Commuter

This generation of Legacy was introduced in 95 in North America and ran to 99. 2000 was a new model again. The Outback was just a trim level of the wagon in 1995. It got it's more known look (raised suspension, raised roofline, bumpers, hood scoop, etc) in 1996. Some changes were made thru the various years up to 99. (Eg, the 2.5L engine in 96 was 155 hp; it became 165 hp starting in 97.) The "cars101" site is a good place for this information as Jamie indicates. Commuter

I'm not familiar with that battery, sorry. I know from my own research some time ago, that the Group 34 battery size is very common. It's a little bit bigger, mainly slightly longer. There are dimension charts on the web that you should be able to easily find. I've looked at my car and it appears that it would not be a problem to fit it in. You might want to do a search. There was a battery thread not long ago. As I recall, several people said that the DieHard batteries were not all that great. No experience with them myself. Commuter

We've had DRL in Canada since the late 80's. I was driving well before that and I always drove with the low beams on. It was just something that I decided to do. As pointed out, the lights are switched with the ignition on Subaru's, so you don't have to worry about leaving them on. When it became law here, I recall reading one guys comment. "We've always had DRL's... we just use to call them low beams." You might want to try the Eaglite bulbs. You can get them from midnightmoose. I've been getting "extremely" long life from them... and I'm even using higher wattage bulbs. (Note, I wouldn't recommend that if you are going to leave your lights on all the time.) Commuter

Welcome back spagemurry... :-)

While there are some more technical aspects to your discussion... Essentially, you are right. If you have open diffs front and back, then you will not go anywhere if "one" front and "one" rear wheel have no traction and start spinning. This exact situation happened to me in my driveway last winter. Commuter

I have a 97 OB as well. Over the past couple of years, the gauge seems to be a little more erratic, but not bad. As you said, the light seems reliable, but once, my light did not come on until I was much lower than expected. I've seen several reports of the sending units (there are 2) getting flakey when they get up in years as ours are. You can replace them, but they cost a good penny. Several people have reported on simply tearing them apart and cleaning up the slider / wiper contact part. Seems to give them life again for some time. I'll probably do this next summer. I've got a post saved about the accessing / cleaning / etc, but I won't be able to access it for a day. Perhaps someone else can post or send it to you. It didn't sound like too hard of a job. You access the sending units from above (under the rear seat). Commuter (345k km, 214k miles)

None of the second generation Legacys (95-99) came with a rear LSD (North America anyway). Some of the first generation Legacys have them (turbo) and some of the current generation Legacys have rear LSD. It's become more common again thru Subaru's line up. Commuter

The 99 should have the Phase II engine (SOHC), but even some of these are showing up with head gasket failures. Look for anti-freeze leaks. Was this one of the years that had rear wheel bearing problems? Or was that 2000/2001 ish... Listen for piston slap. Highway drive and listen for wind noise around the A pillar. I've driven a couple and found them to be quite bad. Get a hold of the service records if you can. And do have the car thoroughly inspected. It's worth the cost. Commuter

I have a 97 OB. What several of us have done is to buy a slightly used Subaru OEM (Panasonic P123) Double DIN in dash 6CD changer/tape/radio unit that are used in the WRX and some of the newer Foresters. They plug right into the 95 and up second generation Legacy's and Outbacks (same connector). The WRX boys often tear these things out almost immediately and put in something better. You should be able to find them on ebay, or NASIOC (old i-club). I don't know the current going rate. Last I saw, it was around $150 to $200 US. It's not hi-end, but it does just fine for me. Plug and play, literally. Commuter

I went out to my 97 OB to take a look, but there is no size marked on the hoses, just a number. I know that my dealer changed them the last time they changed the filter. Looks to be about 1/4", but I'm not great at judging hose size. Easiest thing is to cut the hoses off, but you can "work" them off if you really want to. Sometimes by twisting, or by slipping something small and pointy under the end to loosen them. (Several times, working around the hose.) Either way, you usually end up damaging the hose. You only need about 2 feet by the looks of it. You could pick that up in bulk in about about 3 sizes (just to be sure) if you are really desperate. My dealer changed the other hoses too as I recall (fuel rail, fuel return?) the last time. Not sure if they are all the same size. Commuter

Consumption of oil by an engine can range anywhere from a quart per 1000 miles or so... or a quart per 20,000 miles or even less. I use a long life oil, so I am able to determine "exactly" how much oil my engine consumes. The first engine I had (97 OB, 2.5L DOHC Phase I) used a liter for every 7,500 km roughly. The new engine (also a Phase I from the same build era as my original engine) is consuming only a liter per 20,000 to 25,000 km. It also does not suffer near as much from the piston slap issue and is defintely quieter, interestingly enough. The 2 Honda Civics I had from the 80's used very little oil. I never added between oil changes and I rarely observed it dropping either. However, I did oil changes every 5 to 6,000 km. Generally, most manufacturer's do not consider oil consumption a "warranty" issue unless it is greater than 1 quart (liter) per 1,000 miles (1,600 km). Very high consumption rate by most standards, but that is what they set it at. Most cars will get from 10 to 15k km to a liter, hence you don't really notice it if you are changing every 5 or 6k km. Some newer engines (notably Hondas, Toyotas) will go 30k km or more. Did you know that if you used 1 drop of oil for every stroke of the piston, you'd burn up a quart in about 2 miles?!! Sorry for the mixed units guys. Commuter

For those of us a little longer in the tooth... can you say "Edsel".. I agree... nice lines, but that front end needs reworking. Bring it on Subaru! Commuter

I can't answer your questions, but I've heard of this happening before. Those bolts take a very low torque I believe... Like only 20 or 25 ft-lbs. But don't quote me. I'm sure someone will know. Commuter

Just use the dilution principle. Keep flushing with water until it comes out clear. Probably take about 3 times to achieve that. I don't know the capacity of your system (should be in your manual), but you will want to put in the correct amount of pure antifreeze first. Eg, if your system takes 6L, put in 3L of anti-freeze for a 50/50 mix. Then top up the rest with water. You will find that you won't get 3L of water in, since some water will have been left in the block from the flushing. Personally, I wouldn't mess with block plugs either. Further recomendation - use distilled water. And dispose of the old stuff properly please. Just a lick or 2 by a cat or dog of a puddle on the ground can kill them. Contaminates ground water too (just like motor oil). Commuter

That sounds a little rich. Numbers I've heard have been about $1000 to $1200 US at the dealer. This includes machining the heads and complete valve job. Last year, I was quoted (and paid) ~ $1500 Cdn for my car thru a dealer. Commuter

I don't know about just reading the ECU. I haven't heard of that. That has not been the case for my 97 OB. And the ECU can't really tell you if you are producing pollutants, can it? In Ontario, they don't put the car on a dyno (since most are 2 wheel). I don't even know if any of these emissions places have 4 wheel dynos. The test for my car consists of a standing still idle test and another test at ~ 2500 rpm. I've been told that these "no load" tests are easier to pass then the dyno tests. This is what is spec'd out by the regulations to my understanding. Commuter

OEM - Original Equipment Manufacturer. As opposed to aftermarket stuff. For example, my car (97 OB) can with an OEM radio made by Panasonic. Brakes are a good one. You can buy "Subaru" OEM pads (made by some selected vendor of theirs or possibly themselves) or you can buy other pads from your local auto parts store that may be made by someone else. Just to confuse matters, it is even possible that the parts (OEM and aftermarket) are made by the same company, but may be manufactured to different specs. (Eg, pads for Subaru, or pads to fit Subaru as spec'd by Autozone/Pep Boys/Whoever under their house brand name.) Hopefully I haven't confused you! :-\ Commuter

There have been 4 part no. in total that I know of for the Phase I engine head gaskets. (Original, plus 3 subsequent ones.) The gasket that went on my car just over a year ago was a "4" layer affair. I couldn't tell you if there have been any changes since. I've heard that Subaru has already brought out a replacement gasket for the Phase II engines, but I can't substantiate that. Commuter

I had mine changed just recently at the dealer and was surprised to see an hours time charged! I don't know what is truly involved and I'm pretty much past doing that sort of thing myself. The threads looked pretty torn up on the old sensor. These things can just about weld themselves in over time with the thermal cycling, exhaust gases, etc. It's a bit of a crap shoot as to whether you will have problems getting the old one out or not. It has made a difference on my 97OB. My milage had slipped a little (say 3 to 5%) and that has come back. As well, the carbon build up issue (just posted in the other thread) was being aggrivated by a drifting (failing) O2 in my opinion. I never had a CEL though. I only changed the front O2. Commuter

I have a 97 OB and went thru this same issue neary 3 years ago. (I had just over 100k miles at the time.) The problem? Carbon build up. Yeah I know... weird in this day of computerized control, but that's what it was. CCR has noted in the past that these engines are bad for carbon. My dealer did a MotorVac and it cleared it up, for a while. When I would detect it coming back, I would run a tank or 2 of premium, and/or some cleaner, and usually all would be good for a while again. Earlier this year, the problem was getting worse and the premium gas etc was not solving the problem. I changed out the O2 sensor and things started to improve noticably. It's taken a while, and some premium / cleaner, but it seems to be about 95% gone right now. I don't think I will have to do the MotorVac again. My symptoms were a hesitation/stumble when starting off. Not all the time, not consistent. Between 600 and 1000 rpm. If you "hit" the throttle, you wouldn't notice anything. It was most apparent when "feathering" the thottle (eg, parking lot, creeping into the garage, that sort of thing). As it got worse, it crept into higher rpms. It got to where I was noticing a slight jerking of the car when loafing thru town (especially if a slight downgrade) at 30 mph with the engine turning over at 14 or 1500 rpm. I have an automatic and over 200k miles on the car now. Commuter

First of all, the "spec" that Subaru has on their website is no more than 1/4" variation on the circumference. Note - circumference... measuring around the tire. To translate this, that means a difference on tread depth of 1 millimeter (less than 1/16" inch). There can easily be this much difference with just a bit of wear on what are otherwise the same tires. I had to have one tire replaced when there was only about 20% of the tread "consumed" on the set. I jacked up the car and wrapped a tape measure around the tires. I was just at the limit. A tire of a different make, or model, or both, and wear... The odds are against you that it would fall within this tolerance. I recall a post by a member a couple of years ago. He got a flat on a trip, had it replaced with some used tire. 3 hours of highway driving to get home and his center diff was toast. The automatics are more susceptible than the VC's used in the manuals apparently. Both however can be damaged. I don't know if the FWD fuse does anything when the power is off. Even so, the plates in the clutch pack (auto) would still "brush" against each other I believe if one tows with 2 wheels on the ground. Friction, heat, damage... you get the picture. A question was asked about the front and rear differentials. Yes, they (the one with the donut spare) will be made to "work" due to the different sized tires, but they can take a fair bit of this. They were designed for it. The center diff is not as forgiving. The dunut spare is recommended to go on the back, since you can disable the rear axle (FWD fuse, auto) and if you have an open rear differential, it is no issue really. For those that have limited slip rear diffs, I'm not sure what Subaru recommends. I don't like the idea of a donut spare on the front with the turning, braking, powering etc that it takes. I think that the recommendation is still to put it on the back, but just don't drive too far or too fast. Perhaps someone can fill us in. Commuter

Sigh... ok 97SVX... partial goof. There are American and Imperial Quarts. My manual says 4.5L (so I was right on that)... or 4.7 American quarts or 3.9 Imperial quarts. So... I don't know where the 4.2 quarts came from. I didn't catch it as an error. My mind thinks in terms of Imperial quarts first by default... sorry. Commuter.