AK-Brando

My understanding is the Auto tranny Subaru's are electronically controlled AWD, where the Manual tranny Subaru's are viscous coupled AWD. What this means, and the way it was explained to me, is the Auto detects a difference is wheel speed and sends power to the wheel that is turning slower. Normally the Auto is 90% front, 10% rear (I think). Upon hard acceleration, the Auto will change to 50% front, 50% rear. The Manual tranny has to have some slippage before the power is transfered. I think the Manual is normally 60% front and 40% rear, but I am not sure on those numbers. Maybe somebody has more detailed information, or can correct mistakes I have made in my assumptions.

I believe you are talking about Muttley (sp?), and I believe the show was Catch that Pigeon. Later on they made an appearance on Laff-a-Lympics. It was Hanna Barbarra cartoons. I forget who did the Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoons. Yes, I grew up watching cartoons in the late 70's and 80's.

I don't know how many of you are into ATV's, but a few of them are the same way. The Honda 300 4x4 and Suzuki 300 4x4 are two that I know off the top of my head have different sized tires front and rear. (24" in front, and 25" in back if I remember correctly.) BTW - I agree on trying to keep the tire sizes the same. On our Legacy, when we ruined a tire because of a blowout, I replaced all four. Kept the other three as good spares since they still had about half the tread left.

Seems to me Chevy did that with certain Suzuki products over here a number of years ago.... The famous (or is it infamous?) Geo lineup. Geo/Chevy Tracker = Suzuki Sidekick/Vitara, Geo/Chevy Metro = Suzuki Swift

Glad you made it out in one piece. Kudos to the Subaru that survived as well! B.

Eagle River is a bit closer to me than Soldotna! I'll keep that in mind when I get my next Subaru.

In another thread, someone mentioned that AAA-1 Subaru in Anchorage is no longer the priemier shop it once used to be. (click here for that thread) While doing a search, I came across this article in the Anchorage Daily News. Now it makes perfect sense that the Subaru shop in Soldotna is so good and the AAA-1 in Anchorage has gone to crap. I was not aware of the fact the Anchorage shop changed hands and the owners moved to Soldotna. I haven't had a Subaru for about a year, and the last time it needed work (that I couldn't do myself) was at least 3-4 years ago. I guess that means that when I get a Subaru and it needs work, its just that much further to go for the best Subaru shop in Alaska! Later,

No problem. Even though I don't currently have a Subaru, I used to, and plan on getting one again. Be glad to help out anybody that needs it if I can. If any of you plan on heading to Valdez, drop me a line so we can meet. I do get up to Anchorage quite a bit, but it seems I am always pretty busy (shopping, family, etc.) when I am there. My time in Anchorage always seems too short for what I want to get done! Later,

Sounds good. Is that hotmail account still active? Or I can send you all my info for a mailing/membership list.

I was just looking at some old posts (since I was away from the board for quite a number of months). Is this still in the works? I no longer have a Soob, but I am still looking. If it's open to "non-owners", count me in.

Also as your brake pads wear, the fluid in the master cylinder will go down, hence the "low fluid" warning.

My guess would be the brake fluid level in the master cylinder. Our van has a sensor in the master cylinder and when the fluid gets low the brake light (on the dash) comes on along with the warning chime. I can tell when its getting low because it will start flashing when I make a hard right hand turn.

Also there are two theories about driving in snow (sand). One is to float on top of it, and lowing tire pressure will help here. The other is to get down to a solid bottom and that is where tall tires will help. I imagine that tires that are good in mud and snow with large lugs (think sandrail paddles) would be excellent in sand.

I can't vouch for sand, but my old 95 wagon did wonderfully in the snow with all season tires. It would push snow with the front bumper all the way up to the lights! Never got stuck even once! Of course I didn't really off road with it much. From what I understand though, snow and sand are pretty similar to drive in.

Maybe somebody more knowledgeable than me can answer this, but I've always been told to re-torque lugnuts after ~50 mi or so, especially on aluminum wheels.

Or Valdez on a GOOD day!

I still have my Chilton's for the Legacy. Since I no longer have the car, I would be willing to part with the manual.

I know this should be obvious (and is probably listed somewhere else on this site), but when did Subaru move to the Phase2 2.5L?

Before I got my Legacy wagon I looked at the OB and the Forester side by side, even test drove both (back in '99). The OB is quite a bit bigger in cargo room and feels more "car-like" than the Forester. The Forester sits up a little higher in the seating (the seat base is taller than in the OB) and feels more "SUV-like". Comfort wise, I think the Forester seats fit me better than the OB (I like the taller seat base), but both are comfortable. I needed the extra room the wagon platform offered, so I got the Legacy. When I was talking to the dealership they told me point blank the Forester was based on the Impreza platform and the Outback on the Legacy (obviously).

I never needed chains/studded/snow tires on our Legacy. Despite pushing snow with the front bumper!

That is AWE-Some! If there weren't pictures I probably wouldn't believe it!

No idea since I've never had a Forester, but here is my guess. On my Nissan I have an "override" switch to start the truck without pushing in the clutch. It could be something similar to that. An override for the manual tranny version of the Forester. Like I said, I'm guessing here and really have no basis in fact on this! :-\

You should have the instructions in your e-mail. As you can see according to the first page of the instructions, that is the correct part number. Good luck!

A friend of mine had an old Bronco that had a bad tank in it. He used a product called Z-spar to make a patch. It would hold for a while then start to leak again. His Bronco was what we call a "Kodiak Klunker". Basically it was a beater that was more rust than solid metal! Z-spar is a two part epoxy that can be used for all kinds of repairs. I have used it on commercial fishing boats for various repairs, but never for a gas tank. I have also repaired a gas tank on a lawn mower with JB Weld. However that tank was quite a bit smaller than the tank in your car! I don't know if JB Weld would hold up to the pressure of an automobile tank. It worked fine on the lawn mower tank and never leaked again! I just made sure I had the surfaces very clean and roughed them up well before bonding them together. Good Luck!

Our '95 LS wagon (Auto and AWD) got 24-25 in town and 22-24 in town during the winter. Highway we usually saw 28-30.