Bushwick

Got temp tags yesterday and put about a 100 miles on the car with highway and local driving. The pulsing was gone right away (oddly enough), with a minor rubbing sound replacing it briefly (while making turns). This eventually diminished too. The rubbing sounded like a rotor on pad, though they were clean. Also was able to get it e-checked which it passed with flying colors. Anyways, pretty happy with it. Got a few rattles and squeaks to sort out under-hood. Wasn't happy with that tiny rear sway bar though. Hard enough turns the rear felt like a limp noodle. Thankfully the Outback's thicker bar is a direct swap. Grabbed one from a 99' and installed. Big improvement, but not as rigid as I'd like. Might tack some extra bar in or reintroduce the small factory one to shadow the Outback one (double stacked bar), but at least it made a big difference and feels more sedan-like rather than one minute it's working, the next it's being overpowered on a 35 mph curve and the rear is wagging like a dog's tail. Weird concept having a non symmetrical sway bar just to make a hasty bend to clear an exhaust pipe.

Thanks for pointing out that link Gary. I'll inspect those. Car has 177k and no leaks up front. Only valve covers leaked and those were just replaced with the lifters. Power steering fluid is normal level too. Too bad the weather is changing rapidly here as we are already getting into the 20's at night, so not looking forward to fixing. Getting Nov. weather weeks early for some reason.

It apparently fixed itself for the time being. I tried opening/slamming each door + hatch, and nothing worked. Then a day later went out started car, and noticed it was off and has been staying off. I'm good on replacements as there are 4 P-A-P near me. Thanks for the offer though!

The weight of AWD wagon shouldn't really matter at highway speeds unless constantly climbing hills, and these wagons are actually pretty light compared to other cars. My 99' 9-3 is a 4 door hatch FWD and had a 3000 pound curb weight before I pulled 300 from it. My old Lincoln Mark VIII with DOHC V8, auto, and roughly 3800 pound curb weight got 28 on the highway. I was able to get that to 32 highway with full synthetics (trans, engine, rear) and freer flowing turbo mufflers. Adding 200 pounds of amp, subs, etc. saw a change from 32 to 33 on the highway (real time gauge on the dash) with cruise on and flat roads. Also lowered 2" with sensor bracket mod to lower the bags helped get closer to 32. I still might install a switch for convenience reasons and will do some testing later between forced FWD and leaving it alone to see if there is indeed any difference, but I'm guessing the switch to steeper gearing is why the drop is most pronounced. But gotta say if this has 4.11's and can get 26-27 on the highway, it's still fairly impressive.

I was only able to run once down an isolated road at night about a mile since it's not plated yet and local PD are like flies around here. Should have temp tags Thursday and will take it out and see if it straightens out or not. I didn't bother checking ball joints or tie rods when I bought it since I figured it'd need them soon anyways with the high mileage. I'll raise the wheels and check for play just to rule out. It was stored out of the elements so no rust on the rotors either. If it's just the pump, I'll have no issues replacing it. Just hoping it's not the rack.

Oh OK, was thinking something in the drive-line, not the steering column. I'll inspect both front wheels + the u joint more closely when the rack dust boots go in.

@Fairtax Yes, curb weight remains the same, but the engine has to work harder actually powering the rear axle and turning the drive shaft, along with the front. Some cars the MPG drop between FWD and identical AWD counterpart is minimal (like no change in city, 1 MPG drop on highway) whereas other cars have a more significant drop in city and highway. The .gov site says there's a 2 mpg drop in city, and 3 mpg drop on the highway between a FWD wagon vs. AWD. http://www.fueleconomy.gov/Feg/bymodel/1995_Subaru_Legacy.shtml What's very interesting to me is the practically identical rating being manual trans vs. the auto, and no difference between wagon vs. sedan (which I find hard to believe given the raised roof and different amount of drag). Given the rather large highway mpg drop, I'll gladly risk a 3 mpg+ gain running forced FWD over the solenoid's longevity, especially considering how expensive gas is now (20 gallons + 3 mpg = 60 more miles). The fact they didn't include a real switch in the dash might support the argument that it could hurt the solenoid's longevity. Think a trade off will be running FWD on highway runs since city mpg is virtually identical. @Miles When you pulled the front CV shaft from the trans, didn't it leak trans fluid? BTW, to get to the "C-solenoid", take it you have to unbolt the trans? If the drive shaft is dropped, can you just slide the trans back towards the firewall and unbolt it? Seems rockauto doesn't sell one, where are you guys buying yours?

What U-joint? I have CV shafts with boots, no rips. Tires have no bad spots nor rot surprisingly. It was only felt while loading the wheels side to side (holding steering wheel at 10 or 2 while doing 35-40). Maybe wheel bearing? No noise that I could hear, just the pulsing. I won't be getting 30 day tags until Thursday, so any driving will have to wait until then. Will definitely take it out and run it for a good couple hours then.

OK, so the AWD is constant but has a bias. You are saying the FWD fuse needs put in for "forced" FWD? What is the fuse rating so I have one around, just in case? Also, any ill-effects to forcing the FWD only for long periods? Thinking of running a fused switch to that socket for FWD daily driving (better MPG possibly) and AWD for wet or winter weather. Does the engine need to be OFF for the forced on/off? i.e. ECM checks for voltage at start up and adjusts accordingly? In "forced FWD", do the fronts see a true 100%, or is it still split?

Was reading another, current thread where they wanted to run a switch to force full-time in a newer model and talked about a FWD fuse? Is my auto 95' not full-time AWD? Is it FWD with the the rear getting power only on traction loss? Noticed up against the firewall, passenger side, a little black cap with "FWD" imprinted. Assumed it was a fuse holder or something and haven't messed with it. What exactly is it? If the AWD isn't full-time, I'd very much like to incorporate a switch to have that option in heavy snow, etc. Can someone explain how I'd remove voltage from the solenoid? Where is the solenoid and the wiring needed spliced to? Much appreciated.

Took the Legacy out for it's maiden voyage last night after swapping in a new rear cross member, brake line, tune-up, etc. I noticed an odd pulsing with the steering wheel while holding the wheel off center and power steering feels a little heavy but can't tell if the heavy feeling is normal or not. The pulsing reminds me of rotor issues (similar feel) but I wasn't applying the brakes. Didn't feel anything unusual when the wheel was straight. For all I know it just needs driven a bit since it's been sitting awhile, but if it needs something would rather do it now rather than next week when temps plummet into the 30's.

You might want to try a Suzuki forum as they might be more inclined to know what it it can be mated to. Might take awhile to get a response on some forums as they aren't overly common, maybe a bigger following across the pond, hard to say.

What year/engine do you have? If it's close to to mine, I can run out and check.

I'll inspect the hatch first since it has a big cancer hole with a vinyl patch. Take it I can just jump the wire and bypass the switch altogether? After several years of working on the Saab and getting straight up schooled by some weird "Saab" things that's not common on US cars of the era, I learned to ask first w/o assuming

Seems one of the door open switches is stuck or defective, and the light won't go out in the dash. Is this common? Is there an easy way to tell which door is stuck or maybe the hatch? Can this be bypassed easily? Haven't had time to thoroughly inspect and got a bunch of other repairs going on, so figured I'd ask before I get to it. Seems to be draining the battery.

I'd remove the timing cover, get a couple cans of "Oven Cleaner" with lye in it. Get the generic version of "Easy Off". Giant Eagle sells it for a $1.79 a can and it has a yellow cap. Spray on, let it sit about 5 minutes, then rinse with garden hose water. Stuff will clean oil off cast iron, aluminum, etc. 10 times better than degreaser. If it's really caked on, repeat spraying and rinsing, and maybe use a brass bristle small brush. Don't use on polished aluminum unless you want to polish it again and try to keep the spray on the metal and rinse any resisdual off surrounding areas. Anyways, after it's clean, start the engine and look for seepage. Water pump is timing belt driven which is nice. Once you've narrowed down WHAT is leaking, come back and post if you still need assistance.

@Imdew I did the math from the title and the car was only driven about 14k miles between 4-09 to 7-12 (about 4.5k a year) and I'm guessing only periodically started over the last year, so these lifters were stuck/defective. I tried manually pumping them, soaking them, spraying some carb cleaner through the check valve and pumping, etc. and they stayed at the half-way mark, plus the one had a check valve unseated or a broken spring (whatever causes the ball to pop back isn't). I really didn't want to drive it with the noise it was making w/o being 100% certain it was only lifter noise (plus winter is coming and it'll be too cold to want to mess with it mid November). Anyways, a full set of pumped lifters with about 10k less mileage for free because the P-A-P lady didn't want to get her hands dirty and considering how small the lifters are (as opposed to say pushrod Ford lifters) they didn't charge me. I have no regrets and it beats driving for a couple months with a loud clacking noise that may not have even cured itself.

Good advice Fairtax. Went out after letting it sit for awhile, hooked battery up, and code was gone. Took for a quick drive and it seemed to run OK. Gonna be REAL hard getting used to it's power output though! But the lack of tq/hp is probably what makes it so good in the snow (had an 84' Rabbit diesel non-turbo that was 50hp FWD and it'd go through snow no matter how deep since it was near impossible to spin the tires). Something feels funny with the rack and pinion, but that'll get saved for another thread. It's at least drivable now and super quiet!

OK, ended up using all 16 of the donor lifters as the one that was stuck freed up shortly after removing. Installed new NGK plugs, new wires, air filter, fuel filter (couple days ago), and fired it up. It ran like the plug wires were crossed but eventually cleared up some. The CEL came on though. I idled it about 5 minutes and revved it some. All the horrid clacking is gone! Engine sounds like the PO's 2010 Impreza, so thankfully no piston slap. Very happy with how quiet it is now. I tried disconnecting the battery but the CEL won't go out (does it need disconnected for a period of time or something?). Far as I can tell everything is hooked back up correctly. Engine feels like it has a slight miss or dead spot that wasn't there before. Does it need to idle/run more to set the lifters? It's really low on gas now so I wasn't going to run it until I get a couple gallons in it and change the oil + timing belt. No idea what code it's throwing and no plates yet so can't find out.

Thanks for the tips, advice, and thorough knowledge everyone. It greatly helps and saves hours of sifting through useless threads that often don't answer the questions. Since this car is "new" to me, and so easy to work on the lifters, I wanted to be sure they were indeed bad or sticking and causing the noises and not something else. At least one of them was truly bad as the check valve broke or was broken and seeing all them "stuck" was reassuring. Anyways, the trip to Pull-A-Part was a SUPER success! First Legacy I came across was a 96' ej22e with virtually everything there. 10 minutes later and the passenger side rocker assembly was out. EVERY single lifter looked like my good ones! Seemed promising so off came the driver side and 7 were like my good ones, with just the 1 stuck about half way. Grabbed all 16. Then went and looked at the other 7 or so Legacy/Outbacks. About 4 were ej25 (3 were engine-less) and the rest were ej22e. 1 had 125k, 3 had 17xk, and the rest were digital speedo. There was an Outback with heated leather that was SO tempting to transplant, but f*** a*holes tossed the exhaust manifolds on them and they were too messed up. Was also tempted to grab some really nice Outback bumpers that'd match mine but decided to hold off. Several good hatches there and 2 basically complete '93 wagons. If anyone is around Cleveland, Pull-A-Part (West Cleveland) has a bunch right now. They typically only keep cars on the lot for a month (more popular cars around 6-8 weeks) so they cycle new cars in often. Also, many of these cars are driven in and parked. Considering 15 of the lifters were fully raised, I'm guessing this one was driven recently. I tossed all the lifters in a plastic Giant Eagle bag and handed them to the girl at the counter. She was like "What are these"? I was like lifters, they are $0.51 on the web site's pricing. The girl next to her handed the bag back and said "Have a nice day"! I got all 16 for FREE! Time to go clean them and see if the hard work has paid off!

I hope the engines actually still have the heads! After looking on rockauto and cross-referencing different engines throughout the early/mid 90's, many used this same lifter, so might not even come across a 2.2L. What are the complete 2.2L heads worth on the open market? Aren't they the same for '96? Also, do people use the 2.0L head on 2.5L? Or is it too restrictive, too high compression, etc.? Are cams the same throughout the years? Any performance bumps from different years or engines running one cam over the other?

I was going to say the same thing about that carb as it's too big for your application. I've had a handful of 302 and 351w Fox Mustangs. The 302 powered one came with a 750cfm. It screamed on the top end and ran OK, but I switched to a smaller 625cfm Carter (which was still technically too big for the 302 and it's lower RPM range) and throttle response down low as well as overall power was very good and was running 12.9's with that. In your case, even with the turbo running full tilt, aim for something smaller and the engine will run better and be more rewarding to drive. No idea what wheels you have in that turbo, but going with a small Garrett or TD04 15 might be a good choice and are inexpensive to find. Good Luck with this car!

Not to thread jack here, but I brought up the benefit about interference vs. non-interference on a Saab forum recently as the Saab's are interference but at least have a chain, and I swear I was the only one that appreciated the non-interference design. People there were trying to argue the slight HP bump you get with interference somehow outweighs the risk/expense of totaling an engine . I was like the turbo would compensate for the difference and completely remove it from the equation, and you'd never have to worry about a belt/chain failure. I swear it felt like being in some parallel universe forum where everything is backwards. Glad to see some people appreciate things as I do.

Well, I know the car had been sitting in the PO's garage since at least July 12' as that was the last date on the plate's registration sticker (probably trying to sell it since then with the completely rotted out rear member and lifter noise scaring everyone away LOL). They stated they changed the oil every 4k miles and there was a note scribbled in the old lady's handwriting with several of the last oil changes in the glove box. They were the 2nd owners, so maybe it was something with the original owner. There was typical varnish on the inside of the valve covers, but otherwise clean with no sludging evidence. I did notice however that when the lifter was pushed back into the rocker opening, the oil it pushed out through the oil squirt passage in the rocker arm was darker than the engine oil and darker than what was coming out of the lifters while bleeding. I poured some fresh oil in the lifter holder and pushed the lifter back in which helped force out the dark stuff. Handful of openings were spitting out the dark gunk, others were just the fresh oil. Wondering if that gunked oil might have built up in the passages causing the issue with the lifters? I'll try soaking the collapsed lifters in something other than oil and see what happens. Yeah, $0.51 a lifter is an awesome price if it works. Gotta love flat-rate prices and bone yards that DON'T artificially bump up prices on a car to car basis. Only downside with the place is they won't tell you anything about the car over the phone, so that means a 40 mile trip there to find out if it even has an engine let alone the correct one. If you are looking for a few extra lifters yourself for your ej22 (even just thinking ahead to have spares) I'll probably have some left over. Considering their size and weight, they could be sent wrapped in saran wrap by envelope. Just a stupid question here, but when I was bleeding them in a container of oil, I pushed the check valve in while pumping it to push everything out. Are you supposed to keep the check valve pressed in after you pump it down and release? Or should you release the check valve then let it return to it's position? I tried both ways and it didn't seem to matter as it returned to full position and was holding pressure. Do you know if that matters?

Out of the 7 that are stuck "short", 5 were on the exhaust side and 2 were on the intake side. I thought about cleaning them out like you mentioned, but don't want this to keep happening, especially if there is something defective internally. One of the pull-a-parts near me has several Legacys and one Impreza (93-96 model years) so I'm thinking of running up and checking those. p-a-p only charges $0.51 per lifter so I'd rather do that and get a full set for $8, or as many good ones as I can find, and just wanted to make sure before running up, though it sounds like these are bad or severely stuck. It's weird that they all stuck at the same height though.