mrk610

Ok great thanks for the reply's .I guess i worded it wrong the car has no ac from the factory. I really wanted to know how reliable these cars are . The main issue is the timing belt what interval are they to be changed ,and is it a hard to do the job myself . I have a 02 outback and love it . So I thought it would be a good 2nd car and weekend play around with it . thanks Mike I've got a detailed post on www.bbs.legacycentral.org

I have a chance to buy a 91 legecy fwd 4speed auto . It has 94 k miles on it . Looks in fairly good shape . I drove it real quick and it seems to run good . It pulls alittle to the rt but not to bad . Engine looks good no major leaks and fairly clean for a 13 year old car . I know i will have to change all fluids ,plugs/wires .It has new tires and new muffler. Interior in fair condition it has no ac though. They are asking 900 for it .Is that a good fair price. Is there any major problems with these cars that I have to look forward too . When is the recommended interval to change to timing belt on these cars . thanks Mike

I have 47 k miles on my 02 outback with the oem re92 tires . I still have about 1/2 the tread left . I run about 2 psi over the door numbers . I am going to get new tires due to the fact that they suck in the rain and are gettig noisy. I rotate every 7k miles and while the tires/wheels are off I clean and wax the inside and outside of the wheel .I have driven 2 trips to FLA and go to the mountains skiing every winter . I think you should try to run the psi on the door . Mike

I love Stoner products they make a great tire product call more shine less time and a great window cleaner. I get mine at pep boys or advanced auto .Don't use armour all at all throw it away . I found out that it dries out the vinyl , plastic and rubber products . I use Vinylex protectant it is great I use it on all my interior and exterior plastics and all the rubber window seals . Hope this helps . Mike

I had the same problem with my 02 outback . In my situation It started out as a low hum same as yours . It got progressivly worst to were whenever I accelerated I would get this fog hornlike sound from the ac . Took it to the dealer and he ordered a new expansion valve for the ac . My ac is now so much better then before . Hope this helps . Mike in South Jersey

I have a 02 outback and i have had my windows tinted for the last 2 years with no problems . Here in NJ you can't tint the drivers and pass windows .

I posted about 4 months ago about this . I had Subaru replace my #4and #2 pistons with the so called countermeasure piston . I have a 02 outback 2.5 4eat it had at the time of surgery 39k miles on it . I have had the slap since 6 k miles . My slap got so bad that it was always there even when the engine was fully warmed up . It never used any oil and it always ran like a top , but the slap was so bad It sounded like the engine was going to throw a rod . I have put 4500 miles on it and it has not been back to the dealer since . I was able to see my old pistons b/4 they sent them back to SOA for analysis. There was definent wear on both pistons around the wrist pin area's. I also saw my cylinder walls and they looked fine no wear at all . You could still see the hone marks clearly. I asked why no wear on the walls and the mechanic said that SOA uses a very hard iron cylinder sleeve in the aluminum block .SOA is not swapping blocks anymore they are installing the pistons instead . The mechanic said that the new pistons are alittle more barrel shaped then the old ones meaning they are a little wider. I still get a very lite knock on cold start up but it goes away within about 1 minute . When the outside temp is above 60 I get no noise at all on start up . The other good thing is that I also got the new updated head gaskets when they did the work . If you have anymore questions just ask . Mike

Take it to the dealer . SOA just issued a recall on 127k suby's . they say that the throttle cable is getting stuck . Has something to do with the cruise control cable also . They are rubbing together and SOA is putting on sometype of after market brace . Mike k

I have a 02 outback 41k miles .Started with piston slap at 6k miles . It got progressivelly worst as the miles were put on . It got so bad that the car would never stop knocking even fully warmed up . I complained enough and got SOA and DSR involved . They aggreed to replace #2 & #4 pistons to combate the noise. They say that these are the pistons that make the noise. They don't do short block changes anymore either . I was able to view my old pistons and there was some wear but very minor on the piston's around the wrist pins . There was no wear on the cylinder walls and you could still see the hone marks very clearly. My car is noticable quieter on start up but you can still hear the slap ,but it goes away very quickly . I also have better acceleration ,and I think that is because the knock sensor was picking up my slap and was retarding my timing . I'm going to have my oil anaylisis done the next time i change my oil . Mike k

I was able to stop by my dealer today on my way home from work to have them look at my heads (lol).Well the mechanic and I are becoming quite friendly these past couple of months . I was able to finally have them change my timing belt tensioner last month . Any way back to my heads . The mechanic put the car on the lift and I showed him were i saw the leak . ON my car you can see better from the top of the engine .Mine were leaking from the back and bottom of the block around the # 4 cylinder. When I showed him it said ohh well whats another one when I do about 2 a week .He said that I caught mine early because the gasket didn't fail around the coolant jacket . Mine was only leaking oil. He is going to call SOA and see if he can autherize to have both of my heads done , since he has to pull the engine anyway.He said that there seems to be a problem with the late 01 model builds and the early 02 model builds . Mine 02 outback was built in 6/01.I'm dropping the car off next Monday and he said it will only take 1 day which seems kinda short to me . How long did it take to have your head gaskets done . For the people on here that have had this problem . Thanks Mike k

I think I have been hit with the head gasket demon. I was doing my o/f change yesterday and I always check the underside of the engine while I'm down there . Well I noticed some weeping liquid coming from the driverside head gasket .Around the # 4 cylinder .It is mostly on the back side and bottom of the block by the firewall. It is a very little amount not enough to run down the block and drip on the ground . I can't tell what it is because it is black in color and feels gritty probable from picking up road dirt and sand from the beaches here . It almost looks like when you drop some oil while filling up you car and you don't clean it up ,it attracts the dirt and grime from the road . I then checked all the other areas and found no other weeping. I don't have to add any oil between changes . I am not losing any coolant and I don't have any overheating problems .I have checked the coolant tank after driving it appears normal . Is this normal for them to weep alittle or is it the start of head gasket problems . I have a 02 outback 2.5l 4eat with 37k miles on it .

How long has you car had the piston slap noise . Did your car make the noise all the time or just when it was cold . MY outback has the slap noise but only on cold start and it goes away after about 3-5mins of driving . I have tried to get SOA to replace the short block but they always come back saying that as long as the noise goes away there is no damage done .I do send the oil out every time I change it to blackstone labs for an oil analysis. So far the analysis has said that my engine has less then normal wear. I have used mobil 1 since my 2nd oil change . I was able to get SOA to give me a 7year 100k subaru gold warranty with no deductable free of charge. So my original question was did your outback make the noise all the time . Thanks Mike k

they give a very detailed report . Go to http://www.blackstone-labs.com web site. They give you percentages in parts per million. they give 20 different element readings . They also giveyou the viscosity, flashpoint ,fuel%,antifreeze%,water% and insolubles. Mike

I just got my oil analysis back for my car . I have a 02 outback base wagon with 32 k miles on it . I have had the car diagnosed with piston slap at 6k miles . I use mobil 1 5w40 in the winter and 10w40 in the summer I change the oil at 5 k intervals . My oil came back normal for my engine . No abnormal wear due to the slap problem . So I guess SOA is right that it does no damage to the engine . I sent the oil to Blackstone labs . It cost 20 bucks and they supply the shipping container . Well I felt so good about my car that I gave it a good detailing to day at work . I now feel alot better and I'll just have to learn to live with the noise . Mike:banana:

I have a 02 obw that has 31k miles on it .I have had the slap since 6k miles . I have complained to the dealer everytime I had the car serviced . He showed me a TSB from Subaru about the slap . If the noise goes away when the engine is upto operating temp they do nothing about it . I have heard of others that have complained enough about it to have the short block changed and guess what the noise was still there . I just changed my o/f today and I sent a samplee away to have it analysed . I'm hoping that it will show normal wear . I was able to get my DSR from subaru to admit that it was piston slap but as before the noise went away when the engine was warm . To give me some piece of mind he gave me for free a subaru gold warranty with 0 deductable for 7year and 100k miles .I use mobil 1 oil and subie filter every 5-6k miles . I have been using 5w30 in the winter and 10w 30 in summer. The slap is more noticable with the thinner oil in the winter time .I was thinking maybe I'll just keep the 10w30 in yearround . I'll let you all know how my oil tested . Mike k

I have a 02 obw with 31k miles on it . I have had piston slap since 7k miles as per the dealer and Subaru DSR. they said that they will not do any engine work unless the noise is there all the time . My noise goes away after about 3-5 mins of driving depending on outside temp. I am taking the car into the dealer on Monday for some 30 k service work done ,also having the rear suspension recall done . I have been having the timing belt tensioner noise in the morning ,much more louder then my slap noise . The car was knocking so bad the other morning I thought the engine was going rip itself apart . I gave it a little gas and the noise went away . I hope that I don't have a problem with the dealer getting the tensioner replaced . I did after alot of complaining about the slap noise get the Subaru DSR to give me for free a 7year 100k subaru gold warrenty . So atleast I am covered untill that time on any engine damage related to the piston slap . I am going to send my oil out for testing at my next o/f change . I will keep all posted on how it tests. Mike k