idosubaru

i regularly see awesome deals on late 90's subaru's around here with closer to 100,000 miles on them. unless it's outright cheap i'd look elsewhere. but this all depends how reliable of a car you want and long you plan on keeping it and how good of a deal it is. if you want it for a year or two and not many miles then this is probably fine...but i still wouldn't buy a 2.5. i'd get a 2.2. the 2.5 motor is suspect to headgasket issues and this car will have the 2.5. if the headgaskets were replaced at some point that's a good thing, but if not then that's a $1,500 job. the 2.2 which is found in late 90's subaru's as well does not have head gasket issues and as such is much more reliable. here's the real key to this for me: at this mileage the timing belt tensioners and water pump need to be replaced. i can do this myself but if you were a friend or family member that lived to far away for me to do it for free i'd advise against it for this reason. at 200,000 just replacing the timing belt isn't good enough. if any one of the many pulleys has a bad bearing it will eat even a new timing belt very quickly. then the belt breaks and this is an interference engine so you'd have the possibility (probability) of major engine damage....at least valve damage if not piston. that's high miles for an auto transmission. it's not as common to make the 200,000 - 300,000 miles that manual transmissions do. that being said, it is possible to buy automatic transmissions for this car for only $200-$300 dollars so it's not that expensive. but you'd have to be prepared to source the parts, get them and have someone install them for you ($150-$200 at a transmission shop). subaru parts may be scarce in your area (meaning higher prices for used parts). good luck and have fun,

i'd be very diligent about checking for signs of overheating. look for any and all signs of headgasket issues. i realize the EA81 is a beast, but overheating any engine is not good. "just happened" and "parked since" are subjective terms and sound better than "it overheated once and i just drove it far enough to get home". you don't want to pay top dollar or even close for something that might have issues. drive it a long time, let it idle a long time and see if there are any signs....search the forum here for what to check for overheating and headgasket issues.

i see they both have the 2.2, make sure that legacy doesn't have a 2.5. if it were my daughter and the car is going to be used in any urban areas or places where theft is a concern the Legacy Sedan would be my choice. my wife has an OBS and it's an awesome car, but it's annoying taking that car some places because everything in the car is easily accessible by would be thieves. a sedan provides a trunk space and more security in my oppinion. the OBS is awesome, we can fit 2 bikes inside of ours if we want to go for a ride. lots of room for traveling and carrying weird items. a very functional vehicle and my wife loves it. i would look at her hobbies, habits, recreation and choose the one that best serves those activities. i'd also look at both vehicles and compare the history on them. if one was from a dealer (no known history) and the other was from a private owner with all the service records i would definitely take the one with service records. which brings up the next point....do a carfax on both vehicles. less owners is better. make sure there are no accidents or past claims against both. i've owned about 15 subaru's and there is no doubt in my mind that well cared for vehicles are much more reliable than multiple owner cars with no known service history. be prepared to spend another chunk of change on a timing belt if they can't prove that it's been done recently (or if you can't do it yourself) if it's time. these are interference engines, if the timing belts breaks it can cause severe engine damage. i always change any 1997 and up subaru i get if i don't know for sure it was changed.

magnecor ignition wires are excellent. i put them in everything i drive and all my friends/family vehicles i work on as well if they plan to keep it awhile. i can't say enough about them. ive personally put over 150,000 miles on one set. stick with stock NGK's, others don't offer you anything. if you want to spend money get the torquemaster plugs, they are about $7.50 each but they last forever and there is not gap to degrade over time. stay stock with everything else, it won't gain you anything unless you just want it to be new for reliability but most ignition parts don't fail very often.

did you get all the R12 out? if the system is under or over charged the compressor won't come on. check your fuses and relays, the fuses to the a/c system are subject to blowing, i'd particularly be sure to look at them since they are so easy to inspect visually.

if you want that quality. i had a brand new one about a day old blow to pieces on me. others have had the same issue on this board. installing a used one is a much better option than getting a cheap rebuild. the subaru OEM axles do not break, ever. (well except the off road guys and their lifted rigs, they break everything!)

you have to realize what you're starting with. i think you'll be very disappointed with the results of even the best possible ECU upgrade. you'll smooth out idle and driveability and improve gas mileage more than gain performance (and even those improvements will be minimal). i would bet money you'd get more gains with a thorough tune up (realize the injectors and everything else is 15 years old), plugs, wires, coil, air filter, and playing with the ignition timing than you would with upgrading the ECU on an NA engine. these cars are slow and the ECU is not the solution.

check out MWE - he is respected around here. thread with details and pricing here: http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=49775&page=2&highlight=MWE%2A

if you determine for sure it's the bearing, i'd do the junk yard rear hub swap probably. the rear hubs aren't that hard to swap (unless there's tons of rust, that won't help). i have the tool for removing that special nut but have yet to use it. if you're swapping one rear hub and you have drum brakes, might be a good time to consider doing a rear disc brake swap since you're swapping hubs anyway. you'd have to swap both sides and you're done.

no way i can see that being the case. i've seen a number of bad driveshafts in various states of failure and none have ever caused torque bind symptoms. with one end being bolted to the rear diff and the other slid into a splined shaft, it's still a direct mechanical link from the rear output shaft of trans to rear diff. so one turn equals one turn. warpage bad enough to cause issue would result in stripped splines, horrible vibration and/or fluid leakage our of the rear trans seal. i'd be interested to hear what the exact symptoms were before and after transmission swapping.

or if it does, remove it if those #^$&*^#&^$'s wont' sell you the kit.

benebob just posted info on this about a day or two ago. search for that thread, it has a link. i don't know off the top of my head.

yep, tons of information how to do it on here. the box/kit at the autoparts store will have directions as well. spend a little time reading/searching and then go to the store and they'll help you finalize the deal. $30 tops probably and it should work again...but for how long..who knows how bad the leak is. but worth a shot.

sounds great then arbee! are they including the water pump too? other than that, looks good and that price is decent. good news!

noone is going to have quantitative analysis on what can happen or the percentage of failures to be had if you "overcool" versus do not overcool. but what we do know is the engines and transmissions are designed to run at a certain temperature, with a certain amount of coolant, a certain amount of oil and to diverge from that for no reason is risky. yes...you can run with one quart less oil in your car. yes you can run with a half gallon of coolant less than normal in your car without issue, yes you can drive with 3 out of 5 lug nuts on a wheel....for a long time. but who wants to know what happens if you do it over the long term? ATF acts as a hydraulic fluid, coolant and lubricant, it's doing triple duty and auto trans are sensitive, i like being on the safe side of the transmission. that's why he's saying figure out your temps and go from there.

yes and no. they have to remove the belts to do the head gasket so to replace the belt they are doing zero hours in labor. well...maybe 3 minutes to walk over and get it from the parts department. belt costs them maybe 50 dollars, so they're making a cool $350 off of doing nothing. that's like $6,000 per hour, sounds good to me! can i change your timing belts for $200 please? basically the dealer is trying to make a buck here....the gasket is covered under "warranty" by agreement and the dealer sells you on the t-belt. don't know your car, but they should be offering to do more than just the t-belt. what about the water pump, oil pump seals, cam seals and t-belt pullies (those should all be tested and replaced if needed). after it's done the new t-belt won't be due again for 105,000 miles, if not replaced you're asking all these other things to last about 200,000 miles. i usually adress those at the same time. once they "get it apart" they will probably say...oh, you should get a new water pump, oil pump...seals....and $1,000 later they've made out pretty good on you even though they "covered" the head gaskets. simple marketing strategies. i did my cousins 2.5 last year for about $280 total in parts, t-belt, water pump, oil pump, seals, etc. my cousin was quoted $699 at a dealer, but that didn't include all the seals and tensioners i replaced, water pump and tbelt only. if your t-belt is due or close to it, then one way or another it needs to be done soon. yours is an interference motor, you do'nt want to risk it. but dealers are not the cheap way to get your tbelts changed either.

what he said..., 1000 pounds of towing in the winter and through hills calls for knowing what you're dealing with before making any decisions. keep your fluid changed, ATF temps right like he says and you should be golden if it doesn't have any existing issues.

wow, i'll have to vote no on that until it's determined why it's doing that. very interesting. sounds like the differentials/clutch packs aren't interacting correctly or something. i would not leave it like that, i'd rather the FWD fuse be installed like you have it now. are you sure the gear ratios are the same? i know this was asked before but seems like they have to be different.

why? it does not help gas mileage if that's why you're doing it. if there's no reason then it's certainly not worth the risk. the duty c solenoid isn't what i would consider deep in the transmission. it's actually accessible without removing the transmission and can be done with average tools that a home mechanic would have. you have to remove the rear tail housing with the clutches in it, which isn't all that difficult as far as transmission work goes.

you didn't say whether it's an automatic or manual but since this is a newer generation forum it almost has to be an automatic. it is meant to be a temporary item and is questionable what problems it will or will not cause. i've only done it before for short term use with no issues on an automatic. i've done it for a long time on a manual trans but that's a completely different scenario. why are you wanting to do this? if it's for gas mileage it won't work so don't bother.

i've seen pads wear out at the 20,000 mark before. cheap pads? don't know, but calipers were fine and slides were all greased (haven't seen it on a subaru but don't see why it can't happen on any car).

the weight of gear oil you need will be in the owners manual. a 75W synthetic would probably be my choice. don't know the size off the top of my head, a 22mm drain plug maybe? does it make it in reverse?

probably be okay, there's no way to tell for sure of course. if it's gotten worse over time i'd be more worried. if it's stayed about the same for awhile i'd feel good about it. but again...who knows. crap shot. you really should drain the oil. that would tell you for sure and you'd get any bits out of there that might cause issues if they get caught in something. it's really easy to drain the oil, it's just like changing your engine oil except easier because there's no filter to replace. although you'll need a funnel to fill it back up, but that's not a big deal. or have a place do it for you, should be $15-$20 tops for diff oil, though i've never paid for it. yes the front diff and transmission are essentially an assembly. it is possible to separate them, but it's really not worth the trouble and it's a rather involved job. if either one is bad it's usually best to replace the entire trans. the one guy that i know that replaced a bad front diff ended up ruining the new one too. the old damaged diff probably damaged the areas where the trans/diff interface which ended up damaging his new front diff in well under a year. or it was installed wrong. are you going to drain the trans oil and see what comes out? myself and others are not recommending this just because we want to see you waste your time. this would be much more helpful than speculating over the internet about how long some transmission is going to last that we'll never get to see, hear, taste or feel....tastes great, less filling, tastes great, less filling...

i'm with nipper, it would be nice to know for sure what the problem is. in my experience with noises exactly like you're talking about it's a differential gear tooth broken or compromised. i'd drain the trans oil and see if there's any pieces in the oil. drain it through a screen so it'll catch any pieces. also, best to get that metal out of there if that is the case. it will probabaly run for a very long time like this with no problems if it's just a bad tooth on the gear. you won't be damaging anything but the transmission and front differential which you'd be replacing anyway, so drive on. a used transmission can be had in the $150-$300 range. local transmission shops will typically install a supplied transmission for $100-$200 ($150 around here). $250-$500. we rarely see bad manual transmissions.

i go to the same one all the time, i have a business account with them and they're super cool. i've talked to them on more than one occassion about what can and can not be accepted. they said they can take anything but brake fluid. glad you brought this up dude! it makes sense that it's locally dependent. i would doubt they ship all the contents to a central location, that doesn't sound economical. they likely have it processed or recycled locally which would depend on the local equipment, recyclers, laws, etc. good point derrick...now i should go edit that post so noone ruins massive amounts of otherwise perfectly recyclable material....