ShawnW

Oh I am sorry but idiots are contributing to the HG. They ignore the temp gauge. They don't understand that when it reads a little higher than normal they should get it checked. They try to drive to the next exit, dealer, or town when the gauge is pegged. The light is truly brilliant. That bright red indicator is idiot proof. If you keep driving it with the red temp indicator lit you are a moron. Best of all those that think they dont EVER need to change their coolant, oil or fluids should definately get head gaskets covered under warranty. The dealer isn't going to know any more than the customer how hot the car has been. You are assuming there is some sort of black box recorder on the engine computer but at the present there isn't. "Most people want" I beg to differ. Most people don't want to have any lights or warnings come on. They don't want to keep tabs on what is going on. The people here are a select few that monitor their car carefully but the general public just wants to get in, turn the key and have it make it there. Theres a reason the Outback isn't offered as a Turbo Model anymore. Because the majority of the people buying the top of the line Outback were not good at maintenance compared to other Turbo engine owners. The H6 model is slightly easier to maintain and has had less warranty claims. The Outback XT owners were blowing engines and turbochargers far more often than Impreza owners were by percentage. Doesn't make me happy either but its life.

The NHTSA (Government) gave us this rather quickly I might add. But its a valuable system when observed but of course it turns into a check engine light for most of the idiots I have seen. Quoted from the NHTSA study: At the time the survey was done, there were 207 million vehicles on the road. An estimated 57 million vehicles, have at least one tire 25 percent or more below placard at any time. If that light gets you to check your tires and you find all 4 are exactly right then you have a valid complaint. I never found one at the dealership that didnt have a tire that was at least 1 pound below the door card. This is the easist thing to check on the car IMO. 1 tool, no popping the hood and it helps with gas mileage, drivability and safety. I found a lot of nails and screws thanks to this light and if they hadn't been plugged and patched people would have been buying a full set of tires instead of paying $8 for a flat repair. I suggest you do a little more research before you jump to conclusions, blame Subaru, and complain about a system that is about as far from going away as the cars themselves.

Smallcar.com sells a axle mounted VSS reed switch device. Its around $50 and popular with the vanagon conversions.

For starters I would call the dealer with the part number of the ECM. Ask them what model car it came out of, manual or auto. Then I would scour the pick a pull yards in your area. You need all the wires from the dashboard forward. Make no cuts in the harness from there forward and cut anything from the driver and passenger door rear seam back. Make sure the big plugs on the intake manifold match your harness before bothering to remove it. If you need the harness cut down to the bare minimum let me know. I can watch the yards here but I have to know if its a manual or auto car before we start at a minimum.

I personally replaced at least 30 under warranty most of the cars had 200K on them.

I agree I really like how it drives I just wonder how long it will hold up. I have disassembled one at Subaru technical training last year and it was very impressive inside. STRONG looking internals that reminded me of a 6MT STI tranny even though they have virtually nothing in commmon. HEAVY too, took 3 of us to get on the bench where the STI takes 2 strong guys. Its worth it for the gas mileage if it fails at 150K and isn't terribly expensive to swap a new one it it might be enough better on gas to justify the predictable failure. At the same time looking at the inside it looked to me like if it wasn't abused there was no way for it to break. The regular 4 and 5 AT trans looks vulnerable in places if abused but not this trans.

I still think it would be easier to put an Audiovox cruise control system on and use its VSS on the driveshaft or put a simulator on that makes the car think its moving.

External cage would be pretty easy to add in my opinion. Its your neck though.

Is it the fake car or the real one? We had the same car and trailer at the dealer I used to work at if its what I think it is.

I strip the harness completely. Important wires are tagged for example tach signal, ignition on, battery hot, etc. Its like wiring a huge stereo harness. It is generic wiring meaning you can put it in any car but you may need to lengthen wires at points for your application. Most of the Subaru's this length already works right out of the box if you place the ECM where the factory did. I believe on that year car its on the passenger side footboard so if you mount the computer there instead of where the EA series cars have it under the steering column you should have plenty of wire and not a big rats nest of wire under the steering column with the existing wiring. All of your factory wiring remains intact so you can revert back to the ea82 if you have to. Yuck. Once you go this way you never will go back. Its guaranteed to start the car and to shut off when ignition on is switched off. 30 days is fine.

Ill do it for $350 includes return shipping. Roughly 30 days turn around time.

I can get you the axles for that I did the same RX trans in my wagon.

I can do one of those harnesses too but I think Chux might have time right now which would result in a nicer job. Im booked solid for the next 5 weeks.

Can't wait to see a post saying its running.

For the money I would buy a car even out of state and part it out yourself if you can. Lots of these still run but the trans is going or rear ended.

Those will work and look great. Remember you have TPMS so you need sensors or to move your sensors over from the stock steel wheels when you get the wheels changed.

Smallcar.com has a diagram that is useful in a Vanagon conversion that will likely help.

It certainly makes it tighter but its still doable. Of all the places to need one of these I am amazed you dont have them down there.

Probably but its a little elaborate to try to describe here. In the meantime you can usually find an allen wrench looking thing in the lid of the center console to shut the glass without the motor. Snap some pictures of the sunroof and we can highlight or point out things to adjust easier.

Check for broken wires coming out of the alternator?

This is pretty damn cool thank you whomever brought this post back to the top not sure how I missed it the first go around.

While I don't mind you guys refering people to other forums on here I would appreciate it if you would try to answer the question here. A majority of the people at XT6/xt site are here as well. Thanks. Almost got to be the idle air control valve or the coolant temp sensor but I think IAC first. The early ones on the legacy and the xt6 were notoroius for weird behavior.

There is an actual gasket for the water pump. Dont use silicone there.

Work the other side of the wrench and you will not think its rediculous. I worked at a Subaru dealer for 2 years. Some of the jobs are right on the book but not all of them. On top of that every warranty ticket screws you because SOA doesnt want to pay reasonable amounts for labor which is even more rediculous. On top of that there is a learning curve for every job. You won't master a job to a point of doing one in half the book time for quite a while. Its like R&D at a company and it cost the tech money. ON top of that buy a box of snap on or similar tools that is as tall as you on a credit account. Pay interest, tax, and best of all buy a few spares of stuff that breaks even though its snap on. Its a tough gig to make money at. The dealer will likely pay the tech 1/5 of the amount they are charging at the most. The crook is the dealer itself not the techs. The job is hard on your body, the cars are often rusty, the equipment in the shop is often not maintaned properly, the guys at the service desk are not always competitent, and best of all the customers are mostly idiots. Spend a lot of time running around doing price quotes, waiting at the parts counter, and being tired and sore. I loved it but the dealership was a real joke and I am starting something on my own now.

I would think about draining the gas tank every few years into a pail and then pouring it back down the neck thru a screened funnel to catch some of the junk. Its nice having a drainplug on the fuel tank.