DerFahrer

It's a rebuilt starter I got 5 years ago, and even if it drained the extra amperage from my high-rated battery, the lights in the car should dim. Yep, cleaned terminals with dielectric grease. This is my Legacy, EJ22, coilpack No fuel smell anywhere under the hood, not to mention there's no correlation with engine temperature and diffficulty to start.

It's a good thing I have the wagon, coz I would have completely lost my patience with Patti and either ripped her apart and parted her out, or sold her. This happens roughly every 5th time I start the car, although there's no noticeable pattern to it. Usually it starts right up, but sometimes it will just sit there and crank and eventually turn over reluctantly. I think the best way would be to let you see for yourself. Here's how the car normally starts (right-click, save as, small vid, 56k should be okay) http://www.thawa.net/gallery/albums/Videos/000_0583.mov It's usually two revs and then it turns over... But every once in a while, it will do something like this: http://www.thawa.net/gallery/albums/Videos/000_0580.mov It's not comforting, me thinking that one day it's just going to keep cranking and never start... I have replaced the coolant temp sensor, yes (assuming the one with the brown plug is the one for the ECU), I've also replaced the spark plugs recently, as well as the fuel filter. The car runs magnificently once it starts. I should add that it started this right after I replaced the fuel filter about 2 months ago. I did the fuel-pump unplug to relieve pressure, and it's been doing this since then. Any ideas? Please help. Thanks!

When we got my granpa's wagon, the previous (and only) owners informed us that the timing belt had never been changed at 110k miles. It's a 93 wagon, so those were the 60k belts. I told my granpa to buy it and park it and not drive it until I changed the belt.

No, they switched to single-port either with the change to solid lifters in 97, or the Phase II block in 99, can't remember which. I'm inclined to say 97...

You can swap manifolds if you like; they will interchange. I personally think this would be a whole lot easier than doing the wiring. Damn, I wish I could buy your EJ18...

Yeah, why doesn't stuff like this happen to me??? Nice find dude!

The SVX's and 05-06 STi's have the 5 X 114.3 wheels. The 04 STi's had the 5 X 100, with all other new-gen Soobies. They made up the reason that there were more wheel options for the 5 X 114.3 than the 5 X 100, so that's why they switched. Or so I've heard. Dumb huh?

Could be a burnt exhaust valve. Any bad exhaust leaks in the Y-pipe? Could be a headgasket. Have the coolant sniffed for exhaust hydrocarbons. Could be the rings, although I doubt it. It's rare for one ring to go bad. Do the oil-squirt test to be 100% sure, but I still think it's one of the other two...

It might be the contacts, and it might be the starter solenioid itself. You can replace the contacts first (an interesting little tidbit of information, Toyota starter contacts are identical to ours ) and see what happens. If that doesn't fix it, then you need a starter solenoid, or basically just a new starter.

Agreed.

From what I've heard, ALWAYS stick with OEM T-stats with Subarus. The aftermarket ones never open at the right time, either too early or too late...

Same here. It was 80 today... I was wearing a wife-beater all day...

Sorry dude, your harmonic balancer came apart. Ferret, the problem is not his bolt coming loose, the problem is that the rubber holding the harmonic balancer together is old and has come apart. Break the bolt off with the starter trick: - Put a ratchet on the bolt and put a long metal bar on the ratchet - Turn it until the bar is touching the ground on the left (driver's) side of the car - Go inside the car and pop the starter very quickly. Only engage and immediately release it. That should break the bolt loose and then you will have to get a new crank pulley.

For some reason, I was thinking you had an Impreza Turbo Setright... Is it just an N/A EJ20? Still very cool! (not that I have any idea what it's like to play in snow, but looks fun )

I personally like the XT steering wheel a whole lot, but I can at least understand you not wanting to look at cruise buttons when you don't have cruise Oh well, hope you like it. Now we need to talk about getting you a steering column cover

I think all 80's Soobs have the ECS light (also sometimes referred to as an O2-sensor light, dunno why), they're directly on the ECU. All 80's Soobs have their ECU's underneath the dash somewhere, with the exception of the XT, which peculiarly has its ECU under the rear shelf in the trunk. I personally think this makes it much more accessible, but it also makes the wiring harnes quite fancy :-\

Bingo. The old tensioners are horizontal, and they need to be compressed horizontally, which means they can be compressed in a plain old vise you might have attached to your workbench. The new-style tensioners however need to be compressed vertically, which might mean you will have to take it to a shop to have them compress it for you (play your cards right and they won't charge you for it). The way the hydraulics work in the tensioner requires that they face those particular directions, or the seals inside them might start leaking. Now, I have compressed a new-style vertical tensioner horizontally before, and to date, the owner of the car hasn't told me of any problems. But if she has the car long enough to do it a second time, I'll ask that she replace the tensioner next time.

It will be pretty much impossible for you to get parts DIRECTLY from SOA. You have to buy them from a dealer. Honestly, you'd be surprised how much money you can save and how well you'll get treated by making friends at your local dealership. Talk about having the hookup, one of my former coworkers and good friends now works at a Subaru dealership, so he gets me sweet deals and fast delivery on parts, and if I ever needed anything else, I personally know one of the service writers and the sales guys at the same dealership

Wow, this went over EVERYONE'S heads

*subyluvr starts giggling to himself upon receiving this new knowledge*

Another Floridian. Cool! The DOHC EJ25 was only from 96-99. Yours is definitely a SOHC. It had much worse headgasket issues. You're wise to want to change the timing belt at 60k miles. Even though the interval on this engine is 105k, I still think 60k is safer. Rubber is rubber.

I believe you have the spark plugs that go through the valve cover. I believe that started on the 2.2's in 99. If that's the case, then you have O-rings sealing the spark plug holes. Those O-rings are most likely leaking. You'll have to remove the valve covers to replace them, so you'll have to replace the valve cover gaskets and grommets too. It's no emergency, but if you want, you can do it when you do the 105k timing belt. The mileage could be a number of things: 1) What kind of plugs are you using? 2) What about plug wires? Replaced them recently? 3) Fuel filter done recently? 4) Do you have any CEL's (Check Engine Light) or have had one in the past? That could point to a number of sensors, from the O2 sensor to the MAF sensor.

From the 'wheel bearing guy': Wheel bearings sound most like a resonating moan. You usually start hearing it around 25-30mph and up. If you transfer load on a wheel with a bad bearing, the sound will get louder... You won't necessarily ruin anything by driving around on bad wheel bearings, especially not the rotors. I drove on 3 bad wheel bearings on my 91 Legacy for over 10k miles (actually, my right rear was bad ever since I had the car), and I reused the rotors without even turning them, and they're fine. However, the longer you drive around on a bad bearing, the harder it will be to get that bearing out of the hub once you go to fix it. My right rear, which had been bad for 50k+ miles, took an hour and a half to press out of the hub, according to my friend who did it for me. As we know, heat causes an increase in volume, and the heat that is generated from a bad wheel bearing causes it to press itself into the hub so greatly that even machines specifically designed to push them out will struggle with it. And yes, it is possible that the bearing simply will not come out, and in that case, you need a whole new hub. THAT is the main reason for giving prompt attention to a bad wheel bearing.

The fact that there is something special about Subarus, that to this very day, I can't quite put my finger on. There's just something different about them that I like.

There is a tiny bit of rust behind where the diagonal front control arms bolt to the frame. I do plan on fixing that soon. But that's it. No body rust anywhere. Honestly, I usually take pics of this car with the lights down, so I thought I'd switch it up a bit It's a nonturbo 4WD indeed, 5spd pushbutton, the ONLY one I've ever seen in Orlando! Thanks for the comments guys!