pontoontodd

I've been thinking something like this for years. For what we're all talking about here, stopping a wheel that's off the ground while driving off pavement, the system could be fairly crude. We're not talking about stability control braking one wheel 5% going through a 70mph turn, if it pulls the car side to side a bit who cares. If you already have functional ABS I think you already have all the hardware on your car you'd need. Even something that keeps the wheel speeds within 50% of each other is going to be far superior to a human operator trying to pull handbrakes. And easier on axles than a welded diff. Has anyone tried just riding the brakes with one or more wheels in the air and see if the ABS already does something like this?

Thinking the weekend of 4/7 or 4/14.

It's only 5000 miles away, 15 hours of flying, not much longer than it takes for us to drive there. That is the longest rockiest climb we've ever done. The video really doesn't do it justice. The low range was very helpful. I'd like to get better video of that section when we go back. None of the other trails we were on were nearly that rocky.

1.23" 140#/in Interested in the traction control, always thought that would be a cool aftermarket kit, keep me informed. Usually we're going fast enough that it's not an issue but every once in a while you get two diagonal tires off the ground and then you're going nowhere.

It's nice to have working again, drove it for an hour or so on the tollway today and worked great. Not sure if I ever got back to you but the detent springs do seem to hold the transmission in gear much better, don't think it's popped out since I put those in and we've been on some rough trails.

Cruise has been shutting off every couple minutes lately. The light on the main switch goes out, cruise stops working, press button and it will stay on for another couple minutes. Often goes out when hitting a bump. This whole time I've been trying to think what would cause that. With the actuator unplugged, the cruise will still turn on and the light stays on, so it's probably not that or any of that wiring. The main button is just a momentary pushbutton to turn the system on, so if that was shorting it would turn the cruise on and off, not just off. I tried unplugging the VSS from the trans but wasn't able to. I was getting fed up with it last week, most of our trips to go off roading are thousands of miles so cruise is really nice to have. Ordered an aftermarket cruise control kit from Summit, figured it would take a while to get here and maybe I could fix the stock cruise system in the meantime. Ran a new wire from the fuse to the cruise control module (CCM) main power (green/black). That didn't help but while I was doing that I cleaned up the wiring a little bit. I started reading the instructions for the aftermarket cruise and realized that might not even work with some of the stock wiring and switches (brake/clutch/set/resume/cancel). Then I thought the other thing that might be causing it to shut off is losing ground. So I spliced in a new ground wire to a nearby screw. Test drove it for maybe 20 minutes last night and the cruise stayed on the whole time, so I think I've fixed it. My cousins told me that 90% of automotive problems are electrical and 90% of electrical problems are a bad ground, so 81% of all automotive problems are a bad ground. Exaggeration, but I should have tried that first.

Trying to plan a long weekend of off roading in northwest Arkansas sometime in April. Probably Friday-Monday but we're from northern IL so most of the trail riding would be Saturday and Sunday. Wandering around on forest roads and probably camping when it starts to get dark each night. Post up if you're interested in joining us. Video from a little trail riding we did down there a few weeks ago:

I like your VDC gifs, I don't think I've seen good videos showing that in action before. The cheap and easy way is to fill the holes with expanding foam and spray the outside with undercoating. That might make it rust faster but at least it won't fill up with mud. You really need to save up for a rust free Subaru, there must be some way to get something over there for a few grand that's still clean even if it has a lot of miles on it. I think that works out to about 12-15mpg for those of us still using the fractional system. That is definitely worse than you should be getting. I would expect 15-25mpg with your car depending on where and how you drive it. Have you tried simply unplugging the O2 sensor(s)? Sometimes that will actually make it run better, not sure about fuel economy. If it's better unplugged than plugged in you should probably replace it!

It's probably related to the engine swap. Cruise worked perfectly for the first eight months or so after the engine swap. Could be VSS or just power to the cruise being intermittent, wire came loose or shorted. Most of the cruise wiring is intact from the donor car harness from the TCU to the CCM to the actuator, not too much was spliced.

Cruise is still acting up. Will usually stay on for 5-10 minutes at first, then shorter periods of time as you drive. Often seems to shut off when you hit a bump. Sometimes after a while it will just not turn on, press the main button and the light doesn't come on. At that point you can turn off the ignition, restart the car, and the cruise still won't stay on. It's like the module is overheating or something. I've tried two different main buttons, two different cruise control modules, and two different cruise actuators and it does the same thing. Is there another relay for the cruise (aside from the ignition relay)? There is no indication of one in the factory service manual or on the Subaru parts website but I could have sworn I saw a drawing showing one under the dash not long ago. I could see it being a VSS signal issue but the speedo is always rock solid so I think the VSS itself is good. My next thoughts are running a wire from that at the speedo to the cruise module or wiring in a toggle switch to power the cruise module bypassing the main switch. Any thoughts on this would be appreciated. About ready to just buy an aftermarket cruise control for the darn thing.

Thanks for that info. I will double check on the white 2002 sometime soon. At least I know what rotor diameter should work now.

I tried fitting a 99 Outback 15" alloy wheel on the 2001 Outback and it did not clear the caliper. I looked on Rock Auto and they show the same caliper part numbers for 1999-2002 Outback with 2.5 H4 or 3.0 H6. There is a change in 10/2001 (2002 model year) in some brands. The rotor part number in 99/2000 is different than 2001/2002 though. So I guess I need to double check. Looked on Subaru dealer website and they show the same calipers and rotors for 2001 Outback 2.5 and 3.0. There are three different part numbers for the front calipers and rotors for 2002 (same 2.5 and 3.0). They all say they fit 15 and 16", one is the same as the 2001 part number. White Outback front bumper was like that when I bought it. It's going in the trash soon, plastic bumpers are a waste of time.

I got a 2001 H6 Outback from Portland with 157k miles for $1800. It is super clean, no rust, interior is very good. I paid to get it shipped to Illinois, which was almost $1000. If I had flown out there and driven it back it would have cost me nearly that much in flight, fuel, hotel rooms, etc. Not the best time of year for a road trip from Oregon to nothern Illinois either. My plan is to have my wife drive it. The only problem the owner mentioned is that it does leak oil. Not really while it's running but when it sits overnight there are a few small puddles under it. He thought his mechanic said it was the head gaskets. Looked like it might be one of those but also valve covers and oil cooler. While I'm waiting for the title and plates I changed the oil in the engine, front diff, and auto trans. Pulled the oil pans off the engine and trans and resealed those. Replaced the pickup filter in the trans. It had a fair amount of debris in it and there was a little in the trans pan too. Hard to get good pictures. Is this normal? At least half the shavings were magnetic, the other half were mostly copper colored. Who knows how long the trans pan and that filter have been on, perhaps the life of the car, although it does look like someone resealed the pan with silicone in excess of what the factory would do. I also replaced the valve cover gaskets and spark plugs by jacking up the engine and pushing it to one side and then the other. Replaced the seal under the oil cooler. Replaced the spin on filters for engine and trans. Replaced the air filter, serpentine belt, and idler pulleys. It needs a front tie rod and boot and I plan on replacing the rear diff fluid also. While it was up on stands the passenger side lower control arm rear bushing leaked out some clear grease. Are these fluid filled or something? There wasn't a lot, and I didn't see anything above it leaking down onto the bushing. It's clear and fairly sticky, it's not oil, doesn't really smell. Then I will start off roading the white 2002 Outback. It needs skidplates and long travel shocks/struts and probably bumpers. Eventually I plan on swapping in a 6MT and R180, but I might do that to the 99 first. I tried fitting a 15" wheel from the 99 Outback on it and it doesn't clear the front brakes. Does anyone know of a 15" wheel that will fit over the brakes on a 2000-2004 Outback? Worst case I can put 99 front brakes on it, they seem to be adequate. I would like as much sidewall as I can get and I already have a pile of 15" wheels and mud tires.

Video from our trip to Arkansas/Missouri: We're planning on going back in a couple of weeks, hopefully it will be drier. Embedding videos still isn't working for me, if anyone knows how to make that work I'd like to know.

Have you ever tried riding the brakes a little to see if the ABS does the same thing? Neither of the cars I take off road have ABS but I keep meaning to try that with my friend's Forester. We rarely get into those situations though, going slow with one or two wheels off the ground. The VDC seems great but I have heard it's much harder to swap a manual transmission in due to the extra wiring.

We went to the local you pull it junkyard on Saturday and picked up a bunch of things, mainly for the Forester. Got all the corner lights, exhaust Y pipe, cruise actuator, module, and switch. We checked and the later one piece Forester headlights don't quite fit the older Forester at least without some sheet metal cutting. Got a couple of trailer wiring harnesses. Cut out the auto trans harness plugs for a future manual trans swap. I had pulled a couple of idle air control valves the last time I was there. Took the front spindles off a ~2007 Outback that has bolt on wheel bearings. My friend might eventually put those on his Forester. Ever since I did that in my 99 Outback they've been good, and if I do have to replace them it will be much easier than the press in bearings. He put the corner lights, idle air control valve, and exhaust Y pipe on his Forester. The cruise actuator on his car measured infinite resistance across two of the pins that had under 100 ohms resistance on the one we'd pulled out of the yard, so he swapped that out. It had been idling at 1700-3000RPM, now it idles normally, it's quieter, might run smoother, and the cruise works.

My friend finally figured out his starting problem with the Forester was a bad battery to starter ground. Added another ground cable and starts consistently now. Clutch was still basically non functional, he got one of his co-workers to tow it to my place. We pulled the CV axles and trans and found this: Knew the release bearing was bad, I could see sparks coming off it one time looking in the bellhousing when he hit the clutch. Kinda figured this was the case too, some fingers missing so you can't really disengage the clutch anymore. Ends of the fingers torched from the dead release bearing. Not sure exactly why they broke though. It's never been replaced while he's owned the car, maybe it's original? Inside of the bellhousing is beat up from the shrapnel, there is one extra hole in it now. Definitely not SFI approved. We replaced his RF CV axle that was making noise with a reman axle from the dealer, curious to see how that holds up. We did a few things to the 99 Outback. Tried fixing the rear wiper. Does nothing when you hit the switch on the stalk. Tried a different motor off an old hatch, same thing. Both motors turn when voltage is applied, go back to the park position when you plug them back into the car. Plug for the motor has 12V at three pins, ground at one pin. Still don't entirely understand the wiring for this with the whole park deal. Going to try to find the relay which should be near the gas filler inside the car. Cleaned up all the battery cable ends in the Impreza and replaced one. So they all seem to be starting and driving well now. Cruise in the 99 OB is intermittent, cruise in the Forester doesn't work, and there are some other minor things we could work on.

That is an understatement. Driver's side wiper arm rubs on the windshield sometimes too. Know of any fix for this?

There are two different ranches the Texas desert racing series and this weekend they were going to hold a race at the one we haven't been to. My friend and I convoyed towards Texas in the Outback following another friend. He'd just gotten a baja bug, formerly desert raced in Nevada, but thought it might have clutch problems. There was some rain forecast for a few days before the race, the day before we left they cancelled prerun on Friday but said the race was still on for Saturday. When we were halfway through Missouri our friend got a call saying they had snow so the race was cancelled. We found a spot not too far off I44 near Cuba Missouri with a bunch of dirt roads. We drove down a side trail in the Outback that kept getting narrower and narrower. Got back to the dirt road and our friend just wanted to do a few miles on the main roads in the baja, so we did a triangle loop. He said his clutch was definitely slipping. He thought it might have been but has no good place to test run the car since it's not street legal right now. He headed back home and we headed to Arkansas. Looked like the weather was supposed to be decent on Friday so we stayed in Branson Thursday night. Drove down to Pedestal Rocks and hiked to that and King's bluff. Then I let my friend drive and we looked for some woods trails in the Ouachita national forest. There were a couple of side trails with blue markers. He went north on one for a little bit and then we weren't sure if we were supposed to continue so we went back to the main road. The trail continued south of that road but looked more like a hiking path. There was another trail that went north that we drove on. It continued for miles, fairly narrow with a lot of small stream crossings/ditches/berms with various side trails, most of which were dead ends. Eventually we were heading down a trail that was headed straight for a road. It kept getting steeper and rockier downhill but we figured we could drive back up it if necessary and it should come out to the road. It did come out to a wide graded gravel road. On the opposite side of the road was a small dirt parking area along a raging river. We went one direction on the road and it came to a river crossing. It was not extremely wide but at least two feet deep and flowing fast. There was a house near the river and they had a footbridge over it and a truck on the other side, probably for times like this when the river can't be crossed easily. So we headed the other way on the road and in about a mile it also came to a raging river crossing much worse than the one by the house. After surveying our options, we decided our best bet was to go back up that rocky hill, even if we had to go all the way back the way we came. We aired down the tires, dumped out some extra water jugs to reduce weight, and set up a couple go pros on the front. Drove up fairly easily in low range, it was a little rough and we definitely had some wheelspin but made it to the top without any real issues. That is probably the longest rockiest climb we've ever done. Went off on another trail which also came down to a graded gravel road. The first end we went to had a raging river crossing, at which point I told my friend I'd bet money there's one a mile the other way. Which there was. There was a trail that went along the river right before crossing it but went through some deep water to get there and we doubted that would cross the river. There were a bunch of other short side trails that went to an old rock wall and camp sites along the river. So we went back up on the trails. Another trail eventually got to a paved road. The trail did continue across the road but I'd had enough for the day so we started heading north. At that point we'd been on those trails for about four hours looking for a way out of the woods and made it maybe three miles total in a straight line from where we started after maybe twenty miles of wandering. Fortunately the AC worked the whole time, it was the only way we could keep the windows from fogging up with all the moisture, which really helped being able to see in the woods. We stayed the night in Rolla. Wasn't supposed to rain Saturday morning, we would be between two big storm systems, so we went to the high point of Missouri. On the way there I tried a bunch of side roads, many of which had deep rivers/streams crossing them. One of those might have been a quarter mile of water to where the road started on the other side. We hiked to the tallest waterfall in Missouri (Taum Sauk) that's a mile hike from the high point. Not so much one big falls as a bunch of rapids but it was cool. The hike there was wet and rocky. It didn't really rain while we were hiking but most of the trail was a stream. When we got back to the car we put on dry socks and our driving shoes since that's all we had with. Next stop was St. Joe state park. It was basically on our way back and I've been curious to see it for a while now. Admission is only $5 per car, I also had to buy a $12 flag since we hadn't brought ours along since we hadn't planned on going to any off road parks. Unfortunately only dirt bikes, ATVs, and side by sides can use the trails. Full size vehicles can only drive on the sand flats, much of which is lead mining tailings. Not a very large area, about a mile in each direction, we drove around all the flats in about twenty minutes, but it would be a decent place to do some suspension testing and tuning. There was a lot of standing water when we were there and the engine started to hesitate and sputter a little bit. Not terribly but after we'd been around once I figured it was best not to push it. Put the flag in the back between the cage and the headliner, then I just hooped the bottom half around in a U to close the hatch. Almost immediately after we left the park rain started coming down hard so we just drove home. Cruise stopped working for the last hour or two. A few times during the trip it would stay on but lose some speed, I would set it at 80 and it would stay there for an hour or two and then drop to about 75 but maintain the lower speed. Maybe an hour later on the highway we heard a crunchy noise, at first I thought maybe it was gravel coming loose from somewhere under the car. A while later I noticed the fiberglass flag pole was broken and then realized that caused the noise. Overall it was a good trip, weather was crappy and we were disappointed the race was cancelled but we found some cool trails for hiking and driving and didn't have any real problems. Cruise worked again the next day. Wipers didn't work well the whole time, I've tried a couple different brands and they seem to have too much arch so they don't really wipe in the middle of the blade and don't wipe well on the way down.

The trans fluid filter is in one of the wheel wells. Did you check the oil on a level surface? Makes a big difference in Subaru engines. Midwest Subarus are notorious for the gas filler rusting out, it's in the rear wheel well and gets a lot of dirt, salt, etc. What do you mean by a lot of heat from the exhaust? You can feel them through the floor while driving?

Finally figured out my AC issue with the 99 Outback. I've been skeptical of the Harbor freight gauges for a while now, just seems like they don't always respond when you think they should. I got a couple pressure gauges from McMaster which I added on and those agreed with the HF gauges. I was telling one of my friends about there being no pressure drop between high and low and when I told him I was only adding one can of R134 he suggested I add more. Then I noticed when you go to fill the system the low side immediately jumps up to 60-70psi and the can doesn't get much lighter. Eventually I figured out the low pressure fitting on the HF kit was not charging the system. Got a new one this afternoon, system charges, AC blows cold, took two cans. Running about 100psi on the high side and 20 on the low side but it's only 40F outside. lt's probably not fully charged but works, going to wait until it warms up to try to add more.

I've been wondering about this a lot lately, I currently have three Subarus 15-21 years old with 240-260k miles on each. Sure, head gaskets have to be replaced occasionally, and if you drive them too hard transmissions and other things break, but those repairs cost a few hundred in parts at the most. Just wondering why Subarus are usually totalled or not worth fixing. I see a lot with over 200k miles, some with over 300k, but not many over 400k. Maybe they're just not old enough to accumulate that many miles. Around here they rust out which becomes a giant PITA after 10-15 years. At some point do most owners just decide not to pay a mechanic $700 to replace the head gaskets on their quarter million mile car? Are they statistically guaranteed to be in a collision by 300k miles?

I have a 2002 OB with EZ30 with over 240k on it. I've had it for about a year and 15k miles. The whole time it's been consuming coolant at the rate of roughly a quart per 500 miles. Basically every couple tanks of gas top it off, doesn't overheat if it stays mostly full. Doesn't use much coolant at all when my wife is driving it around town. I have a 1999 OB we swapped an EZ30 into, also about a year ago, and I've put about 20k miles on that. The first engine from the original donor car was leaking like a sieve from about a dozen places. The next one seemed to have the normal slow coolant losing head gasket leak and supposedly under 100k miles from a junkyard. Got them to replace that one with one with supposedly 80k miles on it. Same deal with that one, and it leaks oil. The oil leak is not really while the car is running, most times if you let it sit overnight there'll be a couple little puddles of oil under it. We have plumbed the coolant system to purge itself of air and I haven't had to add coolant in a long time, but not really a long term or universal solution. I just purchased a 2001 OB with EZ30 with 156k on it. Has the same oil leaking issue described above, seller estimated a quart per month of normal driving. He says the mechanic he took it to said it was the head gaskets. So eventually I may wind up doing the head gaskets on all three of these. Thought about just replacing them with lower mileage used engines but didn't have any luck with that for my 99. I've heard the timing chains last forever in these things, what would be worth replacing while the engine is apart? Water pump, head and valve cover gaskets, spark plugs, radiator hoses, timing chains/guides? I've read elsewhere on this forum that the heads and/or blocks are basically always warped on these by the time the head gaskets leak. Is that true? That changes this from a weekend project to an engine build and waiting for a machine shop to flatten things.

I think you're going to need a lot more than a harness and the transmission is the least of your problems. It will almost certainly not be worth your time to make that work, but hopefully for your sake I'm wrong.

Make sure both cam pulley marks are lined up with the covers. That's the easy part. Since it's not interference you shouldn't have to worry about bending valves by turning various shafts independent of each other, but if you suddenly get a lot of resistance, stop. The trickiest part is to line the mark on the crank pulley up. It's not the super obvious arrow. There is a small hash mark on the flange that needs to point up at a non obvious hash mark.