Rooster2

a good question.....I don't think that info is listed in the owner's manual. I bought my 99 OBW used, and just recently changed the filter with 161K miles on the car. I am certain that the filter I removed was the original. Buy the filter made especially for the automatic transmission. It looks the same as the oil filter, but the internal filter media is different. My guess is that the filter should be changed in the 75K to 100K milage range. Don't bother to change the screen filter inside the trany pan. That was a real PITA. The screen doesn't really filter much. Also, the trany pan wants to leak after rebolting.

All good ideas that others have recommended, especially with topped off tank with Stabil added to the gas. Remove battery is also a good idea. Put on a trickle charger to keep battery charged up. I would also suggest covering the car with a tarp, if you can't put it into a garage. If outside, park on concrete, not on gravel or grass. Otherwise, moisture rises up out of the soil, and condenses on the bottom side of the car adding to corosion.

I wouldn't think that tire design or brand name would make much difference regarding gas milage. The biggest factor is air pressure. I try to keep my tires at 35 psi on all four corners for best milage and longer tread wear. Car rides a little rougher, but fine with me.

Same thought before reading link, replace your PCV valve, hope that fixes your disappearing oil problem.

agree, copper is the only part of a spark plug that will oxidize with a green color.

Good work! Always feels good to successfully complete a car project. Good luck on the springs and struts.

I think both fans are suppose to come on together. Your big concern is the temp guage going to "H." That is a big problem. I hope you haven't cooked the motor running on H for extended periods of time.

Well let me guess, you will be taking it home on a flat bed truck or trailer. I hope the engine is the only component removed from the car. Fold down the back seats, slide in probable cardboard boxes containing various parts, then slide in 2.2 motor last before closing tail gate. I would guess that you have seen pix of car, so suppose body and interior are at least decent. Yep, $200 is a good price for a kit car, and the start of a new project. I hope all goes well on the 400 mile round trip! Have Fun!

Don't recommend using WD-40 for attempted bearing lubing. I am pretty sure that the bearing are sealed in the motor housing and not really serviceable. Regardless, WD-40 is good for a lot of what ailes things, but it is not heavy enough lubricant for bearings. Since there are two fans, pull the power wiring off one of the fans to see if that kills the noise. It is unusual that a fan bearing would go bad, but maybe that will detect which fan is making the noise. Replace the bad fan if that is the cause of the noise. I would not think that both would be bad at the same time. Another thought is maybe your fan belt tightness adjustment pulley is going bad. I had that happen. The bearing in that pulley went bad. Replaced the adjuster fixed the problem.

Before I joined this forum, I put Bosch single electrode platinums in my 99 OBW with 2.5 motor. I have put about 12K miles on those plugs and new wires. My car seems to run just fine on the Bosch singles and regular 87 octane gas. I am surprised that you are only getting about 30K miles on plugs. The plugs that I pulled out of my 99 when bought as a used car, had the original plugs and wires with 150K miles. Even so, the car really didn't run that bad.

My Space is not functioning per your link, and hasn't been for several days now. Sorry, we can't join in the lol funny soob moment

My same thoughts..........if the battery is charged and good, and battery cables are clean, then it is a bad starter. I had the same problem on two Subies that turned out to be a bad starter. EZ job replacing a starter

I have never replaced P/S fluid in any car that I have owned, or have ever heard of anyone changing the P/S fluid. Maybe, check every once in a while, if a little low, I would top it off. Last car I owned since new, I put nearly 300,000 miles on it, and never had a problem with P/S fluid.

Why swap out the bearing, when a good P/S pump from a wrecking yard is only about $30?

That sure is a nice looking car. It has a shape that I don't think will ever look old. Nice wheels!

I had a VW one time where a cell went bad in the battery. It would start, and run but not well. The instruments started giving crazy readings, and the radio wouldn't work. Once I checked out the battery, found it bad, and replaced it, all was well. Suggest checking out battery and alternator. Car parts stores will do it free of charge in their parking lot in front of their store.

Glad you weren't hurt. Looks like the accident could have been worse. Also me, too.............fix it yourself, and keep the extra money. I have done that several times in the past. From your pixs, it doesn't look too dificult to fix it yourself. $4200 to fix sounds like a high estimate to me, unless there is a lot of damage that can't be seen in the pixs.

I would be concerned about adhesion, wheather you painted it yourself or had it done at a shop. Paint never seems to adhere as well as the original from the factory. If the paint starts chipping or pealing off after time, then the door handles start looking like sh*t. If you use rattle can that is an exact match as original, the color still won't exactly match because of subtle fading of the original paint from exposure to sunlight and weather. My opinion is to leave well enough alone. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

If you finally narrow it down to being a defective P/S unit, I can tell you it is very easy to replace the unit yourself. Mine went south a few years back with growling and grinding noise. I bought a used one at a wrecking yard. It took me only about 30 minutes to swap out. Cost was about $25 to $30. The P/S unit sits up nice and high on the front of the motor, so R & R was really easy.

Thanks for all the advise, I really appreciate it.

To answer questions about year and age. My Leggy 98 OBW has 113K on the odo. My Leggy 99 OBW has 161K on the odo. I bought the 98 about 4 years ago. After replacing the timing belt, we have driven the car about 28K miles. The 99, I bought about 18 months ago. After replacing the timing belt, we have driven the car about 11K miles. I suspect that all pulleys and tensioners are prolly the originals. After reading the responses, my thought is run each car to about 50K miles on the existing set up, then replace the belt, pulleys, tensioner, water pump etc. at that time, providing that we still own the cars. Yea, it is somewhat of a gamble, but prolly one that I will take. Any agreement or disagreement? Advise still wanted.

When I bought both my used 98 and 99 Leggy OBWagons a few years back, I had a private shop mechanic replace the timing belt on both cars, since I had no idea when the timing belts had last been replaced on each car. I also had the front oil seal, and water pump replaced on each car. Since reading this forum for some time, I have learned that I should have had the timing belt tensioner replaced too. At the time, I did not know this. How difficult is this to do myself? Does it require special tools and a lot of time? Thanks for any advise.

My radiator problem, which resulted from a HG problem, was on a 91 Leggy with the 2.2 motor. I also saw this same thing happen on a 97 Leggy OBW with Gen 1, 2.5 motor known to create internal HG leaks. So, recommend keeping a close eye on your engine temp guage after new radiator installation to see that your motor is not over heating. This is especially so, when running the engine under heavy load, such as high speed, climbing large hills, or running max AC on very hot days. I hope your new radiator solves your problem.

Well a simplistic fix for the clicking noise is to disconnect the wiring to whatever is making the clicking noise. Sure, that doesn't fix the problem, but when a car is 18 years old usually everything doesn't work on the car like when it was new. Once disconnected, you may be able to tell what is not now working that worked before. Then you can decide if it is worth any more of your time to repair.

I agree with John. Only once did I pull off an AT pan with the best of intentions of replacing the trany filter to find the fine mesh screen that Subaru calls a filter. After 165K miles, the screen was still clean, so I reinstalled the pan using the old filter. That caused the pan to leak a little. You are far better off to just change the ATF about 3 separate times, and forgetting about changing the internal pan filter screen. Each ATF change only drains out about half of the ATF in the trany unit per operation, so that is the reason for changing 3 separate times. Yes, the spark plugs are a real PITA to change. I did so on my 99 Leggy Outback. It took two nights to finish the job, using a variety of sockets, drive extensions, mini drive extensions, swivels, and cussing to get the job done. I have heard that loosening the motor mounts, then jacking up the motor on each side helps, but I have never tried doing that.