brendanr279

Changed the oil and fuel filters today, ran the car to warm up, revved the engine a bit, the ticking went away and everything seems to be running great. I took a tire off and would have to say things look pretty bad from corrosion and parts will need to be replaced, maybe I could salvage a bit of it, hopefully the calipers. I still have to do the compression test.

Thanks everyone for all the advice. Seems like there are some small conflicting opinions out there, but I guess everyone has their own methods. Anyway, I'm on my way to grab some more oil. I'm going to replace the oil once again, with some added MMO, I'll change the filter at this point too, as well as the fuel filter. I read somewhere its not a bad idea to leave the old ones in for a little bit to catch any junk that makes it to them, then replace, so the new ones don't get immediately junked up from the old fluid. Anyway, that's what my plan is for today and I'm keeping my fingers crossed it will has a noticeable improvement in the car. I definitely plan on getting a tune-up and replacing more of the fluids, but for now I'm just trying to determine if this car is worth it. I'm no mechanic, but I want to have faith a car with only 26000 miles on it (although almost 20 years old) still has a lot of life in it. On the other hand I don't want to drop thousands in repairs. It has been sitting for 7 years, but at least it didn't have 150000 miles on it when it began it's rest. I'll probably also get a compression tester since they're not very expensive, just to let me know what's going on inside the cylinders. As for taking the valve covers off and checking the cams, I don't think I'm motivated enough or prepared enough to get into a job like that unless absolutely necessary. For now I'm going to operate a bit on faith with this car and hope for the best. Once again, thanks for everyone's advice. Keep it coming and I'll keep you updated on how things are turning out.

I just read the ticking could be the lifter and maybe because the oil filter is gunked up and causing some back up in oil. I did add some seafoam to the oil in the first change and I added some seafoam in the fuel I replaced as well. I guess for now I just need to switch out the filters and hope for the best that it doesn't become too much of a project car. All the belts and hoses appear to be in good shape, no cracks or excessive corrosion anywhere from what I can tell. The car came from Texas at some point, late 90's maybe.

So I pulled a fuel line at the filter and it wasn't getting any fuel. I figured out that it was the fuel pump, probably gummed with the varnish that was all over it. I replaced that and siphoned out the old fuel and replaced, the car started right away, but isn't running like a top though. It's running pretty well and I still have to replace the fuel filter and oil filter. It is making a pretty distinct ticking noise from the engine that concerns me. I haven't driven it or left the engine running for any good length of time yet also. Once I get the thing running decent though, do I need to worry about other components? A couple people have mentioned to me I should have the timing belt inspected or my brakes and rotors will all need to be replaced... these aren't so much the opinions of experienced people though.

So I should make sure the fuel pump is working. If the lines are clogged, but the pump is working, I could loosen a line near the engine and it should squirt fuel out to make sure the lines are okay, correct?

I'm in Roslindale. I just sent you a message through this site with some contact info. Is there a chat function on this site?

Hi, guys. I have a 1992 Subaru Legacy. It has only 26000 miles on it, but unfortunately it has been sitting for 7 years and won't start. I've replaced the battery, changed the oil, and pulled the plugs to fog the cylinders with lube all before I tried to start the car. It turns over, but does not kick on at all, no sign of wanting to start at all. I'm planning on checking for spark at the plugs and trying to troubleshoot the fuel system. I'd like to replace the old fuel too. Does anyone have any suggestions as to why it won't start? Any suggestions as to what else I should do to revitalize the car? I'd like some opinions and tinker a bit before I cave in a bring it to a mechanic. Thanks.