Gnuman

Heh, mine also started life as an L. I'm turning it into an LX. For '92, the L did not have a rear sway bar, and I added one, I grafted in the sunroof, put on the roof rack, added the spoiler, put in the LX seats (hight adjust version. But I used the ones from a 91, which had the headrest that goes front to back as well, as well as the organiser pocket in the back), I even had the 91 radio headunit, with the CD player out of an SVX for a while. That was kool, as it was factory radio from that long ago, with a front AUX jack. I was saying that my car was so old, it had come back into fashion. . . Well, the finals died in that radio, so i went aftermarket. I got an HD radio that also had the front AUX, front USB, CD, SD card, Sat ready, iPod ready, and a detachable faceplate. Since it is a 1 DIN radio, I had to get the larger pocket to close up the hole. I also put on a tow hitch, and I scored a lightweight flywheel and racing clutch (really heavy pressure plate), and that is on as well. I had put LX alloys on, but the tire store kept giving me a hard time about the "old alloy rims" not holding air well (bullsquat) and saying that that is why I kept having leaks on the tires they sold me. I got pissed at this and went to the competition to get my next set of tires, and that store had these really nice 7 spoke rims bundled with tires for cheap. . . Well, I bought a set of 5, so I keep the full sized spare. projects left on this car are the driving lights and lifting the back just a bit. With WRX suspension, it sounds like you are looking for the handling to be "sporty" to support "spirited" driving on road. I'm going in teh other direction. I tow things, and often have quite a bit in the back. What is "quite a bit" you ask? let me see. . .There was the time I hauled a pair of engines 600 miles (and SVX EG33, and an EJ25) to a company that was going to use them in Vanagon conversions. I also carried an EJ25 still attached to the 4EAT in it. Oh, and I make a living doing mobile auto repair. I carry two tool boxes, and engine stand, an engine hoist (folding version, but still. . .), a floor jack, jackstands, oil pan, coolant pan, drip pan, lots of rags, a stool, and a "torque multiplier" in case of need. . . Yeah, the back end squats down a bit when I have all that in it. . . Bigest problem I have now is that my rear struts are worn out (I wonder why. . . ) and I had gotten oversized tires (215 60R14) that are wider than the stock (185 75R14) ones. So now when I have any kind of load in teh car, The back end squats down and the fenderwells hit the top outside of the tire and "chirps" Not wearing the tire, and it does not seem to be wearing the plastic from the fenderwell much, so if I can just get new rear struts, and perhaps some Outback springs in the back, I should be fine. That will put perhaps an inch or two on the back, and give me the clearance I need.

The inner tie-rod went bad because of the torn boot. Not only does it fling out the grease, but all the crap on the road flies in there and mixes with the grease, which then starts grinding away at the mating surfaces on that ball type joint that allows the inner tie-rod to flex. You should get the lock washer for the inner tie-rod, so you can lock it in place after you tighten it down, so that it wont back out as you are driving down the road (that would be bad.). To make the job easier, crank the wheel all the way to the side that you are replacing the tie-rod on, so that it is extended as car as it can be. This will just make everything easier to reach. Use a good grade of grease, and lube it good. Yeah, that is about everything that I can think of, that is not obvious. . .

The list is quite long, actually. Ford mad quite a few really good cars. . . mostly before 1966. . . Then they "had a better idea". . . The complaints listed above are among the reasons that I do not work on American cars, if I can help it (and if they really want me to work on it, they will pay a premium for that. The stress is just too high, and I always have to buy special tools to do the work). But I agree, bashing Ford is not the way to impress someone regarding the true value of Subarus. That is why I mentioned that the maint. costs for a Subaru are generally very low, and the average life expectancy of that same Subaru is very high. That is true value. Now if you add to that the excelent safety history of these cars, it just makes sense that he can sleep better at night knowing that his daughter is in a car he can trust to protect her, and serve her well for quite some time.

I actually plan on driving mine until i need to write a letter to Subaru: "Dear Sirs, If you continue to make cars of this quality, you will need to add at least one number to the odometer. 999,999 miles is not followed by 0. "

Is that first Gen Leggo a '92? Loks exactly like my Emily. Well, except for I added a sunroof in mine, and my wheels are prettier

Let me put it to you this way. . . The average life expectancy of a Subaru is over 300,000 miles. My Subaru is the best car I have ever owned, has over 260,000miles on it, and I use it like a work truck. This means that I regularly beat the carp out of it, and expect more of it than is at all reasonable. At various times, I have carried a full load of tools (including an engine hoist, engine stand, floor jack, jackstands, and two heavy tool boxes) or multiple engines in the back of my Subie. Yes, I work on cars for a living, but I rarely get a chance to work on my own for lack of time and money. I could probably make a good bit more money if I were willing to work on american cars, but I prefer for a car I fix to stay fixed. . . Not just Fords, either. Subarus are bone simple to work on (well, untill you get into Turbos, which your WRX is) because they are so simple. This simplicity also translates to more reliability in that it is easy to perform the regular maintainance on a Subaru. Take a look at the daughter's car. Under the hood, right up front where they are easy to get at, you will find the P/S pump, Alternator, and A/C compressor. The starter is right on top, on the driver's side, an easy reach in. Right next to the A/C compressor is the oil fill tube, and next to it is the dipstick. All easy to get to, with little in thier way. On teh underside, right next to the drain plug, you will find the oil filter. Note that there is nothing in the way of this either, and you can even reach it and the drain plug without even jacking the car up. It is just that easy to maintain these cars. That for relaibility. As for safety, take a look at the IIHS website and see what percentage of Subarus get top ratings. Subaru had a saying a few years ago:"Airbags save lives. AWD saves airbags." what this references is the fact that the All Wheel Drive system on subarus help it to hold the road better, even during hard manuvering, than the majority of cars on the road. Add to that ABS, and you have a car that maintains traction and control in bad weather as well as most cars do in good weather. OK, let's be clear. Father to Father, my daughter is 16, and will be getting her license soon. I see way too many little white crosses on the side of the road, and I started teaching my daughter to drive at 12 because I will be DAMNED if I'm gonna let her be one. Yeah that is blunt. I bought and gave to my daughter, a '90 Subaru Legacy wagon, because I want her to have the safest car I can possably get for her. It is just that simple. I believe in Subaru's that much.

Bob, I just sent you a PM, in case you are not going to be using the rear springs. . .

Before replacing the clutch? Yeah sure I did. That is what I thought it was at first, but it turned out that the oil separator was leaking and had splashed oil all over the clutch disk. This caused the disk to slip badly, but I did not have the time of money to replace it. I did get a new disk, but I still had no time to do the job. When it finally went the rest of the way, I adjusted the cable again to be sure it was loose enough to fully engage, then went on a job. . . That was not fun. I was nervous all the way home that I would not make it before the clutch was totally gone. I did make it, however, and canceled a job to be able to do the work on my car. Turns out that this clutch disk (well at least it seems to be) is thicker than the one that was matched to the pressure plate I have in my car. the disk starts to grab just the instant that I take my foot off the floor, and I have to rev up a bit to keep from stalling. I'm guessing that this will correct itself in the next few days/weeks, and I'll be OK until I replace the clutch kit at 300K. This POS disk only has to hold up for 35K miles. at 300K, I'll be resealing the engine (again. I try to do this every 100K miles to prevent leaks), replacing the timing belt, I'll probably replace the idlers at that time, if they are worn. If not, I'll likely inject some light grease into them to keep them lubed. Before then, however, I need to replace the struts (rears are badly worn, and I want to upgrade to AGX) and the tie-rods (boots on both sides are torn, and all that road grit is getting in there and munging up the inners. Outers also need to be replaced as the boots at the joint are also torn) and get an alignment.

No need to touch the tie rod anyway. Turn the wheels all the way in the direction of the wheel you are pulling loose, pull the ball joint and axle nut, then you can swing the wheel free of the axle easily. The more things you take loose, the more you have to put back. Also, the more things you take loose, the more chances there are to mess with the alignment.

My poor car. It has a bad case of the Shoe Maker's Kids (saying from somewhere in Europe: "The shoemaker's Kids go unshod") I have been spending so much time fixing everyone elses car that I do not get a chance to work on my own. Several months ago, the clutch started slipping. at first it was only when I really jumped on it, then it started slipping while going uphill (steep hills at first) with the cruise control on. When it broke completely free while going up a steep hill in cruise I knew it was time to replace the clutch disk. Before you get on me about really wanting to replace the whole thing, I'll be tearing into this car sometime in the next 40K miles, to reseal it (again) and replace the timing belt. I'll put an Outback clutch in at that time. The Legacy clutches just do not hold well with the ammount of power that my EJ22 puts out. So I'll be putting on in that is designed for an Ej25. That will hold quite well thank you very much. I got a cheap POS clutch disk from Autozone/Advance for $60 and knocked the glazing off of the flywheel and pressure plate during the operation. Start to finish took 6.5 hours, and included pulling the engine, replacing the rear main seal (was not in straight), replacing the oil seperator (old one was leaking, and I had one of the newest version handy), knocking the glazing off of the flywheel (sandpaper) and pressure plate, then putting the engine back in. Well, let me tell you. that old clutch had been slipping so bad, and for so long that it took me a bit to get used to it actually grabbing again. Of course, My "little" EJ22 cannot break traction on 4 P215-60R14 tires (same diameter as stock but wider, for better traction on corners), but my passengers both said Ow F%#^#$ as thier heads snapped back when I dropped the clutch fast. . . All is well now, with the exception of the rear struts being worn out, but that repair will have to wait until I have the cash for AGX struts all around. . .

Closest I've come to that recently (say within the last two years) is accidentally hitting the thing in bright sun and not noticing that the parking lights were on when I left the car. I was only gon for a few hours, but it was dark enough to see the parks lights on when I got back. Luckily, I had a good battery. . .

Actually, it is in the Owners Manual. . . But how many people actually read that anyway? For my '92, it is on page 14. Not sure about the later models :cool:

is the sound more pronounced on harder (or sharper) turning? Still leaning toward the P/S pump. How is the P/S fluid level?

Not all that special. . . Take a look at it and you will see bleed screws on it as well. I would just bleed that first so as to be sure that all of the air was out of the system "north" of it.

Every time I work on any other make of car, I love my Subaru even more. . . I'll chime in that the aftermarket rotors are just fine by me as well. .

Sounds to me like an aftermarket axle that does not fit correctly. Solution would be a MWE axle, or one from the dealer, as you say the parts are not available I'm guessing there are no junkers to pull a part from. You should get a new roll pin with the new axle. I'd order the axle from MWE and drive this one until the new one arrived. I have also never heard of the splines getting worn.

Groan on turns. . . Is that a groan for just an instant (could be struts compressing)? Or is it a more sustained groan, like perhaps the P/S pump dying? I also would not expect all of your front end parts to go bad all at once, particularly at that low milage. . . Was the car in a wreck?

I've always done it in order of distance from the master: RR, LR, RF, LF. If you suspect air in the ABS, bleed that first.

Well, I've been looking, and can't find the AGXs I want in a size for the outback anyway. . . I could go with GR2's and they come in the right size. . .

With the wrench on the nut, and the arm toward the back of the car, you need to pull it towards you, so the sensor makes a counter-clockwise motion if looking at it from the top. Yeah, I did say it might be tight. . . That is why I recomended the box wrench, you can pull harder without damaging the turning surfaces.

Hmmm, '96 Outback manual. That will be the EJ22, and before they went ti the interference engine and solid lifters. This car has hydraulic lash adjusters that continually adjust the valve clearance. It may be that one or more is "stuck". This also happens when the oil is not changed regularly, or cheap oil is used. Hmmm, you also have a full load of fresh oil in the pan. . . OK, Try this: start the car and let it warm up, then rev the living piss outta the engine (bring it up to 4000 to 5000RPM and hold it there for a good 10 to 20 seconds. now let it idle and see if the chatter is gone. Stop laughing! this has fixed more than one noisy valve train on cars with HLAs. . . I used to do this regularly on my car, until I changed all the seals and went to synthetic oil, which does not leave the film of "varnish" that cheap dino oil can. I do recomend that you change the seals as Nipper recomended, as well as tightening the screws on the backing plate in the oil pump. On an EJ 22, it can be done with the engine still in the car, but it is a pain.

Just buy the single 7/8 combination wrench (box on one side, and open end on the other) from Home Depot, and use that. you will need quite a bit of force to loosten it if it is rusted in place at all, and an adjustable wrench will flex under those conditions, causing you to round off the corners of the sensor and make it even harder to remove. I would order the Genuine Subaru part as it is sure to fit and mate up easily with your harness. I would get it from Jason at 1stsubaruparts (call, don't use the site. 866-528-5282, ask for Jason in parts) or you can use the places that were mentioned earlier in this thread. It may take a few days to get to you, but you will know the part is the right one, and you will not have to splice the wires, making it very easy to install. This will also give you time to go get that wrench.

Could not find a button for an english translation, and only saw two pics of actaul testing. . . Did I miss something?

Ahhh, never knew ccrengines was MWE. Cool!

My tires are very noisy. . .when I hit bumps Yeah, I know, get the fenderwells rolled out, but the fronts do not hit the wells. Sigh, my rear struts have gone bad, I guess. My question is this: will a 96 outback strut fit on my 92 legacy in the rear? I know the Outback struts are longer than the Legacy struts, but where is the longer neasurement? Is it in the upper (spring) area, or in the tube, below the base of the spring? If I were to lift the rear up just one more inch I would be fine. As it is now, the car squats a bit in the back. Granted, there is usually a load of tools back there, and I have been known to tow a thing or two, but I really need the back end to come up at least an inch so I don't keep getting that nasty scraping noise when the hitch drags on steep driveways (or that *bang* when I go over poorly made speedbumps). Thinking of going to AGX's anyway, for the towing and heavy weights I carry, but I was wondering if the Outback size would go into the backside of my Legacy without problems.