Strakes

2002 Legacy GT Wagon: Mobil-1 75W90 GL5 rear lsd diff Pennzoil 80W90 GL5 manual gearbox and front diff. 1993 Subaru Legacy Wagon FWD Mobil-1 75W90 GL5 front diff I've been happy with the performance with this setup.

I don't know the fair repair prices in your area...I used to live up near there over 10 years ago, and I'm sure things have changed. However, I'm sure you could go around and get some estimates on your repair and get a better price than the dealer. Try this site to find Subaru repair shops in your area and maybe you can get a quality repair and a fair price: http://cartalk.cars.com/About/Garage/intro.html This site is the Car Talk guys that are on NPR every week.

Our 1993 Legacy's struts croaked at roughly 115,000 miles. They started to fail slowly. When the car sat for a while and the strut was cool, the "jump off the bumper to see if it bounces" method told us the strut was working. However, after things warmed up, the strut wouldn't work. The car would bounce up and down, also if you drove next to the moving car in another car and looked at a couple of the wheels, you could see the tires hit a road imperfection and bounce around. We replaced them with KYB-GR2's and my wife loves them. I shopped around the net and at that time found the best deal at tirerack.com . Prices change, so I'm sure there maybe other places that offer good prices. P.S. I think KYB makes the OEM strut.

The formula is Dynamic Hydroplaning occurs when the speed is at least 8.73 times the square root of the tire pressure. However, some other variables include Viscous hydroplaning and Reverted rubber hydroplaning. But like Legacy777 says, this formula is only one part of the picture...because then I can take like 5000 PSI and never have to worry about hydroplaning. While I'm at it, forget the tires, I'll just run on solid metal rims. P.S. According to the reference that I am using, this formula also applies to radial tires

Have you noticed any leaks on the ground? Here's my guess: There is residual pressure in the fuel lines after shut-down. My guess is that there is a really tiny fuel line crack/tear, or a loose fitting, and the fuel drips slowly overnight and collects. And when you go and start the car, your vents blow some of the vapors into the cabin.

Shortly after buying my 2002 Legacy GT wagon, I replaced my factory door speakers with a set of Kenwoods and added Rockford Fosgate tweeters up where the factory tweeter kit goes. The sound change is awesome. The cheap, paper factory speakers don't reproduce sound that well. The installation was easy...I bought all the components from Crutchfield and they sent excellent, step-by-step, instructions. The car is pre-wired, so that eliminated a lot of work.

A friend of mine had the same thing happen to him. He spent months trying to find out what the intermittant vibration was. He finally forked over a lot of money to get his tires balanced on a machine that applied a hydraulic roller to simulate the weight of the car against the road. This piece of balancing equipment told him that there was too much "road force" on one of his tires. That was a fancy way of saying that the tire was defective and out of round. He got a new set of tires, and the problem is gone.

I wouldn't worry about it. I think you've run enough miles to let the initial break-in to take place. I did the same as you at 5000 miles and switched to Mobil 1. I now have 24000 miles on it and have no weird oil consumption issues. I didn't reinvent the wheel either before deciding to go to Mobil 1 at the 5000 mile mark. The owners manual said nothing to the contrary...I called my dealer and they said it was okay (they run synthetics in customer cars on request all the time at the first 3000 mile oil change mark). I called a reputable Subaru mechanic in the area and he said it was fine. Of course, I am sure there are other opinions on this. Also, there are many new cars that come with Mobil 1 as a factory fill.

I had a set of cooper vipers on a previous vehicle...I hated them. They were good for the first 10-12 months and then they became like plastic. They had lots of tread, but lousy rain traction. I'd be spinning out the wheels up a very small hill in third gear in the rain! Doing some research on at the tire-rack website will most likely set you in the right direction for quality tires.

The dealer removed and reinstalled the belts when changing the timing belt and the belts started squealing because they made a small mistake...they had tensioned the belts with the tensioning screw but had forgot to lock the "tension" in with the tension lock nut. The dealer was nice and fixed the problem and threw in a free oil-change coupon for my trouble.

Yes, the applicater that I used for the paint touch up was the brush. However the "blob" I was refering to is the result of using that brush. (The one attached to the inside top of the touch up paint bottle.) You end up with a touch up that is quite irregular from the rest of the car's surface. I've never been satisfied with the results of my touch ups until I found Langka to suppliment the process. The Langka that I bought came with detailed instructions...that may answer most of the "how to" questions if i am being a little unclear. The light scratches probably need to be polished/buffed.

I bought touch up paint in a little bottle from the dealer by giving them the paint code. Touch-up paint that they gave me was the perfect match in terms of color I am not fond of the results of previous touch-up blobs that I had on my previous car. So I asked around and was recommended that I follow up touch-ups with Langka (a special paste) that eliminates the "blob". It worked great on rock chipped areas of the front of my car. "Blob" the touch up paint in the chipped area until it blobs up and forms a raised dome. Let it dry for an hour or two and then follow up by spreading Langka on it and the blob dissappears and the touch up is flush with the surrounding paint. It works great! Here's where I purchased Langka: www.ipdusa.com

Apply 22 pounds of pressure to the following point: Midway between the alternator and crank pulley on the power-steering belt. New Belt deflection: .27-.35 inches Old/Used Belt Deflection: .35-.43 inches For the other belt--Apply 22 pounds of pressure to the following point: Midway between the Airconditioning and the crank pulley on the airconditioning belt. New Belt deflection: .29-.33 inches Old/Used Belt Deflection: .33-.39 inches Source: Alldata Automotive Repair Manual on CD-Rom How do you apply exactly 22 pounds? I don't know.

I use Chevron Delo Heavy Duty 15W40 in my wife's 1993 Legacy.

Wife's 1993 2.2 Legacy: Chevron Delo 15W40 My 2002 2.5 Leagcy GT: Mobil 1 15W50 If I can find it, i'm switching my 2002 to Mobil 1 Delvac 5W40.

My local dealer's service department is a pain to deal with. (Grayson Subaru, Knoxville, TN) With prior knowledge of a TSB that applied to my car... I went in to report my clutch judder and they said that such a TSB didn't exist. So I went 41 miles to Earl Duff Subaru (Harriman, TN). I was very pleased with that service department. I called them and told them about my clutch judder and how many miles I had on it. They said that they knew of a TSB and would be happy to perform the work under warranty at my convenience. I took it in the next week and now...no more clutch judder. They fixed the problem, treated me nice, and as a result I am really happy with this dealer. I wonder why some dealers just don't want to deal with this...it seems that they want to keep all tsb's secret and dont want to preform work under warranty.

In my 2002 Legacy GT Wagon the 3 built in tether anchor points for car seats are located in the cargo area, on top, and in the back. I think from your description, you're looking at the child seat tether anchor points.

Hey guys, Just curious... On my limited slip rear diff on a 2002 Legacy GT...would you use Redline 70W90 or 70W90NS? Would you need the NS because it is a viscous limited slip?

Some turbo-charging systems will allow you to run on 87 octane...but some will require premium fuel. My old Volvo and my friend's current Saab recommended 91 octane or better, but the computer can automatically adjust for a lower octane at the expense of performance...horsepower & torque. The owner's manual stated that 91 octane was recommended, but 87 can be used. Both mine and my friend's Saab were the "lower-pressure" turbos...not the fully blown "high-pressure" versions. I think the car's computer would adjust the timing via information from the knock sensor to compensate for lower octane...but I am not sure.

Has anyone driven a modern European issue turbo diesel? My uncle's turbo diesel mercedes M-class I drove in England had lots of pep. It accelerated just like a powerful gasoline engined car...according to my seat of the pants dyno. My guess is that it has something to do with proper gearing with the unique torque characteristics of the turbo diesel. Anyway, with the advances in diesel technology, you don't see or smell the soot, hear the diesel knock, and the engine pulls smooth and strong. GM's half-hearted attempt with diesels did a lot to deter their use in the US. The perception of diesels being weak, loud, and stinky runs pretty deep here.

I tried it on my wife's 1993 Legacy and we could both tell a big difference. It had about 140000 miles on it then and we're the 2nd owners...so I don't know if the previous owners had the carbon build-up removed before. Where do you purchase a good quality "top engine cleaner"?

Ditto! I'd love to buy a Subaru diesel. Hmmmm....an Isuzu-Subaru boxer diesel...that would be cool. The 2004 VW Passat has a 2.0 liter diesel available with 134HP and 247lb/ft of torque and mpg in the 40's. I'm sure with Isuzu's help, Subaru could do better.

It may work if the leak is the result of an aged seal. Back when I was a poor college student, I had a power steering leak and added KW Stop Leak (the one that works by swelling seals) and the leak went away for about 1 year. Then it returned. No matter how much stop leak I added, the leak wouldn't stop...so I had to fix the seals anyway. All I did was delay the inevitable. The mechanic who fixed the leak said that there was no damage to the mechanical parts from using this stuff.

I recommend 2 different tires: Being a cornering freak....I have a 2002 GT Wagon and am running BFGoodrich g-force T/A KDWS all season...and love 'em! The wet traction is awesome, the cornering is unbelievable and they are 205/55WR16s. They totally transformed the car from the original tires that came with the car. BFGoodrich is owned by Michelin. They did make an H/V all season rated tire for my car. I think they were called comp T/A's and touring T/A's...not sure which. A more normal driver....My wife's been running a set of Yokohama Avid H rated all seasons on her Subaru and she loves those. I bought my tires and got advice from http://www.tirerack.com . I called them up to get most of my questions answered. They may be able to help you out. good luck!

Speaking of jack stands, chocks and properly securing your vehicle in order to safely work on it from underneath: Local newspaper reported about 2 weeks ago that a man died working doing a front brake pad replacement. The minivan fell off of the floor jack and on top of him. His wife and kids found him crushed in the garage. He had a set of jack stands but he had loaned them out to someone, and decided to work on his car anyway.