Wayne Boncyk

Oh, and betzilla, I think you can safely assume your Sube will go another 4 years, gien the experience of most of the folks on this forum!

I've had extremely good luck with Big O store brand tires, the Legacy Tour series. I've now had 2 sets on my '96 OBW, each set providing over 80K miles of wear. That's not bad considering my aggressive approach to driving, and the fact that my Outback spends a significant portion of its driving time evenly split between back-country dirt/gravel roads and interstate highway cruising. My only concern in suggesting the Legacies is that Big O now gets them from Goodyear and I think they used to have them sourced by someone else, so the old name is on what amounts to a new tire. Also, the treadwear rating used to be 640, and now I see that it is 620. BTW - it is kinda cool to have a set of "Legacy" tires on a Legacy Outback Wagon!

Follow Nipper's recommendations. The two key things to do are 1) check that the tires are inflated to the same pressure, and that they are the same circumference, and 2) Flush the tranny fluid completely... not just a partial change, make sure that all the old fluid gets exchanged for new. I have quite a bit of experience with this particular issue, as it happened to my '96 OBW at about the same mileage. If you search for postings by me over the past 2 years or so, you will see that running in FWD mode via the fuse is NOT the danger that some people think it is. The solenoid is continually energized in FWD mode, but it is energized about 50% of the time in regular AWD operation, so if you have clean, fresh fluid in the tranny and if you aren't driving in extreme hot conditions, you can drive for months (years, even, heh-heh) without doing damage to the solenoid. But the problem may go away with a simple change of tire pressure and fluid. Try those first, and do the tight figure eights recommended by another poster here. What you'll be doing, if it works for you, is freeing up the stuck plates in your clutch pack, and that will restore normal AWD without the torque bind being present. However if the original owner tried all these tricks before you, you will likely have to get a new extension housing/clutch pack assembly put onto the back end of the tranny. They do cost between $750 and $1400 (depending on where you go to have the work done). WHen I was in Southern California and went out for quotes to have it done, I was quoted over $2000 by one dealer! I ended up buying a used extension housing/clutch pack from someone else on this forum, and put that on my old tranny myself. One weekend's work, and about $40 invested in the used clutch pack, including the cost to have it shipped to me, and my torque bind problem was solved. You might investigate sources of "used" parts. It can save you significant $$. My replacement "used" clutch pack is going strong after about 30,000 additional miles put on it by me. BTW - I drove in FWD mode for nearly 2 years, before my solenoid finally gave up the ghost and I was forced to make the full clutch pack repair. Nothing says that you won't have a similar experience, if you choose to wait a bit before making the fix. You will do NO damage to the rest of the tranny by dleaving the FWD fuse in there for the time being. Good luck!

I second Sweden's theory, because it also happened to my '96 OBW. It took forever to figure out that it was the crank angle sensor because the problem was usually transient enough that an OBDII code was never set. These sensors will fail with sustained exposure to heat, and the failure mode is that the sensor "opens," as in no signal is sent, when it is hot. Cooling off solves the problem, albeit temporarily.

Hey - If yours is like mine was, much of that "tiredness" is due to the powertrain driving all 4 wheels all the time. Once the Duty C solenoid is replaced (and the clutchpack if your plates have all welded together -- usually that occurs before the solenoid goes bad -- but not always), then you'll feel an instant return to your sube's days of old! Seriously, after I did the extension housing work on my AT (replaced clutch pack and Duty C solenoid, cleaned everything and put it all back together), it was like I was driving a new car again!

That slack comes from the gasket swelling,which happens when it gets soaked with oil. My recommendation is to replace it with a new, dry one. It is a subie part, so it isn't cheap, but that's a whole lot easier than trying to stuff a swollen gasket into a space too small to accept it. (Just my personal experience -- after spending hours trying to get the old one to fit without pressing too much on the cover to allow a good seal, I broke down and bought a new gasket.)

Also, if you feel competent about doing exhaust work yourself (and since you don't live in a state like California where working on your own exhaust system is a criminal offense, you can choose to do this), you will have a really good deal there. Keep in mind that you're not going to get anywhere near the oomph of your 2.5 GT, but you're not likely to have any of its most common problems, either! The only other thing I'd recommend checking out is the way it handles in turns. If it has any evidence of torque bind, since it is a MT, I'd avoid it. Center diff/coupler replacement on a MT is, as you've probably seen posted here before, a very pricy proposition.

The "clutch pack" is the system of plates in the back end of your tranny that couples power to the rear driveshaft. It is hydraulically activated (via a modulator valve that is switched by something called the Duty Solenoid C) and during normal operation it is switched on and off to give variable power coupling to the rear end. Both the clutch plate assembly and the Duty Solenoid C are inside the rear extension housing of your transmission. It is the bolt-on piece of the tranny housing that the rear drive shaft sticks out from. If either the solenoid has failed, or if the clutch plates are heat-bonded or galled such that they are stuck together, then power goes to the rear end 100% of the time. When power goes both to front and rear on dry pavement, and when you turn, so the amount of rotation of front and rear tires is different, then you get "torque bind."

I missed it - where are 51 and 52??

Hey - the very best mechanical treatment that my '96 Outback ever had was from a South Dakota dealer - barring my own work on her, of course! We used to live in Colman and I bought my car new from the dealership in Sioux Falls, but I don't recommend them for service. There's a dealership in Rapid City where I had to have some service done when we were on vacation in the Hills -- I'd recommend them without hesitation (no pun intended in your case!!) I'm with the guys who think that a leaking oil seal is the source of your burning smell. It was my first clue that Subie seals don't last forever -- and I got that clue around 60000 miles -- of course in my case that was when the car was less than three years old!

palfer, all I can offer is my experience with my '96. The driveshaft spline is NOT keyed on mine. I don't know if any changes were made between '96 and '98, but I'd be somewhat suspicious of that drive shaft's heritage...

I agree. The only down side to the Subie design is that if/when the PCV valve gets contaminated and stuck partially open, then you will have excessive oil sucked into the manifold and burned during periods of high manifold vacuum. But, if operating properly, it is "cleaner" than the older designs.

I'm not quite sure that I get what your config is, but let me take a stab at a comment anyway... My understanding is that 4-wire systems have the heater circuit isolated from the O2 sensor body, but 3-wire systems use the body of the sensor connected thru the exhaust system as the circuit return for heater current. Bottom line - if what I say is true, any system rigged as you say probably has the 2nd heater wire cut - not jumpered together. If it were so that the two wires were joined to one, then I'd expect the sensor heater cct to be shorted out. That could/should cause all kinds of havoc with your ECM.

Interesting, and pausible, but not necessarily for the exact reason that he suggests. Here's my "analytical" take on it. The cooling system operates over a range of pressures and temperatures at any given time. Obviously the coolant immediately in the water jacket around the combustion chambers and heads is the hottest, and as coolant passes thru the radiator, it cools off (as it is supposed to do). As long as there is no trapped gas in the system and as long as the system stays under the critical temperature that would allow the coolant to boil (which should be the case for any properly designed cooling system), everything is OK. BUT once you have an air bubble trapped in the system (as happens regularly with any of these subie configurations that are not properly "burped" when filled) then you introduce a compressible element into the system. Gas compresses, liquid does not (at least not very much). Once there is a compressible air bubble in the system, no matter where it is, it can allow expansion of coolant in a hotter part of the system - that area near the HG for example. So, a gas bubble of coolant "steam" can form more easily in the water jacket of an engine that has an air bubble somewhere else in the system, without the system pressure rising much. That gas bubble in the water jacket may be the culprit that allows the Head-Block interface to warp just enough to cause the HG to blow, since cooling in the area of the gas bubble will be much less efficient than if liquid were present. I can believe it -- but I can't prove it without being able to fully instrument an engine cooling system. That is something that Subaru should be doing!

Contrary to grossgary, I WOULD get the 2.5, since I didn't think the HG issue is as common as we all on this board make it out to be (after all, most people come here first when they have problems with their Subies -- meaning we're gonna get more than our share of HG issues reported here) and second, the HG change isn't a big deal if you are capable of doing that kind of mechanical work yourself. If not, then be aware that somewhere between 3% and 15% (depending on which statistics you believe) of these engines develop Head Gasket leaks at or before 100,000 miles, and if you have to pay for HG replacement it can set you back over $1000, depending on who does the work for you.

BUT - Don't think that this will save you any gas; it won't. Gas mileage doesn't change much, probably because all that hardware on the rear end is still turning, even if it isn't actively driven by the tranny. I saw no change in average mpg with the fuse in, vs. with the fuse out.

Try searching on FWD fuse on this forum -- you'll find LOTS of discussion on the topic. I personally can tell you that I ran for over a year with a fuse in the FWD socket of my Outback with no ill effects, but I am a stickler for changing AT fluid and such, so the duty solenoid that the fuse turns ON full time probably never got too hot in my case.

I've freed up my crank bolt by using an impact socket on the end of a breaker bar long enough to reach to the ground, then with everything wedged well in place, bumping the starter until the bolt loosens. Not a method for the faint of heart, but it works. Tightening, with my auto tranny, involves pulling the rubber cover off a port that allows you to see the flexplate. You can then wedge a large screwdriver in there to capture a notch on the flexplate as you tighten the crank bolt down.

...as for cam sprockets, they don't seem to be needed in my 2.5 even after 215K miles. I think you'd be OK skipping them this time, with so few miles on your engine.

grossgary's right -- there is no issue with those cams snapping out of position while you have the old belt off, PROVIDED you aligned all the timing marks per the Subaru instructions (which places all the pistons enough off of TDC to make contact with a valve impossible). That's the only way I've done mine in the past, and even though I've had the cams snap off of their lobes as you had, no damage has been done. I can't speak to what may happen if you don't align all the marks prior to removing the belt -- I imagine that there may be a configuration where a valve could be whacked against a piston, although I can't picture a situation where that would happen. More likely is that someone would, in a panic after the valve snapped shut, turn that cam in the wrong direction, which would potentially do some damage. Anyway as long as you're in there, I'd do all the other things that you suggest, with the exception of the oil pump bolts since they are an issue only for the 2.2s. There is never a time NOT to replace seals on this engine , and even though it is early, the cost of a replacement water pump is cheap insurance.

Correct - any old fuse will do. The Duty Solenoid C draws about 1.9 amps when it is engaged. There is a bit of a current inrush (i.e. transient spike) which is probably why Subaru recommends a 15 amp fuse, although I've used a 10 without blowing it for quite a while (nearly 2 years!!) in the past.

Nipper's right, and Sea#3 has given you the correct thing to look at. This OBD-II code is for the Torque Converter Lock-up circuit. There is a solenoid that controls whether or not the TC locks. If it fails, the tranny will still work, but you will have excessive slip on the torque converter, resulting in worse mileage, and hotter tranny fluid.

Actually, regardless of the mileage claims, that Leg is so low mileage as to be prectically new! Too bad I'm in the midst of recovering from our move, or I'd probably bid on it!

Be careful. If the caliper bracket bolts seem to take more than the usual effort to move, make sure you soak 'em well with PB Blaster or some other penetrating oil/loosening agent. They can corrode and become stuck fast. When that happens it is possible to shear off the head of the bolt when you're trying to loosen it! Don't ask me how I know this... Anyway, a little corrosion penetrant goes a long way toward preventing this problem.

Just now??