Rooster2

I know several people that have bought rental cars over the years, and have been satisfyed with their cars. The rental car companies do a good job of changing the oil, and other maintenance. I wouldn't be scared about buying a rental car.

Here in Indianapolis, they are popular. Prolly, because they are manufactured upstate in Lafayette, IN. Driving around locally, I always see 2 or 3 on the road on any local trip, plus there are several in my housing development. There are two dealers here in Indy, that do a good job of selling Subies.

I don't have an answer for you, but I know this is baby/child seat fit issue is a problem in other cars. Friends of ours cannot get a baby/child seat to fit the back seat of a late model Pontiac Grand Prix. Now, they are thinking about selling their Pontiac. You would think that the child seat manufacturer would provide a list of cars that their seats would be compatible with, or manufacturer a seat that is a compatible fit with any vehicle. Sounds like a no-brainer approach, if they want to be in the child seat biz.

Well it doesn't sound like it could be too bad of a leak, if it took the dealer to inform her that the AT was leaking. Did she know about the leak before going to the dealer? How bad is the leak? Is there much of an ATF spot that develops on the pavement after the car has been parked for a while? Do you know how low on tranny fluid the car was upon going to the dealer? Guess, to help, it would be nice to know if this was a little or a big leak.

All wheel drive is also very good when dealing with wet roads, particularily during a heavy rain. Sure good tires help prevent hydroplaning, but the Subie AWD makes a big difference too.

Yea, I too had a two stroke scooter back in the sixties. Yes, I remember that the motor ran smoother with more power in damp conditions. Cars, too, with carburetors ran smoother and stronger. It was explained to me that the damp weather condition was a factor of lower barimetric pressure. Lower pressure results in denser air with a higher oxygen level. The higher oxygen level gave increased performance to all gas motors.

I have received a couple of emails talking about adding "water power" to cars to increase gas milage. I blew off the idea, as just too wierd. However, a friend emailed me this morning to say the topic was discussed for an hour or so on "Coast to Coast" the night talk radio show last night. "Coast" is pretty much about paranormal topics, so I figured "water power" fit their type of programming. I did however go to the "Coast" website to read their write up, and got me thinking. Anyway, I googled in "water powered vehicles" to see what has been written. There were several links, one showing a Subaru with water being squirted into its carburetor (must have been an old car to have a carburetor), and a testimonial from one Subie owner praising the system for added mpg. It looks and sounds like a scam, with much hype about benefits, little scientific description of how it works, and no independent studies documenting results. Still, to see the video of the system in action is pretty interesting and intriguing. With all the public concern about high gas prices, it is easy to get people to look into alternatives. Has anyone here heard of this, or tried this on their car? Any testimonials?

I agree with the previous posts. It doesn't look like sufficient damage to turn the wreck into a parts car. If the rest of the car is in decent shape, it shouldn't take much work to repair. It is far better to accept a check from GMC's insurance company, and fix it yourself, and keep the extra cash for yourself. On older cars with many miles, it doesn't make much sense to take to a body shop for expensive repairs. You prolly have the talent and time to work on cars, or you wouldn't be on this forum. I am glad your wife did not get injured. I also know that most wives don't like driving cars with much visible damage. Guys don't seem to care so much, at least I don't. If you don't fix it up to be picture pretty for your wife, then make it your daily driver, or have as a nice back up car.

yes, the color code on the wires will be the same. However, I have never seem to make a good splice that lasts. Invariably, one of the soldered wires will develop a bad connection in a year or so to cause problems, like causing the CEL to come on. Then, it is a guess, as to which soldered wire is the trouble maker. I finally convinced myself to spend the extra $20 or so, and buy the model designed for the car. To me, it is just not worth the hassle using a universal o2 sensor.

When I remove a road wheel, I clean up the surface of where the road wheel bolts to the hub. I smear antisieze on the hub, where the back of the road wheel facing meets up, as well as on the threads of the lug bolts. I don't use a torque wrench as the tire stores do, but I do make it a point of retightening the lug bolts a couple of days after driving. Seems like there is always just a tiny bit of looseness that needs to be tightened up. This is especailly true when tightening bolts when using alloy wheels.

For my two cents worth, last year I helped my daughter move from San Diego to Irvine, CA. We rented a cargo van (like a telephone company repair truck) from Enterprise, and returned it the next day. Cost was about $85. For my money, it was well worth hauling in a vehicle that is designed to haul stuff. I was amazed how much can be packed into a cargo van. You will find that you will be hauling more then you first realize. If there are two of you doing the move, have the other person follow the cargo van driving your Subbie. If just one person moving, rent a flat bed car hauler, the kind that the entire car drives up on. With all four wheels off the ground, there is no chance of damaging the drive train, as opposed to towing two wheels being on the ground. Doing the above is a whole lot easier and better then possibly damaging your car's drive train, or wrecking your car, or getting pulled over by the cops for towing too large a load. I am off my soap box..........just my 2 cents worth. I hope your move goes smoothly. Too bad moving from AZ, I would love to live there.

It has been about 3 weeks since adding Trans X and 5 quarts of Amsoil synthetic ATF. I also changed the external AT filter. So far so good, the trany performes flawlessly, with no issues. I would highly recommend this course of action to anyone with a 99 or 00 that is having trouble with trany delayed forward engagement.

I am the guy that used the Trans X product and Amsoil synthetic ATF. It has only been three weeks since I added the products and changed the spin on external AT filter. So far, so good. The trany has not acted up one time. It continues to shift from R into D with never a bit of hesitation. All other functions of the AT are very normal. I can't say that it is a permanent fix after three weeks, but time will tell.

Yea, that is my experience with Haynes manuals. They are rather generic in information usually covering a couple of different models over several years. Now that you mention it, I checked my book case for car manuals. I surprised myself to see tha I have the Haynes Subaru Legacy manual. It covers years 1990 thru 1998, but like you say, it show 95+ wiring. Prolly not much help. I also have a Chilton's Subaru repair manual 1985-92, but is really generic with no wiring diagrams. You might consider driving to a Subaru dealer, speak with the service manager about your wiring problem. Offer him $20 for his time to look up what you need. The dealer must have some great reference material, prolly in the computer. Ask him for a wiring diagram print out for what you need. It might be a great $20 purchase. Another thought, I think there are some Subie dealer techies that prowl this board. Maybe one of them would be nice enough to email you the info as a down load. Worth a try to ask that question.

What you desperately need is a wiring diagram. I don't have one to help you. However, having had a 91, (but no longer) I learned that the Leggie series from 90 thru 92 were pretty much the same. I don't have to tell you that converting back from a 94 is the source of your wiring headache. You may want to make a trip to a wrecking yard, find a 90-92 that came with factory air to see what factory wiring was used. For what it is worth, you may want to pull the cover off the fuse box. Find the circuit for A/C. It should be marked on the cover itself, as well as be identified in the owner's manual. If you are lucky, it is on a separate fuse circuit. If so, or if not, identifying the fuse circuit wiring is a good way to trace A/C wiring back to the correct connector. I hope this thought helps.

Finding a broken wire sure beats yanking out the regulator. Like was said, always look for the simplist solutions first.

I still suspect a loose shroud around the exhaust and cat converter. On mine the sound would resonate at only certain engine rpm. I finally put my car up on drive up ramps at home, then crawled under the car and listened while I had someone slowly accelerate the motor. Once you trace the noise, it should be easy to fix.

Before you start yanking the regulator out of the door try this........... substitute a window switch from another window. It might be a bad or just dirty contact inside the switch. I suspect this because you got the window to go down, but pushing the switch the other direction won't raise the window. If the regulator/winder motor was bad, the motor would not have lowered the window in the first place. Subie makes good regulators. On the three Leggies that I have owned, I have not had to replace a regulator.

After reading your original post, and responses, I am debating if you have an ignition or a fuel problem. On the ignition side, it could be coil pack or spark plug wires. On the fuel side, it could be water in the gas, or clogged fuel filter. Hmmm....maybe not clogged fuel filter, or car would not hold a steady 4,000 plus engine rpm for very long. Still, you might try adding a can of "dry gas" to the fuel. It is a different product then fuel injection cleaner. Try again for a code read again. Keep us posted on what the codes may be.

I agree with your logic in that he wouldn't have told you about the lifter noise if he was trying to rip you off. The guy appears to "be up front" with you. I bet the motor is going to be okay.

I have Michelin tires on both of my Subies, both OBWs. I bought both cars used, and the cars were already equipped with them. I don't know which model Michelin's they are. Both ride quiet enough. In my opinion and experience, Michelin makes an excellent tire, however, they always seem to be the most expensive to purchase. You mention the Kumho Solus, and from what I have read and seen, they are an excellent value for the money. At my suggestion, my daughter put a set of Kuhmos on her VW Jetta a couple of years back. They ride nice and quiet, and are holding up well. My one Subie is nearing tire replacement, so I will prolly go the Kumho route.

I have had success in getting rid of lifter noise using a can of Rislone added to the oil. The engine was a Dodge, not a Subaru. The Rislone sold me on its ability to quiet down a motor. Subsequent oil changes, were without Rislone. The motor continued to be quiet for a long time.

My guess is that the plugs and wires had been on the car a long time. I changed wires and plugs on my 99 OBW last year. I am certain they were the original that came with the car when new. At 150K miles, the rubber boots had bonded themselves to the plugs. All had to be torn off with large pliers (in pieces) to remove. It was not a pretty site. I don't think Subaru uses dialetric grease at time of manufacturer. I sure did when installing new plugs and wires.

I was just at Autozone last week. I bought a couple packages of caliper sliding pin grease. It is a special grease made for this purpose only. Autozone sells small flat plastic squease packages. One package does one wheel. It is really esential to remove the two pins, clean them well, then squease the grease inside the rubber boots before reinserting the pins. When finished, you will be assurred that the pins will be able to slide properly.

In CT, moose is the plural of mice. Those suckers grow big in CT!