Gnuman

Sadly, Joe, that is not all that odd at all. . . That is part of why we call them stealerships. MDW25gt, good call steering folks away from the thief in Massilon. Now on to the original poster: First off, Dude, turn the underline off. That is actually painful to read. Not to worry though, my eyes will stop bleeding soon. . . As for the stuttering in tight turns, no that is not normal. The longer it is left like that, the worse it will get (progressively, but slowly if you do not drive hard with it). You will eventually want to get it fixed. You live in a place where it snows, and one of the great things about Subarus is how they drive in the snow. THis is because of the AWD drivetrain. If changing the tranny fluid does not fix it (in a large number of cases it does), then you will need to get a new clutch pack and install it. If you plan to go that route, then I recomend that locate and purchase a copy of the Field Service Manual for your model and year, particularly where the tranny is concerned. With this manual in hand, and assuming adequate skills, tools and workspace, you should be able to fix this problem correctly. My personal recomendation is to read up on the procedure and be sure you are comfortable with it before you buy any parts or put wrench to bolt. Before that point, you still have the option of taking it to a shop to get repaired. Good luck to you whichever option you choose. Oh and welcome to the board, and congratulations on your "new" Subaru.

A great many line dancing rodents to you Tex (yes, that is Conga Rats) !! Perhaps I don't have a new car, but one of the things that I love about Subaru (along with a large number of others on this board, I'm sure) is that I don't have to replace it every couple of years for it to perform well. My Subaru is 14 years old and still outperforms a lot of new cars in it's class. . . Granted mine is not a rally racer, and I do not do any street racing either, but this car keeps up quite well with traffic that is primarily a demonstration of mefirstitis. .. Here's to the many happy years that you will have with that car

Well it would probably cause the #3 cyl to read 0PSI (you read that right: 0 ) on the compression test. . .. the rest were between 125 and 130PSI. numbers 2 and 3 had black carbon built up on the plug, 1 and 4 looked good at the plug. Certainly looks like this engine is a candidate for rebuild (at least the right head. . .) Edit: Damn! He beat me to it!!

That is what I've been saying about the B9 since the start. . . As for how it drives, I got a chance to drive one around Oakland for a bit (did not get a chance to take it on the freeway, or push it hard in corners) and it drives respectably. My biggest problem is the lag between stomping on the gas and the car taking off. When I punch it, I dont want the car to sit there thinking about it before responding. When I hit the gas hard there is a reason. mid throttle responded well, however, and I would buy one if I had the money to. I'd find a way around the hesitation problem.

OK, I only have a few symptoms on this one. I was in the process of rescuing a Toyota on the freeway (alt went out, and I had to get the car off the freeway, so I charged the battery with jumpers of my system) As I was idling there on the side of the freeway, my temp guage started climbing. I opened the windows and hit the heater to max and max fan (this always brings down the temp). By the time I got around to checking under the hood the rad fans were not going (and when I checked inside,the temp was normal). the symptoms are : high reading on the temp guage no CEL hot day Idling for extended period of time (I charged her battery for a half hour to get her safely to my parts place, where the electrical system could be checked) when heater engaged, temp went to normal did not see any fan activity The above is the main part of this thread. What follows is what I plan to do soon anyway. I will be watching this for the next few days to be sure the fans are engaging. That is the only thing I can think of that would cause this. It does not overheat at all when I'm driving. On second thought, could this be an indication that the WP is starting to go? I'm saving up for parts to do a heavy maint at 180K miles, including the WP, Timing Belt, and most of the seals. Will probably pull the engine as I will need to replace the rear crank seal (I know that one is bad). Debating with my bank account wether to put in new HGs as well, as a preventitive measure. . . Timing belt would include TB, WP, OP (seals, O-ring, back out the screws on the backing plate, and torque them with good threadlock), probably new cam seals. . . If I pull the engine to do the job, I would replace the HG's, intake manifold gaskets, rear crank seal, crossover pipe seals, cam cover seals and o-rings, cam cover gromets (for the bolts), and everything listed in the timing belt service. I call the latter "all soft parts". This car has given me excelent service (far beyond anything I ever expected), and deserves the pampering of the latter service. . . Now if only I can convince my bank account of that. . .

Dude, do not leave town in this car, until it has been fixed. white smoke and clattering are not a good combo. get this looked at right away, and repaired immediately.

Not to mention the saving of your life because you are a lot more visable. . . I have used my headlights full time for years now, and I used to ride a motorcycle ( where Full Time Headlights have been the law for years). One of the things I love about my Subie is that the headlights turn off with the ignition, so I never have to think about turning them on or off. . .I leave them on all the time. . .

Well, I would have "fired" him too. If you cannot write a description without numerous anatomical references (particularly ones meant to be unflattering), you really do not have the vocab ulary to be a reviewer. His review on the STi was mixed. He seems to hate any design put out by Subaru these days, and he only appreciates cars with lots of performance. I agree on some points, but would not use the language he used in a public forum (if you are writing for a newspaper, then it is among the most public of forums). Granted the styling on the B9 takes some getting used to, but I have never bought a Subaru for it's styling. I buy them for what is under that skin. He is right that the TCU needs to be reprogrammed for more performance, and the looks of the center console did not offend me at all. My biggest complaint on the console area is that it is designed to only accept Dealer provided stereo options, and those thend to be way too expensive for what you get. Other than that, I find the console area to be very sleek. as for seven pasengers, this car is fine as long as at least two of the passengers are small kids (12 and under) so they can sit in the back seats. That the center seats recline makes this a fairly comfortable car for the first five passengers. . . So do I like the car or not? Yes, I like it, except that there are a few things I would have done differently.

True. Subaru has yet to offer a 6 with a manual tranny.

As long as you are putting in a new flywheel, get a clutch kit and replace the whole thing. A clutch kit will come with the throw out berring, the pilot berring (that is the one in the flywheel), a new pressure plate, clutch disk, and an alignment tool so it will line up correctly when you put it back together. If the flywheel has had problems, it is really a good idea to replace the clutch parts at the same time, as they were likely damaged when the flywheel broke. . .

the 3.0 H6 is only available in the L.L. Bean Outback and the B9 Tribeca at this time. Unless, that is, you want to do your own swap. . .

What are those small hoses called that are just after the Throttle Body on the intake manifold? I use them, and put a full can through it. . .

The tranny is the number one thing to go out on these cars. I think Subaru made a major mistake by not offering this whith a Manual Tranny as an option. There would be a hell of a lot more of them on the road. . . Heat is the number one killer of Auto Trannies, and the SVX generates a lot of it as it is a fairly heavy car, and people like to drive them fast (well it is styled like a fighter jet, so what do you expect?). Very nice cars. lots of amenities as well.

We found the problem. The ECU was faulty. we checked continuity between ignitor and coil, then between ECU and ignitor, and all that was good, so we swapped out the ECU from annother 98 Outback and #3 and #4 started firing like champs. Hey Jamie, how much do you charge for an ECU for a 98 Outback (manual tranny), or do you need a part number for that? I can pull the model code from the old one, or send you a VIN. PM me please.

lmdew, thanks but the car has a brand new coil on it (someone else tried that already). I'm also working on this, and plan on checking not only continuity but signal from ECU to igintor, and from ignitor to coil. As you may have guessed, I'm working on this too. In case the coil was bad despite being new, we swapped one from annother engine that was running perfectly with no results. Those two components are ruled out.

Well, the 98 Outback I drove yesterday has the same seats as the 90 Legacy LS wagon I got my seats and roof rack from (well, and the stereo) so I would bet that it has not changed all that much. . .

Actually, standard size is fine for both of those applications. Prefer a 6 point socket, 1/2" drive for them.

Depending on the vehicle, it should be sheet metal (at least that is what it was screwed into on the '91 wagon that I pulled one off of).

They are fairly cheap to replace actually, as they are a fairly standard size, and they are a discrete nut and bolt (with a flange that holds the spring tension on the bolt, while the flange holds the other side). A workable replacement is available at most auto parts stores, particularly AutoZone. It is better, of course, to keep the original, unless it is too badly corroded. Soak them in penetrating oil for a few hours before trying to loosten them.

Well, my eyes do not bug out as I have a lifetime of experience of seeing through the facade that the government tries to pull over our eyes. . . I look past the inital appearances of everything as a defense mechanism. That is also why I do not buy a car for pretty looks, but for great engineering (guess why I love my Subaru). Pretty is nice, don't get me wrong, but it's not my first priority

Surprised the hell outta me too. . . the hesitation is only when you tromp on the throttle. I only tested it at low speeds, so it may not be an issue on the freeway. Midrange throttle gave the best pickup. There is a lot I like about the B9, but plastic on the engined is not one of them (I plan on keeping it a long time if I get one. . .) I'm not as worried about melting as I am about it ageing and getting brittle. Plastic does not last as long as metal. If I can retrofit metal parts for the plastic ones, I'll be happy. . . the hesitation I can compensate for (or use the sportshift to get around it. . .)

I got a chance to take a B9 out for a test drive yesterday, and found some interesting results. . . One of the most disturbing is that when I tromped on the throttle, it took like 2 seconds before the engine actually started putting out power. It just seemed to sit there thinking about it. . . I was told that it is a system designed to protect the tranny from excessive forces from the engine. . . It felt like those old SciFi movies where the engines had been tampered with and when they were pushed to full, there was this winding down sound, and they chugged to a halt. . . when lesser throttle was applied, it ran OK, but if you ever need to "push the envelope" to get out of a bad situation, you are stuck. Other than that, it was nice in most respects. the two other problems are the stereo is round faced, so aftermarket units are not an option, and I looked under the hood. . . OK, when did Subaru start using plastic intake manifolds? I can understand that this is probably to save weight, but I'd much rather have the extra weight than a huge hunk of plastic acting as my intake. I'm sorry if I'm old fashioned, but I like my engines to be made of metal. If I ever get the cash to get one of these, I will first find out if that plastic intake can be swapped for a metal one. Oh, and they are thinking of putting a turbo on this for next year? Bull. The car is not designed to be able to take a turbo. With the hesitation built in to protect the tranny, and the plastic intake manifold, a turbo would last about 6 months. . .at most

Blitz, you and I are, once again, in agreement that the government is way too "monitoring happy" and wanting way too much control over the actions of the citizenry. I mean, isn't that what the "evil communists" were doing back in the '50s? So now we emulate them. The trend only gets more disturbing as time goes on. Those that are in power will always tend to use every means at thier disposal to remain in power. BTW, it is a sad comment on the country that your signatures ring so true. Am I crazy for seeing the same things that you do? No, it is because I grew up just outside of the city limits of the capital of this country, and saw a lot of this even as I was growing up. The government is not fit to have the power to tell the people how to act, how to think, what to believe, how to live thier lives (how to vote). . .

That is not a 91. That is a 92. Nice buy! You should have many happy miles with it. My own 92 is still running great after 170K, and is still able to hit and hold 120MPH. I do not recomend that until you have a lot more experience than you would at 14. . . Manual transmission makes this an easy car to work on as well, and you could easily take it over 300K. Good investment, stable car, really easy to drive, and you like the radio. . . Congratulations all around on this great buy.

What turned me off of them after I was given one is the amazingly small hole that the used oil is drained through. I'm impatient. I open the top (pull out the dipstick) of the engine so it will drain faster. Putting in a valve that has a hole a quarter the size of the original is just against my nature. On the other hand, that valve may have saved his engine. It would take more time for the oil to drain out, so there would still be oil in the system with one of those far longer than if the pan had been holed (or the regular plug fell out. . .)