alpop

I swore off 2.5s a long time ago, you all know why. Looking at Craigslist here in this area the car would probably go for 3K in good running condition. Subarus do bring a premium here in snow country because of the AWD. We don't have salt on the roads, just rock, snow and ice. And after this extremely snowy winter (driving on snow and ice probably half the time for 4 months) people are on to the Subarus big time. I will probably try $900 with two sets of wheels/tires. Local shop quoted me $5500 for new block and re-built heads. Ha Ha.

Pulled off all the belts, tensionsers, covers etc. so no accessories are spinning and still makes the terrible noise. It starts and runs (briefly since you have to shut it off the noise is so bad), the noise is like something is spinning real fast, perhaps uncontrollably and making a terrible noise while its doing it. If I had to put a name on it, I would say its a "like something's stripped" noise. Main pulley does spin. No codes. I looked at the procedure for getting at the timing belt and decided I'm not interested. How much does one of these things go for when it needs an engine? 1999 Legacy 30th ann. ed, 2.2 automatic, beautiful/exceptional body, paint, interior etc. Only things are power antenna broken (again) and ac is cool, not cold. Lots and lots and lots of new parts (bummer).

Yeah Yeah, this is all new ground for me (timing belt) so it is an argument to do it. If it is something relatively simple it could save us from a coupla thousand dollar loss. Typically I get cars with chains so you don't have to bother with this. It seems like I've been having to fix/replace something on this Subie every month lately so its sits unusable until I get around to it, so my wife says its not worth bothering with. She's right it probably sits there unusable about a third of the time lately. If I can fix it for a few hundred and then even sell it would avoid the loss. I will probably do as suggested on the weekend.

Eh, good point GM03, I will do as suggested - the next nice day (still snowing today). Call me a lightweight, but if its a timing belt/tensioner issue (best case scenario if not as GM03 suggests), but even so still possible that I've had interference and engine damage already, then I will do as my wife wants me to do and just get rid of it.

If it is a timing belt/tensioner issue I suppose I have no way of telling if the belt hasn't already skipped and ruined the valves/engine? Or if that was the case it wouldn't even start?

All fluids are fine, not a problem with belts etc. on the front of the engine. Think I'll try to get it up the hill and in the garage and then investigate the timing belt/pulley situation. When I had my son run it for a few moments and I stood in front with the hood open, all the noise seemed to come from the front of the engine. Also he said that it had happened for a few moments earlier in the week but quickly went away. This is a used engine (supposedly with about the same miles as the car - 160k) that a backyard mechanic that I bought the car from dropped in 6000 miles ago. When I asked about the timing belt he said he had looked at it and it seemed fine, no other history known.

Definitely not the heat shield, I know what that sounds like. I plan to check a few things today.

Son went out to start the '99 Legacy ej22 engine (160,000 miles) other morning and came back in the house with a shocked look on his face. You can start it but have to quickly turn it off since the noise is so terrible, it sounds like its ripping itself apart. Don't think there's a pool of oil under it- Is it gone?

Nope, single port fuel injected I believe. I used to have a '90 that would come close to 90mph on a good day. What RPM is she showing at 55? Manual or automatic?

These are used snow tires I bought from someone else. Thanks for your input-

'99 Legacy AWD. If I have four tires and two are a little more worn than the other two (1/32nd inch), is it best to put them on the front or back? Seems like I remember that most of the time power goes to the front, and only goes to the rear when needed? So better tires on the front to even out the wear?

I've been looking at pictures of '99 legacy front bumpers, and my fog light opening (30th ann. ed) looks a lot more like the GT bumper than what I find for the L bumper. With mine the opening is at least twice as wide as it is tall, whereas what I find for the L, ht. and width seem to be roughly equal- Did the 30th ann. ed. come with the GT bumper?

somebody must have tried this? The opening size and shape looks about the same- Another way to word the question: Did the regular Legacys and the GTs have the same front bumper covers in this era?

I've got 205/70R15s on my '99 Legacy L wagon and they are really close to the strut towers but they do clear. I'd be hesitant to try the 215s

I have a 1999 Legacy 30th anniversary Ed. with plastic inserts in the fog light openings of the front bumper. One plastic insert recently disappeared (probably in a snowbank) and got me to thinking about fog lights. I know the GT came with fog lights and you can find aftermarket replacements of these GT fog lights, such as - https://www.amazon.com/Depo-320-2006R-AS-Passenger-Replacement-Assembly/dp/B004I11FOW/ref=sm_n_se_dkp_US_pr_sea_1_1?sigts=1484000884355&sig=c9f604c4d31d984a4d7f79ef95312b1535efe623&adId=B004I17A5K&creativeASIN=B004I17A5K&linkId=850a291bf1c0c6e97d273e1da90f4581&tag=apfbpprod-20&linkCode=w42&ref-refURL=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.autopartsfair.com%2Fsubaru-exterior_parts%2Flegacy-1998-fog_lights-s107511.html&slotNum=0&imprToken=S6iltLBRBvCPxIYpl0ZHQQ&th=1 My question: Were the GT and regular Legacy bumpers the same with the same openings so that GT fog lights would fit into the regular Legacy bumper openings? thanks, Al

99% of the noise is squeaking, no clicking, just very rarely kind of a scraping a few times right before coming to a stop. I did disassemble cv joint completely to clean and re-grease and no damage to surfaces, I'm going on the assumption its not the cv joint, and the noise never was - although the boot did need replacing. I checked front differential oil and plenty there and very clean. I examined the brake, removed caliper/rotor/metal guard and could find nothing that would be making a noise. I did see that the ABS probe(?) comes awfully close to the ABS ring and was able to tighten a few of the ABS ring screws a bit, but saw no definite spot where it might be rubbing on the ring and no change in the noise afterwards. I'm beginning to think wheel bearing, could that make a squeak? Sometimes once per revolution sometimes not a strict correspondence, and as I said always after you take your foot off the gas. 159k on the car, time for wheel bearings?

Hmm, all good comments. Definitely wheel/driveshaft rotation related, as wheel slows down and stops so does the noise. No engine RPM correspondence. Backyard mechanic whom I bought it from and put the new (used) engine in said he "looked" at the timing belt and it was ok for now (7000 miles ago, car/ now has 159k on it - engine supposedly ca. 5k less). OEM (green) axles, boot was torn when I got it two years ago. But, when I cleaned and re-greased I saw no wear/pitting on the joint, just a shininess which I understand is not a problem. pretty sure (using pwr window opening and closing) the sound is on the front right, it is an automatic transmission I do feel a slight left/right wobble in the steering wheel at times (not necessarily corresponding to the noise), thought this might be a tire since they are not the best (Chinese with about 50% wear) Maybe I should shift into neutral while it is happening and see if there is a change? Yes, I should try the things you suggested grossgary, Haven't gotten around to checking/changing differential oils-

ok, consensus seems to be the squeaking is not related to the CV joint, although the boot was torn up so I needed to do that anyways. I replaced all rotors and brake pads a few months before the noise started, so no strict correlation there. As I noted in the first message, there is no correlation to hitting the brakes one way or another.. The correlation is to taking your foot off the gas, foot on accelerator - no noise, take it off - noise, back on accelerator - no noise; very strong correlation, although it can sometimes go several miles with no noise then start up again. Sometimes right before you come to a stop the squeaking changes to a louder clacking noise - pretty nasty. I will take a close look at the brakes, backing plate etc., otherwise how might I further check the wheel bearing?

Wheel bearing - interesting idea. I have absolutely no experience with failing wheel bearings, but Les Scwab says the "rushing noise" which also might be described as a humming coming from the right front of my 2004 Dakota is a wheel bearing, and my 2006 Xb suddenly has started making an even different noise, like maybe a scraping during hard left turns at speed which I suspect could be wheel bearing. Is there a typical wheel bearing noise? For the Legacy I suspect drive shaft since it doesn't happen with foot on the gas, but starts up when you take your foot off the gas - driveline related

1999 Legacy wagon Few months ago had a squeaking in the front, happened when I let off the gas and the frequency correlated with the speed of the car. Hitting the brakes had no effect on it one way or the other. inner right CV boot was toast so I got a Dorman kit. Joint looked fine, no pitting or noticeable wear, so cleaned, repacked the grease and put the new boot on. Was fine for few months but now the squeak is back. I really felt like the Dorman kit didn't have near enough grease, with the centrifugal force it seems like you would really need to completely pack the boot to keep the joint greased, and there wasn't even half enough grease for this. I'm thinking of trying to get the same kind of grease and remove a steel band and try to shoot more grease into the joint. Make sense?

well, I won't argue with that.

Well my owner's manual doesn't have a maintenance schedule but both the Haynes Manual and a site I found online say 60k miles for the 2.2 engine and 100 or 105k miles for the 2.5 engine, so there's an advantage of the 2.5

Cleaned up the old joint - no wear - re-greased and re-booted and by golly when I put it back on and torqued down the nut there was no clicking sound like the "new" Import Direct one, and the wheel would spin unlike the "new" Autozone one. When drove it there were no noises and all seemed fine. Guess I could have saved myself some time and frustration and skipped the circus with the local parts stores. Oh well, now I know- BTW none of the local auto parts stores or hardware stores carried the roll pin for holding the axle joint on the inner stub from the transmission (I mashed my old one up pretty good). I figured out that its a 6x45mm, and they all had 6mm diameter but nothing longer than 25mm. So I just used two, a 20 and 25, I think it should be fine, but will keep an eye on it for a while just in case.

Wow, sure looks nice - except the corrosion in the engine compartment looks a little funny. We use rock on the roads out here not salt, so guess I'm not used to that, just broken windshields. I thought my 99 owners manual for the 2.2 said 85 or 90k for the timing belt, will look at tonight to be sure. Usually they replace the water pump at the same time, no idea if $650 is reasonable, probably if they do both. You're getting the good engine, surprising amount of power considering its only rated at 142hp I think. I would find something wrong with it and offer him $3500

I live in the PNW and this would be a good price for the car with those low miles and excellent condition. If the H4 is the 2.5L engine then as above with head gaskets. The 2.2 engine is almost bulletproof and was standard in some 99s. Correct me if I'm wrong (subaru gurus) but I believe the 2.2 engine is also non-interference so no damage if the timing belt breaks? Ok, I have a 99 and I specifically found one with the 2.2 engine. A local independent shop quotes $3000 for the head gaskets replacement on the 2.5 (they're making a killing because the Subaru dealer closed up in town), although I know there are probably cheaper options esp. in bigger cities. I bought the car for my daughter in good shape (I thought) with 150k and here are some of the things I have dealt with: CV boot/shaft replacement - check all 8 CV boots All door/hatch lock cylinders shot, real pain to replace - I only did the driver door, check key works easily in all doors new starter - intermittent problem with starting Light bulb burned out in automatic shifter console, can't see what gear you're in at night - not good Wiper mechanism bushings shot (wipers travel too far and thump loudly), replacement not fun. As mentioned above transmission slow to shift from 2nd to 3rd but only 1st time on each drive, TransX didn't really fix it Other little things Oh yeah, terrible acceleration until about 3500 rpm then like a rocket, turned out to be the ecu over-reacting to the knock sensor - new knock sensors didn't correct it so I finally had to fool the ecu by unplugging the knock sensor and hooking up the right resistors to make the ecu think it was still plugged in but everything was fine. The PO had burned up the original 2.2 engine and had a new, used 2.2 engine dropped in, don't know if somehow this caused the problem.