Zack

I've got a high-mileage '90 Legacy AWD auto which I plan to use at my vacation cabin. This will entail storing the car for periods of up to 6 months in between the times I am using it. I've found a mini-storage facility at the nearest city with an airport where I can park the car outdoors for a reasonable price. It's an old car, and I'm not too concerned about its cosmetics but I do want to maintain its mechanical integrity. Draining all fluids each time I store the car is out of the question. The owner of the mini-storage facility has agreed to start up the engine every two weeks. Would simply starting up the engine be sufficient, or would it also be important to actually drive the car around the block once in a while? (This could be difficult in the winter, since the area where the car would be parked could be covered in heavy snow.) Would getting some sort of cover or tarp be worthwhile, or would it end up doing more harm than good? Anything else I should do to minimize the chances of damaging the car? Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Zack 1990 Legacy Wagon AWD auto 158,000 miles

I've got a pretty bad exhaust leak on my '90 Legacy - it's near the front, at the joint in the exhaust which contains a gasket, just behind the rear of the transmission. Though the exhaust system is somewhat rusted, I had assumed it would be a fairly simple matter to simply free up the nuts and replace the gasket. The service manager at my dealer (a new person who may not know what they're talking about) said that because of the rust there was a good chance they would bust the various mounts and hangers when they tried to fix it and I would have to buy a whole new exhaust system. Is there any sort of sealant goop which I could use to fix the leak? As far as I can tell, there's not actually a hole in the pipe, just air leaking around the gasket. Zack 1990 Legacy AWD auto wagon, 158,000 miles

Just bought a replacement Yokohama Avid Touring 185/70R14 tire. Just for the record, the new tire (inflated and under load) has 8mm tread depth. My 'old' tires (with 3,800 miles on them) have 7mm tread depth, so I match the maximum 1mm difference in tread depth allowed by Subaru. Lucky me. I'm a bit surprised that 3,800 miles of gentle driving would be enough to wear 1mm off of these tires, which are rated for high mileage (something over 70,000) and have a reptuation for longevity. Zack

Thanks everyone for all the great information! I will check with a local mechanic about getting the tranny mounts installed (I live in the city, and have no garage space in which to work or store tools), and will hold off for now on doing anything about the slight oil leak (the dealer claimed the leak was in the Cam seals, though I suppose they could just be guessing...) Zack

Thanks for the kind offer! Unfortunately, I will be driving the car out west next month, and will no longer be keeping it in NY. So it sounds like it might be a good idea to replace the rear transmission mounts? Is installing the mounts a big deal -- Does the tranny have to be removed in order to get them in? Zack '90 Legacy Wagon AWD auto 158,000 miles

I've got the 80watt radio/tape player in my '90 Legacy wagon, and experienced the very same problem -- the volume coming out of the driver's side front door speaker seems very low compared to the other speakers. But guess what -- if you listen from the passenger side front seat, it sounds as though the driver's front door speaker is fine but the passenger's side front door speaker is low in volume! I've concluded that the apparent low volume in the driver's side door speaker when listening from the driver's seat is an acoustical quirk of the car's interior -- sound can behave very strangely in small enclosed spaces. Curious if others experiencing this apparent problem in first generation Legacy wagons have tried listening to the sound system from the front passenger seat, and if they heard the same thing I did. Zack '90 Legacy wagon AWD auto 158.000 miles

I have all my servicing done at a Connecticut Subie dealer whose service department I had found completely trustworthy and reliable. Unfortunately, the woman who was head of the department (or at least head of customer service) left the business, and the new people don't seem nearly as knowledgeable or competent. I recently brought in my '90 Legacy wagon AWD (auto transmission) for a routine oil change, and was given some bad news: 1. There is a slight oil leak around the cam cover seals on both sides of the engine. I took a look, and there is in fact a light coating of oil around the cam covers. However, the leak must be pretty slight since I haven't had to add ANY oil in between oil changes. The service department told me I should get this fixed because otherwise oil could get onto the timing belt and cause it to slip causing major problems. They also suggested it would make sense to replace the timing belt while they were doing this work (the price, along with replacing the water pump, would come to about $700). I'm in no rush to put in a new timing belt, since it was last replaced only 40,000 miles ago (albeit this was 5 years ago). It's also been my understanding that a bit of oil leakage around the cam cover seals on the 2.2L engine is not unusual. The car drives fine, I'm not experiencing any performance issues. Can I safely ignore this slight oil leakage? 2. The two rear rubber transmission mounts are cracked through. In other words, none of the rubber is missing but there is a crack which runs straight through each mount. Theoretically, I guess this means that when torque is applied the transmission could rotate slightly because there is nothing (other than gravity) to keep one side of it from lifting off of the rear mounts. The service person said the mounts should be replaced ($300) and muttered about the possibility of the tranny shifting and causing the rear driveshaft to bend or bind. Again, I'm not aware of any performance issues; no jolt or bump when I put the car into gear (forward or reverse), no odd noises of any kind. I generally drive the car pretty gently. Am I ok ignoring these cracked mounts until/unless they get considerably worse? thanks for all advice! Zack 1990 Legacy AWD auto wagon 158,000 miles

Right - they're 70k tires, I drive very gently, and the alignment is decent - at the edge of the official spec, since a slightly bent strut makes perfect alignment impossible...

Hello - I just blew out the front passenger side tire on my 1990 Legacy AWD wagon (auto shift) -- ran over a garden hoe left in the middle of the interstate next to a construction site! My tires are nearly new, and have only 3,800 miles on them (Yokohama Avid Touring). Can I buy a new Yokohama Avid Touring tire and assume that the circumference will be sufficiently close (1/4") to that of the other tires with 3,800 miles of wear to avoid any transfer clutch problems?? Incidentally, I had to drive 100 miles on the doughnut spare in order to get home last night. I put the spare on the passenger side front, disabled AWD by installing the FWD fuse, and kept my speed under 45mph. Is there any chance I might have damaged the transfer clutch? Thanks for any advice! Zack 1990 Legacy Wagon AWD auto 158,000 miles