I have a 1991 Legacy L and i'm having issues with the brakes. When I'm driving it sounds as if the pads are touching the disc, especially when I turn. It sounds as if its coming from the front passenger side, but i'm not 100% sure on which side. Also when you are stopping the brake pedal depresses to the floor, then when you let it up and push it again it's firm. I've put fresh brake pads on the front. The brake fluid is not low. And I've bled the front brakes. Any other ideas??

Could be the dust protector is rubbing on a rotor. It produces a scrapping sound, and does get louder when turning. Use a screw driver to pry back the metal dust protector away from the rotor.

 

Brake pedal going all the way to the floor is not good. I think the master cylinder is bad.

The rotor was scraping the dust shield. Got that bent back. next up the Master cylinder, then head gasket and we are good to go!

HG on an EJ22? Not common.

 

If you recently replaced the coolant ensure you 'burped' it properly!

Td

Yeah, I did that, and no avail.

like he said, EJ22 headgaskets really don't fail. they blow when the engine has been previously overheated which stresses them, but they don't typically just fail on their own accord with no provocation.

 

sounds like you diagnosed it already though - clogged radiator, fan not coming on, grille/radiator fins clogged (someone just fixed this issue on another subaru forum - blew out the fins and all is well), low on coolant, tstat, bad radiator cap?

 

aftermarket tstats can be problematic out of the box. visually comparing them the subaru tstat looks like a fine piece of machinery while the aftermarkets look like things my 3 year old plays with. but of course they work most of the time too.

 

if the headgaskets are blown then more then likely it was overheated previously, not that hard to imagine on 20+ year old cars.

Oh I know its been overheated. This wont affect the car if the hg are changed? any time its over heated for me i've pulled over and let her cool down.