, it's merely a way for them to make $$$$. 220,000 miles and if mine was ever aligned it was 100,000 miles ago and i don't think it was since i've owned it (for 120,000 miles). i buy new tires and go, i rotate them often and so long as they keep wearing evenly i'll never get an alignment. have they checked the ball joints and tie rod ends? i suspect they would know those are bad when tey do the alignment. the front control arm could also be slightly bent. they are very easy to replace but a dealer will absolutely rape you for something like that. a car that's been slid into a curb or run into somethign with the front wheel can sustain damage to the control arm, typically it'll be bent and can cause the problems you speak of. i would expect the car to pull or somethign but if it's small enough damage i might be able to imagine a scenario where it still drives fine but is off enough to wear unevenly. have them inspect the control arm on the side that is wearing unevenly. make sure it's not bent....and they are looking for a very minor bend, so they better look closely. do a car fax check on the car and make sure it's never been wrecked. although then it would have a salvage title and you'd already know that probably. check all the body lines and make sure all the gaps are even (gap around front door and hood, etc should all be the same width all the way around). a wrecked and fixed car will have differences in gap width around the circumference. this is all to check for previous damage. it would likely show around the bad tire area - the fender, hood, door on that side.

fram sucks...or did and may still be sucking. i base this on old information and studies, but if the company couldn't do it right a few years ago, i'll stick with companies who did. i use WIX in mine and purolators on occassion. make sure to stay away from FRAM or rebranded FRAM - the ones that are FRAM but have some other company/logo on it. there are sites that dilineate that information. do a search on here, oil discussion aren't that uncommon.

if he had the work done at a dealer that he bought it from then contact the dealer that did the work. you'll also want to know the condition of the timing belts, timing belt pulleys (which should be replaced as well) and water pump. if he refuses to tell you which dealer i'd walk away from the deal. head gasket is a time consuming job and fairly involved. if you've done timing belts before then tear it up.

O2 sensor should be replaced. i wouldn't retain a 65,000 mile O2 sensor after pulling it out. yes it is possible to have sensor related drivability issues without triggering a CEL. car ran fine before they replaced the converter? be helpful to know what code it was flashing that made you take the car in to begin with. also, the O2 sensor may have been unplugged for the converter install, make sure they plugged it back in. older subaru's run perfectly fine (no noticeable difference) with the O2 sensor unplugged, i don't know if the new ones are the same so check to make sure they remember to plug it back in. if there was no problem....someone touched the car....then there was a problem....nearly 100 percent of the time it was "the item touched" causing the problem. since i'm the only one that works on my car, i know from experience!

i was looking to beef up braking as well and from the responses i got it seemed that drilled/slotted weren't necessarily the best upgrade. better pads seemed the way to go, but i'm not brake expert. they afraid to spend the loot or is that for real? i'm new to the brake upgrade scene and trying to learn. i'd like to know more about it. dont' see many dyno charts for brakes, so it's hard to compare actual data/results.

on the left side could be from the little hose underneath the alternator. that would be my first guess. remove the alternator and have a look at that hose. it's a very short piece of "C" shaped hose. check it very closely as you know, old hoses/clamps are difficult to find leaks in when they first start. be careful trying to installing regular straight hose here, i've gotten it to work but just cutting to length is not a good idea as it's such a tight curve that straight hose will crease trying to bend it that much. forget how i got mine to work, but it wasn't that tricky. removing/installing alternator can damage this hose (unlikey, but can), just the belt alone shouldn't cause any damage to it. there is also the thermostat housing, look for wetness underneath. a small thermstat housing leak is very hard to see unless you look very closely and there's not much room to do that, the range of sight under the thermostat is very tight, have to be just the right level above the radiator to see under there far enough to pick out a small leak. but is easy to see under the car. there's also the hose at the thermostat, the little guy, but that should be obvious if that one is leaking. also, did you add any antifreeze recently for any reason? the spark plugs each have a drain hole that feeds through behind the cover and down the front of the motor and eventually comes out under the timing belt covers where you mentioned. so if antifreeze was spilled down the plug holes, it might wind up down there.

probably not an issue, fairly common conditions and the manual speaks of it as well as mentioned above. if the oil pump is leaking then it should be resealed at some point.

this post should be deleted/restarted. lots of replies confusing mph and kph. if he originally stated 76 mph noone would have noticed.

i wouldn't worry about the trans, i haven't heard of many problems at all involving transmissions on subaru's of any era. most complaints on the boards i frequent involved the OLD school 3 speed auto back in the 80's, other than that most of the transmissions are very robust with the exception of the SVX, and those mostly go out due to heat, a trans cooler is their friend. i consider low mileage subaru motors very reliable. if he lets you check it out, drain the trans fluid and inspect the plug/fluid. look for build up. doubt you'll find anything.

yes it will! plug and play.

i bought a subaru CD/tape player, will it fit in my 1997 OBS? the OBS has the stock radio/tape deck with storage space above it. i think the newer subaru units swap and even plug in right?

overkill for standard vehicle applications as the new headgasket design solves the headgasket problem. some nifty work though, and interesting idea about milling the block surface. very cool idea.

wd40 sucks for this. liquid wrench and pb blaster are much better...though previous post person doesn't seem to like it. but it's still way better than wd40.

it depends. when i do intake gaskets, sealant is never needed or used. but, it's not whether or not the sealant is needed when replacing the gaskets. the important question is "how clean are the mating surfaces". if they are clean then no sealant is needed. if you've done a terrible job cleaning or gouged the surfaces trying to clean them or someone else did then a sealant might be good insurance to thwart other issues.

pulling the engine is probably the way to go for most people. that being said........ not really more work for me, just easy to work with being above the car. in my oppinion the transmission comes out much easier than the motor. i'm fairly confident i could have a transmission on the ground much faster than someone could have a motor out. there's throttle cables, engine mounts, intakes, heater core hoses, coolant/radiator hoses, wiring harnesses, ground wires, a/c lines, exhaust manifolds....there's more stuff to remove when pulling a motor. now getting the trans back in is always the pain. under the car, on your back and trying to maneuver it in place....that's the more work part on the install. if there's anything to attend to on the motor - timing belts, seals, gaskets...do it with the motor out. do those valve cover seals. super easy with the motor out, annoying in the car. timing belts?

if you used any ultra grey sealant on anything like the cam carriers or oil pump housing, that can cause tapping as well. it'll get sucked up and caught in an oil port and retstrict oil flow to the HLA's. that's why anaerobic sealant should be used. someone on xt6.net sealed an oil pump or cam carrier with ultragrey and had tapping that wouldn't go away. he eventually tore it back down and found the ultragrey plugged into an oil port. posted pictures of it as well....may have posted on a different group though, i can't remember but i know he's on xt6.net sometimes.

ATF works good too (if it's the HLA's sticking). i've used 2 out of 5 quarts of ATF in an XT6 i had years ago. didn't keep it in there long, maybe a week and a couple hundred miles at most.

doubt compression is an issue. those numbers look really high though. i would have expected around 160 for this motor, am i missing something? older soobs had 160 or less and newer ones have around 210 or so. that's what i thought anyway for the NA cars.

the timing covers and/or rusted bolts can be the trickiest part of the job. pry the timing covers off if the inserts just rotate inside the rear cover and the screw won't back out. gradually pry it off with a screw driver and the bolt with the insert still attached will slide out. replace it the same way if you want to keep the cover on there. have some liquid wrench or pb blaster handy and spray rusty bolts good. don't use WD40, the other stuff is better. the crank bolt can be tight, have a breaker bar handy for that. or just hang a socket on there and use the starter to crank the motor over and when the socket slams into the front motor mount or a conveniently placed block it'll back the bolt off too....if you're comfortable doing it that way, otherwise don't.

repeated? the same vehicle having multiple differential failures? never heard of that. more information would be helpful - such as "my car did this, then this and why is it doing it again?" why type of failure? broken gear teeth? have the rear wheel bearings and tires been properly checked?