porcupine73

Great, thanks sidedown, that's what I needed to know. Sounds fairly straightforward. I was wondering about tying up the rear part of the exhaust, since I was kind of surprised to see there is no support from way back by the muffler all the way up until before the rear cat.

On the big bob oil board, some people say mobil1 makes their engine noisier. I haven't run it in a Suby so I'm not sure. I've seen another oil that once it was claimed good for that newer VW standard it was not longer diesel rated. Some multi-vis oils that have a huge spread between the W number and the second number achieve it with viscosity index improvers (VII's). Perhaps not a big deal these days with higher quality VII's available, but the more VII's in the oil, the less volume left for other good stuff like anti-wear (AW), etc, oh, and the base oil!

Hi all, suddenly developed an exhaust leak today on my '00OBW, 107k miles, AT, 2.5L N/A, it is coming from the connection between the rear cat and what I guess is the 'resonator'? I haven't checked the service manual yet to see what it says about this repair, but have the following questions: What's the best way to fix this issue? How hard is this to fix? Can I just unbolt the flange, slip in a new gasket, and bolt 'er back up? Any risks to driving like this for a while? It sounds like I have a glass pack muffler on it. The leak is after both the front and rear o2 sensors. '00OBW, 107k miles, AT, 2.5L N/A

If it was sucking in air around the loose intake that could cause a CEL/MIL. If the vehicle uses a MAF sensor that air was unmetered. Depending on where it was sucking air it could have been causing some cylinders to run rich and others lean; maybe the CEL/MIL was for fuel trim or something.

I haven't got my P0420 code back yet, but this morning I thought I heard a bit of an exhaust leak, and by the time I got to work, wow, it sounds like something is wide open down there. So maybe it's rusted out I'll have to look but maybe it was leaking a little before that maybe that's why I got the code. I think the really deep snow yesterday might have worked the weak point loose.

Hi, I had that issue on my '00obw; not sure if the 2003 is the same setup, but on the '00 2.5L 4cyl there are spark plug hole gaskets over the spark plug hole under the valve cover. When new, these are nice and springy and seal well; if they get mushy or the valve covers are removed and the seals aren't replaced it might start leaking.

Maybe the clutches kind of cold welded from sitting. Maybe what I did could work for you too: my used '96 TB had torque bind for a while even after I changed the ATF to amsoil syn atf. It went away entirely after I went out hill climbing one hot summer day and got the ATF up to about 210 deg. F for a couple times for about 10 minutes. The next day I was surprised to find the TB gone.

Yes it's nice to work on a car where it appears service was actually taken into consideration in the design (gasp!) Man I've had other domestic vehicles before and everything was so crammed in and buried it was unbelievable; some newer vehicles you'd be hard pressed to even find the battery.

drive shaft u joints maybe?

My '96 and '00 's both have some sort of connector on the pump, which I believe is a pressure switch of some sort, I believe it is used for the ECU to bump up the idle if required when turning the wheel at a stop or near stop. If that's the case, and you don't hook it up, then depending on whether the switch is normally open or normally closed, then the ECU would think the steering pressure is always up and maybe try to keep the idle up, or it will never sense any steering pressure and when turning the wheel at idle/stop it might stumble a little.

I have an '00obw too and yep the coolant conditioner is recommended to prevent the external leaks. It's only like $2 maybe for a bottle but some dealers mark it up like crazy. It's actually holts radweld from the UK, but I've never seen holts products in the U.S.

The ignitor takes the signal from the ECU and drives the coil pack. I have a '96 legacy also; on mine the ignitor is a little maybe 2.5x2.5" or so electronic package with a connector on it located near the firewall kind of inline with the throttle cable. Maybe even shaking these connectors or something would reveal if there is an intermittent connection in there.

Hi hsracing and welcome! How about the ignitor or possibly coil pack?

Dude I think you have the wrong connector.

Probably yes, but it probably isn't really needed; I mean it's not a ton of pressure there or anything and the hoses themselves are somewhat rigid. If you look at the 'pop in' types (rather than screw in) they just slip into this rubber/plastic holder and do alright that way.

tru dat, not all filter medias are the same. I wonder what the bypass pressure differential is in the newer filters.

Price seems a little bit high but the mileage isn't too bad. I'm pretty sure this 2.5L would be one of the ones with the potential head gasket failure issues so that might be something to keep in mind.

Another good alternative could be Wix (also Napa Gold); I think the OE Subaru oil filters don't have an ADBV (anti drain back valve) which many of the aftermarkets have, but it might explain why there is a Purolator without the ADBV if they make the Subaru filters. I avoid fram like the black plague.

Hi, not 100% sure about an '03, but here's where it is on my '96 and '00; it's a screw/thread in type, not just a 'pop in' like a lot of domestics.

Oh heck if you just want it to last 3 months then do nothing; there's people who put 50,000 miles on them with ripped boots, sure they start clicking a bit, but the inner one doesn't have to handle the sharp bends in turns or anything. You can probably find a half/split boot I would guess at any chain parts store or maybe at rockauto.

Hm, well I could be misunderstanding how the heat shields rattle. I just figured a hose clamp snugged up around the loose area might keep it from shaking around. Anyway I should probably look at the FAQ for better ideas, though they only rattle at a certain low rpm so I haven't been overly motivated to try to fix it yet.

I haven't actually looked at mine to see where they're rattling at so I don't know if I can get a hose clamp on there, but if it's possible I'd probably just undo it and open it up, slip it around or whatever and then reassemble and draw 'er down.

If you have a Harbor Freight nearby, that would be a great place to get a cheap multimeter, and their vehicle fuse kits are half price right now too.

I'm planning to put some huge stainless steel clamps around mine; will have to check out that FAQ for more/better ideas.

Yah replacing the half shafts with rebuilt units is probably the way to go. Only if you know for a fact it hasn't been torn too long and didn't get any grit etc up in there can the boots just be replaced. The half-boots aren't very reliable from what I've seen. Anyway, if you go with rebuilt half shafts, I've heard MWE does a nice job. The chain store rebuilts might come with a lifetime warranty but it's still your labor to R&R the things if they fail once a year.