gbrand

And if the parts stores do free testing in your area, have your units tested esp if you want to put on a used one-a bad diode or 2 can really cut down on the output and even drain your batteery under the right conditions.

forks DO fail http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=56470&highlight=fork Check your other stuff too, I did get mine from dealer and had to order....they dont seem to keep anything in stock Good luck

2007 inspection PASSED, first time out, they did the Two Speed Idle test and HC and CO came in WAY lower than the limits.....and NOX not looked at at all, so at 282K+ is good to go for another year.

Holy carp, was it for sale or just being shown off?

Good point to check alt light, I have seen this overlooked on other vehicles several times. On my 91leg when to alternator failed the light did NOT light, I found the stereo died and car began losing power just before going dead. Was on freeway bringing clutch cable home from dealer for my 80 wagon, managed to get to shoulder and wait for spouse to rescue me, jumped battery long enouogh to get home...new alt from pep boys dies 24 hours later, replacemnent lasted 8 1/2 years after that-still had recipet to get a free replacement this summer. Thinking about addding a voltmeter to give a better indication of charging system health

Arg, spousal unit called yesterday AM, clutch engaeged at all times-and pedal was flacid. She was able to limp home in first gear using on off tehnique. needless to say she was hot. Lookead at last night, "pin" pressed into end of clevis on pedal end had broken,I was able to drill out clevis to 1/4 inch and get a 1/4inch clevis pin(2 in long and cut off) and put back in to avoid the DELAY of ordering another cable, and PIA Horror of snaking back thru. "FIXED TILL IT BREAKS" If it craps again I aint buying another Pioneer cable TFDS

Good luck on the soobs...If I was still in Mo. I'd try to hook up...lived there 1972 thru 1985...graduated HS from Cuba and finally got my engineering degree from UM Rolla. Once the wife to be graduated moved to Texas. I still travel there quite regularly, my parents live near Rolla and hers near Macon, and we have a ton of friends from college up there. Wish I had my 80 4wd wagon when i lived up there, that thing would not stop in ice and snow!

text fom previous thread on subject-have you checked to see if your vehicle is covered under warrenty or similar mentioned below: mtsmiths Registered User Posts: 1 (12/6/01 9:29:06 am) Reply Persistant 'Check Engine' light The check engine light came on in the '00 Lagacy I just bought for the Pretty One. Just after it rolled 100,000 mi the check engine light came on, she read the manual and found the she had failed to tighten the gas cap, which will send a fault signal. We disconnected the batterey overnight and the light went out. It came back a day or so later, so we took it to the local Subaru dealer and had the fault read. They say it's a faulty catalytic converter signal, but can't find anything wrong with the cat. Dealer says that even tho the cat seems fine, if the signal comes back the only way to get rid of it is to replace the cat to the tune of $600+. It's come ba-aaaack. Since I know the cat is OK I really don't want to pay $600 to turn off an idiot light. On the other hand - Now we won't know if anything else goes wrong that we *should* be paying attention to, since the light is always on. I'll hit the Subaru board, but anyone here got any ideas? THANX gbrand Registered User Posts: 177 (12/6/01 10:14:01 am) Reply | Edit Re: Persistant 'Check Engine' light From what I understand the way the ECu sees the cat bad is that the second Ox sensor , behind the cat, mointors thecat, not used for controlling engine I am told. So, Oxygen content in air past cat should be less than at upstream sensor(in manifold?) as CAt should be using Oxygen to burn up partially burned CO and HC. O2 sensors put out a voltage that gets higher as the oxygen concentration gets less, so typically read 0 Vols in air, and 100-200 millivots in normal operation. My truck downstreamsensor was reading well over 300 millivolts, saw at emission test there was 0% oxygen in exhaust. SO, if measure output of sensor and compare to up stream side, if same the cat ain't working, if higherthe cat is. Or downstream sensor is bad. Check after engine has warmed up, but don't replace blindly. The three or 4 wires are heater voltage, heater gnd(will be to case if 3 wire sensor), signal outut, signal gnd. So measure between signal output and signal gnd and see what you get. Of course diconnecting and measuring with engine running will set code for O2 sensor, so clear it later or someone will sell you an O2 sensor you don't need mtsmiths Registered User Posts: 9 (12/11/01 3:15:47 pm) Reply Check engine Light Follow-up Thanks for all the comments, especially to gbrand. I got the car registered with Subaru national, who promptly informed me that the car had not responded to recall WXW80 error reporting by front 02 sensor - resulting in *you guessed it* check engine light. I called the dealer that had diagnosed a bad cat and asked, "Don't you diagnose a bad cat by comparing 02 sensor read-outs?" he said "Yes". "If the car had a bad front sensor could that lead you to deduce a bad cat?" he said "Yes". "Did you verify recall WXW80?" ... slight pause he says "Is that the front 02 sensor recall notice?" *I* said "Yes", he said "No"; and scheduled the recall replacement. The moral of the story is ... the Subaru dealer was fully prepared to sell me an unneeded $800.00 cat converter, without checking a known recall, and of course during that repair they would have replaced both sensors, so I would never have known. I don't know if they are crooks or idiots, but I sure don't trust them either way. I sure wish my indy mechanic that keeps our '87 alive could work on this NewGen Soobie.

A large vacuum leak in one side of the intake did exactly this to my old 80 wagon: On my 80 EA71 found out it ran on only 2 cyl on pass side. Changed plugs, had good spark, and compression. Still I could pull the 2 wires on drivers sied and car would idle the same. Pull pass side wires and car was stone dead. Finally a hot august night, and a 12 pack of determination set in-I finally decided the drivers side was starved for fuel. As this was a carbed engine, I did not worry about FI issues. I pulled a vacuum hose off the intake near the head, and put in a spray can tube hooked up to a can of starter fluid. Sure enough, as long as I gave a squirt on the can every 20 seconds or so the car would run, even with the 2 pass wires disconnected. Had big vacuum leak in some pollution control valve(anti backfire valve?) plumbed into intake manifold on drivers side that caused car to run on 2 cyl only, and a plug in it caused the car to run beatifully. Of course during all this dicking around the grease from CV boots past and transmisson leaks ignited on the overworked cat converter, the garden hose was lying near by or that might have been the last hurrah for the little blue wagon!

My 91 Legacy turned 280K mile yesterday, still running strong (and cool) as my wifes DD. Prolly need to celebrate with a wash and oil change soon. 300,000 here we come!

I agree if turning on the heater drops the guage then it seems to me that the HG's, water pump, etc are fine-I wouuld vote for clogged radiator(internally or fins full of bigs, dirt and grass), blocakage/air pocket in cooling system or possible electric fan failure. Let us know.

try posting in the new gen forum, there is a huge amount of info there on this family of cars. Good news, you should have the 2.2 engine that does NOT have many of the problems some of the 2.5's did as far as mystery over heating turning out to be head gaskets. check all the normal stuff, water pump, radaiator, burping air from system, etc. all coverd in existing threads Are you getting heat from the heater? Good luck and kee p us posted

has anyone found a source for the brushes/brush assy for a bloweer motor? Mine is a 91 legacy, took apaprt and was full of leaves, cat fuzz, etc. and kept brushes from making contact-cleaned up and is fine, but the brushes are getting close to end of life-dont want to spring for motor unless no alternative. Thanks

276K on the 91 Leg sitting in my drivway-sitting until tommorrow morning as is my wifes daily driver. As fas as I know orig engine and trans,ofcourse we have sone maintainance on since 1997 and 110k when we bought it, but overall a well built and reliable car. Plan on seeing it turn over 300K

before you go headlong into the timing covers, check the A/C idler pulley-my leg does that, if I take off and drip in a few drops of oil into bearing shuts up for 10-20K miles or so.....

Was thinking about the "Subruban legend" of free seatbelt replacement weekend, am in need of some too-does anyone know for a FACT, if this is true or not? thanks

WOW, putting me to shame....91 legacy is almost to 275Kmiles, my wifes DD, told her it needs to hit 300K as a matter of principle before we think about getting her something to get her back and forth to her clients. I agree the 2.2L is one of the best engines i've ever dealt with.

My brother had a couple of 78 or 79 fwd subes in the early 80's, pretty good cars. i had an 80 4wd wagon, but sadly after I moved from snow country(Rolla Missouri area)-still got some damn good work outs in some ice and snow storms here in Texas. In any case, i think 400 bucks for a decent running car esp a subie is a good deal, remember depending on how your budget and how much/long you plan to drive it you will be hit with the expenses of a good "once over"-inpect or replace struts/shocks, brakes, lights, tires, belts etc. change fluids and maybe put in a stereo. I did on my last vehicle, even though only about 5 years old and had 52K on the clock forgot how uch time and moneyit takes-still better way to go, then have a depedndablecar to last a long time. Let us know what you do and how it goes

Opinion: Cable on my 80 wagon was a mild pain to change. On my 91 Legacy was a royal double MF'n pain-getting the cable thru the firewall and such-NO WAY would do as a roadside repair. FYI yes the clips that hold the fork to the TO bearing break or "evaporate" and need to have spares, but my LUK clutch set came with a set, saved my rump roast and a day(on Sunday) as the clips are a dealer only part.

Our 91 legacy(2.2L 5spd FWD) is up to 273K(miles) +. I got at 112K ish, have done 3 clutches, a clutch fork, 2 timing belts, some CV boots, valve cover gaskets, muffler, brakes, struts and 2 A/C compressor replacememnts. Also was new radiator, old one corroded through. Still my wifes daily driver, does not use any fluids except gas and leaks a little PS fluid. Did timing belt again at 240K-and prolly at 300K if it keeps running the way it is!

I would check your owners manual- see at what temp 20W oil can be run and compare to your current/expected temps. My reasoning? the upper number on multi-wieght oil is the number the oil performs at when warm-so whetther is 5W-30 or 10W-30 once your car warms up is like 30W. The 5W-30 gives improved performance in colder weather. Unless it is very cold and you are not going to be using your car for sustained trips the 5W-20W may be too thin for your engine. Again check your owners manual, if 20W oil can be run up to 30 degrees and its 35 or 40 I wouldnt worry too much about it. I was buying oil and filters today and the cases of Castrol 5W-20 have warnings on the boxes to run ONLY in cars designed for 5W-20. I did buy 5 quarts once by mistake, they have black tops like the 10W-40 I was intending to put in my Lagacy-took back and exchanged no problem.

Looks great. BUT NO COOLER?

I am assuming you have double checked to make sure exhaust pipes are clear of manifold studs and engine is jacked up(or hoisted up) far enough for motor mount studs to be out and above crossmember. Jacking up engine may relieve stress to allow you to break it loose or you may see a gap open up-again a lot depends on how you have the E and T supported. If you are this far on the "engine move" plan no sense changing to pulling the trans., hard to seperate is hard to seperate no matter which approach you take. I personally took the engine out approach on mine as more work could be done from above the car, and dissassy/reassy of the shifter bushings was a PIA under the car. Also was given an engine hoist a couple years ago, makes life a lttle easier when you need one... Let us know.

On my 91 Legacy, did the clutch mid-Nov 2006 (Again), and the 4 bolts/nuts you mentioned are all that held the E and T together. As I recall same was true on my old 80 EA71 also. They can be a beeach to seperate, try to make sure you supporting the E and T to aviod uneven loading and possibly bening the input shaft. BTW, I have done my Legacy both ways-first by dropping transmission, then this lastest time by pulling engine forward and up. make sure you have anything that could contrain the move movent of engine and or trans-exhaust, including where bolts near transmission rear, pitching stopper, etc. If it doesnt hinder you getting it seperated it may prevent you from sliding them back together. Also be careful not to lose/break the TO bearing to fork clips-dealer only item, but my LUK clutch kit came with a set, thankfully as I was working on the weekend after the dealers were closed and one of mine had gone AWOL Let us know how you do.

I agree, yes watching gauges is preferable to idoit lights but idioat lights will get your attention. My Sunfire has a "check gauges" light that comes on to get your attention when one of the guages goes into the red zone. Also, I had a second alternator failure on my Legacy recently, and in both cases (1998 and last week) the charge light DID NOT come on(it does work) even thought the alternator was not charging the battery and the car died in the middle of the freeway(both times). A Volt meter or Ammmeter would have given much advance warning of the problem.