mwatt

And places like Midas and Mieneke do the same thing: upsell whenever possible. They prey on the "mechanically disadvantaged".

Several companies (Meguires is one of them) market a plastic polish. It's really an extremely fine grit polish---it worked very well on the lenses of our 98 OBW.

Yes, you can. I doesn't hurt anything. Some people think it makes the car feel "sportier", or they have better control. Whatever. I find it helpful to shift to "3" when descending hills to save the brakes. I know you're already well aware, but the faster the engine runs, the lower the fuel economy. That's why the transmission is programmed to shift to 4th by itself at rather low speeds (when you leave it in "D").

Has anybody ever pulled off the center dash A/C register/trim panel for any reason---like maybe to replace bulbs in the A/C mode control? (I'm wondering if the hazard switch connector is simply disconnected). If the bulb in the hazard switch is still working (these cars eat dash lamp and switch illumination bulbs) the hazard switch should illuminate at night when the headlamps are on. So if the hazard switch does not illuminate, it could be disconnected, or the bulb may simply be burned out.

I want to be sure I understand what you wrote: "when the Hazard switch is in the on position my directionals wont work" (and they should not). But do your hazard lamps work when the turn signals are off ?

If the dye they put into the A/C system is showing up in the condensation drainage, then yes, the evaporator is leaking---there's nothing else inside the plenum that it could be. The A/C plenum is the under-dash housing that encloses the "guts" of the A/C and heat system---evaporator core for the A/C, heater core, blower motor, duct control doors, etc. The dash has to be loosened and pulled back, then the plenum can be accessed and removed to replace the evaporator. The latest edition of the Motors/Chilton time guide suggests 2.7 hours labor required to replace the evaporator, plus 1.4 hours labor to evacuate and recharge the system. Motors/Chilton is a guide, at best, and 2.7 hours to R&R the plenum sounds a little low to me. While it may take your mechanic more time than suggested by Motors, 600.00 in labor for the evaporator is still steep---I just realized that you live in New York so the market area is probably much different than down here "in the sticks"---what's your mechanic's hourly labor rate there?

Assuming the car is an automatic, you have tried to start it in "N", right? If the starter does crank the engine with the shifter in "N" then the shifter "position" switch may be out of adjustment. Judging from your description, though, it sounds like the starter (or the starter solenoid) is failing. When the engine fails to crank over, find something you can strike the starter with (like the handle end of a large screwdriver. Will it crank after striking the starter? BTW--starter is located at rear of engine and is visable by looking down from the top---follow the positive battery cable back to the starter.

It's a "northern thing". Up there, dealers offer this undercarriage oil spray (it's not the same as undercoating) that's supposed to be a rust-deterrant. Don't know how effective it is, but it sounds like it makes one hell of a mess...... I wonder if it's one more way for dealers up north to make money???

In a previous post you mentioned you got 30000 miles out of the brakes on your previous 4 cylinder Subaru. Was that the '99 Limited? If that's the case, it makes me wonder if a review of driving style might be in order. My wife and I have a '98 Outback Limited and a '99 Legacy GT wagon--both of those cars went 65000 miles on the original front pads and 80000 miles on the original rear pads. So what I'm suggesting is that getting only 30000 miles on the pads of your old '99 seems unusually low to me. Do you "left foot" brake? Are you riding the brake pedal when decending hills, rather than putting the shifter in "3" to control vehicle speed? Also---does your current vehicle "creep forward" properly when you let go of the brake pedal at idle in "D"? You should be able to feel if the brakes aren't "letting go" completely when you release the pedal at idle on a level surface.

I worked at a dealer for years (not a Subaru dealer). Even though I knew it was a rip, I was forced to tell the customers that there would be a check-out charge for any concern that they mentioned, because technicians get paid for diagnosing problems. You're right--it probably took all of 30 seconds to plug that scanner in to the test port, but most dealers impose a minimum diagnostic charge of .5 to 1.0 hour. Did the service advisor tell you (or did you sign the repair order where it stated) that there would be a diagnostic charge? It never ceases to amaze me that dealers still wonder why they loose the customer after the warranty goes away..........

I had this same question thrown at me when I attempted to order inner and outer rocker cover gaskets from 1stSubaruparts.com for my 99 Legacy GT. I was told there were 2 or 3 possibilites for valve cover gaskets, based on engine numbers. One of the guys in the parts dept there (Jason or Mike) asked me for the stamping numbers off of the back of the engine block at the top, where the bell housing bolts to the engine block. I was able to simply look down from the top at the back of the engine, gave them the numbers they needed, and I got the correct gaskets the first time....

"immobilizer" keys, where the key or key head contains a code chip that's read by the ignition lock, were not used by Subaru back then. Describe your starting problem......

What kind of car do you have and how are you judging "too high a temp" ? By the reading on the temperature guage? If your car is OBDII, someone should plug a scanner into the under-dash OBD test port to determine the exact temp of the engine.

Lowe's has a hardware drawer section specifically for automotive fasteners. Did you bring an old license plate bolt with you to compare it with what's in that section?

Our '98 Outback Limited occasionally does that--I find that I have to force the rear sunshade to open if we're not opening the rear sunroof. I've noticed that if I press gently upward on the sunshade panel while trying to slide it rearward, it'll open easier. Obviously, it's binding against the sunroof cassette (sunroof assembly) but I'm not yet willing to R&R the entire headliner for inspection because we just leave both sunshades open almost all the time anyway--and our kids don't mind it being bright back there......

I'm afraid the days when cars had speedometer cables are long gone.....most American cars have had "VSS driven" speedometers since the late eighties or early nineties, and Subaru has not used a cable-driven speedometer in years, either.

besides polishing the lenses, consider installing Sylvania Silverstar bulbs. They're more expensive than conventional halogen bulbs (and I've read that they might not last as long) but they're substantially brighter. Think I paid 29 bucks for a set of two at Advanced Auto a few months ago..........just beware of the silly-rump roast five dollar rebate offers from Advanced Auto. I'll never understand why it takes 12 weeks to receive a 5 dollar rebate check in the mail.

Sorry for hijacking the thread---I have a question about factory manuals. I purchased what I thought was a complete factory shop manual for our '98 Legacy when we bought the car new in late '97. I paid for the manuals, put them up on a shelf, and didn't need them until recently. Apparently, Subaru publishes only updates as manual sections, year by year. I've got factory shop manual sections 8 and 9----what do I need to purchase to have a complete shop manual set for this vehicle??

that's correct---you can not put a left seat on the right side. First and foremost, the seat belt buckle is mounted to the seat, so the buckle would be on the wrong side.....but also, the seats and seat tracks are contoured differently to fit the shape of the floor on each side.

In my experience working at a dealer (but not a Subaru dealer), this kind of situation was handled on a case-by-case basis. It might be best if you present the situation as "the seat bottom cushion frame is pushing through the fabric resulting in fabric damage". But the dealer may very well look at the way you enter and exit the vehicle, as well as your physical size, to make a decision. At the GM dealer where I worked, sometimes the cushion cover (fabric) was replaced under warranty. Sometimes, the fabric was "sectioned"--that is--only the damaged section of the cushion cover was replaced by a local auto trim shop (and billed to the dealer). You may want to insist that additional foam padding be placed on the existing foam cushion so that the seat frame won't push thru the fabric in the future.

I still feel that you may be relating two separate problems that probably are not related. Try taking the A/C "out of the equation"---although it may be unpleasant in this hot weather, you probably should make one "drive-cycle" on the hiway without the A/C on and see what the temperature guage does. Be prepared to pull over and wait if the engine overheats--and have a gallon of coolant with you if it boils over. My point: you may very well have an A/C compressor problem, but if you've got a head gasket problem as well, don't you feel that it ought to be addressed first? Have you dropped by a local AutoZone store to see if they'll read the stored code for you?

Have you called the warranty company to report the failure (or at least what you suspect to be the failure...)??

Sounds like you've got several problems going on there. You'd better look into that overheating/low coolant issue first. I'm sure you've read the multitude of posts regarding overheating/headgasket failure.......

I obtained a Subaru (actually made by Panasonic) stereo/cd/cassette deck from a 98 Outback Limited from a local wrecking yard for 100 bucks---installed it in my '99 Legacy GT which came originally with that same "single DIN" stereo that you're talking about. As I understand it "single DIN" and "double DIN" are standardized sizes for car stereos. The "double DIN" stereo from the Outback limited takes up the space previously occupied by the little storage compartment/slot on the bottom of the original stereo. Fits perfectly, bolted right in to original "little holes with the plastic inserts" in the dash. Plugged right into existing harness. Looks great, sounds great. The "double DIN" stereo, however, was only available on the Outback LIMITED.

A 1 pint (16 oz) can was sufficient when I flushed the brake fluid on my wife's '98 Outback.