trivalence

Weird, I replied to this yesterday (or so I thought), but it's not there now... Anyway, yes -- it's a mechanical stalling. All of the electronics are fine. I think you're right on the torque converter front, because I've actually been shifting it into neutral quite regularly because then it won't die. How terrible is dealing with the converter?

First Item: My 1995 Legacy LS AWD wagon (automatic) does this somewhat unpredictable thing where if I come to a quick (or fairly quick) stop, the car dies. I don't mean slam-on-the-brakes kind of situation, but not a slow, gradual stop, either. I can sometimes guess when it'll happen, and sometimes it stutters a little before stalling out, but other times it just shuts off. It's only ever happened while stopping, and has never shown any signs of it happening under load. I don't recally 100%, but I'm pretty sure sure that most of the time it only does it when it's not cold or cold-ish. In other words, on the school run in the morning it's more likely to do it than later in the day when I pick the boy up ... though now that I think of it I'm pretty sure it's done it then once or twice, too. I do have a check engine light on, which FairTax says was due to a simple piece of hose and t-fitting missing (which I have yet to replace). Maybe related? Second item: Just this morning it appears my front passenger exterior door handle ceased to function. I tried a few times, used the manual lock/unlock, used the power lock/unlock -- nothing. Interior works fine, but no-go now on the exterior. How much does this repair suck? Thankfully I rarely have front seat passengers, just kids in the back. Just kind of glad it's not the interior handle...

About a week ago I put new pads, rotors, and calipers on my Legacy. The brake pedal travel had been a bit troubling, going fairly close to the floor. I was hoping that bleeding all four wheels would improve it, but it hasn't. Now the only thing I can assume is wrong is the master cylinder. Does this sound accurate? I don't really know what role the brake booster plays, but I'm hoping it's not the issue. At one point the other day I was sure that if I pushed hard on the pedal (while stopped) I could hear a noise like air escaping or a high pitched whistle or something. I haven't been able to replicate that again, however. Stopping power doesn't really seem to be affected, so maybe I can just leave it as-is until ... whenever?

So remove the old knuckle and take that along with new bearings to a shop? Want to make sure I'm understanding you correctly. If that's the approach, that's actually what I was thinking might be an option, but then I was thinking about what fairtax4me said about how sometimes it's impossible to get the old bearings out. Also, because I'm such a Subaru noob, if my front driver side bearing is bad, is one of these all I need, or is there a second bearing as well? http://shop.advanceautoparts.com/p/beck-arnley-wheel-bearing-051-4012/18025155-P?searchTerm=wheel+bearing Alternatively, this is allegedly an OEM part: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Genuine-Subaru-Front-Wheel-Bearing-Kit-WRX-Legacy-Forester-Outback-Impreza-OEM-/131464401447?fits=Year%3A1995%7CMake%3ASubaru%7CModel%3ALegacy&hash=item1e9be39227&vxp=mtr

It seems to have about the same pattern. I moved it to the rear this morning. The wum-wum-wum that was there before (and goes up and down with speed) still seems to be coming from the front driver side, so I'm pretty sure that bearing is toast, which is a bummer. However, the steering is better! It doesn't spear off to the right under load now, which is super nice (and now that I think of it, makes total sense). I'll rock it in FWD mode for a few weeks until I can get some new tires.

Oh man, I see. So far, what little I've done, has been pretty fine; no sheared off bolts, etc, and I don't even own any type of torch ... yet.

Yeah, I think my car is a bit rusty, but I don't have much to compare it to. The press-fit bearings are "not too bad" as in for your skill level or mine? Good questions about the tread, I'm not sure but I'll check. Great to know about the whistle! Thanks once again Fairtax4me!

Title should've read: High pitched noise at high revs + mismatched tire size + wheel bearing questions I noticed the other day while on the interstate that when I was going up the mountain (and again tonight when I tested it) and the car (95 Legacy LS wagon, auto) downshifted into 2nd there was a high-pitched noise that lasted for as long as the car was in 2nd, then subsided once the car upshifted again into any other gear. I realize this is pretty vague, but does it sound like something I should be concerned about? Edit: This posted before I meant for it to... I also realized today that three of my four tires are 195/60-15's, but the front driver side is actually 195/65-15. It also just so happens that there's a lot of noise coming from that part of the car, and it seems to me to be a wheel bearing. Coincidence? I heard that the wheels bearings are press-fit and thus difficult to do, and that a lot of people just replace the whole knuckle/spindle instead. Is this accurate?

Thanks forester2002s!

Thanks, Bushwick! I was just making a mental note the other day of how hard/weird the steering is in my (also) 1995 Legacy wagon. Does someone have a link to the way you're supposed to flush the steering? I saw something above about the "FSM" but I'm not sure what that is.

The more I look at the wheel, the more convinced I am that the trailing arm causing an alignment issue. Is this the right part? http://www.ebay.com/itm/271910792346?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT I hope so, because as much as going to the junkyard sounds like a good option, I don't have a lot of time these days for such endeavors, and buying a new part off of eBay for a decent price that will come to my door sounds just about perfect. I'm going to email the seller to ask if he knows if it'll fit, but wanted to ask here, too.

Thanks upnorthguy! Really glad to be apart of this site/forum. No worries. I'm honestly kind of glad it's just the rear brakes, seems like it'll be a way easier job than the front wheel bearing. I'm going to replace both calipers, just for good measure. The rotors and pads are already on the way, as is the one-man bleeder kit bratman2 recommended. Hopefully this week I'll knock it all out. Oh and baby came on Saturday! 8 lbs, 6 oz, 20" long. Both she and E are doing really well; it was about as perfect of a birth as could be asked for, praise God. Hope your marathon went well! And your 'other marathon' in the form of all the life busyness.

I thought the toe angle looked wrong, too. Bummer. I don't suppose there's any chance of giving it a slight bend back in the right direction, huh? Admittedly, I'm just being lazy.

Has anyone bought or tried this one? http://www.amazon.com/BAFX-Products-Bluetooth-diagnostics-Android/dp/B005NLQAHS/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1434760965&sr=8-3&keywords=obd2+scanner&pebp=1434761267543&perid=0PS4J7HB3V6GNGPS05WV It gets good reviews, but it's Android only (Torque app). Still, Android devices are cheap enough these days if you only need something basic, so even though I have an iPhone I'd be willing to buy this and an inexpensive Android device if it's worth it.

Thanks jmoss5723. I added those to my AA cart.

The seized driver side rear brake caliber is making so much noise that it's hard for me to get a bead on anything else at this point. I do however notice the car pulling to the right under acceleration, and it does generally feel like it needs an alignment (based on the way it feels like it's tracking, etc), which I plan on doing soon. For some reason I feel like the front end alignment is what needs the most attention, but that's just a random gut feeling. I'm hoping this trailing arm isn't the culprit, because it looks like a somewhat complicated task to replace it. I'll ask the wheel alignment place when I take it in to tell me what they think before they get started.

I did indeed. He said you were here in Cville, and that you're quite the guru. Thanks for the warm welcome and the generous offer. I'll make sure to move the boots over, that's a great tip.

I thought the sway bar was the closer, bigger bar (in the second pic) that makes several bends? Here's the second pic but this time with an arrow, which I realize I probably should've included initially:

How big of a c-clamp should I buy for this job?

Thanks Rooster2! I like to think of myself as a very savvy online shopper, but totally didn't think to look for a better coupon. Got it!

Here's another pic. Trying for more perspective on it.

I decided to look around the back of my 1995 Legacy LS wagon, checking stuff out more closely before my upcoming brake job, and noticed this: This is a ... trailing control arm? I'm obviously new and not totally sure. Either way, I was on the drive side checking stuff out and looked over and saw this. Went over to investigate and it sure seems bent; the question is, should I bother about it?

Exactly why I was hoping AA would work. They have a 20% coupon at the moment (plus you can get cashback through places like ebates), so new reman complete calipers are like $41 each (after cores). Yes, buy online and pick up in store. Plus here in Cville we have two stores, which helps as well. Win-win!

Agreed. Not planning on going back to VAG cars anytime soon. Perfect, thanks for the link! That's just what I needed.

Thanks so much already! One correction: I said Auto Zone, but I meant Advance Auto. I don't now if there's honestly much of a difference between reman calipers from those two big box stores, but I thought I'd specify just in case. I'll look into greasing the slide rail first. This is a lame question: what sort of grease should I get for this type of job (slash, future jobs I guess). Hoping I won't need the new calipers.