nipper

You can drive without the driveshaft, but you would stil need to put in the AWD fuse. The amount of rotational mass being removed will give you only a fractional increase in gas mileage. If your going to do that migh as well sell the car and get a 2wd car. Your really not going to increase the mileage all that much, its more a matter of driving habits as opposed to what you can do mechanically. nipper

Thats great news! I have seen it posted on the boards here that that is the last thing to try before going for the big repair. I think that may be the fix for mine. I have noticed after a 30 mile highway drive the torque bind reduces a great deal, if not all together. I just stumbled on that after a long drive .. wasnt expecting it. I also have another odd thing happening 97OBW 178K, when stoped, it feels like you have gotten tapped on the bumper. The car has a little "bump" to it. Its more noticible with the AC on, but I think that may just be a coincidence. COuld it be the AWD unloading or releasing the torque bind? nipper

I use oil from the dipstick on the threads. I dont use a torque wrench on it myself, as i have a claibarted arm but yes 15 ft-lbs. nipper

Just wanted to apologize for the really bad typos, since the car accident sometimes my typing really sucks.Altenators can get as high as 115 degrees c/239 f under full load. Thats why its best to by one thats "hot rated" if upgrading. Cold rating doesnt really mean anything. nipper

Anything that produces or uses energy will make heat. The alt makes a lot of power, and heat is a waste product.Doa voltage test on the charging system, if the voltage is ok, and you have some slack in the belt, clsoe the hood and enjoy.

There is a few more things to making spark other then the wires. The plugs, coil, cap, rotor, and the electronic module. A weak spark when may work fine when the car is just puttering around. Heat increases resistance, which means electricity has to work harder to flow. Just a thought. nipper

Vapor Lock: a stoppage in a pipeline caused by gas bubbles (especially a stoppage that develops in hot weather in an internal-combustion engine when fuel in the gas line boils and forms bubbles that block the flow of gasoline to the carburetor or fuel injectors). Vapor lock is very rare on fuel injected engines. Fuel tends to run a closed loop, where after it runs around the injectors, it goes back to the tank. This is done to keep it cool. I would look at other things first. get a fuel pressure gauge and try to reproduce the condition. It could be a clogged filter, lazy fuel pump, bad fuel pressure regulator. Also are sure its fuel related and not spark related? What year/make/model and how many miles? nipper

My outback 2.2 and the legacy 2.5 both shift like that at 180K. Sometimes its a bit disturbing, but better that then a slow wishy sliding shift that hints at doom. nipper

RUN LIKE HELL!!! I agree that the brakes are easy to do and you should give it a shot at doing it yourself. Just remeber to take apart one wheel at a time on the same axle so you have a refernce (where did this part come from....) its really easy. I never heard of an oil pan rotting out, but i guess its possible. If its not leaking, dont worry about it. The Y pipe, wowzers! Search around on the net, im sure you will do much better. Front stabalizer bar?!?! hehe the alfa engine ... go back and laugh in his face ! Get a second opinion from a local shop, as there isnt anything there that has to be fixed at the dealership. Sweet car.

the ashtray?

Interesting .... Diesel engines run at higher combustion pressure and temperitures then gasoline engines. the power pulse which is converted to ratational energy via the crankshaft is also much higher. Oil not only lubircates, but adds a cushion of oil to the crank journal to help protect it. I would have to assume that deisel engine oil is made to flow at these heavy loads, where normal engine oil would thin out and break down. My concern would be that the oil would never got hot enough to flow properly. Also if the engine is burning oil, if the spatk ignition eingine would fire a hot enough flame to burn the oil. Also deisel engine main bearings and crank journals are differnt from gasoline engines. If its an engine on its last legs, as a last what-the-hell try to get more life out of it, maybe try it. I would think you would shorten the life of the bearings. Also it may not be compatable with the oil filter.

OH OK ... Your talking about as you turn the wheel 360 degrees to go from lock to lock. Not all sterring wheels are round, some are slightly oval for one reason or another, i think that is what your seeing. Usually not enough to notice. Never noticed it on the sooby, now im going to have to go look nipper

i keep this site as a refernce : http://www.cars101.com/subaru_sitemap.html should answer your question carcheck isnt telling me if its 2wd or awd, nor are there any red flags. it does tell me the following: 07/24/1996 PERRYVILLE, MD Motor Vehicle Dept. REGISTRATION EVENT/RENEWAL 02/21/1997 CLAYMONT, DE 43,288 Motor Vehicle Dept. TITLE (Title #:00943984) 02/26/1997 CLAYMONT, DE Motor Vehicle Dept. REGISTRATION EVENT/RENEWAL 03/01/2000 GAP, PA 82,487 Motor Vehicle Dept. TITLE (Title #:54393878) 05/18/2000 GAP, PA 82,520 Motor Vehicle Dept. TITLE (Title #:54393878) 07/13/2000 GAP, PA Motor Vehicle Dept. REGISTRATION EVENT/RENEWAL 12/13/2000 CLAYMONT, DE Motor Vehicle Dept. REGISTRATION EVENT/RENEWAL 07/05/2001 GAP, PA Motor Vehicle Dept. REGISTRATION EVENT/RENEWAL 07/01/2002 GAP, PA Motor Vehicle Dept. REGISTRATION EVENT/RENEWAL 08/23/2003 GAP, PA Motor Vehicle Dept. REGISTRATION EVENT/RENEWAL

There is passive 4 wheel steering where the cars rear end geometry allows for some toe in and toe out with body roll. There has been mechanical systems (which i think the early preludes are) hydraulic and electric systems. I think the only one that still has it (not sure) is GM on its full size pickup trucks. http://trucks.about.com/cs/4ws/a/4wheel_steering.htm. It was a neat idea, but didnt really sell. nipper

er um ..... that is a lot of play. If i am understanding you, you are saying that you can move the steering wheel uop and down left and right (without turning the steering wheel) 1/2 of an inch in the "x" and "y" dirction? I know its math ... but im trying to get a feeling for what your saying. Is it the steering wheel itself, or the entire steering column? If it is just free play in the whhel, i would say the steering shaft bushing is shot. I have only seen this on old VW's where it was a gross amount of play. Anything that involves the steering and braking of the car needs to be checked out. nipper

Alot of shops have gotten lazy. Thye just plug in the scna tool and take that for its word. They forget the old rule of KISS (keep it simple stupid). Check the obvious and simple first. The puters are not smart, they just say what isnt working. A broken spark plug wire is a dead cylinder to the computer, and the tech read it as a blown cylinder, as oppsed to a dead cylinder. A dead cylinder can mean a bad plug, bad wire....all the way to blown piston. I try to find my mechanics by looking for a gear head that has a car with a carb. This meens he at least understands the basic principles of an engine operation, and hopefully wont assume the worst when the scantool says something like "dead cylinder" nipper

There is no gasket that runs the length of the transmission, nor the engine. These are two machined surfaces that seal together when properly assembled. I may be wrong, but i would think the visous coupling attaches to the tail shaft of the transmission. That would mean there is a seal at the output of the transmission, input of the viscous coupling, and output (rear drive shaft). nipper

PS This is of course assuming that the filter is replaced during this time. If your not going to replace the filter, the point is moot. Also be prepared for the "there is material/junk in the bottom of your pan, which means your clutches/transmission is dying" line. nipper

Actually my professor in transmissions in auto engineering always adv ised that you drain the old fluid, filter it yourself, put it back in, then top it off with fresh. This may be the drain several times, not sure. New fluid has chemicals in it that will take all the gunk thats holding your tranny together out of it. This method dilutes the fresh fluid enough so that you can have a full tranny, and not have all the varnish and gunk removers at full strength. nipper BTW if it was a low mialage car, i would trust anyone but jiffy lube.

Actually best indication is the sooby itself. If your going up a hill, and its just you in the car, no luggage, and you have the ac on... the ac will cut out when the temp gauge reaches 3/4 hot. Also its gotten to be an old wives tail that temp gauges from the facotory are innacurate. With aluminum engines they have gotten pretty close. Aluminum engines are not forgiving with over heating like the cats iron engines were. Gauges tend to be most innacurate at their extreems, not in the middle range. I calibrate gauges as part of my job. The only gauges I wouldnt trust is anything directly from GM, as they havent discovered quality control yet.

Same way you do on any engine ...with an oil can, though in this case i think you may neeed a gooseneck oil can. That should work. THere is a nother way, its a bit rube goldberg thing .. . take a wire clothes hanger, shape it so it goes inside the cylinder and clears the plug holes, and let the oil run down it frip by drip into the cylinder. In all honesty, if there is a hole in the cylinder, you should get a 0-10 psi, maybe 20, as a reading, I'ld do a dry test. If it comes up zero there is no need to go any further. A wet test would be to see if it is rings vs valves. good luck nipper

Flushing removes all the gum that is holding your engine and transmission together. If you flush a high mialage drivetrain, you can pretty mush say goodbye to the drivetrain. Gum and such has built up in clearances that have worn over time, and they are your freind. Same for raidator flushes on anything with high mialage. My 98 legacy would get the temp gauge 1/3 of the way up on hills with ac on. The radiator was cloged, and found it far easier to replace the raidator (radiator.com) as oppsed to flushing it. Remeber when you flush it, your flushing the heater core too. It is possible to descale the inside of the heater core, and remove anything that has cloged any pinholes, or has reinforced eroded tubes. Much easier and cheaper to replace the radiator then it is to replace the heater core. nipper

Well it sounds like its time for a compression test, both wet and dry. Only way to find out since it does sound like the head gasket is ok. nipper

I just bought a 97 OB LTD with 177K on the clock, for what I would call a steal. The car was owned by a mom and maintained to the owners manual specs. The car was on ebay, and they posted a vin with a typo, so no one bid on it. I figured out the mistake. Car has never had a head gasket issue, so I am hoping that it keeps like that. Since its a replacemnt for my 98 (which was totaled), no money out of pocket. I figure if the HG blows i can afford to get it fixed. I have heard 12% as the blown head gasket rate.

Go to http://www.crutchfield.com/ they list all the facotry speaker sizes for almost all cars. They are a great resource for this stuff. nipper