Spazz698

Well once my car hit 250k (about a week ago) the mileage has been on a decline since. It's used a lot btw, Im already over 251k lol. Before tho, I was getting a little more than 25mpg, my last fill gave me about 22. I wasnt too happy about the mileage in the first place, I was considering a honda to go back and forth to school with (I cant part with my subie I luv it) but now...I think it's a for sure. Given this is gonna take me a while since I've been sticking most of my $$ into the gas tank, and prices just went up to $2.25+

Too much oil in your motor can cause seals/gaskets to go once you hit the gas hard enough. I dont know how much oil you need to put in in order to accomplish this tho, the one time I tried (I was mad at a mustang I had) I kept popping the half assed "seal" around the dipstick tube since the sleeve has snapped and it was only held in place by the dipstick.

I had a similar problem recently- it was caused by a dying alternator (it wasnt charging the battery below 2k rpms, so if i didnt rev it for a min it'd die once i took it out of park) Get your charging system checked out, I dont think it'd the tranny if it just all of a sudden started doing this, generally when trannys start to go theres an obvious slip before it does go.

My brakes have been squealing since I got the car. I've been thinking its just the typical non subaru brake pad squealing I keep hearing about but now Im curious to know if there's a diff between that squealing and what a shot rotor sounds like. When I pulled the wheels to check out the brakes initally it did look like the rotors were slightly rusting, but nothing major, definately seen much worse. Recently I was trying to find out where this mystery leak was coming from and I pulled the front pass tire off since it was next to the leak and I remember looking at the rim of the rotor in particular and it was fairly rusty. I cant tell if the brakes in the car are non subie or not, the rotor thing came up cuz I know the guy who owned the car previously mantained it religiously only no actual receipts to show where it was done (might've been by the dealership he owned) and it sounds like the squealing is only coming from the front. The wear on the rotors are even btw, so is there any way to tell if they are for sure shot? I know these are expensive...

Mine will say about the same. I can go at least 275 (thats where it hit when I gave in and filled it lol) my gauge likes to teeter up and down at E for over 100mi, it's like teasing me I swear

I wonder if this works on 1st gen legacys. Dealership = out of the question they want WAY too much for everything!

Im not sure if this will help but my bf had a deck (pioneer) that didnt want to eject discs. The problem was the spring that popped it up a bit to eject had worn so the cd was getting hung up inside of the deck. That deck was probably 2 yrs old by the time it started doing that(it was a deck that was passed around from friend to friend to friend) The only way to get the cd out was to put another cd into the slot just enough to pop it up (or down for that matter) so it could slide out. We're talking like 3/4" at most. Im not familiar with your cd player but most when ejecting/inserting cds will make a quiet whining sound. I'd listen for that to see if theres power or not. Is the cd thats stuck playing or no?

lol Id first try using one of those air in a can things (you can get them at most electronic/computer places, theyre used to clean electronics) Im not sure a tape deck is worth taking apart to clean, then again if I have any tapes I dont know where they are...if you want you can buy my old factory tape deck, it's sitting on the top of my pioneer deck in my car lol, I just pulled the cubby hole but now Im starting to miss it

My idle is off too, only in the opposite direction. One of the guys I was talking to about it mentioned that it could be the throttle positioning sensor since when thats getting ready to go it can either drop the idle or raise it (speaking in general, he doesnt have much experience with subarus) I could be wrong but its a shot in the dark

I just had the alt and the battery checked, both work fine. My last idea is a short somewhere...anyone wanna let me borrow their ohm meter?

Well before I replaced the alt I did have both checked and it came out to be the alt going, not quite toast but far enough to where it was affecting thing. Nothing came up as far as the battery since it was holding a charge at 12v(when car was off) after the car was revved for a while repending on how drained it was beforehand. Now its only doing the unsteady idle occasionally, when the engines warm and been on for a while (like hr+) or when its the first start of the day when its cold outside. Im hoping its the alt, I'll change the thing out in the parking lot if I need to

I just changed my alternator now my car's idle isnt stable. It'll go anywhere from below 500-700rpms in gear, about 500-1k rpms in neutral. First time I drove it after I changed the alternator it almost died on me when it dropped too low at a stop. I may be wrong on this but it seems like it drops when the fan(s) turn on. Any way to fix this/figure out what's going on with it? I know my battery wasnt getting a complete charge before I put the new alt in (it held about 9v instead of 12, and when charging about 2k it got about 11-12v, anything below it was slowly draining the battery) so could the problem have to do with the work i just did? I remember reading that I cant adjust the throttle...Im not screwed am I? Btw this had to be the easist and fastest alt change I ever did, half an hr compared to my last one on a ford aerostar...6 hours with some assistance getting to the long bolt, I hate that thing.

I drove the car today to get a feel as to what exactly its doing and I KNOW its the alt now. I cant sit idling for more than 5-10 min or my battery starts dying, it seems like it cuts off whatever itsnt needed to actually drive the car (heating, radio, interior and dash lights, etc) when it starts to die. Its only charging at 2k and up (so for mostly freeway driving, in theory, I should be fine for now) So anyways since I havent really looked does Subie have a battery light I should look for when the alt does go? Im broke til tomorrow night and I need my car since the backup is doing some weird stuff too, and I still cant figure out why theres 2 lights on that car turning on (damn fords!)

Earlier I went to get gas and when I tried to start it it acted like the starter solenoid was shot (like the battery was dying, getting slower and slower to crank) Second time i tried it started to do the same but started up. Went to a store, came back to the car knowing there was a 50-50 chance I may be stuck there for a while and the ************er wouldnt start. OK fine its just the solenoid I can deal with that, not a huge prob. Now I messed with it for a while got it to start up again only after it started up my interior lights were dim, my radio kept turning off (its aftermarket so if I lost complete power to it it wouldve reset-it didnt) my damn heater kept shutting off. I had to keep the car above 1k rpms to keep everyone on, which made me think well maybe its not the solenoid, maybe a short somewhere, the battery seemed like it was getting drained but it never actually died and since the car was running with lights and all and nothing getting dim (as long as I wasnt stopped at least) it shouldnt be the alt. I got home, turned the car off, and turned it back on just fine tho it did sound like it was gonna start the dying battery sound the first second. Between my dad and I we've thought up these possibilities: 1) Starter Solenoid 2)Short in the interior wiring somewhere (my guess would be radio since nothing else has been touched...ever) 3)fuel filter no lights coming on/flashing at me either. Also this only affects the interior, the outside lights and everything else were doing fine. I need my car tomorrow so Im hoping this is gonna be an easy fix, I just dont wanna spend hours upon hours trying to find something that might not even be there, or fix something that doesnt need to be fixed.

If it had 5% tint all the way around I'd be in love with it...Im fond of black on black(on black but int. color doesnt matter as much to me) esp on a clean car like that.

If you dont want go out and buy a torque wrench, find a friend or neighbor or someone who has it. This works great esp if you dont plan on using it much at all. Or you can do what I did when I had to do the brakes on my subie, stand on the tire iron til it stops moving.

Finally got the tranny flushed used my maglite as a cheater bar (after removing the batteries of course) that thing comes in handy for all sorts of things! That fluid was gross, dark dark red, almost brownish and it smelled bad, not burned but bad. Cant quite put my finger on that smell just yet, well maybe like its been in there for (quite) a few yrs. Also looks like there was dirt or something in it as well, the oil pan I used has a top that it drains onto then goes into the pan itself and theres residue on the top with sand like solids...Im not sure what the previous owners did/failed to do. So is my car supposed to be more sluggish? Shifts a LOT better (doesnt sit redlining, doesnt shift hard, and the grinding sound is gone completely) but takes longer to go thru the gears

LOL not the way Ive been jerking at the thing! Im using jack stands, but last time I went looking for them the lightweight ramps dont set the car up very high, maybe a foot, I havent found any taller ones that werent steel

My car was doing that too, I was thinking it was the ball joints, but when I inflated my tires to 40psi (they can handle 45 max) instead of factory specs it stopped.

I have a 93 legacy wagon, one of the best cars Ive owned yet. It has by far the most miles at almost 250k (the one that comes closest to it was actually the other subie I owned, 85 GL-10 with 164K when I sold it) It runs as strong as it did when it was new. And I really cant say that about some of the other cars Ive owned, even a couple cars that were a couple yrs old when I had them. I may be planning an extensive heart transplant on it but this would be one awesome sleeper

I know theres an internal one, i assumed mine came with an external one as well since the pic I was going by had one and it was the same gen legacy. I'm working in limited space (as in my apt's garage, the spot next to mine is almost always empty when Im working on my car tho) and since I now live an an apt I had to get rid of a bunch of my toys, including my hydrolic jack so I can pretty much only go as high as the factory scissor jack will go, I'm missing that extra foot or so right about now. I was using 16mm (17 maybe, it was in that area, I know its still attached to the ratchet at the moment) socket and my 1/2" drive ratchet, no cheater bar tho, like I said I had to get rid of a bunch of my toys due to lack of room. Then again if I still had everything I did a yr ago I'd have impact tools and wouldnt need to worry about it. Well since the car's currently nice and warm (been driving for the last oh 3-4 hrs) and its 3am Im gonna go give it one more try,

That would explain why my tires were sitting at 30 instead of the 44psi the tires say, think I even got an extra 50 mi out of my tank too

Ive been planning to flush the tranny for a while, finally got everything I need but now I have a problem. The plug wont move. At all. Im starting to think it has never been changed, feels like its sealed up. I got the tranny itself to move a little but not the damn plug. I was gonna just unscrew the tranny filter to drain at least most of it out and do it that way since the polug wont move but after an hr of staring at the underside of my car I cant even find it. I seen the pic floating around on here that showed where the filter should be on an auto 90 legacy, I assumed it would be somewhere in that area for a 93 but when I looked there on my car nothings there. Maybe my frustration's getting the best of me can someone help me out here? where is my filter supposed to be and any good ideas on how to loosen the tranny plug so I can drain the thing? I cant find a manual for my car either or I would have got one by now (cant do online Im horrible with credit cards) I need to flush it soon...like I said I dont think its ever been changed (well maybe 150k ago) and I know the life for the fluid is long long gone.

Couldnt find anything useful in the searches I did so can anyone tell me if a bad steering boot would make similar noises to a clicking halfshaft (er...cv axle)? I noticed the clicking isnt consistant and I finally went under my car to get a good look at the boot that was covered in oil, just noticed it wasnt a cv boot like I initally thought (tho the placement should have given it away, I was looking for something else so I didnt even think about it) Seems like it clicks when it wants to when Im turning. Considering my bf's steering snapped last summer (smashed his car on the freeway, he was lucky to walk away from that, not well but he did walk from it) I do want to get this fixed esp if it poses a problem like that. Also curious, assuming the bearing on that side is almost shot would that cause a grinding type noise? I havent looked at it throughly yet, tho I did take pics of it so I can look at it from angles I cant see w/o jacking the car up, just havent checked all of the out. Thinking with all the things I keep finding wrong with this car while fixing something else its time to pick up a manual for it, too bad the napa I go to for my parts (I have friends who work there, I get some discounts) seems to rarely have one there.

It was leaking from the driver's side valve cover towards the back of the motor, Fixed that, checked the other side, that one was leaking too almost in the same damn spot too but just enough to leave its trail after I pressure washed the motor (the pressure washer is like 11mi away btw, so there's a lil bit of driving to do and doesnt lose oil when its sitting) so far havent lost any oil, its been driven a good 150 mi today, the burning oil smell is gone (that was from oil dripping onto the exhaust manifold, also creating the occasional mystery smoke under the hood) so I think I'm good to go. Anyone know if the oil dripping onto the cv boots gonna affect it? It wasnt clicking when I first got the car for sure, just dont know how long it's been doing that-after mentioning it to my dad he's thinking the clicking is temporary and will clear up since there's nothing dripping on the boot anymore. Still havent figured out wtf the grinding sound is, my only guess is metal shavings or something similar in the oil pan, but how it got there if it's true I dont know, I know the owners previous had the car maintenced at the local subaru dealership, also kept a record of fluids changes/mileage on it as well. Maybe the tranny? it does slip a little but not horribly, I'm thinking that could be due to the condition of the fluid tho.