Grumble7

I'm definetly going to try the jumper wire test this weekend. I'm also interested in the ignition switch portion too. The ignition switch is a bit flakey these days. Thanks Again and I'll post as soon as I get some time.

First, I'd like to apologize for not getting back to all the great posts in a timely manner. I've been tied up at work and could not get to this at all. I did do a load test and the battery checks out fine. I replaced the points prior to purchasing and installing a brand new oem starter. Same symptoms either way. Jumping battery doesn't improve starting. I still have a 50/50 chance of starting up. I never thought about the relays... I'll check on that this weekend. I also think the cables might have a lot of corrosion which may be causing the voltage drop that prevents starting. Not 100% on that though. Again thanks to all who took time to help. I'll post results as soon as I can try these ideas out. I expect to have some time this weekend if not then within a week or so. oh and its an automatic tranny

Yeah, i removed the cables and cleaned them well. also cleaned the posts well. I used a standard wire brush post/terminal cleaner. I thought about the starter being bad too but its the same symptoms as before I had the points replaced on old starter. The mechanic replaced the points and it still did this. So in short, these symptoms have been present from the original starter, after mech replaced points, then still after a brand new starter. I'd like to try something else before I try the starter again, but I'm at a loss as to what to do next.

My 95 legacy starts grudgingly 50% of the time, but other 50% just "clicks" starter. If I keep trying or have it sit for awhile it starts up at a higher % (80% of time). I replaced the alternator, starter (new not rebuilt), belts and tested the battery to make sure it's ok. Not sure what else I can check. I cleaned the terminals really well and checked all the connections to the starter. The only thing I can think of is that there might be a voltage drop over one of the wires due to corrosion underneath the insulation. other than that I don't know what other components affect the start up of the car. any ideas? Before I replaced all these parts, I had the old starter's points replaced and this still came up.

Thanks for all the replies, I topped off the coolant and threw the stop-leak in there anyway and have been rolling at normal op temp since. It might have been a fluke or just low on coolant.

No gunk in overflow, it overheats while I'm driving and cools down when it feels like it. When it is overheating I will not have any hot air, then out of nowhere i'll get hot air and it will cool down. I do get bubbles at radiator cap when I'm topping it off. Makes me think that there's a blockage too but mech said its most likely a hg issue. gonna throw some bar's stop leak in there now. See what happens. I drive about 115 miles/day all year round so I'm killing this thing.

I'm getting coolant temp fluctuations from normal to overheating on a regular basis now. Checked the t-stat, coolant level, and before all this I did a full timming belt job. Local mech said it could be a failing head gasket. Oil not milky, no white smoke from exhaust, coolant still green. If I keep the car i'd like to get this done at a place that does these kinds of jobs often. Anyone know a subaru specialty shop up here in orange county ny?

The front driver side tire wore out pretty bad on one side and the alignment tech said it was because that wheel is at a slight tilt, he said that is what the wedges would be for. I have access to a military auto hobby shop that also provides an alignment service for a fee. I'll check with them. These guys are salaried and don't have the incentive to scam. plus I can rent a lift and install the tie rod myself while i'm there.

Thanks for the reply, I have a lifetime free alignment thing with this car so all that is included. The problem lies in the alignment tech saying the car needs some camber wedges in the front to fix up the front end and a tie rod end needs to be replaced as well. I told them to do what they can for free and I'll do the rest of the work myself and bring it in again for another free alignment. I'm just having problems finding these dumb wedges lol. Everywhere I go online, they are not listed for the front. Just the rear. They did a pretty good job when I saw the before/after computer printout. But i want to get this resolved because I need new tires and don't want to kill them prematurely like the current set.

I did the exact swap you are asking about on my 1995 legacy wagon. No difference that I could tell but your odometer will show less miles than you actually drive due to the size difference. 1 inch doesn't sound like much but after 180k miles it added up to about an extra 25k. My math might be a bit off but there are internet based calculators you can use to find the differences.

I'm having a hard time figuring out what parts fit this car. I was told by a firestone rep that I needed alignment/camber wedges for both front struts (firestone part 13582a) but when I look up the parts online I can't find anyplace that lists cam wedges for this car. While searching, I found info pointing to moog part #k8358 but on the moog website it does not say that this is used in my car. Anyone have this issue before?

Yeah, luckily I saved the good t-stat and plan on doing the swap next week. The autozone crap looks sooo cheap compared to what I got from allwheeldriveauto. I'm surprised it works at all.

It was definetly an air bubble. Runs great now, no issues. Now for a couple mpg tests to see if it improved any. Big thanks to everyone who posted and helped me figure this out. I hope detailing this here will help someone else out.

I'm thinking air pocket or gunked up coolant passage myself. Still gonna let someone else clean it out. This is my daily driver so i need it yesterday. I don't think the radiator is messed up. I think the coolant just cant get through the engine right for some reason.

Flushed the radiator by using drain plug and running water through it. replaced t-stat with cheapo from autozone. still over heats and i notice that i dont get hot air when i turn on interior heater. so i think there's a blockage somewhere. the upper hose gets hot so the t-stat seems to be working. gonna have this thing power flushed in the morning by local mech that i know well. This sucks.