Legacy Ree

So sorry for the delay to all replies, life got in the way. I'd still be loving this brute if the back frame didn't rust out! And yes, it's dirty, we live on a dirt road. LOL

Should I just junk it? I invested a lot of money to save my 2002 Forester...It has new brakes, new exhaust...then I found out the frame was rusted. The engine isn't original, but has better mileage than my original engine (which still has the oil leak prone to this model...and I've been faithful on oil changes). At the time I replaced the engine, I gained the air conditioner which wasn't working in my car...it needs some part to make it work again, but I don't know what it is. The rear door doesn't lock, and the rear wiper doesn't...(but everything else works)...and I love this car WAY MORE than my new 2019 Crosstrek. Is less than $300 the best I can get for a car that had a $1300 brake job before finding out the frame was rusted out?

Thanks edrach, but I have the balancer and keyway coming from IN right now. If you had replied 30 minutes sooner, I would have taken you up on that! I can't believe I got it to work just in time. If it had made this noise on the E-way, I would have stopped it where I was. It wasn't until I got the car IN the parking spot that the noises started. It actually felt good to pop the hood and find the problem immediately. The car is usually a good one for baffling us for a while.

On the way into work, my battery and brake light came on (93 Legacy, 244k miles). I merged into the slow lane while I tried to analyze the car (praying it wouldn't die till I got to work). It was running fine, no noise, and the rpms and temp were normal. When I got to my exit, the car was hard to turn...and steering was rough the rest of the way. The car is here with me (at work), and my dad sees the harmonic balancer is loose. He tightens it, and it comes loose as soon as the car starts. Any suggestions? He's done the timing belt on it before, so he can do it again...he just doesn't understand why the balancer won't stay tightened and if there's going to be more he has to do before doing the timing belt again.