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Toni, If you look at the first .pdf I posted, it appears there is a difference between the wagon and the sedan. "3) Remove crossmember reinforcement lower. (Sedan model only)". So if you do find one, make certain it's off a sedan.

wonder what the price difference is between draining/filling 4 times and taking it in to have it flushed and filled I bought a case of atf fluid for about 20 bucks and it was enough to drain/fill 3 times. So I set up the ramps in the driveway drove around the block, up on the ramps, drain/fill, then around the block.....repeated twice. $20 and 30 minutes of my time. Well worth the effort.

mountaingoatgruff, I have a 97 Legacy L sedan with about the same miles on it (actually my son does, I just happen to own it and do all of the maintenance, go figure). My strongest suggestion, as mentioned, is go buy a case of tranny fluid and flush it about three or four times. Don't bother dropping the pan, and as mentioned, there is no external filter on that tranny. I do have the FSM for that MY, so if you need any procedures, shoot me a PM and I will email you the .pdf. Good luck and keep the family safe.

Toni, If you are still having trouble locating your part, try these folks, I have used them both. Moody's is more organized while Freeport Auto is a jungle. Not certain if either of them are linked to the national data bases Moody's Used Auto Parts 117 Bath Rd Brunswick, ME 04011 (207) 725-4199‎ Freeport Auto Parts 33 Allen Range Rd Freeport, ME 04032 (207) 865-3967‎

OB99W, Thanks again for the tip. One of my biggest worries is running into any HG issues. In researching I found this: It has been acknowledged by Subaru in the form of a "Service Campaign" #WWP-99 which applies to certain '99 to '02 cars. It involves adding a "Coolant Conditioner" to the coolant and if this is done the owner's head gaskets are covered against external coolant leaks for 8 years or 100K miles. regarding the above, I guess if it's an '03 or newer you don't get the 8yr/100K but am curious if the problem still exists or is it "Eliminated" by the use of the additive?

OB99W, I was aware of the Forester/Impreza heritage. I drive an '04 Forester so am familiar with the platform but didn't know if there were specific issues unique to the Impreza. And not certain how much tweaking there is between the two lines. And thanks for the tip on the recalls. I am hoping the dealership will be able to give me some good background on the maintenance history. Interestingly, CARFAX started tracking maintenance history in '07, so I do have two instances of oil changes (from an independant) but nothing prior. I am hoping they have at least the 30K service records with evidence of coolant system service. Thanks again for your input.

EVOthis, Thanks for the quick reply. Other than the wheel bearings/HG any other areas of concern? In Consumer Reports, they showed "Transmission", "Paint/Trim" and "Audio Systems" as having a higher than normal problem rate for the '03 Impreza (non-turbo). Not really concerned with the audio, but curious if you have any info on the tranny or paint/trim issues. Again, thanks for your input and anything else you might think of, please advise.

Looking at a 2003 Impreza RS with just over 50,000 miles, only issue is it’s a long distance purchase. The seller (a Mini dealership) is taking it to the local Subaru dealership tomorrow for an inspection, but hoping you folks could provide some detail on the various trouble spots. I research the dreaded head gasket issues, but seems the turning point is the 2003 MY. Also, I know the Foresters of that period had some issues with rear wheel bearings, would this hold true with the Impresas? I have the CARFAX Vehicle History Report and everything looks fine but I don’t have any maintenance history as of yet. I am hoping the Subaru dealership will be able to provide some detail. Again, any issues to focus on?

Give this a try: http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1265631

The link worked fine. I would take a putty knife and scrape off the surface rust, then take a punch and test the metal in the worst areas. From the looks of it, that is more surface rust than anything else. I don't see any points where it has rusted through.

Do you know what exact years will fit this car? In doing some research, I came up with the following: REAR SUSPENSION CROSS MEMBER FOR 1995-1999 LEGACY 4WD (item 45) part number 20151AC002. see: http://www.subarupartsforyou.com/cp_partdetail.php?partid=13093 Hope this gives you some helpful info.

Toni, Not certain if your Legacy is FWD or AWD so I will attach both exploded diagrams from the FSM (the FSM is for my '97 but your '95 should be the same). This will give you an idea of what is involved in removing the cross member. Again, one will be for the AWD and the other for the FWD. Good luck. Man I hate the effects of winter on a car!!

You can purchase a replacement end for the positive cable, part number for your car (I think) is 81608GA110. Or go to any of the online catalogs and do a search (use the collision catalog) and you will get something like this: http://www.trademotion.com/partlocator/index.cfm?action=getLocator&siteid=214077&chapter=ARL7522&appSectionid=2413&groupid=2414&subgroupid=9504&make=32&model=Legacy&year=2000&catalogid=2

Yippee. Now lay off the crack!

Tim, Here is the breakdown of the front brakes...but failed to clarify, we are speaking of the front brakes, correct? Anyhow, it's a two pager, same deal, page one is for the 2.2 and page two for the 2.5. Also, if you want, PM me with your email address and I can forward to you the entire section on brakes, if you wish. John

Diagram is from the FSM I downloaded for my '97 (I noticed your was also a '97). Now page one is for the 2.2 and page two is for the 2.5 but the parts, hub/rotor, etc. are the same. I just never have run into your situation where the rotor is integral to the hub, every car I have owned has a replaceable rotor. Sorry.

Rotors don't hold the wheel studs, the hub does. The rotor fits over the studs. I have attached a pdf, check out #'s 20/21

Regarding the roof rack, some background. I have had the Potenza's on the car for over a year and about 14K. I noticed an immediate drop in mpg from apx. 25 mix/29 hwy to 22 mix/26 hwy. Now around February I decided to remove the cross bars from the roof rack as I found they trapped a lot of snow. Thinking about this, I reasoned without the weight of the snow, I might gain some advantage with regards to fuel economy. I was surprised to see an immediate improvement. Now I just filled up on Sunday and it calculated out to 24.66 mpg in mixed driving, mainly local stuff. This has been fairly constant since removing the cross bars. Now again, we did come out of the cold winter weather which will have an impact but again, my gain was immediate. Oh, and I calculate my mileage with every fill up.

When I switched from the OEM Yokohama Geolandar G900 to Bridgestone Potenza G009 on my ’04 Forester I lost about 15%, going from a solid 25 round town to approximately 22. This drop was the same on the highway. Interesting though, I took the cross bars off the roof rack this winter and was able to pick up almost the exact amount in mpg that I had lost. So, anyone interested in gaining a few mpg’s, take off the cross bars on your roof rack.

Take the passenger side rear tire off and you will see a plastic shroud that covers the fuel filler pipe. The shroud is the culprit as it traps road dirt and debris (salt) right at the bend as the pipe heads towards the fuel tank. In my case, I took off the shroud and was able to see, feel and smell the gas at that point in the pipe. Check this link out, it will give you an exploded view as well as the price. http://www.trademotion.com/partlocator/index.cfm?action=getLocator&siteid=214077&chapter=ARL7521&appSectionid=2782&groupid=2783&subgroupid=4022&componentid=0&make=32&model=Legacy&year=1997&graphicID=7521425&callout=8&catalogid=2

My guess is it's your fuel filler pipe. Just replaced it on my '97 L sedan. The part is about $110 and is a fairly straight forward replacement....BUT, my car was 5 hours away (kid at school) so it became apx $340 at the dealership.

If you check this site out: http://www.subarupartsforyou.com/cp_partlistbymod.php?model=Legacy&subcat=Fuel+Injector&year=1991 they list three distinct SUBARU part numbers for the '91: 1)FUEL INJECTOR FOR 1990-1991 NON-TURBO LEGACY WITH AUTOMATIC TRANS 2)FUEL INJECTOR FOR 1990-1991 LEGACYS manual transmission ONLY 3)FUEL INJECTOR FOR 1991-1993 LEGACY TURBO only issue is the site doesn't give you a clear picture of the actual part. SO, you might go back and clarify exactly which part was used. Sorry about not giving you more specifics, but after 25 years of driving Subaru's, I have never had to mess with a fuel injector.

One last thing to check, the pads themselves should slide easily on the metal clips that trap the pads. In other words, the ears on the brake pads, where they are captured by the clips, should slide easily, if not you may need to file the "ears" down slightly. This happened last time I did front brakes on my 97. This problem is covered in the following endwrench article: http://endwrench.com/images/pdfs/PadsInsideEW05.pdf

"from the link below which one should I order?" I am a fan of OEM and the price for the Subaru part (21067GA050) is a great price. "how hard is it to replace the ball joints?" I have attached the FSM procedure for ball joint replacement, you make the call. It's not difficult but you will be fighting 10 years of Ohio winters.

screwbaru2, Again, what I remember is this and I did end up doing it both ways; it is far easier to get the cable hooked up and secured to the back of the control unit and then fish the loose end of cable down to the heater box then the reverse. Good luck.