Olnick

Welcome to the USMB, migs! Love your story--kinda' like getting an unexpected Christmas gift. Hope you and your wife enjoy many happy miles and memories in that Outback.

Just stick to NGK V-Power plugs.

@DerFahrer--I'm now retired and doing great. And my shifter linkage ('95 Legacy L) is still silky smooth!!! Thanks for the help way back when.

Welcome back, DerFahrer--good to see your name on here again! But what does "CPO" mean?!!

Welcome aboard, kablamabam! You've found a great place here. May I suggest that you put Portland, Oregon for a location in your ID? It could prove helpful to you down the road.

What model/year/engine is your Subaru? "V-Power" is NGK's most basic copper core plug--and the most economical to buy. They are excellent plugs. Unless your manual recommends some "fancier" plug you're just throwing your money away!

@Georg--Beautiful country for Subie driving! Our daughter and her family live in Cologne so we've been lucky enough to have a couple of trips over there, see a bit of the countryside. Lovely.

Georg--such a beautiful, bucolic scene! What part of Germany?

@hogweed: What's your shifter doing? Does it make any effort to center-up on its own? If not then a new spring might help. But if it's general all-over sloppiness and you can't find your gears easily, then it probably needs new bushings. Bummers! Good luck.

Welcome, scdrtramp! The wonderful EJ22 engine was non-interference from its introduction in '89/'90 through the '96 model year. It became interference with the '97s. So you're okay with your '95!

Don't know if it bothers you or not, but be aware that a '97 2.2 is an interference engine.

Well, forget what I said above! That wouldn't throw the code you're getting. I found an old discussion about P1518--don't know if it sheds any light or not! http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/topic/81077-cel-p1518-starter-switch-circuit-low-input/

Welcome to the USMB, Cmine. Do you hear the solenoid click every time--whether the starter cranks or not? Could it be pitted/burnt contacts in the solenoid (the heavy duty ones that feed juice to the starter motor)? That's a common problem in older EJ engines.

Yeah, grimace--we wish you could have found it too. Would have kept it in the USMB family! Funny, Eric used to live at the corner of Dravus and 22nd, so at least it was all "in the neighborhood!" Thanks everyone for your concern and great thoughts. Hopefully it helps with awareness for all of us.

I think the timing belt change interval for a '94 is 60,000 miles! And don't expect the white marks to line-up--they're just for installation. Once you run the engine they'll only line-up again once every umpteen revolutions! Good luck!

Welcome to the USMB, TJVJR. And greetings to beautiful East Tennessee! I'm pretty sure any '90 through '94 EJ22 engine should be an easy plug-n-play bolt-in swap. The EJ22 became OBD2 in '95 so wiring, electronics, etc. wouldn't work for you. Hopefully others will chime in with more specifics. You might try a search here on the board--or Google--or Youtube--there's lots of info on Subie engine swaps. The great thing is you'll be working with the best, most durable engine Subaru ever built, non-interference and virtually bulletproof! Good luck.

"Sounds like something bouncing around inside near the front of the engine." Could it be the timing belt tensioner? I understand the "new design" is much less hardy than the "old" one.

@ heartless: Yeah! #1: Maybe The Club as a visual deterrent. #2: Kill Switch! @lmdew: Thanks! What a relief that the car wasn't totally trashed or destroyed. @Fairtax: Hah! All the cops did was a visual look-over--then a phone call to let him know where it was! Thanks for the nice thoughts all.

GOOD NEWS! Police found the car today and called Eric at work. It was parked on a residential street (27th Ave W just off Dravus) in the Magnolia area, so he caught a bus up there after work. So far it seems to be in good condition. They left the driver's window down so seat and rug are wet. And of course they grabbed stuff out of the glove box and center console (including my trusty old Actron code reader) but didn't touch the radio. Didn't mess up the key cylinder either! Car started up okay so he went and got gas and drove it home. We want to thank everyone for your good thoughts and interesting discussion. Now to get to work on some security steps.

Use a good penetrating oil (WD-40 is not!) I like good old fashioned Liquid Wrench. PB Blaster and Kroil are also well respected. Then "gentle" tapping with your hammer--you're trying to create small vibrations to loosen the grip between the parts. Use the screwdrivers to put even pressure on the sprocket. Keep repeating--it'll break free eventually. Good luck!

Welcome to the USMB. What to do? Best bet is to post your question in the proper technical forum (New Gen or Older Gen) and be sure to identify your car (year and model.)

Thanks for the input, jp98. When you say "pull the ignition" what does that mean--something like jamming a screwdriver into the cylinder's key slot and just using brute force to break its mount?

Great ideas--love the AM/FM switch concept, and the flashing rear lights are genius! Thanks brus, heartless & Fairtax. But I have a basic question--how does a "bad guy" start a targeted car? Do they carry a bunch of dummy keys? Do they actually hot-wire the ignition and if so, how? Re-dedicating an existing (or newly installed) factory-looking switch on the dash would certainly fool an average, honest person like you or me. But I'm pretty sure the bad-guys know all the usual "tricks." Let me play devil's advocate. Assume you're a semi-pro car thief: 1) You've gotten into the vehicle. 2) You try to power up the starter/ignition system. No power! 3) Aha! The owner has probably installed a "kill system." 4) So you try every "normal looking button" on the dash, thinking the owner might have re-wired one of them as a kill switch. 5) If that doesn't work you'd probably feel around under the dash, then check the glove box and the center console. I kinda' think the most unobtrusive little switch mounted in the most unexpected place would be better than a re-dedicated factory switch or one hidden in the usual places. The bad-guy/SOB can't afford the time to search the entire car for a hidden switch! Comments?

Don't feel bad, Bushwick. Pertinent information should be included in the body of a post . . . even if it's in the title.

I think this may be the best suggestion yet, upnorthguy. Thanks. I'm intrigued. Anybody here done this? What's the best circuit or function to disable? How did you wire it up? What kind of switch did you use? (Yeah, I need basics!!!) Suggestions for "hiding places" for the switch?