heartless

if you cut/drill a hole from underneath, you are opening the chassis to more dirt/debris getting in there and causing potential rust issues. I realize West Virginia isnt as bad with rust as Wisconsin is, but I personally would not go from underneath unless I absolutely had to - ie: there is no other way to fix the issue.

either reinstall the fuse, or pull the bulb - cluster is not that hard to get out. you might even be able to get to it from under the dash - if you dont mind being a bit of a contortionist, and have skinny arms/small hands...just have to make sure you are getting the correct one. simple twist out bulb holder - no wires on the actual bulb holder - power is supplied through a "circuit board" configuration on back of guage cluster

if the belt does not have marks on it - use a sharpie marker, or similar, and do the following... With the belt in place - Make a mark on the belt that lines up with the mark on the crank sprocket. Remove belt and count the specified number of teeth on the belt and make a mark for each cam sprocket. This will help ensure that all sprockets are lined up correctly when reinstalling the belt. note the mark locations shown in the diagram - crank sprocket mark should be in between the teeth on the belt.... directly from FSM for 07 Impreza (available here )... Specified data: Z1: 46.8 teeth Z2: 43.7 teeth

much better luck transmission hunting this weekend! scored a trans with only 30,511 miles on it - car was involved in a low speed rear-ending accident - suffered front end damage - the JY had intended to sell as a repairable, but it sat for several years, so they finally decided to part it out - my gain... i hope.

unplug & pull the fans out (4 bolts for each, 2 top, 2 bottom - and you dont need to pull the bottoms all the way out, just loosen), no need to pull the radiator unless you really want to. I have to do my tensioners in a vice as well...just take your time with it, it will be fine.

just bumping it into neutral wont hurt anything. either - if you were completely stopped, even bumping it into reverse wouldnt/shouldnt hurt it...there is definitely something going on with axles/driveline. I would get the car safely up on jackstands, start it, put it in gear, and start looking for what is turning/not turning. Also make sure the linkage is connected and working - it could possibly have popped the shift linkage?

yeah, it does suck, but there you have it...the 95 is no where near ready & time is very precious right now. Pretty much a done deal on getting this one fixed. the same shop that did the wheel bearing last time is going to do it again - they can get it in on Monday. in the mean time, it sits until I can get it over to the shop, probably Sunday. Seriously considering trailering it over there... As it turns out, it is the same bearing I had done in July 2010 - only a couple of months out of the 3 yr warranty on the bearing - about par for the course in my world...

jacked the car up when I got home from work today...definitely the left rear wheel bearing - there is a little wobble - not good.

we have/use a 1/2", adjustable torque, impact on our cars with the torque setting turned down a little so it doesnt over tighten. but it is capable of over 600 ftlbs at full torque on a full compressor tank (ingersall rand - uses a LOT of air on full torque) if you would be comfortable with it, and think it would be tight enough, I dont see why you couldnt use a 3/8" - maybe double check tightness by using a 1/2 breaker bar/socket? Care to be the guinea pig? LOL

the flares would actually accelerate the rusting problem - they would trap and hold dirt/debris/winter salt against the metal - the dirt/debris/winter salt holds moisture which is what causes the rust in the first place. best bet - if it isnt too advanced - is to clean up/cut out as much rust as you can, and repair by either welding in new metal, or using fiberglass, and treating/painting properly to seal against future damage.

i may need to be driving this car all winter with the scehdules as they are - and I know they do tend to go a long time - the one I did finally get replaced I drove on for more than a year with it making mild noise - but this one seems to have gone a lot faster - it was pretty quite still last week, now this week it is quite noisy...will have to get it jacked up & check for play. there are a bunch of used hubs listed on car-parts.com in my area for around $40-50 - but the year ranges are all over the place - that is why I asked about compatibility punched in 1990 and I am getting results for 2000, 1998, 2002, etc - are these really all compatible?

my current daily driver - 1990 Legacy LS, AWD - has another wheel bearing going out - i think it is left rear this time (had one rear replaced a few years ago, but think that was the right one). even a slight shift in body weight to the left side is producing a pretty serious grinding sound. the 95 Legacy that will eventually be replacing this one is no where near ready - still have to go get a tranny for it (supposed to happen this coming saturday) and get that installed - go over the motor while it is out for the tranny swap, and do the forester strut swap...all with very limited time for working on it - work during the day, and school 4 nights a week... and to top it all off, hit a darn deer on the way home from class tonight - took out the passenger side mirror, and left a pretty good dent in the front fender. my dilemma - do i spend the money to get a new wheel bearing installed, knowing that this car is not going to be around a whole lot longer... or, spend the money on the other car, getting the tranny installed (and get the separator plate resealed while they are separated), then deal with the rest myself... or - do I get a used hub and hope for the best? on the last option - what years would be compatible?

no, your car isnt dying, I have a 1990 with a little over 236, 000 and still going pretty strong. just had a deer try to take it out this evening - it only managed to dent the front fender, and break the passenger side mirror off - otherwise she is fine. get that knock sensor taken care of, and see how things go - if it still has issues after a week or two on the new knock sensor, report back and we will try to help you sort it out.

if you have a code for the knock sensor - start by replacing the knock sensor. These are relatively cheap and easily replaced, and are a common "problem". New knock sensor - make sure it is installed in the same position the old one is in, clear the code, and drive for a bit to see if the bogging goes away - betting it does. also, knowing year, model & mileage of the car might be helpful in diagnosing other issues.

first - the mileage has nothing to do with how much rust the car has - that has to do with how well it was cared for (or wasnt, as the case may be) I have a 98 Forester sitting in my driveway with over 364,000 on it, and very little rust - too bad it doesnt run... next, there are no Subaru specific repair panels that any of us are aware of. Those that do try to repair rust generally make thier own patch panels out of the appropriate guage sheet metal, or use fiberglass... Then there are those that decide is it worth the time and effort? How bad is it? if it is too advanced, dont bother, just drive it until it becomes structurally unsafe - could be a year - could be 8 years....my current daily driver looks a fair amount worse than that - looked worse than that when I got it. Had around 150,000 on it when I got it - just turned over 236,000 on saturday - still going strong. If you are concerned about looks - find something in better condition and take care of it by keeping it clean. If looks arent that big of a deal, take care of it mechanically and it will serve you well for many years yet.

Yeah, I know - I should have requested physical confirmation, but didnt - so partially my fault...and the woman behind the counter' "we have never run into this before" - yeah, right... have a line on a couple of others - one with only 30K on it - also several hours drive away - and you can bet I WILL be insisting on them physically laying hands on it, and while they are doing so, they can put a sold tag on it with my name & phone # before I go driving after it!

has factory service manuals for many models, over many years... http://jdmfsm.info/Auto/Japan/Subaru/

you would be much further ahead finding a good used AWD tranny to put in your sedan.

"best of" vote done!

ah, gotcha...so is there any way to correct this situation?

HAHAHA! that is a good one! Love the "magazine spread" pictures, too!

What do you mean by "saggy butt syndrome"? I realize that I - and my car - are both getting older, but I didnt think gravity had set in that heavily yet! I thought I had a tranny today - called ahead, was told it was in stock - drove 3 hours to go pick it up - get there, pay for it, and wait......and the guy comes back out & says he cant find it! So basically, I wasted an entire day, and a full tank of gas for nothing!

On swapping in the Forester struts/springs - will I need to change the tophats? or can I use the Forester tophats & just swap the entire assembly? (< would make the swap so much easier)

didnt cost us anything for the knuckle other than the time to pull it off a parts car we already had (one of 3). But yeah, I do see your point. Taking the knuckle off the car for drilling might have been a good idea as well - vs trying to drill it out while still on the car....

between the Forester and the Outback - I think I, too, would go Outback...for the same reasons that Fairtax gave...