heartless

slight movement of an automatic when parking without using the parking brake is perfectly normal.. you are replacing stuff that did not necessarily need replacing. and for the record, aftermarket axles for a Subaru are garbage. as for the parking brake, you may need new parking brake shoes and maybe a new cable, but i would bet shoes for sure. they are typically ignored by most when doing brakes because they are not a part of the normal brake system on a car with disc brakes all around, which your Outback should have.. the parking brake is located inside the rotor cap on a car with all disc brakes, typically on the rear - completely separate from the normal brakes.

flex plate is a maybe... torque converter - probably not.. unless you are noticing shifting issues as well? If it is shifting fine thru all gears, and downshifting when you step into it (like to pass, or getting on the freeway) then i sincerely doubt torque converter. i would suggest getting a good mechanic to give it an inspection - they can probably pinpoint the issue for you... very hard to do without actually seeing the car, and hearing it in person (videos rarely offer the same sound quality as actually being there)

changing coolant would be a good idea, yes - and check the hoses while you are at it. it is not 100% necessary to drain/change it, timing can be done without draining... just pull the fans for better access, but if you are doing the job, do it all and be good to go for many miles. Aisin is the OE water pump supplier, and they do offer timing kits, but you need to know which motor you have. The absolute MOST important part to change, besides the belt, is the cogged idler pulley, which tends to be the one that fails first out of all of them. Cam & crank oil seals are definitely a good idea.. Tensioner, unless it is leaking oil, is not a really a necessity, but good practice if you are unsure. the plate on the left (drivers side) strut tower will tell you which engine you have, as well as trim & color codes, and tranny info that is an example of the plate you are looking for.. that particular one is for an EJ253 - it is the first 5 characters of the "Engine type" that you are interested in. (unless your car has had an engine swap, in which case, this info is pointless) there are multiple configurations of the 2.5, so having that 5th character - letter or number - is pretty important in making sure you get the correct parts for your engine. Thermostat is typically not a necessary change item, unless you are having temp issues - if you do decide to change it, get an OEM one only - aftermarket are junk. (search the forum here for more details) This is also a good time to replace the accessory belts, since you will have them off anyway to do the timing, fresh oil change & filter is a good idea as well. you can find a service manual here to help you along with the job: http://jdmfsm.info/Auto/Japan/Subaru/Legacy_Outback/

also check the throttle cable.. there should be just a small amount of play in the cable, at the throttle body, when idling make sure it is not kinked, or pinched anywhere along its path.

i would not touch any adjustments until after making sure the plate and throat are spotlessly clean. there could be dirt/carbon/etc build up that is not allowing the plate to close properly make sure everything is clean, then recheck function... then, and only then do you touch adjustments, if needed

amen to that! when I went to go look at the Forester I currently drive, the guy was like "you do know it is a manual, right?" and i was "yup and HOT DOG!" LOL apparently he had a lot of people come look at it before me, but they all turned it down because of the stick - their loss, my gain.

ROFLMAO - no, a manual trans would not sell well. Not in today's market... people want the flippin car to drive itself, they want to be involved as little as possible anymore, too busy looking at phones to actually drive. Sure, there are folks like you and I that would go for a manual, but the plain fact is, we are not the primary targets of the new car market. We are niche market.

lol, cant even find a full size pickup that can do that anymore.. it is all about passenger space & comfort.. want a real truck? you are gonna pay thru the nose for it cause you have to spec it out yourself.

yeah, sometimes it goes that way.. I got lucky with that one. even more so since i had a friend in the auto shop classes at the community college i think it cost me $5 to get it fixed, lol the point is, start with simple stuff.. and go from there.

yes, it could

back tires can cause issues just as easily as fronts. had a car with a similar vibration once, and it was a back wheel that had lost a weight.. rebalanced and good to go

at the very least, get the tires rebalanced... you can try rotating them as well, see if the shaking changes location dont mess with wheel bearings unless you are sure you need to.. doing it "just because" is a waste of time and money.

well, i know 2004 is no spring chicken anymore, but i wouldnt call it "quite old" either.. lol but, if you had read the entire thread, you would have found out it was the rear brakes that failed and locked up.

no, it is not common to need to whack it to get it to work. check the ground in the center dash area (behind the stereo unit) speakers cutting out, yeah, that is kind of common.. and most likely the wiring where it goes thru to the door. the wires get brittle with age and start to break I have had very good luck with Sony aftermarket units and the plug & play wiring kits (no cutting of stock wires).. last one i had had blue tooth for hands free phone, CD player and a USB port - was nice, could load up a thumb drive with tunes, plug it in and just go for hours. was awesome for road trips.

i guess i forgot to mention i want a wagon, not a sedan, LOL =P

and the fronts are done.. had one slider pin that was gummed up a bit, but got it free, cleaned up, cleaned out and regreased so should be good for a while now. next time we need to do brakes it will be getting new stuff up front... rotors are ok for now, but next round they get replaced.. one caliper had been replaced before we got the car, but the piston boots are looking a bit rough.. so both calipers will get replaced as well.

oh, i would love to swap it over to disc, but funds are pretty limited for much of anything these days... the bill for this was paid for with tax refund money. Plus, i am not doing the best physically anymore... lower back and neck problems causing nerve/muscle problems. I am afraid that my days of working on my own vehicle are pretty limited. i can still do a few things, with help, but not like i used to do.

yeah, the 02 i had could be difficult at times. but letting it sit for a few minutes... pull dipstick, wipe well, and then check usually gives a reasonable view. letting it sit overnight almost invariably showed slightly over full.. but check it within an hour of being run and it was pretty much dead on every time.

yeah, dealing with a shop is a bit different than dealing with the general public.

turns out the rear brakes were completely shot.. broken springs, worn out shoes, things got misaligned and locked up the works so, after tow, complete rear brake job - new shoes, wheel cylinders, hardware kits and drums turned - it is good to go again - total cost was $516 & change - and all done in one day (after being told they were booking out to the 19th already) I am going to call it a win in this situation. need to get fronts taken care of next.. tomorrow hopefully - weather cooperating. and it never fails.. nobody seems to know how to properly bleed a Subaru brake system, LOL - pedal is kind of soft - functional, but softer than it should be. Will take care of that after we get fronts sorted out.

no, does not work well start by swapping left to right.. see if the issue changes or stays the same. if it stays the same, then you know it is not the bulbs themselves, it is something in the wiring, sockets, or possibly grounding. you mentioned the front one being dimmer so i would start there.. check the wiring over carefully, make sure there are no cracks in the wiring insulation, or rubbed spots.. refresh ground points at that location. make sure connectors look good, no melting or unusual wear. generally speaking, flasher units do not fail like you are describing, they typically just dont flash any more on a given side, or sometimes both sides.

around here, they want proof of ownership - been too many cats cut out of parked vehicles for selling like that.

rust free what, Larry? LOL if you could find me a nice, clean 1995 Legacy with sunroof for around $2k, i would probably be all over it.. I miss the 95 i had hill holder, not interested.. sure they are nice when they work, but not a necessity for me. I can quite happily handle driving without one. Other half got the hill holder disconnected and zip tied the valve open last night.. still wont move... will be getting it towed to a shop we trust in town this morning.

interestingly enough, once the cold weather settled in, there were pretty much no problems with "locking up" of brakes... now that things are starting to warm up, the demon has returned.. and with a vengance. Went to an appointment yesterday... started to pull into a parking space, realized i was going to be crooked, backed up a little to straighten out, and when i tried to go forward again it was not moving... had to do some fancy revving to force it forward into the space.. did not want to leave it hanging half out in the drive area Never did get around to disconnecting the hill holder cable.. and at this point, still not 100% positive that is going to solve the issue.. tried moving the valve to the fully open position, and still could not move the car when in neutral and parking brake off. other half is going to try disconnecting that this evening, see if he can get it to move. If not, it is going to have to be towed out of the clinic parking lot.

if it looks reasonably level to they eye, it should be fine. some parking lots are obviously on a slope, others look reasonably level.. does not need to be dead level, but not on an obvious slope either.. if you are checking oil level when getting gas, check it last, not first... ie: pump your gas, clean windshield, etc.. then check oil level last.