Fairtax4me

I'm not sure which braided ground you're talking about. But I'm pretty sure that wire is binding because you're shorting source voltage to ground while cranking, Which is bad. Stop that or its gonna burn your whole car to the ground. The starter motor grounds through the metal housing of the starter, which grounds through the large bracket held by the upper starter bolt. If the starter works when you jumped 12v directly to the start terminal (the small spade terminal) the ground is fine. It sounds like your issue is that the wire that goes to that terminal is not getting power when you turn the key to Start. There could be a few reasons for that, but they can be narrowed down pretty easily just by checking some things at the starter relay. The start relay is in a big relay block under the dash on the drivers side with about 6 or 7 other relays. Hopefully it's labeled somehow so you dont have to guess at which is the correct relay. Mark the start relay with a paint dot or sticker so you know which it is in case its bad, and it doesn't get mixed around with the other relays. Once you've found it. 1. Try to start the engine and see if you can feel the relay click when you turn the key to Start. If you feel it click, the coil circuit for the relay is working properly. 2. Turn the key to start and smack the relay with a screwdriver handle a few times. Does this make the engine start? If yes, can it be repeated 3-4 times? If yes, the contacts in the relay are probably burned and it needs to be replaced. 3. If hitting the relay does not cause the engine to start, remove the start relay, find a similar relay in the block and plug it in in the start relays place. Try to start the engine. Does it start? If yes, start again 3-4 times to be sure its repeatable. Does it start every time? If yes, start relay is bad, replace it. If no, possible wiring issue, or the start contacts are burned in the ignition switch.

Occupant detection only affects the passenger seat, so you're good there. Any upholstery shop can fix that, and probably cheaper than you think. The last one I had done was several years ago, I got a side bolster repaired on a leather seat. They put in a new section of foam and replaced the side section of the leather. About $100. Although they did use a "pleather" vinyl leather lookalike. Regular upholstery tends to be less expensive. Overall cost will depend where you take it and how the market is in your area. Look in the phonebook for auto upholstery.

If you search around enough there is a site with like JDM something in the name that has links to tons of Subaru manuals. Unfortunately a lot of the older manual are missing info. I have a few that are missing major sections. One is missing all of the automatic transmission section. I found a manual for the early Impreza that had most everything in it, then I realized it was for the Euro market model! Nice to have, but doesnt do me much good since I'll probably never even see a euro car in person.

Search for Frankenmotor. Plenty of info out there. Always worth using ACL race bearings. The guys here who do rebuilds use them all the time.

I'll have to take a second look at the wiring diagram for that car. If I remember right the ECU only gets a start signal from the ignition switch, it then grounds a relay to engage the starter solenoid.

Click could have been the bolt on the left cam turning. Those are usually pretty tight and they make a loud click when loosening them. It's better that it didn't start. When that style tensioner goes bad they go from bad to worse very quickly. You might have made it A day and the timing would have jumped. Replace the tensioner, then figure out the no start.

4wd or Fwd? Big difference. In some countries (not the US) there was an option to lock into 4 wheel drive, by installing a fuse in the fuse holder labeled "4WD" on the strut tower. Its in about the same place as the "FWD" fuse holder on the US models. Except the Fwd fuse holder does the opposite. It totally disengages the AWD, and gives you only front wheel operation. It would be kinda neat to know which pin on the TCU that fuse goes to. Could be useful for people here who like to run a switch to the duty c solenoid to lock the transfer clutch into 4wd.

Your MAF readings are on the high end of normal at idle, and at the low end of normal range at 2500 RPM. You tried cleaning the MAF already right?

Sensor 2 should not follow sensor 1. First sensor is before the cat and second sensor is after the cat. The catalyst stores oxygen in cycles. The A/F mixture is switched lean to rich and back repeatedly so the lean cycles allow the cat to store oxygen, then the oxygen is released on the rich cycles. This is done to optimize catalyst behavior (converting Oxygen and HCs into H2O and CO2) and help maintain proper cat temp. Normally the front sensor should swing from about .2-.8v, and the rear sensor should be fairly steady around 0.45v. This can waver depending on load conditions. High voltage at the post cat sensor indicates the sensor is reading low oxygen in the exhaust leaving the cat. Basically, it isn't storing or can't store enough oxygen during the lean swing. Whether that's because of an AF ratio problem or because the cat is bad is harder to say. Normally with a totally bad cat the front and rear sensor readings will follow each other exactly. This happens because the cat is doing absolutely nothing, the exhaust going out is the exact same as the exhaust going in. No change in oxygen content through the cat, thus no change in readings from the sensors. On your car we know the fuel trim is being dialed back -11%. 5-10% is fine, and you're likely to see it change that much with quick changes in throttle position. But if you're holding the throttle steady, the short term trim should even back out to around 0.

0.10 amp isn't much of a draw for a modern car. What symptoms are you having that make you think there is a parasitic draw? How old is the battery?

You wanna get the struts done first. Push down on each front corner of the car a few times and see if it keeps bouncing after you stop pushing. If it acts like a water bed, struts are bad. The wandering/ go where ever it wants feeling is probably from the front. I put up with that feeling for years on my car and never could find anything with enough play in it to make the difference. Finally just replaced both big front control arm bushings (Subaru calls it a transverse bushing). These are filled with silicone grease that leaks out and then the bushing starts to move around and let's the control arm move. The drivers side was leaking, but I never saw the passenger side leak. Couldn't get much play out of it even with a 4 ft prybar. Finally took it off and the thing was split all the way around. Probably was that way before I even bought the car back in 09. I've put about 75k miles on it with that bushing totally worn out. Replaced everything else I could think of first because I never figured that one was bad. (It never leaked and never had any real play) I replaced both of those bushings with a whiteline anti-lift kit set on it and the wander is totally gone. It is SOOOO nice to not have to constantly fight the wheel to keep the thing going straight. ( The only reason I went with the whiteline bushings is they were the same cost as new TV bushings from Subaru, and my car is lifted which puts more stress on those bushings. They do improve handling in many other aspects though. Worth the $175 I paid for them) You can get cheap replacements from amazon about $30 each. Dealer they're like $100 each. They're a pain to replace. The nut that secures the bushing to the control arm is tightened to about 140ftlbs. The 2 bolts that hold the bushing to the chassis are 135 ft lbs IIRC. And they're like 3" long so you have to turn them for forever to get them out.

Dash lights are all done by the illumination control module which is known to burn out. Especially if someone put an aftermarket radio in it and hooked up the dimmer wire. Dome light is usually pretty easy to figure out. It either has power or it doesn't. A test light at the bulb will tell you that. If the Door indicator in the cluster works when a door is open, the fuses are good and the problem is just with the dome light or the wiring to it. Hi beams stuck on, and the signals don't work, could be damaged signal switch in the column. Are there a bunch of splices under the dash? Does it look like there was an aftermarket alarm module installed or anything like that?

Might be a good idea to replace the mainshaft bearing. Those tend to start making noise around 175k. The rest is gonna cost big money to upgrade. If you're worried about strength, you might consider a newer transmission from a WRX, but those usually bring a premium price and have already been beat on.

Did you tap the starter solenoid and it started? That means the starter contacts are worn. If you have a simple test light, you can probe the small wire on the starter solenoid and the light should come on bright when the key is turned to the crank position. A voltmeter is even more useful because it will tell you exactly how much voltage is reaching that point. If you have more than 11v at the start wire on the solenoid, but no turning of the starter (no cranking) the solenoid contacts are probably worn. Contact replacement is fairly simple and inexpensive. A replacement starter could set you back a few $$$. Then you may end up with a rebuild of questionable quality. The cable is of the same design for 4eat and 5eat transmissions. The adjustment is done at the shift selector lever end where it sticks down through the floor pan. The difference that you're probably seeing is that on the 4eat the park/Nuetral range switch is on the side of the trans. The 5eat has the P/N and shift range switch built into the console, so there is no switch on the 5at transmission. Its possible if anything has been spilled in the console that the switch is sticky, but if moving the shift handle produces immediate change of shift position on the indicator in the instrument cluster, the range switch is fine. When the sport shift mode is selected, the lever mechanism disengages from the selector cable, so moving the shift handle forward/back to the + and - positions produces no movement of the cable.

Hazard switch is bad.

You may have to look up 00-04 Legacy. Impreza suspension is entirely different.

Ahh I see. I had that issue when I swapped the trans in my 95. I used an older trans that had the cable and needed to put the sensor for the 95 in it. I just got in there with a pick tool and pried out the rubber part, and the lower metal part would spin but I never could get it to pop up to where I could get it out. Never did get that out. There was just enough room without the rubber washer that I could thread the sensor in with a little thread tape to seal it. I think it was getting dark or starting to rain or something and I needed to get the trans back in the car. Best thing is to probably fish around in there with a couple pick tools and try to get that thing popped up so you can get something under it. Either that or just yank that part off the bottom of the new one and thread it in.

Check with Primitive racing. King Springs makes lowering springs that should work well. If the springs by themselves don't lower enough you can swap the struts for shorter length.

I like the idea of these axles, but I can see where the design might unintentionally allow for that C clip to pop out certain conditions. I also find it strange that they advertise these on the very first page of their product catalogue but don't list any of the HD axle part numbers in the catalogue.

Stamp? We can wish they would make it that easy!

The c-clip that holds the shaft in the joint failed? Inner joint or outer? I'll be at about 3" between OB struts, kings and effective cross member spacing. So I'm looking for reliable axle options if it starts eating stock greens. I'm thinking I may add another 1/2-3/4" spacer for the front crossmember.

WRX is usually 4.11. The cars with the big tires, Outback and Forester, were the ones that got the 4.44. There were probably some JDM/ AUDM/ LADM models that had 4.44, but I don't know much about those.

You won't find a specific trans number that encompasses all manuals with a 4.44 ratio. 4.44s were only found in the US in Turbo cars. US model Outback and Forester XT around 04-07ish The push/pull clutch is non turbo vs turbo deal. Turbos generally have the pull clutch (WRX, STI, 05+LGT, OBXT, and FXT turbos will have pull clutches) Push clutches change actuation method around 98, from cable to hydraulic, but that is interchangable. Push clutches can be either/or just be swapping the release lever and moving the pivot stud to the proper mounting hole on the case. There are dual range units available from Australia or South America. 4.44 was an option in those but I think it was only paired with something like a 1.21:1 reduction. There are 4.11 units that had 1.59:1 low reduction, which provides a lower overall ratio. Some importers are now bringing these to the states with all the shift levers and cables needed for the swap. Search around the interwebz for "EJ dual range" and you can find more info on those.

You've checked injector pulse with a noid light? Spark with a spark tester? If the cam or crank sensors were an issue you would be missing injector pulse and/or spark. A common issue on the mid 90's cars is a cracked solder joint in the MAF sensor. That will be affected by temperature and vibration and will make the ECU lean the A/F mixuture. This failure typically displays itself as a random stall while the engine is running or while driving, but it can affect starting as well. Wiggling the wire harness to the MAF sensor can sometimes reproduce the problem. If the MAF is the issue, unplugging the sensor before starting should allow it to start on the first try. This problem doesn't always set DTCs, due to its intermittent nature.

Anybody actually run these yet? Seems like there was a lot of buzz about these. Other boards have similar threads, lots of people talking bout them but no posts about actual use. Seems the only retail option for these is advance auto and they don't have any in stock. Some have apparently bought them through Heri directly, but again, no updates on how they've held up.