Shaka

HAHA! LOL @ cali joke -- especially funny since I have family there, and that is so true. Anyhow, FWIW -- this issue has been FIXED/RESOLVED! Went to walle world tonight, got some 194 bulbs (pack of two) and replaced the bulb. I've got small hands, but it still was a PITA. I wish I had a nice 90-deg needle nose pliers, as that would have helped make my life a lot easier. Regardless, issue appears to be solved. Hopefully I'll know for sure over the next few days, as I imagine the light will stay one. Interesting fact, when I finally had the bulb holder "out" of the base, I tested it and it didnt work. I slapped it around, still didn't work. Replaced the bulb and voila, worked first time. So it def appears to have been a bulb just ready to give up the ghost. Thanks again everyone!!

nipper -- as I've said above, I don't NEED the light to know what gear I'm in, but since you can accidentally end up in "3" when you mean to be in "D", it is nice to be able to look down and double check what gear I'm in. Where I live there aren't street lights every few feet, so it is nice in the dark to be able to have things working. Plus, I just like it when my 'ish is mechanically 100%. Danbob -- thanks that is the exact info I was looking for. What I find interesting though is that the tap-tap method makes the light come on. What would cause a light to not work, but tapping it fixed the problem? Even more odd is repeated tapping doesn't make it go off -- once it is on/working it tends to stay on/working for a while (1/2 a day). So odd... electrical stuff is always interesting.

I've got an appointment to take the car back to the stereo shop but due to my busy schedule that is a week away. While I'm sure they'll stand behind it if it was caused by their work, I figured if it was a 5min thing I'd take care of it myself. You're wrong, BTW, about the shift and pulling back. Most japanese vehicles allow you to drop down out of O/D. So as is the case here, if you pull back you can go past drive, down to "3" so it never shifts into 4th O/D. Your method does make sense tho, and by feel I'm fine. The light is admittedly something I could live without but I'm picky, and want my car right. Agreed it is prob just a loose bulb or connector, and I'll address it at the shop in a week unless someone here can tell me where the bulb is so that I can do it myself. A quick peek myself showed me nothing, so I'm not 100% sure how to access the bulb and figured maybe someone would reply with their findings/experiences. Thanks anyhow!

First a little bit of background. I've got a 1996 Impreza Outback Sport ... it has an automatic transmission. Picked it up about a month ago and immediately replaced the head unit with an Alpine unit I owned. Few weeks later noticed one of the HVAC backlight bulbs (LEDs) was burned out (far left / driver side) so I replaced that. No issues, everything seemed fine. Less than a week ago I had the car at a local stereo shop to install/add XM radio to my Alpine setup. I know these guys well and trust them, but they def had the head unit stuff all out which would also mean they would have had all the trim around the shift lever out too. Since my visit to that shop, the backlight for the shifter indicator (the part that reads PRND321) doesn't always light up right away. When I turn on the headlights the cluster and HVAC light up fine, but the PRND321 doesn't. Once or twice I was able to "tap" on it and it lit up, but lately it takes shifting into "D" for it to light up -- hence my title, possessed! Any thoughts? Loose wire somewhere, perhaps from the shop that did the XM install? Where should I look first? Now that the mornings are so dark it sucks not being to see what gear I'm switching into.. and while I can usually tell "By feel" I'd like to fix this. TIA for any help!

96 Subaru Impreza Outback ... I've got at least one (if not more) bulbs out behind the HVAC. My fan speed knob doesn't light up, whereas my temp and location knobs are nice and bright and the little green icon at end of knob illuminates too. So I'm guessing it is just a burnt bulb or two (you folks agree?) I'm looking at my dash (see pic above) and don't see any removal screws. I'm assuming the panel just snaps in, and a trim removal tool would be best to pop this panel out, correct? Want to make sure before I break anything -- so if anyone has any pointers to remove panel above please advise!! Thanks in advance... [[ UPDATED ]] Okay I figured it out ... turns out there were two "hidden" screws at the 12 o'clock position on the far left/right knobs. Unscrew those, and a good yank to pop out the vents and lower-trim as a single piece. Then there are two screws that hold the knobs control in place, but I didn't need to unhook it. Just enough room to twist and pop out the bulbs. Bummer now is that the bulb is super small wedge-stlye LED-esque little bugger. Nobody local I've called carries them. I'd doubt Radio Shack even carries it as their website shows nothing similar. Dealer wanted $6.50 + tax ... so I went ahead and ordered that. Should have it in a few days I guess. Bahh humbug!

Few weeks back I purchased a 1996 Subaru Impreza Outback ... from what I've been taught here you guys call them OBS (outback sport) and it is an automatic/wagon variation of course based on that. Here are my two questions... #1 - On the back there is a sticker that says 2.2 litre. From what I'm trying to determine this is the "EJ22" motor, correct? #2 - Based on that data and my cars specs .. would I be correct that the mfg suggested octane for fuel is 87 octane? Thanks in advance for any help!

Dealer has the car now. They suggested starting with a replacement of the duty-C solenoid and see if that fixed it before we spend the big bucks on the AWD rebuild. So we'll see how that goes. Although my car isn't in front of me, IIRC the AT OIL light is one of four lights that come on when I start the car (ie: the dummy lights that turn on when you fire up the car and then go off). So to the left of the AT OIL light in my 96 is definitely not the FWD light. If anything it would have to be farther right, if it is even there. I'm starting to think there is no FWD light on my car.

But it doesn't work for me. That or I have bad eyes. Or bad flashlights. Or all of the above!! Haha... oh well ..... FWIW, it sounds like I don't have a low fuel light. But I'll check again when it is dark and I can use the flashlight.

You guys and your "flashlights" -- someone else mentioned that to me (see my other thread about TB and FWD-fuse) ... but yeah I don't see anything else like that. FWIW, there is an eBay listing (a few actually) for 96 Impreza owners manuals. Just bought one for $9.95 shipped to my door step ... maybe that will help me not bother posting these silly questions in the future. hehe..

Found this thread: http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=103216 ..but that pertains to the Legacy not the Impreza/Outback ... So... Does my 1996 Subaru Impeza Outback have a Low Fuel Warning Light? Just picked this gem up a few days ago and I'm about at 1/4 tank right now. I'd be tempted to run it lower to make sure the light works/comes on. But wanted to make sure it has a light (I've got no owners manual, sadly). If it does have a light, how "low" does the needle usually sit before it pops on? If it doesn't have a light, so be it...

The "biggest" connector (white, prob 20+ pins) on the driver-side end was easy to slide off. But even with that one disconnected, I was only able to just BARELY squeeze my hand behind. For fear that I'd be unable to properly hook things back up I didn't want to go any farther. It is dark and I don't have a super-well-lit garage. All my good work lights are over at my folks place where I usually work on my cars when they need something more major. As such, I just gave up for now. I've got a friend who is a VW mechanic by trade who'll prob be happy to help me try at a later date, because there is no way in hell I'm gunna pay a dealer to check a bulb LOL By accident, I left my parking lights on afterwards. Had to search here as I had recalled seeing "how to" turn them off -- found the rocker on the dash. In the process noticed I had one of my dual filiment tail/brake lights burnt out. Time to go replace that. Auto parts store here I come... hope they are open past 8pm EST!

nipper, thanks again for all your help. This car has been pretty easy to diagnose/work on so far but granted I've not gotten into any of the REAL mechanics. Installing my aftermarket radio, and running the DTC for the trans however was pretty basic and easy stuff. As such I pulled the surround off the cluster and the 4 screws that hold the cluster in. But beyond the driver-side connector I was unable to get enough play to take out the cluster and check the bulbs. Figure I'll just say eff it and let it be. At this point I know I've prob got an $800-900 visit regardless at the dealer, and god willing I'll never need the FWD light anyhow. (Although once the car is fixed I do fully intend to test the FWD fuse -- even if the dash light doesn't work then, I'll hope to find it works!)

One other sidebar..... there was no fuse in the FWD holder when I purchased the car. That isn't to say that it was not removed at some point prior .. but you mention that someone may have used that trick prior and removed the dummy light. If that were the case, it seems odd they would have taken the time to remove the fuse at any point. If you're gunna remove the dashboard FWD light, why not just leave the fuse in the holder under the hood? LOL

Yeah we just missed each other there, typing at the same time! Anyhow --- yes my AT OIL light flashes the 16-times. And if you refer to my first post, the code I got was a #24 -- indicating the DUTY C was the failure point. So it sounds like that needs replaced as a minimum, eh? What other "suggested repairs" should I expect the dealer to mention? Sounds like my tires are all OK though so that is a relief. Or so it seems. And yeah I actually already tried the flashlight trick but was unable to see where the FWD icon would be -- I assumed it would be along the bottom somewhere. Lastly ... I'm not sure how long the problem was there as I didn't buy it from a private party, and the dealer whom had it really didn't even seem to have known about the binding. Which means one of two things... a)they were giving me a lie just to sell me the car, or it just started happening. I'm in hopes it was the second, but price-wise feel okay if it wasn't. Even if I dump $2k into a trans on this car I'll be "okay" with what I have into the car total cost -- traded in an older Honda that needed more than $2k of work and had almost 2x the miles -- so this is fine by me right now. Just want to be loaded with as much info as possible. I'm expecting the dealer to tell me they need to replace the duty C solenoid (from what I've read on here it is $90 in parts but should be a $250 dealer visit) -- I'm just trying to be preparred for whatever ELSE they may also suggest needs done at the same time, and understand the logic of why it would be the case.

QUICK UPDATE -- Tried the "tire marking" trick on my driveway which is flat (left-to-right) although at an incline. And sure enough the results were MUCH better. All four wheels went the exact same distance on the five rotations, so that indicates they are all indeed the same size. Must have been "bad" the first time due to the road being a crown and me being on the far right side of that crown. Sidebar: I've got plans to take the car to a dealer in a week when funds permit to inspect the issue at hand here anyhow -- but the more I can learn before hand the better I'll be able to make sure I do not get my a$$ handed to me! Still wondering why the FWD light doesn't light up... thoughts? location?