porcupine73

I always thought the worm clamps were an 'upgrade', until I had one or two strip out on me after having been in place for a period of time. So the genuine clamps yes I agree those are better for the application (than worm drive). Normally in my rusty area I never try to save the clamp; almost always I have to cut the old clamp off or bust the nut on it anyway and then use needle nose pliers to pull off the remains.

I think so, I think that means the fluid is leaking past the 'cups' on the master cylinder piston. Sometimes this will occur if you were bleeding the brakes and pushed the pedal down much further than it normally goes or all the way to the floor. The piston bore can have rust in it since the cups don't normally go down that far, then they get cut up when pushed into that area.

Thanks Larry, I'll let you know. I'm going to see how far down I have to let the gas tank get before it stops dripping. I'm guess 1/2. I may just run it that way and not fill above 1/2 if that stops it. Else I have to take it in for inspection this month so I can ask my local shop how much to install a used tank. Something in the exhaust in the rear just rusted through this morning and is a bit loud, I'm guessing where the muffler flange fits the rear pipe based on where it sounds like it's coming from. I've jbwelded those before with good results so hopefully that will work.

I normally keep an already made up 'jumper wire' in my soobs with a spade terminal on one end that will plug onto the starter, and then a fuse on the other end. So in an emergency I can at least try connecting the jumper to the starter and touching batt + to see if it cranks. You can start it this way with the key in run but for some reason sometimes you have to open the throttle a little bit (easy on the cable throttle just twist it while under the hood).

There is no relay. It goes through the park/neutral switch, ignition key, and then to the starter solenoid. Most common causes are worn/pitted starter contacts. Soobs of this era also for whatever reason sometimes develop issues in the park/neutral switch circuit, so try shifting to neutral or jiggling the shifter handle while holding the key in start if it does it. On my '96 Legacy Brighton it did this really weird thing where it slow cranked like the timing belt was broken. It turns out it was the park/neutral switch, it wasn't fully pulling in the starter solenoid for some reason, too much resistance I guess. I bypassed it with a pushbutton.

I just pulled up on four ramps so I could get a better look at the source of the leak. I can't see the source exactly, but based on how wet it was in that area, I think it's coming from above the exhaust/propeller shaft. The tank seam is wet all the way around the front, I'm guessing as it leaks out it is streaming around the tank maybe.

Thanks for the info. I was looking at the Seal All, that might work, I have to see if I can pinpoint the exact source of the leak. It seems like it is the 'seam' on the tank but I can't tell for sure. The fuel filler pipe is new, I replaced that last winter. It seems to be dripping from roughly right above the exhaust.

So this morning when I went near the garage I could smell fuel really strongly. I went inside it was even worse. I've been smelling fuel around the '96 slightly for over a year. Today I looked underneath and it is dripping gasoline, about a drip ever 15 seconds. It looks like it's coming from the middle of the tank, like where it is pressed or welded together. What's the options? Just drive with less than 1/2 tank all the time? Replacing the tank does not look like something I want to try myself. Many years ago I had an old Lincoln Town Car and the local shop bought and installed a 'southern rust free' tank for me for about $300...

Hm I think that might have happend to mine too I haven't had a chance to look at it yet. Mine broke off at the stud right at the ball end. I would say we try to get actual nut that fits on there if the backside is accessible. Jbweld might hold but what I have found is that if one of those struts break - well the tailgate, she is coming down, and pretty hard. It's dangerous actually. Mine broke while camping so then I had to use a long stick to hold the tailgate up. The other strut was still helping but if the stick got knocked out it would crash down. I had to keep telling my young niece to stay out from underneath it. I'm pretty sure it would kill a child if the gate crashed down while they were under it.

Hm what model/year is this? A sedan? I had this occur on my '00obw. The genuine lift gate stay has a new ball end and mounting stud including (but no nut). I'm not sure if that's why you're referring to.

Having to pump the pedal to build up pressure sounds most likely like a small leak or a bad booster. Yes my 90's soobs both of them sprung brake line leaks above the gas tank. Not a terribly hard fix, basically spliced in under the rear seat and ran new line to both rear wheels.

Hm ok well maybe it was bad after going dead enough times. Starter batteries don't like going dead and it drastically reduces their life. Do you still hear the noise with the new battery?

Why would you assume that? The spec at idle is something like 14psig but that can also depend on what weight engine oil you used. And the sunpro isn't going to be as accurate as some scientific instrument, especially not an electric gauge. So it sounds about right to me.

There are usually some splotches of paint colors on the cam sprockets. It's just the single hash mark you want, that has to line up with the notch in the back of the timing belt covers. And on the crank sprocket, the single notch to line up with the notch on the oil pump. If the belt is off a tooth it is pretty easy to notice when you line up the belt. It might look a little off, like the cam on the right as you face the engine at the hood, it might look to be slightly cw of where it should be, but when you pull the tensioner pin it usually moves right to where it needs to be. One tooth off and the engine will start and run but can be lacking in power and fuel economy. The critical thing is actually the proper amount of teeth between each cam sprocket and the crank sprocket. The genuine belts the marks on them line up exactly.

Yes. It even says Holts right on the bottle. Look at this pic scroll down and there's a side by side comparison. It says Holts on the Subaru bottle.

I always rotate only in the direction of normal engine rotation (though should this happen on a dohc you might not be able to do that). So that would be, when facing the engine with the hood up, clockwise. Right, line up the notches on the cam sprockets with the notches in the timing belt covers (and the crank sprocket notch should have been lined up with the oil pump before you removed the old belt). Turning the crankshaft without the belt on could get you into trouble if it crashes too hard into any valves. As long as the notches are aligned it will work fine, you can't be out of synch on the cams if everything is aligned. I understand why you're asking but it doesn't matter, what does matter is the timing marks line up perfectly, even one tooth off and you'll have issues.

Hello and welcome. Provided you lined up all the hash marks (mainly the crank sprocket with the oil pump notch) then no cylinders are near TDC, so rotating the cams is not an issue on the sohc. Just rotate it (in normal direction of rotation is probably preferable) so that the hash mark lines up with the notch in the timing cover. It doesn't matter how many times you rotate it. As long as all the notches are lined up properly it will be fine. The genuine belts are nice because the lines on them correspond exactly with the notches. And it is the notches (___not___ the arrows). Tensioner - must compress VERY slowly like taking 10 minutes slowly in a vise or you will kill it. Idlers - Replace at the absolute minimum the geared/toothed idler, or at least replace the bearings.

Do the contacts inside the socket look ok? Especially the + connection for the tip? Maybe it melted somewhat and isn't making contact. Or maybe the connection kind of unsoldered itself from getting hot enough.

Haha To be honest, the tact I've taken in recent years is to get as close a can of spray paint as I can, and then I just spray over the rust anytime it rusts through. Is it the ideal solution? No not at all. Does it look a little better than just big rust spots? I think it does, slightly, though the paints I pick usually don't match exactly so it looks kind of redneck. I had a friend in highschool who painted his car with 40 cans of 2/$1 spray paint. It was funny he would just do a little painting here and there for a few minutes at a time until it was done. The thing about rust, at least in the rust belts, is you are seeing only the tip of the iceberg when you see the rust. To truly stop the rust, you have to get it ALL. If you leave a bit of rust behind the panel and then bondo over that, it wil just start rusting through within a year around the bondo edge. To get a nice smooth fiberglass that matches the body you really have to take your time and sand and level very accurately and then paint carefully. Else it is very noticable.

Sounds good, there was a site i looked at realgas.org or something like that, I realized the station I usually get gas at had an ethanol free option. Their 'premium' 91 is labeled on the pump as 'ethanol free' though I never noticed it until later. They're a good size local petroleum and chemical products distributor with a tank farm I'm guessing that's how they do it because beyond that I do not see many options in this area to get ethanol free except at marinas.

My limited experience is yes you can get a good result if you are patient and spend a lot of time sanding it and getting it just right. Otherwise forget it, it will be wavy and rust will reappear within the year. Bondo is a brand of fiberglass so if you 'bondo' something you are using fiberglass. I will say this - be EXTREMELY careful if you use the pinhole filler. Damn I used that in the late 80's and got a few good whiffs of it. I didn't feel right later that day. My brother used the same stuff and said he didn't feel right either. I never fully recovered after that day, I don't know, something just seems 'off', but what can I do life goes on.

I haven't searched it in a while but I think googling it shows a Porsche site where they show it being done. My boss told me he uses it on his track cars and that's pretty commonly done at tracks. You basically put a piece of string (I like thread since it's strong and thin) between two jackstands, then level them out on each side of the car. Get them the same distance from the front and rear. I usually use the end tips of the axles but that is not necessarily completely accurate. Then you measure from the leading and trailing edge of the wheels (not tires). You can calculate the degrees because its 60 minutes to a degree. The arctan is taking the inverse tangent. Which ok now from high school trig how did that go, oscar had a heap of apples. So what was that sin cos tan I think. So tan was opposite over adjacent. So you know the distance between the leading and trailing edges, that is the hypotenuse. Then the adjacent becomes the small difference, like 1/8" that you measure. Since the toe is usually in inches you don't need arctan there. But it is perfect for doing the camber.

So from fuel pump failure posts on the 90's/00's it seems they usually go about 200k miles? Just roughly seems to be around where those failures occur, maybe starting around 180k. Not all of them of course but seems to be what I see in the posts the ones that do fail. Anyone replace the pump in advance? There is the case for if it ain't broke don't fix it, but that kind of breakdown doesn't seem necessarily like a roadside repair, and I figure $100 for a tow plus the pita of being stranded and then having to do the job anyway.

I have quite a bit of HF, erm what's the word I'm looking for, stuff. In general it seems to work ok for my light duty use. Let's see, the ugly, the heat gun, no good, that thing something went wrong with it and the fan started blowing like it was a turbocharger, it is kind of scary actually. 1/2" VSR drill, I've been very happy with mine, it's taken quite a bit of abuse and still keeps on ticking. My brother however had it shear the drive shaft bolt or whatever it is right off the chuck. Compressed air filter/regulators GARBAGE, I tried a couple times from them, leaks no matter what you do, complete junk not worth the box it comes in. Drill bit sharpener, not very good, did not do a good job. GFCI outlets, not worth it, had several dead out of the box. Electrical tape - GARBAGE it won't even stick to itself (though they might have improved this in later years it seems to get better reviews). The black pry bars. They are ok but do not rely on them for any major work. They are a cheap brittle pot metal and the head will snap off at random. NPT pipe thread kit, mixed thoughts, it does work, but threading pipe by hand is tricky, you have to back off to keep the chips out or the threads come out all uneven and almost guaranteed to leak. Would have threaded only at the box store like with the Rigid threader now. Good stuff: 6 ton jackstands, win, those are very nice when on sale. Front wheel adapters for doing the bearings, pretty nice, works great. Inner tie rod end tool, excellent, seems well made too. Goodyear 1/2" air hose, very good, I don't think they sell it anymore though. Was a great price at like $25 for a 50 ft roll. Tarps usually seem pretty good when on sale. Toolboxes, a couple of the ones they have when on sale with a coupon seem like a really good value, well made, lesser quality ones at Sears sell for 5x the price. Best value thing I ever got there was the air cutoff tool for $4.99. Man I've run the heck out of that thing and it still works great. 14" metal cutoff wheel, very nice, powerful, makes cutting pipe and other metal stuff a breeze. Bench grinder with stand, not bad, it works quite well. 20 ton press, not too bad, only used it a few times but I think it will handle anything I'd ever need from it.

Some of those years had a TSB out about icing on the fuel injector tips, that might be what you had too. Do you get forced the ethanol adultered gasohol in your area? There's very few places around here to get ethanol free gasoline, usually its sold as boat fuel.