September 29, 200916 yr Friends 2003 Legacy Wagon that I'm looking at after being jacked around by a couple different shops. 240,000 miles He said the clutch engaged really high, he'd have to rev the engine and hold the brake to get it to engage and get up hills every time he drove it. I drove it 20 miles last night, seemed fine, stopping numerous times at the base of a mountain, etc. It engaged really low for me and seemed fine. (he definitely knows how to drive a clutch) Is there something that could fail intermittently? It has the hydraulic clutch set up - he said one of the previous shops replaced the fluid in it. (he's been jacked around a bunch on this car, replaced trans, clutch twice, etc - so that's why i'm trying to help him out). These things have slave cylinders and such, what happens when they fail?
September 29, 200916 yr Gary: I had a friend whose clutch in his 99 OBW was fine around town, but would begin to fade as he drove a longer distance and it heated up. I bled the system and that did not fix it. I spoke with a Subaru master tech and he told me that there had been a TSB a while ago about this very issue. The fix is to replace the slave sylinder and the flexible hose to it, bleed the system and the problem should be gone. I did that on my friend's car and the problem is gone. Hope this helps. Mike
September 29, 200916 yr Author I had a friend whose clutch in his 99 OBW was fine around town, but would begin to fade as he drove a longer distance oh man, this guy commutes 1 hour to work every day! i think you're on to it, maybe that's why it drove fine for me. i found that TSB you talked about. thanks Mike! *** I have no idea about this, any chance I can do this in a couple hours? I'd like to get the car back to him tomorrow if possible. How many parts was it - I see mention of a slave cylinder, two gaskets, and a hose (still searching for part numbers)?
September 29, 200916 yr The salve cylinder is easy. The gaskets are the bolt washers like on a brake caliper. I didn't replace those. The hose is never is stock at the dealer so I didn't replace that either. The whole job took about a half hour and you will need someone to pump the pedal while you are bleeding it. Bleeding took the most time. I would replace the hose too, just to be sure and that will add about five minutes to the job. Good Luck Mike
September 29, 200916 yr The Endwrench article mentions up to 2002 Legacy. http://endwrench.com/images/pdfs/ClutchInfoWin04.pdf
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