Rooster2

Same thought.........take your car in for an alignment. The shop will quickly tell you for sure what your problem is. Struts are built anvil tough, and I think other suspension parts would bend or go out of alignment before damaging the strut. My money is bet on that you have some other suspension part bent, but not the strut. My guess is that your car was run up on a curb at speed to cause the bending you describe.

Written above is good advise. Subies don't develop bad piston rings causing "blow by" with subsequent oil burning inside the motor. I think your motor is simply leaking oil, and then it is running down the exhaust system where it is burned. The STOP SMOKE simply makes your oil really thick. It doesn't lube the motor as well, so that is why the oil light comes on occasionally. You are using less oil because the thick oil isn't leaking out of your engine as fast. Suggest really cleaning up the motor, source the leaks, then fix them. Then your problem will be solved.

check the archives here for many past posts on this subject. I replaced my outside latch on my 99 OBW a few months back. It is an easy job. Bought replacement handle on line for about $35. My old one was ruined by rust, prolly the same problem with yours. Good luck fixing yours.

I highly recommend the KYB struts. I have put them on several cars, and have been very happy with them. They perform well, and last a long time. I will buy them in the future. Years back in the 1970's, Monroe got a bad reputation of producing shock absorbers that wore out in a couple of years. That was a long time ago, so maybe with time, and transition to struts, their quality has improved.

Good to hear your success story. Glad all went well. Yea, like previous poster wrote, your smile and thumbs up says it all. Surprised you wore a white T-shirt and white shorts to do the work. Kept it all pretty clean too........!

I have both 98 & 99 OBWs, and have never used the stealership brand of coolant with no ill effects. IMHO, I don't know of any major brand of coolant that can't be used in a Subaru. I have read the coolant labels before purchase, and they say the product is safe to use in aluminum alloy engines. I don't think Prestone or Zerex would chance a class action law suit against themselves, if their product damaged engines. What is so special with a Subaru engine that it requires special coolant from a dealership? I am not aware of anything. To extend the life of antifreeze a few more years, in the Fall of each year, I add Prestone water pump lubricant and rust inhibitor to the coolant. Seems to work great.

With all that clicking, I too, would suspect a bad relay. Relays should be under the hood on the driver's side near top edge of fender in a black plastic box that also holds the fuses. The top of the black box unclips for removal. On the inside of the box lid is a listing of what each fuse does, but am unsure if relay functions are listed. If possible, start the relay to clicking. With the box cover removed, you can touch the relays to feel which one is clicking. Once the clicker is found, suggest replacing that particular one.

Since you are working on your tail gate, if the outside hatch latch is jamming and sticking,when you squeeze the handle to open the tail gate, you should be able to find a replacement from an Outback in the wrecking yard. This jamming happens with rusty cars in the snow belt, so this may or may not apply to you.

Thanks for a good explanation as to how and why the Trans-X fixes the problem. I agree with your reasoning to a point. However, since my 99 OBW had 160K miles on the odo at the time, and was approaching 10 years old, it made a lot of financial sense to add the Trans-X to the automatic transmission. Paying to have a shop do a seal rebuild job has to cost big bucks ($), maybe about $1,000, right? A can of Trans-X cost just $6. After 18 months, and 20,000 miles of using Trans-X, my trany is still performing well, so the "fix in a bottle" can't be doing that much harm to the rubber seals, or I would have realized it by now. I am thinking this "fix in a bottle" has been a good choice and good decision.

My thoughts are with the others in thinking the alternator is bad. When mine went bad it was doing weird electrical things like you described. Changing the alternator is an easy cheap job. However, use this problem as a reason to lower the price on the car, or what you would offer to buy the car. Ditto on what others say about driving it on the highway at speed for a while to see if it will start over heating because of bad head gaskets. It will idle for days with bad HGs, and not over heat. It is at speed that over heating occurs. You can be almost sure that the 96 needs a new timing belt and tensioner pully. It is very important to change these parts, because if the timing belt or tensioner break, the valves will collide with the pistons to cause major engine damage. Good luck on your Subie search. Hope you buy one!

Even an EJ22 can blow a head gasket, though the EJ25 phase 1 is famous for doing so. I know I had a 91 Leggie with the EJ22 blow a head gasket. Drive this car around for a while if possible before buying to see if it wants to over heat. Who knows, maybe just needs a good cooling system "burp" if air is trapped in the cooling system when new radiator was installed. Good luck sounds like a good price!

Does the section of the Y pipe have a shroud covering it? If so, I would suspect that a portion of the shroud has come loose, and is vibrating. I have had this problem on both of my OB Wagons. I had a friend rev the motor up to the rpm that resulted in the rattle sound, then hold that rev so the sound would continue. Then, I crawled under the car and pushed/pulled on the shroud with my gloved hand and a screw driver until I found which portion of the shroud was loose. I cured the problem by hammering in a bolt as a wedge between the pipe and shroud to prevent the shroud from vibrating. Other guys have used a screw type hose clamp over the shroud to stop the vibration. Hope this info helps!

Nipper, IMO I have had good luck with chain auto store belts for Subies. The trick is to buy the best quality belt they sell. I have not gone wrong with Goodyear Gatorback, or Gates belts. Don't waste your money on cheap belts. Like you say, cheap belts just don't hold up. For belts, I don't have patience to buy one on line, and wait days for delivery. Usually, when I need and want a belt it is "right now."

Nice work! What an improvement. Do you make road trips? My Subie headlights could use some cleaning and polishing!

Are you referring to some electric release for the hatch or trunk? As far as I know that option was not available on any Subie model in 99.

Trans-X fixes ATs on 99 and 00 Leggie models. Your 93 prolly has a different problem that Trans-X isn't fixing.

worn tires can cause the strange drifty feeling. Tires start loosing grip when they are about two thirds worn out.

Sputtering when going up hill suggests to me that it is possible that you may have gotten a tank of bad gas along the way. That has happened to me in the past, and finally I figured out the gas that I bought had some water mixed in with the gas. Suggest adding a can of "dry gas." If you don't know, that is a generic name of a product that is designed to help rid your gas tank of water or moisture. Any retail car parts store will carry the product. It is inexpensive, and worth a try to see if this will help solve your problem.

Have you changed spark plugs and plug wires? Also, add a good can of injector cleaner like TL-3 or Chevron Techron. Cost is about $6/can. Don't bother using the cheap injector cleaners costing $3 or $4/can. They don't work very well.

I have had good results cleaning the haze off the headlights using a paper towel, a little water, and toothpaste. Any toothpaste will work. Have fun with your new car. If it were me, I would just clean off the rear bumper, and not repair the dent in the bumper. I think it would be too costly, besides the dent doesn't look that bad.

Welcome to the Subie club with your new car! How much do you know about Subies? Your 98 engine is prone to blowing a head gasket to cause over heating. I hope that is not your case, and that the car has not been driven while the engine was over heating. That is very bad for aluminum alloy engines. The car is designed to run in AWD all the time. If there has been an issue, maybe the previous owner realized this, and inserted a fuse in the holder on the firewall under the hood. The fuse holder is located on the passenger side and is marked "FWD." If so, pull the fuse, and see how it drives in AWD. If it drives "wonky," then that will need to be addressed. Others here will chime in on that issue. Hope your new car performs well with some TLC!

Like others have commented, I would take the money you would be spending on an extended warranty and put it into a separate saving account for a rainy day when you need car repairs. There are so many scam extended warranty programs. Just take your money, then not pay for auto repairs. I have heard that US Fidelis is a bad scam, and under investigation by several attorney generals in several states. I guess Rusty and Steve Wallace needed their cup sponsor money real bad to buddy up with those crooks.

Thanks for the link. I always like to read about Subie engines in unique applications. Looked like a nice clean shop where they build their cars.

I have changed several Subie alternators, and have never had a problem loosening bolts. The alternator sits up high on the engine, so that area doesn't attract water or dirt, which causes bolts to seize up. The belt tensioner system uses a threaded bolt, which works really well. Since you have to loosen the belt, you may want to look at the belt to see if it needs replacing. It is an ideal time to replace it. You may want to replace that old battery. Better to replace now, before it dies on you at a bad time.

Look over your new 2.2 motor very carefully for damage. Last time I had a 2.2 motor pulled from a yard, they somehow ruined a valve cover (cracked or dented it), can't exactly remember. My guess is they prolly dropped the motor. The yard guys are not gentle with the work they do, and will not tell you what damage they created.