johnceggleston

what's the number? if it starts with 4S3B... then it is the vin number (for legasacys & outbacks), and you can run a car fax on it. i thought the vin# was stamped in to the block on the passenger side at the rear.

FWIW, the bearing in my wife's 97 avalon made intermitten noises. some time a scraping sometime a grinding, no noise at all when i rode in it. i never heard it. she finally had the shop look at it and they thought it was too dangerous to drive. my only experience up to that point was with outback bearings giving a speed related noise as they went bad. live and learn i guess.

http://www.car101.com i think will help.

i'm in for 5... but if you win a bag of candy you have to share.

although it maybe could be done with the plastic shroud in place, it would only be by someone who has done it several times before. there are 3 screws on the under side of the plastic surrounding the steering column. they are recess, you will need a long thin phillips screwdriver. once these are removed, you will need to seperate the top half from the bottom. the bottom half maybe a little tricky, you may need to move, wiggle, the lever controlling steering wheel tilt. be gentle. put the key in the ignition, and turn it . then look on the under side, floor side i think, of the ignition lock cylinder , there is a pin about 1/8"+ in diameter, press this in and pull on the key and the cylinder will slide out. DETAILS: i'm always using a paper clip that i have streched out, it needs to have a very small elbow on the end , about a 1/4 inch, this isn't stiff enough, so it is always a challenge. an ICEPICK with a small hook would be perfect. any key cylinder from 91 - 99 at least will work, also nissan of similar years will work. for 20$ you can have the lock smith re-key the new cylinder to match the existing key. BUT: your problem may be a worn cylinder. not a bad cylinder. for the same 20$, you maybe able to get the existing cylinder re-keyed so it will work with a matching new key. keys and cylinders wear at the same time, new pins in the cylinder and new matching key may solve your proble after you put it all back together , be sure to turn off the virgin switch on top of the steering column.

95 - 99 bumper covers are interchangable, the variations are in the look of each model, outback vs. GT vs, leg L. but they will all still swap around, the bumper cores are all the same. i have never heard of any one comparing 90 - 94 bumper core to 95 - 99. but i'd assume they are different.

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the exhaust from any 96 - 99 legacy L, LS, LSi, outback, GT, or brighton will work. probably 95 as well, as long as it has 2 o2 sensors, i think they do. even the exhaust on your 96 obw will work. apparently used cats are a no no to sell, you might look for a wrecked car or the like. buy the wreck, use the parts, sell the wreck. also look in the for sale threads and post in the wanted section. www.car-part.com sort your search by distance.

there's no reason not to use the engine, i just wouldn't give it to my sister expecting it to last a lifetime. but since you have it, i'd use it. and since it's a non interferrence engine, you could in fact justify just doing the minimum, belt and noisey pulleys, unless you go off roading a lot. worst case, you do it again after a tow. but any number of things could go bad before the belt fails next time, including an auto accident. of course, the added expense to do it all is not huge, especially considering what you plan to do with it. worst worst case, you have to find another 97 - 98 to drop in 50k miles from now. IMO, if the 89 - 96 EJ22 is bullet proof then the 97 - 99 has on a flak jacket. just as good as long as the maintence is done on schedule.

nope, when in park, only the front axles are locked, the rear shaft spins freely. it doesn't engage until the aft pressure makes it. you will have to lift at least one rear wheel though.

i'd probably go with the lower miles/ newer 97, and replace anything that might break in the next 100k miles. 100k is a long time, even at 20k a year it's 5 years. that car will be 16 years old by then. she'll probably be ready for a different car, or a new timing belt plus and another 100k. the 95 with 235k, may not make it another 100k.

lots of people know more than i do, but... putting another 22k miles on the 98 sounds ok, it will then have 135k miles on it. i would think the original pulleys would last that long. putting another 39k on the 99 means it will have 200k miles on it, this sounds like a lot for original pulleys, if they are. this seems like a bigger gamble to me. you might consider a mid point inspection. just my .02 worth.

checking the pulleys is the same work as replacing the timing belt. the only difference is the cost of the belt. but you may be buying pulleys instead. the way i see it there are only 2 problems facing you for a pulley inspection, and neither is huge. 1. the hamonic balancer / crank pulley can be diffficult to remove due to rust or corrosion. but yours was off recently so that may not be an issue. i rented a puller from autozone. 2. lining up the cam pulleys when reinstalling. one side is not an issue but the other side wants to jump or spin around. but lots of people have over come this and had good success. lots of help here on how to... the only question i would have is, if you are going through all this labor to check the pulleys, why not spend another 50$ and put on a new belt. then you don't have to go back in for 100k miles.

somewhere i read an article about a hesitation shift, 2-3 maybe, and the cause being an engine sensor, i think, TPS maybe. the idea was the trans wasn't sure where the throtle was, once the sensor was replaced, all was fine. i guess you could try cleaning first. i wish i could remember.

have you tried shifting manually to see if it does it then? or drive more aggressively in 2nd, and back off on the gas when it goes to 3rd. this may cause it to skip 3rd altogether, but who knows?

have you considered droping both down with the wheels, tires and cross member, (keep the sway bar attached?) and lifting the chassis up and then sliding the eng/trans forward. it works great on donor cars because you can cut away all the cross members in from of the engine. i've also read of someone doing it in a replacement situation. i think pulling both from above is a real challenge.

if this spring has 'hooks' at one or both ends, it is probably off the 'park lock' mechanism. the thing that keeps the car from rolling when in park. it is a surprisingly simple device located low in the trans, visible after removing the extention housing. third row down, far right picture, in the centerof the pic near the bottom, does it look like this? http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v204/All_talk/Subaru/4EAT/?

pulling the pan to replace the filter on the trans is not necessary. it doesn't have one, just a screen. and the pan gasket, actually the pan rim can be difficult to reseal if it gets twisted out of shape. better off to leave it alone if you don't have ot go into it for any other reason.

is this true? i thought there were 2 part numbers for the legacy belt? 60k and 105k belts.

also , next time you are back at your regular shop, ask him to check to make sure the bolts a tight. if loose , it leaks.

it's easy to lift a legacy up by putting on outback struts. springs, if the come with used struts make the job easier, but they are the same on outback / legacy. then you can use outback wheels and tires. now the real question is how, if you can, do you lift an outback????? any hints??

now that i think about it , i had to drill the hole from below in the frame rail ,one each side. i mounted the other bolts through the tie down loops first, see below, and then drilled the holes where i needed them. i didn't care too much as long as it bolted up tight. i fished the nut 'with the handle' in from above, i was working with a wagon, 97 obw,, and had to pull up the carpet covered hard frloor panels on either side of the spare tire compartment. mine didnt have the extra long curved device pictured above, but it was a nut mounted on to a oblong flange so when tightening the bolt from below, it would not spin. or it could have been a bolt from above with the flange and thre nut from below. i used a coat hanger to snake/sneek it in to the right place. the other two bolt on points were as mentioned, they bolt through the existing tie down loops on the a$$ end of the frame rail. there is a bolt, matbe a spacer the same thickness as the tie down loop or slightly less and then a bracket it to clamp to the tie down, and then the washer and nut. i tink i mounted mine one on the outside and one on the inside. it was just easier, and again i didn't care as long as it bolted up tight. if you bought yours new for a subaru, go back and get the hardware you need. you were short changed.

double post

that's the way mine worked.

from what i've seen , it's easy. a snap ring on the hub and they come right out. the trans shop i used to do mine, used a rtv type gasket on the rear extention housing.