TheBrian

I don't pay very much attention to initial quality ratings, since they're really not a good indicator of how much work the car will need in 5, 10, and 15 years. But I'm sure initial quality problems are very frustrating for people who buy new cars often. Was it a belt, fluid loss, or something bigger? Is it taking the dealer a week to book you an appointment? I'd like to hear how this ends.

Yes, the previous owner of my car did. It's neither complicated nor (I don't think) dangerous. Your seat is currently held on by four bolts. He made a lift kit for the seat out of two-inch sections of ~.75in box beam. Basically, bolt the seat to the spacer, and the spacer to the frame.As long as your spacer is stronger than your seat's bracket, and your bolts are as strong as the ones you took out, the seat is just as well fastened as it was before. My thighs fit under the wheel, no problem, and I know exactly where my hood ends. I would actually hate La-Z-Boy car seats. My grandfather's Buick luxury barge has thick, soft, leather benches front and rear. You slide all around in them. I much prefer Subaru's somewhat sporty seats, even for highway cruising. But then, my computer chair is uncushioned steel.

But what about the Mazda5? It's a 7-seat station wagon, complete with sliding rear doors, and it's just a little longer than a Mazda3 / Ford Focus Wagon. There are also more conventional three-row wagons on the market, though not many of them. I think (and hope) we'll be seeing more three-row wagons and trailer hitches as the price of gas continues to rise.

PepBoy's clutches are by Motormite. Much of Motormite's stuff is pretty cheap. (I work part time at AutoZone.) This deal is hard to beat: http://www.teaguesauto.com/parts1.htm

Subaru has one fairly bizarre car at a time. Maybe they're not trying to sell a hundred thousand Bajas, but it's a car that gets them some attention and gets people into showrooms. It also helps Legacy and Impreza drivers feel like they drive something out of the ordinary. (As if a Boxer engine or a Japanese station wagon weren't unique enough). Until 1987, this role was filled by the BRAT. Then there was the Justy (3-cyl, available eCVT) from 88-94, the SVX from 92-97, then the Baja. In the latest Motor Trend, it was speculated the Baja may be discontinued soon. It's no longer needed, now that there are Tribecas to catch people's eyes. Some car dealerships have 30 foot tall inflatable gorillas out front. Subaru has wacky cars instead.

Maybe. OBDII became mandatory in MY96, but in MY95, many makes and models use it. I don't know what Subaru used in '95.

Get in the Zone! AutoZone can read your Check Engine Light for free. It takes less than a minute. Or if you have an old-school computer, you can read the codes without a tool. I had a fun problem with my Legacy this afternoon. I laid my tools out on top of the engine, as usual, and two of the ignition wires came loose. I started up the engine, and it didn't want to start. On the second try, it started, then sputtered and died. If I had driven it like this, my Check Engine Light would have come on and shown a misfire on cylinders one and three. Point being, don't start replacing parts without getting the codes read.

One of the airbag sensors, or one of the airbags, must be unplugged. I'd guess the passenger airbag. The light turns itself off once the problem is fixed (at least on Chryslers).

No, it's a cheap, mechanical Sunpro gauge. I figure when it reads 80 PSI, it probably should read the 71psi mentioned in the manual. It may not be accurate, but it does seem to be precise. Once it's warm, when I rev the engine at a stop light, it's like I have two tachometers. <img> I installed a T-fitting, so both the gauge and the idiot light work. The fitting barely clears the alternator, but barely is good enough. I wonder how long before the nylon tube melts or gets brittle from sitting next to the alternator. I guess I'll replace it with copper if it melts. Under the right conditions, my engine idles very low (like 500rpm). Oil pressure at 500rpm is very low, near zero on the gauge. Maybe 5 psi? But that's what you'd expect when pressure is about 26psi at 2000rpm and 55psi at 4000rpm. What bothers me is how the gauge reads zero during cold cranking. Oil pressure probably *is* zero for the first two or three seconds.

Not AutoZone. And ask who makes the part. If it's Fenco, pass. Fenco = Crap. I may have saved $100 by getting a cheap clutch kit, but now I have clutch chatter, and I'm 90% sure I have a bad throwout bearing. If I had it to do over again, I'd mail-order an OE clutch kit, or maybe get a Beck-Arnley from Advance or NAPA or someplace.

I recently installed an oil pressure gauge, and now it's got me thinking maybe I should be using synthetic. When I start the engine cold, the needle on the gauge snaps to the right and sits at 80psi until the oil warms up a bit. It comes down to levels which seem fine, but it can take half my commute or longer for the oil to get up to temperature. Admittedly, it's a short commute. I have a '96 EJ22. The service manual says the oil pump has a pressure relief valve that's supposed to operate at 71psi. Am I correct in assuming that when this valve is in operation, lubrication is compromised? I'm running SuperTech (WalMart) 10w30. I was thinking of using Mobil1 0w30 or 5w30 at my next oil change, which is coming up before winter. I'd like your opinion.

Rather than doing actual homework, I was inspired to solve for the optimum driving speed, given the price of gas and the rate at which I value my time. Say, for example, that I value my time at $10/hr, and my gas at $3/hr. Assume also that I get 28mpg at 75mph, and that my fuel consumption varies with speed as F(v)=kv^2. With these numbers, I find my minimum driving cost at $.23/mi for fuel and time at 64 mph. Wow. I've been driving 80mph all the while, where gas costs a whopping 50% more per mile. And I'm only getting there 20% sooner. Conclusion: I have to get in a Justy, a Civic, or a custom-chassis lawn-mower based minicar, where I can easily afford to drive 80mph. P.S. at $5/gal, I'd drive a Legacy at 54mph. In theory. Fact is, I'm willing to pay $5/hr more for the entertainment value of driving at attention-holding speeds. So I'll still drive 80 when gas hits $5/gal.

Shot in the dark: If you have an overkill stereo system, it can misfire when bass hits coincide with low alternator RPMs. Even if you don't have a 5kW sound system, I'd consider replacing the battery if the battery is marginal. Or just live with it. Don't pull the head.

Awesome. It would be likewise cool if Subaru were the first to offer a diesel-electric hybrid. They won't, of course, since diesels are torquey and don't need the assistance of electric motors, and diesels don't like and won't use the on/off ability of the hybrid car. Plus, the diesel option adds $1-2k to a car, and hybridization adds $4-5k. So that's why there aren't any diesel-electric hybrid autos out there. Hmm. BMW says they would like to add regenerative braking and a small electric motor across their entire lineup. I guess that would include the diesels. Anyway, hooray for Subaru. Maybe they'll win me back, yet.

Subaru's recommendation of 30PSI is too low. At 40PSI, you get better fuel economy and more road feedback. Not that everyone wants road feedback, but Subarus seem to have it.

Come to Buffalo, NY, where every mechanic is a Subaru mechanic. Not really, but most mechanics have worked on plenty of them. Your symptoms are those of common problems (hole in the coolant system, very easy to diagnose and fix. Possibly warped brakes?) and I bet your average Joe Mechanic would be up to the task. Still, I like to find mechanics with triple-digit IQs, as they're less likely to swap parts madly until the problem goes away.

I found this article, which says Subaru is developing an EJ20 turbo + hybrid, which they hope to put in a Legacy in 2007. It would compete against the likes of the Accord hybrid. They expect to beat the Accord hybrid by a few MPG. The engine uses the Miller cycle, where forced induction over-fills the combustion chamber, but the intake valves are left open during the beginning of the compression stroke, to allow good fuel-air mixture. The torquey electric motor makes up for the lack of low-end torque on the part of the turbo Miller-cycle engine. It's a pretty interesting article, and it's cool that Subaru is doing yet another thing a totally unusual way. I'm impressed with how quickly they expect to get this technology to market. If they do pull off the numbers they're talking about in 2007, they might just get the attention and brand recognition they crave.

It looks like nothing that a junkyard hatch and a few hours in a body shop can't fix. If they do total it, and you decide not to have it fixed, buy it back and part it out. For example, sell me those alloys! I could further debrightonize my Brighton with those, plus I could use my rims for dedicated winter tires.

If you want better gas mileage, what you have to do is *lower* the suspension, and pump up the tires with more air. Smaller tires would also help, but they'd move your gearing in the wrong direction. There's room for a teeny bit of underbody aero improvement, but realistically, that's not worth pursuing. Then there's weight reduction. If you never use the rear seats, and there's a lot of red lights or hills on your way to work, lose them and the rear floor mats. The 4WD setup weighs a bit, but if you're thinking that FWD is okay, get a '90 Civic. <img>

I just looked at one of the bulbs in my spare cluster... yep, that one looks about right, though mine have blue "bulb condoms" which you may be able to duplicate with a blue magic marker.

I installed a factory tach in the large blank spot in my Brighton's instrument cluster, and it's the best thing I've ever done to the car. I took a slightly different, and slightly less expensive, approach. I went to a U-pull junkyard (though it was difficult to find one that had Subarus) and removed the instrument cluster with the short screwdriver that came with my car. $40 later, I had a used instrument cluster out of a '95 L wagon with 155k on the clock. The cluster is very modular, and the tachometer screwed neatly in to place. As a bonus, I got about twenty used bulbs and three gauges, should I ever need them. It's my impression that any factory gauge clusters, 95-98, with the right color needles and the right redline, should work.

You're on the right track. Try rolling up a sheet of paper and sticking one end in the dipstick tube. If you don't have enough clearance, use a piece of hose with a paper funnel on one end. The latter method would require four hands.

I always figured you could chop a Subaru and haul away the loot in another Subaru, but this is proof you could do two! And hey, if you blew a tire at 40psi, you had eight spares.

Before you spend money on it, try a thicker oil, especially since it's hot out. How thick of oil do you put in it? 10W40 should be fine in the summer. I've heard you can go as thick as 20W50 in hot weather.

Short of a code reader, no. Many auto parts retail stores which want to sell you parts but not service will read your codes for free. Advance and AutoZone, for example. AutoZone will also let you borrow a code reader for a $180 deposit, in case your car doesn't have tags. Considering the number of sensors you had to unplug to pull the engine, I'm not surprised the light came on. It might be a loose connector, or it could be a problem you've already fixed. There's only one way to find out.