urabus1995

Not A good idea to smoke under the hood. Batteries give off hyrdogen. Petrol is very Whwoooomphhhhhhhhhh bang. I solved the prob by gettin new cv boots---------stops them things flingin grease all over the CAT

All the Best of everything to you all. I am so happy to be so fortunate not to be in that disaster. I knew people who were. My Scoob has got me through some bad wet wet weather recently. Thinkin of puttin a tall pipe above the hood , to get water free air. a big thing , sorta like a bassoon, so thw faster I go -------the more air I get, and NO water, What do you think >? answers on an envelope please . anyone on AOL IM ? Love to chat to some of you guys an dolls. I am Jmackie2174@aol.com

Reading quite alot about "batteries" recently, I came across some interesting snippets. Although I knew that they "drop" in voltage , the colder they get, they actually live longer in a cold climate. They are much more efficient and give better performance in a hot climate, but they die sooner. Seemingly the worst possible thing that can happen to an automotive type of battery, is for it to get completely discharged. This is usually accidently caused by leaving some lights on for an extended period, like over a weekend . Sometimes this one action is enough to destroy even a fairly new battery. I have been lucky, with batteries normally lasting 6-8 years, in a coldish (-5C --10C)wettish winter environment, with average summer temps around 20-30C. My car is always outside, but no block heaters etc.

Try Powervehicles.com. Its my girlfriends son's own business. The cars are fantastic. 500+BHP. Some amazin pictures on his forum too. This time last year he got me a Legacy TS type R 1995 for £1300 (dont know the conversion to dollars). It had only done about 25,000 miles when I got it. Beautiful model of car------pristine condition throughout. Its a pity that his business is in UK, but its worth a look to see what you can get from Japan. He goes out there a few times a year and hand picks the best he can find, quite often to order ,from his customers. Each car cost around £900 to ship to uk, but worth every penny for the quality and specs. that you get . Let me know what you think of his site.

Well, thats good, quite a bit of agreement on the "buffing/ cleaning" option on the rim. I have just rememberd that on another car that I had, the spare tyre would go flat very fast. I put a weak solution of washing up liquid around the edge of the rim and tyre. It was possible to see the faint tiny tiny bubbles at a couple of points around the edge. The old guys I took it to for repair offered me the choice of cleaning the rim or an inner tube fitted. I told them to do what was easiest/cheapest. They cleaned it, "buffed " it or whatever, and as far as I know it has stayed inflated since. S0-----off I go to get this checked. I might smear some soap solution around it first ,just to see if I can spot anything leaking, at least on the outer edge.

Old Wally, I was told that it is now illegal to fit an inner tube. I am not sure of this though. Maybe its to do with makin them different weights, but I cant see that either. Maybe AWD would not like this mixture, I dunno-------does anyone else know?

This is interesting, cos I too am losing air ,in just one tyre from 30lbs-----------15lbs in a week or so. I am about to take it in to get checked. I did suspect the fitting to the rims rather than a "puncture", since it is quite slow to deflate. I hope its not cracks in the rim! the tyres have only done about 3000 miles since they were fitted. I have heard of some sort of sealing spray stuff that comes in an aerosol can, but I dont know if its very wise to use it? has anyone seen this stuff?

sorry for laughing. Jesus , man, that has to be one of the best posts I have ever seen on this forum. Its hard to believe that that could happen to such a nice person. I agree that it is probably your alternator, but, my god , you went and bought a new battery? If you have a little meter gadget , to measure voltage etc., then this sort of thing can easily be diagnosed. engine off-------good battery should read about 13.2 volts engine on ---------the reading should read at least 14.8 volts. that is the normal charging voltage from the alternator. It does not take long for a battery to go down, if alternator is not working. Batteries should never get discharged completely because they cant recover from that condition. Dont throw the old one away just yet. Put some EDTA in each cell, and charge it up again, either in the car, or with a home charger unit. I just love your "personal quote" . its had me laughin for over an hour now. Nice to see someone is a bit like me in this world. WONDERFUL, in fact. cheers, John ( recovering from whisky nite , in Scotland" wow, its weird

Well well, at long last some people seem to be "normal" on this forum. I too , experience weird and wonderful buzzes , whooshings, and squeaks when I start my Legacy. The nice thing is, it always starts. This is without any operator interference. When I first got the car, I treated it like my old DL wagon, like usin the gas pedal to give it fuel . I quickly realised that this machine is so different. I now get up , get dressed (when I remember) and get in the car, turn on the key, without starting it, and just wait for it to do all its queer things and noises. Fuel pump -on antenna -up click click lhs - on da dada noise-on mrmmrrm sound-on and various other things, depending on the outside Temp. I love this bit of the morning, its like the pre flight checks that pilots have to make on their aircraft, but its all done automatically for you. It has never let me down. Once all has settled down , I turn the key and start. I then reverse, slowly, and turn sharp right hand down. another set of sounds begin. Then I await clearance from air traffic control, during which time I try to remember how to work the A/C thing to just get "de-mist" and some heat. wonderful vehicles, even with their odd noises. then its time for take off. hey, by the way , did you all read that post about "weird electrical problems" I could not stop laughing. I think the guy must be on the same silly wavelength as me. I just loved his "personal quote" too. there is hope for us all yet. was out too too late last nite, and had whisky, which I never normally drink. Made me a bit silly today. AND the clocks have changed here to GMT . CONFUSED????????????????/ cheers , John

I would be suspecting your plug wires, or the connections on the coil pack . I had the same problem on a 92 DL. if it got damp, it would almost cut out completly then restart. It always surprised me though that the heat from the engine did not manage to dry things out enough. One thing I did find , when I changed the wires, was that the metal connectors looked corroded, in the distributer. Cleaned them up with fine sandpaper and contact cleaner. Never had the problem again once that was done, and it improved the cars performance and mileage figures by quite a bit.

Hi ED, I hope you mean 600-800 rpm not thousands (K)? That would be a nippy take off !!!!!!!?

Lucky that time EH? Glad you are OK. Last summer, at around midnite one day, I was returning from playing a gig, with my old DL 1.8 wagon full of bass gear and guitars etc. We had just left a side road , moving onto the main road home, luckily not yet quite up to any sort of speed(probably about 20-30 mph), and approached a sharp bend in the road. Suddenly LIGHTS right in our faces then BANG a second later. An Italian driver had got a bit lost seemingly, and for some reason had ended up driving on the wrong side of the road!!!!! Head on collision, with no warning whatsoever. We got carted off to hospital with necks all strapped up etc. I had to leave the car and all the equipment in the hands of the salvage crew. The car was "written off" by the insurance co. due to the cost of repairs. We were out of action for a few days, but had to go to the salvage yard to collect my amps etc. I could not believe my eyes!!!!! .When I looked over the car I could see that although there was a lot of front end damage, twisted hood and lights and fenders etc. , the actual damage was repairable in my eyes. I still find it hard to believe that the old Scooby had taken such an impact, and was probably still drivable, if the metal had been levered off the wheels. We did not, however get it repaired-----which I regret to this day. There may have been unseen damage to the framework etc., but the radiator was not even burst! I , like you , am most impressed with the safety of these cars. I just hope the newer Legacy has the same level of protection. I doubt it though, cos things look a bit more "plasticy" than the DL. The car that hit us was a large Fiat people carrier type thing , and it looked in a much worse condition than the Scoob. We got back to work after about 8 weeks of mending ribs, necks etc. I am still very wary driving at nite. It is not a nice memory to have , but we are all glad to have survived relatively unharmed. Seat belts worked etc, NEVER drive without one on. I wonder if others have survived serious bumps in their Scoobs.???????

Good luck with the Impreza ! Should be a load of fun. I just hope you dont rip the front "skirt" off it in the snow, cos its probably even lower than my Legacy. All my friends with their JDM, STi , etc " imports" running on 18" rims find that they end up going nowhere fast, due to having too much power and not enough grip. If you ever cross the sea to Scotland, check out my stepson's collection of nice fast cars, or visit his website Powervehicles.com for a preview. I know he has sold a couple of JDM Supercars to clients in Norway and Sweden. Thanks for your wisdom John

Thanks everyone for all of that input. Even with the small amount of " pedantic" disagreement, I do now understand the fundamental difference between AWD and 4WD. I was a great fan of the systems in my 92 DL, only got stuck when mud was so deep that the floor of the car was floating on it. Having said that---however, I have never yet felt my 95 Legacy loose any traction whether in the wet or loose gravel. It has never really been tested in snow to any real depth. I think that is where the Legacy will let me down, it will not be in its drive system, but the fact that the general clearance under the car is so low, by comparison to the DL that it will get stranded by depth rather than grip.

I know this is probably a stupid question, but to be honest I really dont know the correct answer. I had a 1992 DL 1.8 wagon,manual trans. which was Front Wheel Drive, for normal road use. It was also switchable to Four Wheel Drive for off road " wet field" conditions. When the snow came, or the mud was really thick, I could also switch it into Low Range Four wheel drive. The only drawback to Four wheel drive use was that if you got bogged down and had to try and turn the wheels to get onto a drier bit of ground, it did not behave very well. It was as if the front brakes were on, when on almost full steering lock. I put this down to some sort of "locked diff "effect. Sorry to take so long, but my problem is that I now drive a 1995 Legacy wagon, which is described as AWD , not 4WD or 4X4 , as other makes describe their vehicles. Is my Subaru AWD the same as Subaru 4WD, as on the DL, or amI missing some important point here? I get the feeling from what I have read on here, that somehow they are not the same. If anyone has a link to a technical explanation of these systems, I would be most grateful. Cheers , John. (no Snow here yet !!!!!)

I am no expert, but it sounds to me like a fuel problem. Maybe the pump is not able to supply enough to keep it going after its initial cherge to start the engine. Is the gas in the tank "new" or has it been sitting in there for 6 months ? I have had terrible problems with lawnmowers when trying to use "old" gas. It is seemingly a common problem, even though I found it hard to believe when I was first told of it. Partially blocked exhaust could also cause this. I had a broken/loose baffle plate in my 1.8 DL which caused it to run real bad. New section of exhaust fitted cured the problem immediately. Good luck. John

I think I have to agree about it being the clutch, like the others have said. My 95 Legacy has the smoothest throttle control I have ever felt in any car I have had. Never jerky. My old DL 1.8 dual range was almost as good in this dept. , that is until I had the clutch replaced. Then I got the symptoms you describe. I got used to it, but my girlfreind never did, no matter how long she drove it. I just found that by slipping the clutch much more on take off, I could keep it smooth. It was a bit of a pain in the neck having to remember to do that all the time, especially as I was driving several different vehicles in the same week. John

I had the same problem on my old DL 1.8 Wagon.It was the Cv joint gone bad, due to lack of grease( split boot). Repair was not too expensive, using a second hand part. I dont know what a new one would cost, but being Subaru I think it may be quite a lot of dosh. As others have mentioned, if you jack up the car and try to wiggle the wheel , you will hear the clunk and see the CV move in a strange fashion. This movement should be checked horuzontally. If you get wheel movenent shaking perpindiculary, then its a wheel bearing/hub gone bad. Wheel bearings normally "hum" when going bad , rather than "clunk".

I had exactly the same thing on my 95 Wagon. It was a tiny tear in the CV boot, which was allowing grease to be thrown onto the CAT. After replacing the boot, the smell and smoke slowly went away. Check the condition of the boot, all the way over its surface. Seemingly a very common problem, since that boot sits so close to the extremely hot CAT, which causes the rubber to perish pretty fast. If not the boot, then probably an oil seal at the end of CV joint is leaking. Hope you find the source of the problem.

I am so glad that other people have similar "occurences" . Its not often that Air Conditioning is needed in Scotland-----I suppose it happens due to removing condensation from inside the car on "special" occassions eh??

Thankyou Dr. RX . I can sleep easy now. Not be having bad dreams like radiators with pinhole leaks or Head gasket failures !! I thought it may be the answer, like you said, but wasnt too sure.

Just curious about this one? Twice now, after 250 mile or so journey, when I have left the wagon parked up, I returned to find a fresh , clear looking puddle of water around my front wheel. Both journeys were done using the air conditioning at least part of the time. I dont normally use it at all. Does this system vent itself to the ground near the front? Or , mmmm, maybe I have a small dog followin me around. ? They do seem to be attracted to wheels on occasions. I have not lost any fluids , and could not see any obvious leaks.

I am fascinated by the direction that this thread has taken. At long last people are making real sense of this issue. I was going to make mods to my intake etc, after hearing claims on this very forum. I doubted that the ECU would like the proposed changes, and did not do any of them. I am very lucky to live in a very clean air country, with fairly low air temps most of the time. I presume then , that I will be pulling more air /stroke than someone living in Arizona or California, plus I will not have the continuous clogging of filters due to dust and sand etc. ???. I may be wrong, but I presume that the ECU alters the amount of fuel to match the mass of air or O2 that the sensors detect. If you get more air going in, you will burn more fuel? That must make a slight change to HP, but surely it can only decrease economy?

Sorry this has taken so long to update. My "hot" smell was definitely caused by a leaking inner boot, as was suggested, throwing the grease onto the cat.It has almost gone now after a couple of months since replacing the boot. Been on a long holiday, hence delay in replying to you all. Glad to be back on USMB--------was getting withdrawal sypmtoms.

Is your car Manual transmission.? If it is not turning over at all, but you have lights etc, maybe its just a jammed starter motor. Stick it into 3rd gear, with the ignition OFF and rock it back and forward. You may hear a click as the pinion disengages from the flywheel. If that fails, check the continuity of the starter motor--------it should read very low ohms ~1 ohm. If it is burnt out, it will be open circuit and read OL or a very high figure. If it clicks when you turn the key, then it is probably just jammed.