gbhrps

This sounds so familiar! I'll bet a small amount of money (because I'm cheap) that the problem is the driver's power window switch. Been there and had it happen to me. I removed the switch from the door and squirted electrical contact cleaner through any and every opening that I could get it into the switch and then cycled the switch several times. That cleaned up the contacts enough that everything worked perfectly well for 6 months before it reared its ugly head again. This time I opened the switch up to clean up the contacts inside (there is very good advice already given about opening up the switch inside a plastic bag, since I chased a spring across my garage for the better part of an hour before I could find it again) and it worked perfectly for the next 3 years that I owned the car before I traded it. Good Luck!

I'm presently on my 3rd Subie, an 07 OutBack Wagon, after previously having owned a 02 OBW and an 97 OBW. When this one gets traded on my next vehicle it will also be a Subie. Whether it will be another OBW or a Forester will depend on the body design, features available and the colours available at that time. While my wife's Lexus is the cat's meow for comfort, when the weather turns nasty, or we need to carry some cargo, the Subie can't be beat.

Having done most of the work myself to repair the lift mechanism on my last 02 OBW LTD, my advice is to bite the bullet and have the dealership do the job. Unless you can find a totalled 2000-2004 OBW with a good sunroof in a junkyard, the glass can't be repaired, but only replaced. Its curved, and its glued to its steel frame, as well as having its seal bonded to both. If you want, buy the front glass assembly only, raise the roof as usual, and then looking up and back at the lift assembly you'll see 2 flat plastic caps that just pull off from over the front sunroof's lift points. Underneath are 2 (or maybe 4 its been a long time) 10 mm nuts that unlock the rear of the sunroof, and allow you to raise the entire sunroof almost vertical. Then at its front edge you'll see 2 (or 4 again) more 10 mm bolts that allow the entire front sunroof to be removed. Be careful not to lose any shims that maybe located under the bolts. Upon reassembly, be sure to install the sunroof side to side equally and get it centered in its opening, and then test drive the car at highway speeds to check for windnoise that wasn't there before the repair. (Been there and didn't do it the first time) NOTE: DO NOT push down or pull up on the lift mechanism scissors. They are fragile. And do not cycle the lift mechanism up or down until after you have the new sunroof back in place. The sunroof actually locates them in place and without it in place you'll strip the scissors assemblies from their locations. Good Luck!

The one item missed here is the brakes. At this mileage they need to be inspected, taken apart, cleaned, relubed and reinstalled. It'll prevent uneven pad wear, extend their life, and give you a good indication as to when you need to replace them.

At about 23 000 km on my last OBW (an 02) the dealership found very small coolant leaks in both heads. The car had had no symptoms whatsoever of overheating, blowby, bubbling in the radiator, etc. What had caught my attention was the occasional smell of coolant when I got out of the car after a run, but never any coolant was found on the ground. The dealership put the car on a hoist, found the two small leaks, and we arranged for the headgaskets to be changed at a later date, which was done under warranty. I put another 200 000 km on the car with no more problems.

We are all so glad that you found it! I remember picking up my 02 OBW and the new factory trailer hitch the same day at the dealership, and then rushing home to put it on. I opened the trailer hitch wiring harness package that came with the new hitch, read the instructions, and then hunted for an hour for that darn plug, only to find it on the entire opposite side of the car that the instructions stated! Thank the Lord that on my 07 the instructions lead right to it. (I guess that sometimes the factory and the parts suppliers get their messages crossed.)

The plug on my 02 OBW LTD was on the driver's side between the tail lights and the wheel well.

So you've got the dreaded piston slap, but its not the end of the world. Yes, its annoying but my experience with it, as well as anything that has been written here in various posts is that it will not affect the performance or longevity of your engine. My 97 developed it at 23 000 km and it never got any worse all the way to 269 000 km at trade time, and it never reared its ugly head on my 02, and the my 07 is as silent as a church mouse, and the best OBW I've owned of all three. Sure, you shouldn't have to put up with it, its annoying as hell, but it won't let you down.

I can't say whether the radio in a standard Outback is the same or not, but the unit in my 07 Outback Wagon LTD is fabulous. The mp3 player jack is located inside the centre armrest, along with a separate 12 volt plugin. There is no random selection for the 6 disc cd player, but there is a separate button that fires up the SRS WOW audio, and it sounds amazing. I must say that even without the optional subwoofer under the seat, the entire unit is almost as nice as the Mark Levison system in my wife's Lexus.

This is my 3rd Outback Wagon since 97 and I'll always own until the day I can't drive anymore. With a good set of winter tires they are almost unstoppable. There is no white-knuckled driving. The only problem you'll have is the other cars on the road that slow you down, or poor visibility. Great cars!

This may not apply for the the unit you have, and unless you are confident enough to open up a radio/cd to do some exploring. Over the years I've had the same problems with various cd players in various cars and have repaired them myself. What usually happens is that the drive belt (actually a rubber band) that either spins the turntable or operates the load/eject mechanism either breaks, slips or jumps its pulleys. Taking the old belt to a repair shop and getting a replacement cost three or four dollars. This is a job that takes some patience and such things as needle nosed pliers, dental picks and small screw drivers. Once you have the unit open you may find an obvious problem like a broken belt. If not, its best left to the professionals. Good Luck!

This may not be your problem, but I've had rattle/clunks traced back to loose calipers and/or brake pads. In this case the rattle/clunk is not present when braking, since all the parts can't move with your foot on the brake tightening everything up.

Rust through means that the old metal must be cut out and new metal grafted in. If this is the only area on the panel that shows any rot, then a patch is usually put in larger than the rusted area. If it is more extensive, then the entire quarter panel may be the way to go. Regardless, it would be best to leave this particular job to the professionals. Unless you are prepared to drop the gas tank out of the car, don't try it on your own. The slightest spark could spell disaster. Good Luck!

I've never heard of this on a Subie, but I am familiar with it on 90-96 Nissan 300zx's. The 2 hood nozzles will dribble fluid on the hood under acceleration if their inline one-way check valves are stuck open. They are about a half inch in diameter and about three quarters of an inch long, including their inlet and outlet stems (entirely made of plastic) that the hose slides over. I suspect that they are spring loaded so that the valve will only open up when under pressure from the washer motor. There are two of them under the hood and inline just before the nozzles. They aren't expensive to buy. If there isn't a similar check valve on your Subie, and if no one else can come up with a cure, you might want to check this Nissan part out. It could solve your problem.

If you pull the radio from the dash and don't find the wiring harness to the radio loose or corroded, and pull the interior door panels on the doors that have the silent speakers and don't find the same problem I described as up front, the next place to look is at the door hinge areas. Frequent opening and closing of doors mixed with old age can pinch or break the wires where they leave the body of the car and enter the doors. Usually its right at or inside the corrogated rubber sleave that the wires go through. Good Luck!

You got good advice about getting the car somewhere where you can get its temperature up to 70 degrees. It'll be a lot less liable to break any plastic plugs or panels at that temperature. Pull the plugs that you see along the bottom, then with a flat bladed screwdriver taped up so it won't scratch panels or paint, run it along the seam between the panel and the tailgate metal until you can pry up the panel with your fingers. You will find that there are about 8 plastic plugs you can't see that easily pop out of the tailgate, staying attached to the back panel, as you pull the panel away carefully from the tailgate. Its easy to remove the wiring harness from the motor, its mounting bolts, and remove the unit from the tailgate at that point.

I just recently went through this with my 90 300ZX within the last 4 months. I tried 7 hydraulic rebuild places where I live, and nobody would touch it. I got the same response from them all. There was no way for them to remove my end fittings and properly install them on a new section of pressure hose. They were all afraid that when done the reconditioned hose would not stand up to the 800 psi pressure. In my case I was forced to buy a new hose assembly. You may find this to be the same in your case. We'd be interested to know if you can get someone to rebuild it, so get back to us if you do! Good Luck!

You are correct! The front and rear covers are basically attached in the same manner. Most of the plastic plugs have a centre section that you pry part way out, releasing the larger section of the plug. You usually find 5 or six along the top of the bumper cover, and another 5 or 6 along the underside. The only other fasteners are at the wheel well, screws or small boots, usually no more than 3 or 4. Be aware that if you have fog lights in the front bumper cover you may have to wrestle them out first. My last 02 OBW needed a bulb replacement in one and the fog light was a bitc* to get out (no room, rusted bolts). Once the cover is off, see if a body shop can repair your old one. If its just a tear, it may be repairable for less cost than a new cover. In some cases the damage is so far gone to make it cheaper to just get another one. Good Luck!

This is typical of rear wiper systems as they age. I've done a number of them over the years and almost always for the same reason, their lack of constant use and the way in which they are made. Use it or lose it applies to these motors. The body of the units is usually a cast alloy material while the final drive shaft to the wiper arm is usually steel. As water and time and lack of use add up the 2 metals corrode, start to slow down the shaft's speed to which the wiper arm is attached, and eventually will seize the shaft altogether. If the unit still moves, you can usually free the shaft up, relube it and get many more years out of it. Lift up the plastic cover where the wiper arm comes through the tailgate, remove the nut on the end of the shaft and pry the wiper arm off. Its not rocket science to remove the rear deck interior panel (just pull the plastic plugs, any visible screws, and then just pull the panel straight off), disconnect the wiring harness to the wiper motor, unbolt the motor assemble and remove it from the tailgate. At this point you'll be able to judge whether you can get the gearbox open to take the unit apart. Some are held together with small screws or bolts, some are rivetted. If rivetted, determine if you can drill or grind the ends off of the rivets, and if so, whether you'll be able to drill through the body of the unit edges to put it back together using small bolts where the rivets were. If you can get it apart, clean and relube all interior parts with grease and put it back together. Maybe it won't be possible to disassemble the unit. If so, see if you can drill into the case where the final drive shaft exits the case. In the past I've put one or two units into a drill press, and have drilled just part way through the final drive case till just touching the steel drive shaft without drilling into it. Then I was able to spray white grease into the hole to lube the shaft. Regardless of which way you do the project, hook a 12 volt battery up to the wire harness of the motor, to be be sure it works before putting the unit back into the car. If all of this is above your abilities (a man has got to know his limitations), you might be further ahead to just get a used unit (test it) or get a new one. Good Luck!

chadwick35/04, Its amazing how much better treated you feel when you realize that the dealership and you are at an impass, and they agree to meet you half way, when they could have firmly just said "no"! So often you hear where this dealer or that dealer took a hard line when they could have gotten so much more benefit from splitting the repair with the customer. Over the years I had one or two of these "we'll split the cost with you" as a goodwill gesture when tyhe car is out of warranty, and it sure makes you want to continue as a customer. Not to mention the good PR they get from you're retelling the story, as you've done here. Glad to hear it worked out for you, and glad to know that there are other fine Subaru dealerships out there, just like the one I deal with, Subaru of London, in London, Ontario, Canada!

EVOthis, I share your pain about the cost of body repairs when money is tight, but safety should be a major concern. That rocker panel has been designed to protect the driver in a frontal and side collision, to transfer the forces to the rest of the car body evenly in a controlled manner, and to help prevent the nose of the other car coming into your driver's space. If it is badly rusted, you need to have the rusted section cut out by a good bodyman and a new section welded in. Filling it with bondo is just silly and dangerous. I would advise getting the metal replaced correctly, and if you must cut corners, do the metal prep, priming and final painting yourself with spray cans.

Blaze, Its been 20 years but I had a similar problem on an older pickup. Don't waste your time dinking around with it yourself. Take it to a muffler shop and they will be able to remove the old flange, clean it and the pipe up, put in a reinforced section of pipe over the existing pipe and reweld both together with the flange, after they rebolt the flange to its mate. It won't take them more than a half hour and it'll be done right without any exhaust gases leaking into the interior of the car. Depending on how solid your pieces are, the repair may last longer than the rest of the system. Good Luck!

mtsmiths, I've got 2 questions for you that you may not have thought of, or may not be a concern because you have them already covered. I'm not familiar with the make of GPS unit you have, but both of my units (another make) have to be placed on the dash with the built in antenna able to see the satellites through the windshield. With your unit inside the storage compartment you may not get a satellite signal rendering your GPS unit useless, unless you have the ability to purchase an add an external antenna to your unit and position it somewhere on the windshield. The other problem is the cautionary warning label inside the storage compartment that says because of trapped heat in the storage compartment, items placed there may overheat and become damaged. This may or may not be a problem since the factory GPS unit is installed in the same location, but there may some changes to the compartment that allows the heat to be expelled when the GPS option is purchased. Hope this is of some help!

I have owned a 97 OBW, an 02 OBW LTD and presently own an 07 OBW LTD. My wife and I both felt that the 02 was a far improvement over the 97, and our 07 is that much improved again over the 02. It handles better, has more get up and go than the 02, has a classier interior, and the big plus ... you can flip down the rear seats with the headrests attached to get a flat cargo area, without first having to remove the 3 headrests, then flipping the rear seat bottom forward before folding down the rear seat backs. Putting back up the older generation rearseats also involved having to sort out the rear seatbelts as well, because they really didn't stay that well in their stowage ports when folded forward. Also, it finally appears that the latest generation has put the head gasket problem to rest.

I'll bet that 86Bratman has hit on it for you. Check under the car for a loose plastic engine shield, etc. Noises that appear to be up close in the dash or just beyond can turn out to be much farther afield. My Nissan 300ZX developed a squeak that I was sure was inside the instrument panel, but turned out to be the rubber hood height adjust bumpers right at the front of the car. Good Luck!