Gnuman

Diagnosed this one recently over the phone. Never "been had" by it. I was trying out all the switches to see what they did (unless they were marked with universal icons, or words. In that case I knew what they did. . .) and discovered the behaviour of this switch (my car did not come with a manual). Then I read about it on this forum, then I found a manual and read about it in there. What am I, some sort of geek?

Spark, is the antenna over the drivers door (on the roof), or is it on the right rear quarterpanel? If on the roof, there is a pair of screws on the metal base that you remove, and you will have to snake a new antenna lead down the A pillar. If on the rear quarterpanel, you have the power antenna used on the high end trim levels. This is removed by unbolting it from the inside of tha cargo area and removing that ring that you spoke of to allow the antenna mast to be retracted from it. Then you remove the metal base by (IIRC) removing the nut from the inside. Either way, you can then install your stubby antenna.

Dude, on my '92 wagon and my ex-wifes 90 wagon they are still pliable. No sweat, really! press the tab toward the main section of the lid. It flips right up and off from there.

Carl, I suspect the advice was given with a 4EAT in mind. . .

I mean how many car companies have such a thing with any members in them? I know I certainly would join (I just qualified, By the way)!! This thread could also be called "Reflections on 200,000 miles". . . Both Emily and Pegasus are above 200K now, but my reflections are mostly on Emily (as she is my car). at 200K, she starts and runs smoothly (so smooth at idle that I place a glass of water on the intake manifold and the water inside hardly moves at all), produces enough power to break traction (briefly. I get a good solid chirp, then take off like a scalded cat) and will hold 120MPH (and be rock stable at that speed). I have done a few things to her over the years: Upgraded the seats to the "plush" seats from a 91 LS Upgraded the wheels to LS Alloy (Teardrop type) added a towing hitch added a rear swaybar replaced the stereo with an OEM unit from a 91 LS (to get the AUX port) added a CD player from an SVX installed an OEM sunroof installed an OEM luggage rack installed a deflector on the tailgate Oh, and I just got through refurbishing the engine: New headgaskets ( I wanted to see the condition of the cylender walls. Factory hash marks are prominent. No other marks I can see) new intake and exaust manifold gaskets to go with the headgaskets New cam and crank seals all around valve cover gaskets and grommets new gaskets for the crossover pipe block heater (I had it laying around, and who knows. . .maybe. . .) new (well, new to me) clutch kit from a 2.5L Impreza drilled (lightweight) flywheel about two days of cleaning the engine because I had cleaned the insides of the engine (seafoam in the oil), and the gunk was all that was keeping the engine from leaking (new seals fixed this). I have gone to Mobil 1 10W30 oil and a 5K interval. I was using just any dino 10W30 and a 3K interval. the oil always came out clean. I'll stick with the 5K interval with the synthetic as that is how far I trust my filter (I'm going with the midrange NAPA filter made by WIX). I'm getting a good solid 25MPG mixed city and highway, with 27 plus on highway alone. Will I ever buy any other make of car, or recomend such to anyone I care about? Not on your life. A friend asked me if this car was going to be the best car I have ever had when I'm done. . . She already is the best. By a significant margin. Somebody get me a 200,000 mile club sticker to put on my car!!! :headbang::headbang:

Third option (and I have done a lot of these): pin out, then the pinch bolt on top of the balljoint, apply force to top of lower control arm to force balljoint out. You should not need to hammer on the axel at all to get it loose from the hub (if you do have to, I recomend replacing it). Punch is 3/16. Pinch bolt is 14mm. Axel nut is 32mm. If you mess with the bolts holding the strut to the knuckle, you have to get your alignment done. If not, you can get away without it.

O2, knock, and temp you will hardly notice, unless they go in an extravagant way (extremely rare). cam and crank rarely fail unless damaged (the car gets hit, for example). On your car, keep the oil changed, replace the timing belt every 100K miles, keep the tires matched, and change the coolant on schedule. With this, you should be fine. On a board like this one, where a lot of people come to get advice regarding problems they have, you get a disproportinate number of problem threads. Your car is not in any way near as bad as all of those threads make it look.

the O2 sensor takes a 7/8" flare wrench or offset wrench. This is a universal size for O2 sensors. As for the leak up front (notice how we all jumped on that bit?) That is the more important problem. The gasket cannot be "pushed out" by overtorquing the cover bolts. They have a stop, or shoulder, on them to prevent this. Your timing belt cover gaskets are damaged. You spoke of a "massive oil leak". That means that at least one, if not all, of your seals are leaking on the front of your engine. It is also very likely that your timing belt has become oil soaked, and needs to be replaced. I recomend replacing all the seals (4 cam seals, front crank seal, oil pump O-ring, valve cover gaskets, spark plug gaskets, the grommets that seal the bolts that hold the valve covers on) as well as the timing belt cover gaskets (one on top, and one on the bottom) and the timing belt. While you have the oil pump off, tighten the screws that hold the backing plate to the impeller, to prevent future problems. To do all of this, I would remove the engine from the car. In that case, I would also replace the oil seperator at the rear of the engine with a metal one (your engine came with a plastic one, that is prone to failure, from the factory), and I would even consider replacing the headgaskets, if that has not already been done. If you are replacing the headgaskets, you will also need intake manifold gaskets, and exaust manifold gaskets. Total parts for all of this is under $300 at 1stsubaruparts.com. The rest is your labor, or that of a mechanic. If you do decide to pull the engine, the O2 sensor will be just hanging there in the breeze, and can be changed in a matter of seconds. the more serious work of resealing your engine will make it more reliable and trouble-free for annother 100K miles. . .

no coolant passages at the ends of the manifold. just right around the throttle body. 12mm bolts (4 on each side). Easy job, really.

No need, really. The O2 sensor has a life expentancy of about 100K miles, and I was way above that when I replaced mine. I did get better milage after, but it was not technicaly bad yet. It was just starting to respond slower than it was supposed to. The knock replace, if the old one is cracked. The temp sensor I would only replace if it showed a code, or the car was hard to start either hot or cold (the temp sender giving a bad reading to the ECU). As for the cam and crank sensors, leave them. they are not cheap, and really should last the life of the car. I had a smallish issue with overheating just after resealing the engine (I had no fuel to speak of in the car, and did not do as good a job of burping it as I could have) that I just corrected (by burping it, of course). while I was idling it to see if it would overheat (that was the only time it would do so), I placed a full glass of water on the plastic cover that goes over the throttle body, and took a short movie of it, showing how smooth this 200K mile engine is (the water is hardly moving in the glass). Heh, if anyone is interested in the movie, drop me a PM (or an email), and I'll email it to you. :clap:

Congrats, Danbob!! The more you drive the Legacy, the more you will love it.

Actualy, many of us are conversant with the workings of Volkswagons. Many Vanagon owners, for example, swap the 130HP Subaru EJ22 engine into thier cars (vans?) instead of the 90HP Volkswagon Water Boxer. Others of us are just real fond of the boxer engine type, and own VWs as well as Subarus. So it is really not all that much of a stretch to think we would be of help there. . .

The single bolt that holds it in place takes a 12mm socket, and goes through the center of the sensor.

In many places, they are. . .

Go for the Legacy. at 150K miles, it is just getting broken in good. These engines were designed to last 400K miles without major problems, and the chasis is designed to keep up with that standard. The Loyale is a good car, but it was a last gasp for the venerable EA81. The EJ22 in the Legacy is just this side of indestructable, with reasonable maintainance.

At 1stsubaruparts.com you can get all 4 idlers for about $250. The timing belt is less than $50, IIRC. Waterpump is like $70 or so. Do not order from the website. Give Jason a call at 866-528-5282. He will hook you up.

It is my guess that you posted this in the wrong window on your computer.

You do not have to remove the water pump to remove the oil pump. you do have to remove the idlers though. the oil pump should last a good long time (perhaps the life of the engine) if you retighten the screws on teh back of the impeller backing plate at each timing belt change (also replacing the o-ring and crank seal at the same time). If you had not guessed, I am firmly in the reseal it camp. You have a good car, with an engine that should last 400,000 miles without lower end problems. Replacing the water pump, and the idlers, along with the cam and crank selas and resealing the oil pump, will make it a pretty safe bet that you will not have to do anything to the engine for the next 100K miles (well, maybe sensors on the top of the engine, but nothing inside) other than oil changes and such.

What happened at 260,000km? Mine is getting close to 320,000km now, and not even close to needing replacement. . .

No, the L did not have them. The LS did, as well as height adjustable drivers seat. The upgrade seat from the 90/91 was the best of them, though. drivers seat was height adjustable, both front headrests adjusted front and back as well as up and down. In addition, the front seats had organiser pockets in the back. This level is what had the rear headrests, from 89-94. The 95-99 Legacy L did not have the rear headrests (what you see on the top of the rear seatback is the stabiliser for where it meets the posts on the underside of the rear bench. You can swap in the rear seat from an outback of the same year, if you want the rear headrests.

Yeah, coming to the rescue is what I do. That is why I drive a Subaru. . .

IIRC, the last year for the 2.2L was 2000. The Phase II 2.2L was introduced in 95, and they were made interference in 97. In 98 the 2.5L engine was the DOHC Phase I version. Subaru addressed this by redesigning the headgasket to be more robust, correcting the problem. The Phase II 2.5 that came out in 99, and was implemented across the board in 2001 had an external headgasket leak that Subaru addressed with a "stop leak" like product. This was a very bad decision, and one many of us are hoping fervently will be reconsidered, and soon. I personally would have no problem with the 98 GT, or anything sporting a 2.2L

Ahhh, rust repair work. . . Yeah that costs. so do you have pics somewhere? Perhaps you could put them in the "no maintainance" thread?

I have about 40,000km more than you on mine. I replaced the O2 sensor to get a better fuel ratio (and a bit better milage). No other sensors have been replaced. I did have to replace the balljoints and clutch (I got the car free with those dead), and besides putting in a really crappy clutch (never buy a Duralast clutch) that did not have as much oomph as the engine, I have not had to do anything to the engine. I recently replaced the timing belt, seals (they had been baked hard and were not sealing a damn thing. the engine was filthy), clutch again (this one came out of a 2.5L Impreza that had been totaled), waterpump (at 200K miles, it was time. . .) and headgaskets (I wanted to have a look in the combustion chambers to check condition). basicly a reseal of the engine, a timing belt, a water pump, and headgaskets. none of this was really needed, other than the reseal and the timing belt. One by schedule, and the other because of failure (the seals). What i found was that the combustion chambers were very clean, and the original crosshatching from the factory honing of the cylenders was prominent. there was very little varnish, and the whole inside of the engine was clean. The outside on the other hand. . . One thing that surprised me was that the knock sensor was still in good shape. I see so many of those things cracked that it took me aback to see mine looking like new (and I have personally put 80K miles on it).