gbhrps

Gentlemen and Ladies, Bought my 07 OBW LTD new and noticed that the Special Edition and boxer 6 models had outside mirrors with built in turn signals. I liked the look and wondered if anyone has purchased and installed a set . I believe that as well as the new mirrors, two short wiring harnesses for the turn signals are required. Has anyone tackled installing a set?

Hal9000, For several years Subaru kept the length of the piston skirts as short as possible to reduce piston weight and lengthen engine life. The result was that in some engines when cold, the pistons would flop back and forth in the cylinders until they heated up and expanded enough to contact the cylinder walls more closely. I believe that the problem was eliminated in the 2005 model year, as well as the leaking head gasket problem.

Vasy, I used stock Nissan PCV valves that were listed for the 90 300ZX. As I stated, they completely eliminated the leaking oil from the rear crank seal in my case.

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Someone suggested changing your PCV valve in order to stop the rear seal leak. One of my toys is a 90 Nissan 300ZX that at year 12 developed a rear seal leak. An online forum suggested that rather than replace the rear seal, first replace the PCV valves to lower the crankcase pressure and see if that didn't stop the oil leak out past the rear seal. With the PCV valves (The car had 2 of them) the oil leak has not reappeared since that day, and the car is now 19.

Hal9000, My last OBW LTD was an 02 that I bought new and loved so much that I kept it for 5 years. It developed a bit of piston slap (sounded more like "pock pock pock" when cold ) at about 23 000 km and it always went away as the engine heated up. The noise was always more pronounced during the cold months of the year. Piston slap may be annoying but will not shorten the engine's life in any way, or lead to major repairs. This may be what you're hearing, then again maybe not. If it is indeed piston slap, you'll have to decide whether it annoys you enough to pass on this car.

To the guys and gals behind USMB: Thanks so much for all of the hard work you've put into getting the site back up and running! We all felt like we'd lost a member of the family during the site's down time. I can't tell you how much I've learned from the people on this site over the years. It really brought home the saying " You don't know what you've got until its gone." Thanks Again!

ageroxz, Been there, done that ..... but with an 02 Outback LTD and my present 07 Outback LTD. I literally tore the rear panels, the jack, the spare tire and all, from both of these cars when I first got them, trying to track down where the rattle was coming from. In both cases I finally found out that the culprit was the rear shoulder belt that stows in the ceiling, back by the tailgate. If you don't have that belt correctly seated in its ceiling receptacle, so that it can't rattle, you'll be chasing noises that seem to come from other places. Hope this turns out to be your solution. Good Luck!

Kappagirl, I'd be willing to bet that the guys have hit on your water problem. Just like those window air conditioners you see dripping water when they are running, your HVAC system does the same thing. The water is supposed to run out of the bottom of the heater box in the car and go through a rubber hose that exits through the firewall behind the engine, and dump onto the ground. If that hose comes unconnected, or the end of it becomes plugged, the water builds up inside the heater box and eventually goes onto the floor. It is a very common occurrence for every car manufacturer with AC. The fix is simple, and from what you describe I agree with the guys that you should experience no mould issues. As for your tire monitor, if one tire is losing air through a nail hole, a leak around the tire bead on the rim, or because it has a bad tire valve, the monitor will indicate it until you get the problem corrected. At this stage, unless you have a nail in the tire, the dealership should happily rectify the problem for you. Again this is very common for every car manufacturer. Trust us ..... you bought the right car! Good Luck!

Mountaingoatgruff, We're glad to hear that everyone came out of the mishap with minimal injuries. Any accident you can walk away from is a good accident. The Subie obviously did what it was supposed to do .... take the hit, fold up, and keep the passengers safe. From the pictures and my collision shop experience, I really think you got off lucky from a repair standpoint. A used tailgate, bumper cover, bumper bash bar, and some time on the frame bench should put the car right again. It doesn't appear to be anywhere near a write off. Of course, there may be other damage that can't be seen, but I think the car is highly fixable and would be safe when corrected. Good Luck!

Griffenrider, Like you, I've had a love affair with the OBW's, particularly the LTD's. I've had three, a 97, an 02 and presently an 07. Each one was better than the last, and this last generation particularly so. In my opinion it handles better, has much better creature comforts, has killer looks, and is more user friendly. I particularly like the fact that the rear seats fold flat with no removal of the rear head rests. Previous models required removing the head rests in order to fold the seats, and even required flipping the rear seat bottom forward before you could fold the seat backs down. The new generation even has below floor storage for the rear cargo shade, which wasn't available before. The centre console cup holders are finally substantial, not flimsy, or situated where a spill could be particularly messy. The dual sunroof now opens to one uninterrupted opening instead of two smaller ones, and on and on. The dreaded piston slap and blown headgasket issues have finally been addressed. I don't think you can go too far wrong with one of these, and if you behave yourself with the accelerator pedal, you can pull 35 miles per Canadian gallon out of the 2.5 automatic all day long. I agree with you to "let someone else take the depreciation hit" and buy the nicest used 05, 06, or 07 you can find. You could do far worse in my opinion.

Grossgary, Just a thought, based on a situation I recently came across on a friend's jeep. When you changed the calipers ... did you put the correct caliper on the correct side of the car both front and rear? What I'm driving at .... are the bleeder screws at the top of all of the calipers? My friend's jeep did pretty much like you describe, certainly because of the air in two of the calipers. My apologies if everything checks out correctly.

Definitely flush the entire brake system after checking and relubing all of the calipers and pads. I'd be surprised if the rotors all didn't require turning or replacement. You may need calipers as well if any show signs of sticking. As far as the dog smell is concerned, I've had good success with Meguiar's Car Odor Eliminator in the clear yellow pump spray. Follow the directions and you'll be very surprised. It totally removed the cigarette smoke smell from a sports car I purchased years ago. Good Luck!

Its not squeaking. What he's suggesting is that because corrosion has the slide pins sticking, not allowing the pads even and free movement when the brake pedal is released, the pad is squeaking at that location. While you're at it, check to see if your cailper pistons move freely in and out, and are not sticking. Pull the caliper on one side, have someone give a moderate push on the brake pedal while you watch the piston move, and then push the piston back in using a large C clamp. You should be able to do so fairly easily. Reinstall that caliper and then do the other side. If not you would be wise to either rebuild the calipers or replace them. I would also suggest a complete brake flush and bleeding when done. Good Luck!

Nipper is most likely correct, that your sunroof drains are plugged or one has come disconnected from the sunroof drain rail. If your wagon has the dual sunroof it'll have 6 drain tubes. One down each front A Pillar for the front corners of the sunroof. One on each side about midway back along the sunroof, that follow the roof to behind the rear doors and empty behind the rear wheel wells, and one at the very rear of the sunroof rails on either side that empty behind the rear wheel wells between the body and the rear bumper cover. You can try to locate the drain holes with the sunroof open and blow them out with an airgun. I suspect from where your leak is located that your rear drain is the culprit. Its either plugged or has come disconnected . If you find that an airgun won't solve the problem, you'll have to pull down that side of the headliner where the leak is suspected. To do that the inside rear panels around the rear quarter glass will have to come out, as well as the push on moulding that goes up the rear door opening over the headliner edge. You may as well have to pull down the ceiling pins in the rear of the car on that same side, as well as the centre top moulding in the tailgate opening. If you have overhead assist straps on the rear door, pull those as well. Doing just that should give you enough room to pull down just that rear corner of the headliner to access the rear drain tube. Pull the tube off the end of the drain rail, blow through it and the drain tube end and you should be good to go. You can even put the tube back on and put on a small clamp to prevent its coming off in future, just don't overtighten the clamp as the draintube end that the plastic tube pushes on to is plastic (at least it was in my 02). If you need to pull the entire headliner (a 1 and a half hour job and fairly easy) to get at it, get back to this post and I'll give you a search thread that gives all of the directions to a posting here that I wrote up several years ago. Good Luck!

What you are pointing to in the picture just aligns the door upon closing and in some accident situations more agressively attaches the door to the body of the car to make the body of the car have more integrity, I think. Its most likely attached to a floating nut inside the C pillar, and can be adjusted slightly up, down and sideways. I dont know for certain but its worth a try. (I had to do the same thing with a similar lock pin on a 70 Barracuda last week.) You'll need a Torx bit of the same diameter (Try a 150 Torx bit?) as its fitting (the star shaped indentation at the very end of the pin). Loosen the fitting until you can reposition the entire pin in whichever direction you find allows the door to close properly, and retighten it. Good Luck!

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There is a shop nearby that does collision work, etc., and during the slow season buys lightly hit wrecks (one smacked in the front corner, another of the same year and model that was totalled in the rear) fixes the best with parts from the other, and then sells the car. Frequently, the power windows, door locks and power seats from the one car end up in the other car making resale easier. These cars are usually domestic brands and in every case the necessary fuses and relays were already in the fusepanels, and the needed wiring harnesses were hiding in the doors and under the carpeting. This makes it much cheaper for the car companies to sell just 3 upgrade packages or so for every model. Since the wiring is already there, they just need to add the accessories. I would think that Subaru would do the same thing. I can't say for certain, but I'd be willing to bet that you'll find what you need already in your car. I can say for certain that the 07 OBW's that someone wants to add the power mirrors that have the built in turn signals will require the additional short harnesses from the kickpanels to the inside of the doors (Been there and was told by the parts guy they would be missing). Good Luck!

This generation of OBW's had another source for leaks from the sunroof that was covered by a TSB. Where the metal for the roof is rolled down into the opening for the sunroof, a factory calking was to be applied from the front outside corners of the sunroof opening towards the rear. In some cars this wasn't done and rain water would be wicked into the metal seams, follow the roof substructure supports and eventually would leak out from the overhead maplights at the windshield. My 02 had the caulking but it shrank and spider cracked the paint about 2 inches back from the front corners of the sunroof opening, and the water wicked in as I described. The fix was to rough up the paint in the area w2ith 180 grit sandpaper, apply a 5 minute epoxy very thinly over the area, and then paint the epoxy with touchup paint. Leak ceased. This could be part of your problem if the drain tubes are not the source.

I've had a similar problem over the years and what I recall doing was to decrease the interior diameter of the battery terminal. As I recall I cut a half inch by 2 inch (or so) piece of metal from an old piece of galvanized house heating duct and bent it around the inside of the battery cable terminal connector. (I suppose you could use the metal from a tin can if you sand the varnish off of it first, or something similar that will conduct electricity well.) Open up the cable terminal to allow for the added metal, put the new ring of metal inside, place it on the battery post and then tighten it down snuggly. You should be good to go then. Good Luck.

Any articles I've read over the years that apply to storing antique automobiles for any length of time always say to top up the gas tank to prevent condensation. As for starting the engine up very couple of months, don't, unless you are going to run it for more than 15 minutes to clear condensation from the exhaust system, and then move the car forwards and backwards (even if just in the driveway)to lubricate the tranny and rear end gears and seals, as well as free up the calipers and wheel cylinders. The suspension should stay loaded (meaning resting on the tires, or the suspension on jack stands with the tires off the ground). Remove the battery from the car (prevents a short circuit fire from rodents) and trickle charge it once a month. As for mice, use mothballs liberally throughout the car, or use cloves instead (cloves leaves a nice spicy smell). A neighbour had several hundred dollars worth of interior damage from mice that chewed apart his rear seats to make a nest in his dash air ducts.

My 90 Nissan 300ZX toy started leaking from its rear main seal some 10 years ago, marking its territory on my garage floor after each run. The repair estimates were into the $1000 range to pull the exhaust, drop the clutch and tranny and replace the seal. Someone who had been there and done that suggested replacing the pcv's first (car has two of them). $30 later I had no oil leak and it hasn't reappeared since.

In the past I have picked up live battery power right from the fuse panel inside the car. Typically several fuses (radio, clock, horn, interior lights, etc.) are live at all times. What I have done is to tap off one side of the fuse that is hot. Use a standard test light, ground its lead to a good ground under the dash, pull out the clock fuse (for example) and put the test probe into either of the two blade connectors the clock fuse came from, until you find which side is live. There are special connectors that you can find from audio installers that simply fit over the blade of the fuse before you push it back into the fuse block. You either solder or crimp this connector to the wire that you need to supply your amp. One word of caution. You must put an inline fuse on this new power line as this method has just bypassed the fuse box altogether. You would hate to watch the car burn up two weeks after you installed the new amps because of a short circuit somewhere underneath the carpets. Good Luck!

Been some years and two other OBW's since my 98, but only two things come to mind. You may develop the dreaded piston slap that is more of an annoyance than a problem in any way. Mine did, but then after 269 000 km it didn't amount to anything more than a noise from cold start till warmup, particularly on cold days. Watch for the leaking head gasket signs, coolant smells after shutdown, tiny coolant pools under the car, bubbles in the radiator when the engine is running and you have the rad cap off (obviously done when the engine is cold), and engine overheating. I never had the problem myself, but lots of other folks did. Check the black metal braket in the tailgate that the tailgate opening latch and the license plate lights attach to. This generation of OBW's had a lot of rust problems with that bracket. They are not difficult to change, cost around $11.00 as I recall, and are simple to sand blast, prime and repaint if you are so inclined. Other than that, you'll love the car! Good Luck!

At my first timing belt change for my 97 OBW (at 100 000 km) the Subie Tech said that a water pump change wasn't normally suggested until the second timing belt change, and every second one after that. I wouldn't think that a 99 would be any different. My present 07 OBW has the timing belt change extended to 168 000 km. Don't know for sure, but I'm willing to bet that they suggest a water pump change at the same time.