Cougar

The safety switch should be on the clutch pedal. I assume you have to push the clutch in, in order to start the car. Technically speaking, Subaru calls the transmission switch the Inhibit Switch and the terms get swapped around by some folks.

The answer is down inside the bottom of the disty. The crank angle sensor.

Before you change anything I suggest you prove where the trouble really is. The trouble could be somewhere else beside the ignition switch. Like the safety switch or starter solenoid.

To locate the resistor pack just follow the wiring back from the blower motor. Those leads should tie to the resistor pack. It is mounted on the air ducting to cool the resistors.

If I remember correctly the indicator does only show a single or sometimes a couple of bars as it follows the temperature changes. I suspect the trouble you are having is due to a problem with the indicator rather than the sensor. The digi dashes had some problems due to poor solder connections among other things. I think you have a bad connection to the indicator in the dash causing this trouble.

Since the lights don't turn off by moving the switch on top of the steering column then chances are that the switch contacts are shorted to the ON position. To see if that is so try disconnecting it and see if that turns out the lights. If the lights turn off then the switch is bad. After looking at the drawings an easier thing you can do to see if that switch is a problem is to pull out fuse #5 in the dash fuse panel. If the lights go out then the switch is bad. Fuse #5 is the fifth fuse down in the column of fuses closest to the relays in the panel. If you want to verify a reference fuse to help you locate #5, you can pull fuse #1 and the hazard lights should not work. There should be 7 fuses (1 thru 7) in that column.

Rather than a bad ground I suspect the trouble is due to a bad connection to power somewhere. Especially since hitting near the fuse panel corrects the trouble.

Since disconnecting the coil cleared the trouble that means the trouble is either with the coil or something on the other side of it is causing trouble. by bypassing the fused circuit to the coil you are defeating the protection the fuse gives. You should find out what the real problem is and fix it. Bypassing the fuse can bring on real trouble later. The coil may have some shorted windings so replacing it may solve the trouble.

Something is drawing too much current. Cleaning the carburator isn't going to stop that trouble. There may be a problem with the coil. Try disconnecting the plus wire to the coil and keep the wire from touching anything. Then turn on the ignition and see if the fuse tries to blow then. If it doesn't then you need to check out the ignition area for a problem. If you have an electric choke that could be the trouble so try disconnecting it also.

Don't go into red shift, the cops will get you.

You stated that the reservoir was overflowing. There are only 3 things I can think of that would cause that to happen. The thermostat is closed shut, the radiator is plugged, or exhaust gases are getting into the coolant.

As far as your model goes, I think Subaru only made two versions of the Outback that had an H6 inside it in 2001. The LL Bean and the VDC. The VDC was the top of the line and had the McIntosh sound system. Both models are great rides. I think you are going to like it a lot.

That's great news you got it working well. I also recommend you replace the tensioner. Why risk it? You will know what you have with a new one and won't kick yourself later if the old one does fail later on because it wasn't replaced. You have a very nice car there. Is it the VDC model? I have the LL Bean model.

The fact that all 3 cylinders on the bad side are very close in pressure may be a very good sign. If the valves did get bent I would think the chances of all 3 having the same pressure after the damage would be real slim. On the other hand, if just the valve timing got moved then I could see all 3 cylinders having close to the same pressure. I'm thinking you may just need to set the valve timing to correct the trouble. Regardless what has happened you are going to have to have some engine work done. If you are going to do it yourself you would be wise to invest some of the money you saved on the purchase price of the car to buy the set of factory service manuals for the car. You can find the set of 8 manuals on Ebay usually for under 200 dollars, which is more than half off the dealer price for these manuals. You can also get the CD version for around 20 dollars. Getting the set of manuals will be some one of the best money you can invest in the car. They will save you a lot of money over time if you do your own work. To find TDC of #1 cylinder there should be a mark on the flywheel to refer to.

It sounds like the radiator may need to be changed out. They plug up over time. You could also have a block check done to see if exhaust gases are getting into the coolant.

Glad to hear you got it fixed Susie and thanks for the kudos. A little note for later on. Even though the CEL light isn't on the ECU will store data on things the ECU sees as a possible problem. Some problems require several drive cycles to show fault before the light is turned on but those things will be recorded in memory even though the light may never turn on. They can then be recovered by a service tech using a scanner to review and help them determine what the trouble is. If the ECU hasn't been reset you will most likely see some data about the O2 sensor and possibly other things in the memory.

There are good and bad stories about dealer service. When it comes to problems with the electrical systems of cars I think a lot of service shops don't have techs as qualified in that area as the they do in the mechanical area. To have a tech well qualified in both areas is a big plus to a shop. I had a problem with the right side radio speaker in my van that the dealer tried to fix under warranty. After a couple of visits to the service shop to have them first replace the radio and then the speaker they still couldn't find the trouble. I took the van home and then decided to fix it myself even though I had a warranty. After a bit of looking around I found a connector in the door jamb that even the factory manual didn't show as being there. I pushed on it and it clicked. Problem solved, connector wasn't pushed in all the way at the factory. I wrote to the factory about the manual problem and they revised it. This was a very easy fix yet the shop spent many hours and replaced parts needlessly trying to find and fix the trouble all due to improper testing in my opinion. I think this kind of thing happens fairly often in a number of shops.

Like OB99W I would want to see if the injectors are working first. Noid lights are available at parts stores. I would also want to know if the compression is the same for all of the cylinders since that is important. Did you check all of them or just the one side? I too think that a valve timing problem is unlikely due to the chain drive but if the other bank of cylinders has higher compression then maybe that really is the trouble.

Thanks for the feedback. Glad you got it fixed.

See if you can measure any AC voltage across the battery while the engine is running. If there is more than .1 AC volt then replace the alternator soon.

Along with the drop in battery voltage there are the IR wire losses between the battery and the load to consider also. The smaller wires will have a slight voltage drop across them as current loads increase. The voltmeter sees these the difference. There could also be some dirty pin connections in connectors causing some loss in voltage.

I totally agree with you OB99W. I could not figure out why people think that putting an insulator between the contact surfaces will help the surfaces conduct better.

Very interesting, as usual OB99W.

You have located your problem alright. Not as simple as replacing the CAS sensor but not as expensive either.

You may have corrosion inside the bulb socket.