n0sympathy

I used what I read was an excellent replacement, Cardone. I should have been more clear on that, I replaced them only a few weeks back, I've had the car for two years and the vibrating was happening with the OEM axles since then. Not sure if they are original or not. It feels like the vibrating comes from the back honestly. I am using the looked up belt size, went to subaru themselves and 3 big brand auto stores. All list the same size belt. I can live with the play then, that isn't a big deal, just was mentioning everything. I didn't think there would be that much play, but I am definitely not overly familiar with AWD cars that way. Mostly had RWD solid axle cars. The new axles are Cardone and are just a few weeks old, the stock subaru axles were on there as mentioned above before this, so it's been doing it with both. I can see the logic behind it, but why would the amount of vibration change dependant on the weather? It is really bad in single digit weather and like during the summer, it is there but not worth even mentioning. I have the correct lengh belt as mentioned above by subaru, 3 big chain stores, etc. Is a 35" ID belt. Which the ID is exactly 35" at max adjustment. I didn't think to even bother going and asking for a shorter belt because I didn't think any of the auto places would be smart enough to figure that out. I am going to do that tonight and see if they can give me a shorter one. I know I can get a 34" ID belt on the pullies. Just wondered why the stock size belts don't fit, has me completely puzzled. I am just going to assume the alternator is offset wrong. As for the diming lights and stuff, it actually wasn't nearly this bad, before, but I really think it is the belt slip. The belt is definitely slipping, and it is having a hard time keeping the battery charged. I have the terminals cleaned and coated in dialectric grease, they are picture perfect and same with the other cables you mentioned. Definitely belt slip. Well, as stated above, would tempeture changes affect the torque convertor? It really is a very light vibration you hardly notice on 90* summer days and is a full blast vibrating bed type feeling on single digit days. I thank you so far everyone, just trying to clarify further. I wrote the original post last night while tired, so seems I missed some stuff.

I've been chasing some issues with my subaru and a few of these just have me stuck. I've tried searching and I am not coming up with anything that seems the same. Have an 02 legacy L Auto that I use for winter driving with 160K miles and I got it with about 135K miles. within the past year I've replaced ball joints, front/rear bearings, brakes, tires, front half shafts, and maybe some engine pieces I'll list below where they belong. Car when driving forward from coasting feels like the rear shudders hard. Only for a second then drives fine. Shifts a little rough but not any worse than any other auto car I've had or driven built around the same time, just seems to be when giving gas from a coast. Paired with that, the car vibrates at a stop while in D, R, 1,2,3. Not in N or P. Gets worse on cold days and feels less intense on warm days. With moving from 40 degree to single digit days, has been a real roller coaster of an experience. I've had someone sit in the car with it in D and me looking at the engine, don't really see it vibrating all over the place, trans when pushed and pulled on doesn't really have any noticeable play. Feeling disappears the moment I release the brakes. Pull my foot off the pedal fast as I can and the vibration immediately goes away. Feel like I ruled out the engine mounts or trans mount, but I am still open to replacing those. Would the two be related? I've ran through a few ideas of what to change, but would love an opinion. I would think if it was the convertor I'd have more issues than just vibrating while stopped. Last is the power steering/alternator belt. I replaced my alternator and my belt a while back because the car kept dying and it proved to be the alternator, but replaced the battery too because I wasn't sure how long it'd been with the car. I have the adjustment as high as it goes, with the bolt to hold the alternator adjustment in place so, actually, they were rubbing slightly. Didn't realize this but belt looks ok minus the one rib being a little shaved, but the belt has way more play than it should(read like a half inch or so and I have nearly 2 inches), and appears to be slipping. Notice issues like, headlights dim when I hit the button for the power windows, air fan speed increases when I rev the engine and other small odd things. Car also has trouble turning over some days. Complains something fierce but still does. haven't measured but not sure the alternator is charging the battery enough due to the belt slip. Anyway, I took the belt off, adjusted the alternator back where it was, and took a string and wrapped it around all 3 pulleys and it measured almost exactly 35 inches. Which is the ID size belt recommended for the car. So if the max adjustment where I am rubbing the belt is also the length of the belt, well of course I am having trouble. I was trying to find a shorter belt, like a 33-34" belt which would work perfect but couldn't find anything. Maybe the alternator is wrong? It looked identical to the one I pulled out. Just at a loss on this one. Adjust the belt any tighter is going to have the belt rub that bolt end hard and that is obviously bad. Only other thought is to adjust that bolt past the belt up higher, but it'd have to go up a full inch and that is probably too much. I know the stock alternator and belt were slightly below this adjustment point, so I really think it might be the design of the alternator. I was in a hard spot and got one from autozone. Worked great when the alternator and belt were brand new and tight. lol.

Hello all, I seem to be having trouble finding anything that feels worth listening too about this, and wanted to just ask directly. My main knowledge is with my other car, which is a completely different beast(RWD, High power V8, etc.) I have a 2002 Subaru Legacy L that I picked up out of desperation a few years back and it has been a phenominal car. Generally drive it places I don't want the show/race car and during the winter time. Love driving this car in the snow. I started wondering if there were advantages with tuning the car. I've been working to replace most of the worn out parts and this site led me to a few i didn't realize might be causing my minor griefs with the car. Since I have most of that replaced and the car is driving pretty solid now, looking to mess with some more. So, anyone run a chip or ODBII plug chip and find it worthwhile? Seems the average gains are not huge, 1-2MPG and maybe 10-15hp and similar torque. Can't find anything about gains through the curve to know if peak doesn't go up much but the curve gets stronger. Is a rather heavy car so 10-15hp isn't much. Regardless of if that is worth it or not, any other upgrades that are recommended? I just really don't see a lot about this for the Legacy L. I don't plan to dump tons of money into it (prefer it go into the other car) but wouldn't mind making it slightly more enjoyable to drive. Thanks!