outback_97

Donut: I had a similar experience in my Outback. When I stepped out of the car after parking it, I turned the steering wheel and it locked. When I returned to the car and tried to start it, the ignition was locked. I had to turn the steering wheel (pretty hard too!) to get the ignition to unlock and start the car. Try turning the steering wheel a bit while you turn the key. Worth a try. Steve

... 10' metal drip edge. Just barely fit in the Outback, but fit it did. I was prepared to put it on the roof rack, but was pleased to find it didn't need to go up there. So, that gets added to the other things on the list that have been successfully carried inside the car: Lawn mower Lumber Lawn chairs Tables 4' x 4' pieces of plywood Bikes and my personal favorite, a grandfather clock. Try *that* in a sedan Steve

Foresters are available w/ the H6? Where? Never heard of that before Steve

IMHO a set of good snow tires may be more reliable and less of a headache than messing around with the drivetrain. Just a suggestion Steve

Cool, thanks for the follow up Steve

Sounds like that's why they didn't get the XT. If Subaru could make an extra 10 or 20 hp inexpensively and without compromising the longevity of the car, wouldn't they do that right out of the box? I think their engineers are probably pretty smart. I don't think there's a lot one can do, most "performance" mods are geared towards the FI (turbo) models. Maybe Cobb tuning will come out with something, you could check them out. Maybe you could wait until gas is $4 / gallon and people will start unloading their turbo models cheap in favor of the more fuel efficient 2.5i Steve

No way they'd stop making the Forester now. +1 for Baja. Steve

I had something like this, it was a loose brake pad that was missing a shim IIRC. Dealership couldn't figure it out, wanted to turn my rotors for big $$$ (they didn't need to be turned), local brake shop fixed it for $20. Steve

My 97 for a long time has had a noticeable clunk that is surface dependent, ie when one goes over uneven surfaces, washboards, driveway entrances that aren't smooth, etc. It's heard and felt in the steering column. Feels like someone is hitting the steering column with a hammer. It can be a singular percussion or rapid series depending on the surface. There's a long thread on Nasioc that addresses this: http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=368718&highlight=legacy+clunk Is this similar to what you're experiencing? There's a TSB (Technical Service Bulletin) from Subaru (mentioned in the above thread), but I wasn't able to find many people that had had it done. I went through a few trips to the dealer (before I found this TSB) but of course they found nothing wrong and either weren't aware of or didn't want to acknowledge the TSB. Steve

What kind of car, what year is it? If it's more of a "clunking" type sound, check this out: http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=368718&highlight=legacy+clunk Heat shields are a definite source of rattling or buzzing sound though. We've had that on two subies. But they're RPM dependent and not made worse by bumps, in our case at least. Steve

I think they look great, thanks for posting the pics. Those are pre '05 WRX wheels, correct? I was thinking in another post you were looking at '05's for your OB... in any event, I like those. I have thought of doing this for my car, it'd be nice to have some better handling. But, I've gone the other direction, moving to a slightly larger a/t tire. Steve

If you decide to DIY it, I would suggest a contingency plan in case this happens to you http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?&t=38524 CN: broke the head off a caliper bolt FWIW I got my front rotors and pads from www.tirerack.com and was very pleased with the service and pricing. I agree about the "lifetime" warranty, I tried that and in hindsight it wasn't such a great deal. Steve

Here's what I do (FWIW) in my 97 OB: D: normal for day to day driving, hiway or in the city. I just leave it in D 99% of the time. 3: Travelling down a canyon road around 35-50 mph, avoids constant braking on somewhat steep downhill grades. 3 is perfect for the canyon I travel the most often (favorite ski resort is there, great hiking in the summer). Also good for steep fast uphills to keep it from going back and forth 3-4 and "hunting" for the right gear. 2: Steeper downhills and slower speeds (15-30 mph), same reasoning as above. Also used to take off from a stop on icy / slippery roads... avoids wheelspin in that scenario. I think this locks the torque distribution 50:50 front:rear. Anyone correct me if that's wrong. 1: Again, I think 50:50 torque distribution. Great for donuts in the snow! Very steep hills, mudholes, pulling out stuck cars, pulling out stumps. Yes I've actually pulled out a few small stumps with the OB Steve

Per the tirecalculator at http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalcold.html 205/70/15 / 205/55/16 Original / WRX Sidewall 5.6" / 4.4" = difference of 1.2" Radius 13.1 / 12.4 = difference of .7" Diameter 26.3 / 24.9 = difference of 1.4" Circumference 82.6 / 78.2 = difference of 4.4" The tire diameter difference is quite a bit more than .25", just wanted to clear that up. Post up some pics please, we'd love to see the new setup! Steve

If you mean '97 OB headlights suck... yup. They do. Our '03 Impreza is much much better, still not great but much improved. My $.03: +1 for the Sylvanias but IMO try the Sylvania XtraVisions (rather than the Silverstars). Same bulb but half the cost and no tint on the glass to make it look whiter (which it admittedly does). Expect 15% better light output and 20% of the lifespan though, as compared to the OEM ones. Check out these links (OEM on left, Sylvania Siverstars on the right) Steve

I think the WRX wheels look nice on the Legacy models. I've considered putting some on my OB as well, we have them on our TS and it does look much better than the steelies / plastic wheelcovers that SOA put on the bugeye TS's. Post up pictures, I haven't seen the new WRX wheel on anything else. You do realize that your speedo, odo and gearing will be 5% off though, right? These tires are smaller than the OB ones, at least on the '97 OB they're 205/70/15. Just an FYI if you didn't know already. Steve EDIT: found a few threads w/ pics: http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=802303&highlight=wrx+wheels http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=609665&highlight=wrx+wheels http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=578259&highlight=wrx+wheels

Two things: 1) We're assuming those are 15" Subaru rims, right? 2) Your Forester came with 15" rims stock, so yes Subaru 15's should fit. What do you have on there now that's 16"? Unless a previous owner upgraded the rotor size and the wheels too... ??? Steve

Welcome to the forum, C130fixer! There's not many Utah subies on here, considering how many are driving around the area. I think we saw >30 of them just driving up Big Cottonwood last night. Best advice I can give you when you want information is to use the search function, it's very helpful. Near the top of the screen on the right hand side is a link that says Search This Forum, with a little arrow. If you click on that and type in "automatic seatbelt" you get several links to threads others have posted, including these potentially helpful ones: http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=14125&highlight=automatic+seatbelt http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=9148&highlight=automatic+seatbelt You can also search the whole board but searching in the relevant forum is a lot more useful usually. Searching here is just like searching the internet, you'll figure out what terms to include (and exclude) to get what you are looking for. I tried "automatic seatbelt repair" and got nothing, so I reduced the # of terms to automatic seatbelt and got some good relevant ones. Again, welcome to the USMB Steve

starkiller: There's two in each car, a "high" and "low" tone. They make beautiful attention grabbing music together. Just wired right in with very minor ghetto fabrication required. One could use a relay and a fused direct lead I suppose, but I used the stock wiring. On the TS the horns (there's two) were already in the grille in front of the radiator, so that was easy. On the OB the wimpy stock horn is behind the headlight which doesn't help anyone outside the engine compartment hear the thing. Back on brake topic: Put the Brembos to the test last night, first good canyon descent, all is very well. Still a very slight shimmy that I'm thinking could be the rear discs, as it's not felt in the steering wheel but in the seat o' the pants and pedal. That could be tires though. The ProACT ceramic pads I got with the Brembo rotors seem to dust more than the old ones, but I don't really care one bit, as long as they stop the car. Steve

Another great page from http://www.cars101.com, sorry if this has been posted before but it's new to me: http://www.cars101.com/subaru/tiresandwheels.html Has the tire and wheel info for nearly all newer Subarus Tire size and type, wheel type and dimensions including offset. Very helpful! I liked the 360 information. Wheel: Very small. Steve

I've seen other people mention this: http://www.carvoice.com/cvsurveys/subaruimp.html (read the first one, left column) And a couple in here: http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=240474 It looks like at least a couple people have had some warranty work done. No obvious problems in our '03 TS, it has similar mileage to yours (18K or so miles). It might have a bit of wear that I haven't noticed yet though. I don't think 04 TS's have side air bags... just WRX's IIRC. I know my '03 doesn't. I think the only significant change (except for the looks up front) was adding disc brakes to the back and EBD. And you can't open the back hatch with a key Glad ours has that. Steve

How about a few of these: http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=44760 Have them on both our Subies. Much better than the wimpy stock disc horns. Steve

mtsmiths: I don't remember seeing a post about that crossover, but... So far I'm very happy with the Brembos I got from http://www.tirerack.com. They were a fair bit cheaper than OEM for my 97 OB even with shipping. I ordered on a Tuesday afternoon and got them on Thursday IIRC. Very fast service! The quality seems quite high. And no more foot / hand massage from the worn old rotors. Steve

Much info here: http://www.cars101.com Steve

A loose gas cap can cause a CEL... make sure that when you fill it up you twist the cap back on until it clicks a few times. Just trying to eliminate the easy ones first Steve