upnorthguy

I had this happen on my last Civic. One of the bolts holding an engine mount (removal required to change belts) went into a captive nut inside a hidden little frame compartment along the wheel well. I cut a little access opening and got a socket on it. I just left it open since I just used a new nut there (not welded into place). I meant to cover the opening with some bondo or something to help reduce the corrosion on the new nut/bolt but sold the car before I got around to it...

I used a dremel with a small wire brush to clean up the mating surface on the block to remove the sticky crud. Also used some 1000 grit, as Fairtax suggested, to even things out. Getting access to this is a lot easier if you remove the timing belt tensioner bracket piece that is mounted to the block just above the water pump (3 bolts to remove IIRC).

After thinking about it more, I decided to order the ebay cat with all the hardware.

I didn't give it a super close inspection (I assume you are referring to the front flange of the rear cat...), but it looked OK as gave it a quick glance. I was doing this in the dark at 10 pm the other night so I didn't spend any extra time inspecting. I found a rear cat on ebay for $100...is that the one you got? That is a pretty good price considering it also includes the gasket ($11 and $4 at Advance Auto) and new bolts/springs/hardware. I did get a referral to a guy near me that does exhaust work on the side out of his home garage. I talked to him last night and after my description of the problem he thought welding on a new bolt flange might be $60-80. I'm going to visit on Sunday when he has an opening and check him out.

Good points, Gary. Thanks. Amazingly, I found a . He found a bolt flange that was split that could be clamped to the stub pipe on the rear of the cat. I may look into that after checking with a muffler shop about cost to weld it up. I'm sure that it would take some fiddling to weld a piece on myself, especially with the limited adjustability of a cheap welder. I think I'll look to that only if the muffler shop estimate is too much for me. (Although a welder would be nice for putting nuts on the frequent broken bolt/stripped item!)

The pick and pull near me sold me an entire moonroof assembly for $28 (for my '95 Legacy), which included the gasket (the entire deal was just unbolted from the roof of car) glass, rails, motor, etc. Anything like that near you or is that the $65 local option? When I was looking at replacing some suspension bushings in my Civic I saw a video of a guy that using some duct tape and a kit he mixed...pretty crude. You might be able to get a urethane kit and remove the glass and create a form using tape/cardboard to hold the urethane in place while it cures. I don't think it would bond very well to the existing gasket, but that might be worth a shot. (He used a urethane kit from McMaster Carr that cost about $33.) I would go with a junker glass with the gasket if possible. Bolting in new glass with a new(er) gasket sounds a lot easier and less mess with a higher chance of success.

Sorry, haven't worked in a salvage yard run so no info for you, but I did spot this on the local Craigslist: http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/nva/pts/4394943288.html 00 Subaru Outback Wood Grain Dash Radio Bezel With Cup Holder - $30 (Gainesville) If you still need the part I could get it for you and ship it.

Build date should be on a little plate on the driver door edge or door jam (I can't remember which). For instance, '95 wagon had a build date of "09/94" (or something like that later in '94).

Got back to my '95 wagon yesterday evening. After sounding fine in the morning drive to the commuter lot, the evening start revealed that my wagon now sounded like an Indy car. After the short drive home (two miles) I got it on the ramps to see where the hole was and saw something similar to above, only my break was just to the rear of the second cat. http://imageshack.com/a/img823/2503/cux5.jpg Used a modification of the soup can method above and jammed a can into the long pipe (still has the bolt flange) and then secured it to the short stub of pipe sticking off the cat and secured it with a hose clamp until I can deal with it more. The majority of the rumble is gone and most exhaust gas is getting sent to the rear, which is good. Even though there is some surface rust on the cat and the end of the long resonator pipe, it is totally solid. I may see about having a new bolt flange welded on the cat pipe stub. Or the comment above about an excuse to buy a cheap welder...maybe the Harbor Freight $100 special. Any thoughts on rookie welding for this? I suppose I need to check out a price with a local muffler repair shop to see what they can do with welding a new bolt flange on.

People frequently swap a '95 or '96 2.2 into a '97 or '98 Outback wagon (as those often have head gasket problems with the factory 2.5). I've seen some great deals on Craigslist by people looking to unload a wagon with a bad 2.5 that would make a good 2.2 swap candidate. (There are numerous threads on here about 2.2 swaps)

I sanded the battery posts and the inside of the battery cable connectors. I checked the solenoid wire and it was OK. I haven't had any starting issues since, so I'll see how things go. On a possibly related note, last night when driving I noticed the headlights would dim slightly when I hit the brakes which is something I haven't seen before. Once I got home and parked , I tapped the brakes and I could hear a solenoid/switch inside the shifter (AT) clicking as soon as I touched the brakes. Is this some (related?) issue with the shift interlock?

As I initially stated, I rebuilt the starter a few months ago so it already has new contacts in it. The battery was new at the beginning of November so I guess there could be a quick-forming layer of five month oxide on there, but it definitely is not the usual white powder repository you see on some batteries that have been in place for years with no terminal cleaning. Thanks for the other ideas. I'll do some more investigating this weekend.

Battery cables are tight. I'll have to try the jump from the positive terminal to the starter. (It is an automatic). For kicks, I just went out and tried starting it (after having it towed from the dealer back to my house) and it fired right up - no hesitation, clicking or anything unusual. How very odd.

Cruising around today (a "snow day" in the DC area with 6-8"). Stopped at the Subaru dealer to buy a another factory key for my ride ( new to me a few months ago). Went to leave and it will not start. Dash lights up and all electrical systems work but the engine does not turn over. No clicking from the starter. New battery when I got the car in Nov and I rebuilt the starter a couple of months ago. I think I can hear the fuel pump turning on and a click from a solenoid from the left of the steering column. I've tried to do some searching but only find issues with the shift lock related to the shift lever not moving correctly. (I'm on my phone which makes searching more of a challenge). Suggestions?

JohnC meant 96-98 (not 68).

Beer Garage has a pic (with the engine out) showing this. Way easier to access from the passenger side (as shown in the pic) as there is more room and some hoses to dodge. http://beergarage.com/imgs/Suby/Lift/13.jpg

For code reading you can go to places like Advance Auto (and others) and they will read them for free. Make sure you write down the actual code number(s) for further discussion/analysis here.

The last year of the non-interference in the 2.2 was 1996. Your '99 is an interference engine so a timing belt problem/failure often leads to bent valves. Even if the belt is OK, often one of the pulleys can seize up and cause timing to jump. Replacing a timing belt is pretty easy on the 2.2 and kits run about $150-200(they include new belt, pulleys, and a water pump. Your car has the newer design timing belt tensioner and the consensus is those should be replaced when you do the belt/pulleys.

My Dodge van that is only two years old came with Sumitomos and they are wearing very quickly. I bet I'll be lucky to get 30k out of them.

The $20 ball joint separator I picked up at Harbor Freight has been one of my better buys. That thing pops out tie rod ends with ease (along with separating ball joints from knuckles).

Beer Garage shows the sequence for a replacing a heater core on a '96 Legacy (two gens before yours) but if you look at all the pictures there, you get a sense of all the steps required to get at the heater core. It really is in the center of the dash and the everything there is built around it. As john said...the entire dash has to be dismantled to access, and that takes a lot of time. With whatever shop rate that place has ($100/hr or thereabouts) it doesn't take long to get to $1,000. I found an extensive discussion about the heater cores for your gen here http://legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php/manual-heat-ac-no-heat-passenger-side-bad-heater-corei-129814.html Lots of talk about flushing the heater core (forward and backward). Might be worth a look.

Where the factory radio is installed there is a little cubby below it (or above, if someone switched the radio around to get better access with the drink holder deployed). The factory radio is a "single din": "A standard automobile radio body size. A DIN radio (single DIN) measures 2x7", while a double DIN measures 4x7". When factory radio/CD players are replaced with after market units, the DIN standard ensures compatibility; however, new or altered dashboard trim may be required. See DIN and DIN connector." from http://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia/term/60681/din-radio You can ditch the cubby, remove the single din factory radio and install a double (or "dbl" as djmark abbreviated) din device. The device in your ebay link looks like a double din.

Make sure they check the oil separator plate on the back of the engine. On a 95 it is likely plastic and they usually leak something fierce. A new plate (dealer part) and bolts is about $35 or so. Since it is on the back of the engine, you can only get at it when the engine is out. New plates are steel. #3 in the diagram below. Also #8 o-ring below.

In addition to a tow strap, part of the gear I always have in the car is a wool Army blanket (you can get them for $10-20 on eBay). Tough and warm, even if wet.

That oil separator (baffle) plate is between the engine and the transmission and requires the engine to be separated and removed (or at least lifted out of the engine compartment and spun around). Some here have talked about dropping the transmission, but I'm not sure I've seen anyone post about replacing the separator plate from the rear, underneath the car, with the tranny removed. The seal is made with ultra grey RTV. BeerGarage has a nice write up: http://beergarage.com/SubySeparator.aspx (note: ignore the info there about replacing the rear main seal...most here are of the opinion that replacing it, unless it is gushing oil, causes more problems than a new one "solves").