Rooster2

I can understand your wife's emotional attachment to her Subie. All of us here on this forum have the same love affair with their Subie. However, the reality is that you are calling it a rust bucket with 229K miles on the odo, with bad HGs. This presents a picture of a very tired car that is not worth repairing. If it were me, I would think that future time and money would be best spent on upgrading to a better car, and let the Brighton RIP in a wrecking yard.

In locating engine noises, it can be very helpful to use an engine stethoscope to find the source. If you are not familiar with this tool, it looks and works like a doctor's stethoscope. Nearly pin pointing the source of an engine noise saves a lot of time in diagnosing repairs.

I use a car battery terminal cleaning metal brush to clean off the crud and rust from the slide shims, then apply anti-seize cream on the slides before sliding on the new brake pads. Seems to work pretty well.

Yea, really difficult to find, as it is hidden underneath wiring and vac hoses. It is way back, almost under the fire wall. Use a flash light to find the dip stick.

If, as you say the Continentals are a "soft" tire, then they would grip well as stated in their name, but I gotta think they won't last for long millage. Since you hate "vague steering," your best bet is to buy a tire with a strong and rigid side wall. The less the side wall flexes, the more responsive the steering. The trade off is that the stiffer side wall produces a rougher car ride.

Figure that replacing the pulleys is like buying an insurance policy. If purchased off e-bay, they are rather cheap insurance against an old pulley seizing up. Very little extra labor involved when installing a T-belt, but you already prolly know this.

Like you, I have a 99 Leggie OBW. The amp is built into the radio unit. It is not located somewhere else as a separate unit.

I still think your problem is in the amplifier. I had a radio once that lost the right channel totally, while the left channel still worked. Changing speakers did not fix my problem, so that told me that the amp was bad. I suggest replacing the system where the amp is located.That is prolly the unit with the radio, the CD head unit is prolly a separate unit, and is still good.

Pulling off a door panel is not difficult, even if you have never done it before. It is pretty ez to figure out. From your write-up, I don't think that your speakers are the problem. I am assuming that your replacement head unit uses the same amp as the original. Does AM/FM radio play through the system? If so, is sound distorted when playing the radio?

Yea, it could be the amp, or a bad board level component. It may be more trouble then it is worth to try to figure out, let alone repair. Well, repair is not really an option either. CD players, car radios, and all consumer electronic products are really disposable products. When they break, they get thrown away, as there are not shops around to repairs them. Unfortunately, my advise, is that it is time to replace with a new unit.

Your problem happens all the time. It must be posted on this forum about once a month. So, don't feel bad, this happens to a lot of people.

Is it simply a trany leaking ATF on the exhaust system to produce smoke? If the trany still works okay, then stop the leak only, no need to replace the trany. Tell us more of what is going on!

Which seal? Do you mean the outside boot on the right front half shaft?

With little money, suggest buying a used one from a wrecking yard. Should be cheap.

If you have narrowed it down to a weak alternator, then simply replace it. I have had good luck with Autozone alternators. All have performed well after many years and miles of work. I also like their lifetime warranty, if I ever get a bad one, they will replace it for free. Just be sure to keep the sales slip. Subie dealers don't offer a lifetime warranty. It is a very easy swap out to install a new one. Even if you have never changed a Subie alternator, it is really easy to figure out which bolts to remove. The adjuster bolts make tightening the belt very easy.

+1 on not oxidation, the paint thinner has caused physical damaged deep into the plastic lens, and no amount of sanding or polishing will really improve the appearance. Save time and energy, and pick up replacement lenses at your local wrecking yard.

You can almost feel that it will take them longer than 10 minutes, no matter what. I can see the reality of taking 5 minutes to break loose the bolt, then another 10 minutes for a "smoke break," so charge the customer $55, because it took longer then 10 minutes!

I agree with above advise. If it is your tail gate squeeze handle that is "sticking," then lube it with spray grease to free it up. In my case, this worked for a few months, then the rust would return, and it would need greased again. Finally, I replaced the squeeze hand unit last year. Subaru part number 62150AA211. Cost $22, plus $10 to ship, from Lee's Summit Subaru in Missouri. Their website is: http://www.leessummitsubaru.com. Other on line car parts stores prolly sell as well. Installation of new squeeze handle is rather easy. Suzanne, this is a rather common problem with Subaru Legacy/Outback wagons. If you check the archives here, you will see a bunch more written about this problem and fix in previous postings.

The nice thing is that Subaru installs a drain bolt/plug to drain out the ATF. I never owned a car before that had that feature. Hats off to Subaru for that thoughtful design!

ABS equipped brake systems bleed out just the same and non-ABS. No difference!

Yes, I have to agree with you, that you will be fortunate to get $100 from a wrecking yard. The yard will know that they will have trouble themselves parting out the car that is not in hot demand. Most likely you will only get scrap metal value. When it comes to parting it out yourself, you have to think of yourself as a one man wrecking yard, that has only one car to part out. Yes, this can be done, but it is time consuming, as others have said, you will need to get some publicity to tell people what you have. List what you got on Craig's list under car parts, or on e-bay, or here at the USMB forum on the section listing cars and car parts for sale. You may also want to consider donating the car to a charity organization like Goodwill Industries, that conducts car auctions to resell donated cars. You will only be able to get a charitable federal tax deduction in the amount that the car sold for at their car auction.

When the system is low on refrigerant, the compressor will cycle on and off in short bursts of about 3-5 seconds. If it were me, I would add another can of 134 refrigerant to see if that lengthens on/off cycle times, before swapping out the relay. You need to see if you can stop the small leak before adding refrigerant, or if it is just a very small leak, then adding the second can of refrigerant just might get you through the heat of summer before running out.

Suspect you are low on refrigerant.

As so often advised here, take your car to an Autozone, Advance Auto, or another auto parts store for a free of charge diagnostic of your car's charging system. This takes less than 5 minutes, with minimal wait time, and is done in the parking lot of the parts store. Don't take to the dealer, they will charge you appx. $75 for this diagnostic service, and you will have to leave your car for most of a day.

Sounds like with a little time having passed, the effect of the hounding salesman is starting to wear off, and you don't feel as stressed out. Good idea to ask for the carfax tomorrow. If you have a good trusted worthy mechanic that you have taken your car to in the past, then consider taking this car to that mechanic for an evaluation. Cost might be maybe $35, but it could be the best money you have ever spent. The mechanic will check out the condition of the suspension, exhaust, tires, brakes, and motor to give you an honest opinion of the car, and what deficiencies it might have. All used cars have some deficiencies, some that are minor and some that are major. If you go this route, and still want to buy the car, then use this deficiency information in further negotiations with the salesman in lowering the price. Remember, you are in a business negotiation; the salesman wants to sell the car for as much as he can, you want to buy the car for as little as you possible. There in lies the game. This game is nothing to be afraid of. Determine the fair market value for the car, and what you want to spend. If the salesman can't, or won't meet YOUR terms, then don't continue playing the game. Don't feel bad about walking away from any deal. I usually say something like "it is a shame we can't get together on price, but I guess this deal was not meant to be," if I don't like the deal. (Remember there are thousands of cars for sale all the time. Don't get emotionally attached to a car that you feel that you MUST buy.) Don't be surprised if within 24 hours, the salesman will contact you with a more favorable offer. The salesman is still wanting to play "the game." The game is never over until it is over. It always helps to take someone along with you when buying a car for moral support, and the fresh ideas they will have in negotiating. Good luck to you tomorrow!