Rooster2

I too have a 98 OBW, that I changed the spark plugs on a couple of years back. It is a really nasty job on the 2.5. Just so little room to work wrenches. It took several hours, and a lot of four letter cussing to complete. There is plenty written on this subject in the past, so it you pose the topic on the search function of the website, you can read what others have done and said about changing the plugs. Glad to hear that plug wires fixed your hesitation problem.

Same thought I had. Get insurance company to total it out, then buy it back from the insurance company on the cheap. Then you can transfer all your wrx parts to another Subie. O yea, you said you were an insurance adjuster once upon a time, so you know all about how this is done. Sorry to hear about your loss. There are always paybacks in life. The joker who trashed your car will get his payback. Life always works that way!

Like said the adapter pipes can be made to work, but they rusted out and broke in 2-3 years. For the price that they cost, it is not a bad way to go on an old car. On old cars, it just doesn't pay to invest much money on them. Just enough to keep them running and safe to operate, particularly with good brakes and tires. On exhaust, I now go to a family owned torch, bend, and weld muffler shop for repairs. Very reasonable cost when compared to new from dealer, or any of the chain muffler shops. I can get them to repair only what is wrong in an exhaust system, and not get hosed from a shop that wants to always replace the entire system from the cat back.

I suggest pulling the codes again. You may find codes for something more than one for the knock sensor. If so, those extra codes will point out other problems that need to be addressed. When my knock sensor went bad, it produced an intermittent CEL. So, the system can reset itself. With a bad knock sensor, my engine ran poorly. It was down on power, but it never stalled. I am thinking that with new knock sensor and wiring being repaired at a repair shop, that their work should have cured your problem. Replacing the ECU hasn't rid you of the knock sensor code either, so I am thinking you still have issues with the knock sensor system. Maybe the shop over tightened the installation of the knock sensor, and in doing so, cracked the plastic cap? Maybe their rewiring was done poorly?

I replaced the knock sensor on my 98 OBW. I don't remember seeing two wires crimped together to make one wire. That doesn't sound right at all.

Just my 2 cents worth..........I have used those exhaust adapters several times before on a few cars. Yea, you can get them to fit and work, but I never found the quality of the steel to be good. They are prone to rust out and break, long before the pipes and muffler in the rest of the exhaust system.

If the switch lights up, then I am thinking the fuse is going to be good. I guess you will need to use the multimeter to see if you have power at the wire grid on the back window, which is what you wrote already on your original post. Since you are talking about a rear wiper, I am thinking you have a wagon, not a sedan. Removing the tail gate inside panel cover is not difficult. Wiring will be in there. I don't think it will be under the wiper unit cover.

I would suggest checking the fuse first. If the fuse is good, then using a multimeter, check the operation of the switch. Unlikely in my opinion, that your problem is with the defrost lines or wires on the rear glass itself.

Are you sure the spark plugs and plug wires are good?? Old wires, or cheap after market wires will cause the problem you are having.

I had a 91 Subie, that I had to get behind the glove box to change the fan motor. It is easy job to remove the glove box assembly. I don't know what you will find clicking back there, but clicking could be a relay. Whatever......sound like you are having an electrical problem with your A/C. That is a whole lot easier to fix then anything mechanical on an A/C system.

I saw this video several years back. Pretty interesting......looks like something you would see at an auto show at the Subaru display.

The warped hood prolly means that something fell on the hood, or a heavy object was put on the hood, which bent it, and not that it was involved in an accident. The car looks good in the pixs. I have a 99 wagon that is the same exterior color, and I really like my car. As others have pointed out, it is the head gasket weakness that can be a problem with this year car. The car in the pixs looks like it is for sale by a dealer, so sales guy has no past history of this car to know if the head gasket has been replaced. However, a mechanic who knows Subarus will be able to look at the exposed edge corners of the head gasket on the engine, and will be able to tell you if the head gasket is the original or not. If I were you, I would seek out that opinion, if you are interested in the car.

I am no expert on A/C, but when I have replaced O rings, they have always been a good snug fit taking the old rings off, and putting new ones on. Your loose fit doesn't seem right to me.

I am surprised that the service manager would be so casual and unconcerned about fixing your tire cupping problem. Putting your cupped tire on the rear did nothing to fix your problem. Like you said, it is just ruining more tires. A bad wheel bearing starts making an rrrrrrrrrrr sound when making hard sweeping turns in one direction, but not when going straight. The noise you are prolly hearing now is from the damaged tire. I doubt that a wheel bearing is your problem. Diagnosing your problem should be quick and easy taking less than 5 minutes time at an independent garage. Usually there is no charge at a reputable shop to simply put the car up on their lift, and look for "play" in suspension parts. This approach is the logical way of finding out what is wrong. A mechanic will be able take you out into his shop, have you stand near or under your car, and show you what is loose and allowing the wheel to hop, then will quote you a price to fix the problem.

No, alignment alone would not cause this problem. There is something loose from wear in the suspension that is allowing the road wheel to hop up and down to cause the cupping. Alignment simply squares up the tire/wheel, so that the car rolls with full and even tire tread contact on the pavement. Out of alignment results in excessive tire wear on either the inside or outside of the tire tread. Dealers do have alignment equipment in their repair shops, however, at a lower cost compared to a dealer, I would go to an independent shop. Many times tire stores offer alignment service.

Tire cupping is caused by poor tire balance, or worn suspension or steering components. Since you moved the first cupping tire to the rear, and now another tire is beginning to cup in the same front location, I gotta think it is worn steering or suspension parts, not a tire balance problem. Suggest you get the car up on a lift, or jacked up with front wheel off the ground. Try wrestling the road wheel in and out, up and down, left to right to see if the road wheel has any loose play. It is that loose play that allows the road wheel to move about on its own, and slightly hop up and down cause the cupping. I am thinking you have a bad ball joint or tie rod end. Also possible that the strut is bad. A front end alignment could be needed, but first find and fix what is allowing the wheel hop. Also... a good front end alignment shop will be able to tell you what is causing the wheel hop. Once a tire is cupped, about all you can do with it, is to run it on the rear of the car for the remainder of its life, or just replace the tire.

I have a 99 OBW, and have serviced the trany myself. I can't imagine that your 2001 model trany is much different from mine. If you don't mind working on your own car, I would recommend the following........drain and change the ATF three times with 10 minute drives between changes. A single drain only drains out about half the ATF, the remainder stays in the torque converter, and won't drain. There is a drain bolt on the bottom of the trany pan to make draining an easy job. You may want to add an addivive like Lucas or Trans-X product with your last ATF change. Don't drop the pan, as there is no need to do so, and there is really nothing serviceable with the pan dropped. There is an external AT filter that is a spin on unit that looks much like an oil filter. You may want to replace this filter. They are kind of pricey from a parts store at about $35. I am thinking the trany stores you called with don't know much about servicing Subaru transmissions. They both don't know that Subaru has the external AT filter, and just gave you the standard automotive transmission advise. I would not be inclined to go for the power flush that was suggested. Good luck to you!

Okay, I learned that coloni is a motor designer company. People and companies fail at endeavors all the time. That is normal. I still think Subaru could produce a competitive engine. The IRL engine designs are much less technical then F-1 designs, and more along the line of stock block designs. Lotus is a very small company, that will be offering an IRL motor next year. Love to see Subaru offer an engine too.

The IRL has mandated that the new 2.5 motor entries either be 4 or 6 cylinder with turbos. Any SOA management out there willing to comment on possibly entering the IRL next year with a power plant??

Starting in 2012, Indy car racing league is going to a 2.5 cc with turbo racing formula for their engines. How great it would be if Subaru would enter their engines. With all the engine work poured into rally cars, I gotta think it would not take that much work to product an Indy car competitive motor. I hope someone in SOA management reads this, to give this idea some consideration. This would be a tremendous way to advertise Subaru to the public.

Trans-X works well on 99 and 00 model trannys, that become slow to engage in D, after backing up in R. Slow forward engagement can be 3, 5, 10 seconds maybe more. Adding Trans-X has gained a reputation of permanently fixing this problem. My 99 still engages well after adding Trans-X to the tranny. If you are unaware, Subaru has a trany drain plug on the tranny pan. The plug looks exactly like the plug on the pan to drain oil. Depending on how clean looking your tranny fluid looks on the dip stick.......if dirty, then drain and add Trans-X. If looks pretty clean, drain a pint, add Trans-X. See if this helps to get tranny to forward engage. Since you can't get D (forward) to engage, you may need to back up, push car forward, several times to get Trans-X to circulate in the tranny hydraulic system. A can of the stuff it is worth a try. Tranny shops will show you metal grit on the drain plug, and tell you the tranny is bad........not necessarily so. Over time, all ATs will put some metal grit in the pan or on the magnetized drainbolt. Often times, it is a trick by a crooked tranny shop to talk you into a new or replacement tranny, when you really don't need one.

Are you sure the replacement stat is OEM, or aftermarket with a long coil spring? It is the cheapie stats with the short coil spring that don't work well on Subies, and cause over heating problems.

I agree with your logic and decision. I would do the same.

I would trust the Walker name for a cat. They have been in the exhaust biz for a long time with a good reputation, and NAPA has a reputation of selling good quality parts. Just for giggles, how much is the part from a dealer? Expensive I am sure, and I am sure the quality is excellent, but hard to justify a super high price for your 98 with 200K on the odo. You might also want to see if you have a cut, bent, weld muffler shop in your area. Most are family owned. This type of muffler shop does work on the cheap, but for a cat they may be okay. Think about it.....they wouldn't be selling cats for long, if customers kept coming back with a CEL light problem from their cats. So, it is worth checking out. I had one of these shops replace my resonator on my 98 OBW. They simply eliminated the resonator, and replaced with a straight pipe. This is perfectly legal, as the cat still works on my exhaust. Cost was like $45 out the door. Car is very quiet.

Dave...........My 99 OBW trany is still running well with Trans-X. Sometimes, it may hesitate a second or two before shifting from R to D, but usually the gear transition is rather quick. I am still singing the praises of Trans-X. I can't remember when I wrote the original thread on this subject, prolly going on 3 years ago. I'm still sold on Trans-X.