Ravenwoods

Turns out that the rear lateral control arm was bent. So I got both front and rear new arms from Rock Auto. I used a DIY toe alignment method to set the toe for the tire.

The struts only have 14,000 miles on them.

My 1995 wagon, AT, 201,000 miles, has inner tire wear. I am guessing that those bushings on the control arms need replacing. I was able to remove the long lateral link bolt that both control arms attach too quite easily. Often that bolt is seized and needs to be cut out. The outer rubber on the bushings looks very weathered and cracked but I don't detect any sloppiness. Should I assume they need replacing? The car drives straight down the road but in the wintertime the car acts squirrelly on the ice and snow. The previous owner did lots of driving on a long rough gravel road here in Interior Alaska. So that would probably account for bushing problems. Looking forward to advice.

My 1995 Legacy with an automatic transmission, has some starter issues. The battery terminals are clean and there doesn’t seem to be a bad connection. sometimes when turning the key there is a slight hesitation before the starter does anything. Twice it has acted like the battery was dead but the battery was fine. Today it happened again and it was several minutes before the starter returned to normal. Any suggestions on what the problem might be?

Thanks for the very interesting and useful information.

Okay, I went out in the negative 15 Fahrenheit weather and had a look. I found a stamp on only two of the tires: 1408. Does that mean August 2014? Or 2008?

I have a feeling the hose I got is not oil resistant. I think it said “Heater Hose.” So probably I will need to get proper oil resistant vacuum hose.

I looked to see the brand after I got off work: Firestone Winterforce. I didn’t have time to look for date stamp. Probably small numbers that my 59 year old eyes will find difficult to decipher without a magnifying glass. These tires have plenty of tread as well.

Very interesting information. I think you are right about the delay with Drive to the rear wheels in my Legacy AT. I have noticed something but didn't know how to articulate it. The 98 Forester is the S model. Would that mean a rear LSD? Cosmetically our Forester is challenged. But the thing just doesn't want to die. One thing in it's favor is that a previous owner set it up for towing with an RV and so we were told that about 50,000 miles on the odometer are towing miles. So the engine would have about 250,000 miles on it instead of 299,000. At 277,000 our radiator (Forester) got a big hole in it and the coolant escaped and my wife didn't pay any attention to the temperature gauge. When she got home it seemed there wasn't any coolant left but the engine was still running. I took the garden hose and put water in the radiator while the engine was running and got it cooled down fast. Not sure if that cold shock was the right thing to do or not but the car is still going strong 22,000 miles later. At the time we were told to expect Rod Knock to show up within a couple thousand miles and that would be the end of the engine. The only thing I did was replace the radiator, water pump, timing belt and pulleys. I did buy a spare 95 Legacy cheap that needed fixing up with new struts, front CV shafts, spark plugs and wires. This car is sitting ready to go into action if any of our other eldery Subarus suddenly quit. In total our family has Four Legacies and One Forester and the Forester is the youngest!

My daughter's 95 Legacy had a problem that was solved by adding another Ground Cable from the Transmission to the engine block. Apparently the ground cable from the battery connects to the transmission. It seems there was some corrosion between the transmission and the engine block that impeded conductivity intermittently. So an additional cable from the Transmission to the engine block solved this problem.

Legacy: Automatic Transmission. Fluid changed 2019. 191,000 miles Forester: Manual Transmission. 299,000 miles. The cental differential was redone maybe at about 180,000 miles. The Legacy does perform very well on the snow. Never in danger of getting stuck. At highway speeds on slippery roads it feels more like it just isn't gripping the roads well.

When I drive my wife's 98 Forester I get the feeling that its AWD is superior to my 95 Legacy. Am I imaging that? Or did they make improvements? The Forester has nice Toyo studless tires and the Legacy has got old studded tires with worn down studs. Could be just the tires.

I replaced my Coolant Temperature sensor last night as planned. The big vertical hose wasn't brittle yet but I did replace it. The connection into the engine was full of greasy crud and almost blocked. The line to the PCV valve also full of crud and nearly blocked. I cleaned that all out and took the PCV valve out and cleaned it with carburetor cleaner. After I got the car all back together I didn't bother test starting it. So this morning when I started it the engine would die after a few seconds. Turns out I neglected to reconnect the big horizontal hose from the Idle Air Control Valve when it connects near the MAF sensor. Got that reconnected and now the car runs normally.

Thanks for the information. What happens if they leak air?

Yesterday I replaced the Coolant Temperature sensor on my daughter's 95 Legacy. So that big vertical hose by the Idle Air Control valve was super brittle and broke and I had to make a trip to Napa to get some new hose. The top the the hose has two connecting hoses. One goes to the PCV valve and the other goes to the air intake plastic system. I'm just wondering what it does and what symptoms you can get if it is leaking. Tonight I'm going to do the same procedure on my 95 Legacy so I have enough hose to replace that big hose too.

I’ve only had one case where a branch probably caught and broke the cord. Generally it’s not a problem. If you are out on super rough dirt roads and scrap the bottom of your car all the time you might run into a problem.

Thanks! Will do. My daughter reported that her car behaved perfectly today—like a new car.

I’m not sure what brand, but not NGK. I have a spare set of new NGK wires on hand in case any of our Subarus need a new set. We have four Legacies and one Forester—the youngest is the 98 Forester with almost 299,000 miles.

Thanks for the great information.

My daughter’s 95 Legacy (180,000 miles) had a misfire on cylinder 3 yesterday at about negative 25 Fahrenheit or colder. We plugged it in longer this morning (5 hours instead of 3) and it was worse this morning. We got misfiring on cylinders 3 and 4. We evicted my wife’s 98 Forester (almost 299,000 miles) from its coveted spot in the heated garage and put the Legacy in to enjoy some tropical weather and get thawed out. It’s really amazing how much of a difference this makes for cars that spend most of the winter out in cold, to have a periodic thawing out. Anyway, I took the spark plugs out (Installed 2019). They are NGK BKR6E. Only one looked a bit dirty—passenger side rear. The front one on that side looked a bit dirty too. We also replaced the wires in 2019 so I haven’t checked them for resistance. So at one stage my other daughter brought home new spark plugs for her 96 Legacy: NGK BKR6E-11. I think they are viridian. Anyway the engine rain smooth on those plugs but kept causing a misfire code, maybe cylinder 3. So we put in the standard NGK plugs: BKR6E. No more misfire code. So I am wondering if the BKR6E-11 with the viridian electrode might work better in cold weather? Or another NGK plug? Any thoughts on this? I decided to put them in as an experiment. The weather is forecast to be warmer tomorrow: warm up to -15 by tomorrow morning and get up to a tropical negative 7 by the afternoon. Then colder again Thursday-Saturday.

These oil pan and transmission pan heaters are not designed for any specific vehicle. It’s just a thin sheet of rubberized material with heating elements inside. You put some silicone adhesive on one side, and adhere it to a cleaned area on the metal pan. You can get different wattages depending on how large of an oil pan you have.

Thanks!

Last summer I occasionally got an O2 sensor code so I replaced the upstream O2 sensor and haven't had any more O2 sensor code errors.

My daughter's 95 Legacy has the AT warmer. In the 2-3 miles it take my car's AT to warm up the RPM is up to 3000 if I go faster than 50. I prefer it to shift into 4rth sooner and not waste gasoline.

Thanks! So my car starts normally and engine temperature comes up nicely and is normal. Just the code and the poor mpg are the symptoms. This sensor is the one under the Idle Air Control valve on passenger side of engine? Some people (not many) put a piece of cardboard in front of their radiator. Those people might just need a new thermostat. Our cold snap is coming to an end this weekend. It was only -26 this morning at my house. Sunday expected high is -22 and Monday -7.