Fairtax4me

No they don't. Checked the FSM and the radio and interior lighting (room lights) share power from fuse 25 in the underhood fuse panel. Does it have an aftermarket radio or the factory radio?

Head gaskets weren't a major problem on the 2.2 but occasionally they do fail. More than likely you'll never have to deal wih them. But if they do fail, they're usually manageable. I have a 95 with over 260k on it that has been showing signs of a bad head gasket for the past 35k miles. I have to add about 1/2 qt of coolant to it every oil change. There are a handful of common oil leaks that may need to be addressed. Separator plate, cam plug o-rings, and the front cam and crank seals. You should also plan on doing the timing belt ASAP, even if he has receipts for it. Most of the time the idler bearings don't get replaced and those are what fail. You also need to remove the oil pump and check the screws that hold the backing plate on the pump. They can work loose and cause oil pressure to bleed off.

The first post in this thread, 5th picture, shows the shift rail forks. They should all be in line in their center positions.

Yeah I've done it about a dozen times. You just gotta pull the engine out and replace the separator plate. Easy! It actually may not be that, there are some other common leaks on those engines. Valve cover gaskets, and the cam plug on the back of the passenger side head are big leaks.

On a 2005 you'll have the big plastic pump assembly that I don't think you can replace just the pump. Maybe someone has done it, but I'm not sure if the walbro would fit in that one. Hey Rob, the old pump had the typical brownish/tan fuel varnish all over it. Nothing out of the ordinary. I usually fill at the Kangaroo station down the street from the house, or the BP at Zion if I'm leaving work and need gas. Can't say I've noticed much difference between the two.

That's not a sub-frame that is THE frame. Sub-frame is front or rear crossmember or some structural part that bolts on. Swap shouldn't be terribly difficult since you have the whole car. Dash isnt terribly difficult to remove if you have to, just time consuming.

You can use a 90-94 but they're OBD1 so you need a 95+ intake manifold and wiring harness. Also none of the 90-94 have EGR so if you need EGR that's something to consider.

On auto trans there is an interlock relay for the security system, but I don't remember if there is another one. The Nuetral switch is on the side of the transmission and is kind of tricky to access. If you suspect that, try starting with the shifter in neutral, or turn the key to start and wiggle the shifter back and forth some. Since you have a contact at the ignition switch that is dropping near 0v when the key is turned to start position, it would help to know which color wire is connected to that contact.

Yes its a ground. No it's not a safety risk. The engine still has the main ground wire from the starter bracket to the battery, which should more than cover all of its grounding needs. That small one is likely for any interference or static buildup that may occur on the intake manifold. Look on the top of the strut tower on that side and you should find a few more ground wires. If that one will reach there, that's probably where it should be bolted down. The hole in the firewall near that wire is painted, so its unlikely there was anything bolted to that spot in the past.

I'll agree on the General Altimax. I've put those on a few of the vans we use at work and they are good quality tires. They do well in the rain and have good wear ratings. I generally like any tire made by BFGoodrich, but I've used their Advantage T/a tires in the past and have not liked them. They tend to last quite a while, but the rain performance drops immensely after about the first 10k miles. Even in light rain they can hydroplane. In heavy rain they're borderline dangerous. Not something that you would expect from a tire that still has more than 3/4 tread left on it.

Ethanol is really kind of horrible for the fuel system. It corrodes parts and causes all sorts of running problems. It has much lower heat capacity than straight gasoline, so we get less power production from ethanol gas than from straight gas. That means higher fuel consumption due to lower efficiency. It's especially bad if you leave it in the tank for long periods. If you run through a tank in a week or two and fill up again with fresh gas it's not going to cause too much of an issue. But the same gas in the tank for a month or more will start to cause problems. Alcohol absorbs water. It acts like a conduit if you will, between gasoline and water and allows the two to mix. Products like Heet, Dri-gas, etc., are all alcohol based because alcohol mixes with and absorbs water. So if there is water in the fuel it gets mixed in with the fuel which allows it to burn. Ethanol works in much the same manner, absorbing water and allowing it to burn with the fuel. But ethanol tends to be about 10% of the fuel we get these days. Which means the fuel can absorb and hold a LOT of water. Here's an experiment you can do to see how much water is in your ethanol gas. Take a large test tube or graduated cylinder and fill it with 100ml of ethanol gas. Add 10ml of water, cap the cylinder and shake it for about 30 seconds. You'll have to carefully vent some pressure from the cylinder every few seconds because gasoline is volatile and shaking it will cause it to evaporate and pressurize the cylinder. After 30 seconds, put the cylinder down and let it settle for a few minutes. Water will settle to the bottom of the cylinder and how much depends on the water content already in the fuel. The extra 10ml of water will saturate the ethanol and any water that it had absorbed will separate and drop out. Let say you now have 17ml of water in the bottom of the cylinder, that means 7% of that fuel was water. Now how does that relate to the fuel in your cars gas tank? When a car sits the repeated heating and cooling of the atmosphere can cause moisture to condense inside the fuel tank. That moisture will tend to get absorbed by the ethanol in the gas, but only up to a certain amount depending on the ethanol content. Once it exceeds that, you start getting the same kind of drop-out as what happens in the test tube cylinder. I've replaced quite a few fuel pumps that had clear water lines on them where the water in the bottom of the tank had caused the pump to corrode and eventually caused it to fail. That's generally in vehicles that have been sitting for several months, or in the worst cases over a year. If your car sits for long periods without use, add an ethanol stabilizer treatment to the fuel before filling up to help prevent the problems that ethanol causes. As to the cause of your bucking issue. Kinda sounds like a misfire. Most of the time a part the throttle misfire will be caused by worn spark plugs. How old are the plugs and wires?

Looks fine to me. P0170 is more likely to be caused by a vacuum leak or bad O2 sensor.

Does the release fork have a return spring on it? Or does it have the hill holder? If the release bearing is resting against the pressure plate it can squeak as it spins. The hill holder spring pulls the release fork forward slightly which pulls the bearing away from the pressure plate.

I think I would just try to run new hoses from the pump. There isn't really anything on top of the tank to mess up the hoses. Use high quality stuff, Napa. That 50 psi hose from most parts stores isn't worth a hoot.

It will have to come from a 96-99 Outback Legacy. If you just need one section, The Rear section can be used from any Legacy model 95-99. The front section is what the center carrier bearing is attached to, so it must come from an outback due to the difference in the mount bracket on the carrier. The front section is also different length depending on if its from an auto or manual trans, so the donor shaft has to come from the trans matching yours.

Usually if the hose is really twisty I just pinch it wih my fingers and work down from the box to the firewall and that squeezes the crud out and the water left in the box flushes it out as it drains.

Before you go getting a short block you should pull the cams out and check the cam bearing journals. The cams ride directly in the cylinder head, no replaceable bearing, so if the cams get starved for oil the journals get scored and the heads are useless after that.

With RTV I always just torque them right away. Torquing after it cures can warp the pan flange.

I wait at least an hour for the RTV to set before putting fluid in. When things are busy and I have other work that needs to be on the lift I fill it right away and take it for a drive to get it warmed up. Haven't really had any problems doing it that way. Biggest thing it to make sure the sealing surface is 100% clean and dry before putting the pan on. If there's any oil on the surface at all it won't seal no matter how long you wait.

Don't use a gasket, that will warp the pan and will cause a leak. Get permatex auto trans pan sealer. I'd be willing to bet the pan wasnt leaking to begin with. Usually it's the cooler hoses or the external filter.

Drain tube for the AC is blocked. Could be some crud in the end of the tube or some crud inside the evaporator box blocking the drain. The tube sticks out of the firewall down below where the AC hoses go in. Sometimes the tube comes loose inside the car, not sure how it's done on the 05s, but normally it's pretty easy to find inside after you pull the carpet back.

Sorry for the bad luck. She's just been running low on pressure for too long. Easiest/cheapest probably to pop a used engine in it. Rebuilding isn't entirely difficult but will be time consuming.

Expansion valve is on the evaporator core and you have to remove the core from the HVAC box to get to it. You have to remove the entire dash board in order to remove the HVAC box from the car. Expansion valves on these almost never fail, so unless you're sure there's a problem with it, it's not worth trying to replace it.

A 2-3 mpg drop is normal with the AC running. An AC compressor can take as much as 20 horsepower to run, so you will notice a difference in power, and fuel mileage. You should not have any smell of fuel with the compressor running. A fuel smell means there is a leak of some sort. It could be a vapor leak from some part of the evaporative emission system. Or it could be a liquid leak from the fuel supply or return hoses that run from the fuel pump to the engine. After you've had the car running a while and notice the smell, see if you can track down where the smell is coming from on the car (front, back, left, right,). Look for any wet patches under the car. A fuel leak doesn't always leak enough to leave a puddle so you may not find anything wet on the ground. Its common for the filler tubes to rust out at the bottom and cause a fuel smell. Theres a plastic cover on the tube that catches dirt and water and salt and traps it against the filler tube and causes it to rust. A small pin-hole is all it takes to produce a very strong fuel smell. Remove the cover from the filler tube and check that first.

The hard part is getting room to knock the old bushing sleeves out. They're tucked up in there with the spare tire well in the way. The outrigger bushings are easy enough once it's removed from the car, assuming you have a press. Its a bit harder to remove the rear crossmember though.