T.J.

I have been chasing a rattle in the back of my '02 WRX Wagon for a while now. The other day while looking for the source of it I found that my rear axels have play in them where they meet the rear diff.! With my hands, I can move them side to side (between the diff and the wheel) about 1/8". They also move up and down about 1/16" in the diff housing. Is this normal? Does anyone feel like sliding under their car to see if they can move their rear axels? I would appreciate it. I tried to shake the front axels as a referance and they didn't seem to move. Note: I did change the diff. fluid to Mobile1 synthetic @ 30,000 miles. Any info appreciated, T.J.

Well, I have been using cheveron's valve/injector cleaner frequently ($5 @ Joe's). I also purchased a bottle of the Mystery Marvel fluid that is waiting for an oil change (didn't realize how few miles we put on this car!). The condition has definitly improved. It occurs much less often and recovers much quicker than before!! I'll change the oil this weekend. The other Suby needs it anyway. Later, T.J.

Wow, this thread is like a support group for people w/ poor running Legacys. I started a new thread called "Hi+'92 Leggy trouble" because I didn't know about this one. Some things I would note are: 1. Replaced O2 sensor and the first cat. No luck. 2. Shop said that fuel pressure was fine. 3. Mine can have this problem on a full tank. 4. I have yet to check any of the other sensors or relays. 5. Yesterday, I added a bottle of Cheveron Injector and Valve Cleaner (4.99@Joe's) before I filled the tank. I drove 169.65mi. w/ kayak and gear. Plenty of up hill. Made the whole trip w/o a hiccup. This is not to say that the problem is necessarily fixed, but she did run well for me. Just a thought. I plan on dumping a bottle of that stuff in the tank frequently over the next few months as well as using Mavel Mystery Oil every time I change the Oil (per suggestion of Richierich, thanks man). I will keep yous guys posted. Later, T.J.

Thanks Richie! I will definitely give that a try. Thanks to everyone for the responses! Later, T.J.

First off I would like to say: Hi, my name is T.J. and I am a Subaruaholic. There, I said it. My first suby was a Rally Blue Pearl '99 2.5RS. It was sweet having a car that color before half the cars on the road had it (Proteges, Foci, Kias, etc.). It was so reliable and stable in all conditions that we purchased a used, emerald green '92 legacy for my wife to drive around and for me to use skiing, kayaking, and mt. biking. When the WRX was finally introduced here it didn't take long for the RS to get traded in for a PSM '02 WRX Sportwagon. The RS was alot better looking, but I like numbers. It has seen a bit of modding and has been the best all around performance/practical car I could imagine. Now, on to that pesky legacy problem . She's got 140,000 miles on her. Over the last year and a half I have been experiencing an intermittent problem. Occassionally, when I would drive aggesivelly up hill, it would suddenly start to run very rough, lose power, and eventually die. I would turn the key off and check all of my fluids. Everything would look fine. By the time I got back in the car and tried to start it, it would start right up and run fine. Lately, it has become more frequent. To the point where I figured that I could take it into the mechanic w/o having to worry about him not being able to duplicate the problem. Before I took it in I changed the oil and filter (of course), fuel filter (last year), plugs and wires. Still have the problem. The local mechanic charged me an hour of labor to check it out. He said: fuel pressure was fine, the o2 sensor in the first cat. is faulty, and they think that the 1st cat. is deteriorating. He came to this conclusion because he plugged a pressure sensor in to the exhaust manifold and at idle is seeing about 10psi of pressure. He says about 1psi is normal. He quoted me $1030.00 to replace the cat. and o2 sensor. Apparently, the cat. (which looks like it is one piece w/ the entire exhaust manifold) cost $700 by itself. I hate to throw that kind of money at a something that may not fix the problem. I have had bad experiences w/ other mechanics in the past so any input or suggestions would be appreciated. Has any one had this problem before? UPDATE: The mechanic called me and said that they had found a replacement cat that didn't involve replacing the entire manifold. It just welds into place. That dropped the price for the work in half. I told them to go for it. Got the car back the next day and the mechanic said that they noticed a "big" improvement in power after the installation. I asked them if they had checked the pressure again. They said no but that they were confident that it had been fixed. I took the car for a drive and the problem persists.:-\ I do not notice the "big" power gains but it might be harder to induce the stalling problem. :banghead: Any input apreciated. Regards, T.J. P.S. I have never seen a CEL in this car.

You should get a quote to fix (convert?) that A/C first, if you plan on having that done. I think that is a fairly spendy operation. I have a '92 w/ 140,000mi. and the A/C still works. It has been a good, resonably reliable car for us and a great ski machine. Since purchasing it used, we have replaced the right/front c/v joint, cluch, and right now we are working on an intermittent stalling problem. Not bad. Later, T.J.