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I think everyone's missing the point. I'm very aware of my other alternatives; buying a new head unit being one of them. I want to keep the stock unit (there's nothing wrong with the sound of the stock Subaru stereos IMO) and I don't want to spend any additional money other than purchasing a new cable such as this iSimple iPod car adapter. Plus I love the challenge of hacking into things electronic. I'm going forward with the tape header option. If I have any success I'll post the results. If not, well... THEN I can drop some $$ on a new stereo

Unfortunately all of those options require a cd changer to be in place; they also require you to load and 'play' a blank cd. This is not an option for me since my cd changer/player has been removed. The more I research the more difficult this project may be. The cd changer interfaces to the stereo via a serial data bus protocol (P-Bus, M-Bus or AI-Net, not sure which one the SUbaru stereo uses). This data signal is what's passed to the head unit and attenuates the stereo, tape deck, weather band, etc. It basically tells the stereo to pass control off to the cd changer. The workaround for this is to load a blank cd so the cd changer thinks it's playing something, when in reality you're injecting your own audio signal via the iPod or aux connections. I may change focus here and work off the tape deck signal. Somehow modify the tape deck to play but hardwire into the audio with the auxiliary in cable.

I've done some pretty extensive googling already and some writeups appear to not cover my exact model stereo, others are selling a 'passthrough' adapter that switches between cd and the hacked aux input. My cd changer straight up does not work; in fact I pulled it out and just the face plate is in it's place so as not to look like a gaping hole of stamped metal. I just want to tap into the existing cd changer wiring harness inputs while having to pay nothing more than 15$ for the iPod to Aux adapter cable. I've also read that there's a Data Transmit signal which you must satisfy somehow. Without this signal the radio won't shut off and transfer audio to the cd changer...

Exactly; thank you! I'm currently using a cassette adapter to bring the iPod signal to the stereo. Not only do I hear the click-clack-click-clack of the cassete cogs turning inside the tape player, but the quality of sound is far from impressive. The cassette adapter relies on the iPod's internal digital-to-analog (D/A) converter to process the signal; which is optimized for tiny headphone speakers NOT car stereo speakers. The Aux in however uses the stereo's pre-amp D/A circuit to drive the signals (this is in the case of normal Aux-in supplied head unit's. I don't know how the amplifier logic works coming from the cd changer; is it amplified and converted pre or post head unit?). Plus most iPod/iPhone aux adapter cables like this one come with a battery and/or sense lead which will charge the device while it's plugged in and power off the device when the car is off. This will be a nice project for me over the holidays. I'll be sure to update everyone on any findings!

Totally stock 2k OBW stereo system (the type w/ a seperate cd changer just below the head unit). A while back my CD changer took a major dump (had to disassemble the thing just to get my cds out ). Needless to say I have no cd player anymore but I'm wondering how hard it could be to modify the cd changer inputs into the head unit to accept an iPod signal? If I could figure out which wires were R/L audio and switched power I don't see why a standard iPod aux car adapter cable wouldn't work. With the cd players audio signals replaced by the iPod signals I should be able to select the CD button on the head unit and hear the iPod. Has anyone ever attempted a mod like this? The first step would be to obtain the pin-out for the cd changer to head unit wiring harness. Theoretically it should work...

Nice Job! Looks like you live in Sudden Valley!?!

Hmm... maybe this was a pointless question. I just looked at Mogi's BBB report; they have an F.

I know this is a forum full of DIY'ers and I am too; but realistically, if it came down to it and my car broke down RIGHT NOW I do not have the time or money to fix it. So I'm hearing a lot about these out-of-warranty auto repair insurance companies MOGI.com is one. And with the inevitable likelyhood of Subaru headgasket failures I'm wondering if this sort of insurance coverage would be a smart option. Any thoughts on this?

Not noth"shore"- northFORK. and no my bike is not pedal friendly. Thanks for relating to my pains!

I don't know off the top but whatever the recommended tire size is and normal pressure (35 psi). Nothing aftermarket and OE alloy wheels. Logging roads are firm to hard packed gravel but there's long sections where the gravel is more 'chunky' like larger golfball to tennis ball size rocks, loose packed. Mostly it's the washboard I'm concerned with. It's getting really bad up there and the roads are unmaintained by the county so it will get worst before it gets better.

I have a 2000 OBW. I drive mostly Hwy and City but on the weekends I ride my Mt. Bike. Where I mostly ride are accessed through logging roads which can be pretty washboard aggressive. With the logging roads in mind, I'm wondering what a good suspension upgrade would be once it's time to replace struts and other suspension components. Again, the logging roads consist of probably 5-10% of the road surfaces I normally drive, but when I do hit the logging roads it would be nice if I didn't feel like my car was being beaten to death.

...just my 0.02 I did the timing belt on my 2000 OBW at 103k using a 'cheap' ebay kit (PCI Timing Belt Kit; pulleys, tensioner and belt). My car is now sitting at 111k (8,000 miles later); and recently I tore into the front timing covers to check timing alignment trying to diagnose a misfire code. That's when I found BOTH of the smooth idler rollers were already shot. The bolt torque is tight but you can wiggle the pulley with your hand and feel slop in the bearing. Now, I realize I may have gotten a lemon kit, but seriously, BOTH bearings? My point, I think I saved 80$ by buying a cheap kit as opposed to OEM but now I'm at least double that in parts and labor having to go in and replace these pulleys that only have 8k miles on them... Key takeaway here is if you don't have the money to do it right the first time, when will you have money to do it over.

It ended up being a bad Fuel Injector in #4. The shop did a battery of tests; the signal coming from the ECU is good, there's some electrical issue once the signal gets to the injector though. They're replacing the injector and will connect it to the scope again to make sure the waveform pulses all jive with eachother. ...500$ later. We were sooooo close!!!! I guess I was close to swapping injectors before I threw in the towel, but my fear was I'd break one or do more damage and still not know what the root cause is.

Ding-Ding-Ding... I'm throwing in the towel guys! Called up a reputable auto shop which I've done buisness with in the past. They've resurrected my wife's dodge intrepid from the dead on many occasions. Talked at length with one of the techs and he assured me they have a "Subaru Master" on site. I feel pretty comfortable bringing my car in. At this point I need to start throwing money and parts at it. I might as well take the alternative and throw money at the pro's. My appointments a week out though. I suppose in the meantime I can do a visual inspection of the crank pulley's reluctor ring, make sure all its teeth are accounted for.

Bran-new plugs somewhere back on page 1 (installed them Friday), they have zero miles on them and are otherwise unused except for start up and idle during these troubleshooting steps.

At idle the vacuum gauge reads a steady 20" fully warmed up. There is a TINY bit of needle-flicker at 20" but it's barely perceptible. And yes, I took a meter to the spark plug wires; they ohm out well within the norm. Correct, I swapped igition wires from the neighbor's car as well. One of the powertrain engineers here at work suggested a TPC or faulting ECU as well. He's not a "subaru guy" though... he just knows engines in general.

I only did dry compression test. The comp tester I borrowed is pretty old, it's not a needle gauge like you'd get at NAPA today, it's a horizontal gauge with a bar that moves left to right (think scroll chart). I don't doubt that the overall readings were off by a bit. My faith in the accuracy of the gauge is that all the readings were close to the same. Agreed... and as mentioned, I trust the gauge only because the readings were the same, not based on what the needle read (I know this just muddies the waters, but this comp tester is all I had access to at the moment). I go back to work tomorrow, but when I get home I think I'll post a video of the vac gauge at idle and when I increase throttle. Swapped coil packs out, yes, with the coil out of my neighbors 2k OBW. It did not make a difference. Although, my coil 'fails' according to the test procedure found in the Chilton manual; interestingly enough though, I compared the resistances of my coil to the neighbors (before I had a manual to reference)and they were the same. So either the book is wrong or my neighbor has a bad coil he doesnt' yet know about. I'm close to throwing in the towel. I'm just really stubborn (no.1) and no. 2, at this point, with respect to all the diagnosing I've done so far I feel the shop will only do what I just did this past weekend and charge me to swap out components until they 'fix it'. Which is what I could do if I had a replenishing bank account. And I've read more endwrench articles in the last three days than I have since I've owned this car. I'll read again on the timing, but I'm pretty sure Ive followed each of the guides to a T. One thing I have learned in all this is Subaru's are actually pretty simple compared to some vehicles... I'll post a video of the vac gauge tomorrow and post a link. Also, I want to thank everyone for they're efforts in helping me with this; Nipper you especially- you're influence on these boards does not go unnoticed

@ unibrook. Misfires ALL the time. From the second I start it up, through the warm-up. UPDATE: I managed to get my hands on a compression and vacuum gauge; also went out and purchased a Chilton manual. ...never had problems, never needed one, till now. Did a vacuum check per manual; readings were rock solid at 20" fully warmed up at idle. However, as soon as I touched the throttle to increase rpms it would flick back and forth +/- 3-5". But I could also hear and feel the engine 'missing' while increasing the rpms. Once I dropped to idle it stabilized at 20". Also did a compression test per manual instructions. All four cylinders exhibit the same results and had the same end pressure readings of between 200-220psi. Each cylinder took approx 4 cranks to reach maximum compression. Within the 4 cranks these were the results per cylinder (did each cylinder twice just for an average): 1= 145, 175, 200, 215 3= 140, 175, 200, 210 2= 140-ish, 160, 210, 220 4= 145, 170, 200, 215 So based on the vacuum and compression readings being within normal (other than the vacuum fluctuation during throttle) I started double checking the ignition again. The book says to expect a primary resistance of 0.6-1.3 ohms between pins 1/2 and 2/4 (if you're looking at the coil's 4-pin connector from the passenger side, pinout is right to left; pin 1 being closest to the radiator, pin 4 being closest to the airbox). My coil reads 'open' (oL) at both these connections!?! But now I'm ultra confused because my neighbor's coil had the same readings and my engine ran the same with his coil swapped in. I also did what Nipper suggested which was disconnect each plug wire one at a time and note any fluctuation in idle. Cylinders 1, 2, 3, when pulled made the engine run rough(er) than normal. Cylinder 4 made no change in engine idle. Also, the spark coming from the boot of the other three wires was MUCH stronger. I'm talkin' a 1" spark though air between the boot and a ground. Cylinder 4, in order to see the spark I had to physically touch the tip of the boot to ground, even then it was weak. Also, the spark would miss every few revolutions. ...coil?

Crankshaft pulley bolt. I'm not even ready to go there yet. I'm just hoping when I did the timing belt at 103 I followed the book by putting oil on the threads and that's what it was. Of course I had the marks lined up when I counted the teeth I have been; plugs, double check timing, swap coil, swap plugs etc. I didn't do all those things at the same time. I start the motor after each configuration. Of course I had to give my neighbor his coil and wires back. I'll pull the plug wires one at a time tomorrow. I did today but I can't recall exactly which ones made the engine run 'worse'. I know one plug didn't seem to make a difference. ...and I apologize for "freaking out" but yeah, I am a little bit. This is my family/go to work vehicle and I really can't afford to put my kids on a Ramen noodle diet so I can have the heads rebuilt. This is just not a good time. ...of course- I'm thinking worse-case at this point. Go figure too... we JUST paid this car off less than a month ago

Isn't the igniter internal to the coil? If not where is it located? Remember I swapped out the coil pack with one out of my neighbors OB.

Kay, update. I've got a neighbor that has the same y/m/m as my 02 outback. I talked him into letting me swap out some parts so I could help isolate this issue. I swapped out my coil pack with his and still misses (you can hear it in the exhaust). Swapped out my spark plug wires with his and still misses. My plugs are totally new. Bought a set of NGK's yesterday just for this issue. Here's the weird part... I dusted off the old timing light and connected it to all 4 wires one at a time to get an understanding of what the spark is doing. Only one cylinder (#1 cyl) flashes with any real steady pattern. All the others (especially #4) are very erratic, #3 flashes erratic and at times really slow; even my neighbor said, it looks like its wanting to stop all together. ...and I did make sure to seperate the wires as much as possible to avoid any stray inductance from the adjacent wire. Maybe I'll post a video...

I'm going to go ahead and assume it was oil from when I did the timing belt. I can't remember but the manual does say to oil the threads, maybe I did that and the oil just hasn't gone away.

Pulled the timing covers to double check timing on a 2000 OBW trying to diagnose a misfire code and raw fuel on plugs 1&3 (see previous post). When I pulled the crankshaft bolt out it was wet with something that smells of gas and oil. Wiped the bolt dry and inserted it again, ohh... it's wet alright! No signs of wet anywhere else around the crankshaft or gear. Car just turned 111k miles; strong runner up until now. I'm panicking at this point...

I just pulled the timing covers and all marks line up. There's 47 teeth on the passenger side and 43.5 teeth on the drivers side. I started another thread regarding a more serious concern! Why the threads of the crankshaft bolts are wet with what smells like fuel and oil!!!

Yes all idlers and tensioners were replaced at 103,000 miles (2k miles early) with new parts from a PCI kit. I did not reuse anything timing related. I don't have a vac or compression gauge. Today I'll pull the covers and see what I can find. Sprockets looked fine when I had it apart during the timing change. In fact the whole engine looked incredibly clean and "new".