Stevo F

Tried there, but the noise is definitely coming from the under the hood

The clutch on my '05 OBS has a squeak when you push the clutch pedal in. The squeak comes and goes in intensity, but I had my wife push in the clutch I while I listened under the hood and there is a definite squeak (like a squeaky hinge) coming from the clutch/ transmission area under the hood (it's not the clutch pedal assembly). It makes the same noise whether the car is running or not. Something in the clutch assembly itself? Throwout bearing? Just an annoyance or something to be concerned with? The car has 132K miles on it (I bought it at 129K, and I assume the clutch is original) and I'm hoping nothing has to be done immediately as I know the clutch will need to be replaced sooner or later (hoping for later...). The clutch itself engages and disengages fine and does not make any other noises.

Actually found the answer to my issue in a thread in another forum: http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2112814 Basically, the shaft in the master cylinder was in too far, and was blocking the port in the master cylinder that would allow the trapped air and old fluid to bleed out. I loosened the nuts holding the master cylinder to the firewall and pulled the master cylinder about 3/8" away from the firewall. I hooked up my vacuum bleeder to the bleed valve on the slave cylinder and it bled out nicely. I bled the air along with about 4- 5 ounces of fluid out through the bleeder valve and had a good clutch pedal again. I never woudl have thought that was the issue- if the guy in the thread hadn't mentioned his mechanic had done this when he worked on his '06 Outback, I'd still be out there messing with it.

I went ahead and flushed out the brake fluid on our 2005 Impreza OBS today with no issues (using a one man vacuum bleeding tool). Afterwards, I said, "hey the clutch fluid looks nasty so let's do that too". I opened up the bleeder and couldn't really pull any fluid, even though I had maybe 15 lbs of vacuum on it. I think it was sucking in some air around the threads of the bleeder but no fluid to speak of. I had also suctioned the master cylinder down to the low mark (but not empty) and refilled with a little fresh fluid. It sounded like it might be pulling fluid, but the bleeder tank didn't really fill, nor did the master cylinder level drop. After doing this for a while, I noticed that I lost the clutch pedal (just goes down to the floor) so air got in there somewhere. I kept going with the bleeder tool but again not pulling anything. Also, since the clutch stayed down, I pushed it in, opened the bleeder (got a little air and brake fluid shooting out) then closed it and the pulled the clutch pedal up, so I know there's air in there. So now it's sitting in the garage and can't move... uggghhh.

We recently had the rear struts changed out and prior to that I changed out the brake pads front and back. The past couple of weeks, I've heard a slighting creaking or popping noise coming from the back of the car when b From the drivers seat, it sounds like it comes from the rear seat area of the car. I plan on doing a good brake fluid flush this weekend so I'll the car up on stands with the wheels off. What should I look for as a possible culprit? I first thought it might be one of the new brake pads, but since it does it over bumps too, I'm thinking something relating to the struts (maybe a noise related to the strut top hat)?

Likely it would be illegal for any dealer or shop to disconnect it.

That is a great looking car for $800!

You'll need a hood from another 1995- 99 Legacy or Outback. If you are looking for a hood scoop, find a hood from a 1998 or 1999 Outback (maybe 1997 also).