nickb21

Got a bit of an odd one here. A few months back I replaced all 4 struts, springs, and top hats (both original passenger side springs were busted). I'm running some old tires due for replacement to give the suspension some time to settle in before getting an alignment. Now noticing inner edge wear on the back two tires, and I "visually" checked with an angle finder and there seems to be 1-2 degrees of negative camber. Fronts look ok, but they're adjustable anyway. Nothing else in the back looks visually bent or broken, bushings are worn, but still intact. The only thing I can think is that in my desire to "match" the right struts and springs, I used the wrong spring part? This 02 is the earlier model which KYB specs with different parts vs the later 02's (for fronts). From reading around, it didn't seem like there was a significant difference, and the later ones were cheaper. The dealer parts manager and I looked through the available spring part numbers (there are a lot!) to pick these. Parts I used, reverse googling application is a bit fuzzy, but seems to match 2.5MT Outback: Rear spring: 20380AE23A Rear strut: KYB 341276 Front spring: 20330AE51A and 52A Front strut: 334447/334448 Only other thing I can think of - i'm currently running slightly undersized (205/60(i think)/16) tires on old wrx wheels (I think 5mm offset difference). Would that really impact camber significantly though? Thanks for any ideas!

Try the Outback forum at subaruoutback.org, they're a little further along around lifting / potential strut-tire rubbing on the gen4/5's. In short: 2016's have the 5x114.3 bolt pattern, you can find offset and sizes here: http://www.cars101.com/subaru/tiresandwheels.html , looks like they've been switching sizes around a bit with the gen4/5's! The 17's seem to show up occasionally in the classifieds sections, but that pattern isn't compatible with the gen3 and older (and maybe some of gen4?) Outback wheels. It's also not compatible with any Foresters (which also share the 48 offset) - all those wheels are 5x100, which limits your choices a fair amount..

One word: impact. Just went through this on my '02. A quick glance at opposedforces says the joint setup is the same. I went and picked-up a used knuckle, as I didn't want to risk doing it on the car (learned the hard way last time). Plus, I decided to rebuild it with a new bearing. Soaked that bolt for two or three weeks in PB, then i dunked the whole joint in acetone+ATF for a few days. My electric impact (6-pt socket) took some long bursts to budge it loose, and just about rounded the bolt head in the process. (Wondering if a higher torque impact would have just snapped it?) That was the easy part. The BJ was also fused into the cup. An air chisel would have been the way to go, but i ended up using a flat/narrow chisel and beat on it forever with a hammer to drive the joint out. The one advantage to leaving it on the car is being able to pry against the LCA, but even then, I doubt mine would have budged.

Thanks! Well this should be an adventure. I do have access to a (harbor fright) press, so that should help. Good idea, I certainly forgot the o-ring last time. Hopefully the rear main is still tight, I'd rather not touch it. I'm sure this is a "could be tomorrow, could be in 10k miles" question, but any guess on how long I've got (do these grenade)? I won't wait too long, but might be a few hundred miles before I can get to it.

'02 OBW - 220k. ~100k on the clutch/TO/pilot bearings. I was really hoping it wouldn't come to this.. but.. Recently started noticing a very loud-ish noise coming from the trans. Guessing it started about 2-3 months ago (maybe 3-4k miles?). Hard to tell exactly due to some exhaust work I've been slowly doing, and my heat shields rattling like all heck. Really started noticing it in the last week or two. Clutch disengaged = no noise. Slowly let the clutch out in neutral, and as soon as it starts to catch i get a roar/whirring/bad news sound. Not really noticeable in reverse, or in 3/4/5th probably due to all the wind noise. Very noticeable in 1st and 2nd, although if I'm in first and let off the gas and kinda coast the noise goes away. Anyway, I crawled underneath real quick while it was running in neutral, and to me it seemed like the noise was coming from the tail of the transmission. My understanding is that there are two bearings on the input shaft: front and back, which could explain the noise location. I'd really rather not crack the case open, but it may have to come to that with the price/availability of that trans with the right final drive around here. With that said, I found this most excellent thread which looks solid (I'm not so sure of the easy part): http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/topic/87305-easy-transmission-front-seal-replacement/ Questions: -From what I've read, as long as I don't touch too much stuff in there, I shouldn't have to worry about shims, pre-loads, etc. Right? -Guessing I should replace the oil seal, front and rear input (or whatever the proper names is) bearings. Anything else? -I haven't drained the gear oil yet to see what kinda mess there is, might try it for fun? Guess I'll end up doing a clutch while I'm in there... Thanks for reading the novel!

Whoops, little too fast an left some stuff out... ocei77's FSM link should show a good picture (or check opposedforces.com). I haven't done a rear yet on this gen - only fronts. But when I looked at it; the hub is still pressed into the bearing (sealed), and that assembly is bolted to the knuckle, well trailing arm. So four bolts and the hub+bearing piece should pop out (plus axle nut). Then you can either press the hub (if it's good) into a new bearing and re-install, or I believe you can buy a pre-assembled hub+bearing piece. I think that makes sense. Let us know how it goes, might be getting into it shortly myself...

^check this first. May not be obvious with all the grime and stuff in there, but the oil pressure sender under the alternator was leaking on my 2000 and oil was pooling up everywhere on top.

Mileage? 2000+ went to the "bolt on" bearing assemblies in the rear only. Fronts are still pressed. When you swap out the rotors, you may want to check for stuck pistons in the calipers. Wouldn't hurt to flush the brake fluid too.

I've got an '02 OBW, and I recently discovered that the high mounted (third) brake light isn't turning on. All of the other lights work fine. I checked the harness and it looks in good shape - there is no sign of damage where it goes into the hatch (common on the gen 3's). I was able to determine that it's some kinda ground problem. My temporary fix was to hook up a wire to one of the bulb housings and ground it locally. I took some DMM readings: D39 is the HM stop connector, D49 is LH finisher, D42 is RH finisher. D49+D42 pin1 to D39 pin1 look good - zero ohms D49+D42 pin2 to D39 pin2 = inf. Does anyone know where the D39 ground joins the other grounds? It joins the harness at the top of the inside hatch. Best I can figure, it must go down to the D33 plug. Do all the grounds get crimped together in a plug, or are they spliced in along the way? I did get some non-zero readings from the finisher grounds, but I'm going to chalk that up to background resistance. And this doesn't make sense, but I'll mention it - D49(1) to D42(2) gave me a non-zero as well - both plugs were unplugged from the bulbs... Thanks for any help!

Has this been posted here yet? http://www.subaru.com/content/downloads/pdf/2014NYIAS/NYIAS-Press-Release-4.17.14.pdf I suppose it was only a matter of time for them to eliminate the manual, too bad.

http://hooniverse.com/2012/06/05/meanwhile-in-finland-scubaru/ More details.

Hey nipper, you still waiting on sales to pop-up before purchasing? Cooper is running a 60 visa card rebate on their CS4's, friend of mine had these a long while back and they seemed ok. Decent treadlife. The 60 off brings the price down a fair amount. Looks like Goodyear and BFG are also running rebate programs.

Definitely want bluetooth? Might be a good time to pickup a vag-com cable so you can use FreeSSM.

The pig iron they make that rear flange out of didn't cope too well with the rust up there? Not interested in welding a new flange piece to the back of the cat section? I think that's the "best" way to go. Were you thinking of cutting off the flange completely on both sides and putting a coupler on it? There is a valid argument that the spring-bolts that go in there help keep flexibility in the system and reduce shock. But at this point? Meh... While you're in there you might want to check the cat bracket - mine was snapped in half. http://opposedforces.com/parts/legacy/us_b12/type_20/exhaust_system/exhaust/illustration_1/ (#12/14 - AT/MT)

Just replaced the pressure switch on a 2000 Leg about a month ago: http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/topic/143980-power-steering-leak-maybe-something-else/ It was making a mess just like yours, pooling oil on the heads, and dripping all the way down and off the cross-member. I got an OE one for I think $17. Not sure how it is setup on your gen, but on the sohc 2.5 the pressure switch went into a nipple that went into the block. I had to get an o-ring that went on the switch (didn't come with one) at the parts store, and then used a little bit of pipe dope on the switch and nipple threads. I might have some pics somewhere.

A "normal" sized wagon would be great to have back. Kinda like a Jetta wagon competitor. No manual mentioned, guess we'll see if it makes it stateside at all. :-/ My BH wagon looks tiny when parked next to the new outbacks...

The 6 vs 5 in the part number refers to the heat range of the plug. 5 is one step hotter. I usually use the 6's but my owners manual lists both as acceptable. If a plug is too cold it can get deposits on it, too hot detonation. Either is fine, I wouldn't worry about it. Others can probably explain better. Even the OE oil-filters have changed sizes from large to small over the years. (I personally use either purolator or oe filters). I'm sure the bosch is fine though, they're a good quality filter. Interesting on the brakes, I didn't realize they offered a brighton in 2000? Edit: Learn something new, cars101 says 2000 was the last year of the brighton. I'm not 100% but the front discs on 2000 L models were the same size as '99, I would think it reasonable that the drums were the same as '99 as well.

I sometimes like to make simple jobs more difficult, hehe. Thanks for the info!!

That site is pretty funny. Good timing on this question - as soon as it warms up a bit I have 2 of these to do. If you're doing the gasket via this method, do you still go the ultra gray route? Seems like it would be easier, at least for a novice like me, to use the felpro cork gasket. No chance of smearing in that confined space.

Good grief, are you going to start a 'best' oil thread next? I have used the Fuzions, they're owned (and made?) by Bridgestone. I'll have to look in my records, the mileage I got out of them wasn't all that great - but for the amount paid I couldn't complain. Off the top of my head; probably got around 30k out of them, but at $50/tire + mount/balance, not awful $/mile. I'm currently running some Kumho Ecsta LX's on my OBW, I picked them up because I went to bigger rims and they seemed like a good balance on price/treadware rating (both were higher). I'll check on those too, feel like they didn't quite live up to expectations mileage wise. Dry/Wet performance was good though, even snow grip was good for an all-season until they started getting some good wear on them.

Honestly, I'm not sure, I think sticking with the wagon will keep the rake of the car more consistent. From the little I've read, you can get cheap coil-overs, but they are, well, cheap. I would do some research on nasioc or sl-i.net, seems like they have some decent info on lowered BH's. http://sl-i.net/FORUM/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=23373 look about 3/4's down. You might also look into upgrading the front and rear swaybars, they're decent size from the factory, but I think the Baja Turbo rear bar is bigger. Whiteline makes a bigger front/rear bar if you're looking to spend $. How many miles? Probably also couple some suspension maintenance while you're in there: bushings, etc.

I can't say if the wrx/sti parts will fit, I'm guessing most won't as it's a different platform. However you do have some other options. 00-04 Legacy GT suspension parts will bolt on and give you a decent drop, I think H&R's springs are also a good/cheap option. After that you're looking at some kinda coilover setup.

Without dropping the Y-pipe? Sneakily. I had to remove the small heat shield section that covers the notch of the Y. It's a PITA to get out of there, but will give you access to the flange bolt with a socket and straight extension.

Thanks Fairtax, appreciate the help with this. I took it for a ride and after popping the hood there was oil "flowing" out of the top, and the threads a bit. So I'll replace the whole thing, it's cheap enough.

Yea, we got a little snow yesterday, about 10" worth. Roads are clear today though so hopefully things will start moving! Probably not much I can do at this point, but if there is shoot me a PM.. I drive by Clinton and the Broadway place daily on my way to work.