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T-bone, I had to do front wheel bearings on both my "93 and my "97 and did what JT95 recommended, pulled the hub and had my local NAPA machine shop do the bearing change, $25 bucks. Again, as JT95 mentioned, if your car has ABS, what out for the tone ring as they are very, very fragile. Good luck.

coloradosubarules and Adnan, Thanks for the input, now the outcome. I was able to free up the ITR ball and socket with two hours of massaging wheel bearing grease into the joint. As it ended up, the ball was free to rotate in the socket with no play. I have now put the new boot on it and have done a test drive. The suspect noise, a thunk/clunk at random times is now gone. Again, I truly appreciate your time and effort on replying to my plea.

1997 Legacy 2.2 126,000. Was doing some maintenance on my son's Legacy and noticed a torn tie rod boot which needed replacement. Well the sad story is the ball and socket joint is bad on the inner tie rod end (passenger side). Now my questions: 1) can you replace the inner tie rod end while the rack is still on the car? 2) is it just better to replace the entire rack seeing the car has 126K on it? 3) if a replacement is needed, where/who would you suggest I get it from? 4) is the rack replacement a driveway project? do you need to drop the exhaust system? Thoughts/comments are appreciated.

later, Peter, There is an inner and outer stabilizer that bracket the window on the front doors. Take off the inner trim panel and you will see them, to the rear of the door and just below the weatherstripping. I was able to reduce the "down window" rattle quite a bit by taking up the slack on the inner one. Good luck.

Guys, Thanks for the replies. Now my problem is this, one side was one way and the other was reversed, which is why I have the question (oh and the rears are different!). Again, in the FSM (I incorrectly quoted it in the first post). The top pin is listed as "Guide pin (Green) and the lower is listed as "Lock pin (Yellow). With that, I just need to know is the guide pin has the rubber bushing (sleeve) at the interior end or is that the lock pin. Shawn, you mentioned the one with the bushing should be on the bottom (the lock pin). You have so much detail, I will go with that. Now I did stop into the local Suby dealer and they said, "it doesn't matter. you can use either in both positions!". If so, why would they make two different parts? Thanks again.

Hi there. My question regards the front brake caliper on a '97 Legacy L sedan. On the caliper there are two 'guide pins", an upper and a lower. Now the FSM shows a difference between the two, but only listed as guide pin (Green) for the upper and guide pin (Yellow) for the lower. Now I can't find any color coding on the pins although one has a small sleeve on the inner end, while the other pin doesn't. Logic says the sleeve would go on the upper pin, the one the pad support pivots on, put I want to make sure. Can anyone clarify which guide pin goes where. Again, one is solid and the other has a small rubberish sleeve on it. Thanks for the input.

My '97 Legacy L with 118K on it sounds horrible when cold, kinda like mike golin's description of a diesel, but warmed up (a few minutes) and it sounds fine. I also agree that Subaru's attempt at gaining a few mpg's or a couple of hp's has caused more aggravation than benefit.

Dan, The manual was for the '97 MY (Legacy L sedan).

Soup, Yep, was a real PITA. I thought I had cleaned them up but did end up with about a dozen txt files. Any thoughts on how to recover them as a pdf file. I tried to rename them, no luck. I then opened and resaved as a pdf, no luck. Any thoughts. Thanks and I think I will call them just to let them know it happened to me. When it would happen, it would be an entire sub section that would be offered as txt. Very weird.

junkyardgabe. If you go to the Bosal site, you can plug in the detail about the application and get the info on each of the exhaust systems for the '97 and the '99. They both look the same. Anyhow, here is the URL. https://b2b.bosalnafta.com/products/

One word of caution, some of the files come through with a .txt file extension and you have to force it with the .pdf extension. A real pain if you don't realize it. What I did prior to starting the download is create folders with each of the major headings, then sub-folders to drop each of the downloaded files into. Oh, I then cut and pasted the name of the file into the download window to keep them consistent with the FSM descriptions. A real pain but for $20 you can't complain.

danas, From the FSM for my '97 Legacy, these are the various checks for the Brake Booster: AIR TIGHTNESS CHECK Start engine, and run it for 1 to 2 minutes, then turn it off. Depress brake pedal several times applying the same pedal force as that used in ordinary braking operations. The pedal stroke should be greatest on the 1st depression, and it should become smaller with each successive depression. If no change occurs in the pedal height while in a depressed state, brake booster is faulty. OPERATION CHECK 1) With engine off, depress brake pedal several times applying the same pedal force and make sure that the pedal height does not vary with each depression of the pedal. 2) With brake pedal depressed, start engine. 3) As engine starts, brake pedal should move slightly toward the floor. If no change occurs in the pedal height, brake booster is faulty. LOADED AIR TIGHTNESS CHECK Depress brake pedal while engine is running, and turn off engine while the pedal is still depressed. Keep the pedal depressed for 30 seconds; if no change occurs in the pedal height, brake booster is functioning normally; if the pedal height increases, it is faulty. Hope this helps.

Geiiga, to gain access to that plug, remove the windshield washer tank. With the tank removed you have a straight shot at that plug. Good luck.

Longest battery life I have experienced was with an '86 Saab 900. The original factory battery lasted for 12 years and 170,000 miles with just regular maintenance, clean the terminals and keep the fluid level topped off.

duane b, go back out and double or triple check your readings. I have two (93 and 97) and I find getting a good reading on the dip stick is tough. Take a good look at the point on the stick where the oil mark is across the entire width of the face, not just where oil is pulled up along the edges. I bet you will find the level to be ok! Certainly is cheaper than the alternatives. Best of luck

Hunter GSP9700. check it out: http://209.176.154.132/pub/features/intro.cfm amazingly accurate but expensive.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Front wheel bearings are a pain, believe me! I would inspect but do nothing if there isn't a problem. I just did an axle on my '93 last weekend and the seals/bearings were fine.

Everything Subaru: Archives 1969-2003 http://www.cars101.com/subaru_archives.html