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Spiney, If one caliper is sticking, the rest are not far behind as they all live in the same environment. I do all of my own work on my vehicles and I've fixed a lot of partially seized calipers on my cars and friends vehicles as well. You pop out the piston and clean the piston and the caliper bore with "Fine" steel wool (0000) and flush them clean with fresh brake fluid. Check the piston for rust pits. If its badly pitted ... replace the caliper. But if it cleans up well, put it back in the caliper and finish the brake job. (Pitted caliper will leak fluid.) Check YouTube videos for popping the pistons out using compressed air or a grease gun, andother ones for expanding the caliper dust seal to pop them back into the caliper using an air gun. Unfortunately, I can't place the video links here because they don't load properly. I've tried for the better part of 20 minutes with no success. Do a YouTube search for them, because they are slick ways to fix your problem fast. I've used these two methods for years with great success. Consider replacing your flex hoses as well on a 14 year old car. Good Luck!

edit problem, will repost

ThosL, Fuel line deicer/fuel line antifreeze (I believe its wood alcohol?) is what is being referred to. A small container added to a full tank of fuel will absorb any water in your fuel tank/lines and allow it to burn. I always add one to the tanks of my vehicles during the winter, about half way through the winter season, even though I've never had a fuel line freeze up issue. Another thing to decrease the possibility of water in the first place, is to always keep the fuel tank as full as possible. This leaves little room for air in the tank to condense the water from it into the fuel.

jread, The marks have worn off because the back of the timing belt goes around the various idler pulleys and the water pump pulley. As for the timing marks, each of the cam pulleys and the crank pulley have a timing mark stamped into them that matches up with a mark on the front of the engine when they are in the proper position. Basically, if each cam mark and the crank pulley marks are properly located with their marks on the engine casing, you have only to put the belt on ensuring no slop between the various pulleys, other than the tensioner pulley, before you pull the pin on the tensioner. Now it is a little more involved than that, because you need to ensure that the crank pulley is correctly aligned at Top Dead Center for cylinder #1. All of this is explained in YouTube videos (get the proper one for your engine though) and in the Factory Service Manual. You can download a free copy of it here: http://jdmfsm.info/Auto/Japan/Subaru/Legacy%20Outback/1999/ Good Luck!

subaruK2, All three systems are tied together, so one fault could throw the three warning lights. You should be fine to use the car in the meantime, until you can get it in to have it checked. If things were really serious, the brake warning light would be on, or the engine would have gone into Limp Mode. I just wouldn't suggest going any long distances before getting the issue resolved.

eBrowning, It depends on what kind of a leak you have. We really need more information to diagnose the issue. If all you have is small amounts of dripping water from the overhead console lights during turns, then that fix is an easy DIY fix for that generation of Subie Outback Wgn. If it is your issue, get back to us and I'll describe the problem and the fix. If the water leak is from some other area, the guys have already described the fixes needed. As well, on older subies, I have seen the plastic drain tubes split right at the end of the roof rain channel, allowing water to come in. That requires the headliner to be pulled down, the drain tubes cut past the split and then sealed back onto the drain end pipe on the rain channel.

rsf27, I've done tons of these on just about every make of car and they are all pretty straight forward. Open the hood, pop out the various plastic plugs (sometimes small bolts), do the same on the bottom, remove the bolt/screw at the very corner of the bumper cover and the fender at the wheel well, and pop the cover straight forward from the car about 6 inches out. Reach in behind and unplug the fog light wiring connectors (if applicable), and the cover is off. The hint I can give you is to use masking tape on the headlight edges and the front fender seams where the bumper cover meets it, before attempting the reinstall. Reinstallation is a 2 man operation to ensure you don't scratch up the new paint on the cover. Then reinstall all of the fasteners. Fiddly, but fairly easy to do. Good Luck!

davidschaffer, Do all of what GreaseMonkey has suggested and then bleed the brakes, all four corners, as well. You may well have sucked air into the system before you topped up the reservoir.

akbluesubaru, It could be either one. Your key switch contacts could be worn to the point that they require heat to expand and make contact. The same could be said for the combination switch (turn signal stalk). The only way to know for sure, would be to remove the plastic top and bottom covers of the steering column, locate the wiring connector for the headlight feed and test the voltage. Before any of that, I'd be pulling the headlight fuses and relays and reinserting them, to ensure they are making a good contact, and not feeding back to the system. You might even try swapping the headlight relays (may be more than one) with others in the fuse box panel with the same number stamped on them. Good Luck!

idic5, Extended warranties are a waste of money for the car owner, and a real money maker for the dealerships. Save the $1750 and put it into a separate bank account for future repairs, which may never be required. If not, then it'll sure buy the next set of tires, brakes or whatever. Or spend it on the next car purchase. And consider what use it'll be to you, if two months down the road, a drunk totals the car after running a red light. Will the dealership pass the remaining extended warranty onto your next car? I have a nephew who got talked into one back in 2003 on a Honda van. That $1750 he added to the financing of the car to cover the extended warranty, ran up to over $2000 by the time he had finished paying the loan off. And he never needed the warranty in the 14 years he owned the vehicle. $2000 out the window. That sure could have bought a lot of car maintenance over those years. As for the CD's, ... buy a CD changer deck, put it in the glove box, and wire it to the aux input on the Imprezza sound system. Better yet, have him download the CD's to an ipod and plug that into the Imprezza's aux input. Junk yards should have CD changer decks suitable for the job, and easily wired into the trunk of the car. In fact my wife's first Leus had a 6 pack cartridge unit in its trunk, a 1997 ES300. If the seat is uncomfortable? How long was his test drive? If its uncomfortable after 4 hours of driving, yeah, replace it. But maybe he didn't have it adjusted properly. As for eyesight problems, few have been reported. However, if the windshield should ever need replacing, the dealership may have to reset the twin cameras to work with the new glass.

idic5, I live an hour from the Detroit/Windsor border on the Canadian border, and share much of the same winter driving conditions that you have. With a good set of winter tires subies are darn near crazy glued to the road if driven intelligently. You will be able to go where many others wouldn't dream to drive in winter weather, or heavy rain for that matter. As for reliability, I've owned 4 OutBacks, including a 1997, a 2003, a 2007 and my present 2012. Warranty wise I have had one tailgate subie emblem, and one door speaker replaced. Service out of warranty has been for one rear wheel bearing, a tilt mechanism of one sunroof, and regular maintenance (brakes, wiper blades, oil & filter changes, tires, spark plugs, air filters, etc.), all of which I have done myself. That's it in 20 years of owning the four subies. They have been as reliable as any car could possibly be, in my experience. And I will be owning more of them in the future. I'm a backyard mechanic who has been in the backyard more than a few years, and I can say that these cars are easy to work on. Let the dealership handle the warranty work until it runs out, then find a good independent mechanic you can trust for anything beyond the warranty. As for parts cost, they are no more expensive than any other make, short of Mercedes, Audi, BMW, Porsche, Cadillac, etc., whose parts are like gold to buy. That said, everyone knows of someone who bought a car that nickeled and dimed them to bankruptcy, and ocassionally someone with a subie will have an issue outside of the norm, but these are rare. After all, something made of 35 000 parts will have something go wrong once in a while. Check the online comments from Consumer Reports who highly recommend Subaru products' reliabilty, as well as several other makes. They are about as trouble free as any car you could own. The best of luck with your new car purchase, whether it be the Imprezza or not!

shortlid, I agree with Numbchux and brus brother. One of my past OutBacks had the same issue when it was extremely cold. It drove me crazy until I added brake fluid to the master cylinder to bring the level up to the Max line. Want things to expand ... add heat. Add cold ... things contract, just like the brake fluid volume in the reservoir. It shouldn't be that touchy at mid way between add and max, but it is a 14 year old car and deserves its character flaws.

baserunner86, You have things one or two teeth off on the belt, or another issue. There are loads of YouTube videos on subie timing belt changes (make sure you get the correct ones for your engine generation) that show everything step by step, especially those cam and sproket alignment marks and the tensioner release procedure. Watch several of them, or find a pictorial step by step on this or other subie forums, and then go back to square one on your job and double check everything. Be sure to crank that engine by hand from the crank pulley with a breaker bar through 4 revolutions, to ensure you don't have pistons striking valves .... before you reach for the ignition switch! Good Luck!

skybren, After 50+ years of wrenching on cars, doing interior swaps, and having owned one of each of the 4 generations of Subaru OutBack Wagons, I can't say conclusively, but I would think you're in for a no. eBay pictures of the two units show different wiring harness hookups. That means you'd have to pull half the dash apart and swap over the wiring harnesses as well. Then there's the various cabin temperature sensors that your car won't have, and the light sensor up by the front windshield. And that's just the visible things you can see inside the cabin. There may well be body control computers that will be different in your car, as well as being absent altogether in a manual mode HVAC system. You'll also be missing several of the mode door actuators on the heater box. You can spend the money to buy the digital unit and try it try, but I'd bet money that its a waste of time, effort, and cash.

brentlysubaru, http://jdmfsm.info/Auto/Japan/Subaru/ The above is a free site to ALL of the factory service manuals for every year and model of Subaru. Click on Old Models, find the SVX FSM and click on it. If I were you, I`d download every file, because there may come a day ... The last two files should give you what you need. Good Luck!

farmlade, Put masking tape over the blade of a flat bladed screwdriver (to keep from scratching the plastic) and pry out the top corners of the dash surround panel. It will pop out after you have the bottom two screws removed. Take your time and you won't break it, as it is a press fit along the top, but stubborn since its been there for 18 years. I agree with Subaru Nut about not wanting to get moisture into the switch contacts and causing short circuits. So disconnecting the battery will save headaches if moisture gets into something it shouldn't. Once the surround is off, remove the screws from the HVAC control and it will pull out from the dash about 10 inches. Reach behind and unclip the wiring harnesses into its back. Note: There will be a black cable that comes out of the back of the unit, that goes to the blend door of the heater box. You could remove it from the heater box, but you might be better to just leave it as is. Put a towel on your dash under the control to catch moisture and prevent scratches to plastic parts. From an auto supply store buy some "electrical contact cleaner spray". Its a fluid that will clean the buttons, remove the pop/coffee residue and then will evaporate. I suggest in this case, to spray some on an ink blotter and then run the corner of the blotter around the outside edges of each button. Repeat until the buttons move freely. If that doesn't do the trick, spray the buttons, while you hold the control panel facing the floor (allows the liquid to run out of the unit rather than into it) and onto the towel. Quickly press the buttons in turn until they free up. Then wait 5 minutes to ensure the fluid has evaporated. Plug the contol harness back in, start the car and try things out. If that does the trick, replace the unit in the dash, etc. Should you still have an issue, there are several on eBay from $45 -$100 that you can swap in pretty quickly, after you trace that black cable to the heater box. What you're trying to do is not rocket science, so go for it girl! I've done many of these type fixes with terrific results over the years, and I've saved a pile of money. As for keeping the car/ buying a new one .... I'm on your side. Why spend money if you don't have to? Good Luck.

dkclaassen, In all of my years of wrenching on vehicles (50 +) I have never heard of anyone ever using teflon tape on the caliper bleed screws. You have a 2015 subie, so the tape should not have been necessary. Understand that I'm not saying you did a "no no", its just that I've never heard of anyone ever having done this before. I can say that it wasn't necessary, as the bleed screws would do their job without it, especially on a new car, with no age to have given corrosion a start. OK, now that that's out of the way, if you've properly done the bleed procedure, and you are convinced that under braking (even hard braking) that everything is as it should be, why worry about it? If you still think that things are not as they should be, share your concerns with the service manager of your subie dealership.

Galactose, Driver's door + most often opened/closed may cause a broken wire in the rubber gaiter at the door hinge. Pull the gaiter at both ends and check wiring. A 10 year old car may have corroded harness connector at the door lock itself, or the door lock actuator motor may have carboned contacts on its brushes. Pull the inner door panel and check/clean the connector at the actuator, and if a no go, pull the actuator from the door. There is a tiny electric motor inside the plastic case. If its brushes have carboned up, or the motor doesn't work when 12 volts is applied to its contacts, you've found the issue. The tiny motor can be taken apart and possibly repaired (I've done several myself over the years), or can be purchased separately on eBay for 2 or 3 dollars and swapped out. The plastic case of the lock actuator is usually heat rivetted together but can be opened by grinding off the rivet ends. Once repaired, just glue the case back together. Do a google search fot "2006 subaru tribeca door lock actuator pictures" and look at the images that come up. You'll see the case, several opened up and the tiny motor, which can be bought online. Or get a used one from a wrecker (Tribecas are not common to find) or on eBay. Good Luck!

211, The frameless windows on this and other subie generations have their share of issues. Do follow Fairtax4me's recommendation of using silicone grease or weather seal conditioner, and rub it into the seals with your fingers. You won't have the glass freezing to the seals in the future. Search the factory service manual under the glass section to see how to realign properly the door glass to the seals. Its time consuming, but be sure to make only small adjustments at a time so you don't get things too far out of whack and aren't able to get back. The link is for all subie models for all years. Just search to your model and year and download the entire manual. Then go to the door glass section. Read it through several times before you tackle it, Good Luck! http://jdmfsm.info/Auto/Japan/Subaru/

211, Just about all, if not all of those bulbs are the same, and can be purchased at Radio Shack in a two pack for about $3. They are 12 volt mini bulbs with long wire pigtails. Do an online search and you'll easily find them. (last time I searched for them, that two pack cost $1.99, go figure.) The same procedure in the dash lights and the individual switches for replacement. Take the switch apart, isolate the bulb and unwind its two pigtails from its holder and pull the bulb from its socket. If the bulb has a blue/green condom over it (thin rubber) peel it off carefully and put on a new bulb, insert the long pigtails through the socket, wind them the same as the old pattern, and cut off the excess. In the dash, the plastic round socket turns a quarter turn counter clockwise and removes from the circuit board. Unwind the pigtails, remove condom, etc., just as previously described, and replace. None of it is hard to do, but is time consuming. Hint: when taking individual switches apart, use a large baggie. Dismantle the switch inside the bag with your hands inside the bag as well. This ensures that if a spring or contacts fly out of the switch at disassembly, that you'll be able to find the parts. Guess how I learned this trick? Good Luck!

Gentlemen, All the FSM's for all models and all years are here to download .... for free. http://jdmfsm.info/Auto/Japan/Subaru/

sirtokesalot, You'd have to check through the wiring diagram for the rear defrost circuit for your year and model to have any idea how to wire it in. Even if you can't read the info, someone with automotive electric experience should be able to tell you from the diagrams. Here's a link to Subaru Factory Service Manuals that are free to download. Search your model, then year and download the entire pdf file. Info is easily searched once on your computer. http://jdmfsm.info/Auto/Japan/Subaru/

sonicfrog, Crutchfield is another company who make adapter harnesses for auto audio swaps. See if they use the same harness connector for the radios in the two different years and models. Good Luck!

otonio, If the OutBack seat is too short, I'll bet the Forester seat will be as well. Same company making the seats for both models. Your best bet is to find an aftermarket seat that suits you, and then adapt it to fit the OutBack seating frame assembly. Keep in mind the seat heater may be a no go for transferring to the new seat, but you'll have to find a way to wire in the pressure switch for the seat bottom that arms the air bags and disengages the seat belt alarm. Good Luck!

brendanr279, http://jdmfsm.info/Auto/Japan/Subaru/Forester/ The above is a link to a free service manual for the Forester. Find your year and click until the download stage. Everything is there for the car. Takes 10 minutes to download. Its a gold mine. In your case, the switch has locked up, and may be able to be fixed, simply by removing it from the dash and taking it apart. The dash bezel pulls off, remove 4 screws, pull the HVAC control unit out about six inches and reach in behind to disconnect the wire harness and any control cables (if there are any). At that stage you should be able to dismantle the control unit enough to free it up, or at worst just hit a wrecking yard and get a used one to pop back in the dash. Good Luck!