Rooster2

Am surprised when you say the HVAC and radio use the same fuse. Are you sure that is correct?? I have never heard of this before.

Were you able to remove the stuck cd in the player?? Even so, I wonder if the mechanism is damaged, and still active, and drawing power from the battery at all times. I guess you could pull the fuse to the radio for a few days to see if that stops the current drain. If so, then replacing the CD player would fix the problem. Re the eastwood battery disconnect devise. Yes, that certainly saves the power in your battery. I have used one of those on my RV, when it was not driven for a long time.

Learned something new. My last experience on a AT pan gasket came from working on a 91 Leggie that I had with a pan gasket. So, am glad to hear now about simply using RTV with no gasket in the much newer Subies.

I have a 99 Leggie OBW, and it does have the external screw on tranny filter. So, pretty sure your car will have the external filter as well.

If it were me, I would drop the pan, and clean off the old gasket from both the pan and tranny surfaces. Pieces will break off and stick to both surfaces. It takes some work to remove all traces of the old gasket, and it is a bear to remove all traces, as that old gasket really hardens onto metal surfaces. The cleaner all surfaces are, the better to move forward. If me, I would use the new Fel-Pro gasket and sealer. The sealer helps to stick to the gasket, and keep it in place, while the pan is being reinstalled. No need to replace the screen (not really a filter) inside the tranny. They don't seem to ever clog up.Best to replace the external ATF filter located off to the side near the bottom of the tranny. It looks just like an oil filter, but has a different media filter element inside the filter, compared to an oil filter. It spins on exactly like an oil filter.

I thought the WRX and STI are sedan only for model year 2015. Be careful on buying either as a used car. Too often, the previous owner has run the hell out of it, particularly if driven by a young kid.

I read that new WRX and Sti are only available in 4 door sedan body style. The hatchback is no longer an option. Think of the Sti as a hot rod version of the WRX. The Sti is kind of a pricey upgrade for that extra performance. Lots of Subie owners are X Audi and VW long time owners, myself included. I am glad I made the switch. I loved the way the VW and Audis drove and handled, Seemed like the drive trains were very reliable, but little plastic stuff continually would break needing repair. IMO, Subies are much better in over all quality. Things just don't break as often, and parts cost less. Welcome to Soobie land.

It is also possible that you bought a tank of gas that had some water in it. Suggest you buy some a can of dry gas to get rid of the water. Or as I have done, when refueling, buy one gallon of E85 fuel, then fill the tank with regular gasoline. Both approaches adds extra ethenol to the fuel to get rid of any water. Run the tank of gas near empty before refueling again, so you get the full effect of extra ethenol. Also, how long has it been since you have had a spark plug and splark plug wire change?? That could be your source of trouble as well.

+1 on above advise. There may be an external spin on filter for the auto tranny. If so, changing the filter would be a good thing to do at ATF change. Please don't drop the tranny pan looking for a filter in there. It would be only a screen wire that never needs attention. Dropping the is a big mistake, as the pan never seems to bolt up again without leaking. Been there, done that!!!!

My recent experience, a refrigerant leak turned out to be a pin hole leak in the metal tubing that connects to the bottom of the condenser. You never know where a leak can begin. As already advised, do a thorough job of checking everywhere for leaks with the sniffer and U/V light. Both are very good tools to find leaks. I have replaced black O rings with green O rings with no issues. So, I would not think that is a problem.

When you changed ATF 5K miles ago, did you change it 3 times?? If not, then you only changed about half the ATF, as only half will drain out at one time, the other half remains in the torque converter, so the 3 times change does a far better job of changing the ATF. You waste quite a bit of ATF with this approach, but it is worth it. Don't think using Trans-X is the right product to help you. Trans-X is best used with a different type of problem. I would prolly recommend a Lucas AT product.

Having been on this forum a number of years, there has been a number of posts inquiring about an ej22 swap to install an ej22t. From what I remember, the problem is the wiring harness. It would take an extrodinary amount of work beyond reasonableness to get it to work. Also, ecu would need to be changed. It would be far better, and less costly to simply buy a car with the ej22t.

Well said Grossgary with extremely sage advise.

I think a good place to start, is to get a job as a tech working for a Subaru dealership. That way, they will educate you on how to work on Subarus, and tools needed. IMO, it ie easier working on a Subaru motor vs. other cars. Parts needing replacing are just so much more accessible on a Subaru.

Nope, not 97-99 Leggie/Outback headlights. I have both a 98 nd 99 OBW, and they don't quite look like that. Guessing by their width, they are Leggie lights, maybe 00 to 06???? On second thought, I checked the front of my 99 OB. Those lights may very well have come from a 98 or 99 Outback.

Yea, years back, the way to fix a nail hole flat was to plug the tire, without even removing the wheel from the car. I never had any plug cause a problem. Then, the last few years, it has become a patch, where by the tire is removed from the road wheel to apply the patch. Maybe the extra work is so the repair is more expensive, thus more profitable. Anyone with thoughts on this.

Just my experience and opinion..........I have Walmart Everstart Maxx 35N in both my 98 and 99 Outbacks. After doing some reading, the "N" battery is sold in the north, their "S" battery is sold in the south. I don't know what the difference is, but I can attest that the Maxx 35N battery has been great. One is 4 years old, the other 5 years old, with no issues, and bought them at a good price. I highly recommend the Everstart Maxx. Like any battery, just be sure to top off the battery water level with distilled water to make it last for a long time.

Usually, I go ahead and replace the pads, since I am in there replacing the rotors. I do this even though a third of the pad is still available. Be sure to use grease to relube the slide pins, in the past I have used antisieze, but that doesnt work very well.

+1 on above answer. I have a 99 Leggie OBW, and it is substantially longer and wider then an Impreza Outback. As suggested, you may be able to cut down Leggie bars to fit. It can't take much time or effort to find out.

About 7 years ago car was hit in rear side, one rim was cracked- this one was probably on the other side. The car is still a bit crooked looking from that one. From your above quote, sounds like you may have bent something in the suspension, or bent a wheel. Before buying any new wheel(s), suggest you go to an alignment shop to see if the suspension is okay. Often, a shop will not charge for an inspection, if it turns out that replacement suspension parts are needed before an alignment can be completed.

Common problem is that leaves and debris falls down from the windshield into what must be the defroster unit. Leaves and gunk bind up, so that the motor blower will not rotate (blow air). I had this happen on my old Legacy. It wasn't too dificult to remove the glove box door, then disassemble, as if you are replacing the motor. At the time, I thought my motor had gone bad, so I had a replacement motor ready to install. However, cleaning out the leaves and gunk fixed the problem. I would try this approach first. It does not tame that much time or effort to access the fan motor.

If it is an alloy wheel, corrosion can build up at the tire bead causing a slow air leak. A tire shop can take off the tire, clean off the corrosion build up, and some sealant goop, and remount the tire. The store that sold you the tires should do this free of cost. I try to check the tire pressure of my tires at the first of each month. I have a cig lighter air pump to fill up the tires, if any are down a little on air pressure. If you consistently have one tire down each month on air pressure, that is when I take it to the tire shop for evaluation, and corrosion clean up, sometimes, the shop will find a leak in the tire.

No, I have not bought any after market alloy wheels. Plenty to see at most tire stores. They like to sell alloy wheels and replacement tires. My reservation about alloy wheels, is if you live where the roads develop pot holes in the late winter to early spring from the thaw and refreeze of snow and ice. Alloy wheels are known to break, and blow out tires if you hit a really bad pot hole at speed. My daughter blew out two alloy wheels and tires, when she lived in Pittsburgh going to college. What an expensive PITA to get those wheels/tires replaced.There may not have been as much damage, had the car not had low profile tires with little sidewalls. Going to a 17 or 18" tire will be low profile tires. As described above by Ol' Subaru Guy, the 15" Subaru 5 spoke alloys will prolly be just fine. Chuck hole damage with a 15" tire is not as likely.

I have a 98 OBW with the electric antenna. Suggest you lube the mast with graphite, or a light oil. Clean off all the dirt first, before adding lube. If that doesn't fix it, then you will need to remove the power mechanism to see if the cable is broken, or something is wrong with the winding mechanism. It has been my experience with several cars with power antennas, is that they all develop problems over time. Lacking an easy fix on some, I have replaced the power antenna with a non powered unit.

maybe a new set of after market alloy wheels would look nice.