Rooster2

His 2.5 has nearly 200K miles on the odo. With that high millage, I would be inclined to replace with a good running lower millage 2.2 motor.

Recommend either OEM or Bosch plug wires. Buying the cheapies from a parts store will cause problems.

Bad spark plug wire, or bad plug not firing can lead to carbon build up.

Thanks for the advise.

Agree with others, that it sounds like a fuel problem. Any chance you bought gas after a heavy rain? Sometimes, rain water will leak into the underground storage tanks at a gas station. If so, a small amount of water added with your last fuel fill up is causing the problem. Suggest adding a can of "dry gas." It just might fix the problem.

Update............took my Subie OBW to a shop to replace the pass side front wheel bearing that was loose. The road wheel would move back and forth. The mechanic called back to say that the problem is with the half shaft. The threaded end of the half shaft at the road wheel end side had actually broken the axle itself into two parts in the threaded area, where the big nut threads on. If I had not seen it myself with my own 2 eyes, I would never believed that this was possible. So a replacement half shaft will fix that problem. However, it is still possible that the bearing may be damaged. Time will tell on that. Anybody ever encounter this before?

Given your circumstances, I would stick with the 2.2 motor. I have owned both, and the 30 hp advantage from the 2.5 motor is not much. The extra 30 hp is nothing to get excited about. IMO, the 2.2 with greater engine reliability is the way to go.

I think I would replace it with the correct filter. I don't think you will loose that much oil, when removing the filter. It is not like pulling the pan drain plug, where all the oil is drained out. I bet less then a pint of oil will drain out.

Nice car, should clean up, and with a little bondo and paint should look quite good. Reminds me of the 91 I had. Yes, phase 1, 2.5 motors, years 96 thru 99 will plug and play. Some minor issues with exhaust down pipe, and A/C compressor bracket that I have read about, but they can be easily over come. Phase 2, 2.5 motors will not work.

I don't know for sure, but I think the ding-ding sound is made by a module. On other cars, I have disconnected the module that sounds off a "buzz" sound when the key is left in the ignition, and a door is opened. So listen to where the ding-ding sound is coming from. Put your fingers on the module that you think the sound is coming from. The module will vibrate during ding-ding, so that your finger tips can detect the vibration. It may be as simple as unplugging the offending module.

Yep, you are right MilesFox did make the call first.

J.A.Blazer wins the award for correct diagnose of twitchy handling. It turns out my pass side wheel bearing is bad. Found lots of play that shouldn't be there. It is bad enough that I won't take it on a road trip until I get the bearing replaced. Ball joints, tie rods, struts, and anti-sway bar are all okay. The slightly loose lug nuts on driver side front also contributed to the twitch. Thanks to all for the good solid advise. ............Rooster2

Thanks for all the advise.........I am going over to a buddy's house tomorrow, and will check out front suspension, sway bar, strut, ball joints, and tie rods. One thing that did just come to mind, was a possibility of loose wheel lug nuts. I tightened both front sides, and did find three lugs a very tiny bit loose on driver's side. It was minimal turn with a 4 way lug wrench to snug them up, so will try a short freeway drive to see if the tightening makes any difference.

My OBW recently just started to handle poorly at freeway speed. On hitting a rough patch of pavement, or slight turn, I can feel what I perceive as the right front wheel snap twitch. This causes the car to slightly veer to the left, which is unsettling. On an interstate trip last night, I had to slow down to 60 mph because of the twitching to feel like I could drive safely. I am thinking it may be a bad tire belt, as the Michelin tires are old, and getting near replacement. I am seeing some sidewall rubber cracking. However, I don't feel any tire issue like vibration or alignment problems. Tread wear on all tires looks normal. I am also thinking that maybe it is a suspension problem with a bad ball joint or tie rod allowing the road wheel to move about on its own. It is too cold out right now to jack up the front, grab a road wheel and try moving it up/down, left/right looking for suspension "play." I hope to do that tomorrow, when the weather is warmer. Any thoughts of what else this might be, or what to look for? Thanks for any advise.

Try pumping up the tires to 37 psi on all four tires. That creates less rolling resistance, so a little better millage. Your Subie will ride a little firmer, and you will feel road bumps a little more, but it is worth a cheap try.

In a recent post, someone showed the difference in photos of the timing belt covers. There is a clear difference between single and double over head cam design between 2.2 and 2.5 phase 1 motors.

MMO is a great product. It was invented at about the same time the car was invented. It has stood the test of time. Like said try MMO first with a spirited drive. Maybe use lower gears to keep rpm up after warm up.

With 211 K miles on the odo, and not running, this is a project car. I don't think I would consider or even trying much to get that car running again. It likely has a blown head gasket or broken timing belt that prevents it from running. With 211 K miles on that motor, it is not worth a rebuild. It would be a good candidate for a 2.2 motor swap in. Yea, your car with the 2.2 motor most likely will swap in, as I am guessing it is old enough to be a gen 1 motor, if it does not have more than 200K miles on it. Still, you have to look at this as a time consuming project. There may be lots of other things that the 97 needs that you don't know about.....such as brake work, or trany work. Doing additional work takes time. You won't learn about these issues, until you dive into this project to put the 97 back on the road. Keep us posted on what direction you take.

If it were me, I would pull the road wheel off and make a good inspection of brakes and suspension parts. My wife's car was making noise something like that, it turned out to be a worn out brake pad on the right rear wheel. Look around for any loose suspension parts. Seems like Subies wear out CV half shafts on the front with broken boots, but not so likely on the rear.

Okay Vermont Subaru, I believe you are legit. Sounds like you have a cottage industry going of buying, then fixing, then selling Subies. Like you, I check Craig's list for Subies for sale here in Indiana. I don't have the garage facilities, time, or know how, on how to do engine & trany transplants, but it is fun to see what is up for sale. Another good source of buying used Subies, (and other cars), is from the auto donation auctions like Goodwill Industries. Their auction here in Indy is every Saturday morning, with cars up for auction listed on their website on Thursday before the auction. Some really good deals can be had at these auctions, but they usually need work done on them.

I couldn't agree more with GD. His advise is spot on. A guy here in Indiana is advertising a 98 OBW with 144K miles, and a blown head gasket on Craig's list for sale for $1,000. This chimes in with GD, that the car will only bring about a $1,000 or so.

Pardon me if I am wrong.......you bought 4 Subies in the last two weeks, and now looking to buy 3 more Subies? That is incredible! Are you real, or just messing with us? You talk about more swaps then I can ever dream about. I will be glad to help if you are not messing with us.

Same thought..........never touch the bulb glass envelope when installing the new bulb. Oil from your skin causes hot spots, which burns out the bulb quicker. If touched, wipe off with a kleenex and rubbing alcohol. A lot of people don't know this. It helps the bulb manufacturers sell more replacement bulbs.

My 99 OBW does the same thing......light sometimes works, sometimes not. Loose wire or bulb connection I guess. However, if it doesn't work at all.......same thought as above, it must be a bad bulb.

I know what you are talking about. It should be cheap enough to find one in a wrecking yard. You may need to cut it down in size a bit to make it fit, but that would be easy enough to do.