porcupine73

Hm, well I haven't done my 2.2L yet, but I had sort of a similar problem on my 2.5L sohc, it was a little tricky to get the belt on toothed up where I wanted it, so I installed it with the geared idler pulley off, then bolted the geared idler back in after I had everything lined up and before pulling the pin holding the tensioner rod in. To get maximum looseness you can pull the idler all the way up by hand (if it doesn't do that by itself when you pull on the belt).

Sounds good craig! My new one didn't come with a new sealing washer so I reused the old one fortunately it's not leaking. I think the biggest problem I had was getting the connector off the existing sensor 'cause it was hard to reach, so I used needle nose pliers to squeeze the connector clip and pull it off; fortunately it didn't break. Maybe I could have removed something else to make it easier to get to but I don't remember now. Then it's pretty simple from there; you can get a deep well socket over the thing and take it out and put the new one in and push the connector back on and button everything back up and it should be good to go. Yep as far as I know teflon tape is for sealing taper thread connections and this sensor has straight threads.

Some other things might if any of the brakes are hanging up that would reduce mileage. If you lift the wheels off the ground do they turn smoothly and freely or do you feel any binding, or if you drive for a few minutes and then kind of coast down and stop using the brakes as little as possible, do any seem excessively hot? overeager knock sensor could maybe knock it down a bit, as well as front o2 sensor. Tires circumference must be almost exactly the same or it can cause lots of heat in the AT center clutch thing and that heat doesn't come free - it costs gasoline.

Hi TurboTbird, plugs are probably BKR6E-11 or check out ngksparkplugs.com Wires you could go OE or aftermarket are available, depends on what price you want to pay and what you're looking for. If you like Mobil1 engine oil, you could try Mobil1 synthetic ATF, it worked well for me. Diff gear oils there's some threads that say not to use Mobil1 synthetic gear oil in Subaru diff's due to some potential incompatibility in the metals. amsoil makes a nice synthetic atf and gear oils too.

Yep, I'm planning to do the same retrofit on '96 Legacy Wagon, planning to use KYB struts for '96 Outback and probably '96 OE springs unless I can find a reasonable aftermarket alternative; love them King Springs but have to order from Australia.... oh yah, you probably need an alignment after doing this project.

Dude I just replaced mine on '96 legacy 2.2 last year. It was kind of a pain to get to. I needed various universal socket joints and a deep well socket to get to it. I took off the PCV valve hose and that IAC hose and some other hoses to get at it. And the Haynes manual is just plain wrong on this item. It doesn't use teflon tape to seal; it uses a sealing washer. The ECT is the engine coolant temperature sensor, it is not the same sensor as for the temp gauge, at least not on this model year. It's an input to the ECU so it can select the correct fuel map for the given coolant temp I guess, at least in open loop. Can cause warm/hot start problems I think if it's getting wacky. Basically, if you look underneath the IAC (idle air control) it's a couple inches below there. Here's a pic I had of the IAC from another post:

How's the ATF look? Clean or burned/dirty? How's about a ATF change with some good quality fluid and give it some time to work? Maybe some of those solenoids or something are a little sticky?

You gots ta get da codes read, that will probably reveal much info. Reset is easy with even a basic code tool from my experience. Most places like autozone will read da codes 4 free.

Dodgy ECT sensor won't light the CEL if the ECU can't tell something is wrong with it such as open or short circuit or resistance outside parameters; the thing might just be grossly inacurrate; it's pretty much just a thermistor as far as I can tell.

Hm, well hot/warm start problems from what I see in other threads could be the ECT engine coolant temperature sensor going (I guess causing bad air/fuel mixture on startup until o2 sensor is up to temp).

pcv=positive crankcase ventilation. It's basically a check valve. It passes combustion blowby gases back into the intake air stream. Some people like to put a catch can inline after the pcv valve to catch oil and maybe settle oil vapor/mist and other stuff so it doesn't get fed back into the intake thus potentially gumming things up.

Well if those are still the original wires they could probably use a change. If you look at it in the dark when starting do you see any sparks or anything in there anywhere around the coil or wires, or if you spray some water on it do you see any sparks? If yes those items could probably use replacement. If you replace coil and/or plugs, coat the insides of the boots with good silicone dielectric grease to keep the moisture out of there. Maybe plugs are due for replacement too? Is the issue any different on a warm/hot start vs. cold start, or when it's wet out/dry out/high humidity?

Is it burning/using anything such as oil? I've heard of the adding ATF to the oil as a 'flush'; I don't think I'd be up for it. Sometimes people pull the spark plugs and shoot some ATF or something like lube control lc20 down in there and let it soak for a few days cranking it over for a second once a day (not starting, as the plugs are out) or so to soak the junk off the rings then change the oil after a couple days and fire 'er up. I don't know how well that would work on a Sub since the pistons are essentially horizontal verses many engines that are more at a slant to allow the stuff to work into/soak through the rings. Some people pull water in through a vacuum line which supposedly does a really nice job of decoking the piston tops and stuff; i've never tried it. You could maybe do a cylinder leakdown test or compression test to see if you've got leaky rings or anything freaky like that..harbor freight has the cylinder leakdown test kit on sale for like $25 right now...

I think there are a couple aftermarket options, the only one I can think of off hand is King Springs but you have to order from Australia. I tried PepBoys, Carquest, etc., but no one had aftermarket springs for my '96 Legacy so I went OE, not all that expensive, but not stiffer though...

Ah true dat, well maybe visiting the local salvage yards if they have Sub's of similar years might be worth a shot to compare with what you've got and maybe make a purchase!

one more: subaru-parts-dealer.com for a couple years; good prices. good service esp. on smaller orders.

Well, now I don't know for sure about those model years, but the other threads seemed to indicate to look for Outback springs/struts for the same year as the subject Legacy. In another thread I saw King Springs makes some sweet springs but you have to get them shipped from Australia. I've got a '96 legacy wagon and am planning to order '96OBW KYB struts and either King Springs or OE '96OBW springs. Already have new OE mounts, etc.

Yep, nothin beats the OE manual (and info you can get free on EndWrench for certain jobs). I got a printed set of OE manuals for '00OBW on eBay for about $150; however I was kind of ticked when I recently saw I could get that set on CD-rom right from Subaru for about $200. I also subscribed to alldatadiy, which has the same information as OE, except for a few spots where they show the info for the wrong engine/model.

If the knock sensor is wack and is reporting knock when there is none then your mileage and performance will suffer. The ECU's job is to interpret the voltage from the ECU to determine whether or not there is knock. Some people replace the knock sensor with a resistor but this action is controversial.

The difference is the original 4EAT phase I has an internal 'screen filter' that, when replacing, you must loosen an internal cooler line over the filter, that, when loosened, apparently dumps the contents of the torque converter-I got out the whole 9-10 quarts this way. On the 4EAT phase II's (with the external filter), you don't get anything additional out by removing the filter. I believe these too have the internal screen filter, but it should remain fairly clean as all the clutch shreddings etc. should be captured by the lawn mower sized oil filter on the AT outlet to the cooler. Sometimes the coolers get plugged up with shreddings on some vehicles so I think the external ATF filter before the cooler is intended to keep this minimal. Anyway, I have also used the 'pull cooler line to radiator in-tank cooler' method to pump out the remaining ATF on both phase I and phase II without issue.

Schweet nipper, everything looks nice. I like that scangauge mount location, I think I'll have to try that but I have the old tech scangauge... The lights look hott. Maybe I missed it, but what is the item between the center air vents?

I'm guessing you're removing the cam sprockets to replace the cam seals. I don't know that the engine has to be pulled to break the bolts free. If you do pull the engine you might replace some other stuff at the same time like the rear main seal, oil separator plastic thingy, and maybe head gaskets. Anyway, if the thing is a DOHC, I'd definitely check a good service manual before even taking the timing belt off as the crank needs to be in a position such that no piston is at tdc and cams need to be locked together to prevent potential valve collisions if they move with the t-belt off. Actually there is this EndWrench article deals with the DOHC. I have the SOHC (not dohc), and was able to hold the cam sprockets steady with a chain wrench and loosen the bolts with a socket and breaker bar, but then broke down and bought that special svx tool for the job as I think I bent one of the sprockets with the chain wrench.

Does he need pin punches and those spring pins/roll pins?

I don't think you really hurt anything. Driving with too much ATF I think can cause lots of air bubbles in the fluid which isn't good for antiwear. I believe there is a vent on the top of the AT where fluid can come out. I way overfilled the AT once and noticed fluid all over the floor and traced it back to the top of the AT. There's usually two refill values, one for just draining from the pan, which might be 5 qts or so, and one for a total fill, which includes draining the torque converter. On my '96 Legacy 4EAT phase I, I got about 5 quarts out the drain plug, then when replacing filter, the rest came out, about 9-10 quarts total. I like to check ATF level cold engine running in park, otherwise I can't read it. If you just added fluid, you may have to wipe stick off a few times to clear out the dipstick tube.

Sounds like a sweet ride. I couldn't find anything that searched the entire U.S. inventory, though there are links to each dealer's inventory on Subaru.com. Not sure about '06's, but the first place I checked (Chaplin's Bellevue Subaru) had a '07 Subaru Legacy 2.5GT Ltd. Wagon.