alias20035

Vibration under acceleration is often a sign of a CV joint problem, along with clacking in tight slow corners. But I would rule out tires (pressure, uneven wear, balance) before taking any action. If the diff bearings are gone it will rumble or whine LOUDLY as the pinion gear to ring gear angle and mesh would not be correct. You would also most likely see metal shavings in the gear oil (on the magnetic drain plug). To rule out the diff you could pop the ball joints off the A arm and the pin off the inner DOJ to disconnect the axle from the transmission, and then check the outdrives for play. On my 1993 Legacy the DOJ joints were loose on the outdrives, but the outdrives had no play. This seems to be quite normal.... When I changed a complete axleshaft I did note that it fit tighter on the outdrive. Perhaps the DOJ housing is made out of a lower quality metal and wears and stretches on the outdrive insert, causing the play. Are you sure it is a front vibration? Is the vibration felt more in the steering wheel than in the seat? Is the vibration present only when going straight, turning right, turning left? (turning left = right wheel bearing bad, and vice versa) Any difference in vibration when going straight, turning right, turning left? Compare the vibration when accelerating, braking, coasting in gear and coasting in neutral. Any differences? How does vibration change with speed? Any sound (rumble, whine, etc) to go along with the vibration? Other sources of vibration: Do you have a hood deflector? Is it tight, and with all of the rubber bumpers present underneath? The reason I ask is that I have seen Subaru's totally apart with mechanics looking for a severe vibration problem, but the vibration was simply a loose hood deflector. Beleive me, a loose hood deflector will make the smoothest road fell like the worst rutted gravel road. If you have a hood deflector jam rags between the hood and deflector and test drive, if the vibration is gone you need to fix the hood deflector. Another common aerodynamic vibration is the windshield seal, particularly the top. Is it tight? Cover the winshield seal with masking tape and test drive. What about roof rack? Are the cross bars mounted with the fat part forward? If backwords they will rumble.

The inner DOJ on my 1993 Legacy wiggled a lot more than the ones on my 2001 Outback. I am fairly certain it is a mileage/wear thing. So unless you have any problems such as rumbling, or vibration I would leave it alone. If there is a problem with excessive play, the outdrive seal would probably fail and you would note the leak. In most cases no oil leak, no rumble, no vibration means no problem. A small amount of oil on the transmision case and DOJ joints is normal, all seals will leak a bit and odds are it is CV grease that you see not gear oil. The CV boots always leak a bit as it is nearly impossible to get the CV boots to seal perfectly with the clamps that they use.

My 93 Legacy had a rattling wiring harness within the steering column. I wrapped the wires with foam adhesive weather stripping to cure the rattle. This may or may not be the problem. Other problems could be: defective steering shaft bearing (is there any side to side play in the steering wheel?) defective tilt mechanism (any play in the column?, is the column properly locked?) are you sure it is the steering column, as there are a lot of wiring harnesses that can rattle on either side and under the steering column. some rattles from the steering rack/front suspension transmit up the steering wheel, so inspect the following: - tie tod ends (inner and outer) - ball joints - upper strut mount - front suspension A arm bushings - front subframe bolts (some subframes come loose from the unibody) - front sway bar bushings and links (very common problem) - steering rack play (some adjustments can be made) Fixing the wiring harness rattle is easy. This will require disabling the airbag system so you don't accidentely blow your head off while working on the steering column. Disconnect the negative battery terminal and wait fifteen minutes. Find the yellow air bag connector under the dash which connects the air bag module to the steering wheel air bag inflator. It usually has a green part on the yellow connector. The connect is double locked, so be careful to disconnect it properly, don't tug hard to separate. The inflator is now "unpowered" and 99% safe. See your Haynes manual for the proper airbag safety instructions. There are about 6-8 screws on the underside of the steering column, some are longer than others, so note which screw came out of which hole. Once the screws are apart you should be able to twist the column off, the top and bottom shell have a few tabs to hold them together which can be usually be separated by pressing the lower shell inward. The shell must by gently bent to remove it from the ignition key "ring". Aside from adding foam weather stripping to the wires, you can also glue thin foam or felt to the lower steering column shell so the wires don't rattle against plastic.

OBW99 covered most of the benefits.... pros of the 5MT simplicity, and easier to repair (but on Subaru's not necessarily more reliable). Used replacement transmissions are available for $500 or less. city fuel economy is better (but depends on the driver) brakes will last longer (true for all manual cars) control, engine braking is far more affective and easier than with the 4EAT But there are the following cons: Not as easy to drive (but the complex shift pattern on newer Subaru 4EAT's is a pain) resale value is much lower, much lower than the price difference to upgrade to the 4EAT. The market for 5MT's is perhaps only 10% as large as for 4EAT. If your buying used the price differential is already there so it is not costing you anything. highway fuel economy is generally not as good because the 5mt has a higher gear ratio causing the engine to spin about 400 RPM higher at 70 MPH. The difference varies between 1-2 MPG. The 4EAT is easier to drive in slippery conditions, because the transmission is very good at controlling power output to the rear wheels during turns. The 5MT tends to understeer and cause the vehicle to plow through the turn because the viscous coupling splits torque 50/50 all the time, even when you don't want it to. The 4EAT will reduce power to the rear wheels at the instant that the accelerator is released (even partially), significantly reducing the understeer problem. The solution to this 5MT plowing problem is to induce a powerslide or drift to bring the rear end around. Good winter tires are a big help though. As for clutch life, some people get only 60,000 miles (or less) out of their clutches, while others get 200,000 or more. Subaru clutches are known to have a substantial judder problem (severe vibrations during engagement when cold). There have been several TSB's issued and upgraded components are available. I believe your 2000 Outback is affected by this TSB, but your off the 3yr/36000 bumper to bumper warranty. TSB's are only paid for under warranty, unlike recalls. Some Subaru's have the clutch hill holder, which makes starting in steep inclines a breeze. The 95-2003 Legacy/Outback platform with hydraulic clutch does not have a hill holder. New Foresters and Impreza have it again. The hill holder will return on the 2005 Legacy/Outback. Subaru's hill holder patent expired, and now hill holding is built into some Bosch ABS/VDC systems. I am not sure whether Subaru will be using the Bosch electonic hill holder, or continue to used the cable activated brake line valve.

You don't want to use a "winged" wiper in winter though, as they tend to freeze up. You want to use the winter blades with the rubber covered hinge assemblies. The problem with winter blades is that they are taller than the normal blades and this reduces the spring pressure of the wiper arm. This reduction in spring pressure coupled with worn and weak springs prevents the blades from holding to the glass. On my 1993 Legacy I changed the springs on my wiper arms, I was able to find a replacement spring and I drilled out the hinge rivot to replace it. Rather than riveting the wiper arm back together I used a stainless bolt and used the extra strength treadlock on the nut. Cost about $10, instead of $100 for new wiper arms. The "Sure Wipes" do work, but they can put too much force and flatten the blade. If this happens you can adjust them, see the included instructions.

Reset the ECU (disconnect battery for 15 minute) anytime you change a sensor. The ECU has to "learn" the replacement sensor.

some points to make: New engines consume oil, it takes a while for the seals and rings to seat. Could take 10,000 km for a proper break in (3 oil changes). All engines consume a bit of oil, 1 litre per 5000km is considered perfectly normal. Engines that rev above 3000 RPM on the Highway (all Subaru flat fours) will always consume oil. The harder you run the engine, the more oil it will burn. Could you have an oil leak?? Check the valve gaskets, transmission/engine mount area, bottom center of timing belt covers, oil pan, oil cooler, and turbocharger assembly. You can switch to 10w30 to cut your oil loss and improve lubrication, but in winter stick to 5w30. On hot days (80f) 5w30 is practically at its temperature limit. See the recommended viscosity chart in the back of your WRX manual, it will show the oil grades suitable for various temperatures. Not sure what 10w30 will do for the turbocharger (probably no impact). 5w30 is usually recommended because it is thinner and as such will create less drag in the engine leading to better fuel economy. My 2001 Outback burned 2 litres of oil in the first 2000km, and has burned very little since then. I changed the original oil in my Outback at 3,000 km and then again a 6,000 with Mobil 1 5w30 Synthetic. I run Mobil 1 10w30 in summer. There is no need to break in engines with dino oil, in fact most European cars come filled with synthetic oil. Break ins requiring dino oil is an urban myth. I just used regular oil for the first oil change because I knew I was going to change the oil early and did not want to waste money on synthetic. You can NOT use 0W30 in Subaru engines, Subaru tested this a while back for Alaska destined cars and found a high incidence of engine failures. They have issued a service bulletin stating that cars running on 0W30 will not be repaired under warranty. My Outback currently burns about a half liter every 6,000 km (when I change the oil), my 1993 Legacy with 466,000km used to burn 1-2 litres between changes. I routinely cruised on the highway at 3,700 RPM in the Legacy though.

I've seen broken sway bar end links but never a broken bar (accidents excepted). A broken sway bar can lead to loss of control if it breaks while in a corner. Did you report the problem to a dealer, or complain to Subaru. It could have been a manufacturing defect which they will pay for (and investigate). Subaru has hade issues with broken suspension parts of late as they started to use crappy American made components. My 2001 Outback has been recalled twice times, once to replace the front A arms (improperly welded and were breaking), and to rust proof the rear suspension (improperly painted at the factory). Subaru has adopted the US manufacturers method of outsourcing construction of these components to the lowest bidder. Only recently have they re-implemented Toyota like quality initiatives.

I am in the middle of a subwoofer enclosure build so I wont have any time soon to photograph and diagram the installation. I may be able to get around to this in mid December when I try to install the "chirp" system. I will need to remove my keyless module to identify the lock and unlock wires, off hand I can not remember what the color codes were. I am not sure if I can get two different tones out of single radio shack chirp speaker (about the size of a thumbnail). Perhaps a capacitor or resister, can anyone help with this. Otherwise I will need to find two different tones of chirpers. As for the length of chirp, the door lock module sends a pulse to the solenoids that lasts about a half second anyways, so no need to do anything with that. If I do a guide I will post it for all to see.

Used seats at junkyards are not a good idea. If it has been in an accident there is probably damage to the seat back adjuster, and seat bottom slider. It could break suddenly on its own or in a subsequent accident. If you do get a seat from a scrapyard, just take the foam, springs, and seat cover if required and mount it to your existing frame. It is possible to have the seats rebuilt, most auto fabric repair shops can do this. Model years from 1995 to 1999 will definitely fit. You can even upgrade to the manual height adjustable model if you wish.

The stock Subaru rear speakers have no tweeters to disable, and why bother disabling the ones on aftermarket speakers. High frequency sound is directional, and as such you wont notice the rear tweeters that much unless sitting in back. So why disable them? Often it is recommended to run the rear speakers at a lower volume (by adjusting the fader or amplifier gains) so that more power is preserved for the front speakers. And unless you plan on running a subwoofer or playing the radio loud, you have no need for bass blockers. Bass blockers are a cheaper form of a high pass filter that is built into amplifiers for usage with a subwoofer.

You should never attempt to burn out an all wheel drive or four wheel drive vehicle. In a two wheel drive it is easy to spin tires, and as a result there is only a moderate amount of stress on the transmission gears. In an AWD or 4WD the force required to spin the tires is doubled, but the gears are not twice as strong as a two wheel drive. WRX's are known to blow gears, and Subaru has adopted a policy of not fixing the transmission under warranty if there are signs of abuse, and they will absolutely not fix it a second time. See all the complaints on the NASIOC forums about broken gears. The STI has a stronger gear box, but it is only a bit stronger (perhaps 25%). It you want to do burnouts on a regular basis please upgrade to straight cut gears. Then all you have to worry about is breaking the driveshaft, axle shafts and differentials. Broken gears and drivetrain components are a frequent problem on Subaru's driven on snow and ice covered roads. If you spin the tires on snow or ice and then move to dry pavement, the sudden onset of good traction tends to break things. If you are in mixed high traction/low traction conditions it is always recommended to ease off the power during the transition, in fact not doing so can often lead to loss of vehicle control. All this said, in 10cm of snow my 2001 Outback with Michelin Arctic Alpin tires has so much traction that it is rarely able to spin tires beyond a second or so in first gear.

I am not sure when the Legacy's went from a mechanical to electronic speedometer, I thought that it was 1994 overseas and much later here in North America. Seems that I was incorrect. If your speedometer is reading unusual speeds, your speedometer head is likely gone bad, as cables make noise or are broken and don't spin at both ends, they either work or don't. but here is how to confirm: Disconnect the speedo cable from the transmission and from the speedometer head unit end spin it with a drill at low to medium RPM. If it is noisy your cable is bad, if not its your head unit. Just don't loose the any of the transmission side components. You can also spin the speedometer head to check for noise with the drill by using a drill bit that is approximately the size of the speedometer cable end. Not sure if you want to do this in the cold. I would replace your entire speedometer cluster with a used one as odds are the thermometer gauge you replace had its needle installed incorrectly and is no longer servicable (if your cluster is like the North American models). You can roll the odometer to match yours if required, but I recommend leaving the new used cluster together and just noting the before and after mileage. My 1993 Legacy's speedometer was noisy and eventually failed (at about 300,000km). I had to replace my speedometer and was quoted over $200 for it, while I got the whole cluster used for $45. As Gilles from Montreal indicated there is one temperature sensor on the engine for both ECU and gauge.

I see there are a few disagreements about a few of my points. This is good, it gets people to think (including myself).... As for warming the engine on a cold day to avoid wear and tear, there are a few points I can add: As engine tolerances have improved greatly, there is no longer a real concern about having to warm an engine up significantly before driving. Subaru's are known for extremely tight tolerances except for piston skirt to cylinder clearance (which causes piston slap). Warming it by idling has little affect on piston slap (which is not really detrimental anyways), aside from reducing the driving time for the skirt to expand and stop slapping. I have warmed my 2001 Outback up to see it would reduce the piston slap, it didn't, it just took say 6 blocks for piston slap to go away instead of 8, but the piston was slapping the whole 5 minutes while I idled the car.... With modern oils (particularly synthetics), the lubrication system is able to function very well down to about -45 celcius. As recently as 25 years ago no oil would pump below -10 or so. Warming an engine used to be recommended because cars were unreliable and were generally carburated. Often driving a 1970's car (and many 80's US made cars) was impossible with a cold engine, as the distributors, carberaturs and other mechanicals would not function properly, causing misfires and stalls. Fuel injection, distribruterless ignition systems and other modern electronics eliminated all of these problems. Cars in Canada (any many northern US states) are equipped with an electric block heater, which is basically a 300-400 watt immersion heater which heats coolant in the water jacket of the engine. It is recommended that the block heater be used at temperatures below -7 celsuis. Block heaters can hold the engine temperature at better than -5 celsuis when it is -35 out. Block heaters use a few cents per hour to operate (about 5 cents at 11cents/KWH), but more than pay for themselves in fuel savings (saves me at least $10/month in fuel). It also cuts the time (driving time) to warm up the engine by at least 75%. At -30 my engine is warm within a few blocks (2 minutes). Contrary to popular believe you don't need to have the block heater on all night, it is only necessary to have it on for 3 hours before running the car to properly warm the engine. I have a 7 day programmer timer that also features a built it thermometer so it only activates the block heater below -7c. The two most popular mechanics in Canada are Phil Edmonston (auther of the Lemon Aid used car guide) and Phil Bailey (regular contributer to many Canadian newspapers) both share my opinion that warming an engine by driving it is the best practice, and at most just idle the engine for a minute or less and drive. Only when the engine is really cold (not plugged in) should it be warmed, but even then only for three or so minutes. The only exception to this rule is to defrost the windows (don't try to thaw an inch of ice of the glass though). Most other tv mechanics also agree with this including Pat Goss of Motorweek, and Bill Gardiner of MotoringTV (MotoringXXXX where XXXX = Year, ex Motoring2004). For preventing and reducing frost build up on the inside of your windows here are a few tips: Don't use carpet floor mats, use rubber mats instead. Empty the snow, slush and water from your car mats regularly, preferebly every chance you get. Don't keep wet stuff (sweaty hockey gear for instance in your car), when you get home take it out. Regulary clean the inside of your windows (with Windex or other glass cleaner) The goal is to reduce humidity within the car and to have a clean glass surface that is less likely to attract water vapour. The reason to use rubber floor mats and keep them dry is simple; the air blowing from the heater will melt any ice and evaporate the standing water. This humidity gets into the fabric of the vehicle, and is released back into the air when the car is warm, increasing the humidity and causing frost. Once a car is "wet" on the inside, it will be very hard to dry it out in winter. As for resale value, remote car starters used to be an added cost option, but now the tables are starting to turn on them. Because these systems are connected to the ignition system, door lock system, etc, the factory warranty is immediately null and void on these components, Subaru doesn't even have to prove that the starter caused the problem as the warranty states that "modification in any form will invalidate the warranty". Also remote starters, in general, show a lack patience and care and for the vehicle. While the starter alone is only partially responsible for this, in general most cars with starters show other damage due to lack of care. I do have a car to back up my cold starting "drive it to warm it" practice. My 1993 Legacy AWD wagon had 466,000 km on it when I struck a deer and totalled it. I had just changed the timing belt (an out of sequence change due to a failed crankshaft oil seal), and decided to pressure test the cylinders. The pressure from each cylinder was 180PSI +/- 1 PSI, which is incredably good. I had never warmed the car and being from Canada the car sees at least 4 months a year of -20 celsius nights. I religiously plugged the cars block heater in though. As for legality, some states still outlaw remote start on manual transmission vehicles, and others have effectively outlawed them by outlawing idling. In the emmisions control states (CA, NY, ME, MA, NJ, VT, NH??) it is illegal to idle a car while unattended (in some states attended as well), and if you can't legally idle a car, you can't legally USE a remote starter. Its kind of like driving into Virginia with a rader detector, you can legally do it as long as it is turn off and stored in the trunk (out of reach of driver and all passengers is the rule of thumb the police are supposed to follow). Recently Canada jumped on the bandwagon (since we are a signatory to the Kyoto Greenhouse Gas Emmision Reduction Protocol) and thus far most provinces have outlawed idling vehicle except where safety is concerned. Its not the remote starter that I am against, I am against the unnessessary pollution and wear and tear the usually accompanies it. My only real negative comments about a remote starter are the facts that it does add some safety issues, and that it just adds another component that may fail.

I would disconnect the negative cable from the battery for fifteen minutes to reset the computer. Then see what happens when it relearns everything when reconnected. The computer will take about 30 minutes or so of driving to relearn the sensor parameters. You don't need to make a special trip to "teach" the computer, just your regular driving will do. Could be a dead thermal sensor, or a sticking idle air control valve, or a mass air flow (MAF) (actually NOT a MAF problem since your car uses a manifold air pressure (MAP) sensor). Could also be EGR or evaporative emmision purge, but the computer should show a code. Could also be an oxygen sensor, but again the computer should show a code. Could also be bad gas (water in gas) or a contaiminated fuel filter (because of bad gas). Are you putting in the quality 91 octane fuel that the 2001 H6-3.0 requires? Add some heavy duty fuel injector cleaner to your next tank of gas. Could be a bad spark plug or coil pack, although the computer should detect repetitive misfires and store a code. If you can't find anything else wrong then pull out the spark plugs and note the condition against a spark plug condition chart (in any Haynes auto service manual). The spark plug from a misfiring cylinder should look significantly different than the others. Could the little blip in speed be from the AC compressor coming on? When above 32F the AC is used to dehumidify the air when the defroster setting is used. Could be an improperly tensioned belt, the AC will often cycle on when it detects a reduction in throttle (like when you change from reverse to forward). Is the tire pressure correct in all four tires, somtimes one low tire will cause the transmission to misbehave a bit, which can feel like a engine misfire.

Don't be lazy!! Sorry to offend but how pitiful is is too start and warm up the car just so you will not be cold for the first few minutes of driving it? Buy her a coat..... Automatic starters are bad.... Here's why: 1. waste fuel 2. engine warms up faster under load (driven) 3. idling damages catalytic converters (they overheat) 4. idling causes unburned fuel to get into the oil. which reduces oil life and causes engine wear 5. safety hazard, many runaway cars have killed people and many people have accidently poisoned themselves with carbon monoxide by accidentely starting the car in the garage and not realizing it 6. auto starters decrease trade in and resale value (typically $1000), why: reasons 3 and 4 above. 7. most states and provinces have a law against idling vehicles. Most laws state that you can not leave an unattended car idling for more than 30 seconds, if at all, and even when attended you can not idle it unless it is required to defrost the windows. Odds are that remote starters will be banned outright in the next few years. There are automatic starters for manual transmission vehicles, they require you to activate the system by pressing a button, removing the key and getting out with the engine still running. Then when the button is pressed to lock the doors the engine will shut off. This way the system knows that the car is in neutral. Most states and provinces have outright banned auto starters on manual transmission vehicles even with this safety feature, since it is still possible for something to go wrong. Here in Canada many cats are killed by fan belts in winter, but not all from remote starters....... The cats crawl to be near the heat of a warm engine.

I beleive that you could upgrade to the EJ25 engine for an extra 30 hp! As far as I know the sensor connectors are all the same, and the ECU for the EJ25 should plug right in. You may even be able to use the EJ22 ECU. A subaru expert (dealer) or CCR engines should be able to confirm whether you can do this, and whether the ECU needs to be swapped as well. The EJ25 should cost the same as the EJ22, perhaps even less (more EJ25's by number than the EJ22 now). The ECU could be expensive though. The only thing to note is that in 1998(?) the transmission mount changed so you will need a 1996-1997 EJ25 (the EJ22 also changed transmission mounts). The 1996 EJ25 has 155 HP, will the 1997 was upgraded to 165 HP. Unlike the EJ25, the EJ22's were far more reliable with very few head gasket failures (something like an 1 to 8 ratio verses the EJ25), so one from a scrapyard may be a good deal. Just change all gaskets, seals and belts, and consider replacing the head gaskets as well, its easy to do with the new engine out of the car.

Definitely change the fronts, as for the rears it is up to you. From the front seat you will not hear the high frequency signals from the rear speakers anyways. If you want a little more bass from the rear speakers (which you should notice from the front) and have no objection to spending the money, then change them as well. If you have door mounted tweeters already you can either leave them as is (it wont harm anything), but you may have too much treble. To disconnect them carefully pry the triangular shaped tweeter housing from the door sail (part that holds the mirror). There should be a connector right there in the sail, just disconnect in and reinstall the now deactivated tweeter.

If you lock the doors without using the remote, the subsequent unlock will not honk. I tried to convert my 2001 Outback's keyless entry to use a parking light flasher instead of honking. But I found that the keyless entry/alarm system is connected to the main horns even though the alarm was supplied with an additional horn. The additional horn that came with the alarm and mounted by the right strut tower has never honked...... Since the alarm fits 2000-2004 models and 2002-2004 models have a soft chirp lock/unlock instead of a honk, they probably require this extra horn. If this is the case there should be one wire dedicated to the extra horn? But the 2002 models keyless entry is connected to the horn for panic mode? It was quite confusing so I gave up trying to change the keyless entry/alarm system. I ended up disabling the honk feature (pressing both buttons) and built a light flash unit with some relays connected to the door lock circuit. I set it up so that the parking lights flash on an unlock cycle and the turn signals flash on a lock cycle. I need three relays (one for each sides turn signal and the third for the parking lights) and a few diodes (to prevent the current from backflowing) to set this up. If you know your electronics I recommend this solution. These relays will work when whether you use the remote or the interior lock/unlock switch, since they are not directly connected to the keyless entry. My next enhancement is to add two different chirp sounds to the relay system, one chirp sound for lock and another for unlock.

The WRX/Forester 6 disc in dash changer is definitely your best option if you want a stock look. Your Subaru has room for a double din unit and as far as I know there is enough depth in your dash for this changer. It should be a plug and play installation with no wiring required. Since it is often not the "audiophile" system that many enthusiasts want you may be able to locate a used one quite easily. Also unless a car is really badly wrecked any radio from a wreck will work. The OEM Subaru changer from Panasonic is like $450 at best. A used Subaru 6 disc in dash should cost less than that. Have a local scrapyard search for the part and quote the price, they should be able to quote a price even if they have to secure the radio from another scrapyard. Scrapyards are now a big business so they are all interconnected via the internet and telex networks. Here are a few on Ebay: .http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3058654306&category=50556 http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=38640&item=2443056021 http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3058970698&category=48612 http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=38640&item=2443296358 http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=43948&item=2443582494 http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=43948&item=2443583705 One thing to note is that the Subaru audio systems (with the exception of the McIntosh equipped Outback H63.0-VDC) are not the best performers. Aftermarket Panasonic CD changers will not work with the Subaru deck, even though it is also made by Panasonic. The plug is different enough so that your stealership can make a huge profit selling you a changer. If you are interested in sound quality get an Alpine, Clarion or other aftermarket radio. If you are experienced with MP3 files, you can even get a head unit that will play back CDR's encoded with MP3 files. A single CDR with MP3's can hold more songs than 6 audio CD's. My Sony changer accepts 6 cd's and has MP3 playback, so I can get about 80 or so songs per disc for a total of almost 500 songs

Any switch down there is aftermarket. Since it is protected it may have been a remote car starter button. Are there any red lights or extra holes on the dash or doors? The Subaru keyless system "never" forgets remote codes. I have had batteries disconnected for weeks and the remotes still work when reconnected. The Subaru keyless system accepts four remote codes, either 4 different remotes or 1 remote repeated 4 times. To program the steps are something like this (varies with model/year): 1. with all doors closed turn the ignition key to "on" and then "off" (do not start) 2. open the driver's door 3. turn the key from off to on 10 times quickly (in like 14 seconds or so) 4. the horn will honk a few times to indicate that it is in programming mode 5. press a remote button (lock) 6. the horm will honk to confirm the remote 7. press lock button on remote 2, 3, & 4 (or repeat 4 times with on remote, or twice with 2 remotes) Some of the Subaru systems require you to start from the beginning of the remote programming cycle for each remote, other allow you to program all 4 at once.

Just curious on the wheels. They are the 92-94 Turbo Legacy wheels which were also used on the early Outbacks. What are they doing on your Impreza? Were they salvaged, special ordered, or did an Outback owner trade up to a different set? As for the seats I found the seats in my 93 Legacy uncomfortable on long drives (fine for about three hours) and the seats are much improved on my 2001 Outback, although the lumber support seems to be in the wrong place (too low), and the head restraint is too far back. :wave: Note to Subaru: Drive a Volvo or Saab and take seat design lessons from them!! And return the quick release tilt steering to the Legacy that disappeared in 95! And add a telescoping steering column.

The gas lines run on the inside of the car, so you may have a damaged line or a loose clamp. Most damage is done by people installing audio systems and accidently drilling trough a line. Or as Strakes indicated you could have an external leak. Or you could have a problem with your evaporative emmissions system. Any check engine codes? Check for a cracked charcoal canister. It is behind the right rear wheel (on all 2000+ models and some earlier ones as well). This behind wheel location is not good, as it is susceptable to damage, on the 2005 model this canister is in a different location. Have you recently changed a fuel filter? Are its hose clamps tight? The reason I ask is based on mileage and age your fuel filter is past its scheduled replacement time. Another cause could be a leaking fuel injector, they rarely fail, but when they do you get a gasoline odour from the engine compartment that is difficult to locate (very small amount of fuel). I am not sure but isn't the fuel system part of the emmisions warranty that is 7years/110,000 miles or something like that?

I also have a Legacy/Outback radio install guide on my site. No guide for speakers yet. My guide applies to manual transmission vehicles, but aside from the removal of the trim around the shift lever the process is the same. 2000-2004 Legacy/Outback Radio Install Guide

Verify that the window is properly aligned: The window should double seal against the rubber seal. It should contact on both the edge (1st seal) and back (2nd seal) of the glass on its complete circumference. Adjusting the window will require removing the door trim to adjust the window stops. You can also adjust the window angle. See your Haynes manual for the details on this. BUT in most cases the Window is properly adjusted, so you have to use the following undocumented methods: Lower the front windows. Pull firmly but carefully inward on the sail (the part above the door panel to which the mirror is attached. Over time the sail will bend out, and it needs to be bent back in. Again, be careful, you only need to bend it a few millimeters, not break it off. If this does not solve the problem, you can also use Vise Grip QuickClamps or a C clamp and small blocks of wood to squeeze the sail so if seals against both side of the windows glass. Do this with the window up and don't use too much pressure. A third trick involves adding foam window seal (thin foam with peal and stick adhesive on one side) (may be referred to as weatherstripping) between the flap and body of the the frames rubber seal. Subaru's come with a bit of this foam in the mirror area already, but it often falls off. If the peal and stick adhesive does not stick use Shoo Goo or another type of rubber adhesive to hold the foam in place. You should use silicone lubricant on the seals from time to time to lubricate and protect them. Spray the lubricant on a rag and wipe it on the entire door and window seal. This should be done every 6 months or so.