Fairtax4me

Be glad it broke in your driveway. Imagine the grief you'd catch if your wife was at the grocery store with it when it broke...

265/70/15 is just about a 30" tire. That's quite a bit larger than stock size even for an Outback. If you do a manual trans you'll want a 4.44 final drive, otherwise you'll be smokin the clutch trying to get moving on steep hills.

Are you planning to offroad this thing? And how big do you want the Tires?

Does it feel shaky like a misfire? How old are the plugs? Knock sensor can cause hesitation and is a common failure. If the housing is cracked replace it.

Go to the custom live data menu and uncheck everything except spark advance and see if it reads correctly after that. MAF appears to be in the correct range. MAF flow is the primary determiner for load calculation and the load calculation is used to determine how much fuel is needed, which is why its a big deal. If the MAF signal is out of range it will create a fuel mixture problem which will affect power. Check the MAF signal again (same as with the spark advance, uncheck everything else in live data menu) and just make sure the MAF signal isn't dropping too low. Check at warm idle and at 2,500 rpm.

Fuel trims will vary. You generally want these to be around 0, but +/- 10% is typically ok. The fuel trim calculation is percentage of fuel the computer is adding or removing from the learned base value or adaptation in order to maintain the proper AF ratio. It is NOT a rich or lean reading. Long term trim will be a slow change. This amount is based on an average of short term trims over a period of 30 seconds to a minute. Typically increases or decreases only 2-3% at a time. Short term trim is based on right now how much fuel is needed. This can tend to swing + to -, depending on a trend in O2 sensor readings over the course of a few seconds. If the average of O2 readings is lean the ECU will increase fuel (+ STFT). If average O2 readings are rich it will decrease fuel (- STFT). O2 sensor readings tell you if the exhaust has lots of oxygen (low voltage) or very little oxygen (high voltage). Low voltage indicates a lean AF ratio. High voltage indicates a rich AF ratio. The trick comes in trying to determine if one sensor is lieing and sending a false signal.

OL- drive is kind of like a default Open loop setting used usually for wide open throttle or hard acceleration. If the fuel system switches to OL drive while at idle, that's an indicator of a sensor reading thats out of range but not enough to set a code right away. MAF should not be 0 when the engine is running, but thats usually just a delay in the transfer of the initial data. Same with the TPS and ignition timing advance. Timing advance should be something like 10-12 at idle but it depends on calculated load. TPS should sit constant when the throttle is closed. Preferably right at 0.5v. ( Scanners typically show TPS as a percentage from 0-100%. This may be changeable on some scanners.) MAF is something to keep an eye on though, because that may indicate the MAF sensor is sending erratic signals. B1 S2 is O2 sensor bank 1 sensor 2, which in this case is the rear sensor. This sensor doesn't affect fuel trim so the STFT reading will be 0. Some scanners will also display N/A for that parameter. MAP Manifold Absolute Pressure. Absolute pressure is just that, absolute pressure. Some scanners display the MAP reading in vacuum, (again, may be changeable) most just show the absolute pressure, which is any amount of pressure above perfect vacuum (0 pressure). Typically this will be very close to atmospheric pressure minus engine vacuum. ( 29 - 19= 10"Hg)

How about year and model?

Kinda sounds like worn out struts. Time to jack it up and take all the wheels off and carefully inspect all of the suspension parts.

Problem is probably the cable. If the end broke there is probably rust inside the sheath why will make it difficult to move. Have you removed the cable end from the trans and moved the cable by hand? Have you moved the selector lever by hand?

Cable adjustment is pretty straightforward. Pop the cable off of the lever on the trans. Move the lever all the way through the range and firmly back to the park position. Inside move the selector through the range then firmly back to park to make sure it goes all the way easily. The cable has 2 adjusting nuts on the end that attaches to the shift lever where it comes through the floor. Loosen both of those and thread them to each end of the threaded rod on. Attach the cable eyelet to the lever on the trans. Now turn the adjusting nuts until they both touch the little dohickie on the end of the selector lever and tighten snugly. If the nut that was loose is the one that holds the lever on the side of the trans, the flats on the lever or on the shift shaft may be worn. If that's the case no amount of cable adjustment will cure that. Remove the lever and make sure the flats aren't rounded out. If they're worn, replace the lever. Hopefully the selector shaft isn't worn as well, because that's a lot more work to replace.

Afaik the speedometer is electronic on that one. No cable. Good deal for $450. Fix 'r up and ride!

The o-ring between the ps pump and reservoir does go bad. Easy change, only takes a few minutes, but if the pump was run empty you may be better off to replace it. Agreed on the timing idlers. Hard to tell exactly what it is but if they haven't been replaced they need to be. I've noticed that even with brand new idlers these tend to whine a bit, so some noise will be normal. Also be sure to check the AC belt idler. It has a replaceable 6203 bearing that fails fairly often. Can get the bearing at Napa for under $10.

Sounds like a decent car. Price would be a little high in my area, but I know Soobs hold their value pretty well in the unsalted states. I hardly see 1st gen Legacys here anymore. Loyales are a rare sight. Anything from the 80s is non-existent here. The rust takes them.

Check the motor mount nuts. One of the mounts will be loaded more than the other when in reverse so it will tend to lift away from the frame and could cause a clunk. I put 2-1/4" exhaust clamps on my heat shields to get rid of the rattles. Works great and no way they're gonna fall off or break.

Your belt may have a hard spot. Try replacing that first. Also could be the harmonic balancer separating and it only squeaks when trying to drive the compressor. Draw a line across the sections of the pulley to see if the outer section is slipping.

Valve flutter? Not gonna happen on these. Timing is jumped or the pressure control solenoids or the oil ports for the AVCS are plugged up and the camshaft actuators can't adjust properly. Pull the timing covers and double check timing.

What do you mean by backlash noise? Is it a chatter? Whirr? Groan or grumble? High pitch, low pitch, changing pitch? Does it change based on engine speed or wheel speed?

Vacuum gauges can be used for fuel pressure testing on old cars with carburetors. The guage probably only goes to 15-20 psi. Typical fuel pressure for a carbureted engine is 5-10 psi. Your car runs about 35-45 psi depending on engine load. Far too high for that style of guage to handle.

Charge you for a diagnostic?! Thats BS, it's still under warranty! Which dealer do you take it to? Take it to a different dealer and tell them its making a clunking noise on rough roads. Regardless of tires, clunking usually means something is loose.

General way to check for binding is to find a parking lot and make tight circles with the wheel at full lock. If the car does it under its own power, probably not binding. If it stalls and/or needs throttle input in order to keep it rolling, that's binding and the general source of that will be the center diff. The 99s have some issues with the center diffs. Removal is pretty straight-forward. Pull the tail housing off the trans and the center diff just slides out. The only really tricky part is the transfer gear shaft has to slide out with it at the same time, and has to be slid back in at the same time.

Dammit maing! Now we'll never know what it was! Just kidding, glad to hear you're Ok! Kinda sounds like the car might be fixable. Just ask the insurance about keeping it for salvage. They take off a certain amount based on what the car is worth as scrap and give you a check for the difference in value, then you get to keep the car. Depending on your state laws there may be some hoops to jump through to get it road legal but those are usually not too big of a deal for a 20 year old car.

Do you have an android phone? If so, Look into the Torque App. The App is free, you just need a Bluetooth OBD2 adapter. Like $15 on eBay. There are also plenty of inexpensive code readers out there. Very useful if you're stuck in the driveway and can't get to a a parts store to has them read the code. And after a few uses they usually pay for themselves in fuel savings.

Avoid Armor-all like its the plague. I try to avoid using anything shiny because it reflects off the glass when the sun hits just right. One of the better products I've used in the past is Lexol Vinyl/leather treatment. It doesn't leave the greasy feeling shiny stuff.

If the downstream has 4 wires then the replacement has to be a 4 wire sensor. No easy way around it. Take it back and exchange it for the correct sensor. Some of these have a 4 wire plug for the rear sensor, but only three wires in the plug. Check the sensor harness carefully because there may be 4 wires in the extension harness that runs alongside the trans, but only 3 wires on the actual sensor.