FillG

I got one off of ebay for my 98 Legacy and had problems with finding the button too. It just didn't look like what I was expecting. Anyways, I don't know if yours will be the same since the 98 alarm is different from the 99 and yours is an Impreza but here's what mine looks like. I can't get to the back of it to see the color of the wires but hopefully this will help.

I realize this is off topic but isn't the 30th anniversary edition a 98 model year? That's how mine was sold to me. It's got the 30th badge and all the options seem correct but it's supposed to be a 98.

Mine just started this about a week ago. It's a 98 Legacy OBW, 104K miles, just had the clutch replaced about 8 months ago. I saw a message over at http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/ where they mentioned it could be air bubbles in the system. I'd be real happy if that turned out to be the problem because I don't have a lot of spare money to be replacing stuff, but somehow I doubt it's anything that simple. Does anyone know a website that has the text of the TSB? I'm not mechanical but I'd still like to read it so I know what I'm going to mention to the dealer.

last summer I did just over 1100 miles in 18 hours from someplace in the middle of South Dakota back to central Ohio. I didn't want to stop because there were tornados coming across the country behind me.

A friend of mine has one. He says it does an amazing job of holding things in place but that may also be because his Saturns dash has a little indentation that's made to put things into anyways. He says he used to have trouble with stuff sliding out of it and across the dash but since he lined the bottom of it with one of those things, it's not a problem. I think it probably would depend on your driving style too.... I get used to driving my Miata and tossing it around the corners and have a hard time settling down when I get in the Legacy OBW. I don't think a sticky pad would work for me.

X35's right, it keeps you from accidently bumping the shifter out of park. I haven't had an automatic for several years but the ex wife had a 92 Honda Accord with the same lockout thing. Hers was a very noticeable click when you stepped on the brake. It also had a little keyhole beside the shifter that you could stick any key or even a screwdriver into and it would release it without using the brake.

I didn't think to mention it to you when I posted my first reply, but if you want to ungunk your heater controls and stereo, you can just take them out and hose 'em off, then let them dry out real good and reinstall them. I did it to mine and they're working good as new.

I haven't found a better solution, but I'm looking for one too after this.

I already had a CD player but I was recently looking at stereos for my 98 too after spilling Coke in my existing one. I'm not an audiophile or anything like that so I like factory stereos because it seems like they're less likely to be stolen. I was searching eBay and found a pretty constant supply of them by searching for subaru radio, but mine ended up working okay after it dried out.

:D Place the stereo in the oven on the center rack for an hour and a half or until completely dry. Remove from oven, garnish with cinnamon sticks and fresh ginger, and serve.

Well, they were calling for snow today so I cut my drying time short and reinstalled everything last night. It all worked just fine so apparently the circuits were hardy enough to handle a Coke wash while powered on, a tap water wash while completely removed from the car, and then baking in the oven on warm (my lowest setting) for about an hour and a half. Truer words have never been spoken.

I don't know if leather ones are more comfortable but I put over 3000 miles on my 98 Legacy OBW during a 5 day period last year (1062 miles in 1 day!) and my butt never got tired and my back didn't hurt. I can't sit on my sofa for that long without one of those things happening so I'd say the leather seats are definitely very comfortable. Is the cover the only difference between the leather and cloth seats or do they have different foam and springs too? I wasn't sure if you were talking about changing out the whole seats or just the outer cover.

During the winter, the leather seats are definitely colder. If you're going to get leather, get heated leather. The only problem with that is the heating elements are fairly fragile so you have to be careful not to put your knees in the the seat and stuff like that. During the summer, I haven't noticed a problem with them being too hot but my Subaru sits in the driveway most of the summer while I drive the Miata (with the top down) and it has cloth seats.

Well, we're supposed to have a couple days of no rain or snow so I'll drive the Miata and be able to leave the Subaru torn apart and give everything a chance to thoroughly dry out. I disassembled the dash and took the heater controls, cupholder, stereo, and the little pocket thing below the stereo in the house and started trying to take it all apart. My idea was to take everything completely apart and clean and dry it before I put it back together. That way I'd know everything was dry. After about 5 minutes of trying to get more than just the top off of the stereo, I just turned the water on and gave the whole thing a nice warm rinse for several minutes. Did the same to the heater controls since the buttons were all sticky and the temp slider didn't want to slide right. I think I'm gonna just leave it all in the house for a couple days with a fan blowing on it. Maybe try the oven trick for an hour or two on warm just to make sure before I put it back in the car. While I was messing with the stereo, I had a good laugh when I noticed the sticker says it was manufactured August 2002... the car is a 1998 model, so either the previous owner spilled in the original one and killed it or it just went bad. The car originally came with this model stereo in it so that rules out an upgrade from a cassette or something.

I was gonna suggest maybe you had spilled something from the cupholder into the stereo like I did last Friday. Glad you got it figured out and it was nothing serious. You might want to watch out for that cupholder thing though.

Well I just drove the car again and just for the heck of it, I tried the stereo and everything is working great so I guess it all dried up and there's probably no damage to anything. Money's kinda tight right now so instead of replacing it, I'll probably try the component cleaner thing just to make sure it doesn't melt onto anything that might be damaged. Thanks for the advice, you guys and girls are great. Really??? I thought I read the whole manual and I didn't see that. I probably glossed over that part because who would think you're not supposed to use the cupholder when you're actually using the car.

I know you've all heard it before but darn these Legacys and their stupid cup holders!!! I went to the drive-thru at McDonalds and got a regular sized (20oz?) drink and put it in the cupholder for the trip back to the office. The first time I hit the brakes the cup tipped forward in the oversized cup holder hole and allowed Coke to spill out of the straw hole and into the heater controls where it worked it's way down into my stereo and apparently blew it up. It made a loud pop and then a bunch of static. No radio and no cd. Even when I turn it off, it still makes static. Looks like I've now got an excuse to replace the stereo. I've been looking for a legitimate reason ever since I got the car. (You may remember my thread from a while back about not having a clock) Maybe I should sue McDonalds for filling my cup all the way to the top.

Yeah, I assume "knees in the seat" is what happened to mine... I haven't messed with it any more since my original message. It's been too cold and since I rarely have a passenger and the driver's side works fine, I'm not that motivated. Thanks for all the replies though, whenever I get back to it, I'm gonna compile everything that's been said here and I should be able to figure something out. If nothing else, 1stsubaruparts has the lower element for Legacys for just $75 now. The ones for Foresters are $226.

This is very interesting because I've got a 98 Legacy Outback and twice now I've seen wisps of smoke or steam coming from the grill when I'm coming to a stop. It hasn't been clouds like you describe, just a couple wisps. Since it's only happened twice in the 8 months I've had it, I haven't been able to narrow it down. I'm gonna have to keep a closer eye on it after the next rain.

In the 80's I was using BP exclusively until I bought an 88 Celica. It was almost new and after I bought it, it started running rough and even stalled a couple times. I took it back to the dealer and their first question was "Are you using BP gas?" They said they had a bunch of customers with the same problem and suggested I try Shell. I've been using Shell ever since that day. The car ran fine for the next 9 years until I traded it for a piece of junk 300ZX.

I definitely didn't think about the parallel/series issue. I'll have to check into that more. We only had it on high and that's when we got the back heat only. 100 Danish Crowns huh? That's way cooler than 3 US Quarters and a Dime. :cool: If I do get brave enough to take the seat apart, it looks like I'll have to separate the bottom from the back. When I take them apart, are there any springs in the recliner mechanism that could go flying? Also, do I need to note the position it's in and make sure I put it back together in the same position? It's stuff like that that scares me.

This past spring I picked up my 1998 Legacy OBW... now that it's gotten cold outside, I was gonna impress a friend with my seat heater. After 10 minutes or so I asked him if it was warm enough. He told me the bottom wasn't warming up at all but the back felt nice and toasty. So today I took my 14mm socket and my multimeter out to the car to see what's wrong with it. First thing I did was verified that it was getting 12V when the switch is turned on. Check, 12V, got it. Now I've got the seat out to make sure the wiring is in good shape. Everything looks good there. (I even recovered 85 cents the previous owner had lost in and around the bolt points ) I started checking ohms since there should be some resistance there from the heating stuff, but I'm just confusing myself. Can anyone tell me what I should check and what I should expect to find? I don't think I'm up to taking the seat apart and taking the leather off so if it involves doing that just to troubleshoot, I'll probably just put it all back together and try to forget about it.

I can't tell you any details about either one of them but here's my experience with front end covers... In the late 80s I had a black car with lots of chips on the front end, so I did what you're planning and put a bra on it. It said in the paperwork that whenever it rains or whenever you wash the car you have to take the thing off until it's dry. What a hassle, I never did it. Then about 6 months later when I finally did take it off, the paint was totally hazed over. It pretty much looked gray instead of black. It was my own fault for not following the directions but after that I decided I didn't want another one. I don't know if they're still like that or not but I'm not gonna put another one on any car I care about.

I just got an email back from the seller of those P131's on ebay and she said they don't have a clock either. Oh well, I'll work something out. Maybe bigger numbers on my stick on clock would work better. I'll let everyone know what I eventually end up with.

Umm... yeah.... thanks alot..... Seriously though, I don't like the looks of most aftermarket stereos but I didn't even think of replacing with a better factory stereo. The AM/FM/Cass/CD/Weather one would be kinda rediculous for me because I don't have any cassettes and I've got other stuff with weather bands on it and I never use them either but if I can get a 6 CD changer with a clock I'll be all over it. Thanks.