RallyKeith

Just a thought for you... If this is an automatic, next time try pushing the shifter harder into park, or even shifting it into neutral. It won't start unless it sense that the shifter is positioned in Park or Neutral. Every now and then my 96 would not start and it was this reason. Your car might be on the hairy edge when in park, and sometimes that switch isn't fully activated. Keith

Actually, I thought that was only because they had the side curtain bags installed backwards. There was a recall on that for the first few batches of of the 05. Keith

95 Legacy Brighton Wagon 199000K (This morning!!!). I've only replaced Struts, engine seals, and shifter bushings. This month I had to replace the big bearing on the input shaft of the transmission, but when I changed trasmission fluid at 175000, it looked like it was original. And it looks like my gas tank is starting to rust apart at the seam, but considering this car spent the first 9 years and 160000 miles of its life in New Hampshire, that's not bad. Runs like a champ. Every oil change I've gotten all 4 quarts of oil back out, and I change every 5000 miles.

There are two cables attached to the clutch fork. One goes through the firewall to the clutch pedal, and the other one goes over to the hill holder valve which is mounted below the brake master cylinder. You will need to loosen that cable. Keith

Sticking pin would cause the pads to stay engaged, causing the rotor to build up a ton of heat. This could easily cause the warped rotors. I would try turning the rotors first if they were new not long ago, but you should always do everything with brakes in pairs. If you turn one, you ned to turn the other. Keith

It's going to be one of three things and I'll list them in probable Order #1 Filler tube rusted out at the bottom. Jack up the RR of the car and take the tire off. Then look for where the filler tube comes down the wheel well and goes under the car. There should be a plastic shrowd around it. You will need to remove it to check the tube. This is the most common problem on these cars because dirt gets trapped between that shrowd and the tube, causing it to rust out. #2 It could be a leak from one of the lines. To check pull up the carpet directly behind the rear seat. There will be two access panels, one on each side. If you remove the oval panel on the passangers side you will see three hoses going into the tank. Check them for leaks while the car is running. #3 The tank itself. This one requires laying underneath the car and inspecting all the way around the tank, looking for wet spots to indicate a leak. It just so happens that my 95 Legacy's gas tank is rusting apart at the seam. I don't see any drips, but I get a smell and I found a wet spot on the seam. Keith

I don't think pumping out the oil will adequately remove the sludge that builds up in the bottom of the oil pan, nor the tiny metal shavings that build up on the drain plug after time. I personally don't like the idea. I'll stick to doing it the way it was engineered.

I'm not sure if the clutch setups are interchangable. The cable pulls towards the firewall and the hydraulics push towards the engine. Also, the pedal assembly for cable vs hydraulic clutch is different. The cable cluth pedal pulls the cable towards you where as the hydraulic pedal presses in towards the engine for the master cylinder. SO, if you can swap the RS trans over to the cable clutch then you can just use all the clutch stuff from your original car, other wise you need to get the cluth pedal assembly for the hydraulic clutch and use the RS clutch equipment. Keith

I found the Sumitomo HTR+ to be a nice comprimise. I know several people that run them year round on their AWD cars and love them. I had them on my STi and I thought they were great. Not sure how they stack up on treadwear, but they did seem to perform OK the two times I drove them in the snow. Keith

Aything Legacy/Outback Forester and Impreza/OutbackSport has the same bolt pattern and offset except the 2005+STi Wheels. The SVX and the 2005+ STi are 5 x 115. Anyhow, I think the 99 OBW can still use 15" wheels, but I think in 2000 they changed the brakes and you can't use 15's anymore. Keith

Considering Subaru has a deal with castrol for the engine oil... I'd place a second vote that it is probably Castrol. Keith

What bulbs were you running? If you were running Silverstar bulbs or any other non normal bulb then it's just coincidence. The Silverstar bulbs are known for blowing out within hours of each other. I had it happen to me. I was almost stranded by it. Keith

You can run a 17" wheel and tire, but I'm not sure of the exact sizes you can fit. I ran the stock STi wheels and tires on my 95 and had to run a thin spacer in the rear. Those were 225/45R17 Anything taller than the 45 would have rubbed the bottom of the spring purch as well. I have not tried the wheels from my 05 LGT on it yet as they are 205/45R17, but I'm thinking they would fit without the spacer.

Yeah, the sensor is one of the highest coolant points on the engine. As long as you have the new sensor ready to go, you can pull the old one out and get the new one in without loosing much fluid. Just be sure to do a proper air purge of the cooling system afterwards. Keith

I agree with you 100% on that statement. The Legacy wagon is a real Wagon. The rear of the car is almost flat. That to me defines a wagon. The Impreza has such a slant to it that you can't fint anything tall in that extends past the hinge point of the hatch. That leaves a large amount of unusable space in that regaurd. Keith

So, I was surfing EBAY looking at subaru stuff when I came across the attached picture. The picture is actually of 2007 Legacy Sedan that was hit hard in the rear and is being sold as salvage. But when you look at just this side shot, it looks like a perfect design for a 4 door legacy Hatchback. I would buy one if they actually made it. Anyone else?

Depends if you start the engine or not, and if when you break the pump it seizes the tube to the torque convertor. What happened to me was that I managed to get the engine to start, but it turned very slowly with the starter. What happened was that when my pump impeller broke it jammed the tube to the torque convertor in place. When I started the engine it proceded to flare out the end of the torque convertor where it met with that tube. So it did damage my torque convertor. If I would have realized it before starting the engine, there would have been no damage. Don't know if that helps or not. Attached is a picture of what my pump impeller looked like once broken, and what happened to the tube that attaches to the torque convertor. Unfortunatly I don't have a picture of the torque convertor. Keith

For once I'm gonna go ahead and agree with Manarius here. I agree with what he's said so far. Also, the USDM STi DCCD is tied into the ABS system. It's one of the reasons you can't easily disable ABS in an USDM STi. It is one computer that looks at each wheel speed sensor along with sensors in the transmission, and a sensor on the ring gear of the rear diff, and controls the center diff lockup along with the front/rear brake bias and the ABS. Keith

Yeah, my 96 lite up the ABS light when the alternator died. That through me for a loop, but it was in fact just the alternator. Keith

What breaks is the impeller for the pump which is what engages with the tube on the back of the TC. Since I had another trans sitting there (it was being replaced because of torque bind) I simply swapped pump assemblies from one to the other. The pump section is about 1" wide section between the main body of the trans and the front diff area. It requires pulling the front diff section off the case, and also the rear part where the center clutch pack is. You then must pull the lower shaft out which is as simple as pulling the rear gear off and then it slides all the way out the front. Then you can unbolt the pump section and do with it as you need. It's not a fun job, especially considering that you have to take the trans out of the car to do it. Keith

Well, Sorry but your starter is stupid. Ok, everyone's starter is stupid. There is no way for the starter to cause the CEL to come on. It only has two wires to it. One from the battery, and one from the key. Nothing in there to tell the ECU something is wrong, so your CEL was because of the loose intake bolts. Keith

The 2 99's and the 06 can defenitly use the same filter, if you are using the new smaller filter. Last time I went to the dealership for oil filters for my 95 2.2 and 96 2.5 they sold me the new small filter and said it's for all those engines now. As for the 83, I don't know. Sure seems like it might work. Keith

Did not know that! Sucks for us. For all my NA cars I change the oil by hand. Sometimes I need a wrench to get the filters off, but I've got enough fore arm strength to tighen the oil filters enough that I've never had a leak or had one come loose.

The location of the oil filter hasn't moved. The oil filter location is the exact same as your 99. What is different is the exhaust layout. You've got a turbo engine now. All the Turbo engines have the same "issue" with the filter being nestled between the oil pan and the exhaust. I agree 100% about the size thing. They aparently went to the even smaller size to keep it further away from the exhaust because the exhaust was heating up the oil.

I agree with the tourque convertor not being in all the way. It will kind of notch in once, but it isn't in all the way. You have to keep playing with it to get it full in. It's very deceiving. I busted the rotor for the pump in the transmission of my 96 because of this. Measure the distance from the lip of the trans back to the mounting holes of the torque converter. Then measure the distance from the lip of the engine back to the mounting holes on the flex plate. If the distance to the torque converter holes is less than to the flex plate holes you know the torque converter isn't in all the way. Keith