haretoday Posted June 18, 2006 Share Posted June 18, 2006 When my friend passed away she left me her pet car, a 97 Legacy GT wagon with 156000 miles on it. Since I'm used to driving a truck, I'm just learning the car and have a few questions. Input from anyone who's had this year and model will be greatly appreciated. I don't know what the maintenance on it was before my friend got it at 93000miles, but since she got it she had new water pump and eventually new head gasket to fix the chronic overheating problem. (Since that was done, the intermittant check engine light with code for missing on one cylinder has ceased). Questions: 1, Did the overheating damage the engine and will this cause more problems in the future? She didn't take it to a dealership or even an import shop for repair, and the repair shop had trouble finding the problem. I finally diagnosed it myself based on the sludgy carbon deposits in the coolant reservoir - some things about internal combustion engines remain the same, no matter the year - and pulled up the info the repair shop needed online. 2, The car doesn't always want to shift into 3rd gear - it's an automatic. I'm having deja-vu here - my 91 mitsubeestie had symptoms like that, and I wound up spending big bucks to get the tranny rebuilt, then later had to replace the onboard computers, and on and on and on. 3, This is a pickly little one: The radio doesn't work, but the cd player does. ?? 3, Not so picky or little: The brakes are pretty squishy. Fluid right up there, no brake light coming on, pumping the pedal doesn't do anything. Pedal is less squishy when it rains. Whattizzit? 4, Yes, this is the last one - for now!!! What's the trick to getting the anchors that hold up the sides of the front bumper to hold? (Her boyfriend was driving the car and ran it over one of those parking stops, then backed up and the front bumper ripped loose) In other words, I'm trying to make up my mind whether or not to sell the scooby before I get attacked by some huge repair bills - at the moment, $25 would be too much. I KNOW that if I sell it, I will suffer a wrathful haunting by a very good friend... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Legacy777 Posted June 19, 2006 Share Posted June 19, 2006 bump Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Commuter Posted June 19, 2006 Share Posted June 19, 2006 I have a 97 OB (essentially the same mechanicals). Overheating: Hard to know if there is any damage, since you don't know the extent of the overheating. Open question. If it is performing fine and gas mileage, oil consumption etc is in line, then it "probably" is ok. Shifting: Don't know. Has the ATF been changed recently? That would be the first thing to do. Have the clutch packs ever been changed? Another weakness of this model year. Radio: Weird. Check connections. Buy a used 6 CD changer / tape / radio from a recent Subaru. Early 2000's (not sure of the latest ones) plug right in. Brakes: Replace the fluid. Make sure they are bled properly. These models do have a squishiness to the brakes. Mine improved a lot when I put on stainless steel braided brake lines. Bumper: Not sure. I haven't had to touch that area, thankfully. Timing belt would have been due at 105k miles. Was that done? Fairly expensive service. Given the known issues with the late 90's Legacys with 2.5L engines, the uncertain history of the car, the mileage... I don't think I'd put too much into it. You might be better off selling it to someone who loves that particular model style and is willing to go thru the steps to get it up to snuff again. Commuter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
haretoday Posted June 19, 2006 Author Share Posted June 19, 2006 Thank you!!! I needed to hear that from someone who knows Subarus, which are pretty unusual around here except for the post-2000 OB. That reinforces the gut feeling that I've had, even though it's a sharp little car, and feels very solid for its size. I don't know enough about the history of the car; I don't know if she had the timing belt done, don't know about the ATF or brake fluid. I didn't find any receipts for that among her things. I DO know that she had regular oil changes; on the other hand, I also know that it took about a month of sporadic overheating before the head gasket was replaced - how bad the overheating was, I don't know. And I don't know what the quality of the machining was. I'll have it on CraigsList before the end of the week - if you see it there, don't buy it unless you want to work on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.