gbrand

I have done the water slap also, but never to address piston slap, in a number of vehicles. if you feel that carbon buildup is a problem, perhaps try RXP? It with a few other things got my legacy under the emissions limits last year. Theory was carbon buildupcaused compression ratio to increase casuing NOX gases to increase while CO and HC were way down, After treatment HC and CO went up andNOX went down, but all were inlimits so I passed...

On my 80 the power came thru the Voltage Regulator via the alternator-that was the version of the safety switch. Engine dies=no laternator output=no fuel pump power. Before I did much else i would check alternator output is 14 Volts or so with car running. Intermittent alternator caused me lots of grief in stalling for this reason, has been detailed in previous posts including wiring of a overide swtich just in case....

While I agree a fuel pump is a likely suspect, when it dies can you do a quick check for spark? Perhaps a weak ignition componenet heating up and failing? Or how I diagnosed my inetrmittnet fuel pump-drove for days with a can of startig fluid connected to a long1/8in tube going into the air cleaner-when the car finally died i hit the can, the engine roared to life, and confirmed the car was indeed fuel starved (and was able to get out of the intesection it died in) let us know what you find

Yeah, a volt meter and a little checking out shold be able to pinpoint the problem. The wierdest one i had was a brand new battery that was REVERSED polarity in the case from the markings-when put in would current would flow through the diodes in alternator and make a big spark-lucky it didnt burn it up. Double checked everything three times to make sure we diddnt have a short somewhere, and I finally put my voltmeter on the battery and discovered the problem. Ever since I check EVERY battery I install

I think it really depends on the franchise owner/manager. I have heard many horror stories about Aamco, but also know a family friend who has a large Aamco shop in another state that has done very well for many, many years and bent over backwards to help people and stand behind his shops work. hope it works out for you

OK, did fork job. Removed radiator and almost everything connecting on the engine except theA/C and moved forward in the car. Lost one of the little spring clips to attach to the through out bearing, but before closing time at Teape Subaru in Hurst so got another. Pic of old and new fork side by side, and also the setup.

OK-pool in, not in time to use on 100+ days but got pump running 2am sat morning and continued to work on rest of daturday. Pulled Legacy in garage today, and peered down fork hole, sure enough problem visible-portion of clutch fork that pivots on ball stud worn, cracked and ball stud is "Blowing through" the fork. So i need to replace fork. Obviously I want to minimize this job's difficulty, as I have replaced the clutch,PP, TO bearing about 30Kmiles ago. How far do you thnk I need to seperate the trans from engine to do this, aw I remember there are some clips holding the TO beraring holder to something, I think the fork. Any thoughts on not havng to fully disconnect the axles, exhaust, shifter to gain enough room for replacing the fork? I decided at the time for the clutch that pulling the engine was tempting, but definitly looked to be more work. I had a similar situation in my 80 wagion, TO bearing went bad on a relativly new clutch job, think there I moved engine forward after removing radiator to get enough clearence to do job. Thnak in advance, will keep all posted.

thanks guys-was secretly hoping was not something needed to seperate engine and transmission to fix. Pool re-install turned into nightmare (whole nother story for OT) but back on track-so will not get to Legacy unitl after this weekend-will keep the board posted when I get to it. Thanks again. At least weather cooperating no rain, warm/hot but wind hers at least.

Ok, replaced clutch about 30K ago, and cable about a monthor so ago. today car will hardly go into gear. First look indicates hill holder does not seem to have enough "oomph" to return clutch fork to "returned' position. Pull on clutch fork, and it will "pop" back to engaged postition. But even with the cable adjusted all the way tight, the car will barely release clutch-car will not move into gear with engine running. Can start engine in gear, and any movemetn of clutch pedal will get car moving-and will continue to move. Temporarily put a return spring on to pull release fork back, but am mystified by onset of symptoms. Rigging a spring and disconnecting hillholder toget proper return action no big deal, but the inability to get the clutch released enough to change gears is the big issue, and a bad time as I am racing time to get my pool rebuilt before a rain-another story. Fort I have spare vehicles-any ideas/ TIA

Amen to this...I use a dremel tool with a cut-off wheel. Saves a lot of hassle and potential *&^%$# asociated with busted bleeder screws.

Wow, bummer it didnt materialize. Guess I am guilty as I don't open the meet and greet forum as often as the others. Don't do much car work other than maintainance(all levels, including egine/tranny replacemtn), but would be nice to get to ge together and even if no hot project on my list help someone else out. Allen a bit of a hike from Watauga but not bad in off rush hour traffic, I commuted to McKinney for 2 years, and to Plano/Richardson for 12+ years... Maybe the DFW crowd needs to try to get together this spring/early summer? For lunch and show off cars?(or laugh at mine...) am open. Again, sorry for missing this thread until too late.

once in a while you see one of the 80's converstions around for sale. But until things change i am using my convertible(non-sube) as my DD esp now that the weaher is in the 80's and 90's here.....come on sube, at least have one out by the time I'm looking for another drop top.....

Legacy turned 260K (miles) today on wife as she drove to/from clients in Dallas. Celebrated with an oil change for the car, and pizza for us. Nothing real special bout car, 91 MT 2.2 FWD only(sigh, no AWD), but just keeps going and going. Of course has had maintainance over the years-have owned since 97 and 110K. Never done any engine work beyond timing belt, water pump and VC gaskets, still idles and runs very smooth. Going to try to get 300K out of this one, fort down here no rust issues to worry about.The Board has been great with info and hooking up with members for a few misc parts needed/wanted from time to time.

oops, posted wrong place by mistake

if you know/figure out your wire size look here-your local parts store should carry/be able to order the wire, may have to fabricate connectors on end. http://www.dormanproducts.com/cgi-bin/vm91corp30r/cat_search1.w?sid=0x01818007&clt=hwrap1&vsrch_str=fusible&vsrch_brand=ALL&vsrch_cat=ALL&vsrch_range=ALL&vTime=78784 How about a junk yard as a source?

Same EXACT thing happened to me on my legacy when alternator went out. Brushes get worn so barely contact slip rings on stator. the alt quits charging and your battery runs soown. By the time you get a jump things cool down enough the brushes make contact so appears as if is working. On Legacy the alt light did nt come on to indicate a problem, just before dying ALL dash lights came on.

Car was a silver, new gen non-legacy guess mid 90's-(Impreza?) Had a pretty clean looking engine in it, had been hit pretty good in front I think grill and left side fender area pretty screwed up. Wheels gone. One thing i liked about that yard is many of the cars are on concrete, so getting parts from underneath not nearly as dirty as being in mud. Sorry I dont remember more details...don't go out to yards much anymore. Last trip I made was for tailight assy for my 99 LeSabre, only 1 available in ENTIRE DFW area....

This wouldnt by chance be the silver car down at Apache(?) on 287 business in Mansfield/Kennadale would it? I got my "Dogbone" stabilizer bar link off it last year, was wrecked pretty good but still had engine in it at the time. Thought about snagging some other stuff, but couldn't justify....

Metra(and others) make antenna adapter kits-I agree these should be standard.. Found this out putting shopping list together for replacing the stereo in my Buick. have not done on my Legacy yet. Crutchfields.com gives pretty good vehicle specific info on what is needed to fit your car. Sorry i dont have anything specific to your needs, the stereo and antenna are like many things on my Legacy-never broke(yet)

Yes it is a beeatch! My cable on my 91 legacy broke the other day, fort my wife was close to home and got the car home and into another vickle to get to a client. I had changed a couple on my 80 wagon, figured no big deal other than having to go to dealer to get the new cable. So got home from work, called my new local Teape Subaru, not in stock. be 3 or so days to get in-for 55 bucks! They did a search for the closest dealer with one in stock-was 1087 miles away! Looked on the net, 1stsubaru parts etc., was still about 36 bucks +shipping and nowhere close timewise. Called Orielly's, they had one at the warehouse I could have next day for 26 something, so I told them to order it. Figured i was home free. WRONG! Figured i would get ahead by taking the old one out, that clip was impossible to see and almost impossible to get to with 2 hands. Was able to get a set of mini-vise grips on the little vertical lip and push up on the housing to relive some of the tension and pull it off. Then got the "U" clip with fingers pried loose that held the cable housing on the transmission bracket. Now to wait for the new cable and things were downhill. Started to thread the cable through the firewall, and could not find the hole looking from the top. Brake boster in the way, so finaaly jacked up the car expecting it to be easily seen from underneath-WRONG! could barely feel it reaching up but did get cable threaded through. So got the clevis on the pedal, housing though pedal bracket, and found getting the spring clip on was even harder tha getting it off. Finaally pulled off lower intrument trim cover and was barely able to get 2 hands in to hold cable housing and force clip on. Pulled boot into hole in firewall(mostly) and went to the transmission end where a big surprise was in store. The cable fit into the bracket OK but the new cable had a larger housing diameter near the bracket so the "U"clip would not fit around it-debated removing the cable, didn't want to do at this point, so dremeled out the slot in the clip to match the new cable. Now the "fingers" on the clip would not hook over the bracket as the total bushing thickness on the new cable was thicker. had to bend the "fingers" out which was a pain. The added just a touch of glue to make sure the bracket stayed in place. So it worked, and while under the dash glued a plastic piece on to the clutch pedal to replace the bumper for the cruise switch that was gone-cruise now works. Cable that almost fit is a Pioneer CA-668. Much more trouble and expense than my old 80 was!

91 FWD MT Legacy-just changed oil at 257,548 miles. Still going strong, of course have done some work on car since 110k when I bought it-nothing to the engine itself except preventative-timing belts, water pump, oil change, plugs,PCV valve and did replace Valve cover gaskets. Is my wife's daily driver, hope to keep blowing and going in it for a while.....

here the text from my original post and reply ffrom fellow user that was saved 800 bucks.... mtsmiths Registered User Posts: 1 (12/6/01 9:29:06 am) Reply Persistant 'Check Engine' light The check engine light came on in the '00 Lagacy I just bought for the Pretty One. Just after it rolled 100,000 mi the check engine light came on, she read the manual and found the she had failed to tighten the gas cap, which will send a fault signal. We disconnected the batterey overnight and the light went out. It came back a day or so later, so we took it to the local Subaru dealer and had the fault read. They say it's a faulty catalytic converter signal, but can't find anything wrong with the cat. Dealer says that even tho the cat seems fine, if the signal comes back the only way to get rid of it is to replace the cat to the tune of $600+. It's come ba-aaaack. Since I know the cat is OK I really don't want to pay $600 to turn off an idiot light. On the other hand - Now we won't know if anything else goes wrong that we *should* be paying attention to, since the light is always on. I'll hit the Subaru board, but anyone here got any ideas? THANX gbrand Registered User Posts: 177 (12/6/01 10:14:01 am) Reply | Edit Re: Persistant 'Check Engine' light From what I understand the way the ECu sees the cat bad is that the second Ox sensor , behind the cat, mointors thecat, not used for controlling engine I am told. So, Oxygen content in air past cat should be less than at upstream sensor(in manifold?) as CAt should be using Oxygen to burn up partially burned CO and HC. O2 sensors put out a voltage that gets higher as the oxygen concentration gets less, so typically read 0 Vols in air, and 100-200 millivots in normal operation. My truck downstreamsensor was reading well over 300 millivolts, saw at emission test there was 0% oxygen in exhaust. SO, if measure output of sensor and compare to up stream side, if same the cat ain't working, if higherthe cat is. Or downstream sensor is bad. Check after engine has warmed up, but don't replace blindly. The three or 4 wires are heater voltage, heater gnd(will be to case if 3 wire sensor), signal outut, signal gnd. So measure between signal output and signal gnd and see what you get. Of course diconnecting and measuring with engine running will set code for O2 sensor, so clear it later or someone will sell you an O2 sensor you don't need mtsmiths Registered User Posts: 9 (12/11/01 3:15:47 pm) Reply Check engine Light Follow-up Thanks for all the comments, especially to gbrand. I got the car registered with Subaru national, who promptly informed me that the car had not responded to recall WXW80 error reporting by front 02 sensor - resulting in *you guessed it* check engine light. I called the dealer that had diagnosed a bad cat and asked, "Don't you diagnose a bad cat by comparing 02 sensor read-outs?" he said "Yes". "If the car had a bad front sensor could that lead you to deduce a bad cat?" he said "Yes". "Did you verify recall WXW80?" ... slight pause he says "Is that the front 02 sensor recall notice?" *I* said "Yes", he said "No"; and scheduled the recall replacement. The moral of the story is ... the Subaru dealer was fully prepared to sell me an unneeded $800.00 cat converter, without checking a known recall, and of course during that repair they would have replaced both sensors, so I would never have known. I don't know if they are crooks or idiots, but I sure don't trust them either way. I sure wish my indy mechanic that keeps our '87 alive could work on this NewGen Soobie.

....yes bad sensors can cause a 0420 code to be thrown. Search and you may find one old thread I responded to and there was also a recall on the 02 sensors in some years as well. And unless you are burdened by a drivability issue, ie if the cat was clogged, why bother unless you need the light out to pass inspection? If you go with an aftermarket cat, make sure it is OBD2 compatible-many are not.

Check to see if you have voltage on the wires to the heater with the car running.-sounds as if both sensors were good. My bet is on a broken wire(or other bad connection) somewhere else, may have to do some detective work. Double check connections that you replaced, but sounds like you did that. If the fault existed before and after you replaced the sensor, the root cause is probably somewhere else.

check to see if the stat that works has a tiny hole in it to let air thru-and compare against the one that didnt work.