turboguzzi

well, my missing dashboard button's backlights problem wasnt related to the illumination module after all, just burnt bulbs or bad contacts.... about three started working again after jiggling, but not the rest now then, before jumping into the thankless job of replacing them all, are there any LED based solutions for them that are straight fit? would like to make the mess of disassembling the dashboard only once Grazie mille TG

turns out that i might be wrong..... the headlapmp dipper regulator backlight does work.... not sure it means that it runs through the same module as the A/C, fog etc, but it might a quick check revealed quite a few burned lamps in the push buttons, os better rule that out first.

well mike, reading some posts about it, sounds like it. doesnt seem to be more than a simple relay, just the location a bit elusive ? is it next to the steering wheel in a 2nd gen leg? sounds like i am going treasure hunting this weekend TG

Thanks mike, but all of them working a few days ago and then ALL of them burnt out, at once? very very unlikely.... winning the lottery type of chance, IMHO ill keep scratching my head

Taking care of the usual subbie things on my new 95' Leg, Sorted the "steering pump leak" last weekend that turned out to be just a leaking resevoir at the seam...(round type). de-crimped it, crimped it back with plenty of RTV at the joint, all nice and dry now Next on the list are: the usual oil pump seal thing and one CV joint, peasy, parts on the way. Now then, the one thing that looks way more difficult to sort, (at least for me) is the missing back light in all the little dashboard buttons, i.e. A/C, heating, fog light, etc. Just bothersome at night when you need to press on them... The instruments lights are fine BTW. They were all functional some weeks ago, but not anymore. I sure checked all the fuses in passenger and engine bays and all are OK. so not THAT simple... Is there a relay that controls these to look for? any other ideas? Grazie mille! TG

ok, kinda suspected it.... car has now an OK-ish pioneer stereo with a built in CD, so not a biggie... Grazie TG

Been lurking for a few years as my 92'leg 2000c.c. SW has run like champ for the last seven years/100K miles (on top of the 70K it had when bought). Happiness ended with the main wiring harness going up in smoke, guess because of someone messing with the AC a year ago. The one and only thing i didnt DIY ended the car. Broken down 300 miles form home and with little chance of re-wiring successfully the main harness in the engine bay, had to send it to scrap... all is well know, found a 2nd series 95' GL with 70K miles and tow hook installed for a song. 2PO's in all its life, last PO maintained it maniacally, kept records of everything changed down to light bulbs. had cam belt, clutch AND shocks changed some 15K ago. subby life can be sweet, pictures soon. Now to the mystery. While cleaning the well kept interiors, found this empty tray under the front passenger seat. Scanned the owners manual for a hint, and nothing... What was it meant for? took it off as it looks like its been empty all of the car's life. it's definetely original as it was secured with two stock plastic dowels and has a subaru logo stamped on it. any ideas? Ciao from Milano, Italy. TG

thanks scooby, very informative. will check my options then, here in italy, parts are not as cheap and harder to get. cheers TG

Hi Subbers Been away for a long while simply because my 92 Leg runs as a champ, 120K miles on. Sweetie. BUT, A/C died the other day and it was easy to see that the compressor's electromagnetic clutch was not clamping. Quick check with an ohmeter and nada, it looks like the electromagnetic coil is dead. A/C was working fine till then, so don't wish to empty the system, replace the whole compressor, etc. The electro coil sits at the front and looks easily accessible/dis-mountable but does it exist as stand alone spare part that can be replaced? Thanks in advance TG

Hi yohy Thanks for the pic. indeed, after taking the axle off the car I can confirm, about 27" compressed. Job done, axle was off in a jiffy, repacking the replacement joints with molly-grease was messy though! one comment, while trying to use the best components that I had from all my axles, it turned out that the there are two spline types for the inner part of the DOJ. so whoever is going to do this type of work, be warned! the splines at the bell of the DOJ were the same though. Cheers TG

hi yohygood link! shame that I couldnt find any length dimensions.so if somebody has a Legacy axle outside of the car, could be nice to get a confirmation,Cheers & tnxsTG

Hello all. First of, sorry for how the text looks, for some rason my html is off! In any case, havent been here for a while, my 92' 2.0 AWD MT SW Leg simply runs too good! till now that is....So then, front driver side BJ is finally gone after clicking for ages! Got from a friend a couple of Subbie front axles in good working order but we just dont know if these will fit my Legacy. Length is 27 inchtotal (Tip to tip, fully compresed), while between the inner boot grooves distance is about 11.5inches. see attached pix. Any idea if this is the right axle length for my car? This is a daily driver so I want to have everything ready for the fix and simply swap axles. Thanks in advance TG

thanks at the end it was indeed a rear left wheel bearing that was shot..... cheers TG

Hello All Purschased rear wheel bearings, was ready to change them. When I lifted the car though two things confused me. Wheels have no freeplay whatsoever when trying to yank them this way or other whereas the internal end of the sub axle, where it mounts on the rear diff flops around! Could it be that my "rear wheel bearings" noise was actually a rear diff bearing noise? Read all about the wheel bearing replacement (believing that was the issue) but have found little in the forum about attacking the rear diff. How difficult a job is it? I did an engine swap, so quite handy, just dont know if the rear diff requires any special tools to deal with. Are there any posts on this that I missed Thanks TG

my 92' leg had just 60K when bought and still needed the oil-pump O-ring changed, (it was totally dry and squashed ) and the bolts loctited (they were pretty loose). No more leaks after the job. TG

Yes that's basically baking soda and it'll stay in just one day Need to check the basf stuff. I am based in italy so need to see what's available here. cheers TG

Hi all Engine swap done over the weekend, updated job notes will follow. Now then, engine I bought had one stripped plug thread. As I had no means of taking the whole engine to a machinist, I took the head off. Head in hand, it turned out that the otherwise nice engine (honning marks still showing) had quite a lot of gummy deposits in the water passages in the head. Some blue-ish, some yellow-ish. Seems like previous owner has been playing a bit with different cooling liquids that werent exactly compatible. Engine is now in car, running fine, temp gauge smack in the middle. Nevertheless I did ask the friendly subaru dealer who sold me the engine if there's any good flushing treatment for that kind of deposits. He told me to forget about all the expensive radiator flushing liquids out there and simply run the engine for a day with a solution of a pound of sodium bicarbonate (washing soda) in 1.5 gallons of demineralized water, flush again with water and then put antifreeze. does anybody has experience with flushing with a sodium bicarbonate solution? will be nice to know before applying... Tnxs TG

doing an engine swap and motor is out in 4 hours. nice going me thinks :cool: Thanks to JPX for the checklist, will try to update it with 92' Legacy specific items I solved along the way. wish me luck with the instalation T-G

agree, but if its because of any of the reasons you mentioned then there isnt much you can do to prevent it. till I see if i find a spare motor, would be nice to pull the sump down and have a look. looks like it cant be done with the enigne in place, right?

If there's a lesson in this case then it must be to put extra attention to oil level. once or twice in these two years I let oil level slip under the dipstick and my guess is that it was enough to caus some damage that took time to develop into a fully blown bigend. and while I am at it, if any european USMB memeber can think of a good source for an engine, I'll be glad to hear. Although its not immaculate, I really like this car. BTW, any idea if a four cam motor fits inside a 92' legacy engine bay? Just in case I come across one... cheers TG

motor had no leaks, have fixed the normal oil pump oil ring thing a year ago and since then motor was really dry. oil consumption wasnt low but not really exagerated. something like a quart for 800-1000 miles. big end gone means that by pocking into the pistons through the spark plug hole with a screw driver, I found the piston no.1 has a free up-down play of a few milimeters. rest are OK. have quite a lot of experience with engines and still havent seen such a major disaster happen so suddenly. a month ago I did with the car a 600 miles loop and the engine was just purring all the way. really believed that I was going to get another 50K mi form this engione without hassles.

story's a bit depressing bought two years ago my 92' legacy, got nice tips from members before buying. tnxs BTW. Car had 60K miles, was runnig great and I was ready to celebrate my first 20K miles with my car. coming back from a 50 miles trip, strange noises began, metal clattering, getting worse and wose. Limped home, did a few checks and found one big end gone BIG TIME. After all the good reliability and longevity stories I've heard here and the way the car was running, I am still under shock! Oil level was OK, no high temperature warning, really out of the blue. Anyone experienced something similar? Wondering what to do. Spare engines are rare here in italy, overhauling the enigne might be worth more than the car's worth... SOB....

Havent done that yet... but the idea behind the question is that the rear bearing noise might be coming from some play developing in the bearings over time. If i'll try that, then I surely dont intend to put less free play than was original intended. But if upon dismantling, I'll discover that the races faces and rollers are ok, then I think that grinding some material from one of the inner races so the rollers regain the original clearance can't be a bad idea. tons of old cars had the possibility to adjust free play between twin taper roller bearings. Have to say that after seeing how the rear axle bearing is built, I am not surprised about the many issues. Distance between the two roller rows is extremely small. Radial carrying capcity should be fine but any side loads such as in strong cornering will feed multiples of the car's weight onto the single roller races. guess that having a single (though expensive) bearing saves assembly money but surely a design with two widely spaced separate bearings could be more durable. Just an observation as an engineer.

yeah thanks jim Now, for a really crazy idea. I restore brit bikes as well and many of those had twin taper roller bearings in the wheel. They also had a threaded adjuster that let you push the races nearer so that you could cancel any free play. considering tha fact that the two inner parts in the subbie bearing can be separated, did anyone ever tried to grind some metal off the inner part / race to close down the free play in a subbie bearing? Just asking, not saying that i'll do it.... ;-)

right. even if end up buying the std subbie bearing, I still want to make myself a puller set. dimensions wil be useful. thanks.