idosubaru

if the muffler is that bad, be sure to address the pipe behind it as well if it's also bad. don't install a new muffler on rusty pipe. are you doing this yourself or having a shop do it? did the flange come off, or is that still in place? is it usable, probably too rusty? if the flange is useable the easiest way to do it yourself if get a used or new muffler that bolts right up. don't mess with flex pipe and clamps, they rust and are nothing more than very temporary fixes. run some straight pipe, that might be another idea if you don't want to go for the muffler deal. if not, then welding will be needed. can you weld? i'd go with a dynomax straight through muffler, but they are stainless steel so that's a bit tougher to weld. there are cheaper alternatives than dynomax though, tons of off the shelf stuff, take your pick.

the keyless remote box is easily visible. it's on the lower drivers side kick panel, to the left of the brake pedal, up against the wall. it's huge and says KEYLESS ENTRY on it, very obvious.

1998 Legacy GT Sedan with hydraulic clutch. piston pushes against the fork, i've never worked on a hydraulic clutch before do i don't know all the terms.

they don't give a crap about your transmission, i would suspect they towed it with two wheels up, two wheels down, but like you said they won't offer any proof. i dont know anything about tow trucks but there might be a way to tell if they towed it on a flat bed - like markings on the underside anchor points, etc. i would try to find out in a round-a-bout fashion, without mentioning anything about 4WD or subaru or anything, try to find out for a BENIGN reason so they talk. then go from there...but get it in writing or tape record or somethign because they'll lie as soon as they find out why you're really doing that. maybe you can find out who towed it and what truck that person drives. usually a particular person drives a particular truck, but they can really do it however they want. check with local places close to where you parked and see if they have any security camera footage of that evening, but check soon if that's possible because they'll over-write that footage soon. the problem is that your transmission will work perfectly fine now with no problems. i've personally been involved with and seen subaru's towed improperly for hundreds of miles with two wheels down. even on those, any problems that may have incurred from the incident will happen down the road....in a year, 50,000 miles...something like that. immediate damage is rare, particularly with only 40 miles towing. problem is, without a lawyer and proof it will be hard for them to give a crap, they know they're getting away with it and making theyre $275. they're going to be big "insert inappropriate phrase here".

that one you showed a picture of, is that one i sent you? i would attempt to repair that, it doesn't appear significantly dry rotted and doesn't appear to be close to the ends that will be curled under and stressed at the bottom. if i remember i'll look at the name of that aircraft grade sealant and post it tomorrow. know any small airports, airplane mechanic places close to you, they may have something similar? i'm not surprised with the answers you've gotten so far, noone over here would mess with them either. they also have heavy duty repair kits for rubber rafts that may be useable. some people at XT6.net (unfortuantely the site is donw now) know the pressures the system operates at. actually it's proably in the FSM i'm sure. if you know that and know the rating of a rubber patch kit (like for inflatable rafts), i would consider going that route as well.

yeah, people do it all the time on the xt6. too bad the xt6 site is down.

an engine fire can result from the oil filler cap being left off. call the fire department to confirm that if you don't believe me. (i've seen it). the interesting thing is that fires can start after the car is shut off as well. the oil is all over the engine/exhaust. once the car is shut off the cooling system is not operating and the internal heat of the engine starts to disipate outwards and the outside/surface temps can start to rise. if there's something that can ignite and it gets hot enough it could happen. then if that oil gets hot enough to burn...that's how it was explained to me.

if the ABS light came on, read the codes. subaru's ENDWRENCH site has all the procedures and codes listed. i went through this a couple weeks ago in my legacy and the endwrench site proved very helpful. showed exactly which pin to ground (just above your gas pedal, there's a connector). ground one pin, very easy. and the ABS light blinks your code. then read the code - it will tell you what is wrong. let me know what you come up with, curious. is yours activating just as you're coming to a stop - like at 3 - 5 mph?

a wobble? i would check your axle nut immediately and make sure it didnt' back off. did you crimp the nut back into the axle when you were finished, crimp it well so it doesn't creep. did you put plenty of torque on the axle nut? how exactly did you replace the axle, what all did you remove? ball joint, tie rod, strut bolts, etc? did you make sure to retain your alignment of the top strut mount camber bolt?

"best for your money" - EJ18 or EJ22 up to 1996 (non interference). a FWD manual would be ideal for reliability. manuals are more reliable than auto's and FWD is more reliable than AWD, FWD has no driveshaft, rear diff, rear axles, rear CV's, torque bind, etc... all of my subaru's are AWD, but i'm going to make a legacy with an EJ18 and FWD manual for summer road trip driving.

seafoam is not the problem. engines are fairly robust machines, adding an appropriate amount of seafoam to a perfect condition engine will not hurt anything, period. experience contrary to that are anecdotal and don't prove anything about seafoam. people often start dumping stuff in their motors (or transmissions, fuel system, power steering, etc) when something is wrong and hope for an easy fix. if an engine has issues and you add seafoam and it breaks...the logical conclusion is NOT that seafoam caused it. it's that the engine had issues to begin with! if seafoam "causes" issues, the issues were soon in coming anyway, so there's really no loss.

sounds like your alt or possibly battery has issues. you can also check the connections, i'm not EA81 fluent but if the connectors at the alternator are bad...corroded, weak, broken, brittle plastic, you may get similar issues. fix soon, this weakens batteries and alternators.

XT6 power steering, check fluid level first. the brushes are the most common issue, they wear out like any other electrical motor. they costs about $15 and are easy to replace. sometimes you can just clean the internals out and get it working again..or evne tap the motor housing. lots and lots of dust in there makes for bad electrical mojo. but while it's apart for cleaning you might as well just install new brushes. give the pump power and see if it operates. this will tell you if it's the motor or the supporting system of components...computer, power controller, sensors, etc. there's a method to extract the code for the power steering light as well.

fix-a-flat type sealant can work. i also know of someone that used an aircraft grade rubber/flexible sealant that worked as well. he covered the entire air bag with it, making it particularly thick at the leak. he was an airplace mechanic. i have a tube of the stuff at home and could give you the name of it, but i'm betting you can't get it there. i'm sure the airports have something similar though. if you have 2 others, i would try to find out where they are leaking from. they may not be leaking from the bags. you should be able to hook the rear struts up to any airline on the vehicle and have it pump them up, then disconnect them once they're full. since the solenoid is integrated to the strut you can disconnect the lines without pressure being released. so air them up and find the leakage points. you'll want to air up any strut you get anyway so you can clean them and paint them. you don't even need to install the strut...just hold it in your hand and hook up any air line to it. you could use one of the front air lines since they are accessible from the engine bay. install on the strut, open the solenoid and have the compressor air it up. never dnoe it, but i know it can be done.fijje can you post a picture of the leaks? of the one i sent you? that was a good strut. was the package damaged at all when you received it?

the OBS has a typical issue where the rear sags (see Zapar's post about sagging rear end OBS's). are you saying the struts are to blame and not the springs? i think he fixed his by installing WRX rear springs and new struts. seems like new struts should fix it...bring it back to stock so to speak. does that mean the stock struts are weak, since this is common? as far as ABS and non ABS struts, my guess is that they're supplying ABS compatible struts to everyone...just the non-ABS vehicles won't use the brackets. this is quite common in the auto industry to try and make one part suitable for multiple applications. i have no experience with the struts but seen this multiple times on other parts, so wouldn't be surprised to see it here.

the OBS has a typical issue where the rear sags (see Zapar's post about sagging rear end OBS's). are you saying the struts are to blame and not the springs? i think he fixed his by installing WRX rear springs. as far as ABS and non ABS struts, my guess is that they're supplying ABS compatible struts to everyone...just the non-ABS vehicles won't use the brackets. this is quite common in the auto industry to try and make one part suitable for multiple applications. i have no experience with the struts but seen this multiple times on other parts, so wouldn't be surprised to see it here.

glad you found it, the search function is completely lacking in one way, you need 4 letters. sometimes a place holder will help like KYB* or *KYB. or do a search for "front springs" or "rear springs", this gives some good results. it ends up being a game....sucks real bad to want XT6, OBS, WRX, ABS, TPS, MAF...etc, information.

are you aware of the search function? some things have been covered multiple times and those people won't necessarily pipe up, show up or see your thread: http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=73603&highlight=rear+springs within the thread listed above i believe is a link to NASIOC that explains very specifically the interchangeability of many year/make/model subaru's. that's for the rear, i'm sure NASIOC has a very detailed thread about fronts as well. i saw a number of threads when searching here that would probably give you some good information as well.

HA! ...maybe that's the problem, i'm giving too much advice and people are following it!

okay back to the drawing board...what keeps the clutch fork tight to the hydraulic cylinder? it's not tight to it and will make noise occassionally.

that's the way to go, that's what i have. most people don't get one because they don't know what it is! tuck it away and run the cord to wherever you want.

definitely worth it. whatever you do...don't even think about JB Weld or anything like that, i'm surprised noone mentioned it yet. use a helicoil or similar insert. how much material came off with it? sometimes they loose a good bit of material when they come out. is it the pulley that tensions the belt, that's the one that normally does this. be glad it didn't shear off (that happens too) or take a huge chunk out with (that also happens). wow...these little buggers cause a fair amount of big problems now that i think about it. anyway...if you can drill and use a helicoil, you're fine. if you've never used one, don't be too worried about it, it's not complicated at all. depending which one it is, sometimes you have the option of finding a longer bolt as well. the bolt holes tend to be deeper than the bolts used. so finding a longer bolt can sometimes work. but based on what you're telling me, i'm guessing that won't work on this one. it definitely works on the passengers side XT6 ones and the cam bolts. and not to mention those bolts on the drivers side are rather large. you could check though as there are 3 pulleys on that side and i'm uncertain which one you're talking about. if you find signficant depth to use, then chase the existing threads with a tap, then chase your new bolt with a die to make sure the threads are perfect. often requires cutting a bolt that's too long to get the exact right depth or using a washer under the head as a spacer. there's also the option of just upgrading one size bolt...go slightly larger either english units or metric. tap the existing hole out and use a larger bolt, but the pulley may then need work as well because the bolt may not fit through it. but this does avoid the issue of drilling into your heads and installing a helicoil. not trying to loose focus, but give you as many options as possible. i'll try to follow this thread, if you have a specific question and i don't see it, hit me with a PM or email.

removing the pump is a good idea but you'll have the fluid to deal with. it's really easy to remove. i believe it's only 6 bolts that have to be removed, and they come out very easily. and they have to come off to replace the brushes anyway because you have to be able to move the pump up and out of the bracket a bit to replace the brushes. then remove the wires, which also have to come off anyway to replace the brushes...well technically you could leave them connected but that is tricky and not much room to work with. then you'll just need screw drivers and a wrench to remove the hoses. then remove the pump and hold the hoses up and out of the way so they don't leak, plug them with bolts or something. then drain the pump into something. if you have a eye dropper you can nearly empty the pump before doing anything so not much fluid remains in it and it's easy to carry around without much fluid coming out. no matter what method you use, be careful prying on to remove and reinstalling the back plate, it will crack if abused. if you have these issues to deal with it may be easier to order the brushes ($15) and have a shop install them for you. i'd call around and see if any auto electrical shops would do it. let them know it's really easy and you'll have it ready for them to just replace the brushes. you'll only have to remove 4 12mm bolts that hold the pump in the bracket. with those removed it's just a matter of disassembling and reassembling an electric motor and an electrical/automotive shop would probably do that for not much money. the tricky parts: keeping the guts assembled when you reinstall them. the magnet inside the pump housing wants to pull the guts inside and out of the end cap, where the brushes reside, as you install it. have to keep trying or attempt to do it on the car (tricky). the next tricky part is seating everything to torque the bolts down...make sure it's seated fully, using the bolts to draw it tight is not a good idea, things will break. and...make sure you mark which wires go where, even if you think you'll remember.

the FET on the coil bracket might be suspect, they will cause a no-spark condition when they fail. i do not know how to test them though, other than swapping in a good one. have you checked the fusible links yet? not the fuses, but the fusible links. they are located in a little black, rectangular box next to the battery. remove each one and inspect it. from memory i think it's the second one from the front in the row that would be suspect. i can't recall if the car would even turn over if that one fails, don't know if the starter is on that circuit.

this is a really annoying job but i've dealt with it a number of times on XT6's. which pulley exactly? yes, use a helicoil. get a right angle drill or a right angle drill attachment - basically whatever you can find that is shallower, the shorter the better so it fits down in front of the engine. remove the radiator for extra room and anything else that's in the way....a/c, alternator, etc. then get the right size drill bit and you'll probably have to cut it in half. or just put it in a vice, wear some goggles and whack it with a hammer to break the bit in half, that's what i do. then use that in combination with the right angle drill. you can rent a right angle drill from tool rental places. hang in there, it's definitely doable...annoying, but you can swing it.