edrach

A while back I bought the BR-3 OBD II reader. A bit past your price range, but I found it useful. Only downside I felt was that it's hard to read a laptop screen on a sunny day; works great at night. Once you have the interface (and I think you can save some money building your own), the software is free. http://www.obddiagnostics.com/ It actually was more information than I needed and I ultimately bought a scangauge II. It's small, it reads codes and clears them and can display most things that are availble through the ECU. I use mine to display real-time alternator voltage, water temp, corrected speeds (for when I change tire sizes), and---just for laughs---engine rpm. Of course I use it to check codes that pop up now and then and clear them when needed.

Not your Bad; we all learned this one way or another. That's why I like this Board.

Sorry I missed that. Learned something new with this one. Thanks.

The scanguage II will work with your subaru. Check the manual and set the PIDs to SUPPORTED (page 21 of the user manual). Subarus from '95 to '99 require this setting to work properly. If it still doesn't work, take it to the place you bought it and get a replacement or request your money back. Other cars (and Subaru 2000 and newer) use the PID setting in ALL which is the default setting with the scangauge II.

I remember an old post from here on the USMB: Cut a fresh apple or two into segments and leave it in the car for a week on a couple of plates. Somehow the apple soaks up odors.

My wife and I will be there for the Primitive Rally School as well as the rallycross on Sunday.

From the rally pre-check crew: Got back late last night from the pre-run for the 2010 No Alibi rally. Many of the old favorites, and some new roads in store. Is "epic" too strong a word? You'll need to decide for yourself. Over the route we observed wildlife (snakes transported by hawks, coyotes trying to blend in, indecisive marmots), vistas (lava outcrops, columnar basalt, ginormous concrete structures), and of course the usual mayhem, natural and man-made (twisted power line pylons and a building on fire in Moses Lake). We can't guarantee you'll be able to observe all of those, but if you stay at home, you certainly won't get the chance. Some photos from our pre-run fun: http://www.flickr.com/photos/teamdrally/ If you haven't yet signed up, now is the time. Car numbers are going briskly, just like some of your favorite TSD sections. More event info at: http://www.rainierautosports.com/events/2010/noalibi/

So whatever happened with this? What fixed the vibration?

I don't care what they tell you the alternator or a faulty wire is the issue. Even if the battery won't hold a charge, the alternator should still put out 13 to 14 volts at about 2000 rpm.

I haven't bought back any that I've sold, but our family has. Our first family Subaru purchase was an '82 gold DL Brat bought by my middle son, Paul. When Paul had an "incident" with it, he sold it to my oldest son, Eric. Eric restored the '82 to usable condition and drove it for many years. It almost was lost to an insurance company last year after suffering a minor accident. It stayed in the family when we sued in small claims court for a fair settlement and did not have to turn it over to the insurance company; it even avoided a salvage title designation. I bought the '82 Brat from Eric last month to replace the blue '84 Brat that I bought from Zap 9 years ago and sold back to him yesterday.

I'm heading for Hillsboro tomorrow (quickie business trip); I'll be in Richie's shop while I'm in the area since I need some work done on my wife's Forester. I should be headed home on Friday at the latest.

I need a carfax report on JF2AT53B9CE505419. Needs to be carfax which claims to have three records on file; autocheck has nothing ?? PM me if you can help me out here. Thanks.

I'm looking forward to it!

Dr. RX will be working this weekend. I'm not sure of anyone else.

We'll miss you Sparkster. Shed some Subaru light on the infidels out east!

Lynn, Having volunteered to work both days for Doo Wops and Olympus recently, I thought it would be prudent to stay home this weekend and work in the garden, garage, etc. Especially if I wish to head down to Hillsboro on the 30th; I'm considering the school again but haven't decided on that yet.

Same weekend as Primitive Racing's next Rally School. http://www.oregonrally.com/rallycross.cfm http://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/findweather/getForecast?query=Hillsboro,%20OR&wuSelect=WEATHER

Thank you for the thought and planned follow-up. So often here on the USMB there's an effort to fix a problem and then an omnious silence without a final solution. Thanks for planning on following through. Regardless, hopefully the issue is repaired soon for you.

I won't be insulted if it falls into a "none of the above" category. I'm perfectly willing to learn and connect new informtion with symptoms. In any event, thank you for the feedback and let us know what finally fixed it. It's so good when an OP reports back with the actual fix. We all learn from it.

No, it didn't cause steering wheel vibration the first time I had the issue. The vibration was so slight that an experienced (non-subaru) shop couldn't confirm it; but I knew it was there. A later failure on one of my other cars was so bad I thought the transmission was falling out of the car--still no steering wheel shaking. If you don't find anything visible tonight, give it time; it will become more obvious with time.

Reading your posts again, it's obvious that you can do your own work for most of this once you find the cause. Give it time and it should become more obvious. Another consideration is cost. Axles cost about $100 each; a driveshaft is much more expensive. I'm not an advocate of throwing parts at something until it's fixed, but axles are much cheaper than driveshafts. As to the left front boot being torn: was it the inner joint? Outer joint (CVJ) has completely different symptoms when it starts to fail.

Another vote for GR-2s. Certainly the best bang for the buck. But if you have the bucks, the KYB AGX shocks are a step up.

Nipper is correct about time is on your side (and perhaps on the driveshaft also--I've never had driveshaft problems but have seen the DOJ syndrome many times in the last 10 years). Neither the driveshaft or DOJ issue will leave you stranded without warning. Both possibilities will get significantly more severe with time which should point you to the correct solution. Update: Actually I have had a driveshaft issue once with our Impreza. Local shop diagnosed it for me quickly (thank you Pacific Import Auto). After test driving it, they put it up on the lift with the engine running and a tech in the car. Put it into first gear and let the engine idle. You could actually see the driveshaft vibrate as it turned. A trip to the local pull a part yard and a couple of hours under my car and the vibration issue was resolved.