bosango

Thanks, Matt. Dang, I never would have thought that 1.1 mm would make that big of a difference! This certainly isn't going to be a performance rebuild, just dependable transportation that I'll use until it's beyond repair. I was thinking that on some of the engines I've rebuilt there was at least that much build-up that had to be chipped off the pistons and those engines ran O.K. (except for gasket leaks, etc.). Is decreasing the quench "better" than increasing it?

Greetings! I'm in need of a set of ej251 connecting rods for my 2002 Outback and it seems that they're rather hard to come by compared to other ej25 models. The ej251 (and I think the ej253) rods are 131.6 mm and the more common versions are 130.5 mm. My question is, if I put in the slightly shorter rods would it make any significant difference?

Hey Subers, My 1993 Legacy LS was running great until I tried to start it yesterday. It turns over fine, but behaves like it's not getting any gas or spark. I checked both of those possible causes and those systems seem to be working fine. The timing belt only has about 10,000 miles on it and as the engine turns over it doesn't cough or sputter or make any obvious timing belt related noises. I checked the timing as it was turning over and #1 is firing at about 12 BTDC, though I 'm not sure that means anything for an engine that isn't running. I checked the engine code and got #31 (faulty throttle position sensor) - not a cheap thing to replace. So, is it possible that the the car would run fine one day and all of a sudden the TPS is bad the next? If that's possible, could it cause the car to not start? I haven't tested the TPS yet because I cleverly destroyed my multi-meter by not paying attention to what I was doing last time I used it.

This thread has reminded me to remind myself to update my original post on the bizarre charging problems I was having. Maybe my fix might work for you. I believe I went through three replacement alternators and two or three replacement batteries before the problem was solved. I had also checked every connection and possible problem source a million times. You can do a search and read the story, but the short version is the charging light kept coming back on and the battery wasn't charging. The replacement alternators and batteries proved only to be temporary fixes. On the advice of one of the forum members who also had mysterious charging problems, I replaced the starter with a rebuilt one. That was about 10,000 miles ago and I haven't had a problem since. The only indication that the starter might have been bad was very rarely, maybe one start out of 50, there would be a short split-second delay from the time the key was turned to the time the starter turned over. I have since talked with someone who seems to have also fixed his charging problems with a new starter. Go figure! Hopefully someone here can explain the reason behind this.

Believe me, I would have gladly installed the new sprocket had I been able to get it before I left town, but that wasn't possible. I got the replacement on Monday afternoon after about six hours of driving. I'm going to use this experience as justification for getting a small welding unit. Armed with epoxy and a welder there's nothing that can't be jack-legged back together!

I cleverly broke off one of the sensor tabs on the crankshaft sprocket a couple of days before leaving on a 1,500 mile drive. I took the sprocket to a local chain muffler shop (my only option within bike range on an Easter weekend) thinking that they could weld on a little blob of welding rod that I could grind and file to match the others. Well, they refused to do it insisting it wouldn’t work and I should just buy a new one and I might be able to find one at the junk yard 20 miles away and I shouldn’t be messing with the timing like that, etc. I suggested that they should maybe take down their "repair" sign and put up a "replace" sign instead. Since I absolutely had to be on the road in a day and a half, I decided to grind out a big notch, fill it with epoxy, and stick in a little metal tab. I kept telling myself there’s no reason why it shouldn’t work since all it does is spin around, so I crossed my fingers and hit the road. Nerves got the best of me along the way so I stopped by a large Subaru dealer and picked up a new one just in case. Turns out the cobble job worked just fine and I was even a little reluctant to put in the new one once I got to my destination. I’m thinking now it might have just held indefinitely. From now on, I'm just going to mold any parts I need out of epoxy!

I'm thinking of expanding the fleet and getting something with a little more room than my '93 Lego and thought a Forester might be a good option. I love the EJ22E (although I think I'd love the turbo version even more) so I thought a Phase II vehicle with a Phase I engine might be one way to go. Or maybe get a newer one with a blown head and just fix it up stock with upgraded parts. I guess what I'm asking is if you could choose, what would be the best engine/head/body combination? I'd appreciate any suggestions on what might make for a reliable workhorse vehicle. Horsepower would be a plus, but with my current Lego and after a long history of old VWs, I'm quite used to doing without!

When I got the car the factory harness had indeed been cut out. I matched up the wiring diagram from the new radio with the FSM diagram and spliced in the harness that came with the new radio (thus destroying the illumination module). I certainly appreciate your harness suggestions, but it seems that would lead to extra work and some expense. I'd have to splice in the reverse harness to the Legacy wiring and then probably end up having to splice together another harness to go from the radio to the reverse harness, as there don't appear to be any pre-made adapters available for my radio. Even if there were, it seems all I'd gain with a new harness or two is some convenience should I ever want to replace the radio. Since it's only two wires causing the problem, I'm really looking for the simplest way to deal with them.

Hello all, I'm finally taking care of the dash light problem on my '93 Legacy that I created by putting in a new radio and fancy under-the-seat subwoofer without consideration of the infamous illumination control module. I had hooked up the radio's power-from-ignition wire to the yellow/red wire (from fuse #17) on the Legacy. I hooked up the radio's constant 12V lead to the Legacy's blue/red wire (from fuse #25). From reading the posts about such things, it sounds like I should avoid using those two wires altogether. So, without having to go through all those wiring diagrams with my feeble eyes, can someone recommend which ignition-power and +12V wires would be good to tap into and not mess up the module? Just to be clear, by "ignition-power" I mean one that gets juice when the key is turned to the accessory position.

Welcome JohnK! You'll find plenty of great help within this group. The simplest explanation for your problem is there's not enough fluid in the radiator to circulate around. The next easiest culprit might be a bad replacement thermostat. You can test to see if it opens in a pot of water on the stove. The exact replacement Stant thermostats are all the rage around here. Up next would be a bad water pump not circulating the fluid about. Usually, but not always, a bad pump makes all kind of racket. You might be able to take off the radiator cap, let it warm up, and watch for movement to see if the pump is doing its job. If it is the pump, you can replace that and all the timing belt parts for under $150 (probably less with ebay kits, which I've used with good success). As for the codes, I'm sure someone can pipe in how to read those. It may be quite simple.

Dang, a big city like Milwaukee and you have to drive to Racine for a u-pull-it! Still, better than nothing. Thanks for the suggestions. I've since heard more good things about Arcadian and also Borchardt Speed and Automotive on the south side. Miles - I'm up on the north side, but only temporarily. I sort of split my time up between here and New Mexico (often driving back and forth in my '93 Legacy LS). Great to hear that there's some guys here that know what's up! (Yeah, the Brewers should have a great team now that they know they can dope up and not get in trouble)

Does anyone have a recommendation for a good Subie junkyard in the Milwaukee area? A self-serve yard would be great, but I can't seem to find one. Also, any preferred machine shops for things like heads and cylinder bores? Thanks!

Thanks guys! - lots of good points to consider there. Sounds like quite a different beast than my no-nonsense '93 LS. I was kind of dreaming about the heated seats, though. Was the '99 an oddity or were the next few years also troublesome?

Greetings! I have a chance to buy a '99 Outback with manual transmission and 150k miles. It's in great shape except, of course, it doesn't have any compression because of the blown head gaskets. As long as I'd have the engine out, what else should I consider replacing? Considering it's relatively low mileage, would it be worth it to do all the bearings, rings, etc. or just deal with the heads? Is there anything in particular on this model that causes problems? He's asking $2000, which seems a bit high, but I'm pretty sure that's negotiable.

Yep, water level is fine. I put a new belt on this morning and sure enough, the light starts to come on when the speed goes beyond about 65, or if I push it up hill. I don't think it's a problem with a faulty light as last time the alternator really was under-performing. My plan is to find a NAPA at the next big town along the way and see if they'll replace it yet again. I suppose it's possible that I got two bad rebuilds in a row. I'm hoping this doesn't become one of those chronic mystery things that keeps coming back to haunt me.

The belt is maybe two years old at the most and it looks to be in good shape - clean, tight, no noticeable cracks. Maybe I should replace it just to be safe clean and quite tight. This morning the cold battery showed about 12.9 volts and when I started it the alternator was putting out about 14 volts, just like normal.

Hey Soobs, A while back the alternator charging light (battery and hand brake) lit up on my 1993 Legacy LS. I attributed it to something weird going on in Kansas. Anyway, I ended up replacing the battery and the alternator and everything seemed O.K. A few months later during vacation travels, the light came back on so I attributed it to a faulty rebuild. I got a free replacement (when checked with a meter it wasn't putting out enough juice) and everything was fine again. Well, this evening towards the end of an 800-mile drive the light again started to come on. It only comes on while accelerating or driving over about 65 mph, or up hill - all seemingly load related. The peculiar thing is that just like the other two times, the problem showed up only after about 10 hours of pretty much nonstop driving. That, and that it just happened to occur in Kansas again! Could something other than battery/alternator be causing this? Car runs perfect otherwise.

Thanks for the responses! I no doubt should have mentioned that I cleaned the terminals and posts about a week before the trip started. Also, though I was hoping for a loose belt, that was O.K. Finally, the charging system checked out fine at the parts place and with my own voltage across the terminals check. Yeah, that all should have been included in my original post. That diode bit sounds intriguing.

Hi All, I was driving across Kansas in my '93 Legacy LS a couple of weeks ago when the charging and hand brake lights flickered on. When I reduced rpm, the lights went out. This scenario repeated itself for about 15 minutes until I stopped for the night. I though the alternator must be going so I bought a replacement the next morning to be safe and went on my way. I don't know if this bit of info is related, but at the time there was what appeared to be an electrically charged wind storm going on. I expected to have to pull over somewhere and put the new unit in. Well, 1,000 miles further down the highway and the warning lights never came back on. Now I can't decide if I should put the new alternator in or return it to the parts store (thank goodness for nationwide chains). Anyone have any thoughts on this? Was it just a weird Kansas anomaly?

Agreed on the Fram filter. I know they get bad-mouthed a lot, but I've never had a problem with them over many many years, even their cheapest model. I wonder how much of the negativity is based on what people have heard and not actual use. I've read the posts where they've been cut open and compared to the fancy brands. But still, they've always worked well for me on a variety of old, new, and rebuilt engines. As for oil, it's always been Castrol, Castrol, Castrol. But lately I've been thinking that as long as you change it at decent intervals and the viscosity is right for the conditions, it really doesn't matter.

Now we're talkin'! Thankfully, the head and tail lights are fine. There aren't any lights for the heater/AC controls and such. The day before I noticed the problem I did have to have to sort of re-install the receiver to accommodate the new mini-subwoofer (Boss 600 - fits under the seat and makes a world of difference). So, the illumination control unit sounds promising. I'll look it up in the wiring diagrams. Thanks guys!

Hey all, The lights went out on the instrument cluster on my 93 Lego. It's everything that can be controlled by the dimmer. Fuses are all fine, so I thought before I start taking things apart I'd ask if anyone might have had to deal with this? The only really bad part is not being able to read the speedo at night. Maybe there's a fix to bypass the dimmer (if it's the faulty part) and get some lighting back? I guess what I really want to hear is that I won't have to grope around under the dashboard or remove the cluster.

Not sure how much it will help, but for now: 11 Crank angle sensor or circuit 12 Starter switch or circuit 13 Cam position sensor or circuit 21 Coolant temperature sensor or circuit 31 Throttle position sensor or circuit It's possible that some of the codes might be from old problems that were fixed but were never cleared from the code memory.

This is a good one, artie b. Well, maybe not so much for you, but for those of us that like to add to our troubleshooting toolbox. Hopefully, you'll get to the bottom of this peculiar annoyance. Best of luck!

I recently replaced both inner tie rods on my '93 - man, they were floppy! The local O'Reilly auto parts rents the removal tool for free (well, you buy it and then they refund the full purchase price when you return it). I think other chains have similar programs with a pretty good assortment of tools that you might not be able to justify buying for a one-time use.