heartless

the EJ22 - 90 thru 96 are non interference - no damage if a timing belt lets go also, for the auto AWD models - slightly better fuel mileage than you will get out of a 2.5 have a 1990 LS wagon, auto, AWD and get around 27-28 mpg average, slightly less in the winter months, slightly more on freeway runs. depending on wher you live, you should be able to pick up a very nice one for the money you are looking to spend. just be aware that those model years there were FWD only cars available - so if AWD is a must for you, make sure you are getting it.

this was my first thought as well - the lever may have been bumped/knocked out of gear? stranger things have happened. . .

IMHO these are the ones to look for in the AWD format - yes, they did still make some FWD models in those years, so be aware of that - a quick peek underneath to see if there is a driveshaft and rear pumpkin will confirm AWD. Make sure there is no fuse on the FWD fuse holder - under the hood, near back of passenger strut tower - very small black box, just a little bigger than the typical blade style fuse used in these cars (it is supposed to light up "FWD" on the dash if there is one in there, but it is possible the bulb could be burnt out or missing, so dont rely on that alone) a test drive in a parking lot doing slow tight circles will check for torque bind (go both directions to make sure) if it bucks, jumps, or otherwise resists rolling smoothly - walk away (unless you want to get an education on replacing the clutch pack...)

put the data on a USB thumb drive to transfer to netbook phone - most come with a usb cable to hook to a pc - hook it up, transfer the data, unhook...pretty simple (depending on your phone LOL).

agree 100% - you might get it pretty close, but where a windshield is concerned - pretty close isnt close enough. it would be extremely difficult to get it straight enough that the glass wont leak, or worse, crack because it isnt supported quite right.

well - to each thier own really - I had a GL wagon first and got a lot of miles out of the old girl before the rust took her away. I drive a first gen Legacy now, and plan on putting a bunch of miles on it - but there are times when i miss the old GL - not for it's looks - cause it was one ugly little car (salt cancer) but just the general quirkiness of it, and the 32 mpg i used to get... (legacy gets around 26-27 average, if i keep up with the slow leak tires...) The Legacy has more "elbow" room, and more creature comforts, and is a LOT easier to do little things to, simply by swapping parts from one model to another. (think Lego's building blocks - if your car doesnt have it, find one that does, snag the parts, and put them in) I found that they were both pretty easy to work on, each in it's own way, but parts for the Legacy are a wee bit easier to come by - as in the parts house is more likely to have something in stock rather than have to order it & wait 2 or 3 days...(and yes, this should be a consideration when buying an older car!) Living where I live, rust free used parts are almost impossible to get, unless i can get something from someone here that lives in a no salt area...and honest truth - the "good" EA82 stuff is getting harder and harder to come by. so - having owned both models - and worked on both models - my vote would be for the Legacy - but i really do miss the old GL sometimes - not really sure why, but i do... (and the tv ad is true - you never forget your first Subaru)

FWD fuse "trick" only works if the engine is running...

i concur with the used engine idea. head gasket failure is not a common occurance on the EJ22 - yes, it does happen, but not often as compared to the EJ25. find a decent used engine - $750 or so, throw a timing kit at it - one that includes the seals, waterpump, idlers and belts, reseal the rear seperator plate & possibly the cam covers & oil pan, and pop that puppy in there... parts should cost less than $225-250 for all of this, depending on what part of the country you are in. oh, and flush the radiator & heater hoses/core out before hooking up to the "new" used motor.

just to update - we found an Actron, model CP9175 at a local pawn shop (dumping some old jewelry for a little cash) price was $40 so we grabbed it. havent actually used it yet, but looking at the manual for it, it should do everything we need it to do and then some - LOL Thanks again for all the suggestions guys. as far as that goes (assuming you are referring to the code reader) - never needed one - when ya dont have any OBD-II cars, whats the point in getting one? Until the Mercury - the newest vehicle here was a 95 Dodge Ram 1500 that rarely gets driven. Every Subaru that has been thru here was too old to need a code reader. . . (late 80's GL's to first gen Legacy's) Honestly - I like my 21 yr old Subaru...dont need fancy tools to work on it, can still get 28-30 mpg out of it (which is better than some much newer cars), it hauls almost everything I need to haul, always starts & gets me to where I need to go. So why would I "need" to get something newer, that I can't really afford? And - I REALLY miss the simplicity of my 44 yr old Pickup (that I had to sell) - talk about simple to work on! and again - it always started and did what I needed it to do.

there are any number of things that can cause a vibration like you describe. wheel bearings - altho those tend to make noise at all speeds - but doesnt rule them out either... bad axle bad driveshaft center bearing bad U-joints bad struts various bushings gone bad... from your description I think i would carefully inspect the driveshaft components first.

i second what bstone suggested, that said, I am going to put $10 on it being the seperator plate on the back of the motor leaking. Any takers?

Welcome aboard! do you have any kind of maintenance history on the car?? If not - first and foremost - timeing belt and related items. there is lots of good info here - you will want to look in the older gen section for the model you have. next up would be hoses - radiator, heater and vacuum...repcae any that feel hard, or mushy basic tuneup stuff - plugs, wires, cap & rotor...and filters - fuel and air. Just be forewarned - you may take a bit of flack over the turbo part (there are some here that dont like those motors just dont take it personally)

sweet - now I just have to figure out what I did with the one I took out of my car - I know I kept it....somewhere out in the garage...

start by visually inspecting everything - look for torn boots on ball joints & outer tierod ends, look for oil on strut shafts with car jacked up and tire on - grab the tire at 3 & 9 o'clock positions and try to wiggle it back & forth - it will probably try to turn normally - If you feel any sloppiness, there is an issue, more than likely with tierod ends. then do the above at the 12/6 o'clock positions - any sloppiness would indicate problems with ball joint. If at all possible, get someone else to do the tire wiggling while you watch the suspect areas - it is sometimes easier to pinpoint things this way. just an added thought - sloppiness with the above checks can also indicate bearing problems - BUT - those are usually accompanied with some pretty serious growling/howling by the time you can feel it by wiggling the tire. any oil/oiliness on the strut shaft indicates a blown seal on that strut and it will need to be replaced (usually best to do these in pairs for best ride/handling) Not real sure how to check the tophat itself, short of taking the strut off the car - but mine are 20 years old & I dont have any problems there...

does this include the first gen Lego pumps?

ok lets see...you have already received some sound advice, but you asked, so here are my thoughts... clunk/thunk - very likely an axle on it's way out - while on an incline and turning, the axle joints are under a lot of stress and it is under these kinds of conditions where you will more than likely get your first warning signs of an axle going. smell - even tho you were not able to physically see any grease on anything, it is very possible that a small amount of grease got squeezed out of the boot and burned off on the cat (and at highway speeds, things can get into places you wouldn't believe possible - like up under the heat shield...) is it possible that the road was recently tarred??? (or any road you travel for that matter - fresh tar can be picked up from the road and later be burned off) Would check the boots carefully for small cracks - especially in the valleys and especially on the right side - even a small crack can let enough grease leak out to cause that burning tar smell... neither of the axle nut crimps being lined up in the notch - not quite sure what to make of that... somebody didn't do something right... but - if a crimp was pretty close to the notch - i wouldnt worry too terribly much about it - it would have to back off a fair amount to really do damage to anything. as in: 1/4, or even 1/2 a turn, or less - dont worry about it - if it had backed off a couple of turns, then yeah, i would worry about bearings, but you said putting 140 ft lbs to it didnt move it (even if the wrench is off a little), so i doubt it is that far out. when you say you can move the axle a little by hand - which way are you moving it?? it will have a small amount of play at the tranny side (less than 1/4 inch) moving in/out (tranny to wheel) there really shouldn't be much play moving front to back - it will flex a little bit at the joints but should be fairly stiff - if it feels "sloppy" this way, then you will definitely want to think about a new axle, and reasonably soon... do you get a clicking sound when making tight turns?? as in steering wheel all the way to the stop one direction or the other - clicking under those conditions is another sign of an axle going south. It may not happen all the time when it first starts, but eventually starts to happen more & more frequently, and under less stress, until finally it starts clicking while going straight ...that is when it is considered to be in "dire need" of replacing. If everything is checking out ok on the axles & their boots - no tears, no excessive play, no obvious issues, then it is time to be looking elsewhere. There are other things to look at as far as clunks go - pretty much anything suspension related can produce a clunk - bad struts/strut mounts, or even a loose nut on a strut can produce a clunk... a bad tirerod end (usually outer) can produce a clunk under stress... bad ball joints can make clunking noises, too... worn out bushings/sway bar links can produce clunking noises under certain conditions...all things to look at. Wish i was closer, i could help you narrow it down more.

yay! but you know better than to leave everyone hanging - spill the beans - what fixed it for you???

fuel filter? air filter? dirty MAF? plugs? wires? tire pressure? not sure (my memory can be lousy at times), but you are in Idaho? right? could be winter blend fuel as well? (winter blends always seem to produce lower mpg's)

I am also curious about this statement - replaced my alt last year...

just curious - what material is the gasket made of? is it the cardboard type, or cork, or what? I have gasket material (both the cardboard type and cork) so I could feasible make a new gasket. . . also have ultra grey from when we pulled my motor for the reseal job this past summer (thank you again, Tom) also - Tom - you said you got a new temp sensor from CarQuest - do you remember about how much it cost? thinking mine might be the original one yet...

Tom, slow shifts when cold are perfectly normal on these cars - mine does it too. the colder it is outside, the longer it takes to get it fully warmed up and shifting "normally" I know it seems a bit odd - took a bit of getting used to when i first got the Lego - but from what everyone elses says, it is normal for the 4EAT to hold a gear longer when cold. If i let the car sit and warm up for 5 mins or so in real cold weather, it seems to shift a little bit quicker than if I dont let it warm up as long. as in will hit 4th after 1.5 - 2 miles instead of 3 - 5 miles... as long as it is shifting smoothly when it is fully warmed up, i wouldnt worry too much about it - mine will shift so smoothly you barely notice shift changes - more sound related than actual feel. as for tranny additives tho - there is a Lucas product out there (trans X?) that is supposed to be quite good - was recommended to us for the old Taurus (and Moms old Sable - same vintage) when it was having shifting issues (didnt want to go into gear when cold - would take several seconds to a minute to actually engage!)

If it isnt the IAC, it would more than likely be the temp sensor... I am having a slightly different problem with my beast - once it is warm, tranny in park, it "hunts" for correct idle - almost stalls, then up to about 1000, then almost stalls again... As long as it is in gear, it is fine - like at a traffic light - idle is spot on at 700rpm. put it in park - starts surging up and down... I am pretty sure it is the IAC on mine - first cold start it kind of takes a moment or 2 to get up to proper cold idle... Where did i put that can of Seafoam, anyway?

you could always get one with the H6 - no major HG problems there!! someone gave some pretty good advice (IMHO) in your post in the Welcome area - if you havent seen it yet...

:clap: Congrats on the 1st gen Legacy wagon! you wont be sorry. oh - on the clutch job - might want to budget for a new flywheel too - just in case - better to be prepared for it & not need, than to need & not be prepared. the other half needed a new one when he finally got around to getting a new clutch in his car - but then again - he waited a Loooooong time to do it!

it most definitely makes a difference on a Subaru. If you are going to get new tires, do yourself, and your Ru a favor and do all 4 - the tech was correct on this one.