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Thanks for all of the responses. I'm going to order the gaskets today and do it this weekend. Adam

My wife has a 95 Legacy LS wagon, 2.2, AT, AWD, that's leaking quite a bit from the valve cover gaskets. What junk - it only has 234,000 miles The Haynes book makes it look pretty simple - remove battery and air intake stuff, take off a few bolts, slap it in, then reverse. I know nothing is ever that simple though. Here are my questions. 1. The book shows six bolts, but the picture doesn't match with what I see. I see three bolts kind of in the middle where it's stamped "16 Valve". The book shows three on the top, and three on the bottom - maybe their picture is for the 2.5? Anyway, am I right that I'll just need to remove the three 10mm bolts in the middle? 2. Given that lots of oil is leaking now, should I expect oil to come pouring out when I open these things up? I use a "Fumoto Valve" for draining the oil, so I suppose I could drain some (or all) of the oil if I need to. 3. Is it as straightforward as the book says? Are removing the battery holder and air intake things more difficult than the one line in the book? Do I have to do something special to put in a gasket - I've never done this before. I've done tons of oil changes and replaced a couple of alternators, but not much more than that. Any special rookie mistakes to look out for? Thanks Adam

My wife has a 95 Legacy, 2.2, AWD, Automatic, with about 220,000 miles on it. During a road trip this weekend while going up a mountain and around some switchbacks, there was a lot of noise coming out of the front end when we would make a sharp left turn. It wasn't a rattle or a clicking - it was more of a whirring. This was going uphill, under load. Several miles later, the steering wheel started to shake a whole lot - it almost felt like a blown tire. After 20 or 30 seconds though, it stopped shaking. The rest of the 400 miles of the trip were good though. It did the steering wheel thing a couple of months ago, and my mechanic checked it out, but didn't find anything. Anyone have a theory?

My wife and I both have 95 Legacy Wagons. Mine's a manual with 307,000 miles, and hers is an auto with about 230,000 miles. We just moved to a town with very steep hills. I worry about my clutch when starting on the steep hills - I find that using the parking brake works better than the hill holder, and I try to time these intersections as best I can. What I wonder about though it my wife's auto. There has to be something getting stressed in the transmission when starting on a steep hill. Should I plan to do more frequent maintenance? Thanks Adam

Well, I finally hit 300,000 miles a few weeks ago. It's a '95 Legacy L wagon, with a 5 speed, and it's still running strong. My wife has a 95 Legacy LS wagon with a manual - she's at 211,000 and it still runs like a top too. A lot of thanks go out to this group - I've had a lot of questions answered throughout the years. Adam

Since I need the timing belt done anyway, it sounds like I should have them do the water pump while there in there. I had this done on my Legacy wagon when it hit 240,000. What's labor going to be like on a valve gasket cover? I'll get that done with the timing belt regardless, but will I get some sort of break? My neigbor is starting to really like me. He owns a small repair shop, and in the last couple of months has gotten to do two wheel bearings, and will do a clutch kit on my Legacy this week. He'll get to do the timing belt, water pump, valve gasket cover, and whatever else is in the 60,000 mile service interval next week. He seems to do good work and only charges for the actual time, not what the books say (if he does it faster). This saved me a bunch when he did one of the wheel bearings a few weeks ago. He also diagnosed what I thought was a differential problem as a wheel bearing which saved me from jumping over a cliff. Thanks for everyone's help. Adam

Here's a picture. You can see that another drop of oil is about to fall from the bolt . . .

No - it's on the passenger side, outside of where the exhaust comes out. I just checked it out again, and that part is pretty oily. It looks like the coolant dripped out by the timing belt cover area though. Maybe the two are unrelated - the oil and coolant on the garage floor look like they dripped out separates? I'm due for a timing belt anyway. Maybe it's that and some other seal. Adam

I just started and backed up my wife's 1995 Legacy LS wagon to do an oil change and noticed a small, fresh puddle that was both coolant and oil. I looked at the bottom of the engine, and it looks like it's coming out at the seam on the passenger's side of the engine where the engine and cover come together (I don't know what they're actually called). It's a 2.2L engine, but I'm freaking out thinking this may be a head gasket. Does that sound like the problem? If so, what am I looking at to get it fixed, and how long can I drive it before it goes kaput? It has about 188,000 miles on it. Adam

Thanks for all of the replies. I bought the car a few years ago with 174,000 miles on it, and I haven't replaced anything related to the transmission yet. I'm pretty easy on clutches, but I'm still surprised it's lasted this long. In the past month or so I've put on a new set of Michelins and had one front and one rear wheel bearing replaced. I'm hoping to avoid another repair bill for a month or so if I can. If I do decide to go ahead and just have the clutch replaced, what else is easy to get to while they're inside? I've heard that the rear main seal should be done. Is there anythiing else? What should a new clutch run? Adam

I have a '95 Legacy L wagon, 5sp, AWD, with 285,000 miles. When it is cold, I've started getting some noise when I press the clutch. It sounds like spinning metal rubbing against metal, but not grinding. I start to hear/feel it when I just start feathering the clutch, and it becomes more pronounced when I press the clutch in all the way. After it warms up though, it seems to go away. This has happened the last couple of days. I keep it in the garage and I don't hear it in the morning. But, I work a couple of thousand feet higher than I live, and it's been colder when I start it up after work. That's when I've been hearing it. Does this mean that my clutch is starting to die? Does it sound like it may be something similar? Adam

I have a '95 Legacy Wagon, 5 speed, with 285,000 miles. I've been great with all of the maintenance, but stupid about tires. I have one newer tire, which has been on for probably 30,000 miles more than the others (which have over 100,000 miles on them). Anyway, I've started noticing a little bit of noise that sounds like it's coming from the rear end when at speed, but I thought it might be a wheel bearing. I've already had to replace a couple, which is to be expected at this kind of mileage. But today when backing out of a parking space and turning the wheel hard there were a couple of clunks. I then tried doing some circles in the parking lot and wasn't able to replicate it. I've ordered some new tires, and I don't plan to drive it until they are installed. Should I get the transmission fluid replaced when they do the tires? Should I not even bother with the tires? Adam

My wife called me from work today telling me that her brake and battery lights came on while driving to work (we both have '95 Legacy wagons). When I got home I logged in to this group, did a search on the lights, and immediately found a thread saying that it was a bad alternator. After dinner I pulled it out, took it to Autozone, and the tester said it was bad. Took home another, popped it in, and no more warning lights. Once again, this group saved me a trip to the mechanic, which would have taken a bunch of time and cost a whole lot more money than doing it myself. Her wagon now has 182,000 miles, and mine will hit 282,000 this weekend. Here's looking forward to combining for half a million sometime next year! Thanks again. Adam

I'll check the speed tomorrow morning on my way in to work. It's going pretty fast for second gear. What really sucks is that I basically drop down into the resort from the Blue Ridge Parkway, then climb back up to the golf course. If we could just cut over, it would save tons of mileage, not to mention brake pads. Apparently most employees replace their pads every 8 months or so. Any particular model of pads that are recommended? Adam

I have a 95 Legacy L, 2.2, AWD, 5 speed with 279,000 miles. I just started a new job at a ski/golf resort, so I'm doing a lot of up and down driving. There's one stretch where it's about a 15% grade, downhill, for about a mile. I've been leaving it in second, and it shoots up a little over 5000 RPMs before I lose my nerve and start braking near the end. Am I asking to blow something up? Is there any special maintenance I should do? Should I ride the brakes a bit to keep the RPMs lower? Or, should I trust the indomitable 2.2 to take the punishment? Thanks Adam

I'm getting close to 260,000 miles in my '95 Legacy wagon (MT, AWD). It's running great, but at some point, it's going to die. Are there any typical warning signs before things really start to go downhill? For what it's worth, tt the 240,000 mile service I went ahead and replaced all of the pullys and the water pump in addition to the regular stuff. Adam

I recently purchased a soft carrier from Cabelas. It was the only one I could find that had an objective review - some off-road website had tried one out. We've taken two trips with it and it's been great - very sturdy, and I'm confident it would keep my stuff dry even in a squall. It was also quiet. It's pretty easy to setup and take off, and rolls up small enough to put in a cabinet in my garage when I'm not using it. I got the 15 cubic foot model. The one "problem" is that it's huge. I had to take the factory rack off of my Legacy, and put my Thule rack on. I needed to have the bars about 43" apart. They have a 10 cubic foot model which is about a foot shorter - that still may not fit inside your factory rack, but it's worth taking a look. Adam

Here's one for Click and Clack. I have a 95 Legacy wagon, 2.2l, 5spd, AWD, with 256,000 miles. It started making a strange sound yesterday, and did it again this morning. It starts after being on the interstate for 10 minutes or so, and sounds like a ticking or small rattle behind the dashboard. (I cruise at 65 mph). It only did it when in gear, and when I was applying some torque - ie. going uphill or on level ground. I didn't seem to notice it when I was going downhill. If I took it out of gear and revved the engine to the cruising RPMs, nothing. The really strange part is that when I got off the interstate and onto a highway, I brought it back up to the same speed and got no sound. My first thought was that it could be a speedometer cable or something, but when I moved my head around to try and get my ear closer, it didn't seem like it was just coming from behind the gauges. Any ideas? Adam

We take a lot of short road trips in our 95 Legacy Wagon with a baby and two Labs. Needless to say it's pretty tight. I've been thinking of getting one of those cargo bags that you put on the roof. Does anyone have any experience with them? If it makes a difference, we have the factory rack (and 255,000 miles - I just like typing that). Thanks Adam

I hit 250,000 miles in my 95 Legacy L wagon last week. I bought it with 175,000, and I've pretty much just done scheduled maintenance. I still get close to 30 mpg, and only lose about 1/2 a quart of oil every 3000 miles.

Mostly highway miles. My daily commute is about 30 miles each way, and 24 are on the interstate. I also visit the parents about once a month, which is about 200 highway miles away.

Well, tonight was the night. I hit 250,000 miles on my way home from work in my '95 Legacy wagon. I bought it with 175,000 miles about 2 1/2 years ago. Best $2300 I every spent. In that time I've spent almost squat on actual repairs. Shifter bushings, a wheel bearing, tranny mounting bolts, that's about it. Otherwise, just maintenance - oil, filters, brakes, some seals and a water pump and pullys (just to be safe) while doing a timing belt, wiper blades . . . Hell, I'm on the same Michelin X-1 tires that came with it. 300,000 coming in 2007! Adam

I have 248,000 miles on my '95 Legacy wagon. I keep saying that I'll get another one when I hit 300,000 (which should take me about a year and a half), but now I'm not so sure. It just runs so well that I may keep it even longer. I bought it with 175,000 miles, and aside from scheduled maintenance, the only repairs I've had done are one wheel bearing, the shifter bushings, an exhaust hanger bolt, and a bracket that holds up the transmission. That's about $1000 of repairs over the last 2 1/2 years and 75,000 miles. Considering payments on a new car would have been about $12,000 during that time, I feel like I'm cheating. I only paid $2,300 for it. Adam

I just did a bling-bling window tint job on my wagon - 5% on the back windows, and now I can't see anything though the back window at night unless it has a freakin' spotlight on it. (I must say, however, that this is particularly useful for tailgaiting SUVs.) Is there a way to radically brighten up the reverse lights, or will I just end up blowing a fuse? For those of you thinking about tinting your windows yourself, my advice is this - don't offer yourself a warranty. Otherwise you'll just end up doing it all over again. If I didn't already have some peeling paint (and almost 250,000 miles) I'd be pretty self conscious about the little bubbles, jagged edges, seams across the back . . . The thing is, all considered I think I did a pretty decent job. Adam

I had the same problem with mine (same model and year) since I bought it 2 1/2 years (and 70,000 miles) ago. I finally took it in, and it turns out that in addition to the bushings being completely gone, the transmission hanger bolts were broken. The dealer said it was basically resting on the exhaust. They could have been pulling my leg (and wallet) though. After replacing the parts it's perfect. Adam