Stevo F

The rotors on my 2014 Impreza Premium are getting pretty well warped and at 42K miles it will probably need pads soon, so I'd like to replace pads all around and front rotors (possibly rears if there is still pedal vibration after doing the fronts). I've never done brakes on any Subaru newer than our old 2005 Impreza- is there anything about these later models that's different, or anything to watch out for? Everything regarding pads and rotors was quite straightforward on the 2005 as well as my 1997/ 1998 Legacy's- just checking to see if anything had changed by 2014 that I should watch out for.

All '96- '99 Subaru J25D engines will have headgasket failure (usually by 150K miles). We recently bought our '98 Legacy GT at only 94K miles and they already were replaced at 91K miles, so it can vary.

My '98 Legacy acted the same way after we bought it 4 years ago. it ended up to be an issue with the climate control unit itself. I found another on Ebay and it's worked well ever since.

Our '98 GT did the same thing when we bought it (only when cold- starter would kick in right away with a warm engine). Put a remanufactured Denso starter in and no issues since.

Starter solenoid most likely. When we bought our '98 GT, when starting the engine cold, you would need to hold the key in start for a few seconds before the starter woudl kick in. Since it was like a year old Autozone starter the PO had installed, I just ordered a remanufactured Denso starter and have had no issues since.

I find my 2014 Impreza to be "laggy" with the CVT- starts moving quickly enough from a stop, but lags during acceleration while the CVT lets the engine RPM's wind up. I drove a 2015 Legacy as a loaner car and found the FB25 engine to have a much smoother acceleration curve than the Impreza's FB20, even with the CVT. It may be there were changes between 2012 and 2015 that helped the Legacy perform better.

I've installed double DIN radios in 1998 Legacy's and in a 2005 Impreza and I was able to use the stock brackets, so I did not need an installation kit, just a reverse wiring adapter (like the one you found on Ebay) that can be wired to the new radio and fit into the standard Subaru radio wiring harness. I was able to wire the stock subwoofer so it would work with the aftermarket radio, but it was pretty much trial and error. You should be able to find a wiring diagram for the Subaru subwoofers online. On my installation, the new radio had a subwoofer output which I utilized.

The fobs for the '98 and earlier factory alarm systems can be had pretty cheap on Ebay ($15- $20) as the same Fob was used on a variety of car makes during that era.Just search for model # goh-m24.

Maybe not worth any more than a factory SUS, but it has a coolness factor in that most SUS's are '99's and Outback wagons are far more common.

An EJ25D engine with bad headgaskets may also have bubbles in the overflow tank, or sometimes oily gunk in there as well.

I would order a rebuilt or New one from Auto. I got a decent brand caliper for my Legacy for around $100 several years ago and bonnier issues with sticking calipers since.

This is a common issue with late model Impreza's. My 2014 had this replaced under factory. I assume your original warranty has expired. I'm under the 6 Year/100K mile warranty with mine now and wonder if it would still be covered. Not sure how expensive part it is.

My '98 Legacy wagon with an EJ22 has a mere 125K miles. I expect at least 200K more. Just a little piston slap when cold.

I just had a similar issue on the '98 Legacy we just bought. Most likely the starter solenoid, but since the previous had put an Autozone starter on it a year to two ago, I decided to junk the whole starter and bought a remanufactured Denso starter from Rock Auto for $112

On our "new" '98 GT with 4EAT automatic transmission, I notice when I'm driving on 25- 30 MPH roads, the transmissions lingers in 2nd until I rev it up to about 2500 RPM, then left off the gas a bit, hen shifts smoothly into 3rd. It shifts normally when accelerating up to highway speed, and it seems to do this more when I've just started it up. In comparison, I've never noticed this on our other '98 Legacy. Being unsure of any previous maintenance, I'm going to do a drain and refill of transmission fluid at the least. Any other ideas, new filter, or anything else it might need?

hHis was a common problem on 2012- 2013 FB series engines, not as common, but not unheard of on 2014's and later. I guess I'm lucky in that 2014 Impreza doesn't use any oil.

So I've decided the delayed cranking of the starter on my '98 Legacy GT is the start/ solenoid itself, so I want to replace it. I like using Rock Auto, I can get a remanufactured Denso for $108 vs. a new Bosch for $107 (in either case I'll keep the old one and maybe change out the copper contacts in my spare to to see if that fixes it and keep it as a spare for one of our 2 Legacies). I know many lean toward Denso because it's OEM, but in my experiences (from many years ago, the last time I had to replace a starter) that new are generally better than rebuilt, so I'm on the fence. So new Bosch or remaunfactured Denso?

Actually I hear no click from the starter (I think I was hearing a relay under the dash click and the door chime was going off when I tried previously so it was difficult to hear). Tried it again and it the start will crank normally if I hold the key in start for 5 seconds or so.

I thought he said it was, but I didn't find it among the other receipts he gave me. It physically looks kind of oxidized, so it could be original.

I decided to take another look at it tonight. Turned the key to start a couple of times and just heard a little noise, but no crank. The third time I tried I held the key in the start position for maybe 5- 10 seconds, then it just stated cranking at normal speed and started up. Hit a few more time and starter continued to crank fine at normal speed. Doesn't seem to indicate a generally low battery. It seems like something flaky.

I bought the GT on Saturday and had no issues with starting it all day (it had been run prior to my looking at it) so all of the starts were with an engine that wasn't stone cold. Forward fast to Tuesday morning. I realized I left an interior light on the night before, and I go to start the car and it won't crank. Thinking I drained the battery, I jumped it off my 2014 Impreza sitting next to it in the garage and it fired right up. Ran it for 3 minutes, shut it off and restarted fine and restarted fine the rest of the day. Last night, I tried to start it, got a couple of clicks, then tried it again and it started. Again started up fine the rest of the evening. I let it sit until this afternoon and again not turning over. Since I had some time, I grabbed my volt meter and measured 12.25 volts from the battery, and headlights are nice and bright. I compared the voltage to 3 other cars here and all the batteries were 12.2- 12.5 volts, so battery seems fine. The battery is a 10 month old Duralast Gold. My guess would be a connection to battery or starter, or the starter itself. The connections are all tight, but I'm thinking of cleaning them all Saturday when I have more time. I thought previous owner told me the starter was recently replaced, but if so, it's likely from Autozone, which makes me think it's pretty sketchy. I find it a bit odd that it wouldn't crank at all with a cold engine, but cranks normally if it's been run in the past 6 hours, and it would be a connection or bad starter, but maybe. The outside temperatures have pretty much been in the 40's here, so not super cold.

A friend steered me to an ad for a 2004 Forester XS, 199K miles, timing belt, headgaskets done by Subaru dealer at 182K (same dealer I've taken mine to), almost new matched set of tires, body has some dings but rust free.Sounds like it needs nothing currently. He is asking $3,800 for it. I checked Edmund's and they appraise it at $2,256 and Kelley (which is usually a bit high on pricing) appraises it at $2,978. I'm going to try to see it Wednesday. I'm wondering what a good offer would be, assuming it's in solid shape. Despite the high miles, I'm thinking the recent work and new tires do add some value over an average 2004 Forester. Actually looking for this for 16 year old (soon to be driving) son, and will likely part with our 2005 Outback Sport (since non of our boys is interested in learning stick). Here is the ad: https://www.facebook.com/groups/351592831617218/permalink/1086358388140655/?sale_post_id=1086358388140655

We replaced one of the O2 sensors (can't recall if it's front or rear) . I ended up having my mechanic apply heat to the old 02 sensor because the thing was jammed in there so bad. It threw a different, more specific code then though. Also have had codes for a couple of leaky evap hoses that were replaced. Thought that code had come back again, but the last two CEL's were P0420's.

I pulled a P0420 code (Catalyst System; Bank 1: Efficiency Below Threshold) from our 2005 Impreza Outback Sport (EJ253 with 5 speed manual) yesterday. It originally popped up back in October (about 1,000 miles ago) so I reset it to see long before it would pop up again. Kind of a generic code- Is it more likely an O2 sensor (which I know will throw a different code as we already replaced one of them on this car) or is more likely the catalytic converter itself? Most likely will sell this car in the next year so I hope not to sink a lot into it at this point,as it otherwise runs well.

Thank you. Actually since it's for my son, he doesn't really want a wagon (my middle son has our '98 wagon and calls it a "soccer mom car"). I personally love the wagons (and my daily is a 2014 Impreza sedan). I'm wondering how consistently the headgaskets fail on the EJ251 engine (I know the previous EJ25D's pretty much consistently fail around 150K miles give or take). I haven't personally owned one of the 2000- 2004 EJ251's, although my parent's 2000 Outback only has 55K miles on it so theirs may never fail at that rate).