Rooster2

Yes, that is prolly correct. R-12 was always called freon. Prolly a slang term for its chemical ingredients. Every time that I bought R-12 back 10 to 15 years ago, I was asked to show my license. The store actually recorded my freon license number onto a reporting log. I had a license card from a diploma mill, that the stores accepted. R-134 seems to be called only R-134, nothing else. No license needed to buy the product.

If you carry comprehensive insurance with say a $200 to $500 deductable, it may be easier to turn in a claim to your insurance company. With that much bad wiring, it is possible that your insurance company may "total" the car. Might be easier to take your insurance claim check, and apply it towards the purchase of another car.

she kept bleeding air out of the tires to keep them at 34 No reason to bleed air of tires trying to keep them at 34. Sure the pressure will increase as the tire heats up, but will decrease when cooled off. Still suggest putting in air when tires are cold to 35 psi. It won't hurt anything if the heat build up the tire pressure a little.

Yes, Denso has an excellent reputation for quality. However, I have never seen their oil filters for sale on a retail basis. Where can they be sourced?

If it were me, and I still liked the car, then it is worth putting some money into it to keep it reliable. Yes, I'd replace the timing belt, if it has 60,000 on the existing belt. Doing a brake job on a Subie is super easy to replace the pads, rotors too, if needed. Rear pads seem to wear forever, and the rear rotors seldom need replacing. Suggest bleeding the brake lines, if the brake fluid has the brown color of ice tea in the reservoir. Automatic transmission is as simple as changing the oil. Just unscrew the drain plug, and replace the trany fluid. It is best to do it 2 or 3 times, to do a good fluid change. Check to see if any of the struts are leaking, or if a strut is weak, and lets the car bounce after hitting a bump. Check CV joint rubber boots for any tears. Replace if needed. Check for any looseness in the front suspension. That would indicate ball joint or tie rod wear. Replace if needed. That is all that I would do to the car if it were mine. Most of the above you can do at low cost. It is the labor of having to pay to have work done that is so costly. Doing it yourself, is like paying yourself $70 to $75/hour. I always felt better paying myself that hourly wage verses paying a shop that amount.

What is the quote of "$1,800 worth of routine maintenance," suppose to buy for you? List the maintenance items to us on your quote, maybe we can whittle down the list to what is really need, verses what is just needless fluff and wasted money.

The only things that I can think of to raise mpg, would be" Increase tire air pressure to 35 psi to lessen rolling resistance just a little bit more. That is what I carry in my Leggie OBW. It doesn't ride bad at all with the higher psi. Add a can of Techron or TLC fuel system cleaner to the gas tank. That helps clean the injectors. Don't use the cheap stuff, it won't work well. Drive a little slower on the interstate. Driving at 60 mph gives better gas milage then driving at 70 mph.

This sounds like vandelism in a divorce proceedings, or revenge against someone for something. This vandelism doesn't sound like a random thing, more like an out burst of hate. I have never heard of an oil analysis under these circumstances. I suspect that the oil filter was removed as part of the vandelism, and has nothing to do with a lab doing a chemical analysis.

Well your hitch should work, but please pull light loads only. Don't tow another car with it. Subies don't have full frames, so there is just not the strength in the unibody to tow much. Also, the trany is not strong enough to pull much weight. Anything more, will burn up the trany. At most, you may want to buy or build yourself a small, and I do mean small trailor, as the tow vehicle. Don't forget to wire up some brake and tail light harnass, and you should be set.

No, the installer will not break the glass to remove it. He doesn't want to create more work for himself. It is easier to remove one large piece, then possibly thousands of small pieces of broken glass. When you have the job done, be sure to carefully inspect the inside of your car for any potential mess that the installer left behind. If you find anything that isn't right, have it corrected before you take possession of the car. BTW, a quality glass shop will do a quality job, so it is highly unlikely that a mess will be left behind. I have never had any problem, but I still inspect carefully anyway.

Calling around for best price is what I did to buy a windshield several years ago. It was well worth it, as I got about a $300 spread from low to high. Also, say when asking for a quote that you are paying the entire amount, as cost is not covered by insurance. That also helps to lower the cost. There is also a cost difference if you want a clear or tinted windshield. I ordered the clear, and didn't miss the tint. When I needed sun shade, I lowered the visor. Clear, of course, costs less.

I have done this on other cars, and have not found much of a spedo error. My guess is that you now have 14 inch wheels, so with larger wheels/tires, you get just a slightly greater distance per tire revolution, but not much. My guess is that your spedo will read 2 to 3 miles per hour slow. That is not much of a difference at all. Also, your car will accelerate just a tiny bit slower. Over all, it is not much of anything to be concerned about. You will need to have the same size tires and wheels on all four corners, so as to not cause problems with AWD.

I have the same problem, it is because of a rusty latch mechanism prevents the return spring from fully returning (retracting) the latch handle. Use your fingers to pull the handle all the way back. If the handle is not in the "fully returned" position, the key or auto door lock button will not open the hatch. That seems to be what you are experiencing. I get some relief from this problem by lubing the latch mechanism, but later new rust forms to cause the problem to return.

It is a pretty easy job to do it your self, if you have a set of drive up ramps that lift the front wheels about 15 inches off the ground. That gives you enough room to crawl under the car giving access to the bottom of the automatic transmission pan. On the bottom of the trany pan is a drain bolt, just like the drain bolt on the oil pan. Pull the pan bolt will drain about 6 quarts of ATF, however, the system holds about 12 to 13 quarts, with the remaining 6 or 7 quarts remaining in the torque converter. So to do a good drain requires draining the system a total of 3 times to do a thorough job over several days. Yes, you can take to a shop for a pressure ATF change. That costs more than doing it yourself, but gets the job done all at one time. There is also an external AT filter that is the same size as the oil filter. Some people change that filter, others don't.

I will test drive to see if noise increases or decreases on L & R turns. If so, I know that is pretty much a dead give away that it is a wheel bearing. Good suggestion on checking the rear dif for lube, I will certainly check that. Thanks to all for the advise.

I have a 98 Legy OBW. Just recently my wife said she could hear a new noise in the rear of the car. I finally got the chance to drive it. The noise seems to be at the right rear wheel, sort of a light grinding rotating noise. It sounds more prominent when coasting at 35 mph, noise seems to go away under slight acceleration. I don't hear the noise upon braking. My first thought is a worn out brake pad, but no I don't think so. I replaced the rear pads less than a year ago. My second thought is that it may be a bad wheel bearing. BTW, my wife said the noise started just after having the tire patched on the right rear. I don't think that could make any difference. I have to think the two issues are just coincidental. I will pull the right rear over this weekend. I will push/pull on the road wheel first to see if there is any wheel bearing "play." Any thoughts and advise will be gladly appreciated.

The write up on the diesel makes it sound like a nice power plant. However, with diesel fuel pushing $4.00/gallon, about 50 cents higher per gallon then gasoline, I don't see any savings buying a turbo diesel. Subaru is a small company with shallow pockets for R & D, so I figure they don't have much money to spend on new technology power plants. Suggest Subaru go to Toyota, (who owns about 25% of them) and ask to license Toyota hybrid technology to give their cars better fuel economy.

Try http://www.autozone.com. You may be able to buy the belt you want from their website. The website tries to steer you to a store, but if you look carefully, you can buy their products on line.

Since it has been rolled, it becomes just a parts car. I wouldn't pay more than $250 to $300, since you have no idea what condition any of the parts are in, or how well maintained it has been. The only thing you know is that it was running at the time it was rolled.

Like said by four-fleet-feet, the antifreeze may just be skunky because it has been in the car for a long time, and not an indication that the HG is a problem. Suggest flushing the cooling system, adding new antifreeze, and replacing the radiator cap. Drive the car that way. Keep an eye on the temp guage to see if it ever over heats. It is too soon for you to jump to a conclusion that the HG is bad without ever experiencing over heating. You may be doing a lot of HG worring that is not warranted.

Yes, the miles are low, but that sounds like too much for a 10 year old car. Check the Edmunds used car book. See what they say. Google Edmunds used cars to find their website.

Looks like the car is in good shape. I have a 98 Limited that is the exact clone of the 97 that you are looking at. I have the same exact exterior red color, same dove gray leather interior. Looks like you and others have covered the essential to check out. Other minor things to check out......check out operation of CD and casette system, also that the power antenna extends upon turning on the radio. Also check to see if the heated seats work. Look in between the slats on the road wheels to see if there is any scaring of the brake rotors. That gives you at least an idea that there is some brake pad left. Drive the car long and hard at highway speed to see if there is any over heating because of bad HG. Casual driving around town may not may not over heat the motor, even if the HG is bad. When driving, observe if the steering wheel pulls to one side or the other. If so, a front end alignment is needed. Good luck, hope the car is as good as it looks. If so, hope you buy it at a good price.

Like you say, you need to get your car to a shop. Put it up on a lift. Have the tech yank on suspension parts and road wheels to find something that is loose. You might also try pushing up and down on each front fender while the car is on the ground, to see if a strut or suspension component makes any clunking noises. My guess is..........if it is making a noticable clunking noise, it won't take long to find out what is making the noise.

I have a 99 withthe 4EAT. It shifts fine with the exception of hesitancy at a stop, of not quickly engaging shifts from D to R, and R to D. The 99's have a reputation of doing this. I added a bottle of Lucas Transmisson fix, or something close to that name. It helps to reduce the problem somewhat, while making gear shifts just a little more positive, but not annoyingly over positive.

Yea, shame on me for being a wise guy. With business slow, and tax season upon us, extra bucks are not what I have these days. So the frustration pours out of me these days. Still, I am amazed that people would spend upwards of $4500 on a new racing AT. I keep thinking that a racing manual 5 or 6 speed would be the usual hot set up, so there would not be much demand for a racing AT!