heartless

Welcome aboard Ann!!! We all hate to see a Subaru go to the crusher, but we all also know that sometimes it just has to be done. Had to haul off my first Suby this past summer as she had some pretty serious rot underneath - was not easy to let her go - she was also a FWD 5 spd, but GL....anyway, i take comfort in knowing that she sort of lives on as quite a few of her parts were outsourced to others in need. lookin forward to seein what you can do with what you salvaged!

yes, and then you let it get empty again, which will introduce more moisture in the tank in the form of frost. best to NOT let the tank get that low in very cold temps. as for the CTS - yes it can prevent the car from starting if it is bad, as can several of the other items mentioned in this thread. did you happen to notice CEL at all when it started to give problems? if so, getting the stored code would be most helpful. if not - then basics - fuel? air? spark? you mentioned wondering about the fuel filter - filters are relatively cheap so change it if it is suspect. same with air filter check the MAF - is it clean looking or dirty? have you really checked the spark?? should be strong & kind of bluish white in color - if it is weak and/or more yellow, that will also prevent starting. Also - how old are the plugs and/or wires - if they havent been changed in some time, perhaps it is time to do so. Is the gap on the plugs correct? What kind of condition are the plugs in? Spark plugs can tell you a lot about how your vehcile has been running. easy way to check spark - pull one of the sparkplugs, plug it back into the wire (get the wire pulled loose from the holders so it will reach) and using either heavy gloves or some sort of plastic holding tool (plastic kitchen tongs work well here) hold the sparkplug on one of the strut mounting bolts and have a friend try to start the car - watch the spark - should be a strong, bright, blue/white color. if all of the above check out, then it is time to start checking connections/fuses/relays. also check battery and alternator.

also make sure that the caliper is sliding freely on the pins if not, take caliper off, clean pins up, regrease with proper brake grease and reassemble - when the caliper doesnt move freely, it can cause similar issues

Welcome aboard! you will want to be checking out the "new gen" section for info about your Outback - Lots of stuff available there.

Welcome to the USMB. would be most helpful to know what year your car is.... and "GT" ??? more likely GL... OH and fair warning right up front - you are gonna hear a LOT about how crappy the early turbo motors are and that you should swap in something else - hope you have thick skin. these cars can be a lot of fun, but you need to understand that they are NOT powerhouses and there is VERY little aftermarket stuff for making more "power" out of the stock motor - it just isnt available unless you have gobs & gobs of money to throw around getting custom parts made, and even then, well, good luck. do lots of reading here, search is your friend, educate yourself about what you have, then decide what you want/can do with it - realistically.

welcome to the USMB! and yes, these cars are very territorrial... my first wagon (89 GL FWD 5 spd) got so jealous when we brought home another one that she wouldnt start - took me 3 days & gobs of emails, pm's and what not to figure out why...that and a lot of reassurance that she wasnt getting traded off for the new one, that it was for the other half...

Welcome aboard! (dont come in to the "meet & greet" section often so i missed this before now) Us girls ROCK!! and it sounds like you have one heck of a project going on! will add my +20bazillion on the video of the burnout! would love to see it!

if you open to the idea, then EJ22 is the way to go - much more hp for not a whole lot of work considering. biggest obstacle is getting the adapter plate to mount the EA tranny to the EJ motor - but they ARE available so a search for info would be in order there. as for the EA82 turbo motor - the majority here will tell you not to waste your time with it - they are not the most reliable motor. that swap would require a lot more work for very little gain HP wise, and a downgrade in reliability - especially for "off road" use. Good luck whatever you decide!

sorry, but I am with everyone else on this one - $750 for a strut job??? are they gold plated, or what? even replacing all 4 should not be anywhere near this much $$ i guess i am a teeny bit more anal than GD & gary - i usually do them in pairs at least, but if money is tight, yeah, you can do just one, providing you only really need one, with no major problems. again, if money is tight, harbor freight sells a spring compressor set - maybe not the best quality, but it does work (just a word of caution, do NOT use an impact wrench to tighten - it will trash the threads - ask me how i know...) as for doing the job yourself - with a decent set of tools it is an easy job, well in the realm of a "shadetree mechanic" skill set.

congrats on the new addition to the family! looks like a keeper, and sounds even sweeter. Hope she treats you well for many years to come!

you need to do some more digging under that dash - you really need to find that other black connector (or a wire with no connector attached to it?) The greens will NOT tell you what you need to know - you NEED that other wire w/black connector - it has to be in there somewhere - or as mentioned, a wire with no end on it... as for this: where was the clicking sound coming from? under the dash, possibly a relay, from behind you (as sitting in drivers seat) possibly fuel pump... in your original post you didnt mention any driveability issues when the CEL would come on - were/are there any issues? missing? bogging? general crappy running? anything at all?

swap in a 5 spd! seriously Tom, you already know that these cars are NOT powerhouses and there is so little aftermarket for them that there really isnt all that much you can do. Best bang for the buck for passing - 5 spd! kick it down a gear, stomp on it, kick it up a gear, and gone!

definitely use the instructions for reading/clearing the CEL posted on Legacy777's site - not gonna find much better anywhere else - they helped me tremendously last summer when my car was throwing codes.

very cool - nice to know I have other options if I need them. Thx guys.

the so called LED "replacement" bulbs for your tail lights and/or turnsignals - no way - tried them...with not so good results. (see the comments about the maglite experiment above - and no, the LED "upgrade" for the maglight is NOT as bright...) LED lights in sealed housings, like for trailers - definitely! they are engineered specifically for their intended use and work very well. case in point - we bought an 18ft car trlr a couple yrs ago - only lighting it had was the standard combo stop/turn/tail lights found on most trailers - no side marker lights at all. We spent the extra money and installed a full compliment of LED lights all around - the combo stop/turn/tail lights, rear facing center markers and side markers. They are VERY nice and very easy to see from quite a distance, and almost no drain on the tow vehicle's charging system. The big difference being, the housings/lenses on these sealed lights are made specifically for the LED lights - the housings/lenses of your car are NOT designed for LED's - unless, of course, the car came with LED's from the factory.

earlier model Legacy is the way to go. got my 1990 for $200 running - did have to throw some stuts at her, and fix the trashed exhuast from the po running around on blown air struts, but still... easy car to work on, non-interference motor, plenty of power plus decent gas mileage and a fairly nice ride - for a "small" car.

as they say on the commercial - you never forget your 1st Subaru. Have lots of fun memories of the old GL - some fond, some not so fond - lol I hear ya on the money thing - times being what they are, not too many folks do have the money for anything more than neccessities right now - me included. took me more than a month to save enough to get a complete set of tires for my wagon. the coil-over swap was actually pretty easy - just needed the correct tops & springs - bought a complete used set for mine, struts included - yanked out the airstruts, popped in the coil-overs, unplugged the compressor & the little brainbox for the air (under drivers seat) and viola - good to go! Have since replaced the used struts with new ones and it DOES make a difference in the way she handles. so how hard is it to install a remote start system on these?? it would be sooo sweet to start the car without having to go out in the bitter cold right away.... (daydreams....)

hehehe - got to laugh at the stories. I live in rust belt Wisconsin (grew up in northern Michigan) - snow here will be a given, just a matter of time at this point (supposed to be getting snow/sleet later today - oh yippee) Have lived out in Washington, so i know what you guys are talking about (lived up in Marysville for 2 yrs) also lived in Georgia - want to talk about any kind of snow shutting things down?!?! absolutely HILARIOUS down there! my favorite Subaru snow stories... my current DD - 90 Lego LS wagon getting the engine bay PACKED full of wind driven snow a couple of winters ago (see avatar pic) and still starting/running until it warmed up enough to melt snow - then things got wet that shouldnt have - took a couple of days to get it all out! as for driving in the snow...also my 90 LS wagon... my mom had heart surgery almost 2 yrs ago (feb 08) spent the day visiting at the hosp - snowed most of the day and was pretty windy too...by the time I was ready to head home the main roads were pretty sloppy, but passable...turned onto the county road that leads to my house (min of 8 miles out this road, then 1/4 mile off on a dirt rd) as i left what passes for a town the road had more snow (no plow yet) as i got out into open field land - oh boy! drifting!! hard packed, wind driven drifts! and no one had been down that road in hours! no tracks of ANY kind to be seen anywhere! not even partially filled in tracks! I had to drive in the opposite lane a few times to avoid drifts that were as tall as the top of my hood or taller (using barely visible fence posts as guides) but I made it home with no problems. Subaru AWD - FTW!!! this winter should be interesting - if it follows the wet pattern we had all summer we are in for some SERIOUS snowfall....

First, let me start by saying... I hate you guys on the west coast!! (jk) the cars out there are soooo clean compared to what i can find here in the rust belt. :-\ i also have a 90 LS wagon and am loving it - i still kind of miss my old GL wagon, but the Lego is sooo much nicer - even with the few quirks she has - abs not working right (pulled the fuse but really need to look into that), AC not working (dont really need right now anyway) and recently all but one stereo speaker cuts out She had 152K when i got her, up to 201K now and still running like a champ. (for the record, the other half has 90 Lego sedan, 5spd FWD that has over 250K and still going strong and he got 36 mpg on a road trip recently!) Junior seems to be coming right along - any new pics?? did/does he still have the air suspension?? mine was blown when i got it, swapped her over to standard coilovers - EASY job. also had the door lock issues (actually still do on my car - fixed them on the other half's car tho) and the fix you found is the way to go - easy with pretty much no cost. Good luck with Jr - keep us posted - and pics are ALWAYS appreciated!

ok, so if i am reading all of this correctly, I could swap injectors/rails on my 90 auto Lego to the newer red top ones by including the ecu with pin swap? that would be so sweet - have had injector problems in the past - went with rebuilts and all is good for now, but would be nice to know that it is possible to "upgrade" if needed.

the early Legacy's only have one cat converter @ the Y junction, the second item is a resonator and has no value other than basic scrap. simple way to tell - look for an O2 sensor/wires - if it has a sensor it is a cat, if not, it isnt.

I dunno - mine made noise for over 2 years - basically from the time i got the car - it was just recently that it started getting bad enough that i was getting a little worried about it - more grinding noise going around corners than it used to. (have put about 46,000 miles on her in that time) will keep my fingers crossd for you that Blu makes it to surgery day

Congratulations!!:banana: It is a good feeling to get one up & running yourself, isnt it? I am sure you will probably run across a few other "bugs" that need working out (like the headlight issue), but once you do you know what you have! Take good care of her and she will last many, many more miles.

yup - 3/4 drive is the ticket...or try what olnick said...

ok, so you say you cant fix it yourself (altho I think you may be selling yourself short) but it sounds like you have a "buddy" that can, at the very least, help you. Subaru's are very reliable cars with a little care & maintenance - there are documented cases of over 3 to 400,000 miles put on them with no real major issues, so unless your mileage is WAY up there, you dont really need a "lower mileage" car... Fix what ya got - then you know exactly what you have. buying another used car can be a real crapshoot - you might just be buying someone elses headaches that end up costing you way more than fixing the existing problem would.... just my 2 cents worth...