Pillowsplat

There is some stuff that seems to burn off by 10,000 miles. Don't let anbody tell you the HG problem is solved its not. Document coolant loss vs. time or mileage. Document it with the dealer on an invoice as a 'customer states'. Get your owners manual out and start a dialog with Subaru directly. They are great people and will stand behind their product lke any good company. Nothing gets the service manager moving your way like a call from Subaru.

No just 120000 miles. And I have been cutting back.

Milo, I'm running into the same problem with the heat on a 03 legacy 2.5 L OBW. I have aleady replaced the headgaskets about 30,000 miles ago. I have checked the Fans, made sure the coolant level was OK and had the radiator fins cleaned out by a professional. Still the same symptom 95 degree day stop and go temp gauge increases till I shut the AC down and it seems to recover. I ordered a new radiator from radiator.com and plan on changing that out sometime this week as well as the thermostat and coolant. I will post if that solved the problem. I also used the stop leak and it would be my speculation that it decreases the effeciency of the radiator or I have some sort of clog in the radiator. I'm at 120,000 miles I changed the coolant once and had the shop do it once. The one time I changed it out I was surprised at the amount of crud that came out the drain.

Sorry, I should have given the group more info. Fans Checked and OK 120,000 miles out of warrenty fins cleaned and flushed both ways. HG work completed at 87,000 under warrenty

2003 OBW Legacy 2.5 L 4 cyl. Greetings, at 95 degrees F out sidetemp on the highway the temp gauge goes up. If I click off the AC it comes back down. In my search it looks like it is time to replace the Radiator. I ordered one and should arrive later this week. Great. The bad news is I have never replaced a radiator. I have flushed and burped with sucess so I can do that part. I figure the Subaru stop leak has just gummed up the works. I could use some direction in How to remove the Radiator. Drain Remove Fans Replace Thermostat with Genuine Subaru. Use genuine Subaru coolant. Any other Doodads that I should remove? Thats about all I know whats the best way to flush it just stick a hose in it and turn the water on till it is clear? Anybody have a good link. Thanks John

On my 2003 OBW I replaced the filter by going to Lowes and purchasing a furnace air filter. I went for a fancy one but it was over kill. Remove the glove box. I think I removed the passenger center kick panel. Open up the black box. remove the filter housing. It was full of stuff. Vacum out the housing. I cut a new filter and put in the filter frame and buttoned it up. I think I put $7.00 into the filter material and 45 - 60 min. I think to drop the glove box from the catchs was just a matter of squeezing the box sides. There was no way I was paying $60 for an air filter.

The horn is grounded to the frame of the car. Find the bolt that mounts the horn. Undo it scrape all the rust off the mount, bolt, frame. Put a little grease, vaseline, oil on the shiny parts screw it back together. Clean the contacts. Beep? No ....Then address relays hornbuttons and wires. Go to radio shack and get yourself a cheapy VOM meter it will come in handy and you will learn something.

It is an Automatic. They were leaking. In fact the green stub was covered with signs of leaking the oil. Drips on to the exhaust wishbone. Great smell at the stop lights! 10 hour job to swap out the front part of the transmission. A little more history this local shop has been working on Subies for 15+ years. They are the best in town. Sometimes stuff goes wrong. He talked about the air hammer as well but it would be a bigger hammer and damage was likely. I think the reality is labor is more than the part.

I was getting an oil smell in the cabin of an 03 Legacy OBW 120,000 miles. The shop owner determined the axle seals were leaking and probably should be replaced. Now as a little bit of history this guy comes highly recomended by sources I trust so I am taking him at his word. Here is the problem. He dismantled the axle stubs and proceeded to take out the 4-5" disks that house the seals. He got them to turn a bit then then it just seized. He showed me how they should come out on another trans. It looks like a piece of cake with the special tool. At this point he had the Whole tranmission/Differtial/transfer case out of the car to get a better look and more leverage. No luck he couldn't budge it. He called his Subaru Gurus and everybody seemed stumped. At this point I could see the fustration in his eyes and he said he wanted to just get a used transmission instead of the 10 hours rebuilding. It made sense to me. Has anybody run into this problem getting these seal holders out? Any suggestions?

I had the same problem on a 03 OBW and dismantled a good portion of the headliner. Here is a hind site suggestion. I think he problem was a clogged drain tube. Silicone grease was the culpret in the tube. If you have not tackled the problem yet. Maybe some thick weed wacker string shoved down the tube would solve the problem. I don't have an air compressor.

I had it done on a 2003 at 88,000 miles. I did the stop leak 1st as soon as Subaru recomended it got an additional 20,000. If you have any documentation that you wanted a dealer to check out a leaking coolant issue before 100,000 (I think thats the number) you can get some relief from Subaru. We split labor and parts and they did the timimng belt while they were in there. Subaru picked everything up but $200.00. I jumped at the deal. Don't belive anything you hear about new and improved gaskets. The Outback is a great car and it serves me well. Subaru is an outstanding company that stands behind their product. The problem is selling your car at this point. At 150000 you pretty much have $5000 of value +or _. tack another $2500 of HG replacement and you still have a car with 150000. Lets face it big things start to go wrong at this mileage. I think you have hit the time to buy a different car. That may be what the dealer is trying to push towards. As for HG cost I would think $700 / side on the HG repair but I'm not sure. That gives them 6 hours to do the job at $80/hr plus materials. It is a roll of the dice I had an accord that I sold with 165000 and that thing is still clicking along with 240000. and I had an Audi with 60,000 was sold for parts. You just never know how long they go till they give up the ghost.

Thanks Nipper I'll park it for a while to play it safe. I would guess it is partly clogged. Hopefully flushing will cure the problem.

2003 OBW 2.5 headgaskets replaced at 88,000 miles currently 113,000 mi. We got a spot of 90o days. Today I was driving at interstate speed and all of a sudden the AC was blowing outside air. I was pretty sure I remember reading the AC kicks off when the water gets too hot. Sure enough with the AC off the temp came down. As I continued around the beltway I was off and on with the AC to keep the temp below the upper white line or in the Normal operating temp. I have checked the following so far. Coolant in the Resv. On the low line while hot. Electric fans are OK. Rad Cap off coolant visable. Squeezed upper H2O tube no bubbles. Topped off Resv. I have an appointment next week to have a Pro check it out. Any suggestion on what to look for. I'm probably a 7/10 Do it your selfer. Valve adjustment on a Motorcycle is about as far as I will go. Thanks for taking a look. John

I have an 03 Outback wagon 4 cyl. On the cool mornings my pedal sticks till I give it a bit more pressure then it goes away till the next morning. Sounds similar to your problem. I thought it was the cables. I greased them with no sucess. Anybody have a link on how to clean the throttle body? Thanks John

I own a 2003 Subaru Outback Limited auto. Let me start by saying I will probably buy another Subaru. Is ita piece of junk, Nope. Was somebody asleep at the design table or is there an inherant weakness having so much pressure on the Head gasket that it fails. I think so. Here is my story: I drive 4 miles to the 1st stop sign on day below 40o F I get the sweet smell of coolant dripping onto something hot and external. I have 75000 miles on it now. Recent Pressure test at dealer determined a HG leak. SOA is in the process of making a ruling. I 1st noted it at 32300 miles well with in the warrenty period. Dealer said no leak visable here is some free Stop leak. Alright Thanks! I loose about a pint every oil change. I smelled this at the 7500 mile Dealer service but they told me it was common for overspray on the undercarrage and it will burn off by 10000 miles. That got me into the summer and I don't get the smell usually on warm days. Brake rotors have been replaced and cut 3 times on SOA dime. A door handle broke SOA's dime. The good news is the Outback is such a balenced and predictable car with OK gas mileage and can carry a bunch of stuff, and they support about every sport I'm active in. SOA has been good to me so far by standing behind their workmanship. I could have the problems and be told to Wizz up a rope. This car is very easy to work on. Heck I swaped out the brake pads on the front in less than hour. You would think somebody would have figured out a solution to the leaks by now. Maybe the Piston slap is related to the leaking head gasket. Weld the SOB together. When the motor blows up just put a new one in.

Although lug nuts are a problem it is not the root problem. Heating and cooling of the rotors is the problem. 75 mph to 15mph on the beltway a couple of times. Drop into 7/11 for a slurpie back out on the road tailgating the guy in front of you on the cell phone on the brakes and off them, then the kiss of death a puddle. I get about 10,000 to 15,000 miles and they need to be turned. I even got the Limited edition because it has larger rotors. My thought is because there is very little brake dust I would guess the pads overheat the rotor. The trade of would be like a BMW or Mercedes with black dusty rims. The only car I have owned that went 50,000 without turning the rotors was Audi A4. Granted I was towed 3 times because of faulty coil packs. If your car is new Warrenty! They will cut them twice then install new rotors. It is really anoying in good traction. I would think it is a safety issue in limited traction situations. 2003 OBW auto limited

Yes it is leaking. There is an end cap that goes on the sunroof track. It is held in place by a screw. I have cleaned out the tubes so I know they are clean but that little end cap seems to be the culpret it has a little gasket between the end cap and the extruded alum track. Anybody have this problem? Is there a fix to stop it from leaking? Thanks John

Was there a recall on Outback Cruise Contol system?

It will be fine till the first cold day and or you put some pressure on it. Then the crack will run. If it is in the direct line of vision and you have a glass replacement on your policy you are good to go.

Don't be so sure. I'm at 40k and going in for leaks. 03 OBW

I go in tomorrow for a check. Don't think the newer head gaskets are any better. I hope the sealant works cause I really like this car. Mileage 37,600 miles. I noticed that I was right on the low line in the reservor at my 30,000 check up. So it has been documented. The car is a year and a day old. Subaru has been very good correcting any problems. I will update. We have had a cold snap in Maryland. Snow too OBW is great in snow. Very predictable under power. A little front push while turning. I know slow down! John

I was so used to running my Honda and Audi up on ramps to change the oil it never occured to me not to. So if anybody is jacking the car up to change an Outbacks oil. Its not necessary.:santa:

I put just a hair over 4 qt.s and get between the lines. 4.75 qts sounds like to much.

I had the Audi Tiptronic before my Subaru. Granted it was a lot of fun to drive but the service issues for me were brutal. It is refered to as the 'slushbox' on the audi board.

I started using it on my Dry top laytex gaskets for Kayaking. It seems to prolong the life. I have used it on my gaskets around the openings in cars for years. No problems so far.