Fairtax4me

Had something like this when I bought my car, but I had a CEL P0100 I think. Maf sensor had a broken solder joint that would wiggle around and break the circuit sometimes. If the ECU loses the MAF signal while the engine is running it will just cut the engine, a few seconds later it will come right back on if the car is still in gear and rolling. It would do this while driving, idling, warm, cold, didn't matter.

Might be worth looking in the starer solenoid at the contacts. They commonly go bad on the older soobs, and are easily replaceable. Did you check the connection for the ground cable on the engine? That one generally gets overlooked. The battery may be weak. And your legacy battery may not have enough oomph to turn the bigger higher compression 2.5 that's in the Forester. Check out the label on the battery and see if you can find how many cold cranking amps it is rated.

Most of the time when you put the axle nut back on, the punched portion ends up in a slightly different place than the groove in the axle stub anyway. It's the self locking nuts (the ones that look oval because they squeeze them) that you want to replace each time. Even though I usually don't on my cars. It was enough of a PITA for me to remove, I doubt it's gonna take itself off when I put it back on the same way I took it off with a breaker bar and standing on a 4 foot pipe.

Very simple. Put trans in neutral, remove all tools/screws/bits that can fall and get lost or lodged in a tire, push car. Like porcupine said, neutral on an auto trans is just like neutral in a manual, it'll free spin no problem. You could even put it in drive or reverse if you want. No line pressure (the pump isn't turning) means none of the clutches or bands will be engaged so no transfer of motion from the output shaft to the input shaft. And at that, if there is any, the torque converter won't transfer any movement of the input shaft to the flywheel anyway. Not at Fred Flintstone style propulsion speeds at least.

I just rebooted one of my outers. You can do the inners under the car if you can get the ball joint apart or loosen the strut bolts. Remove the top strut bolt and the knuckle rotates away giving you enough clearance to get the inner joint off of the drive stub. You may need a cv boot clamp tool to tighten the new clamps with. http://www.autozone.com/autozone/catalog/accessories/accProductDetails.jsp?itemIdentifier=555441_0_0_&skuDescription=OEM+/+CVClampTool&brandName=OEM&displayName=CVClampTool&skuDisplayName=OEM&categoryNValue=10199999&navValue=101228&categoryDisplayName=CVClampTool&parentId=01-10&itemId=1228-10&store=970&productId=555441 The one I just did had some other weird kind of clamp with it. I couldn't get it to work so I bent the old back one out and reused it.

Are the worn tires worn unevenly? What is the difference in tread depth between front and rear? I'd just rotate them and go with it. I don't think you'll do any major harm to the transfer unit if you rotate the tires now and leave them for a while so the less worn tires catch up to the more worn ones. If you had half tread on one end and brand new on the other then there might be reason for concern.

WAY more of a pita than it's worth man. Bigger tires are your easiest option. But I think the largest you can fit with stock struts is a 205 60 15 or something like that. But even then the difference in engine speed is only going to be a few hundred rpm.

Uneven wear on the pads means the caliper slides are seized or getting close to it. Did you remove the slide bolts and clean/lubricate them when changing the pads?

On any 2.5 use SUBARU head gaskets, installed 100% dry. No sealer or sprays of any kind whatsoever. If you use a sealer, you'll be changing the gaskets again in a month. After market gaskets are hit or miss, it might work great, or it might fail in 500 miles. But either way you go, the biggest factor in how long the gasket lasts will be how flat the heads are, how clean the sealing surfaces on the head and block are, and making absolute certain that you follow the proper torque procedure. For the water pump gasket. Use Indian Head shellac compound. Most parts stores carry this, its usually less than $5.

I know what you mean. I have developed a theory that if you leave one small thing broken on the car you can go for years without any other trouble. And when you finally fix that small thing, something major will go wrong. I've been bothered lately because the CEL that has been on in my car for the past 11 months has been out for 3 weeks... like it cured itself!

Oversteer vs understeer: http://www.miracerros.com/mustang/sway3.htm If you were to go with the a 23mm front bar, go track down at least a 20 mm rear bar to help balance it out. Adjustable bars are nice because you can change how "stiff" the bar is by changing which hole you mount the end link to. It just changes the leverage point on the bar. This gives you the ability to "tune" the feel of the car without having to buy multiple bars and change them when you want the car to handle a bit differently.

Holy hell that has to take the cake for record thread resurrection! Just over 7 years! Most forums don't keep threads that old.

ATF can be green, red, blue, yellow. Whatever color the manufacturer feels like making it really. It's just typically red. It was that way for easy identification. Same reason Antifreeze was typically Neon Green, but now there are blue, green, yellow, orange, pink, even some nearly clear antifreeze types. Power steering fluid is the same story. Engine oil, ever seen/used Royal purple? Point is, If your car had red ATF, and it mixed with gear oil, don't you think it would still be red? I mean, 2ish quarts of gear oil, vs 9-10 quarts of ATF? I would be concerned if the gear oil in the differential came out looking the same color as the ATF. Nope, it usually does if it's warm at all. It could also just be a property of the type of fluid. Synthetic fluids generally flow better, which makes them appear to be "thinner" than regular "conventional" fluids.

Engine side you just get a proper diameter and length grade 5 or better bolt and lock nut should do the trick. Rear side of the passenger strut tower. Little black rectangle with a flip up cap. It might not say anything on it. I've seen them with the paint gone because someone sprayed the engine bay down with some serious kind of degreaser or brake cleaner or something.

A 23mm bar without any rear upgrade is gonna kill whatever over-steer tendency the car might have now. Of course I'm the type that thinks under-steer is the worst condition you can possibly have.

That's called glaze. It's not a stain, it's burned metal from riding the clutch too much, or from slipping as the clutch wore out. Mine had a step. Something like .005, but it was there before, so I kept it.

O2 sensor sounds likely. If changing plug wires made it worse then you need to change back. Worse means they are no good. Also check for vacuum leaks. Fuel pressure was 63 psi at the rail? Should be around 40-42 IIRC. I'll have to check on that but 63 sounds way too high to me. Bad FPR, or the vacuum hose to the FPR is broken/split are possibilities as well.

Man those have come down since I last looked at them. I was hunting for wheels and tires for my truck or the Subaru but a nice scan tool for $135 and free shipping... Anyway [/Offtopic] Agreed, a scan tool might answer a few questions, or it might not. I always like to try the easy (cheaper) stuff first. For some reason there isn't a thread on how to clean the IAC valve in the USRM. Not that I could find at least. I know there are threads around here somewhere about how to do it, but my search skillz are "teh suk". :-\

There was a big thread about that on here a few months back... Just search for delayed and I'm sure it'll pop up. As for motors. 96 Outback with 5 speed has the last of the bullet proof EJ22s in it. If you want an automagic, a 2.2 swap is pretty easy if you can find a car with a dead 2.5. Pick the car up cheap, swap in the 2.2 for a few hundred bucks and away you go!

I guess nobody knows? I'm not much help, but... If you have bent struts, it's probably because the springs bottomed out before the shock absorber did. It would help to install a bump stop, but with this type of suspension the only place it will fit and do any good is on the top of the body of the shock, which means the top hat and spring have to come off to install it. If you have spring spacers I'd take those out, and install OB struts all around for the lift. I think I read you just have to drill a hole or three in the rear strut towers for the studs on the OB struts to fit. (Don't hold me to that though, I might be way off. )

#2 The FPR is easy to check. It's on the back end of hte passenger side fuel rail. Just pull the vacuum hose off and see if gas drips out. If none comes out, hold it up to your nose and sniff it for traces of fuel vapor. There might be a very faint fuel smell, which is usually nothing to worry about. If it smells like you're at the gas station, you might have a problem. If the hose breaks, it needed to be replaced anyway. Check it well for cracks and dry rot. #3 10 -15 minutes is that when it stops stalling? Or is that when it starts to occur? The ECU should be in open loop by that point which means O2 sensor output, among other things, will be factored into fuel control. (open loop or closed loop, one of those. I can't ever seem to keep that straight) :-\ #4 I would think if there is any vacuum being built in the crankcase it would show up more at the dipstick than the filler cap. But yes, do check at both. #5 Is that mileage city or highway (55+)? #7 I'm also a bit skeptical of the filter, but a quality filter is an inexpensive investment and they're supposed to be changed every couple years anyway. As for the IAC valve. Subarupartsforyou lists MSRP the valve P# 22650AA21B for manual trans car at $187. Add a few hours labor (which is ridiculous because it only takes 30 minutes to change), plus some shop costs, and I think you get pretty close to that $370 bill.

Hey, that's the kind of wild theory I usually come up with! There is also the possibility the valve in the FPR is partially clogged and is raising fuel pressure.

Any car with OBD2 (which means any Subaru Legacy MY 1995 or later) has to have at least two O2 sensors to monitor catalytic converter efficiency. It's a gumment mandate, so if yours is gone that means somebody got tired of having a CEL on all the time because of a P0420. They either gutted the cat, or just got tired of the CEL, and put in an O2 simulator. From what I have heard about the automatic belts (and this is pure hearsay, I haven't taken the time to look this up myself so it might be hogwash)... In order for any manufacturer to sell a vehicle with automatic seat belts on the US market, they had to warrant the mechanism for the entire life of the vehicle. It's a safety issue, and the late 80' early 90's were big years for the push of the use of seat belts. That's part of why the automatic belts became "popular", because it was a way to get people to wear them every single time they got in the car.

Here's another one I haven't seen. What has your fuel mileage been during the time this has been going on? Is it any different than it was before this started happening?

I didn't see this anywhere, has the fuel pressure been checked? Also has the vacuum line for the fuel pressure regulator been checked to see that it is clear of fuel? (a split diaphragm in the FPR will cause fuel to leak into the intake) Also the car tends to stall more when cold correct? Like in the first 1-3 minutes after starting? Or is it more like 10 - 15 minutes after starting that it does this?