porcupine73

It sounds like if you measure it like that even using a piece of string or dental floss that should get you plenty close. That alt seems to have quite a bit of adjustment in it for the belt tension.

That's exactly what I was thinking, that with the seal lip riding on the rusty part part of the hub is not going to be nice for it. I did see some people saying that when replacing the wheel bearing, don't just go with the torque spec in the book, to really lay on it and make sure everything is seated nicely, then check it again after a driving a short distance.

Hm...nice diagram. That makes it look like it would not be possible to install the hub too far. I did notice that when I got to about 2.0mm difference, it really did not seem like it was going to move much further than that because the torque on the tool was really increasing fast. That also makes it look like even if the hub wasn't fully seated, that when the axle nut is tightened it would seat it the rest of the way, provided the torque on the axle nut is enough to move the hub in the rest of the way.

I would verify the leak source before doing anything, there are many places on a Subaru where the oil can leak. Especially if it is getting onto the exhaust.

That's a good question. The info I could find said 2.0mm +/- .3mm I think it said, in an Endwrench article. I took that to mean the base of the hub should be that far inside the inner bearing. So I used a depth gauge and kept inserting and removing the HF tool to pull it in bit by bit until I got to that point. It seems though like it was a bit too deep but I'm not sure. It definitely seems to be installed deeper now than it was, just based on where the outer seal contacts the hub. But maybe it had moved out for some reason from axle jobs or something else in the past.

Yah I wouldn't really worry about it. There are a number of spots they like to leak oil as they get older, but as long it's not gushing, adding a quart of oil every thousand miles if that's what it takes is pretty cheap. The valve cover gaskets are easy to do. The worst those can really do is weep a bit at the bottom. The cam seals and oil pump backing plate loosening up are far more likely to cause oil leaks.

Interesting. Just curious, is there a surge curve for superchargers or turbos?

If your bearing is the same as the one I received, with the plastic ring, I would think you could repack them even with the race installed already. Once I popped out that yellow ring, the inner and outer bearings were free to come out of the race and tried to escape. So as long as the hub wasn't pressed back in yet it seems like you could repack them.

I wonder if it would still stall if you double footed it and if not if that would mean anything? Maybe it is something x-files related.

Hello. I just wanted to post an update on this issue. It has been about five years since I first posted about this issue, and I have been living with it since then. Even with different tires and wheels it still persisted. I believe the issue turns out to have been a faulty front right wheel bearing. I finally in the last few months noticed looseness in it, so I replaced it. The handling is much better, it doesn't seem to wander as much. So far I have not noticed any shimmying anymore, the wheel is dead smooth even up to 70mph. Which is very very good! Interestingly, this wheel bearing really didn't give any signs of being bad until the very slight noticeable looseness in the last few months. Before that, it felt tight, but it seems like it may have been the cause.

Based on that description it could still be a master cyl issue. If you pumped it 15-20 times and it kept dropping to the floor, but the reservoir dropped only a little, I would say that little drop was due to some of the trapped air coming out. 15-20 pumps to the floor would otherwise drop the level a lot more than a little if it were a leak. Though since your reservoir did for some reason run empty that would likely point to a leak somewhere. Also note that pushing the pedal to the floor is very bad, esp for older master cyls. Often there is rust in the bore near the bottom, since the piston doesn't normally travel in this area. So when pushed to the floor, this rusty area can cut up the seals, and then you've got a faulty master. But that said on those years it seems pretty common for the rear brake lines to rust out, especially where they go over the fuel tank. I've had to replace those on a few soobs. So at the minimum the entire brake system, probably including the master, needs bleeding. The ABS unit may also have air trapped so it may need to go through sequence control a few times.

2.5L SOHC started I believe in '99 for Forester, '00 for most Legacies and Outbacks. Please note the SOHC is not without head gasket issues either, although the failure mode usually isn't as catastrophic.

This is the only one I could find off hand: I have though also taken the air filter housing completely off, and then used a spray bottle to mist the seafoam into the intake. I like that because then it gets distributed everywhere. Letting it suck in certain ports it looks like it would all just run down into one cylinder. The MAF cars don't like it though, so usually I just unplug the MAF if doing it this way.

I have always kind of liked the fuel pressure regulator hose as an inlet, at least on the n/a's. Not familiar with the turbos.

It's not optimal, but I have unknowingly driven on worse. Once the steel belt starts to show through then you know it's getting down there. Could possibly be the camber being too far positive on that wheel causing the outer edge to wear down. That is easy to check on a flat surface with just an ordinary level against the wheel.

When letting it suck it in, I like to think of it as a sailor just entering shore leave. You want to give it a nice small straw so it takes time to suck it down. Else she'll guzzle the entire cup down in a few seconds.

Hi Gary. That's funny, my outer race had gouges just like that in the exact same spot. I spent a little while trying to figure out how the heck the new bearing was going to fit in there until I realized that was actually the outer race of the bearing and had to be driven out. I think you said you have the HF front wheel bearing adapters, there is one that will fit right in there perfectly. It needs to fit just inside that outer ring there that is machined into the bearing housing. I wasn't looking at it closely and I used one that was too large and was actually trying to drive out that machined in ring. Needless to say, and fortunately, it did not budge, and I double checked before I put a pipe on the breaker bar.

If you get if for '96, 97, or 98 Legacy Outback that is fine, that is what we conventionally call the 'Outback'. If it says just Legacy those would be the shorter ones. On KYB's site, if you download their parts catalog, that is the best way to verify the proper part #'s. Watch out however for 1999, some of those may have gotten the rear multilink suspension, and that will not work on yours. 2000 to not sure what year Outback will not work, those are multilink rear. I believe the fastcam bolts were 14mm that I got, those fit though a bit tight through the mounting holes in the bearing housings. There is an excellent thread on dirtyimpreza about how to use them properly. Sometimes the ABS sensor wire doesn't have a corresponding mounting point on the KYB aftermarket struts; usually people just zip tie it in place then. On the rears you can use a dremel or similar tool to notch out the brake line mount points on the struts so as to not have to disconnect the lines.

Right that clip holds in the outer race. There is a lip at the outside of the bearing housing to set the proper installed depth. I accidentally tried to drive that out - but fortunately it won't move! The slightly smaller size adapter is needed, then it drives out pretty easily. A three jaw puller, good idea, it does seem like that would work! I had only a really small one that wouldn't fit on the hub.

I would think it would be tough without a bearing puller. With the puller, even a good size arbor press it seems like would take it off.

Hi Gary, actually I just did this same job for the first time today. I happened to have one of those Harbor Freight large bearing pullers and I saw that in someone else's pics so I tried it, and it worked fine. I had a press I never used before so I used that, but I think with the bearing puller, then it could simply be driven off with a block of wood and good size hammer. It wasn't on there super tightly. Thinking about it, it might be possible to lock the bearing into a vise and then pound the hub out with a block of wood? Not sure if that would mess up the hub though. I'm using the Harbor Freight front wheel bearing adapters to do the r&r, those are actually working out very very well.

Hm well with that many miles, it is possible! Yes the fuel pump area does seem to be rust free even on my old rust bucket soobs. Now if we could just keep the brake lines, filler neck, and the 4038 little metal emissions tubes under there in the same condition we would be home free!

Mine fortunately was free because I had replaced the oil pump previous to that and coated the jacket of the sensor with antisieze. But it was stuck in there pretty good before that. I kept putting kroil on it and eventually it let loose after a few days. I think Dave had to give his a root canal. :-p

Not sure, there's probably any number of creative ways to deploy the airbags. I looked back and found the details.... Recall 98V315000: Unexpected Air Bag Deployment: Vehicle Description: Passenger vehicles. Inadvertent air bag deployment can occur after undercarriage contact of the tow hooks with curbs, dips, speedbumps, potholes, etc. Unexpected air bag deployment could result in personal injury. Dealers will castrate the front tow hooks. Owner notification began June 1, 1999.