NorthLight

Not sure about the imprezzas, but my 96 outback wagon has a little plug in on the back of the fog lights.

I really enjoyed reading this thread, I'm glad it was brought back from 2003. I got my 96 2.2L OBW with 58,000 miles on it back in 2000. It now has over 150,000 miles on it. I'm about to put the third set of Michelin tires the car has ever seen. The tires and the awd have kept me on the road in "cat's-n-dog's" rain where I couldn't see 20 feet in front of me, dirt road corners sideways, snow 2 feet deep, and squeeling around dry pavement 20mph suggested corners at 45. I've had to replace a torn cv boot at about 135,000, replaced a seized rear brake caliper at about 140,000. Those are the only "major" repairs done, and I was able to do both the repairs myself with the shop manual. I've also done the normal maintenance stuff like oil changes, spark plugs, air filter, fuel filter, radiator flushes, manual tranny oil, brake pads, brake hoses, and replacing the plastic fog lights as they get broken by flying rocks on the road(that's one of the things I wish my roo had, is a better fog light protectors). I've used my roo to haul about 1300 lbs of stuff in a u-haul trailer up and down the mountains from Wisconsin to Seattle a couple of times. I'm a big roo fan, because the car handles very well in a lot of conditions, and with a 5speed, I can feel what the car is going to do in any situation. Not to meantion that it has very high marks in crash test results, so I'm not afraid to find the edge of it's capabilities. I'll be driving this roo for at least another 100,000 as I understand the 2.2L will most likely go that and some. I'll probably need to swap in a rebuilt manual transmission here in the next 20,000, but other than that, she's still going strong. I've been eyeing the new outback wagons. I like their styling, and they don't have the B9 nose yet. I'll probably upgrade to the 3.0L, as it's always fun to have more displacement and I need a little more towing power. But that may not be for another 4-5 years. Mark

I've never replaced a headlight on my 96 subie outback, yet. I've never shut the lights off, so that's about 140,000 miles on the origional set of bulbs. Therefore, the whole "it will cost me to run the headlights" bit is stupid. Did you see the comment on the site about saving $5-$15 a year on gas. Ha. I'll make that up in a month the way gas prices are. Now, if anyone want's to gripe about a subie problem, it should be about the foglights on the 96-99 outbacks. The stupid things keep breaking from little rocks. The plasic grating on them doesn't help at all. The kicker is, if you break one, you have to replace the whole thing. Two people make a profit on this, Subaru, and the guy selling them for $100 on ebay. Anyone jerry-rigged a better foglight protector?

There is a site dedicated just to the B9. http://bbs.b9xclub.com/

I think I'll stick with my 96 OBW 5sp until the tailpipe falls off. Hey, Mattocks, did your suby come standard with that spoiler? How many miles you got?

You will need a replacement nut, as you will mung the crap out of the one you take off. Mine, we used a dremel to un-peen the castle nut. Given that I was replacing the front right half-axle, and it came with a new nut, I was good to go. PB blaster, torch, and an electric impact wrench finally got it loose.

Just make sure you are getting the right part number if you are getting it on ebay. It would suck to be stuck with shipping charges for a hitch that won't fit.

I would have thought it would be like the fronts on my 96 obw, with the roll pin. Sorry, can't help.

Wow, I thought I was the only one with the chirping noise. Mine is just like that and sensitive to the slightest clutch push in. Classicalbass, just as you said it isn't heard in 5th. I have a 96 2.2L obw manual. I have the shop manual pdfs. Classicalbass, if you think you need any of the pdfs, shoot me a message. I'd like to solve this problem too. Mark

I have a 2.2L manual 96 obw. I bought a hitch from Drawtite in 2001, very simple to install, instructions come with the hitch. As for the ability of the car to tow... No problem. As stated before, your brakes will be the thing to take the biggest beating. Just slow down a lot sooner and a slower when stopping. I tow a small boat and trailer around most of the time, combined weight 400 lb. I have hauled a 5x8 uhaul trailer loaded, about 1000lb from Wisconsin to Seattle and back(over the mountain passes) a couple of times. The engine will work and you'll have to drop it one or two gears up a couple of the passes, but she can handle it. Just keep the RPMs up to reduce the loads on the engine. The one thing I'm not sure about is how the tranny is at handling the extra stresses I've been putting on it by towing. I think my 1st and 2nd gear synchros are going to have to be replaced soon at 150,000. Mark

Nice!!! I've got the 96 2.2L. It's my trusty daily driver right now, but when it comes time to get a new car, my obw will be getting one of these lifts so I can go have some fun.

I did the same drain and fill on my 96 outback. Just make sure you keep your pets away from that tasty antifreeze.

Wow, is this typical of suby dealership shops? I had some "oil pump seal" replaced at a suby dealership up in Kitsap County, Washington. When all was said and done I ended up paying more than $700 in parts and labor. That was last time I went to a dealership for anything.

I used about that, maybe a little more because I had to replace one of my rear calipers. I also replaced all the brake hoses too, which is a good idea if yours haven't been changed in a long time.

The grease in a your CV boot is usually dark in color and is not suppose to drip unless you get it really warm. If your CV boot tears, like mine did on the front right, the grease will fling outward all over your engine bay on that side. It smells really nice when it hits your hot exhaust piping, too.

Replaced the half-axle last night in about 4 hours. There are 4 joints really to break in this proceedure. Most of them are easy. The new axle cost me $97 after tax(Washington). I also bought a set of punches. -PB Blaster sprayed on all the rusty joints -removed the axle nut -removed the stabilizer link bolt -had a hell of a time removing the transverse link joint Solution for loosinging the transverse link joint(which is attached to the ball joint above it) was achieved finally by heating the joint up with a torch and banging the transverse link down out of the way while lifting the brake rotor up with a jack. -Finally, punched out the spring pin holding the inner end to the tranny Installation of the new axle was a lot simpler than removal of the old one. A new spring pin and axle nut were supplied with the new axle. If my old axle isn't damaged much, I may replace the torn CV boot and repack the joint for a spare axle. Even if I were to have just replaced the CV boot, it still requires removing the axle from the car, so I think it was easiest to just replace the axle.

I have a torn CV boot. It's the front right inner DOJ boot. I only noticed it because I was checking the level of my manual transmission fluid on my 96 OBW. I haven't heard any bad noises from this joint, so I don't think it is very damagaged at all. I have to replace either the boot or the whole axle within the next week. I'll be driving this car for about another 100,000 miles Is it worth the extra $80 for a whole new axle, or can I just get by with a new boot and grease until I swap in a rebuilt transmission next year?

Mine's a Class II. -Mark

Is it difficult to run a new wire through the firewall?

I have the same hitch, I think. The only thing I don't like about it is the support member for the exhaust pipe goes under the exhaust pipe. I had to bend my tail pipe some to not have it rattle on the hitch crossmember. You don't have this problem?

Power steering and brakes are two different systems. Sounds like either the brake booster or master cylinder may be your problem.

Depends on what you mean by squishy. Yes, if the brakes aren't bled to get ALL the air out, then the brakes will feel squishy and you'll have a hard time stopping in a short distance. You should try pumping the brakes. If the newer cars are the same as my 96, then it has a brake booster, and it should firm up on the second pump. But, you shouldn't be having any of these problems if you just had the master cylinder replaced. I would take it back to your mechanic and tell him to bleed your brakes more thoroughly. (I just had to replace a siezed rear brake caliper on my suby, so I know what it's like to have squishy brakes)

5 speeds get a little better mileage around town, but I don't suppose it would be cost effective to swap trannies at this stage.

I've had a similar problem with my 96 2.2. At first I tried the injector cleaner stuff, no good. Then I replaced all 4 spark plugs with Bosch 4's. That worked fairly well, actually, for about a year. Then I replaced the fuel filter, and it's been just ok since. Still hesitates when it's cold. So, my limited knowledge would say replace the plugs, cuz it's cheap.