wfoote

I have one, make me an offer.

While there isn't really any way to completely empty the TC, if you are willing to remove the pan you there is one more thing you can do to remove a fair bit more fluid. With the pan off, you will see the strainer attached to the valve body. You will also see a tube crossing over the strainer that would prevent removing the strainer. There are two black 10mm bolts holding the tube in place. Remove those two bolts and slowly wiggle the pipe loose being careful not to bend the pipe. When this pipe pops loose, a SIGNIFICANT amount of fluid will drain from the TC. I believe this will empty about half the fluid from the TC. You can then change the strainer if you so desire, it isn't really necessary as this isn't a filter as much as a strainer screen. Torque on all bolts inside the transmission are 8Nm or 70inlb. Pan bolt torque is 4Nm or 36inlb. Good luck

To find the timing marks you might try parking the car on a level surface place it in 3rd or 4th gear and slowly pushing the car forwards or backwards. Take the disty cap off and you should see the marks as the rotor nears the various towers on the disty cap. Kind of brute force, but it will work.

I had a similar problem on my 84 GL wagon, it would start and run fine. About 10 minutes later it would throw the ECS error. I looked for those green connectors for a couple of weeks until I realized they aren't there. They seem to be on newer cars. There is another thread that discusses the early ECS systems on these cars, they are quite primitive and don't store codes. You will need to look at the flashing LED when the ECS tosses the error. In my case it turned out to be a broken coolant thermosensor. I found out the computer was expecting to see a 400 ohm signal when the engine warmed up and a 4,000 ohm signal when cold. The thermosensor was open. I haven't been able to find a thermosensor at a junkyard, and Subaru wants $40. I wired up a 400 ohm resistor and the ECS light went out. Of course this does make cold starts a bit crankier...