bustedbolt

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well thanks for the tips. I figgured the dealer would know what good compression was... gee. I got my compression tester which was conveniently here in my dads garage and tested three cylinders quickly on a moderately warmed up car. #3 @95:dead: #1 @187 #2 @173 I am leaving the car with a known good independent subaru mechanic in OHIO here for the inevitable valve job. and getting a ride back home with friends. Will update with the conclusions for the record. officially a bummer at 131K thanks again all. brian

Hello all, 96 2.2 legacy brighton I have an intermitent misfire #3 cylinder that I have chased for a year. It happens while going up a big hill at 70 in West Virginia and on decelleration when you take your foot off the gas. Now the idle has turned waay lumpy on three cylinders i guess. This all started last year when I was doing this same trip. I don't really use my car that much as you might guess. I have replaced plugs and wires with stock. fuel filter and pcv then got "injector cleaning" at shop. swapped with new coilpack. It doesn't show up usually, so I think maybe it has been resolved. One CEL on a trip to boston. One on a trip to baltimore. Now this trip is 500 miles to OHIO, and I get quite a few CELs while driving around town, I have avoided the uphill at 70mph stall by going 55 in the mountains. I stopped at a dealer in bridgeport WVA to get an actual answer. They were very nice and took me in right away but.. They basically said yes you have got a problem. your plugs and wires are good, you coilpack is good. your compression is good at 125 pounds on #3. moving the injector around did not migrate the CEL. your injectors are good. next is your computer or something strange in your wiring but these are too expensive for us to check out as OEM new dealers. So I am checking to hopefully find a junkyard computer to swap in... and my questions are -what ECUs are compatible with this 96 2.2 brighton? -should i do a leakdown test on the valves? or have they eliminated this? Give me your thoughts folks.. I am driving back saturday. Anyone got an extra ECU and could overnight it here? Um also I should link http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=74544 this thread where I first asked about this and got good replies earlier in the year. At that time I checked the injector contacts and moved the injectors then. but couldn't get the code to repeat so didn't really know what I was proving. Now since the code happens more often it was easier for the dealer to say the injectors are good. thanks as always. brian

thanks all, I will take a look at the injectors this weekend and get back. brian

hello, 96 subaru legacy 2.2 AT brighton wagon 129k timing belt done @110 I get a po303 ocasionally to often. first happened going 70 uphill in WVA in december. the history part: It always seems to be 303 (but I didn't have a code reader on the first trip problems so I can't say for sure. I often disconnected the battery to freshen things up- since then have traveled with the code reader so I can clear it) It was really bad from there I got some plugs and wires at a autozone;not so much help. Passed a subaru dealership few miles after that so I bought plugs there and changed them out. things got better. I could travel, but still limped home with stalling whenever I was too hard on the gas. (350 miles) Then I read here about aftermarket plugs and wire warnings. I did nothing right away since I was just driving around town and the misfire didn't bother me but it happened often in the first block. Maybe I put on 350 miles since december. So I recently changed the plugs, wires, and the COIL pack- subaru of course. ran some seafoam too. Haven't had a problem since then -four weeks-50 miles driven. passed inspection too. ran it hot out on the expressway. starts fine, idles fine (just have that mystery subaru in DRIVE vibration) NOW: Girlfriend borrows car and calls saying po303 stall at deceleration about 2 hours into a highway trip. So I have tried the obvious, and searched the boards reading these threads- seems like people disappear before they solve things. saw the Endwrench notes - thanks to whoever keeps posting those! where do I go from here? Is my problem the same? thanks, Brian

another option on the AT light on a car you just bought: as I was DRIVING HOME! from buying my legacy 2.2 96' i decided to drive hard and check things out.. 3 miles away from my cash, the AT light starts blinking, and my heart skips a few beats . I know this is bad. I go home and right to the forum... and read horror stories... tranny rebuild, torque bind, mystery tranny problems not resolved in the end of the threads. Of course lots of folks only keep posting if they HAVEN't fixed their problems. I have already driven in circles on my test drive. the tranny has been flushed 1 month ago... THEN,.. i find one poster suggest that his AT light comes on when he washes his car. and I remember the owner talking about just going to the car wash for me. NEVER had any tranny blinks since the first day! (one year ago this week!) pfew. just a possibility to keep floating in the forum. brian

Hey all, 96 2.2 subaru legacy wagon here (thanks to helpful advices found on this site ) I am wondering, as i suppose many more before me, what exactly do i need to carry with me to get things done.. say get anything done. AND i am already tired of hauling 100 pounds of tools that i might need for roadtrips. the old generation thread on this is something like this: http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=66547 but I'm sure subaru has improved things by adding an 8.5mm fastener somewhere!<GRIN> Personally, as a NYC resident, my car will eventually be crackheaded (example: empty oil quarts will be stolen) so i want things to be as light as possible, and bring other tools along for longer trips. wrenches- exactly what? sockets -deep where needed? 3/16 axle pin punch and 32mm (or 36mm socket on some?) umm... any torx, allen, security fasteners? special tools? duct tape? flashlight, dirty sweatshirt... take this thread where you want to. but i am looking for a toolkit that inspires confidence to handle ANYTHING like the one for my german motorcycle and will fit in the tail-lite cubbies back there out of sight. yeah, I know its a little cute and you gotta spring for ratchets and a breaker bar for cages- um i mean CARS. but this toolkit is magic. brian

in the high mileage mercedes diesel world the sacked seat springs are repaired with the infamous "NOODLE" mod using a foam pool noodle coiled up in a circle

just to keep it simple and share from my mistakes. I changed a front axle in my minivan once -took it for a test drive and imediately felt this HUGE wonk in the drive. checked the tires, rotated around with the spare and went back to autozone for a replacement 2x's drove me crazy for a week trying to figure out what i had done to my car, measuring axles... gave up went for a road trip and after 100 miles blew a back tire. <grin> biggest relief actually. i swear i never felt this whump before and had checked each tire and swapped them out with the spare but i guess i missed one in the frustration!this was in a hot florida driveway with two scissor jacks and logs for jackstands. i learnt.

hello first post here! i appreciate the discussions here and am looking at Subarus based in part on the fact that y'all are here and ACTIVE. (not much internet discussion on 88' dodge caravans! and i know how much it really helps for DIY to figure things out together) i'm looking at a 98' Outback 2.5L 5SPD with 180k, just had a clutch, is VERY clean and looks well taken care of.. but not much in the way of paperwork... 2500$ i know about the head gaskets problem, hope that it may have been taken care of or be past the obvious failure point. I know it is an interference motor. guess i'd have to do the TB HAS a known problem with the synchros, going into third "occasionally" Mechanics looking at it say it "might" need a tranny soon. I have read all about redline and synchros here and am wondering how long this could be driven. I understand it will get worse eventually, but maybe with redline, a tranny flush, or the oft-discussed double clutching? Could it end catastrophically? or could i just EASE it into third or line up the rev's for the rest of its life? Seems to me like crunching sensitive gears sounds alot scarrier than it really is.. (i am manual novice) ... is there a good deal in here? I am DIY but NOT about to open a tranny:)