Fairtax4me

1 check the battery terminals, are they clean and tight? If they're covered in blue/green crud they need to be cleaned thoroughly before doing anything else. 2. Have the battey and the charging system tested. Light bulbs burn out if you have an overcharge condition. Overcharging can be caused by a failing battery. It sounds like the battery is now completely dead, which is why it won't restart. Running the engine with a dead battery is not good for the electrical system, and it will overheat and damage the alternator. Most parts stores can check the charging system for you. If there is parts store nearby (within 10 minutes) jump start the car and drive it there and get it tested. Be prepared to buy a new battery at the very least. Clicking when pressing the brake pedal is just the shifter interlock in the console.

When the main bearing goes bad the shaft starts wobbling around and just beats on the outer race of the bearing. Yours was still in good shape if it wasn't popping out of gear yet. If there are no score marks on the thrust plate (the big half moon that sits a the back of the main case) to ahead and get a new bearing and press it on. If any of the teeth on the gears are rough looking then you're better off to just get a used trans. Gears don't last too long after they get chewed up.

Is it the 2.2 engine? A stuck open valve could be caused by blocked or partially blocked bleed holes for the hydraulic lifters. Marvels mystery oil can help with that. The lifter pumps up too much, and the valve hangs open until the oil bleeds out of the lifter. Takes 20-30 seconds for the oil to slowly bleed back out, the valve can then close and compression returns.

Rods are assembled to the crank before its placed between the block halves. Pull the pistons out by pulling the wrist pins through access holes in the block. Very doubtful you'll have to pull the pistons. These valves are tiny and don't offer much resistance when impacted. IF they cause any damage to the piston, its very minor surface damage.

This is bad! It floods the evaporative emissions canister with liquid fuel and damages the structure of the carbon in the canister. When the ECU commands the purge of the canister it will then pull liquid fuel into the engine at an uncontrolled rate, causing a highly rich AF mixture. This will foul spark plugs, and damage the catalytic converters when loads of fuel that are not burned properly are exhausted from the engine. There is a warning sticker inside the gas door that says "Do not top off", and you should pay attention to and follow what that sticker says, because it will cost you thousands of $$$$ to fix the problems caused by repeatedly topping off the tank. No more top-offs, first and foremost. Next, as said before, run it by an auto parts store and ask them to scan it for codes. Write down the P0XXX code and post it here and we can offer more help.

I would spend 3,000 on a fixer, 1,500 fixing it, keep the rest for future maintenance... or upgrades to help overshadow that inadequacy... If you want to sleep in the back you'll want a Legacy Outback. The Impreza Outback Sport and Forester have a shorter cargo area (pun?) and will be uncomfortable to sleep in, even for people of short stature. Any 2.5 (1996 to 2011) will have head gasket issues at some point, though the 99 and newer have fewer issues, and mostly suffer from small, manageable, external leaks. With a conservative 10k budget, try for the 8,000 range purchase price and you'll have 2,000 for repairs if it needs any. (Head gaskets, timing belt, suspension/brakes, exhaust, etc.) 8k should put you in the mid 2000s. 03-08ish depending on mileage, condition, trim level, etc.

Interference. Valve damage is likely but not a guarantee, piston damage is practically unheard of. Fix whichever idler locked up and ate the belt, hang a new belt on it and see if it starts and runs OK. Worst case, you have to pull the heads and put some new valves in. Not terribly expensive if you can do the work yourself.

Is it a press on sleeve or one of the ones with a set screw on the side?

Broken or skipped timing belt possible. If the cam and crank sensor signals are out of sync you'll get a code for the cam sensor.

I'm not too familiar with these, but generally the fittings are different sizes on the different sides, so you don't mix up the feed and drain lines. Does the bolt thread into the other side?

IIRC that last connection should be just below the steering column. The power wiring for the control half of the fog lamp relay ties into the wiring for the high/lo dimmer switch under the column, so when you select the high beams it deactivates the fog lamp relay and the fog lamps turn off. If you'd like to leave the fog lamps on when the high beams are on (illegal in some states) you can simply ground that wire.

Double post

You can check resistance of the sensor. I don't know the spec off-hand but it should be roughly the same as the crank sensor. You can also check it for a low AC voltage signal while cranking.

That should buff out fine except for the one you have the arrow pointed to. If you run your finger nail across that one do you feel your nail catch on it? If your nail catches on it, it is probably too deep to buff out, though a skilled detailer can make that "disappear". I used to detail for a living and would cover up scratches worse than that on a regular basis.

Cam sensor could cause that, but you'll get a code for it. You might want to pull the timing covers and verify that the timing belt hasn't jumped.

The "driven" wheel or what we think of as the driven wheel because of its tendancy to spin, is the wheel with the Least weight on it. Torque twist of the engine and drivetrain, as well as the weight of the driver on the left side of the vehicle will generally cause the right side to spin more easily. When you start talking mismatched tires, now you get into traction differences between the tires, and the amount of torque applied to the traction surface of the tire, which will change depending on the size of the tire. A smaller tire will have greater torque applied at the point of contact with the road. If the smaller tire is on the left side, whether that tire spins first will depend on its friction coefficient and the weight applied to it, vs the same two factors on the other side. If the smaller tire is on the right, its pretty much guaranteed to spin first. Mismatching tire sizes isn't a good idea if you can avoid it. Forcing the differential to have to spin faster on one side all the time causes accelerated wear of the spider and side gears in the differential, as well as the center post that the spider gears ride on. Just because it can work that way doesn't mean it's designed to do that ALL the time.

Does this one have the filler neck with the two small hoses that run up the side? If those two hoses get switched it will set codes.

Remove the belts one at a time and see which one makes the noise disappear. The tensioner on the AC belt has a small bearing that fails fairly often.

All weather tires will work in snow, but they're far from ideal. The difference between an all season and a true snow tire is HUGE when you actually compare the two in snow. Even with snow tires, a set of chains is a good idea to have on hand in case you get into something really slick.

With the parking light switch on the lights will stay on regardless. That much works, which is good. That narrows it down to either a bad tail lamp and illumination relay, ( in the dash fuse panel) or possibly a bad contact in the park lamp switch. Even when the park lamp switch is off, current for the marker lamps still runs through a set of contacts in the switch. Check the relay first. Download a copy of the service manual for the 99 legacy here so you can have the wire diagrams: http://www.main.experiencetherave.com/subaru_manual_scans/ Parking lamps are covered under Lighting system (clearance light and illumination light)

Mizumo used to include shorter bolts with their kits, I guess they don't anymore. Washer under the head of the bolt will be fine.

It's the charcoal canister for the evap system. Is there a metal bracket sticking straight up about 2-3" bolted to the frame just below the radiator hose? If no, look under the right rear corner of the car behind the bumper for a black rectangular box, which is the other of two styles of evap canister. If it has the box at the back, the engine has been swapped.

Ground runs back in the harness and splices into the main ground for the ECU, which is grounded to the intake manifold. There should be two groups of ground wires beside each other up top of the manifold.

For the parking lights, assuming all fuses are good, check to see of the parking lamp switch on top of the column works. If not, that switch could be unplugged. Power for all of the parking lights runs through that switch even when its in the "off" position. For the dash lights, Illumination module is probably cooked. Also assuming all fuses are good.

Quite a while indeed. I can think of at least a few posts on this board concerning stolen soobs in the Portland area.