NOMAD327

The front seal or oil pump o-ring on my 99 Outback with 65,000 miles is already dripping quite a bit. If I had one with 105,000 that wasn't leaking, I wouldn't expect it to go another 105,000 miles without problems

Once you remove the windshield washer bottle and battery (can probably just slide it forward on it’s tray a bit) on the left and the air inlet tube and mass air sensor and air cleaner box on the passenger side, access is fair doing a 2.5 in an outback. I would do the front plug first on each side, as they are slightly easier to do. What makes it the most hard is that the plugs are really far down inside the wells in the heads. The rear plugs on each side are harder because the frame rails are closer in the back. My problem was that an extension was needed, but there isn’t room to get one in with the socket attached. You have to slide the socket into the hole first, then slide in and assemble the extension, and finally attach the ratchet to the end of the extension. I immediately removed the sponge rubber plug protector from my socket, the reason being it will be extremely difficult to get the socket off the end of the plug and out of the hole if the rubber is gripping the spark plug. I didn’t want it on for plug removal either, because there is a lot of trial and error with your socket set as to what gives just the right length for getting the socket stack down into the hole. As I recall, what worked best for me was to use a plug socket in the rear, and then use a ratchet with a standard socket on it to turn the hex on top of the plug socket instead of using an extension. On the front plugs, a 3” extension worked pretty well with the regular spark plug socket and a ratchet. There was at least one plug which worked slightly better with a standard deepwell socket instead of the spark plug socket, but that was not a critical must have item! I would recommend having a small hand mirror on a stick or a ladies compact to be able to glance down into the well to see what’s happening. I’ve done a few of these cars, and on each one, at one time or another, the spark plug socket became slightly jammed on some aluminum protrusions of the head that were down deep in the well. The impression is that the threads are pulling rather than the socket is cocked and dragging. If you experience this, Use the mirror to reconnoiter. If in doubt, reverse direction, and the condition should go away if it’s not the threads. This usually happens when it’s just starting to go real good to scare the heck out of you. Going back in with new spark plugs, make sure you check the gap first, then lube the threads with an anti-seize compound. Make sure there is a washer on the plug or you will wonder later on if it was in fact there. There. The big trick to installation, is to have a piece of rubber hose that’s about three or four inches long and a snug fit on the top of the spark plug. Stick it down over the top of the plug and use it to guide the plug into place. Twirl the hose between your fingers and you can probably get the new plug in half to three quarters of the way which is time not spent with a socket wrench. Putting all the stuff back on, make sure the three quarter inch hose that connects to the bottom of the intake tract after the air flow sensor is reconnected, The car will not run without the hose connected, and sometimes it slips off unseen during disassembly, and you don’t even realize it needs reconnected.

have only had one good snow here so far, but the hydro edge tires really grab compared to the original michelin tires. A bit expensive, but seem to do everything pretty good.

After you have changed a set of spark plugs on a DOHC outback, you will wish they weren't due to be changed again for another 60,000 miles

Dex cool is fabulous stuff for engines with a lot of aluminum parts from the research I've read. The big issue with using Dex Cool is that it's not compatible with the normal ethelyene glycol (green) stuff. It's important to do several complete flushes to remove all the green before putting in the orange stuff. Should work great after that. You would want to do it rapidly, Iron and steel parts will start to develop a rust film within a few minutes with no corrosion inhibitor present.

Talking to the dealer, they say most cars they see with head gasket problems have contained dirty coolant. I know a head gasket leak will make the coolant dirty, at least in instances where the leak is combustion gas into the coolant. I have just decided for the time and expense involved, I'm swapping coolant on my DOHC 2.5 every one or two years. It can't hurt, and it may help. I've been doing every four or five year swaps for awhile now on all my vehicles, with concern being avoidance of heater core replacement. I've needed a couple of them on non subaru's and it's usually one of the most miserable jobs going.

NAPA has usually listed paper gaskets even for cars that came with RTV sealed joints. Probably most other automotive stores will as well. I prefer a gasket on an automatic transmission, because many of them drip for a long time as the oil trapped in the torque converter slowly finds it's way out. If the oil drip goes across the gasket area, it will prevent getting a good seal.

I found the PFR5B-11 NGK at advanced auto for $10, best price I found, and yes those are the original equipment plugs for the car. List on those plugs most places is $15 each and a lot of the internet sources wanted $12 or more with shipping extra. My kid who is on a budget bought Autolite APP3924 for about $4 apiece. They are double platinum and made in america. Very high quality appearance and seemed to match the NGK's for dimensions very well. The car runs like it should on them, so they may be OK to use. The plugs on this engine are real difficult to change, so I bought the NGK not wanting to have to redo the job if there were any problems.

It's odd to have all four suffer a problem. My 99 never seems to need air added and it has the factory alloy wheels too, so it's not a generic problem. Usually leaks with aluminum wheels occur at the bead area, but it's real easy to check the valve stems first. The best check for slow air leaks is a small paintbrush and some soapy watter. Any leaks will tend to blow bubbles! Only a relatively good leak will show with this method, You almost have to pull the tires off to check the back bead anyway, so you may want to have a tire store check with a dunk basin like has been in use since the dawn of time. The valve stems can leak through the internal valve, (unthread the dust cap to check) or at the area where it goes through the rim, or in the middle of the stem itself. This problem will show more readily if you flex the valve stem to open up any cracks that are in the rubber. If you have bead leaks, which are the most common problem, A tire store will have to demount the wheels and clean up the aluminum and the rubber. They will then remount the tires using some gummy crap made for the purpose of sealing the beads. I had an eclipse once that leaked in this manner and the bead sealant did the trick. Wheels with a lot of salt corrosion are more likely to have this occur. In the very unlikely possibility that there is a through wall leak on the aluminum wheel, It is probably a porosity in the aluminum. The best technique here is to soak the area with the real thin variety of loctite (290 grade) It will soak into the pores and harden in a few minutes. wipe away the excess on the surface that will not harden, by the way and it should then be sealed.

The reason the metal wears instead of the rubber, is that the rubber is soft and small particles become imbedded in the surface pores where they are held against the surface like a low grade of sandpaper. At the speeds engines turn, after years of driving that very narrow contact line will score like it had a knife held against it. It doesn't take road dirt to cause this, even with frequent filter changes, there are microscopic pieces of metal circulating with the oil. These particles also imbed in the soft material main bearings are made of, which is why the hardened crankshaft wears out rather than the soft bearing material. Snotrocket is correct in suggesting the new seal be placed axially so it rubs in a slightly different spot. It's just important to have the seal installed square in the housing bore so it wears evenly.

My kids 97 outback has been giving transmission codes the last few days. The yellow temperature light will come on for two seconds like it should, followed by 15 fairly quick flashes. The car shifts and drives perfect except for a slight torque bind feel that was not there before. We put a 15 Amp fuse in the FWD socket, just in case it would prevent damage till we got to the dealer, and the light didn't come on. I attributed it to being part of the problem but left the fuse in feeling it could do no harm, and might help. After one day, the FWD light came on for one day. Since then, it comes and goes when it feels like it. It does not flicker, but rather will be on for a long time or be off for a long time. All connections are clean and tight! The real kicker, is dropping the car off at the dealer last night, The original temperature light error code has cleared and you get the normal two second test signal then nothing else. For that period at least, the FWD light is now solidly on! Car obviously hates going to the dealer, anybody seen anything like this?

My outback came with XW4 raised white outline, pretty much standard on them I believe, and they went 65,000 miles. I usually buy bridgestone or firestone because I like the local dealer, but he said his product was only going 40 to 45,000 on legacy models. I found the XW4 is still available from Sam's club for special order about $99 a tire, and checked the Michelin web site. They rate Hydroedge as follows: Treadwear 10, wet traction 10, quiet ride 10 Non performance tire relative handling 10, Winter traction 8. The XW4 in the same categories is 5,4,7,5 and 4. Hydroedge has an 85,000 mile warranty, highest of any michelin tire, and they claim it is now their best. I think for 205-70-15 they were listed about $125 a tire so they had better be good! I was not going to spend that much and found them on sale at Sears for $95 a tire. I own a lot of high performance cars and have had my fill of unidirectional tires, but have not had a lot of problems with uneven tire wear on Subaru, so I decided to take a chance on tires that cannot be criss crossed. If they even come close to the 85,000 mile mark I may not see the end of their life. In the meantime, I haven't had them that long, but they are as advertised. Better than the old tires in quiet and everyday feel. It seems like fuel economy is slightly better, but I never measured it close enough to tell for sure. They are night and day better in rain, haven't seen any use in snow yet. Very happy with them.

The oil gauge sensor would normally be installed where the existing sensor is installed using a pipe tee. A volt sensor can tap into the electrical system anywhere almost, One wire to a positive lead that turns off with the switch off, and the other wire to ground.

Chicago Rawhide also makes industrial repair sleeves which are called speedi-sleeves. I'm willing to bet they are identical to the sleeves you have been buying, but are sold by size rather than by a listing of engine they will fit. They exist in any size you can imagine, with a single part number only covering a shaft size range of a few thousandths. If you know the exact diameter of the shaft in the seal contact area, you can buy a CR speedi-sleeve from your local bearing supply store or probably some automotive stores. They may even cost less, as they are not so much a kit, but a sleeve and a driving tool. You may need to cut a piece of plastic or metal pipe as an extension piece to drive the seal from beyond the end of the crank snout. The chicago rawhide website shows a lot of this stuff in pretty good detail.

Legacy models got the phase 2 SOHC engine in 2000 with the new body style. Imprezza's and Forresters got the newer engine one year earlier. (99) All 2.5 are supposed to be susceptible, with DOHC taking more heat, but that may just be they have been around a bit longer, and average higher miles at the moment. The difference most often quoted, is that phase 1 leaks internal, combustion gas into coolant, and phase 2 leaks external, drip coolant onto ground. I have talked to my two local dealers and they say they have seen very few failures. I have a mid year 99 outback, and expect a problem eventually, but have nothing to lose in the meantime by just enjoying using it. The one useful advice I got from the one dealer, was that the vehicles they had seen with problems seemed to have more dirty coolant. I know the coolant gets dirty as a result of combustion gas in leakage, but he suggested and there may possibly be an advantage to keeping the coolant fresh to protect the (already marginal) block to gasket contact area. I have been changing out coolant on all my vehicles recently, as I have had a couple of heater core failures. Replacing them is a miserable job, and I've decided if I can prevent even one failure by keeping the level of corrosion inhibitors in my coolant up, I'd be ahead in the long run. One last thought on the subject. The internet is a great source of information and I love the input I get from message boards. The problem, is if you have 100 owners with no problems, maybe one or two will be posting to forums like this. If you have 100 owners with problems, maybe 20 will raise issues and make complaints. To a casual observer, you could get the impression that the failure rate was 90%, when in reality, it may be 25%. That's still a bad number, but I talk to lots of people anymore that are having head gasket problems on many different cars. The level of panic on this board is high, because Subarus didn't used to do this sort of thing.

The rear differential plugs are standard pipe thread and have a taper that makes them tighten as they are driven into place. Without the taper, they would just keep threading in until they were inside the housing. This type of thread will seal almost 100% if no sealant is used, and will normally not jam where it cannot be removed in an application like this where there is oil on the threads. The purpose of pipe thread sealant is to seal the threads 100% keep the threads from jamming, and keep the threads from coming loose on their own. I never sealed any differential plugs before, but it sounds like a good idea.

I have an Archos 20gb MP3, and for my mustang, I put a Kenwood deck in the dash in place of the mach460 head unit. All recent kenwoods that have CD changer capability can use a relatively cheap adapter to hook a rear connect aux in. (search at crutchfield for the adapter) Top quality sound and I've had good luck with Kenwoods over the years. In my Outback, I'm still using a cassette adapter and it works better than you would think. It's certainly at least as good as the stock subaru system is for fidelity.

The choice of location is a mystery, but the reason for the switch is that the main light switch doesn't work with the ignition switch off. If you want to show any lights with the car off, you have to use the auxilliary switch