RallyKeith

Check engine light came on monday morning on my '05 when I started it up. So I left it parked and drove a different car. Came home tuesday night and finally hooked up my laptop and used Delta Dash to get the code. It comes up as 53B4 Prepatory code. Does anyone have a clue as to what this could be? I searched Legacygt.com, here, nasioc.com, and google and found nothing. The car idles rough, and it had been driven fine saturday, and left parked sunday. My dealer can't get the car in until sometime next week, but I swear I heard a some knocking from the motor when I first started it up to check for codes. I don't want to drive the car 10 miles to the dealership if I've got a big problem. Thanks in advance for input! Keith

The left side of the dip stick thing is because the dip stick goes in on a bit of an angle, and you get a wicking effect on the "bottom" side or right side of the stick. So it's usually best to pull it straight out and read from the left side, or the side that faces "up" when in the pan.

1. You parked the car on a level surface, shut the engine off and let it sit for 5 minutes, pulled the dipstick out, wiped it off, put it back in, pulled it back out and read the left side of the dipstick? If I shut of my engine and just pull the dipstick out it will look like what you described. 2. Drive your car, get is up to 35-40 mph, brake rapidly to 10mph. Repeat 4 times. Drive the car for another 5-10 minutes with out sudden or hard stopping. This is a general brake bedding procedure. (It's been awhile so people feel free to correct me if I'm wrong) Once the pads are bedded in the squeeling should stop. Keith

http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/problems/recalls/recallsummary.cfm?rcl_campaign_id=98V315000&prod_id=13331&moduletype=VEHICLE&make=SUBARU&model=IMPREZA&veh_model_year=1995&searchtype=DrillDown I had just looked it up because my brother was complaining about the front hooks on his 95 being cut off. 94-95 Impreza, and 95-96 Legacy Keith

Once a connection gets a little loose and the contact is bad the resistance of the connection goes up. Power is equal to the Square of the Current times the resistance. So as the resistance of a connection goes up, so does the power dissapted across said connection. In this case the power is disapated as heat. So to sum up, if the connection gets dirty, or loose, or corroded it gets really hot and can melt. I've seen it happen on a few cars before. Like you said it's an easy fix and should be a good fix. You may want to get a little dielectric or "spark plug" grease to put in the connection to help prevent corrosion. Keith

I'm considering purchasing an OBDII Scan tool, and I already own a palm pilot. I remember years ago there were some pretty reasonablely priced kits to turn your Palm into a scan tool. I'm having trouble finding anything that seems like was designed for even my 3 year old palm pilot. Everything seems to be based on the older/original Palms. Anyone know of anything out there? Keith

Uh no. Various models and trim levels have viscous coupling LSD rear differentials, and the STI and older loyales have a mechanical Rear LSD. Doing what you suggest is not recommended at all.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=18 I have one on order right now. There is a place locally that has a tire shaver, but as you said they would only do it for a competition tire, where there is never any warrenty to begin with.

What extra maintenance? Rotate your tires and keep them properly inflated? EVEN manufacturer expects that to be done. It's basics of owning a car, and 15 years ago when I was in highschool it was taught in driver's ed. We've had atleast 4 manual transmission subarus with over 200k miles on them and never once had a viscous coupling failure. We also don't take our cars to mechanics or dealers to have them worked on. As for having to replace all four tires, you don't. If you get a flat and ruin the tire, just call tire rack and have them shave the tire to match your existing tires. It costs $25, minor price to pay for real AWD. If anyone thinks there is an inherant issue with viscous couplings and subarus should think again. These take tons of abuse in the rally world and don't puke. Keith

Oh yeah, I knew what you mean, I just wanted to re-assure Awgrimm that there is nothing wrong with this swap. I only payed $250 for my motor from a repectable junkyard, and the motor only had about 70k on it. That was all.

I've got a 96 Legacy GT with a USDM 95 2.2 swap in it. I've put over 5,000 miles on it since I did it and no CEL. My only issue is less than expected fuel economy, but the 96GT automatics run the 4.44 final drive ratio so it spins pretty high rpms on the highway.

I'll second Skips questions. I'm very confused about what the car really is. Also, in that link his only reason for saying it's an EGR issue is because that was the only thing he hadn't replaced. Keith

Since I feel it got skipped over in all the excitement, on your ways home from the cookout (That I can't make on account of it being the day I celebrate my big birtyday) stop by here, maybe even enter: http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?p=623008#post623008 Keith

Only about 14 people entered so far. I bet if you ask nicely Ivan will cut you break on the late entry fee. Come on out! Keith

The knob only controls the center vents on teh car. It's been that way as far back as I can remember, and I'm 99% my 05 Legacy is still that way. Not exactly sure why they do it that way, but that's the way it is.

Well, it's not a sensor. It's a vaccum solenoid. It's turning on or off vaccum to something. Depening on which side the crack is on, inlet or outlet I would expect different things. If it's on the inlet side I would expect a change in idle speed, and what ever it was switching vaccum to not work, which is usually something emmisions related. If it was on the outlet side I would just expect what ever it was switching vaccum to not work.

The first thing the car does is unlock the torque convertor to get the car into a slightly higher RPM and gain a small amount of torque multiplication through the convertor. The TCU is smart enough to have a pretty much infinite amount of shift/downshift points. It just so happens that you aren't pushing far enough for it to think it needs to down shift. Once you push the pedal down further it realizes there isn't enough power to do what you want in the gear, and it down shifts into 3rd. This is something EVERY automatic with a locking torque convertor does. Nothing specific to Subaru. I would do exactly what Nipper suggest, and I do, when driving in those situations. Keith

It should. I like to use http://www.car-part.com as my interchangability service. Just go there and put in what you are looking for and page through the results to see if the other model is listed. For half shafts search for "axle shaft" Keith

Hey guys, I just wanted to stop on in here and mention that I can't make it to this cookout because it's the day I will be celbrating the big 30 with my family. Technically the big day is sunday, but I'll be here instead: http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=76371 I'm not familiar with there setup, but I imagine spectators are welcome. So if your heading back past that way on sunday stop by! I wish I could come, but I can't. I haven't said anything yet because I wasn't 100% certain I was running the rallycross until monday. Keith

SWEET! Thanks

91 Legacy Automatic Once you remove the two bolts and the cap over the injector, what is the best way to get them out? They seem to be stuck in there very well! Keith

Are you sure the hanger isn't what initially failed and caused your problem? I'm pretty sure that ever year has two hangers at the rear and one just before the flange, on the back side of the rear cross member.

Is that an 02-03 air bag on a 04-05 steering wheel?

http://www.hometown.aol.com/rallynewyork2004/RallycrossFlyer7-1-2007.htm We'll be there running the rally car. Looking forward to some pure fun! Keith

I still don't like that rule. I say that any DOT street tire, including snow tires, should be allowed in stock class. You can run any street legal DOT tire in a stock autocross class, so why should rallycross be any different. Unless you are running a modified car already, I would stay away from rally tires. The biggest difference in a rally tire is the construction. Rally tires generally have 6-8 ply tread and 4 ply sidewalls. A regular steet tire is only generally 4 ply tread and 2 ply sidewalls. This makes a rally tire weigh about twice that of a street tire, so unless you have made modifications to increase you power output or lower the final drive ratio, the extra rotational weight of the rally tires will actually slow you down. At the same time , the extra sidewall plys provides significant sidewall protection when sliding the car around a corner. If you are having a lot of issues with sidewall punctures due to the surfaces you are running on, then you may want to consider it from the cost savings point. (Note, if you are having issues with tires coming off the rim then you need to learn to drive I've seen lots of people that come flying into corners way too fast and generate tons of puch through a corner, and then wonder why their tires keep poping off the rim.... Slow down and learn to drive) Rally on!