Commuter

I haven't looked as to what sort of fastener this is (but I know mine are rusty), but I have often changed out little screws and fasteners like this with a stainless steel equivalent. It doesn't rust, and the disimilar metals help to keep them from 'bonding' to each other. Mechanics usually compliment me that fasteners are rarely an issue with my cars since I have them sprayed annually with Rust Check. It does make a difference. Commuter

He replaced a few of them. Out of 6 or 8 bulbs (don't recall exactly), I got from 3 to 7 weeks maximum. I then put in some Hellas he sent me. Around 3 months. Once I started using the Eaglites, I've had from 9 months to over a year. My lights are always on (DRL's) and I drive about 3 or 4 times as much as the average person. I'm glad if you've have luck with them. I certainly didn't. One exploded and messed up the inside of the headlight (like a chalk dust almost... ). Another had a big bulge on the glass. And no, I don't touch the glass. I've even gone further now and wipe the bulb with alcohol as recommmended to me by the midnight moose. *shrug* YMMV Commuter

Hmmm... I'm not sure I'd like the exhaust piping running so close to the oil filter and oil cooler lines. Plan to wrap them or something? Commuter

edrach beat me to it. I was going to say Competition Limited as well. I bought a harness there a few years ago. Decent quality. I sold it off to another member eventually because it didn't work properly with my Canadian car which has DRL's. Don't bother with the "no name" bulbs though. (Krypton something... ) I couldn't get more than a few weeks out of them. If you want bulbs, I'd highly suggest Eaglite bulbs. You can get those from www.midnightmoose.com Good pricing and they last a long time. Commuter

I have a 97 OB. I don't find the A/C to be much more than marginal in my car. Granted, I have more interior volume than you. I don't think you are ever going to get a really cold blast from these vehicles. Commuter

There are some posts on here from people who did it themselves. 99obw. And was it theotherskip? If you are thinking rebuilt, contact CCR Inc. Last I heard, a 2.5L H4 was in the neighborhood of $2500 to $3000 (with 3 yr 36k warranty). Commuter

I would think then that you have that little sensor that is mounted to the front of the passenger strut tower. It has a few wires and a vacuum line (or 2?) going to it. Mine failed last year. It was causing an EGR code (P0400) in my case since this sensor 'checks' the EGR function. This sensor also provides input to the shift algorithm. I had noticed that my shifting was a little 'off'. Seemed slow at times, a bit of hesitation. Almost slippage I'd call it. I had no idea the 2 problems were related until the mechanic told me about the sensor. Once it was changed, my shifting returned to normal. One last thing. If it is the sensor, sit down when they tell you the price. Commuter

A minor point, but the heads can be pulled with the engine in the car. I saw it done with my 97 OB. If you are going to do this work, I'd say go for a full valve job and change both head gaskets. The HG's are the achilles heel of these engines. Not to scare you, but some have had them done more than once. Mine are now 2 yo with 125,000 km on them. (Knock wood.) It seems the latest incarnation of the head gasket is doing the job. Another option is to deal it off, cut your losses now. Another option ($$$) is a rebuilt engine from CCR Inc with a warranty. I hope you didn't pay a whole lot for the car. I would think that resale values have slipped with all the known issues with the late 90's 2.5L engine. Don't get me wrong, I like my car and will continue to run it for some time, but I didn't expect to have to put a 'new' engine in at 260k km. (My HG's failed, then my bottom end failed.) Oh... and before you get into all this expense, do make sure that it is not something as simple as plugs, wires, coil pack, etc. HUGE difference in dollars. Worth a bit of money just 'part swapping' if you ask me. Commuter Argh... Just saw page 2 of this thread now. Ok... I see you are sitting pat for the moment. Probably a wise thing.

Manual or automatic transmission? Commuter

391,000 km (~243,000 miles) on my 97 OB. Second engine however. :-\ Still a long way from the 712,000 km (~442,000 miles) I put on my 85 Civic. Commuter

What do you mean by "cracked"? The part just 'snaps' onto the piece that you see coming thru from the fender. Take the screw out, hold it such that the top slips onto the part in the fender, then rotate downward and it will snap in place. You should find the screw hole lining back up. Put the screw back in. It's removable so that you can get at the headlight bulb and some other stuff in underneath there. That is, unless there is an actual 'crack' in the plastic which is causing it to lose it's grip and come apart. If that is the case, you still might be able to hold it in place with a plastic zip-tie, or hose clamp, something like that. Commuter

What sort of nozzle is Subaru using these days? My 97 came with the 2 point spray nozzles (per side) that you can adjust like the previous poster said. The nozzle is on a ball socket. In the late 90's, Subaru switched to the fan spray nozzles, but they were non adjustable ones. I actually replaced mine with some Honda fan style adjustable nozzles. Works nice, but the flow is slighly higher, and the windshield washer pump just barely puts out enough pressure for them. Always something. :-\ Commuter

What is your criteria? Do you use winter tires? Ride comfort? Wet grip? Dry handling? Long life? Etc. I had good luck with a set of Michelin X-Ones on my 97 OB. I'm hearing good reports on the Hydroedge that has replaced it. Personally, I'm not keen on a directional tire as I like to move the tires around to all corners to get the longest possible life. Still, I think I will give the Hydroedge a good hard look when I need new tires this coming winter. I don't know if it fits in terms of a price that you are willing to pay. Commuter

Oil consumption can vary considerably. The original engine in my car (97 OB, 2.5L Phase I) consumed about 1L per 7500 km. The replacement engine (also a Phase I) consumes about 1L per 15,000 to 20,000 km. What I've heard over the years is that you probably won't have any success with a warranty claim unless the consumption is greater than 1L per 1500 km / 1 quart per 1000 miles. By most standards, that is excessive, but that seems to be the cutoff point that manufacturers use. Different brands of oil will vary as well. You might try some alternates. Also a (good) wider ranging oil might help. Eg a 5W40 or 5W50. I personally prefer synthetics. Did you know that if a piston used just one drop of oil for every stroke, you would burn up a quart in about 2 miles! Commuter

I'm no chemist or plastics / rubber expert, so this is mostly 'hearsay'. It seems that silcone (ArmorAll, etc) is one of those "good point, bad points" products. It's probably better than doing nothing. It does help in some ways. It is detrimental in others. And it takes time to really see or know the difference. One is not going to be able to tell from one application. I use to use ArmorAll many years ago. I hadn't used anything on my cars for years when I got the 303 stuff. What I noticed was that it was not as greasy as the ArmorAll. It went on nice and didn't seem to be as harsh on the hands/skin. (One probably should use some vinyl gloves... *shrug*). It lasts for quite a while on the vinyl and it certainly seems to have kept my weatherstipping pliable. And I only get it on about twice a year, maybe 3 times if I'm lucky. 2 years ago when I had major work done on my car, the dealer treated me to a "car cleaning". I never asked what they used, but the vinyl didn't look as good, or stay looking good for very long. And I had a film of 'something' on the entire inside of my windows! I've heard of other products causing the more volatile constituents of the plastic to 'evaporate' and coat the windows. It certainly seems to be what happened, but I didn't recall that effect from years ago when I use to use the ArmorAll product. Whatever. It was interesting to note though. Good luck. Commuter

Another vote for 303 Aerospace Protectant. I ordered mine directly from them. Works great on the vinyl too. I believe Girot's Garage (sp?) has a similar product. Commuter

Not standard behaviour from anything I have heard. However, I just added exactly this feature to my 97 OB. It's a little electronic device that causes the lights to blink a few times. It even has some smarts to it. It takes about 30 seconds to fully reset. If you reapply the brakes within less time than that, it blinks less. The idea is to not drive the person nuts behind you if in stop and go traffic. Apparently these systems are popular with (for come from?) the motorcycle industry. I wired mine in to just act on the center high mount brake light only. One has to have "some" toys Commuter

Which engine does that car have? Is it the 2.2 or 2.5L? The Phase I 2.5L is prone to carbon build up. In my car, it caused a hesitation, or stumble when starting off under light throttle. I'm not sure from your post if this is 'exactly' what you are experiencing. Commuter

The Phase II came out in 99 in the Impreza and 2000 in the Legacy. From what I know, you should be able to drop in the short block without issue. Dropping in the whole engine is another story. It has been done, but there are some quirks. To do it properly, you need to change out the wiring harness. The ECU is different. That's a LOT of work. I know of one guy that did it using the existing ECU. He had to fiddle with things like TPS, cam and crank sensor rings, etc. Bend the power steering lines and so forth. The one thing he was not able to overcome was a constant EGR CEL. The Phase II does not have an EGR. The Phase I does. He rigged up a switch on the ECU power feed and would just reset the thing ever 2 or 3 days when the light would show up. I know this stuff since I was investigating doing exactly this when my 97 OB head gaskets failed 2 years ago at 160k miles. The other route you can go is a rebuilt engine from CCR Inc. They apparently know how to deal with the ills of the Phase I engine (piston slap, HG failure, etc.). You also get a warranty. But it will cost you. A used engine is a crap shoot with these 2.5L if you ask me. Commuter

I don't have all the answers for you, but I have the exact same year and model of Outback with 240,000 miles. Do deal with the tire variance. It is 3 times Subaru's spec. You could use frag's parking lot technique (to measure) and temporarily equalize the circumferences by letting some air out of the back tires. See how it is then doing slow figure 8 turns. I too am getting some torque bind symptoms. My understanding is that it is most likely the clutch pack. I can't really comment about the solenoid. I've heard of people running all summer with the fuse in to save a bit of gas. I'm told the circuit is such that the solenoid is energized to keep it from "activating" the clutch pack. Constant energization would not seem to be a good thing. (However, a solenoid failure would lead to activation of the clutch pack which does not strike me as fail safe mode...?) I do know that our year had some issue with a bushing wearing out somewhere in the clutch pack area. I don't expect to be dealing with mine for a few months. (I've got struts to deal with right now.) Keep us updated. Commuter

The How Stuff Works sight gives a good overview of the viscous coupling. http://auto.howstuffworks.com/differential9.htm Commuter

If I'm not mistaken, it was only the 2000's that had the smaller front brakes. I believe they upgraded the rotor size etc in 2001. Sounds like it is still marginal. Commuter

Different tire pressure is usually the result of a weight distribution that is not 50/50. That is, the tire pressure on the front wheels of most vehicles is greater since there is more weight over the front wheels. This in turn keeps the effective rolling diameter the same for all wheels. And that is what matters, especially with AWD. Commuter

I'm starting to think a bit differently about extended warranties than I use to. Cars are just getting so expensive to fix now. And more complex. I don't tend to say yes or no to the question. It depends on your situation. How much driving you do. How much you can do yourself in terms of repairs. How long you tend to keep your cars. Your financial situation; if you can absorb an unexpected major repair. Etc. The price doesn't sound bad to me. If I got my money back in 6 years, I wouldn't quibble about the lost interest. Small price to pay for a vehicle that never had any major troubles. Of course, you have to know what it covers. Read the fine print. A lot of these policies don't cover stuff like alternators, starters, p/s, A/C, etc. Know what you are getting. One thing I advocate is putting aside the money into a "car repair" fund. That is, say $25 a month. If in 5 years something comes up, you'd have $1500 to put towards it. The money remains yours. You get the interest. If you don't have to spend it, you don't lose it, etc. The problem is, $1500 doesn't go that far today. Heck, I read of $4000 repairs on failed transmissions for my wife's Honda Odyssey. So, you might have to double that to $50/month. This is on top of making your car payments. It takes discipline that we don't always have. So I come back around to my first statement. If you can get the "bit hit" stuff covered like engine and transmission for $850, roll that into your payments, then maybe it is not a bad way to go. It's up to you. One has to assess their own abilities, finances, projected driving and timeframe to keep the car, etc. Commuter

With some searching, you can probably find posts about how to sand and polish the lenses in order to clean them up considerably. Mine on my 97 OB are pretty dingy. I ended up putting in 100/90W bulbs. It's dicey to do so, but "most" seem to get away with it. I'd say that doing this has brought me up to about the 'same' level of light that most cars around me have. Nothing close to the true HID stuff though. You can also get a heavy duty wiring harness to go with higher wattage bulbs if you want to. Commuter