DerFahrer

Spider intake on an 86?? I thought that started with 87.5's...

Per the 88 XT FSM: 4cyl XT front spring rate: 146 lb/in XT6 front spring rate: 174 lb/in Rear spring rate*: 179 lb/in Damping force on struts*: 221lbs (Expansion) 110lbs (Compression), front and rear *Same for 4cyl or XT6

First thing I noticed, those are XT Turbo seats...

Welcome wagonman. You said about 1500-2000 miles after an oil change it starts making this sound. Is the engine still full of oil? with 173k, especially on a Subaru, it HAS to be leaking oil somewhere unless pretty much every oil seal in the whole engine has been replaced. You might just be low on oil, and Subaru's ask for oil by tapping their valves, like a baby cries for milk So keep an eye on your oil level, change it regularly, and see where it goes from there.

Removing the thermostat actually made the engine overheat worse because that won't let the coolant stay in the radiator long enough to cool off. The thermostat is a good restriction in the coolant system on top of being a valve that determines when it starts circulating. You might as well have the coolant 'sniffed' for hydrocarbons to see if your headgaskets have let go under all this overheating, I've heard tales of only 1 overheating incident dooming them. As for why it's doing it, what kind of T-stat did you put in there when you replaced it? For the record, always replace it with an OEM Subaru T-stat. Aftermarket ones are nothing but trouble in a Subaru. Other than that, it's merely looking for specific problems. Could be your water pump, could be blockage in a rad hose somewhere, could be as simple as needing a new rad cap. Just double-check everything in the system, have the T-belt and water pump done, and see what happens from there.

It could be the TPS, but if it isn't that, I'm almost 100% sure I know what it is. It appears that Subaru injectors are quite easily clogged up. I ran my XT once to the very last drop of fuel in the tank before I filled up (about 50 miles with light on). After that, the car had a hesitation very similar to what you describe. My theory is that the sediments at the bottom of the tank that I was running on probably made their way through the fuel system. I had been chasing the same problem on my Legacy for YEARS, trying all sorts of fixes that had been successful for others. And then someone told me to try a fuel injector cleaner called Lubro-Moly Jectron. It's a German made product, and many VW/Mercedes owners swear by it. I ran 3 consecutive tanks with a bottle of it each time in my Legacy, and that did more good than anything else I had tried. I managed to run 1 tank of it in the XT before I had to put it down for repairs, and just that tank showed an improvement. It's hard to find that stuff, but just type in that name in a Google search and you'll find a couple online shops that sell it. Good luck!

Hard!!! An EJ bellhousing is an EJ bellhousing. I can take the hydraulic 5-speed out of an Outback and bolt it right up to an EJ22T with little to no mods. I wouldn't bother though, because the Legacy Turbo tranny has shot-peened gears for a tad of extra strength. And so much can be swapped between engines it isn't funny. I could put EJ22T pistons, rods, crank, heads (might be some cooling issues there though) intake manifold, pretty much whatever I want into my NA EJ22. I could put EJ25 heads on my NA EJ22 if I wanted, I could put new EJ257 heads on my NA EJ22 if I wanted. There's a reason Subarus are commonly referred to as "Legos." You can pretty much just start taking Subaru pieces and build whatever you want from them!

Really??? Owners with no mods whatsoever blowing headgaskets left and right, and you keep it together under huge power specs... What's your secret?

Setright, from which side of the argument were you previously? Dino or synth?

Details on the clutch? How many miles on it, how is it driven? If it's a high-mileage clutch, or driven hard, the pressure plate might be throwing in the towel. Be forewarned, they can make the car undriveable in a matter of about 4 or 5 miles!! That's what happened on my Legacy. Drove 5 miles to something, drove okay, drove 5 miles back, became almost impossible to drive on way home, couldn't shift, engagement point on the floor. Took it to mechanic the next day, 3 miles in 2nd all the way, pedal stayed on floor when I parked at the shop!

The concept of smart does not apply to beater cars

The telltale sign of a worn/ready-to-go clutch cable is when it gets kinda heavy, and may feel like there's sand in the sheath (kinda gritty). I have heard of a few tales of cables breaking too.

Peace? I understood it to mean "to come together". The 6 companies came together to form FHI, hence the name...

I've been away from the board for a couple weeks so I haven't seen this. My favorite car ever is my Legacy. I never thought in a million years I'd say that, but it's true. I have: owned it since my junior year of HS, beat on it, pampered it, torn it to pieces and put it back together, rallycrossed with it, pulled cars out of mud with it, had accidents in it, gotten tickets in it, almost got laid in it, got so mad at it I wanted to drive it off a cliff, swore I would commit suicide if something ever happened to it, and all this time, the car has never failed to get me where I needed to go. Ever. The car literally is a part of me and as long as it runs, it's mine. I still love my XT, and even though it's in pieces draining all my extra cash on parts, I still miss it and can't wait to have it running again. I would LOVE to have a Fulltime 4WD XT Turbo, a 91 Legacy Turbo 5MT with LSD, an RX, a Brat, and I am also planning on building one of the fastest first-gen Legacies in the world as I get out of college, but I've said too much about that already

I personally would not buy a used WRX. About 80% chance that the car has not been taken care of, or at least driven very hard. If you drive like crap, launching the car at 4k, slamming the gears around, etc. etc. yes the trannies will break... An auto isn't necessarily a good decision either. The WRX engine is so unfit for an auto it isn't funny. Reviews say the AT can never decide on a proper gear, and most of the time you're stuck off-boost growing impatient.

Agreed. I changed my alt in 20 min on my piping hot engine...

Cheap, yes. Professional, hardly. I had a Midas muffler put on my Legacy about 3 years ago, coz my old one was half in pieces. Because I was poor at the time, I had them clamp the new muffler onto the old axle-back pipe, and they did it crooked. Also the muffler tips already had shown signs of rust when I took it off. I now have a complete 98 Legacy GT stock catback exhaust on my car that I paid less for than the Midas muffler. It looks better than the stock muffler, and a helluva lot better than the ghetto Midas muffler.

When I was into modding my Legacy and stuff, I had rims, intake, and lots of other plans for it, and then some kid couldn't understand the lane he was in and T-boned me from an angle. Here's how distraught and PO'ed I was: We got out, he told me he was gonna leave and get his info, I let him go, and never got his tag #!!! I paid for all the damage repair myself coz I was so dumb. Yeah I had an excuse, because honestly I was in tears. That Legacy means more to me than many people I know, and to see that was just heartbreaking. But yeah, let em have it Setright. Tell them how you want the exhaust redone and don't be satisfied until they do it right. You spent the time and money on that, it needs to be fixed properly!

02-03 WRX, maybe. 04-05 WRX, completely disagree. For the price difference of the WRX, I can upgrade that easily. That's why I'd buy a WRX new from the dealer and maintain it properly. I've sold a 91 Saab 900 before with all maintenance records. And I don't care if they provide me with a weekend getaway and an Asian hooker, I'm not paying $130 for an oil change. Badge-sharing is badge-sharing. It disgusts me that Saab isn't creative enough to make a great car on their own. Maybe that's why GM owns them :\

Cylinder #4 is not low, 166psi is a great reading! 1,2, and 3 are actually too high, you probably have carbon buildup, and I'll bet you really have pinging when you get on the gas unless you use high-test. Run some induction as DeVerde suggested. That will bring the other 3 cylinders down a bit, and everything should be even.

I'm surprised this is a cable and not hydraulic. But if it is indeed a cable, then adjustment is NOT as easy as you might think. I learned this the hard way after putting my transmission back in my 91 Legacy. If you tighten the cable too much, you will actuallu stretch the cable and bring the release point up HIGHER, even though logic suggests that it would bring it down lower. It might be worth it to just take it to the dealer, pay $35 for a half-hour and let them adjust it to exact specs....

Technically, you're supposed to leave your parking lights on when you park on the street. Of course nobody does it, but there has to be a way to leave them on for the car to pass. Since Subaru headlights automatically shut off when you turn the ignition off, there has to be an auxiliary switch to override that. So when you turn that switch on, the car assumes you're using them to park on the street like you're supposed to and does not chime.

Look on Josh's (Legacy777) website www.surrealmirage.com/subaru for trouble code tips and clearing codes...

Cool TROGDOR!! I have only seen one 4Runner have one of those things, it was a 4Runner Turbo that an employee at my Toyota dealer had.

Or a Ferrari 456GT... hey it even has GT in the name