heartless

my ABS light has been on since before I got the car - wiring is broken off at a couple of the wheel sensors and I am too cheap (broke) to replace them. not a huge deal for me, I grew up with non-ABS cars - the brakes still work just fine with out it - and I dont have to get it inspected so no worries there either. that control box going goofy was just one of those things. I did what you did, unplugged the electrical to save my battery. If i recall correctly, there have been a couple of posts in the fairly recent past involving warm start issues...maybe a search is in order?

it isnt wire embedded in the glass, it is a conductive material "painted' on the inside of the glass and it does lose its ability to heat up over time. mine is getting pretty weak... frostfighter.com has kits for fixing conductive defrosters among other things. We used one of their kits to fix a broken tab on a 2004 Mercury Sable - worked great! I have a kit for fixing the grid on my rear window, but it needs to be relatively warm out, or have in indoor place to work & let it cure...

if you mean the 'box' that sits on the passenger side of the car, opposite of where the battery is - that is the ABS unit (antilock brakes) - and mine just did the same thing as yours on my 95 a week or so ago... stayed on making weird noises. not really sure what caused/causes it, havent really dug into it yet... FWIW - This has absolutely nothing to do with your starting issue.

Ok, you got me there...wasnt thinking about the time (age) limit...

what Faritax said - would typically be either one side, or all cylinders - the OP has one misfire on each side, suggesting it isnt timing related... changing plugs can tell us more by inspecting the old plugs - fouling and/or improper gap can both cause a misfire. bad wire(s) will cause misfires as well - if there is a crack, or even a little pinhole, the spark can arc to the block instead of going thru the plug like it is supposed to. a loose boot on either end can cause a similar issue - make sure wires are firmly & fully seated on both ends. had some cheap wires on my 90 when I got it - about halfway thru the return trip of a 3 hour drive it started acting up really bad - lost power, bucking, etc - & set a CEL - pulled off the interstate & into a gas station, popped the hood and I could see one wire was arcing to the block thru the plug boot - it had a pinhole in it. I was able to wrap the bad area with electrical tape and was able to get home ok, but it was a royal pain in the backside the rest of the way...

haha, yup, sounds like it has technician syndrome. must be nice to have multiple Subies to choose from! LOL too flippin cold/windy here to try much in the way of diagnostics right now, and the bottom is gonna drop out of the thermometer again over the weekend...back to single digits again...ugh! other than the speedo acting weird, the car seems to be running fine - no new codes and the ones that popped up a couple weeks ago havent come back...

i second the oil pressure sender unit at the front.

ok Fairtax, did you ever get your speedo issues resolved? reason I ask is my 95 is now exihibiting the exact same symptoms as your GF's - from 0-20 mph it just sits at zero, get over 20 and it will jump up and then "appear" to work normally, same issue in reverse when slowing down... works till about 20 mph, then drops dead to zero...

umm, no he isnt... 117,200 kilometers = 72,824.703 miles

yes, exactly! The one on my 90 didnt really look all that bad either when I first pulled it out of the car - but getting deeper into it - ugh! your analogy of looking like it sat at the bottom of the ocean for 50 yrs is dead on!

hard to say with any real certainty without knowing the specific car, but there are any number of reasons for it to only show up on 2 cylinders and not all. it could just as easily have been 1 & 2, or 2 & 4, etc... worn out plugs can cause misfires and plugs dont all wear exactly the same, as can a bad wire (cracks in the outer skin are a big one) the fact that you changed the coil with no change in the misfire codes says it wasnt the coil

in my experience the area that seizes up is where the shaft goes thru a tube to move the wiper. years of dirt, salt and other debris get down in there and corrode things. If your is still functioning you can still save it - take it apart, clean and grease the shaft & housing tube and reassemble. I pulled the nonfunctioning one out of my 90 wagon once, hoping to get it freed up - the gears were just fine and had plenty of grease, but that shaft was so corroded there was no way it was ever gonna work again. We tried soaking it in pentrating oil and using visegrips to try to move it - I think I finally got it to move about a 1/16th of an inch after a couple of hours of fighting with it - gave up and stuffed it back in the car... generally speaking the gears dont get "chewed up" on thier own - there was probably something that stopped the blade from moving suddenly and that is how the gears were damaged.

it is not uncommon for the diagnostic plugs (male/female black/green plugs) to still be taped up in the wiring harness under the dash and not easily noticed. poke around looking for lumps under the tape - I bet they are there still taped up... I have no idea on the adapter thing, sorry.

knock sensors are cheap (check on ebay), and pretty easy to change. good idea on pulling plugs to check condition - what kind of plugs did you put in? Basic NGKs are all you really need. also, what kind of plug wires? and how old? these cars do not like cheap parts store wires... OEM or NGK are the recommended wires. for more info about the evap code: http://www.obd-codes.com/p0441 dont go throwing time and money at things that wont necessarily fix the problem. there are quite a few things involved in the evap circuit that should be checked before messing with other things like the iacv or coil (coil problems will often cause a misfire, which you dont have)

fuel filter is located under the hood, drivers side. Canister type with the hose fittings at the top - It is not difficult to change. 2 hoses and the clamping bracket that holds it in place. Spark plugs: NGK V power - BKR5E-11 - gapped at about .040-.041 (middle of gap range - .038 - .044) Plug wires: NGK wire set, part number 8004, or get a set of OEM wires from a dealer (the NGKs will probably be the cheaper alternative) more expensive than parts store wires but worth every penny in the headaches they save. The NGKs are also numbered to correspond with the correct cylinder, making installation a piece of cake. Do not buy cheap parts store branded wires! they have been documented to cause all kinds of ignition/running problems with these cars.

new NGK plugs (basic copper cores are just fine) and New NGK or OEM Subaru plug wires should cure the misfire/rough running issue. These cars a fussy about those things and do not like aftermarket brand wires. coolant loss could be something as simple as a small leak or bad radiator cap. When is the last time the fuel & air filters were changed?

glad to hear you got it resolved!

my plan is to swap Engine, trans, shifter, rear end(4.11 final drive) pedal box. I'd really like to do a partial harness swap to keep obd2. id also like to swap over the 2.5rs brakes. I'm also aware i will need the trans crossmember. Why swap engines? is there something wrong with the Legacy motor? wiring differences between the 2 years would make this a VERY labor intensive proposition - not saying it cant be done, but you are basically talking completely rewiring the car from under the dash & forward... will my driveshaft work or do i need a manual legacy driveshaft? Impreza is shorter wheelbase, you would need the proper driveshaft or have one made. will the pedal box carry over? should, but others can tell you more on that... dont forget about all clutch related components - especially if it has hydraulic clutch... are the legacy rear axles roll pin or stub style? I will let others with the experience discuss this - I have never had to mess with rear axles will the brakes carry over? id assume yes but want to be sure. should, but again, I will let others with more experience discuss... will the impreza seats bolt in as my RA seats would look fantastic in there. Probably, but you will more than likely need to swap out the seatbelt buckle end (part attached to the seat) as there are differences. May also need to swap the seat rails... Not saying you cant do what you are proposing, but it would be a big undertaking to do it. You would be much further ahead to swap in a good used auto tranny in the 91, fix whatever else may need fixing, sell it, take the money & find something else that is more appropriate for your needs/wants.

early to mid 90's 2.2 Legacy (95 would be optimal) - if you can find one in the 125-150K mile range, you can be pretty confident of getting another 100K out of it pretty easily, more if you take care of it. We bought my 1990 for $200 - had about 152,000 miles on it. invested in a timing kit (under $200) and some used coil-over strut assemblies (had blown air suspension) fixed the exhaust and I drove it for about 7 years - still have it - has 237,000 miles, give or take a few hundred. still ran great but has salt cancer pretty bad.

frustrated - just let me know either way. Bushwick - thank you.

I may have one of those coolant pipes available for a small fee - will have to check the short block that is sitting in my garage a little later. If it is still there, it was pulled, inspected, cleaned up and repainted before reinstallation - was supposed to be a replacement motor for a bad 2.5 in a forester - forester had too many other issues and the project was never finished...

try swapping the plug first, see what that does (if anything) if no change, try swapping the plug wire next. remember, only do one thing at a time, then drive it to see if there are any changes from that one thing.

Gary asks some very important questions.   what exact conditions is this happening under? outside temps? humidity levels? cold/warm starts?   I was getting an intermittent misfire on cyl 2 - only when it was damp out - dry weather didnt produce the problem, and only on a cold start (after sitting overnight). Symptoms where similar to what you described - slight hesitation/roughness, then it would set the code, and after a moment or two it would run fine...   turned out I had a bad coil pak that was arcing externally - I could actually see it when I popped the hood one day when it was acting up. it would stop arcing after it warmed up and things expanded & dried out with the heat. swapped out the coil pak with another used one - no more problems.   shot a short video of the problem - can be seen here.

disclaimer: this is my personal opinion, but - you dont need to waste your money on anything "fancy" proper & timely maintenance will go a lot further in keeping your car going than throwing money at "fancy" stuff will

look out of state for a rust free, clean 95 Legacy wagon & get the best of just about all of them. Do a strut lift with Outback/Forester struts & springs - net gain around 1.75-2 inches (all brand new parts was around $450 for mine). add on 15" wheels (Forester or Outback) with some good tires = a little more height. 95 has the non-interference EJ22 - best Subaru motor ever built! very durable and reliable. also easy to work on when something does go wrong. Non-interference so you dont have to worry about potential valve train problems if the timing belt does let go. OBDII so it is easy to determine what a CEL is for with a handheld code reader. Fuel mileage is mid 20s in winter, upper 20s in summer, with the potential to hit 30mpg... And the best part is cost. They can be had for cheap (in comparison to 2000+) - save the extra money for other things or put it away for a rainy day. I have the car described above (minus the rust free part ) and I love my lifted 95 wagon! I have done a little bit of 2 track trail riding in it and it performed very well. Deep snow is no problem either. just the .02 cents from a relocated Michigander...