mwatt

likely needs a set of starter solenoid contacts

you may also want to check the drains located at both ends of the cowl (the area where the windshield wiper linkage is located). If you run a garden hose at the base of the windshield, water should pour out at the bottom of both front fenders, right where the rear edge of the fender meets up with the rocker panel. When cowl drains are plugged with leaves, pine needles, etc water will overflow from the inside kick panel trim (the inside trim panel to the left of the driver's feet and to the right of the passenger's feet) and will soak the carpet. I know in your post you mentioned "I looked up under the dash and I saw a few water drops hanging....." but I thought I'd mention this because it happened to me a few years back....

I have a '99 Legacy GT wagon with the same engine and trans as your car. Unfortunately, you're experiencing the intended operation of the transmission, as Porcupine73 mentioned, above. It will downshift back to third when you touch the brake pedal while descending a hill. It was a nice idea in theory, but in reality it's not so great....especially with the hills you've got out there. And as Porcupine73 said, the transmission won't upshift back to 4th until the PCM senses that you're back on the throttle.

on most cars those are simply referred to as "window upstops"

open the right rear door......look at the bottom of the door to make sure the door water drain slots are not plugged. Water is supposed to get into doors, but it's also supposed to drain out of the slots at the bottom of the door. If the drains are plugged, water can overflow thru the interior door trim and onto the floor.

I had an intermittant "crank but won't fire" issue like that on my '99 Legacy GT (engine quite similar to yours) last year. Then, one day my wife was driving it and she had to have it towed home 30 miles because it cut off while driving and wouldn't restart---no spark. I found that one of the wires had pulled loose from the connector leading to the ignitor assembly (little black module mounted on center of firewall behind the air intake silencer attached to the throttle body) There four or five (can't remember) wires going to the ignitor. The black wire with white hash marks had pulled loose from the hardshell connector that plugs into the ignitor. The factory had routed the harness so tightly, it probably took years for the wire to pull loose, finally resulting in no spark/no start. Once I forced that wire all the way back into the hardshell connector and plugged it back into the ignitor, the engine started immediately. I had to reposition the harness to allow a little slack so that wouldn't happen again. That was last April and never a problem since. This may not be the problem with your car,of course, but worth a look......

thank you all for the replies. When this car had about 110 K on it, I replaced the front axles with reman units I purchased from a Subaru dealership. Now that I think about it, that's when all of this began....and over time it's gotten worse. Sounds like it may be time to get axles from CCR....

1998 Legacy Outback LTD wagon, automatic. We've owned it since brand new; now it's got 220K well-maintained miles on it. Over the years, more and more engine rumble and harshness (especially at idle in "D") is coming into the passenger comparment. It's a nasty "throbbing/rumble" at idle in D. Slipping the shifter into nuetral smooths things out a bit.......but not much. Under the same conditions, my '99 Legacy GT is much quieter. The engine idle speed is correct. I suppose I could adjust that little throttle stop screw on the throttle body to boost the idle speed a bit but that's not really the right thing to do..... I've replaced the transmission mount (thinking perhaps it had lost it's softness and cushioning) but that didn't help. The local Subaru specialty shop has tried adjusting the dogbone (pitch stopper) and, while there was slight improvement, that throbbing rumble at idle persists. The shop also suggested I paint a line straight across the crankshaft pulley and drive the car for a few days to see if the painted line would split apart (indicating a failing crank pulley)---but the inner and outer sections of the pulley are not separating. Have any of you tried replacing motor mounts or the pitch stopper to try to fix this kind of thing ?

Unless the alternator belt is way too loose, the alternator itself is failing.

thanks for the reply ivans imports....doesn't sound too difficult. Somehow I knew that the reservior "o" ring didn't come with the reseal kit so I did obtain that o ring from Subaru as well... thanks again

I purchased a Subaru power steering pump reseal kit for my wife's '98 Legacy Outback because the pump is leaking---it isn't just the "O" ring at the reservior this time. Does anyone have specific written instructions on how to disassemble and re-seal the pump?

You've tried the inexpensive stuff. Unfortunately the symptom you describe is the beginning of a headgasket failure. Exhaust gasses are blowing past a small "break" in one of the headgaskets. That causes an air pocket to form in the cooling system, resulting in intermittant overheating without any particular pattern to it. My '99 Legacy GT is doing this same thing.....temperature guage will display overheating ONLY when the car is brought to a stop after being on the highway at 75 mph for a while. When the car is stopped, If I momentarily rev the engine, the temperature guage moves back down, because the coolant circulates faster when the engine is revved. Headgasket replacement is inevitable.

gentle air pressure using one of those compressed air "dusters" that shops use...the kind with the long extension tube on it works best. The drain holes in the corners of the front sunroof are fairly easy to reach. The drain holes at the front corners of the rear sunroof are also easy enough to get to, but the drain holes at the rear corners of the rear sunroof are impossible to see from the top of the car with the roof open. I think the only way you'll be able to get to the rear drain tubes of the rear roof would be to remove the headliner, which it appears you are contemplating anyway... I'm sure you probably already know this, but whatever you do, avoid the temptation to try and run a piece of wire down the drain tubes to clean them.....that will just make the problem worse because you'll either pull the tubes loose from the roof or you'll damage the tubes and they'll leak. The sunroof drain tube system is more complicated than people think, especially when dirt and other crud plugs them up.

In your post you mentioned ".....and maybe fix my front sun roof....." Have you made sure the sunroof drain hoses are all clear---especially the rear sun roof? If the drain hoses are plugged with crud, water will back up and overflow onto the headliner....

Mr Eggleston's suggestion to check the igniter was (damn near) spot-on. We are the original owners of this car and it's unadulterated, and in nice shape. When I looked at the igniter, the problem became obvious: the factory routed the harness very tightly across the top of the igniter, and apparantly over time that caused one of the five wires within the gray hardshell connector to the igniter to pull out of the connector (black wire with white hash marks). I removed the hardshell connector from the igniter and used a tiny screwdriver tip to press that wire and its rubber "weatherpac" seal firmly back into the hardshell. Engine started right up. thank you, Mr Eggleston, and others as well, for all of your help .