Fairtax4me

Most of the time, the hatch wiring gets broke somewhere near the flex boot where the hinges are. Not always within the boot, it could be a few inches either side. It could also be due to a shorted socket. That is harder to determine because you have several sockets wired in parallel. Disconnect the hatch wiring from the body wiring. Remove and unplug all of the brake lamp bulbs. Then check each wire for the brake lights in the hatch for continuity to the hatch itself. (scrape some paint off one of the bolt heads to get a clean spot if you need to). If you get continuity to the hatch, its a short to the hatch. If the wires only show continuity to each other, then they're either shorted to each other, or one of the sockets is shorted. Some sockets have connectors and the socket itself can be unplugged from the harness. If they do, unplug them one at a time and test each socket individually. Sometimes you can pop the sockets open and pull the pins out, but usually not. If they don't have connectors on them, and no way to pull the pins out, the easiest way to check them is to clip one wire at each socket, and test just that socket for continuity. After testing the sockets, if you don't find one offending, retest your harness wires for continuity to each other, and you'll likely find the harness is damaged somewhere. Again here, damage to the harness is usually somewhere near where the harness flexes. If the harness is excessively difficult to remove, there's always the option to run new wires from the harness connector to the sockets.

Which idler? The smooth one or the toothed one? The toothed one bolts to the water pump so you can just replace the pump. The smooth one, heli-coil it. Depending on the length of the inserts, you may need to install two inserts so you have plenty of thread engaged in the aluminum to prevent the insert from pulling out of the block.

Fan is grounded through the fan speed switch. Could be a bad fan speed switch, or a dead resistor block. Resistor is stuck in the side of the air box behind the glove box. Unplug it and turn on the key, see which wire you have 12v on, then jumper that wire to any of the other wires in the plug. Move the fan speed switch to each position and see if the fan works on one speed. If it does, the resistor block is dead. If still no fan, either the switch is dead or the ground for the switch is broken or unplugged. A bad ground isn't likely unless someone has been digging around in the dash and knocked the wire loose or cut it. (such as maybe installing a new stereo)

Manual trans forester should be 4.11. Rear diff failure is rare. Wheel bearings, much more common. The best way to check wheel bearings is to remove the wheel and brake rotor, and push the axle out of the center of the hub so you can spin the hub by hand. Can be easier said than done if the car is in the rust belt or has a lot of miles on it.

How many miles on it? How long have you owned it? How often does the oil get changed? Do you check the oil level on a weekly basis? Did you check the current oil level?

Very common for factory tires to wear out in 20k or less. That's not limited to Subaru. Every vehicle manufacturer has issues with original tires wearing out. The manufacturer doesn't make any money on tires, so they use the (reasonably) least expensive tire they can get.

Yup.

Yeah that size will fit fine. Your stock size should be a 225/60r16. The 215/65r16 tire should have roughly the same diameter, but will be slightly narrower. I'm sure there is room enough on the Baja to fit a wider tire, but exactly how much wider I'm not sure. The 215/65/16 grabber is a commonly purchased size for Subarus. Just bought a set myself. I got a great deal from Tirebuyer.com. They beat tirerack's price on the tire and were much cheaper on shipping. Also I was able to take advantage of a discount that gave me an extra $40 off when I ordered about two weeks ago. I ordered them on Monday afternoon and had them on my doorstep before noon the next day. Worth checking out and at least comparing prices to discount tire and tirerack.

You can use any earlier trans (90-98). If you get one from a car with a cable clutch you just have to move the pivot stud for the release lever and you'll only use 4 bellhousing bolts instead of 8. May need to swap your Nuetral and reverse switches and the bracket for the exhaust hanger.

Could be a pinhole in the steel heater pipe or the bypass pipe where it runs across the top of the block. Or could be leaking from the o-ring under the crossover pipe.

When does it make noise?

They used the right angle boots on the male post coils so the plug wires dont hit the throttle cables. The spark plug end is entirely different. 96-99 Legacy and outback 2.5 were all DOHC. They all swap no problem.

Any binding will usually be a solid stop. You may just be feeling the resistance of compression.

Aluminum could be the main output drum. Could be bits getting shaved off by the parking pawl. AWD transfer clutch drum is steel and the transfer clutch plates are steel. Different tires on the front/rear is not good, even if they're the same numerical size. The tread depths can vary more than the acceptable limit of 1/4" circumference.

You can turbo anyhing, but you'll only get about 5-7 psi before the guts fly out of the 3.0. Have a piston company make some low compression pistons and forged rods, chuck 15-20 psi into it and see what you can get from it! Like Emily said, you'll find better info on the more performance oriented forums. NASIOC, RS25, IWSTI, etc.

Rear door harness connector is down lower I think, might be closer to the floor pan. Slide the seat forward all the way and shove the carpet out of the way and you should see it.

Connector for the door harness is just inside the body behind the kick panel. Easy to get to and unhook, then pop the flex dust boot out of the body and push the connector out with it. Much easier than trying to get all the wiring out of the door. Someone mentioned not long ago that 95-96 doors are different from 97-99. Something about the side impact structure in the door is different and there's a lump/projection of some sort in the door jamb that has to match up to the door. Makes them not interchangable. I've never paid enough attention to one to notice the difference, but apparently you get the wrong door and it won't shut.

Need to remove the belt cover and check the timing. The camshafts were replaced? Any particular reason why? At idea if the valve clearances were set at that time?

I know that feeling! The hardest part I found about finishing school is that couple of months afterward when you have to readjust yourself to NOT think about school anymore. It take so much time and effort, and when you're done you just sit back and go... "What the heck am I supposed to now?!?" We ended up with 18" of the white stuff here. My Dads place in Great Falls got 32".

1&3 are on the same side. Usually a cam timing problem when 2 cylinders on the same bank are affected. Has the timing belt ever been changed? Were the idlers and tensioner done at the same time?

Busy man, just busy. Finished school, started a new job, and have been trying to keep some side jobs lined up to bring in some extra $$. How about you? Glad to see you're still around! I'm always reluctant to do anything inside a used transmission until I've put it in the car and know its going to work properly. You might spend half a day and $75 on parts an find out the synchros or some others bearings are shot.

Not sure on the 94, but yellow connectors are usually for airbag components. Lots of different plugs and connectors out there. There is almost always a lock tab of some type that must be pressed before the connector will come apart. The 95 ECU has a small lock tab that holds a lever. Flip the lever open and the connector pulls away.

Yep, the used transmission merry-go-round. My 96 is on its 4th transmission. First two used ones lasted me about a year each. Then the mainshaft bearing monster got them. Neither had decent synchros though, so I just opted to grab another $120 junkyard replacement each time. On the third (current) one I decided to start looking for one with lower mileage. I've had it about a year and a half and have about 25k miles on it now. Time will tell if it was worth $450. I would be kind of afraid of what else might be broken/damaged. I don't remember 3/R sharing a shift fork, bun it's been a while since I've been in one of these.

Its basically the center diff isn't a locking diff. Its a limited slip design but unless the diff is damaged, it will not totally lock to engage full power to only one set of wheels (Front OR Rear). You can certainly drive it, but it will drive like an automatic with a high rpm stall torque converter until the center diff gets really hot. When it gets really hot it will still slip, and eventually the diff will be damaged in such a way that it basically welds itself. When you then re-install the rear driveshaft, the car will basically be stuck in 4WD, and the drive train will bind just the same way a 4wd truck of jeep would when driving on a road surface.

No. The way the MT works, it cannot be driven with the driveshaft removed.