First off, hello everyone! This is a great message board, and happy holidays to everyone!

 

So heres the deal. I bought a '92 Subaru Legacy wagon, automatic, 171k to last me till next spring '06 wheni graduate school, i live off campus so its a good car i feel to drive me around. but here are two problems i am having 1 the wheel bearing, and 2 over heating.

 

1) I know the right rear wheel bearing needs to be replaced, its been making a WAH WAH WAH sound since i bought it, but didnt know it was the wheel bearing till about a month or so ago. I live an hour and a half away from home where my school is, so on vacations i drive home, and havent had any problems yet. my first question is, how bad is it that im driving it on the interstate? and What other bad things can happen besides the wheel bearing, that will eventually be replaced in the coming weeks?

 

2) I havent actually had the car over heat where steam was coming out, but the temp gauge has had the needle up there. When im on the high way and it gets passed the half way and i rev, the engine the needle goes down. I was at the canadian border waiting for about 10 minutes till i got through, and the needle stayed half way. I drove up to a mountain resort about 8 miles frommy house, and within 7 minutes it was higher than normal. The heater works, Both fans on the radiator work. What else could it be? I'm going to have the wheel bearing fixed in two weeks, should i tell them to see whats going on, or is this something that is to be expected from a 12 year old car?

 

Other than these two things the car runs great, and for my first car i am having a good time with it. Thanks for any and all help!

First off, Welcome to USMB! The car you have comes with teh EJ22 engine, which is considered one of Subarus best ever. You have a good car there. I have the same one with a 5 speed manual.

 

1) If the wheel berring goes too long without being repaired, it can sieze or spin on the hub and cause that to have to be replaced as well. Better early than late. . .

 

2) Two things to check are the thermostat (get a genuine Subaru thermostat, the aftermarket ones are not nearly as good, and may not even work), and air pockets in the engine. There have been several descriptions of how to "burp" the cooling system to prevent this. Search for "overheating" on this forum.

Be careful with the overheaing problem. Cooking an engine is a quick way to make it cost prohibitive to repair.

Does that model have disc brakes on the rear? If so you may trash the brake rotor.

sounds like you might want to check that the radiator isn't clogged either for the over heating problem.

I'm having everything checked out on the 14th, I heard from some family members today that it is probably either the thermostat, or i need to "burp" the radiator, thanks for all the help, i'll reply back then! happy holidays!

OK so heres the news post getting my car fixed.....

 

Wheel bearing replaced, no more noise! YES!

 

RadiatorFlushed, new coolent put in, and the thermostat replaced just in case, so far so good.......

 

NEW problem i think, When can you tell its just the battery, or the alternator??????????

 

Tuesday the 11th i drove the car all day, nothing happened, went to get gas, got in the car, ar wouldnt start.... got a new battery on thursday started up, and is still working.....is there any way to tell if its the alternator, or am i just worrying? Thanks for all the help!

 

Thomas

Put a multimeter on the batterie's posts when alt is charging, should be around 14 volts. Do that fast cause a bad alt will ruin you new battery. A starting battery is not made to be completely discharged.

So i replaces the alternator, i will check the voltage tomorro, but it started right up when i picked it up, and it started a couple other times after that so im happy. the new battery didnt even make it a week (even though today was -20) so im going to turn it on later tonight, and let it run for about a half an hour. Hopefully it will be ok. Thanks for all the help guys!

So i replaces the alternator, i will check the voltage tomorro, but it started right up when i picked it up, and it started a couple other times after that so im happy. the new battery didnt even make it a week (even though today was -20) so im going to turn it on later tonight, and let it run for about a half an hour. Hopefully it will be ok. Thanks for all the help guys!

Ya, any autoparts store in VT should be able to test the output of the alternator. But if a new battery is not starting the car the alternator is not up to snuff. I live in Nashua, NH and I know how cold it has been in Norther New England the past two weeks. All my family lives in Woodstoock, VT lots of good Subaru mechanics in the Northern Northeast!!

Another thing to check is the alternator warning light. Make sure it turns on when you turn the key from off to run without starting the car. If the light doesn't turn on check the bulb and see if is burned out. Without the bulb filament being intact, you will have no exciter voltage to the alternator.