lostinthe202

I like this line, "...When they shut off the engine, the researchers reported that it coasted on the plasma for another two minutes."

Ah yes, I forgot to ask that question. I'm already racking up quite the bill for parts as I'm going OEM on everything on the theory that if it lasted this long the first time, it will the second as well. These pulleys are expenso. Should I just suck it up and buy 'em or assuming the smooth ones are quiet and have no play can I get away with replacing just the toothed fella? I have to do the timing belt portion soon as I believe my WP to be on the way out. BTW, thanks again for the seal puller idea. I've only done one job like that and I had a helluva time getting the bugger out. So here's to hopin! has your brake fluid ever been changed?Check a couple turkey baster changes of the power steering reservoiur might not hurt. and check. thanks! Will-

Oooooo, I like this, thanks! Will-

Stethascope, check! I just happen to have one. Iiiiinteresting. I never would've thought of that in a million years. I'll try it when I leave work. thanks! Will-

This reminds me of pyramid power...

Hi again, Some of you have read about my plans to move to California in the summer and helped me choose between my ea81 hatch and my leggy OBW. Now that I've chosen to stick with the wagon I'm turning my attention towards any needed maintenance before I hit the road. Once I get out there my income will drop dramatically as I will be a full time student, and I will probably not have as decent a place to work on my car as I do now. Since in the next 5 months I will be paying off the CC's, saving for 1st/last/deposit on a place, and saving for the move itself, I thought I would give myself plenty of time to purchase and replace any longish term maintenance items in the hopes of being able to sail through my school years without anything more than what I can do on the sly in the parking garage of a mall:) That being said here's my list of things likely to need attention soon. T-belt T-stat Water pump Oil pump seal & lock-tite screws Cam & Crank seals Gear oil change Anyone have anything I should add to that list? While the car ('96 OBW 5spd 166K) goes/stops/turns beautifully, there are a few ways in which he's showing his age. I'll list them and if you have any ideas/suggestions/questions, I'd be greatly appreciative. The clutch shudders, but not too frequently. There seems to be nothing wrong with the friction as I've never noticed any hints of slipping even on hill starts (yes folks disabling the hill holder was the first thing I did after getting the car. Learned to drive in the hills and it just seems wrong to use it... that and it kept pissing me off while parallel parking) I never thought of clutch shudder as a symptom of a thin friction plate but rather worn anti-shake springs or whatever they're called. Am I wrong? While on the subject of the clutch. There is a noise there that I've been trying to figure out. I've searched about this and haven't come to any definite conclusion. When I'm in neutral there is a noise like a marble on a roulette board, actually more like several marbles on a roulette board. It goes away when I push the clutch in. From searching, the throwout bearing explanation of quieting down when you load it by putting in the clutch sounded the most like my thing. On the other hand, someone else suggested that it could be a bearing inside the transmission which will go on making noise for many thousand miles with no other action necessary other than turning your radio up so as not to hear it. Any votes for a clutch kit or is this something I can potentially ignore. And lastly, and I thank you for your patience as this is a long post, the idle pretty consistently races after restarting the car after fully warming up, like say if I drove 10 miles to the store and parked, then restarted immediately to get a closer spot, the rpms will hang around 1500, then slowly drop back to normal over the next 5 minutes or so. It may be coincidental, but it seems that the idle drops when I touch the breaks. I first thought it was the idle air valve (or whatever its called in Subarese) acting up, and it may be. But the thing with the brakes brings to mind something I read in some manual for some car I owned in the past that there is a gizmo (the ecu?) that delays the drop in throttle to ease shifting. Could this thingy be on the fritz? Is this thing smart enough to know I'm on the brakes? OK, thanks for your patience!! Will-

explain please?

This is a good idea. Not sure about the slim jim laws here, but looks like a big red sign is in my future. thanks! Will-

Thanks Hank, thanks Nipper, I figured there wouldn't be a good answer, but one can always hope. Seems like undesired towing is common enough that Subaru would've made some provision for it. But there's always compromises even in the best designs. thanks! Will-

Car - '96 Leg. OBW 5spd. I had a close call with a tow truck and I'm trying to figure out if there are any protective measures I can take. Here's the story, In DC, the public or contractors or anyone with half an excuse and a few bucks, can get No Parking signs for a particular date range and put them up to reserve spots for moving or contractors or whatever. Now of course the problem with this is that there is no way to notify the owners of whatever cars may be parked in the spots that someone wants to reserve when they put up the signs that they can no longer park in the spot. The city, recognizing that the person parked there has done nothing wrong as the spot was legitimate before the signs went up, has decided the solution is to tow the car to some other parking spot in the neighborhood then notify the owner by mail (or on the phone when the panicky owner calls to report their car stolen) the new location of their car. This nearly happened to me the other day when I, not seeing one of these signs tapped to a tree FACING THE SIDEWALK(!!!), parked in such a spot and went to run a couple of errands. I turned the corner of the block I was parked on to see my car on the hook, the driver getting ready to get back in the truck. I got there in time and the driver put my car back down. So that's the back story, now here's the question. From what I have read from my searches, the auto trannys have a fuse you can put in that converts to fwd for the purposes of using the spare tire. Some seem to say you can tow with the fuse in and fronts off the ground, others say you can't. I don't see any mention of the manual trannys having this fuse (I couldn't find one either) so I assume they don't. Granted, this is a pretty rare occurrence, but, 1. Are there any measures I can take to prevent damage 2. What damage is caused to what piece of equipment 3. How do I diagnose the damage (would this be the torque bind thing?) Sorry if this is redundant. As I said, I tried searching on the subject and just about everything I found only made passing reference, if any, to the manual transmission. Thanks!! Will-

Not exactly like this. I remember a story that hit the news a couple of times having to do with Shell selling gas that had too high of a sulfur content that was taking out gauges. But as far as I know, it was making them freeze as apposed to just malfunctioning. Maybe your float gauge is sticky or something? Perhaps a cleaner will help? I dunno... Will-

Great, thanks! I was at a similar site but swimming through their sub menus didn't get me anywhere. Just ordered 'em!

I'm trying to find the part number for the left and right engine side timing belt covers. This if for a '96 legacy OBW 2.2L (n/a) anyone able to look this up? Thanks!! Will-

Some food for thought, a few years back while riding my motorbike I t-boned someone who pulled out in front of me. they had dark tint on their driver's side windows so I couldn't see whether or not they were looking in my direction before making their turn. Turns out they weren't. Luckily for me I let off the throttle so had time to lay it down before slamming into them. I had no major injuries and I got a new bike out of it, but it could've been much worse. Also may have been avoided all together if I could've seen their eyes. Living in the city I don't know how many times I would've been run over if I hadn't been able to see the driver's eyes to know they hadn't looked for people before turning. Just something to consider:)

Very nice, same as mine, only mine's white.

I'm dying to know how the antler jewelry is going help with the emissions...:-p

Weeeellll, better let me try it out and make sure it actually works!!

yeah, especially when you have access to a full shop and a laser cutter, makes it reeeeeeal easy:)

Thanks, yes I did. I just copied the design of that cheapo adjustable tool you posted the pic of. Its probably a lot more robust then it needs to be (3/16 steel with 1/2 steel pins) but its what I had handy. I could've made the pins smaller, in fact I'm contemplating grinding them off and making them removable so I can use different size pins for different applications.

OK, thanks to Porcupine for the idea, mine's done and ready for the weekend fun. Just letting the tool dip dry...

I'll be following this thread closely as I had almost exactly the same experience... that is, if it's possible to be "almost exact":-p Anyway, the other day I was driving down my gravel drive in my '96 OBW (166k, 5spd) with my driver's window open when I heard a grinding noise start like someone flicked on a switch. I thought I heard a light "clunk" the instant before it started but it could've been my imagination. Since I was driving down a gravel driveway I assumed I kicked a rock up someplace and that was making the noise. Once I got out on the pavement it continued for about a 1/4 mile before I stopped to check it out. I got underneath and looked around but didn't see anything out of the ordinary. I got back in and continued down the road with sound still there. I could get it to go away for a second by swerving the wheel to the left, but only to the left and only for a moment, it wouldn't go away swerving to the right and also wouldn't go away brake or no brake. My front brakes are low and the sound is just like that of low pads so I assumed either a rock or low pads, but if low pads I wondered at how sudden the noise began. Whatever the cause the noise went away another 1/2 mile down the road and hasn't come back. Interesting...

yep

Yeah, looks like it would work. Adjustable too, I like that...

My wife and I were die hard civic hatch fans for years... until I got my legacy OB wagon. She wants her smaller hatchy car, but also the AWD. Looks like a good answer to me! Nice looking car, keep us posted. Will-

This is what I'd be looking at. Just like running pure ethanol which can give materials in fuel systems made before a certain year (96?) a hard time. Or like running straight vegetable oil in a diesel engine without any mods. It works, but only for while. Will-