porcupine73

And maybe see what voltage you have when this is happening. I had something like this happen on a different car, and the radio going out was just a symptom. It had gotten down to about 10 volts (from idling for a long time with all accessories on and foot on brake). The radio started cutting out and I looked at the voltmeter and spotted the problem.

Auto trans. Thanks for the tips! If I would have had more time, I would have probably tried some of these out. There was a dozen people behind me, and this traffic light for the side street turns green for about 15 seconds every 5 minutes so I wanted to get her moving as quickly as possible. So once I noticed at least she was creeping forward slowly under heavy throttle I just kept it there. I had the manual button on, but I was in 1, then I shifted to 2. I actually couldn't tell for sure which tire(s) were spinning. There was so little traction I actually had to check because I thought I was in neutral at first. This felt like one of those cases where if you started from the bottom moving even slowly it would have been fine. Just being completely stopped on the incline and probably sank in a little bit while sitting waiting for the light. I didn't think until later about trying the 'driving through the brakes' trick. I will say in this case, I think traction control in addition probably gives a big benefit. The two SUV's in front of me I could see them slowllyyy start moving too, but you could see on the rear tires how it was controlling the power at each wheel when there was the slightest bit of slippage.

Today was our first real snowfall for the year here. I was leaving the gas station on a side street, as there is a light to turn left. While filling, I could see and hear some cars having trouble making it up the slight hill to the light. Some people were backing up and coming back into the parking lot because they couldn't make it up. I figured no problem at all. So I got out there, there were a couple SUV's in front of me, and even they had a little trouble getting out. Unfortunately for me I was stopped on the steepest part of the incline. So the light turns green, I hit the gas and shoot....it felt like I was in neutral. '94 Legacy 2.2L. I am guessing there was ice from all the cars driving on it under about 5 inches of snow, no salt or anything. The AWD works fine in this soob (does transfer power to the rear no problem, transfer clutch is not tired). She was spinning the tires. So I wanted to back up a touch to give it a better run, and of course the guy behind me has to be like 1/4 inch off my bumper. So I just punched it. She was bouncing off the rev limiter and slllowowwwllyyy and I do mean sllooowwwlllly started moving forward. I finally made it about a foot forward until the incline eased off and then she took off. I thought...oh man...how embarrasing is this going to be if a Subaru has to back down from this slight incline!!! She has Dunlop Graspic snow tires on with good tread.

You're not the first person to have that problem with the non-genuine O2 sensor on the front. Especially the years '99 / '00 era for whatever reason seem to be really sensitive and picky. Not sure what to say about the genuine being Bosch with the same part #...other than to say, it is possible the genuine one they sell to Subaru is different from what appears to be the same that they sell to the aftermarket.

Pretty much can throw them right on. May need fastcam bolts for camber adjustment. Going too much earlier, like before 95, means the rear strut mounts may be different, but, Forester and Outback weren't around then either. Too much later and the rears went to multilink and would not fit. Sometimes mounting points for the ABS sensor wires are different/absent but zip ties can work.

Wow sorry to hear that. Sometimes on these soobs if the steering wheel locks, the key won't turn, but if you force it hard enough the key will snap off. Friend might have still been able to turn the ignition, since the key is in there, just the end is broken off.

Thanks for the update! Glad he found a way to get to work. Right, if the key bent before it sheared off, it is going to be tricky. Also it might be between positions, i.e. not all the way off, then it won't come out either.

If you don't have the manual, check out my.subaru.com, you can view it online there.

Good work team! Less than 24 hours and every practicable solution has been offered. Now we can only hope for a report back on how it went.

Check this out: http://www.cars101.com/subaru/keyless.html#05%20legacy%20program%20remotes Not sure if you have an immobilizer key but if so that requires a programming procedure too.

Thanks. I need to look under the dash to see where this Locktronics thing hooks up. It has two what appear to be 10 ga. red wires coming off of it. I assume it's just in series with the starter solenoid, probably after the key before it heads out the firewall. haha I don't know who would steal a car this old....it might be tempting to a joy rider because it would be pretty easy to steal. The Locktronics isn't going to really make any difference anyway, the thing is so simple, just sticking a wire where the red 'key' goes would bypass it anyway. Get extra ammo.... ah here in the PR of NY in a case like this the victim goes to jail, the perpetrator of the crime lives comfortably off the proceeds of his civil suit against the victim.

Ok...I feel a bit stupid about the no crank at all this morning. For some reason I didn't even think about this before. This car has something called 'Locktronics' installed on it; it was on there when I got it. It's basically this red 'key' with a PC board end on it. I believe it is simply in series with the wire to the starter solenoid. When the 'key' is removed, it will not crank. Well....I didn't have the 'key' installed this morning. So I went out at lunch and put it in, and it cranked. Now this Loctronics thing might be causing the intermittent no crank problem too, since other times when it has acted funny, the red 'key' was in. These aftermarket gadgets I know sometimes cause problems.

Thanks for the update. It's great to hear that he and his wife are enjoying themselves. I'm glad he got he introduced you to the site. He always seemed to have good posts and I realized he hadn't posted in a long time. His userid is 8 so he must've been one of the originals! Many people you hear they retire and then pass away within a year or two because they weren't prepared for it. To have hobbies and activities you can enjoy and keep busy and active with seems key.

Thanks, I will check it out. This morning it had a complete no crank no matter what I did with the key and shifter, but it worked fine when I jumped the solenoid with +12V, so I think something may be messed up in the key/neutral park switch stuff. For now I have the jumper wire just left hooked up under the hood, I'll have to pop the hood and jump the solenoid to start it until I get that relay mod or pushbutton put in.

Thanks. That's true, I don't know for sure it is applying voltage to the solenoid at all when I turn the key. Something in that circuit has been going intermittent for the last few years, maybe the park/neutral switch part, I think it finally died completely now. I will have to give it a check.

Hm that's a good suggestion! Better than what I was thinking about using a spray bottle with the window down....

If you can't get it out (and might not be adviseable to take it out if it must be driven soon), use pliers to turn it to off. Then use pliers to turn it to run in the morning. If you can't use the pliers to turn it to start (because of the force needed), you can jump the starter solenoid with key in run to get it going. So....who broke the key off and how? Was the steering wheel locked and a little too much force used? :-p

That's great! I hope Skip is enjoying himself. I noticed he hadn't posted since 2009 so I was wondering as well.

Excellent thanks for the info, I think that is my next step is to put in the interposing relay. It hard failed for me this morning, trying to leave for work while it is raining out of course. It would not crank no matter what I did. I held the key in the start position and moved the shifter through all the gears just to test, and it did not crank at all. I wasn't getting the strong solenoid click either. So I pulled out my handy jumper wire, put it on the starter (awesome how that is so easily accessible on the starter right from under the hood). I touched the battery + and it cranked away. I hadn't started a soob like that before so I had a little trouble getting it going. I cycled the key acc to run a few times to make sure fuel press was up. When I'd touch +12 it would crank great, sputter a bit, but not start. So I held the throttle open a little bit and that did the trick. It ran great the whole way in. I am tempted to use a good quality pushbutton right from a fused lead on the batt, into the pass compartment, then to the starter solenoid. Those automotive relays, those black ones, I don't trust those things. I had one fail closed on me before. Granted it was probably a cheap relay, maybe just need to buy something higher quality.

Hello! >> 1999 impreza L at front struts are leaking & therefore I hope to replace my self.( best struts for the buck?) As mentioned, KYB. Look on eBay, lots of people selling those cheap drop shipped. Pairs or sets of four get even more discount. Some sellers will accept offers even lower than what they list. >> Since both sides will be taken apart, should I just put two new axles in at the same time?(since inner boot is torn?) Not a bad time to do it, you'll be able to extract the axle from the hub with the struts unhooked. >> Whos last the best for the buck? I've switched to using Subaru genuine reman axles. I was using MWE but I have not been happy with how long the boots last so I'm giving genuine a try. Genuine is about $40 to $50 more expensive though. >>Also need seals on both sides of tranny front axle output. I believe there's also an o-ring behind there, and the seals sometimes are specific to the side. The retainer you're supposed to count the turns when you remove it and then turn it back on the same turns to keep the backlash the same.

You might have to verify power to the pump. Do you get front or rear, or do neither work? I believe usually the pumps have +12V on them in run, and the other terminal gets grounded to make them turn on. Can you hear the pump at all or does it do nothing? It's funny, on my '96, right after I got it, I thought the pump wasn't working, but for some reason I got confused about what switch on what stalk actually made it turn on. If blowing compressed air through the nozzles...make sure not to blow any through the pump itself...that will ruin it...I learned that the hard way.

^^ that looks like a sweet oil pump! Normal genuine ones are running around $129 online. I think Cosworth makes a high volume pump like that too with a 100psi relief.

Hmmm.....well so far it seems to be OK, as in it hasn't let me down yet, but has two things that happen... 96 Legacy Brighton, AT, 130k miles 1. When I turn the key to start, once in a while the start doesn't crank. When this happens, if I have the door open, I can hear a pretty good click, which I am guessing is the solenoid. The starter I just put a genuine reman in there but of course that doesn't mean it isn't flaky. If I turn the key again, or sometimes even just keep holding the key, it will then crank eventually. I haven't been able to get it to not crank long enough to mess around with it. I haven't checked the hot and ground wires themselves yet though I did clean up the connections and applied kopr-shield. 2. The idle has been a little funny when cold. Like sitting at a stop light, you can feel it stumble a little bit. Not much but noticeable. I don't remember it doing this before. Once its warmed up, this goes away. I just did a thorough induction and IACV cleaning tonight to see if that helps. Plus are NGK copper about 12k miles old, wires are genuine wires about 5 years old. Another detail....this fall, the vehicle would not crank at all in park. So I had been putting it in neutral to start it. That seemed to go away after a while and it would crank in park again. So maybe something is flaky there. I remember reading on here about an interposing relay mod, that sometimes on the older soobs the circuit through the key for the starter solenoid doesn't seem to be able to pass enough current, so the interposing relay right off the battery is added.

Ok, let use know how it goes! On the 2000's there have been posts of people who bought aftermarket o2's that said it had the same connector....and low and behold they go to put it in and the connector is different than what they had.

Sorry to hear that. To pull the engine and service the heads / bent valves and stuff many shops are probably going to want around $2000 or more to do that.