Legacy777

Personally I think the dealer is full of it. Unless it specifically states not to use synthetic in the transmission I don't see why you couldn't be able to. I'd try email subaru of america directly and ask them what their official stance is. Dealers are notorious for making up stupid things like this.

Welcome, The factory manuals are the best. Your local subaru dealership may be able to get them, but may not. Ebay sometimes has people selling cd's with manuals on them. I think Haynes or Chiltons also has a book out as well. You can d/l factory manual info from subaru http://techinfo.subaru.com It's going to be mainly for the US cars, but the info should be similar if not the same for yours. Yeah that's about normal mileage for struts to need to be replaced. I'd strongly recommend replacing all four. The reasoning for this is that the new struts will more then likely provide better response/stiffer and can throw off the handling characteristics of the car. I had this happen with my legacy when I had mix-matched struts on. I'd suggest a set of KYB GR2's. They are priced well, and provide excellent performance for their cost. The locking mechanism. I don't know personally, there may be some impreza people that might know. If you can get a hold of wiring diagrams or manuals, that should tell you for sure.

probably a bad coolant temp sensor. They're pretty cheap. I'd just replace it. Clogged cats typically get worse as the car warms up.

Just to clarify. There are two fuel sending units only if you have AWD. As to the gauge problem. The contacts on the senders can get corroded. What you can do is take them out of the tank. (access panels are in the trunk if you have a sedan, or behind the seat if you have a wagon.) Then take some emery cloth or fine sand paper and buff the contacts so the metal is clean and the contacts make good connection with the electrode.

You can try adjusting it a little more I guess. But if you go too much in either way, it won't feel right. It's up to you, and how much you want to play with adjusting it. You don't need to worry about the internal metal screen. It's meant to stop the big particles/chunks. If you have big particles that are trapped by the screen, there's more then likely other issues. Either way, you can remove the screen and clean it with kerosene or mineral spirits

Pull the codes from the TCU and see what codes it's throwing. Instructions are on my site.

You might want to try the marketplace or the parts shed on www.bbs.legacycentral.org I believe there are a couple people parting out first gen legacies.

The only place I have had experience with, and continue to go back to for stuff I can't do is Autocheck on kirkwood & westheimer. I really don't go there for much, but friends of mine have been going there for a long time. When I had issues with my cooling system, Mike the asist manager let me borrow his pressure tester, and helped me out in a couple other situations. I'm not sure how mechanically inclined you are, or if you're even interested in getting your hands dirty, but depending on when you want to do this, I could probably give you a hand in changing the clutch. I'm around the galleria area.

Yup the connector in the engine compartment. It should be the same pins as my car. What I'd do is check the continuity between the pin on the engine connector and the neutral switch pin at the ECU just to verify the pin outs are the same.

I don't know if I'd say it's super common, but it's common enough where I have heard of other people needing to replace the bearings.

Yeah they should be swappable. I don't see why the 92-94's wouldn't work either. Some of the trim/moulding may be slightly different, but that's it.

Yes you need to connect the neutral switch to the ECU. If you route the MT's neutral switch wiring through the existing AT's neutral switch wiring you'll be good. The only issue with this is, on the older cars you got backfeeding of power through the AT lights on the dash. The newer cars used a different setup, and this wasn't a problem. However, without an electrical diagram for your car, I couldn't really tell you. for sure. You could try just hooking it up like I mentioned. If the neutral indicator on your dash comes on, then you'll need to do some tweaking.

There's really only 3 different AWD types. The manual tranny's viscous coupling. The automatic's MPT technology, and also the newer VTD transmission found on most new automatic transmissions. To be quite honest, the automatic's AWD system is going to be superior. It's going to react quicker, and actually provide 45/55 torque split under normal driving, which is more a benefit. With the addition of the VDC system to the VTD automatics, you have one very advance and very capable AWD/traction control system.

You can remove the fuel filler neck pipe without removing the tank. Just get a new filler neck pipe and put it back on. What happens is the plastic cover over the pipe collects dirt and crud, and can increase the chance of rusting.

You can change the transmission fluid your self. It's pretty straight forward. The dipstick for the AT fluid is on the driver's side of the transmission. There's another dipstick on the passenger side. That's the differential fluid. When you change the AT fluid you have to refill the fluid through the AT dipstick hole. There's no filter that needs to be changed. There is an adjustment for the brake band on the top of the transmission on the driver's side. It's a real pain to try and get at. You can see the bolt on the top of the transmission in this pic http://www.surrealmirage.com/subaru/images/swap/09/DCP_3217.JPG

Sounds like the brake band might need to be adjusted. Have you changed the fluid in it recently? Brake band adjustment procedure http://www.main.experiencetherave.com:8080/subaru_manual_scans/FSM_Scans/transbrakebandadj.jpg

You've got some wiring issues you need to take care of. I'm assuming you've read over my write-up. You need to wire everything similar to my setup. The neutral switch needs to be wired to the ECU's neutral pin, not the clutch switch. So the MT/AT ident pin did not have a wire hooked up to it? If it didn't and you grounded it, it "should" be setup properly. What year is your impreza again?

Welcome, Most of the stuff I respond to....I know about because I had it happen to me

It's the speedo cable base piece that goes into the transmission. All the first gen legacy speedo's are cable driven from the transmission into the gauge cluster. It is VERY VERY common for these to fail. The swivel piece inside sheers off, and the speed just doesn't work. When you take it out, make sure to get the rubber piece and the metal washer out of the hole. here's a pic & the part # of the piece in question. It's pretty cheap. http://www.main.experiencetherave.com:8080/subaru/images/speedocablebase.jpg

You need to make sure that identifiy pin is properly snipped or grounded. That pin tells the ECU to adjust timing as well as fueling, and when to do it. Also, the neutral switch operation is backwards for the AT & MT setups. So if you leave it so the ECU thinks the car is AT, when it's MT. The ECU will think the car is in gear when it's actually in neutral, and vice versa. It should be pretty obvious to know whether the pin is wired properly. If it's still setup for AT, the rpms should raise up when you move the gear shifter in Neutral, but then drop back down when you put it in gear.

You can drive it like it is. I'd suggest verifying which speed sensor it is before you go ahead and replace it. Depending on when they switched speed sensor styles, you may or may not be able to access speed sensor 1 on the outside of the vehicle. Vehicle speed sensor 2 is the one that controls the speedometer, etc. So more then likely, that is the one that is bad, and you can get at that one from the outside of the vehicle. If you look at this scan, it'll tell you which pins on the AT connector are the vehicle speed sensors. Put an ohm meter on them to verify if one is way out of spec. http://www.main.experiencetherave.com:8080/subaru_manual_scans/1999_Legacy_FSM/3_Transmission_and_Differential_Section/3-2_Automatic_Transmission_and_Differential/MSA5TCD99L185.pdf This scan is for the 99 MY, but should be the same for the 97 MY......hopefully.

Yeah a busted/malfunctioning speed sensor will cause all these problems. I'd check to see if the sensor is good or not.

Cool, glad you got it working

There's no reason to replace the pump, just the o-ring that goes between the pump and block. Also it's a good idea to check the screws that hold the backing plate onto the pump. pics can be seen from my t-belt change http://www.main.experiencetherave.com:8080/subaru/images/timingbelt/

The normally aspirated legacies came with an atmospheric pressure sensor to compensate for altitude changes. The sensor is in the ECU, and can not be changed. Just curious, why do you want to modify this? The stock sensor won't output exactly at 760 mmHG, simply because of the reference voltage can vary. In Houston, which is essentially sea level, my barometric sensor reads 752 mmHG