Rooster2

I went this route last summer when my hub went bad on my 99 OBW. Got a good hub from a wrecking yard (not a u-pull) for $75. Car has run fine ever since. It sure beat the cost and hassle of buying a hub, bearings, and seals, and having bearings pressed in.

For what it is worth.........years back, I and a buddy, pressed out a front wheel bearing, and pressed in a new one. We couldn't get the snap ring back on, so we went without it. I drove the car for another 10 years with no issues. So, don't think a snap ring is a necessity.

Yea, could be a bad top strut bearing, sometimes called the "Top Hat." Squirt some white lithium grease around the top of the top hat at the top of the strut under the hood. If it quiets down some of the noise, then it is a bad (loose) strut bearing. Squirting some grease is how I got my wife's OBW strut to quiet down a little.

I was thinking the same thing upon reading the thread. It sounds like a bad ground. Follow what Cougar suggests, and or, create a new ground wire at the turn signal connector.

5 years of squeaking prolly didn't do the windings or contacts any good. If it were me, I would replace with one from a wrecking yard.

In my experience, a battery light indicates that the alternator is not charging the battery. However, from what you describe of the lights going dim, and radio going out, it sounds like an alternator problem, so go figure?? Suggest you charge your battery, then drive to an auto parts store. At no charge to you, a counter guy will test your car's battery, and charging system in their parking lot with their tester system. They should definitely tell you what is wrong.

I too, have carried spare door/ignition car keys in my wallet for many years. You just never know when you may loose a key, or even misplace at home, and you need a key like right now. Doing this has saved me many times. Hard to say how, or why your car locked itself. Stuff just happens some days.

From my experience.......... I have a 98 OBW, that blew the HG while my wife was driving it. She limped it home, but cooked the motor. It had about 150 K miles on the odo. I replaced with a 95, 2.2 motor. I also have a 99 OBW. It blew its HG last summer at 193 K miles on the odo with original HGs. I never over heated the motor, so had the HGs replaced, and all is well. I am confident this motor is now reliable. From what I have learned, the 2.5 gen 1 motor, was designed so that the pistons rose just slightly above the block at top dead center. So, this necessitated slightly thicker head gaskets. The problem is the thicker head gaskets eventually blow out, so that exhaust gas enters the cooling system, thus the over heating, and diagnosis of bad HGs. Subaru re-engineered the head gaskets three times to cure the problem. I suppose the re-design helps, but still, a thicker then normal head gasket is sort of a band-aid fix, so they will eventually blow out again. Others have said that with new HGs installed, the motor should be good for 100K miles before HG concerns return. Other then the HG issue, the 2.5 gen 1 motor is a good reliable motor. On the 96 you are contemplating buying for your dad, if he does mostly local driving, then I would wait for the HGs to blow before replacing them. He just has to know to keep a sharp eye on the temperature gauge, and watch for over heating. It doesn't help that the 96 Subaru does not have a warning light showing over heating, so it is easy to over look the temp gauge while driving. Keep us posted on what you do.

If the "bending" doesn't fix the problem, then suggest you buy an aftermarket socket from Autozone store. That is where I bought mine. It is made slightly different from OEM, but works just fine.

I have been reading your thread and responses. Glad to hear that you tranny work done, and it works perfectly..........Congrats & Merry Christmas.

Your post is timely...........on my 99 OBW, just yesterday, I ran a hot wire with an in-line fuse directly from the battery to the back of the cig lighter socket. I also created a new ground, running a wire from the socket to a screw on the tranny shifter. My problem started when my GPS cord plug shorted out in the socket. It smoked the cord plug, and blew the cig socket fuse at the fuse block, and ruined the cig socket. I don't know what else happened, but replacing the fuse still gave me no power at the socket, and also the ground wire no longer ground the circuit as it should have. I installed a new after market cig socket, and now all is well. The whole experience was a PITA that amazes me how a shorted cig plug could cause such a hassle. Like you, tracking down electrical problems frustrates me in a short period of time, and I start loosing my temper. I don't know of anything that would cause your problem. You are prolly better off rewiring as I have done. When you are finished you know you have it done right, and no longer concerning yourself with fuses blowing randomly.

I recently went through this recently. My wheel bearing went bad because the end of the half shaft broke into 2 pieces at the road wheel end. My shop said only the wheel bearing was damaged, so they replaced the bearing. 6 Months later the wheel bearing goes bad again. So, I realize the hub unit is bad, and replaced the hub from one from a wrecking yard to solve the problem. Yea, replace the hub unit to fix your problem.

+1 on head gasket trouble. I had the same trouble last Fall. Once my temp gauge shot up to hot, I pulled off the street, shut off the motor, opened the hood to look for bubbles in the over flow tank. Sure enough it was bubbling like an aerator in an aquarium. The bubbles is/are exhaust gas blowing by the bad head gasket to enter the cooling system. The water pump can't pump an air bubble, so the heater/defroster reacts by blowing cold air. Don't let your motor over heat, or you will ruin the motor.

Something simple like worn out rear tires with minimal tread will cause what you are describing. Just how good are those rear tires??

$950 is/was a good price, if the motor runs good, and shows no signs of head gasket problems. Yea, do bondo work, spray paint, and call it a day on the rusty areas. It is not reasonable spending good money at a body shop for rust repair on a $950 car. If you can't find out when the last time that the timing belt was replaced, then it is prudent to change the TB, and may as well replace the water pump, seals, and pulleys, while it is apart. If not done, a broken TB will ruin the valves, and create an unpleasant repair bill.

I just figured out that this original post was 11/11, over a year ago. Upon my first read, I thought this was a new post. Now, I see the car is long gone, but the motor lives on in your sister's Leggie. I agree the EJ22 is a darn good engine. There has not been a more reliable Subie engine built since the EJ22. I have a 95 EJ22 transplanted into my 98 OBW with 50K miles. I figure the motor will last another 150K miles.

For what this info may be worth, I swapped front seats from a 97 OBW into a 99 OBW. Yea, it was an easy bolt in, but the seat belt buckle unit was slightly different, even though they looked at first to be the same. It was easy to swap old buckle receiver onto new seats. It was something I hadn't figured would be a problem. So, check your seat belt buckle to buckle receiver compatibility.

I suppose "put it in FWD mode," means installing a fuse in the FWD fuse holder under the hood on the fire wall.

Glad you or no one else got hurt. Thoughts of cutting off the top to create a roadster may have some merrit. Someone posted a wagon, with the roof cut off behind the driver to create sort of a pick up truck. A roll bar could be fabricated at the B pillar, and roof sheet metal brought back to connect to the roll bar. Might work out great! When you have a lemon, turn it into lemon ade

I would advise adding a can of fuel injector cleaner, the good stuff that cost $6/can, like Chevron Techron, and a tankfull of mid grade gasoline. It is possible that you got a bad tank of gas. Maybe a can of "dry gas" would help, if some water is in the gas. Also could be engine temperature sensor, as someone also mentioned.

I had the same problem years back with my 91 Legacy. I thought the motor was going bad, so I bought one from a wrecking yard. Upon doing the swap out, I realized the blower motor was bogging down because of leaf and dirt derbies that flows down from the area around the windshield wipers. I cleaned out the crap, and the motor worked just fine. Slide the passenger seat all the way back, remove the glove box door to gain access of the blower motor. Just a few screws gives you access. It is an ez project.

EJ22's don't have headgasket issues like the EJ25 but if it's ever been overheated or compromised they can exhibit similar issues. NOT TRUE............I had a 91 EJ22 in a Leggie that blew a head gasket. Yes, the EJ22 infrequently can blow a head gasket, but not as often as in the EJ25, gen one, but it does happen.

I am the guy, who promoted Trans-X as a product to fix Subaru "tranny delayed forward engagement," and wrote the original thread about 3 years ago. Unfortunately, this is a fix for a problem unique to '99 and '00 Leggies with automatic transmissions. So, sorry, but I don't think that any amount of Trans-X will fix your problem. There is a considerable amount written about ATs on this website. From what I have read, and only from what I have read, the recommendations that I have seen is to replace a bad transmission with a good used one, and not spend a lot of time or money trying to fix an ailing tranny. Subaru automatic trannys usually last a good long time so I have read, and as a result, buying a good used one from a wrecking yard is pretty inexpensive, like maybe $200.

Yea, as the hot wire going to the center post of the socket is dead, as in not carrying any juice.

Prolly the easiest way is to do minimal re-wiring . Tap into a hot line, then run that wire directly to the back of the lighter plug. Use an "in line" fuse on that wire as a safe guard . Use the existing ground that is already connected to the lighter plug to complete the electrical circuit. You will need to figure out where the screws are, that hold trim pieces in place around the radio etc, that need to be removed. It is not hard work. Just be patient and don't pull too hard on anything plastic, or you will break something.