robm

The spring is a tension spring ( gets longer when stretched, starts fully coil bound). It is about 1/2" diameter, maybe 2" of coil bound windings, plus hooks at each end, maybe 1" or so each. It hooks into the hole in the top of the fork, and then is stretched forward to another spot on the engine block or maybe the bell housing? (I can't remember, it isn't right in front of me.) It might be time to visit a wrecker to get this part. All above dimensions are eyeball estimates from memory, no guarantees of any kind.

Nope, I must have missed it. At least there is no doubt about the problem now! You still need a return spring.

There should be return spring that pulls the fork forward to take up the slack in the cable, and stops it from jumping out of the fork. It also looks like you have too much slack. Adjust the cable so the fork only moves 3-4 mm (Maybe a bit more? I can't remember the spec.), put on the return spring, and see if that works. The cable looks worn, and will probably have a short life.

If the snow is so light it would blow away, it won't build up in the first place. There are many different kinds of snow: wet and heavy, that builds up on the lights, or light and puffy, that blows right over the car, and everything in between. The mud and grime often have the worst effect on the lights. Following distance helps, but a lot comes from trucks etc. travelling the other way. I make it a point now to stop before dark to wipe the headlights and windows off. Which is often hard to do up here in the cold country, because there are plenty of service stations that don't put out squeegees and water, as it just freezes. Wiping down the windows and lights with dry paper towel is not terribly effective.

The roll pin is a pin that holds the inner axle joint onto the stub projecting from the transmission. It stops the joint from sliding off, it doesn't take any torque. Search for Ed Rach's excellent write-up here, and in the USMB repair manual. With this in hand, and a few tools, it shouldn't take more than half a day or so, the first time.

Keep it. The engine is putting out more HP continuously than it was originally designed to produce intermittently. It wouldn't have an oil cooler if it didn't need it. No one would add useless weight to an aircraft engine.

Rain-x and that DuPont stuff may help, but I suspect they will just make it easier to clear the headlights. The grill and front bumper basically shovel the snow out of the sky, there is no where for the snow to go. That stuff isn't magic that blows the snow off, if you get snow built up on the bumper and lights, it will stay there. But worth a try.

It is in an airplane. The best is not too good for the application! Although perhaps a Gyro won't fail catastrophically if the engine does? I would still rather be very sure my engine was going to last a long time. The pumps sounds cheap at any price.

The easiest way to get under the dash is to lower the seatback all the way, and lie on your back with your head under the dash and your legs in the back seat, upside down, almost like being at the dentist.

Chances are the heater core is OK. You won't get much heat out of it if the fan doesn't run, so fix the fan first. Check the fuse, the relay, the speed control switch, resistor block (maybe it is unplugged?), and the fan motor. Once it is running, then you can see if there is hot water in the heater core. My bet is on the relay under the dash being the culprit.

I have plastic covers over the glass headlights. And I leave them on in the winter because that is when the gravel is on the road, that gets thrown up to smash them. It is time for some new covers, as the old ones are just about shot. They have taken dozens of rocks, probably saved me the value of the car in smashed headlights. What I really hate is the "Warp speed" effect of driving through falling snow, all you can see is snow coming at you.... Headlights make it worse.

Belts used are cheap ones from an on-line retailer. They might have been Conti? All they carry now is Mitsuboshi (yes, spelled correctly), we will see how they work. The idlers and tensioners are good. They were replaced 50,000 miles ago, and still turn smoothly. The belts are completely gone. Cracked and brittle. I think I will be changing these belts at 80,000 km/50,000 miles from now on. But I don't think this car will last that long...

GD, my thought is a rebuilder got a bad lot of CV joints from NTN, ones that were out of spec. I have replaced axles that required some persuasion to get through the bearings, but when the spindle won't go far enough into the hub carrier to get the nut on to draw it through, there is something wrong. And when the same axle pulls the bearing out of the hub carrier, and it takes serious force on a press to get the bearing off, there is really something wrong. I believe Hatchsub's method is the standard one for installing an axle with the hub carrier still mounted? It is what I have used in the past, when necessary. Original Subaru axles with NTN components wouldn't scare me, but a new NTN joint on a rebuilt axle is not quite the same. I have used axles from the same source that had a light slide fit between bearing and spindle, like the majority of FWD cars. They go together a lot more easily, and seem to work fine. It is the boots that go first, then the joint has a short lifespan after that.

Recently, my driver's side cam belt lost a dozen teeth, at 85,000 km since replacement. The time before that, the belt broke, at 80,000 km. Belts are supposed to be changed at 90,000 km (55,000 miles), but I am not getting that kind of life out of them. When removed, the belts are in bad shape, cracked and obviously ready to go. The first time I changed a belt was at 180,000 km on the car, 90,000 km on the belt. That first set of belts I removed didn't look too bad, they had plenty of life left. The cam covers came off in in pieces on that job, because the bolts bond themselves to the inserts, so I have been running without covers ever since. So, I can't help but wonder if the lack of covers might be contributing to the short life of the cam belts I have experienced since? Does any one else have similar experience with broken belts on cars with no covers?

Found the problem. It turned out to be the cambelt after all. I rigged up a remote starter so I could actually watch cam and rotor while turning it over, rather than depending on marks on things, and whether they move or not, and it was obvious. The belt was missing at least 12 teeth. (I have my starter wired through a relay under the hood, and so the remote start was a piece of cake. I recommend this mod, if for no other reason than having a simple, instant remote start feature built in to the vehicle. ) The scary thing is this belt has less than 90,000 km on it. It is getting close, but I thought the whole point of replacing it at 90k is so it won't break and leave you stuck at 120k. Thanks for the suggestions.

Read up on GD's recommendations for pregreased, double-sealed 6207's from the nearest bearing house. I went that route. $20/bearing, vs. $45 each for unsealed ones from NAPA! I am sold on that idea.

It isn't the cold, it is the huge flakes of snow, and lots of them, that fall in this part of the world. Overwhelms the heat output of the lights. I get it worse, as I have plastic headlight covers, that act as insulators between the snow and the light. But I would rather stop and clear them than replace headlights constantly.

Actually, if you get a good German Shepard, smart and well trained, he would be fine in the house with the kid and the cats, but absolute death on anyone trying to rip you off. A friend of mine has had 2 like this, the kids and cats could chew on the dog's ears without any problem, but they would come home to find wanna-be thieves sitting on the garden shed with the dog rumbling below. It was the same when they lived out in the woods, too, the local crazies soon learned to bother other people when they went off their meds. Friends, however, were always welcome. Those were 2 good dogs.

Another common failure is one of the diodes blowing. The regulator still holds the output to 14 VDC, but there will be a lot of AC on the output as well. And there won't be as much output, either.

My 1993 Loyale (5sp, 4wd, 345,000km) started as normal the other night, then went about 200 feet, coughed, and died. My boss was right behind me, so 10 minutes of troubleshooting soon came up with no spark. He towed me home, and today I had a closer look at it. The cam belt is good. It turns the cam with the crank, no stripped teeth. The rotor is firmly screwed in place. There is 12 V at the coil. The coil is good (1 ohm primary, 8 kohms secondary) The coil wire is good (500 ohms resistance) All that is left is the crank angle sensor in the distributor, the amplifier transistor under the coil, and the ECU. My Haynes manual does not do a good job of either showing how this stuff is wired, or how to troubleshoot it. Does anyone have a proper wiring diagram for the ignition system? Is there any way to test the remaining parts of the system with simple tools (Fluke DVM, e.g.)? Thanks.

Not quite. 155/80's have the same diameter as 175/70's, but their load rating is only 79. The stock 165SR's were replaced by 165/80's, and are rated at 83, and the 175/70's at 82. So if you use those tires, you must be aware that you have decreased the maximum load you can put in the car. You must also run them at maximum rated pressure to achieve their maximum load rating (35 psi), not the pressures that Subaru recommends for a completely different tire. I run 155/80's as snow tires, but I am well aware of the drawbacks. When the snowies are on, I keep the loads light, the speeds down and the tires at 36 PSI+. Also, where I live, it does snow and stays cold while they are on the car, so the lower temperature has to help keep the tire temperature down. Where you live, I would stick with the 175/70's.

I have had axles that would NOT go on. Eventually, I pulled it out to take it back, and the bearing went with it. NAPA sent it to the shop next door to be pulled off (I wanted my bearing back!) and apparently, it was tough work even with a press. I ran into another that was almost as tight. It went on, but it took a lot of abuse to do it. Getting it off was near impossible, and the threads were totally mangled. I to hammer steel on steel to get it moving, any wood block would just get turned into splinters. Both these axles were rebuilt ones, with new outer CV joints made by NTN. In the future, I am taking an old bearing with me when I get axles, and if it doesn't slide on in the store, they can keep it. If it says NTN, they can certainly keep it.

That's is kind of what I was thinking, when I noted it's lighter weight and the fact that sports cars were slower than minivans. Even if the power to weight is the same, a light car is more fun to throw around and more direct, without power steering or brakes. It feels peppier. It looks like North America is getting the XV next fall. We will be getting only the 2.0 l gas engine with CVT or 5 speed, no diesel. And it seems the body is pretty much the same as a 2012 Impreza, so sleeping in the back will be tight, but it is essentially what I wished for: a 2012 Imp with a 2" lift kit. Maybe they do know what they are doing at Subaru.

Nipper wrote: "112 HP and 111ft/lb torq at 4000 rpm i personally couldnt drive that too under powered. " This from someone who laments the passing of the 1979 Civic, with a whopping 63 HP from the optional 1488 cc engine! Mind you, that car weighed at least 1000 lbs less, and a sports car in those days did 0 - 60 slower than a minivan today. I just had a look at the specs on that XV. 220 mm ground clearance, 2.0 l diesel. I am not sure about the CVT, time will tell if this transmission will go 300,000 miles. If it is not plagued with horrific blindspots, and I can sleep in the back, this may be the modern day Loyale.

Yes! Roomy, economical, reliable and easy to work on. Pretty peppy and fun to drive as well. The wagons had tons of room. Rust prone in my part of the world, and the engines were not as long-lived as Subarus, but good, inexpensive transportation.