Rooster2

Last summer I had to replace the passanger door mirror on wife's Legacy OBW. I was told only 95 to 99 models interchanged. There is one screw that is nasty to remove. You really need to use a 3/8" drive with an extension bar and a phillips screw driver tip to gain enough leverage to loosen. A regular phillips screw driver won't give you sufficient leverage. I paid $75 for a used mirror, still think I paid too much, but not much selection at wrecking yards when I went looking.

For what it is worth, I bled the brakes out on both my Subie Legacy OBWs last summer. I bought both cars used, all brakes pads were still good, but brake fluid in the reservoir had the color of ice tea. It looked pretty bad, so I changed it out. I never knew anything about any brake wheel bleeding sequense. I just bled out any which wheel, that I felt like bleeding out at the time. Both cars have anti-lock braking systems. When I finished, I had no brake issues; brakes on both cars worked just fine. Guess, I don't understand all the fuss about the bleeding sequense being so important. Please fill me in, I would like to learn something.

I do the same thing with that "one man bleeder kit" that I have. That is very important, not to let any air get sucked back up the drain tubing into the bleeder valve.

If you tap on the spoiler with your fingers, you might be able to figure out what is just loose enough to vibrate to cause the noise. It might be some looseness with the spoiler assembly itself, or tiny bit of looseness on how the spoiler is mounted to the trunk lid. Find the looseness in order to pin point what needs to be tightened up, and you will solve your problem. I would be curious to see how the spoiler is mounted to the trunk lid. Are rubber or cork insulating washers used on both sides of the mounting holes as the spoiler bolts are inserted into the trunk lid? The insulating washers would isolate sound vibration and keep water out from causing rust around the holes. Let us kow about your solving this problem. Hope you get it fixed.

I don't think it is any brake fluid compatibility problem. The difference between Dot 3 and Dot 4, is that Dot 4 has a higher boiling point, and therefore has a higher performance capability. It sounds unlikely that you introduced air into the brake lines while bleeding, but you may have accidentaly done so. Suggest you do a quick rebleed, paying attention to any bubbles you might see in the clear tubing as the fluid is bled off. If you bleed off any bubbles, then you have solved your problem. BTW, I use a "one man bleeder kit." It is pretty slick, and used properly, will not allow air to back flow through the bleeder valve. Hope you get her fixed.

I am impressed, you have been very thorough. You remind me of maintenance items that I should be doing on my 2 Subies that I have over looked. BTW, have you replaced the timing belt, front oil crank seal, and the water pump? Usually all three items are done at the same time, as the labor to replace the timing belt only, is 90% of doing the labor to do all of the three.

Yea, I have the same problem with some of the lights burned out on the climate controls. I read about how to take apart to fix, but it seemed like more throuble then it is worth, so I live with only partial lighting. Regarding the back lighting on the auto trany shifter, I replaced the bulb on a 91 Legacy years back. I made a mess of some of the plastic cover work around the shift lever, as some small pieces of plastic split and broke off. Everything went back together pretty well, and cosmetically looked okay, but I wasn't proud of my work cracking the plastic cover.

I know that Valeo (French) as a company, is a large manufacturer of tier 1 OEM car parts. I can't speak of what they might build for a Subie, but as a manufacturer, they are well respected.

I am betting you got a bad tank of gas. Suggest adding a can of "dry gas" to your gas tank. Product is available at gas stations and auto parts stores under a variety of trade names. If you ask for some "dry gas" you will get the right type of product.

Sorry to hear how bad the motor really is. On your original post, when you said the previous owner stated when he was driving the car it started making a skweaking noise and then blew out a big white cloud behind it. That is the classic report on a motor throwing a connecting rod through the side of the block. I suspected that upon first reading that, but didn't want to simply jump to that conclusion. If you watch NASCAR racing, you will occassionally see a car there blow a motor with a thrown rod. Instantly, you will see the same thing, a big cloud of smog trailing the ailing car. There is just too much noise on a race track to hear the skweaking noise. Well, you certainly got the car at a great price, so don't feel too bad. Drop in a motor, and it will be ready to go.

If you want snows at all four corners, then you should also buy another four non snow tires for non winter use. Winter snow tires are not made for dry pavement, warm temps, and driving much above 50 mph. Their performance in the dry, or in the wet would not be good as the tire compound and tread design are only made for snow. Snow tires will also be noisy on dry pavement. Suggest buying all season tires. I have had good luck with Kumho tires. They provide a good tire at a reasonable price. Quality is top notch.

A few years back, I had a 91 Legacy with the 2.2. The motor went bad, so I bought a 2.2 from a 92 in a wrecking yard. I had a private mechanic do the motor switch. All went well, except my mechanic said that some of the wiring connectors were different on the 92. He switched the connectors out, but even switching motors just one model year apart causes issues to arise. With less than 100K miles on the odo, it may be wiser, and less costly to just repair the motor that is in the car.

Yea, I too have also bought a part, but don't know exactly where to find its location on the motor. Thanks for the great picture pointing out the location of the PCV valve. You are a big help.

In case you don't know, the glass envelope on halogen bulbs should not be handled or touched with skin contact. To do so, leaves a slight oily residue on the glass, and from the heat of the bulb, the oily residue will over heat the bulb filament causing the bulb to burn out rather quickly. I knew a guy who didn't know this, and couldn't figure out why his bulbs burned out in a matter of weeks or months. When I install a new bulb, I wipe it down with rubbing alcohol using a kleenex. I then hold the bulb with a kleenex when installing to prevent touching the glass envelop. Hope this info helps!

Cars made to run on flex fuel, meaning gasoline or E-85 ethanol, have had their fuel delivery systems revised to cope with the corrosive effect of ethanol on rubber and plastic components. Good to hear that it ran pretty well in your car, but a steady diet of ethanol is just asking for non ethanol revised parts to break.

The 98 Forester will have the 2.5 litre motor. The skwkeaking noise with a cloud of smoke doesn't sound good at all. Sounds like the motor may have locked up because of no motor oil, or over heated. The first think I would do, is check the dip stick for oil level. Second, pull the radiator cap to see if the water level is low. Third, look around the motor for signs of an oil leak, or engine damage caused from blowing up. If nothing obvious, try starting the motor. You might get lucky, but I think you may need to drop another motor in this car. You got the car at a low price, so you can afford to spend some money on repairs. Good Luck!

Prolly a good idea to replace them on my 2 Subies. Where is it located on the 2.5 gen 1 motor? Thanks for any help!

Alway great when through your own labor and sweat you get a car running again. I feel your joy..............congrats!

Tune the car up with new plugs, wires, and an 02 sensor. My money is on that correcting the problem.

that was a good deal getting all that work done for $180 in labor. I am sure that was not work done at a stealership. As far as oil is concerned, I use Wal-Mart brand oil. My cars are high milage over 100K miles on both. In the summer I use their 20w 50 weight. In the winter, I use their 10w 40 weight. It can get pretty cold here in Indiana, and haven't had any trouble starting in the winter. My mechanic was the one who suggested using 20w 50 weight oil in any car with more than 100K miles on the odo in all seasons except for winter.

agree with previous poster.......trouble was caused by parking on a really steep angle as you said. Clear the codes, and you should be okay.

Take the car out for a good 20 to 30 minute drive. Keep your eye glued to the temperature guage to see if the motor starts to over heat because of a bad head gasket. Also, take it out on a highway to feel how it drives at speed. Notice if the car steers to one side, or if tires are out of balance. Check the oil dip stick. Does the oil look clean? Do the brakes stop the car nice and straight? Listen for grinding noise when brakes applied. That will tell you if you need new brakes? Good luck, the price seems right, if the car is as good as you say.

It is difficult finding a good dealer no mater what brand of car/truck you own. I talked with a lady at the gas pumps while filling up today. Complemented her on her Yukon truck. It was a 2003 model. I asked her how good a truck has it been. She said good, except for the recent leak in the truck's plastic gas tank. The dealer charged her $1200 to replace the gas tank. My jaw about hit the ground upon hearing that. Stealer ships are everywhere, beware!!

Suggest looking at Kumho tire line, their Solus model is good. I like Kumho tires, good price, great performance.

I did that years ago on an Oldsmobile, but that was before cities started doing smog e-check testing in order to get tags (license plate) for your car. Don't know if they do that where you live. If you did that on your Subie, you would relieve the back pressure on your exhaust, but that would probably trigger the check engine light on your dashboard, as I think the 02 sensor would detect too much dirty exhaust in the muffler system. I would not recommend running your car with a bad cat. Go to a low cost muffler shop to have a universal type cat installed on your car. It wouldn't cost much, if replacement cost is an issue.