porcupine73

Should be similar to this. There could be a bad transistor in the ignitor, that does happen from time to time.

Hook up the appropriate jumpers on one of the connectors and the ABS light will flash out the code(s), then you can see what issue it is detecting to help you narrow it down. Like if it is the front left or front right sensor, or both, it will tell you.

It could be someone popped it into park while the vehicle was rolling a little too fast and broke the pawl. But thinking back, I believe there was a TSB from Subaru about this potential issue in that era, saying that the parking brake should always be set when parking the vehicle.

Is the check engine light coming on at all? Compression test is basically remove the spark plugs, hold or screw the compression tester into each spark plug hole one at a time, block the throttle fully open, then let it crank and read the peak reading on the gauge. The battery is supposed to be fully charged during this. There's different readings usually for engine cold, engine warm, and a 'wet' reading with a shot of oil in the cylinder.

Compression test would be another way to check if the timing is off.

Sorry about that, I didn't read back the previous couple posts and see that the transistor frying has already been addressed. I don't remember if you said you already inspected the transfer clutch packs? There were some good pictures on here somewhere of people servicing them and it showed the groves that get worn into the drum by the clutches. Then the clutch plates can get stuck sometimes in there and cause torque bind. I guess it might get intermittent if they get stuck then release, or something like that. I think it isn't suggested to drive normally with the FWD fuse in, maybe not so much because of the duty c itself, but because it does change the handling characteristics, probably moreso in an emergency maneuver. With the FWD fuse in, it doesn't give the duty c power all the time, it is something like 95% duty.

I think the plugs probably are different. I think there's been some posts where people got the alternator and the plug from a scrap yard and then soldered it into the alt they wanted to use but I don't recall for sure. The '96-'99 reman alts are cheap because there was a recall on them, something about the brushes and then not charging and could stall in traffic, so they probably needed a ton of them to satisfy the recall needs, thus making them less expensive and widely available.

!

Timing belt and valve cover gaskets can be done without pulling the engine, yes. I believe that year would have shim style lash adjusters, which if it's like the earlier shim styles, can be adjusted with a special tool without removing the engine. Maybe you can press them for more details about the HG's. The HG issues were pretty much fixed up by around 04 MY though of course depending on conditions it is possible.

Thanks for the update. Maybe the output transistor for the duty c in the TCU failed open so that it never gives the duty c any juice, even though it thinks it is.

The oil pump relief is around 72 psig on the n/a's and it would see that say at startup or higher rpm operation after warmup. Supposing the hole is 1/64" dia. or 0.0078125" rad. would be a=pi*r*r=3.14159*0.0078125*0.0078125=.0001917 square inches So force would be say 72psig*.0001917sq. inch = ~.014 lbs I think the JB Weld should be able to hold that!

If your lug nut wrench is too fat to fit in the wheel bolt holes, you might want to get a thinwall 19mm socket. There's special ones for nice wheels that have plastic wrapped around them so it doesn't gouge up the wheel at all.

The end of the axle is about the last thing I'd worry about. Brake lines, the fuel filler tube, emissions pipes, trans cooler lines, all that stuff will rust out before there will be a problem with the axle tips. There's many products you could spray on the ends though as a little protection if desired, like amsoil heavy duty metal protector, kanolabs Prevox, etc.

Did you keep the old throttle body as well?

I've done a similar test, and the jbweld worked! Granted this was 2" black iron pipe for compressed air, but it sees 120psig and it has held leak free for a few years. Yep he's got the roughing of the surface covered!

Hm...now that you mention it, I do notice a correlation between looking under the hood or under the vehicle and the number of repairs that occur in the days following...... Doctor, my elbow hurts when I go like this.

haha exactly it does seem that way. It seems like it runs in packs. Like everything will be ok for many months or even a year, then suddenly a bunch of things go wrong or get noticed all at once between all of them.

That's right, I forgot about the clips. I think I remember those on my '00, but I don't think I had them on the '96. Last winter was rough on my front calipers, I ended up replacing all four fronts between my '96 and '00. But I had resealed them all myself a few years prior, not sure if it was something I messed up when doing it or not.

That's not really good. If you don't have torque bind already, it is at the least putting excess wear and tear on the AWD components (what exactly depends on whether it is a manual trans or auto trans). Subaru wants the tires to be all within 1/4" circumference.

Hm that's pretty weird, but I guess some percent of defects don't get caught. JB Weld works in some pretty interesting situations so hopefully it will last long term. Much faster and less expensive than a new block that's for sure!

Glad you got it working 86subaru! When rebuilding, when putting the piston boot on, are you supposed to seat the boot in the bore, and then slide the piston in over that? In hindsight I think that might be where I went wrong. After the piston was in the bore, I just had a heck of a time getting the boot to seem like it was in place correctly in the bore. And I think they weren't, and eventually came loose, and then seized up. I haven't had any trouble with bleeders. Usually I put kroil on them in advance and then gently tighten loosen tighten loosen more kroil until they get loosened up, then usually I'm working them every couple years at the most anyway so they stay free

Thanks. I replaced it with hose last night. I really needed to get it fixed quickly so I can get to work with it. I had a 25 foot box of Goodyear 3/8" trans cooler hose so that is what I used. I don't think it was way too big, it still took a bit of effort and twisting and force to get it to slide onto the pipes. I can't say I was happy looking at the pipes that go from the trans and stub up under the heater core hoses, those were very rusty too. I sprayed them thoroughly with some eastwood wax undercoating or something I had on hand so hopefully that will delay them rusting out completely. Man the salt winters here just eat the snot out of the poor car after 15 years. I don't know how many more years I will be able to get out of this before something major rusts out. While under there I noticed both boots on the left axle are blown. It looks like the thing went through a minefield because the cv grease is all over the place, plus the ATF from the dripping is all over everything too.

You just need the reseal kit to rebuild it. Usually I hook up compressed air to force the pistons out, while placing some 2x4 and other wood scraps to keep the pistons from launching. I rebuilt them on a 2000 Outback, which might be the same calipers as 2000 Legacy. I thought it was kind of a pain. I don't know, I had a lot of trouble getting the stupid piston boots to stay sealed. Maybe I just did it in the wrong order. Both my fronts siezed pistons a couple years later, I think because water got in where I didn't quite have the boots on properly. Usually now I just get a rebuilt caliper from Carquest. I love that they actually come with the bracket, and already mounted. It makes it so much faster to simply swap out the caliper and bracket. I think they were getting $70-$100 for that (excl core charge). I've had a few calipers where I went to reseal them, and then when I look at it, the piston is all pitted up. I'm assuming water got in it somehow.

From what you describe, it is possible that the final drive ratio on the transmission you installed does NOT match that of the existing rear differential. You must get a matching rear differential, and not drive it until then, unless you want to destroy the transfer clutch in the transmission. If it absolutely must be driven until the rear diff is in, installing the FWD fuse may help limit the damage. Another possibility is the transmission you got already had torque bind before, and you are just inheriting the problem.

The flashing oil temp light you mention is for the automatic transmission oil, which would be unrelated to the engine oil. Generally that means the TCU detected a problem on the last drive cycle. There is a way to get it to flash out the codes on that light. Filling with 'twice as much oil' is generally very very bad. At a quick lube shop, what that usually means is, they actually pulled the automatic transmission drain plug, which would give them 4-5 quarts of an oily substance which would satisfy them. Then they proceed to change the filter and fill 'er up with 4-5 quarts of engine oil, while the old oil is still in the engine. I see you say this oil change was at a dealer, so you would reasonably hope they know not to drain the transmission and then add engine oil, but it all depends on the technician.