Tom Dunn

I have a 1991 Legacy wagon. Good motor, 2.2/auto tran, but the rest of the vehicle needs extensive parts/labor to get up to snuff for a state inspection here. More than the vehicle is worth.I came across a "1988 Subaru GL 4WD" 5-speed standard,on Craigs list. The ad said there is some sort of serious problem with the motor, head would have to be pulled to diag. Might my 2.2 be a good canidate to install in this vehicle? Just realized this is the wrong forum.....!

The electrical connector is just a simple slide on type. You remove the tank and the pump comes out with it. Then just pull the wire connector and the feed hose off.The pump is press-fit thru a rubber bung in the tank, you have to tug on it pretty good, but it just pulls out, theres no mechanical fastener.

Nipper pretty well nailed it, the pump was shot. A replacement was only $14, and pretty easy to change besides, but I still ended up making a 150 mile drive without the washers on wet, dirty roads. Must have stopped 25 times to splash some fluid on the windshield right from the jug. Small glitch, but big problem, ya know?!

As usual, I let the washer fluid run out on my Subie. Had been empty for awhile, I suspect. Filled it up, but it seems to take forever to pick up the prime and start pumping again. I probably drove it 45 miles yesterday after filling, and tried the squirters a dozen times or more for various intervals. No dice. It's been parked since I got home yesterday, so I've not tried it yet, but I suspect after sitting so long it may well work next attempt. Is there some trick or method to getting the pump to work more quickly? Other than not letting it run out in the first place, of course!

Here in Inlet NY, in the Adirondacks, there are only about 300 residents. Yet on a summers day, you can see roughly 50,000 Subies. 49,998 of them have either a canoe or kayak on the roof..............

Took my Legacy to the tire store yesterday, little place in Lyons Falls NY. Had a morning appointment, rolled right in, no waiting(they only have one bay) and was out in 35 minutes with four new skins. $51 each mounted and balanced. :cool: Then drove to Utica and bought a new pair of Gore Tex boots for me. New shoes on the car and new shoes on me, hey, let the weather turn lousy, I'm ready!!

It was 13.8 gallons I fit in the tank, the light had only been on for a very short while. Gallon left is a margin I'll try to skip in the future. Note:$2.99 per gal. I love this car!

I've had my 91 Legacy for almost a year now. Never knew it had a low fuel light, 'cuz I'm usually pretty diligent about not letting it get too low. However, this past weekend I noticed a little glowing yellow box next to the guage. THAT made me stop for gas, stations are kind of far apart around here! On some vehicles, I know that the low fuel light comes on at one level and then, as the tank runs lower yet, will begin to blink. Is that the case with the Subie or is it a "one and only warning" kind of deal? By the way, it cost me $41.30 to fill that sadly empty tank!

I heard a rumor that 2006 will be the last year Subaru will produce the Forester. Anyone know if this is true?

The fuel guage on my 91 Legacy is malfunctioning. When the tank is full, the guage works correctly until it reaches the 3/4 mark or so. Then, for awhile, it's most anywhere it wants to be, often plungeing past "empty", floating back up to a half, back to empty ect. Once the tank is down to about 1/4 full(estimated by the trip odometer) it seems to settle down and read accurately again as it heads for true empty. Not the biggest problem, I can drive with the trip od keeping track, but if theres a simple fix I'd sure like to make this right.

Actually, I AM in Inlet. Probably be here until first part of July, have a little cutting to be done on me at the Syracuse VA. They started the process quite some time ago, and I want to stick with them till it's done. Thats why I was asking about the tires, I'd like to get some new skins on the rig before heading back south. I'm afraid I was lax at keeping them rotated. Fronts pretty worn, rears pretty good.

When replacing tires on a conventional 4WD, I understand the importance of replacing all four tires with identical units. I'd like to know if the same holds true of Subie 4WD systems. Obviously, they must all be the same size, but if two are worn and two not so badly, is it OK to replace the two worn tires with tires of the same size, or should all four be replaced at the same time?

ABS indeed. The noise is the ABS pump cycling, so there is a problem, I'm guessing, with one of the wheel sensors. Four wheel ABS on this car (I believe). Since they are some kind of an emitter/pick-up arrangement, I'm hoping maybe I can clean them with some brake cleaner perhaps.

Actually, over the last two weeks or so, I had the ABS light come on a couple times. No rhyme or reason, would just come on, stay for a hour or so until the car was turned off. It would take a couple days to return maybe. There is, however, no ABS light associated with this problem.

I hate to sound like a dummy but......I know the source of the noise, but not sure what the unit actually is. It's a cast box, made by Bendix I believe, and part of the brake system. There are four steel lines connected to the top, and two on the side. It's in the very right front corner of the engine compartment, with a small solenoid on the side. Brake booster maybe? I've not yet named the part/function....but...... I've got my best people on it right now........

I and my 91 Legacy Wagon have sucessfully completed our move to NC from the Adirondacks. Car ran great, NO cooling issues, good MPG despite being heavily loaded, ect.(Now I need a job!) Yesterday however, while idleing on the roadside getting the mail from the rural box, the car, from the engine compartment(?) made a distinct "whirling/buzzing" kind of noise, not unlike a small motor pulsing. It would go in 2 or 3 second bursts, and induced a distint pulse/vibration in the brake pedal. Car was in drive, foot on brake. The brakes seemed fine, however, going down the dirt road to the house. No noise I could hear either. Once I pulled in the driveway, it happed a second time while sitting there in "Drive". I went out to run some errands, and the problem occured several more times, always while stopped with my foot on the brake. Brake function seems fine, but I've not tried the anti-locks. Ideas?

Moved to New Gen Forum

Stopped into NAPA the other day to get the stuff for an oil change. Included in the purchase was an end cap type oil filter wrench. It fits the NAPA 1334 filter, it has a 3.25" diameter/15 flute design. However, the oil filter on the car is smaller, probably 3" I'm guessing. I doubled checked the number on the NAPA site and the replacement I was given appears correct. However, I can't get the old filter off. I'm supposing I need to buy another wrench simply to remove the old filter? There does not seem to be much room to get a strap type wrench up in there to get the old one out. Any suggestions?

From time to time, and in different threads, reference is made to burnt valves. First "real" motor work I ever did, many moons ago, was a valve job on a 250 Pontiac OHC six. However, I have no idea exactly what the cause of a burnt valve is, and, how can they be prevented?

While replacing the ball joint in my Subie today, I was having a Dickens of a time getting the top of the new joint to go into the recess where the pinch bolt retains it. Trying to pry on the pinch slit was not working too well, regardless of whatever was being used to try and give it a little relief. Screwdriver blade, small prybar, nothing seemed to work. In the end what worked rather nicely, was simply a small metal wedge, the kind that are used to retain the head on a wooden handled axe. I inserted the wedge in the slit. Then, using a good sized C clamp, I placed the head of the clamp against the wedge and then screwed it down until the end of the threaded shaft was against the rotor. Actually, it was against a small block of wood I used to protect the rotor itself. I could then gently apply pressure to the wedge by turning the clamp with one hand, while pushing up on the ball joint with the other. With just a little turnig the pinch slit spread just enough to where the top of the ball joint just popped right in, no excessive prying or hammering required. Steel wedge pulled right out with two fingers.

Because the guide did not go back to 1991, I sent an email to Gate inquiring about the proper belt and also asked about the motor. They were very quick to reply, which is both nice, and unusual! The email I got, just FYI: Thank you for contacting Gates for information on your 1991 Legacy with the 2.2L engine. The timing belt you need is a T172. We also have a timing component kit available for this application which will include the belt/tensioner and idlers and instructions. The kit, TCK172, does NOT include the hyd cam that is used in this vehicle. The engine is NOT an interference type engine.

I understand now, I believe, what went wrong. There is nothing retaining that end of the shaft, and it should not have pulled free simply by fighting the ball joint. At this point, I'll have to give up. Without a garage to work in, let alone a lift, I'll turn this over to a shop for repair. As said, I'm outside in the snow with a floor jack. Money is tight so the ball joint replacement in these crummy conditions was a "gotta-do what ya gotta do" arangement. But I'm past that point. The shop I will call is just a small garage. If that pin is a dealer part, perhaps I should aquire it ahead of time. Does anyone have a PN, or part name or, perhaps a link to a diagram? There are no Subie dealers anywhere near here if that is who the pin must come from, I'd be WAY ahead of the game if I could procurethe part beforehand. I might mention I've put better than 5000 miles on this car since I got it, I had no idea something was amiss! THANK YOU ALL VERY MUCH FOR THE ADVICE!!!!!!!!!! I'm going to have a couple drinks and thaw out!

What came out is the male splined end at the end of the driveshaft, toward the center of the car so to speak. I apologize for describing this so poorly. I'm stressing my butt off over this. I removed nothing other than the pinch bolt and the castle nut on the ball joint, thats all. It was during the re-assembly when trying to turn the rotor back to the straight, normal position, in order to locate the tapered ball joint shaft over its mounting hole that I noticed the far end of the drive shaft had come loose. If there is something that should have prevented that end from coming out and dropping free, which sure make sense, it's missing. And now I can't get the disconnected end to slide all the way in.

I didn't take any roll pin out, all I did was turn the hub and rotor all the way to the left to better get at the area of the pinch bolt. The drivers side wheel stayed straight, it's on the ground. After I got the top of the ball joint in, I noticed the far end of the drive shaft had pulled free, you could spin the hub and see the splines at the other end turning and watch the end flop about.

Despite the cold and having to work outside, today I attempted to replace the left front ball joint on my 91 Leagcy. Removeal of the old joint was difficult to say the least, but I got it out. Was not a whole lot easier getting the top of the new one in, but I managed that also. However, I caused my self another problem. In the process of turning the hub and rotor out to better access the ball joint, I pulled the distant end of the front drive shaft out of the splines. The car was jacked up with a floor jack on the left side. With the help of a friend to reach down and hold the end of the shaft, I rotated the hub until the splines lined up. However, it is not fully seated, it lacks about a 1/2 inch of fitting in flush when viewed from above. I was able to get the bottom of the ball joint into the control arm and get the castle nut on the bottom. It is possible that the bottom shank of the ball joint is still a bit cocked, but does not appear to be. I put the tire back on and took it for a VERY gentle test drive. The wheels and steering wheel are straight, there is no unusual noise either. Because I only drove it a couple hundred yards, I could not tell if the 4wd is working. It seemsto be fine, EXCEPT for the shaft not being full seated. The boot does not appear to have slid back. I'm at a loss here, and freezing to death besides. Is there a mid-spline in the drive shaft? Do I need to raise the entire front of the car to take pressure of the entire front drive train? I'm at a loss here folks. I downloaded a FSM sometime back but it does not have the steering or suspension sections in it. Advice appreciated more than I can say!!!!!