friendly_jacek

Blitz, how do I check for intemittant electrical problem? I finished the "static" testing and all TPS conections (and isolation from ground) to TCM and ECM checked out OK. BTW, it took me forever to find the ECM, it was cleverly hidden. The WAWalker suggestion was good but did not help. According to the FSM troubleshooting I should replace TCM, but I consider that long shot and last resort.

OK, I noticed this a year ago while the car was still under warranty. Presumably fixed by the dealer. Now, while working on my TPS problems I noticed there is a very bad tensioner noise. Sounds like piston slap but it is not because persists with hot engine and comes from the belt cover area (confirmed by stethoscope). Now, the car is outside warranty but I want to confront the dealer and ask for a definitive repair since I reported the issue before the waranty expired. Does anyone know the TSB re: tensioner noise aplicable to 2000 legacy? Www.infotraxx.com lists this TSB (02-93-04) as applicable: http://www.scoobymods.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4813 but is is technically for 04-05 subarus only. I want to find the correct TSB so it would be done by the book (can't trust my dealer). Also, should I worry about the belt braking soon with this noise? The car has only 60000 miles.

You mean like: Dom Portwood: Hello, Peter. What's happening? We need to talk about your TPS reports. Peter Gibbons: Yeah. The coversheet. I know, I know. Uh, Bill talked to me about it. Dom Portwood: Yeah. Uh, did you get that memo? Peter Gibbons: Yeah. I got the memo. And I understand the policy. The problem is, I just forgot this one time. And I've already taken care of it so it's not even a problem anymore. Dom Portwood: Yeah. It's just that we're putting new coversheets on all the TPS reports *before* they go out now. So if you could just remember to do that from now on, that'd be great. All right! No, I didn't see Office Space!

Final gear ratio is different as outback has bigger wheels than legacy.

Well, its mostly correct. But not every gasket fails before 100,000. There is no simple rule. I would also have issues with the following sentence as if you watch the engine closely, you can prevent engine meltdown: "These engines destroy themselves when the head gasket leaks."

Thanks a lot! Didn't think of this.

Is the a way to tighten the straps? My OEM ones are leaking some but good otherwise and the car is outside warranty.

This is very good info. Before I decided to tow my 17.5 feet boat with 2000 legacy I did a lot of research and also discovered the fact that Australia's subaru towing limit was 1400 kg (~3000 lbs) with the only difference being self leveling suspension. Many towing sites in Australia specifically said that Subaru was the best car available there for towing tent trailers. They would say it was unbreakable but meant 2.2L of course. I saw an european site describing subaru towing a sailboat (at least 3500 lbs) across the continent. And finely there was a Boating Magazine test tow of 2400 lbs boat with subaru with 2.5L H4 passing with flying colors. The 2000 lbs limit in USA was purely for liability and to limit a chance of abuse of the car. My experience towing a 2500 lbs boat confirms what I read. The package is more stable than I thought it would be. I can go as fast as 70-75 mph in flat areas with no major effort of the engine. In hilly area, I slow down a bit and use 3rd gear. For safety and to protect the drivetrain I use trailer brakes, ATF cooler, ATF temp gauge (very informative), heavy duty and/or synthetic fluids (no 5W30 for me). I only miss the self leveling suspension as the car's rear sags some when loaded and with trailer.

Here is the deal. 2 years ago the car (2000 legacy) would act up (bad, delayed, and harsh AT shifting) from time to time. MPG was worse than usual. Took it to the dealer several times and they "could not replicate the problem." Then it threw a CEL and flashing AT temp light with codes 122 and 31 for ECU and TCM, respectively. This pointed to TPS. I took it in for I thought was warranty work (the car had 4 years and like 40000 miles at the time). They replaced TPS and produced a $360 bill. I double checked and indeed the TPS did not seem to be covered by neither drivetrain nor emission warranty. I was pissed even more when the car started doing same thing AFTER the part was swapped. Clearly, intermitten connection problem. I took it back and was not a happy customer. Somehow they fixed it again. Fast forward almost 2 years and some problem again. I checked the TPS, works flawlessly. I started troubleshooting by the book (FSM), the whole 4 pages of checking grounds and connections, I'm not finished yet but good so far. How do I procede when the connections check out? BTW, there are no other electrical/ground problems other than the intermitten TPS problem. Do I have a recurse with the dealer and their botched "repair"?

Before starting tearing the timing belt, check the temp sensor FCS! Or buy a $50-100 OBD2 interface. Trying to diagnose a modern car without a OBD2 scanner (and knowledge how to use it) is insane IMO.

85 at high altitude is fine because of lower air pressue at high altitude. You still compress it the 10:1 or so but the net maximum pressure is going to be lower and thus lower need for antiknock property ("octane" number). Actually, lower octane has slightly more BTU value.

Mulch, Your link didn't work for me. I don't know what your agenda is but I did see studies sponsored by agricultural industries that show variable decrease in MPG and even increase in some cars under some circumstances. They concluded that the MPG effect is "negligible". It may be negligible for individuals but not for the nation. This can explain your observation. Mybe your car runs too rich and the extra oxygen from alcohol improves combustion. However, alcohol contains 50% less combustion energy by volume, period. It's a scientific fact. How can you argue with the science? I said that before in this thread but I will reiterate: If you take in the account the oil used to grow, harvest, ferment, and destill corn/ethanol as well as produce the fertilizers, pesticides, and agricultural machinery, you put more oil in than you get back from the ethanol produced. I'm not against ethanol in fuel per se, because 10% improves emissions, but claiming that the 85% ethanol fuel is "green" is just a fraud and I'm dissapointed that US public is so gullible.

If you google, you can find a study done by Australian goverment to evaluate feasibility of 20% alcohol fuel. The long term test on several stock cars (one of the test cars was actually a SUBARU) showed higher engine wear and more engine deposits. The recommendation was not to implement that fuel. I don't remember if oil analysis was part of the study.

I went throug 1 set each of Potenza RE92 and RE910. Both worn at 25000 miles but the bosos at the tire outfit had hard time setting the alignment strait. Using RE950 now, nice wear at 10000, but lost 2 tires due to tread separation. No more potenzas for me.

Here is your problem. I had nothing but problems with cheap gas: high sulfur, pinging, and unexplained low MPG. This is why I only buy from a major brand. However, I recently bought Sam's club gas (cheapest in town) and smelled sulfur in my Corolla, even though we are supposed to have low sulfur fuel since 2004. Some no-brand outfits use the worst gas they can find on the market (possibly the washout batchs from the pipelines) and likely steal at the pump making you believe that MPG is poor. If you want to experiment, buy gas only at exactly 5 gal amount. State inspectors use 5 gallons measuring devices and every pump is very accurate at this volume. Above that, your luck.

No metter how one calculates, there is no net oil saving with using alcohol fuel. One scientist from Belkeley calculated that we may acctually use more oil to produce alcohol fuel. The 85% alcohol fuel is basically a form of scam. However, the reason ethanol is added at 10% is to improve emissions (oxygenator). I don't have a problem with that.

Collector, Did you replace the O2 sensor? It can easly be bad at this milage and sometimes it doesn't trigger the MIL. If the car has MAF, clean it too.

Don't you think it's a good idea to change the belt and all the worn out parts touching the T-belt?

Could be a lot of thing. Have you tried/checked: Throttle cleaning (careful)? Knock sensor? Ground issue? Fuel pressure? Quality of spark (plugs/wires/coil)? Misfires?

This very discussion is useless. gfcrane in post #2 explained why idling is not needed in modern turbos like subaru.

The computer is OK, the problem is that the sulfur in gas, phosphorus and metals in oil (if you burn oil), and crap in some injector cleaners kill cats. This is why we have low sulfur fuel since 2004 and lower additives in oil since 2005.

Theoretically, 10% blend has 5% less energy by volume, so the MPG goes 5% down (as well as power). However, experimental studies show the percent is variable with different engines.

Well, open the hood. Do you have the MAP sensor?

Based on this I did some searches that uncovered a few discussions on this couple of years ago. It sounds like the disconnect could be beneficial for the fragile SVX' tranny but it messed up Legacy777's subaru transmission as well as somebody's nissan maxima. Legacy777, do you care to add to this? Also, Grossgary, what is the year of your subaru?

Before you trade in, try one of these $10 driving pillows. My wife refuses to drive subaru without it.