Fairtax4me

Be glad you didn't buy a Saab. On the 9-3 the headlamp housing removed from the vehicle to replace the bulb. The front bumper has to be removed in order to remove the headlamp housing.

Works. People do it all the time. Search for Frankenmotor. You need special head gaskets from Cometic or have to make some holes in a set of 2.5 gaskets for the coolant ports in the 2.2 heads. This setup also requires premium fuel because of the compression jump.

Auto or manual?

I didn't say I was a good idea. A few psi (2-4) won't cause a significant difference in treadwear, especially if you're a "spirited" driver where you're driving style will cause more wear anyway. The shoulders of a slightly under inflated tire will wear more than usual but the center still wears too. A tire has to be grossly under inflated to have a major difference in treadwear from center to shoulder after 10k miles. But when you compare the cost of a set of tires to the cost of a center diff or clutch pack... Which one really costs more?

Unfortunately this is pretty common with aftermarket clutches. The flywheel isn't typically the cause but a non-flat flywheel can contribute. I've had good luck with Exedy clutch kits. Exedy/Daikin makes the original clutches for Subaru. Lots of people recommend them, and they're typically trouble free. Another consideration with the clutches on these cars has to do with the release bearing. The bearing rides on an aluminum quill on the transmission, which is prone to wear. When the quill wears it causes the bearing to twist a little sideways when it is pushing against the fingers of the pressure plate. This causes uneven engagement of the pressure plate with the clutch disc, and causes part of the pressure plate to heat up and get "grabby", and causes a shudder as the clutch disc grabs and slips between the pressure plate and flywheel. If the release bearing is a loose fit on the quill on the transmission, there are sleeve kits available that are slid over the quill, and a slightly larger diameter release bearing is used to fit over the sleeve. This prevents the bearing from twisting, and helps maintain even engagement of the pressure plate surface. I would recommend getting the flywheel machined at this point. Once shuddering starts happening, it will wear the flywheel unevenly and possibly cause the same problem with another new clutch.

A brand new tire (more tread) will have a larger diameter, and will spin slower (fewer revolutions per mile) than a worn tire. A worn tire (less tread) will have a smaller diameter, and will spin faster (more revolutions per mile). Under-inflating decreases the diameter of the tire. Over-inflating increases diameter. By decreasing the diameter of the new tire, it will spin faster (more revolutions per mile) and will be closer in rpm to the worn tire. Put the new tires on the front where they're going to wear the fastest, under-inflate by 3-4psi. Old tires on the back, over-inflated slightly, 2-3psi. The difference in rotational speed isn't quite as far off as it would be with them properly inflated, and the tread will wear a bit faster. After 8-10,000 miles they should be about even. Disclaimer: I do NOT :wink: :wink: recommend that anyone actually try this.

Buy two, stick them on the front, run the rears a bit over inflated and the fronts a bit under inflated for a few 10 thousand miles. I did that on my 96 (don't tell anyone) and it turned out Ok, but its a manual trans and less susceptible to wear from doing something stupid like that. Or you could put it in FWD and do a couple good burnouts and wear some tread off.

Does the H6 use the same goofy pump assembly as the 4 banger? That would be a possibility, but I would also expect hard starting if it were causing a misfire issue. Spark plugs could be ancient. I would at least pull one out and check its condition. Even platinum/iridium plugs will have wear on them if they're 157k miles old. If they're not that old, make sure they're the correct recommended spark plug. Usually the plug type will be in the owners manual in the maintenance section.

How bad did it blow out? Did it cut the sidewall or just put a hole in the tread? If you didn't drive far after the tire deflated there may be a chance the tire can be saved IF the puncture was in the center of the tire.

How many miles? How old are the spark plugs?

Loose connection would be my first guess. The trans electrical plugs are difficult to push together and may not have "clicked", and have worked loose. Is the trans pan dented at all? The pans on these are flimsy and there is wiring between the pan and valve body that can be damaged easily if a jack was placed under the pan to lift the trans up to install it.

That trans has the 8 bolt bell-housing, so no it will not work. They changed the valve body and some electronics inside the trans when they changed the bellhousing. It will bolt into the car, but you won't be able to plug it in. I also think there would be some evidence of damage (metal flakes/chunks) if the front diff was making the noise.

I've always been disappointed with the rear defoggers on my Legacys. They just don't seem to get very warm. Mine are sedans and a royal pain to get to the tabs, (have to pull out the rear seat and pull the side trim off) so I haven't messed with any wiring upgrades, especially since the only time I get mad enough to want to mess with them is when its cold out! I've also had the tabs repeatedly break off in both my GFs and my 95s. Last time mine did it I soldered the tab to the braided wire strip that's on the glass, and that seems to be holding, but I'm kind of afraid to mess with it anymore. If you check voltage on all of the grid lines near the middle of the window that will tell you which ones work and which don't. In the middle of the window you should get somewhere around 6-7v. If any are still at 12v, or at 0v, there is a break in that grid line.

I put a fuel pump in a chevy truck a few weeks ago. Had a really rough cold start. If you turned the key 3-4 times to On before starting it would start then run rough for a while and occasionally stall until it warmed up. The truck would start fine once it was warm, drove fine once warm. Put a fuel pressure guage on it and it was only getting about 8-10 psi. Apples to oranges here, but the point is the pump can sometimes make enough pressure to keep the engine happy once its warm, but not supply enough to meet the fuel demand when the engine is cold. Or the pressure may be just low enough that the fuel doesn't vaporize correctly when it sprays out of the injectors. Knowing that the 00-04 cars have a common issue with the fuel pump, I would at least pull the pump and inspect the cap for cracking, or the o-ring pushing out.

If the check engine light has been on and flashing, there will be codes stored in the ECU. Take the car to an auto parts store and ask to have the codes scanned. That will help narrow down possible causes. Once the engine is warm does it continue to run rough? Does the CEL still flash after the engine is warm? Or does it only do that when the engine is cold? Most often a cold engine misfire will be a fuel problem. Dirty injectors or low fuel pressure, or something like a bad temp sensor making the fuel mixture too lean. If the misfire is continuing once the engine is warm, that is more likely to be a spark related issue. Get the codes scanned and post the "P0xxx" code numbers here and we can get a better idea of what's going on.

That does sort of sound like a misfire. Partial misfires often occur during warm-up, and because of changing idle speed and load condition the ECU may not always set a code for a misfire during the warm-up period. Since it happens when very cold I would lean towards a fuel issue. Perhaps a dirty injector or lower than normal fuel pressure. Especially since you have new plugs and wires on it. Have you had to replace the cap on the fuel pump yet?

Sounds like you've ruled out a bad connection. No point adjusting it since it still won't act right. I wouldn't pay for a brand new one knowing that these are not a common failure item. But, to me, a TPS is such a simple change that its something I don't mind repeating. For others it may be worth the price of a new sensor for peace of mind. The computer will still power certain sensors even with the key out of the ignition. Sometimes for up to a hour. The ECU monitors coolant temperature, and if the temperature rises after turning off the engine (due to heat soak) it will turn the cooling fans on to help bring the temperature down. Most of the sensors use the same 5V reference supply circuits, so if one sensor is still powered, most if not all of the others will still have power going to them as well. The buzzing sound is probably coming from the idle air control valve. The valve changes position every time the throttle plate moves. The buzz is the small electric motor in the valve moving the valve back and forth.

Uhh... If it doesn't look Ike yours its probably not the right one. Speed sensor is toward the front of the trans on the right side (passenger) near the dipstick for the front diff. Sometimes on a junkyard trans the speed sensors are broken off and you have to remove the broken portion from the hole in the case and put your old sensor in it. I'm also kind of wondering about the "diff and trans" part. The differential case housing is part of the trans and isn't normally removed. Can you post a pic of what you bought?

In a properly workig circuit there should be 0 voltage on the ground side, usually you'll see less than 0.1v, but not totally 0. Voltage is electrical pressure. That pressure will be present in the circuit up to the point of the load or resistance. As voltage passes through the load (in this case the grid) it drops (decreases). When it gets to the other side of the load, there is no more resistance and the voltage runs out to the ground freely, so you'll see close to 0 volts on the meter. Defog grids are nice because you can watch the voltage drop across the grid by checking in several places. The principle is the same for a light bulb, but you can't check voltage in the middle of a light bulb filament. If you probe the supply side of the grid you should see supply /system voltage or close to it. On the ground side of the grid you should see close to 0 volts. If you have high voltage on the ground side, it's because there is resistance in the ground circuit and that voltage is not able to flow out to ground. The electrical pressure is still being held in the circuit. If you have 0 volts (or close to it) on the ground side, either the voltage is not making it there, or the ground is good and that voltage is flowing out of the circuit the way it's supposed to. The way you can check that is by wrapping a strip of foil around the probe, then you can slide the foil across the grid lines on the window. Normally you should see a steady drop in voltage as you slide across. If the voltage stays steady , then suddenly drops to 0 after a certain point, there is a break in that grid line where the voltage dropped out. Do this check on each grid line to determine if any or possibly all of them are broken. If you determine the ground is bad, you can just run a new ground wire to an easy spot on the body. Do not ground directly to the hatch, unless you then also run a wire from the hatch to the main body.

ABS had a common problem in the early 90s. You can try swapping the relay under the small black cover on the unit. If that doesn't fix it just leave it unplugged or leave the relay out. Unless you need to pass safety inspection, then you'll want to put a used ABS unit in and hope for the best. Warm start problem sounds like a dead ECT sensor. Common and fairly cheap and easy to replace. Behind below the intake manifold on the passenger side where the wiring runs under the manifold there are two sensors sticking out of the coolant crossover pipe on top of the block. The one with the redish/brown plug is the sensor for the ECU and helps it determine fuel ratio. When it goes bad the ECU thinks the engine is always cold, and it floods the engine with fuel. Opening the throttle allows extra air in and leans out the mixture in the cylinders enough to start, then once it starts it may be a bit rough for a few seconds then run OK.

It may only go as high as 4.2ish. The more important thing is the starting voltage, which is higher than normal. You might just make sure the throttle valve is able to close all the way. Check inside the throttle body with the valve open and clean any carbon crud out of the bore and off of the valve with some throttle body cleaner and a rag. I've seen heavily carboned throttle bodies not allow the valve to fully close, and that will throw off the TPS reading at closed throttle. The blank in the middle is a problem, assuming you have a solid connection. Did you try wiggling the probe when it went blank to make sure it wasn't just loose? Honestly these TPS sensors don't fail often. A used one should be fine. Does the one on the car say Beck Arnley on the sensor? It should be either Nippon or Denso, IIRC. Possibly Hitachi. If it says B/A on the sensor that is a replacement, and that is probably why it's a problem.

It's not loaded in that position. None of of the valves on that head are open, so no valve spring force pushing back against the rockers. On the divers side there is a set of valves open and the roller on the rocker sitting dead center on cam lobe, so turning the cam slightly either direction causes the rocker to roll off of the lobe, it yanks the cam over and the valve closes. If you were to spin the drivers cam 180° Off its timing mark, it will have the same loose feeling as the passenger side. Subaru makes one of the few engines where you can completely close ALL of the valves at the same time.

Yes, there is a tab on each side. One side the supply wire hooks to the tab. The other side a ground wire hooks to it. Touch the probe to the wide areas at the ends of the rows for basic voltage check. Be sure to ground the meter to body ground, not the hatch. Typically the ground wire for the grid is short (maybe 8-10" length) and will have a screw securing it directly to the body. On the hatch there may be a longer ground wire or there should be another ground wire going from the hatch to the body. Its also possible the tab could have broken off of the window. I've had that happen on two of these cars. Both sedans, which makes them a royal pain to fix.

Does it make the noise when the car is sitting still, or only when it is moving?

The tick of death was an occurance on the 80's and early 90's models. Piston slap is a deeper tone, more of a muffled knock. Ticking is usually valve train related. Possibly the valve lash clearance needs to be adjusted, but that doesn't typically get better or go away when the engine is warm. When was the last oil change? What kind of oil was used? The rattly sound you describe is probably heat shields on the exhaust pipes. They make a hell of a racket when they get loose, but they don't hurt anything.