maestro

The other day i had an incident with my 2000 subaru outback that concerns me and have no idea what to make of it. The outback has the 4 cylinder engine and manual 5 speed. A Couple of weeks ago i was making the 8 mile trip to work and while in city traffic i noted the temperature gauge went hot. Like nearly to the top. I got it to a road clear of traffic and stop lights, turned the heat on high and when possible let the car drift to get it to cool down some. This did bring the temp down. I only had a couple of mile to get to work so i hopped on the interstate. While on the interstate the temperature slowly crept up. When i got off the interstate i used the same drift techniques to cool the engine to make the last mile or so to work. I made it with no indication of over heating. I went into work. 12 hours later i'm off and bring a jug of water to my car. I checked the coolant reserve and its at the proper level. I opened the radiator cap and there is coolant there as well. I'm starting to wonder about head gaskets at this point. I cranked the car and let it idle with the radiator cap off. My intention was to let it warm up and see if the thermostat opened then look for air bubbles in the radiator or steam at the exhaust. The top radiator hose did slowly get hot so i assumed the thermostat was working. No steam at the tailpipe. I revved the engine a few times by hand under the hood to watch for bubbles in the radiator. Upon revving i got a couple of bubbles at first but not enough to convince me of head gasket failure. I thought maybe it was just a little air that had been trapped in the system. The fans never turned on while idling but i turned the ac on and the both worked. The whole time during this testing the car never got over its normal temperature range. Here is where my story gets interesting and the real reason i'm posting... While standing in front of the car revving the engine all of a sudden the car lunges forward a few inches and bumps my leg then dies suddenly. It was as if someone dumped the clutch while in gear. Now i am absolutely sure the transmission was in neutral. Not slightly in neutral position but absolutely in neutral position. Before getting out of my car from cranking it in the first place i had put in neutral with engine running, released the clutch and shook the shifter to ensure it was in the neutral position as i always do before getting out of a car with engine running. My parking brake was up and tight which is probably what saved me from getting injured. Needless to say this scared the you know what out of me. After i composed myself walked from in front of the car to the driver door. Then i smelled a burning rubber or clutch type smell. I got in the car and checked for neutral. The shifter was able to move freely side to side but felt as if it were positioned back towards the rear of the car a bit. With clutch in i started the car. I released the clutch slowly and the car behaved as if in high gear like 5th. I took the parking brake off and revved the engine and released the clutch slowly like trying to take off but the car moved forward and the engine tried to die again like starting in 5th gear. Mind you I'm still in neutral position. I then pushed the clutch back in and move the shifter through all the gears. All the positions were tight and hard to get in and out of. While in first gear position i attempted to pull forward. The car did move forward but it was not able to move smoothly. It was as if moving over lumps or like when you have a really loose universal joint on a driveshaft about to come out. Same results in reverse. I kept playing withe shifter an clutch and after only about 30 seconds everything started behaving normal. The shifter felt as if t had moved forward to the correct position in the car and moved freely again. The smell went away and i could shift and move the car as normal. I replaced the radiator cap and drove to a nearby autoparts store without incident. I let the car idle in neutral and revved the engine occasionally for a few minutes while there. No heating issues occurred and the transmission behaved correct. Since i was at the end of my work week i decided to go ahead and risk the 100 mile trip to my real home. I have a place i stay that is close to work i stay at while in the middle of my work week thus the short drive into work at the start of my shift. During my 100 mile trip i experienced no heating issues and the drivetrain behaved properly. I'm thinking the the heating issue was probably an air pocket in the coolant that caused a temporary air lock or a thermostat trying to stick closed but haven't looked further into it yet. I have no idea what the drivetrain issue was and that is what I'm mainly asking about. Anyone else ever had an experience like this or any clue as to what is going on? A little history on the car. Its a 2000 subaru outback, 5 speed manual, 4 cylinder engine and has all wheel drive. I can't remember the mileage off the top of my head but shortly after getting the car the clutch was slipping so i replaced the clutch and bearings with a sachs brand clutch kit. While the engine was out i replace the timing belts and pulleys and water pump with a Gates kit. I also replace the front main seal and i think a couple other oil seals that had been leaking. I did this work about 2 years ago and have probably only put about 10000 miles on it since. This is usually a car i just use around town when I'm home and rarely drive it to work so it doesn't see a lot of mileage.

That was it. I didn't even know there was a switch there as this is my wife's vehicle and I am used to older subaru's. Thank you very much. You probably saved me many hours of hunting down a ghost.

Anyone else ever have this issue? They won't turn off with the switch off. The even stay on with the ignition off and keys out. Also, headlights not turning on. I haven't started looking as I just arrived home and my wife told me about this.

Just a shot in the dark but I used to have an 84 that would do this. Turns out I had a small hole in my exhaust pipe before the catalytic converter. Somehow if you have a small leak in the exaust at certain points it causes a backfire situation. Mine would mostly pop when shifting gears or letting off accelerator. Scared the piss out of this one guy I backfired next to on the highway. I looked to my side when it happened, he screamed, then looked like he was going to cry, then he just pulled over to the side and put his head in his hands. Never saw him again. Got the pinhole diagnosed and welded the next day. Check for exhast leaks especially catalytic converter and forward to the engine.

Well, I pushed the plunger into the slave cylinder and watched the fluid level rise in the master cylinder. Then I sucked the master cylinder near dry and refilled with new fluid. THen I loosened the bleeder valve and put my vacuum to that. I let the mc run near dry twice filling it with new brake fluid each time. I topped it off and just drove it about 30 miles around town today. The pedal feels better and is returning to the top as it should. We'll see if it lasts.

I could try bleeding the air out like I do with power steering systems. I put my vacuum to the reservoir in place of the cap. Put vacuum on it until no more bubbles. But yes, I will try what you suggest and if it doesn't work I can get a new master cylinder. It does seem strange that this only occurred immediately after I replaced the clutch. Is the rod from the slave cylinder always supposed to remain in contact with the fork? When I let off the pedal the two remain in contact. When I pull the clutch pedal the rest of the way up the rod pulls away from the fork. It would be difficult to measure but just guessing its moving away 1/8 to 1/4 inch.

I finally got around to this job Friday. I am glad I decided to do the timing belt. It appears a near disaster was avoided. It looks like the thing was rubbing on the guard that is over the camshaft. The gates kit came with a plastic spacer for proper installation. Everything went off without a hitch. Almost, now that the new clutch is in I have a new symptom. The clutch seems to be fine except now the pedal only returns about 2/3 the way up. If i pull the pedall all the way to the top and check the fork it is not touching the piston from the clutch slave cylinder. If I release the clutch pedal and let it rest where it wants to stop on its own and check the fork is touching the slave cylinder piston as I feel it should. I've never had any experience with hydraulic clutches so any advice on adjustments, if there are any, on the clutch system to make up for the slack I now have. BTW, this slack was not present before the clutch replacement. I plan on bleeding the clutch tomorrow. I assume its as easy as using my vacuum connected t the bleeder valve and sucking the old brake fluid out while filling with new fluid. Is this correct?

I changed my knock sensor a week ago and have not seen that code since. Like the others say, it is a breeze to change. Just use long extensions and be sure to take note of the orientation of the knock sensor before you remove the old one. Put the new one back in the same way or you risk cracking the new one. However I am still getting the P0420 catalyst error code.

Update: I have all the parts. Few other things going on right now. I'm planning on starting this job on the 18th when I have a week off work. Just in case there are any snags.

Very good info guys. Thanks. I won't touch that rear main seal unless it is leaking. I would have had no idea what to call that oil separator plate after I pulled the engine and saw it leaking. If the oil separator isn't leaking and it is the aluminum one should I mess with it or leave it alone? Just from reading this I'm feeling like I should go ahead and replace it with a steel one and reseal. BTW I did a quick search on the oil separator plate and came up with this: http://allwheeldriveauto.com/subaru-seperator-plate-explained/. Very informative. Another question; I think I read there is an o-ring on the oil pump that leaks. Just in case does anyone know the part number or size for replacement? Also, head torquing sequence and ft/lbs specs?

I ordered a Gates timing belt with water pump kit, Sachs clutch kit, camshaft seals, front crankshaft seal, rear seal, oil pan gasket, and valve cover seal set. I'm going with the idea on the head gaskets if it ain't broke don't fix it. Probably jut re-torque them and add the headgasket conditioner from Subaru. Am I missing anything I should do while the engine is out?

I cleared the code with my actron code reader. Did a search on amazon and yep, $15. I think I'll go ahead and try replacing since it cost way less than I thought it was going to. I'll post whether it works or not.

I've got the P0325 knock sensor code. I separated the connector and read 3.2 volts from the open connector. I put the connector to the knock sensor back together and put a pin into the connector and read 2 volts. Is this the correct voltage readings? I am using a digital volt meter. I pulled the knock sensor and it doesn't appear to have any cracks in the casing. I cleaned the metal surface on the sensor and the block where it attaches. Put it back and cleared the code. Did a couple miles driving and the code reappeared. More tests or replace? Also, the heat shields are rattling at certain rpm's an I need to secure them better. Could they be triggering the knock sensor for some reason?

I just picked up this car for my wife. It is a 2.5L with 5spd. I was going up a steep hill in 2nd gear and at one point the clutch started to slip. I backed off the accelerator and it grabbed again. Looks like the clutch will be due for replacement soon. Unless there is some adjustment to the clutch I can do. I have limited to no experience with hydraulic clutches. Is there a clutch adjustment? Anyways, the car has 173k miles on it and no way to verify if the timing belt has ever been replaced. I'm thinking since the clutch slipped and probably needs to be replaced I can just pull the engine to do that and then get to the timing belt components easier. I want to change all of the seals as well. I think I read somewhere there is a special tool need to get to the cam shaft seals. Is this true? I've also read that these head gaskets were prone to going out. Since I will have the engine out would it be a good idea to yank the heads and do the gaskets as well? Anyone know of good write ups for: timing belt, pulley and seal replacement; head gasket replacement? Also any advice on part brands for the listed jobs I'm about to do i.e. clutch, seals, pulleys, head gaskets. This car is going to be a dd so high performance isn't on the menu. Thanks in advance. I have plenty of experience on the ea71, ea81, ea82 engine models. This a new world of subaru to me.

Now if I could get hold of a NOS set that would be fantastic. Put the R1134 connectors on and wham! No worries about mixing the coolants.Sub78, no worries bro. I'd never want to jinx a fellow subie enthusiast. Enjoy that ride for a long time.