harborseal55

I have a 96 Legacy L sedan, AWD, and would like to lift/increase the ground clearance by an inch or so for a trip to Death Valley. I thought that there used to be some spring spacers that could be easily installed and removed without removal of the springs so that I could just leave it raised for this trip on dirt roads and remove them when I return home. I have made the same trip before in the same Legacy and scrape the undercarriage and catalyst a bit, and increasing the ground clearance by an inch or so would be a good improvement. Any ideas?

I travel all over, and was considering purchasing a set of Big O "Euro Tour" tires for my 96 Legacy (185/70R14). Anyone tried these tires? Seems that, as the years go by, fewer of the big tire companies are making tires in this old-fashioned size. Big O is in all of the towns that I spend time in (life is complicated), so it would be easy for me to get them serviced regularly (rotated and rebalanced). 70K mile warranty, and any road hazard warranties are covered completely for the first four years (no pro rating, just simple replacement).

The engine code system seems to have a little forgiveness in it, in that if the problem persists, it will need to be present sometimes for a few hundred miles to trigger the engine light to come on again. At least that has been my experience with my catalyst code that I've been wrestling with. If your light doesn't come back on after a few hundred miles of driving, then you are probably in the clear.

Yes, No. 3 in the diagram is the boot that protects the inner tie rod (one for left side and one for right side), and No. 2 in the diagram is the inner tie rod that has the "ball joint" where it connects to the steering rack. This ball joint is what is typically greased and where all of my noise is coming from. If it's noisy, is that already indication of inner tie rod failure because of the broken boot, or can the ball be regreased? If so, how would you regrease the ball, and with what type of grease? It's conspicuous that there appear to be no grease fittings for any part of the front end suspension - I've never had a car that didn't have fittings. Is periodic suspension greasing unneccessary on Subaru's for some reason?

I have had noise coming from my front end when turning the steering wheel to the right (same noise whether driving slowly or completely stopped, so I know that it's not axle noise). Upon inspection, I noticed that the right tie rod rubber boot (the long boot that covers the inner "ball" end of the tie rod) was completely torn in half, and guess that the boot needs to be replaced and that the likely source of noise seems to be the inner tie rod "ball" end that is now dry of lube. My question is, there seems to be nothing loose, so is it common to simply use my finger to grease this ball and replace the boot and not have to replace the tie rod ball end? There don't appear to be any grease fittings, so is it adequate to just add surface grease with your fingers?

Baling wire and throwing darts ideas: I don't know if Subaru's have this, but some previous cars (Oldsmobiles and Dodges from the 1970s) I've had that came equipped with air conditioning have a heater "by-pass" valve that I believe turns off or restricts the circulating coolant to the heater core when the A/C is turned on. These valves can leak, and also if your leak is after this valve (on the heater side of this valve, if Sube even uses these valves) you might possibly be able to reduce your leak by turning on the AC lightly.

I just replaced the timing belt on my 96 Legacy 2.2, and the crank pully appears to be just that - a stamped metal pully and not a harmonic balancer. I don't know how others do this, but I used a "chain wrench" to hold the pully upon loosening and reinstalling the pully because the retaining bolt needs to be really tight (I think it required a torque of something like 100 ft-lbs), and I don't see how one could achieve this without holding the pully with a chain wrench. The original bolt may have never been tightened enough. This is a large bolt that needs to be installed to a much higher torque than many cars. FYI - It seemed like it could be easy to damage the pully by just strapping the chain wrench on it by marking up the belt grooves, so I cut a piece of bicycle inner tube and wrapped it around the pully, and used a small 2-inch length of 3/4-inch dia. of copper tubing that I cut and pounded flat so that the chain wrench "teeth" would dig into the copper and rubber instead of the pully surface. Worked great, didn't slip at all, and left the pully unscathed.

An option I've found to replacing alternators has been to take them to an electrical shop that specializes in rebuilding starters and alternators, that way you can have YOUR unit rebuilt rather than getting an exchange unit. I've used a place in San Francisco called "Rite Way" for years who has been able to service anything I've brought in same day (Toyota alt, BMW motorcycle alternator, Moto Guzzi starter). With 185K, I was planning to bring my still-operating alternator to them for a "preventative" service, as often only the brushes wear out (wear too short to make contact) and they resurface the area where the brushes contact, along with checking everything else out. Typically less expensive than an exchange unit and better work.

I have had CEL code P0420 come up on my 96 Legacy 2.2L with 185K miles on it. I replaced both front and back O2 sensors with the proper Bosch replacements (all numbers matched), and the light comes on repeatedly after about 400 miles of driving. FYI - The threaded bung had torn out of the catalyst on the rear one and I had a muffler shop remove the catalyst and weld a new threaded bung onto it ($70 to remove the catalyst, weld, fit both new sensors, and replace on car - fair enough), and they said that there was no visually obvious damage to the catalyst. Since a replacment catalyst is nearly $700, available only from Subaru, I'd like to troubleshoot to ensure that the catalyst is the actual problem. Besides the catalyst itself, the two most likely culprets that could cause P0420 to show up appear to be (1) bad O2 sensors and (2) an exhaust system leak. I'd like some help in assessing the presence of any exhaust leaks in order to rule them out as a possible problem. What I have done so far is to get under the car when cold and warm and wave my hand around various areas of the exhaust system upstream of the catalyst to see if I feel any "puffs" indicating leaks, but felt none. Is there a better or more thorough way to check for leaks? Another suspicion is that there may be a leak that shows up between 55-70 mph, as there is a different sound during these speeds that sounds somewhat like an exhaust leak, but it doesn't make this sound at any other speeds. In addition, the P0420 has always come back on after driving within this speed range for a period of time Could there be a leak that only makes its appearance at certain speeds? What's the best method to check for exhaust leaks?

We have a current thread discussing this topic - look for "catalytic converter question" (it should be fairly high on the current list), and also some references to some other recent threads are listed at the bottom of this thread (scroll to the bottom after you open the question to look at the replies). Good luck and don't break an O2 thread like I did.

Someone in a previous thread (my original post asking what I could do regarding the threaded section having torn loose from the CC) suggested getting a threaded piece from a performance/speed shop that would likely have them for adapting fuel injection to engines and have someone weld this onto my catalyst. I still plan to follow that scheme as the permanent repair, as replacement CC appear to only be available from Subaru and are about $700 (or more if memory serves me right) just for the front CC (eek! I seem to remember a quote of around $1200 for both front and rear catalysts). I sure hope that that solves the problem. I'll be a bit p_ssed if the "Reduced Catalyst Efficiency" code is still triggered after clearing the codes.

Hoheiu, good idea, but installation of a HeliCoil isn't an option in this case because it's not that the threads were damaged, but that the entire thick metal section itself that contains the threads that was welded onto the sheet metal CC body tore off of the CC, weld and all, leaving a sheet metal hole. Using the National Pipe Thread (NPT) plug worked only because NPT threads are tapered so the plug gets larger as you screw it further into the hole, making it fit tighter. Interesting that you said that the front O2 sensor was more expensive. I also bought a new Bosch front O2 sensor from NAPA too, and it was less than the rear sensor (Front was about $100, and rear was about $150, different part numbers).

My sister-in-law is looking for a used (perhaps 1999-2003?) Subaru, probably a Legacy or OB wagon, and asked me for some advice on what to look for. I know that my 96 Legacy with a 2.2/5 spd is a fairly bulletproof combination, but know that more of the newer models have the 2.5, some years of which seem to have head gasket problems. Was the good old 2.2 still available in these newer models (in either 5spd or AT)? Since the 2.5 seems to be more common, are there model years where the 2.5 motors are improved and less likely to have the common head problems?

I had (have) the same condition (CEL indicating CC reduced efficiency) that I thought was most likely a rear O2 sensor problem. Bought a new sensor (Bosch O2 for rear was nearly $150 from my local NAPA auto parts), and unfortunately the threaded fitting in the CC that the sensor screws into snapped out of the CC upon my attempt to remove the old O2 sensor. Ugh! My 96 Legacy has 170K, and I currently have the gaping CC hole plugged with a 1/2-inch pipe thread plug, inserted by using a 1/2-inch NPT tap that was able to create enough threads in the CC hole to insert the plug. So this is just a note to beware that this is a possibility, and the permanent fix is not easy. This temporary plug fix was fairly easy, has been in place for a few weeks now, the car still runs as great as always, and my scanner doesn't indicate any new codes other than the original "reduced CC efficiency" code. I still plan to try a permanent repair in a few weeks, likely see if I can get a new threaded insert, remove the old CC, and see if someone will weld the threaded insert onto it so that I can reinsert the new rear O2 sensor.

Oh oh..I was in the process of changing the rear oxygen sensor in the catalytic converter on my 96 Legacy 2.2 (170K miles) and - eek! - the thick threaded steel section (the section that holds the female threads that the O2 sensor screws into) that is welded onto the sheet metal catalyst body tore out of the catalyst body! I had followed the instructions in the Haynes manual that recommended warming up the car to heat and expand the catalyst to facilitate easier removal of the O2 sensor, and I don't believe that it loosened at all, the entire O2 sensor/thread assemble just snapped out. Did I do this incorrectly or do O2 sensors often get frozen into the catalysts? Thank goodness I just passed California smog inspection last January. A new catalyst from Subaru is really expensive, so what are my options: (1) Buy a new catalyst from Subaru? (2) Would a welding or muffler shop be willing to weld the threaded insert back onto my old catalytic converter, or are shops unwilling to repair an old catalyst? (3) Is there a threaded insert that I can buy to fix this (if this seems to not be an unusual problem when replacing O2 sensors) (4) If there are no other options, where else can I go to get a replacement catalyst other then the dealer? So far I haven't found anyone who can even special order a replacement catalyst for me (one that uses two O2 sensors). Any other options? In the mean time, I plugged the hole in the catalyst by using a 1/2-inch national pipe thread (NPT) tap to apply a couple of threads in the catalyst and inserted a 1/2-inch pipe "plug," and unplugged the old (rear) O2 sensor from the harness and removed it completely. The car runs fine (as good as it did prior to my attempted fix), and the OBD-II scanner I have did not reveal any new codes as a result of the sensor removal (other than the previous P0420 catalyst efficiency code which was the reason for replacing the O2 sensor to begin with). As far as I can tell, the OBD-II system doesn't seem to mind that the sensor is gone, but this is a short-term fix to make the car driveable, I do want to pursue a permanent fix.