alias20035

As far as I know all commercial automotive dealers must warranty the vehicle for 30 days or 3,000 km (thats the law in Canada). Not sure about the US, but in general the US does have better consumer protection. Good of them to take care of you without a hassle though. Be sure to make note of this in your Ebay feedback.

1999 for Impreza/Forester, 2000 for Legacy/Outback. Phase 1 are DOHC with spark plugs that come straight the side of the heads between the camshafts, Phase 2 are SOHC with spark plugs that are angled upwards from the top of the head. The easiest method to tell them apart other than model and year is to note the spark plug location and the size of the head, the DOHC are much larger and you can see space for two camshaft pulleys on the timing belt cover. Usually DOHC is more powerful than SOHC, but in the EJ25's case the SOHC develops slightly more power, and also develops its power at a lower RPM.

Your 01 Forester uses a MAP sensor which is to the left of the throttle body on the "clean" side of the air filter box. MAP sensors are usually more reliable than the MAF sensor. I would verify that it is correctly plugged in. The ECU is much better at identifying MAP problems than MAF problems, so hopefully it will detect something on the reset. There are two service bulletins (recalls) that may apply to your 01 Forester, one is for ECU reprogramming, and the other for air/fuel ratio sensor (oxygen sensor? or MAP?). Check with your dealer or Subaru customer service to see if they apply. I think you can also enroll in a service on the Subaru.com website that will indicate the recalls.

As others indicate, reset the ECU. See if any codes pop up. Check to see if throttle position sensor (TPS) is loose and moved out of place (it is adjustable, but you should note a "dirt line" denoting the original position (hopefully!)). EGR can cause some driveability issues including lurching. I would clean and check the EGR and its related vacuum system. While your at it check the air intake for any leaks or disconnected vacuum hoses. Oxygen sensors can cause problems, but "bogging" is usually not one of them. It is worth investigating though. A defective mass airflow (MAF) or Manifold Air Pressure (MAP) sensor will cause "bogging" which you may be referring to as "lurching". If you open the thottle completely and get no power, and then reduce throttle and get power, the MAF/MAP may not be working. Sometimes the ECU will detect a bad MAF/MAP, but not always. Often people get "bogging" due to changes to the air intake, in particular the removal of the air intake resonator. Did you make any changes to the air intake? See this possibly related thread: http://usmb.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=8236

All 1996-99 Outback's have the Phase 1 EJ25 DOHC with its related head gasket problems. The Phase II EJ25 SOHC was available on the Impreza/Forester in 99, but only installed on the 00+ Legacy/Outback. If the Phase I EJ25's have had their head gaskets changed already hopefully it was with a newer revision of the head gasket which is more reliable than the original. I do not know if the 99 has a newer revision of the gasket than the 97, but from experience I have seen 99's blow gaskets too. The 99 has the newer revision of the 4EAT automatic transmission which is more reliable. An easy way to identify the newer more reliable automatic transmission is to look for the spin off automatic transmission fluid filter on the driver's side of the transmission case.

I had the bubble problem too and I also lost about 1 litre of coolant over the period of a month or so in my 2001 Outback. I was really worried about the head gasket, but no hydrocarbon or pressure test could find anything wrong with the head gaskets. The seal on the radiator cap and the radiator fill was contaminated with yellow particles. I was due for the first coolant change at 48,000km, so I changed the coolant and cleaned the radiator cap, and thus far after 12,000 km the coolant level has not changed. I recently tested the coolant for hydrocarbons and the test was negative. The yellow particles have not returned (yet). Phase II's do blow head gaskets, but a lot less frequently than Phase I's. According to the German magazine Autobild the Phase I has an 8 to 1 ratio for head gasket problems verses the Phase II. I would have guessed 4 to 1, but Canadian winters are much harder on engines than German winters which may equalize the ratio a bit. FYI: The radiator cap pressurizes the cooling system to between 12 and 15 PSI (usually 13 PSI on a Subaru). If this pressure is not maintained, the boiling point of the coolant drops and you can get overheating, boil over, bubbles, and loss of coolant. I had a total failure of my rad cap on my 93 Legacy, and as a result the engine burped out almost half of its coolant through the overflow. The local dealer in Boulder Colorado wanted to pull the engine and change the head gaskets, but I insisted on a thermostat and rad cap only and I had no further problems once this was done. Rad caps and thermostats are usually changed as a pair, but I have found that Subaru thermostats tend to last a very long time, much longer than the rad cap.

Yep, the water pump would be good place to look for a problem, especially if it is the original. As a precaution I always changed my water pump every timing belt change, but I could get them for less than $50 which made it an easy decision economically. I am not sure what to do with my 01 Outback with its 168,000 km timing interval, should I just wait for the timing belt, or take it off next year when I hit 100,000km? Odd's are that the pump will easily last the 168K. When you have the timing cover off you should be able to see a wobbling water pump. If not you will have to pull the crank pulley and center timing cover off for a more extensive inspection. My 85 GL made a knocking sound from its water pump, I was barely able to hear it over the clacking lifters. It knocked long enough for me to say "what the heck is that" and then it self destructed. The pulley had loosened up causing the water pump bearing to fail. My big problem was finding a water pump for a US market GL in Canada, turns out there are five or more water pumps for the GL that have very slightly different pulley spacings, depending on which type of A/C system was used. I had to bring in a part from Vermont.

Your old EJ22 has hydraulic valve lifters that in some cases will only click at idle. Usually this is a sign of a bad oil pump or oil pump seal, but in most cases just clogged lifters. I find that adding a can of Wynn's Valve Quiet can help alleviate this problem. But I don't think lifters are the problem. Piston slap can exhibit the conditions you describe, and it is typically isolated to cylinder #4. If the sound/vibration goes away once the engine warms up, odds are that it is piston slap for which you really can not do anything about. I am concerned about your tensioner, especially since you had to pry the piston out when you changed the timing belt. This is not normal, or at least it has never occured to me in the 20 or so timing belts that I have changed. Everytime I pulled the pin the tensioner promptly expanded. Typically a bad tensioner will cause the belt to slap around at idle and it will stablize a bit at speed. This is a dangerous condition that has killed more than a few engines (like 6 WRC cars in one season a while back!). You can remove the right and left timing covers and note if the belt is slapping around, in some cases the belt is so slack it slaps the covers and makes a mark. Check the tensioner for signs of a leak, and for signs that it has moved out of position. Sometimes the bolts holding the tensioner will be loose, they should not be. I would remove the tensioner and place it in a vice and compress it, and note the amount of force required to compress it, and the rate that it expands. I have worked with many of theses and I am sure I would note one that is out of wack, but most Sube owners have no or little experience with tensioners, so I don't know how much success you will have by testing in this manner. You should also verify that the belt is still correctly aligned (note the crank pulley/timing cover TDC mark and the camshaft pulley alignment marks). Also check the idler pulleys and belt for damage. Crank bearings are a possibility, but usually the problem worsens with engine speed. Oil leaks from either the front or rear crank seals usually accompany a bearing failure. The only bearing failures that I have seen were the front bearing failing due to a loose accessory pulley. The EJ22's don't have many bearing or connecting rod issues. A misfiring cylinder is also possible, check the vacuum lines, plugs, wires, etc. Sometimes a clogged injector will cause some issues, so if you can't find anything else run some injector cleaner through.

Yes, to fully repack the bearing you need a hub tamer. The inner seal seals near the axle shaft, and as such is exposed to a lot more dirt and water than the outer seal. At most a seal removal tool is required.

The tachometer is electronic, so no cable here. The speedometer uses a cable on some models and on occasion in cold weather you will get a buzzing sound from the speedometer unit. But this is an "inside" noise problem. I would guess brakes or a loose exhaust heat shield. By mileage the brakes are at or past due for work. Could it be rust on the rotors causing the noise? The rust on the rotor is scraped off by the first few brake applications and the noise disappears. The scraping sound can even be present even when driving without the brakes applied. The rotors will rust within hours of parking the car if they are wet from rain/snow. This is an extremely common problem, and of absolutely no concern so long as the rotors are thicker than the minimum tolerance, the brake pads are good and the calipers are sliding properly. Sometimes an exhaust heat shield will shift with the first brake application and stop rattling. Also check CV/DOJ axle joints, look for torn/leaking boots. I don't think it is an engine problem, unless the noise changes when the car is parked and you rev the engine. Engine problems should always be present when both parked and driving, and engine problems don't tend to go away (piston slap excepted). Common engine cold weather items are accessorys like alternator, idler pulleys, A/C clutch, timing belt idler pulleys. But like I said, if it does not make noise in the driveway while parked it is very unlikely to be the engine. Piston slap is a clacking sound that generally occurs in cold weather, and goes away when the engine warms up. I have heard that failing timing belt tensioners can produce a sound very similar to piston slap, but I have not heard a failing tensioner myself, just come across the odd leaking one. The transmission is an unlikely source for this type of noise, but check the fluid level, it could be low and there could be air in the transmission cooling system. If you can not isolate the noise to brakes/driveline, I would do the following: remove the A/C belt and see if the noise goes away indicating an A/C compressor or idler pulley problem. Then take the power steering/alternator belt off. This will identify an alternator/power steering pump problem (should be easily identifiable with the belt on too). Then take the timing belt covers out and inspect the belt, its pulleys, the water pump and tensioner. Using this method you should work down to the problem. Also on EGR equipped models, sometimes the EGR will buzz, perhaps it needs cleaning. I had this problem on my 85 GL wagon.

The DOJ (double offset joint, like a CV joint but slides for axle length adjustment too) boot above the catalytic converter always fails because of the heat, and ends up coating the cat in grease causing it to smell for many months after. Check for torn or leaking CV/DOJ boots. Fix any torn boot and tighten/replace the clamps on any boot that is leaking (after repacking the boot/joint with CV grease). Also check the rear end and sides of the transmission, sometimes the outdrive seals leak, and the oil will leak right onto the exhaust. Valve cover and rear camshaft seal leaks are common. As others mentioned, power steering leaks are somewhat common. Sometimes the catalytic convertor fails causing a "rotten egg" odour. We will cross our fingers on this one, the cat is expensive on these early Legacy's. Usually a cat failure causing an odour would cause performance problems that get progressively and quickly worse. As for air/fuel mixture causing an odour, evaluate the engine power output across the rev range and WATCH the fuel economy. If the car is running rich you should note very high fuel consumption. Running rich would also put unburned fuel into the catalytic convertor, where it will burn and cause an odour. Cars will often produce odours and it is important to know what the odour is. Sometimes an odour can be the first indication of a problem.

The only things to really worry about on the 95-99 2nd generation Legacys are: Phase 1 EJ25 DOHC head gasket failures = your car has the far more reliable EJ22, so you don't have anything to worry about 4EAT AWD clutch pack/duty solenoid failures on 1989-1997 4EAT transmissions = your car is FWD so you will not see this problem either All other remaining common problems such as thermal sensor, sway bar links, etc are relitivaly inexpensive to repair and not worth any serious concern. Please be aware the Subaru FWD sedans are the least in demand and hence have the lowest resale value. Most buyers want an AWD wagon. If you are getting a deal and are ok with a sedan without AWD then by all means purchase this car. I feel that without AWD the Legacy is somewhat outclassed by the Honda Accord and Toyota Camry, both of which are just as reliable, get better fuel economy, and usually perform better. It is AWD that makes the Legacy "special". The spring corrosion recall may not have applied to your "California Car", I think it was reserved to rust belt cars. And I thought the tow hook recall was for the Impreza, the tow hooks were too low and often hitting a speed bump would deploy the airbags. Recalls do not have a time limit (as far as I know).

And the three screws around the speaker grill? I forgot about these....

Did you get the two screws? One at the front of the door grip/arm rest under a sponge cover, and the other screw under the cap on/under the arm rest? You have to remove the door handle trim which it sounds like you tried, some of these trim pieces have a hidden screw, while others separate into two pieces, with the outer peice sandwiching the door panel. Do not pry the door off without getting the handle trim off, otherwise you may damage the trim or not be able to get it back together. You also have to remove the triangular "sail" cover up by the mirror. It will pry off with a flat screwdriver or similar tool. Once you have the screws and sail cover off, you should be able to pry the door panel carefully off from the bottom edge. Once all the clips pop loose the panel should lift up and off the window sill. Then all you need to do is disconnect the electric window switch harness. See this link for info, it applies to the Australian 99-03 Liberty/Outback (well, 00-04 North America Legacy/Outback to be totally accurate) but your older model should be somewhat similar, my 93 Legacy was not that different compared to my 01 Outback. This is the guide for radio/speaker install, which covers door panel removal

The duty solenoid is used to control the amount of power sent to the rear axle. The duty solenoid is located in the tailshaft assembly of the 4EAT transmission along with the torque transfer clutch pack. Replacement of the duty solenoid can be done with the transmission in place (although it is sometimes easier to drop the transmission). It is not a hard repair, and the damage is all limited to the tailshaft, I am not sure why the dealer is hesitant. Are you having any problems with "torque bind"? Torque bind occurs when the clutch pack or duty solenoid is defective. Torque bind is usually observed as a rumble or vibration that occurs in moderate and sharp turns. You may also note that the car feels like the brakes applied during a turn, but you did not apply them. What happens is the transfer clutch sticks and locks the front and rear axle together, but when you turn the rear axle always has to turn slower than the front. This builds up torque bind on the drivetrain that can not be released, and is felt as rumbling, a vibration and/or braking. Take a shift on the fly 4x4 and place it in 4 hi or 4 lo, then try to do donuts in a parking lot. What you will experience is torque bind, same as the Subaru. Your transmission is the early generation 4EAT which has a poorly designed tailshaft assembly which has a steel part rubbing on the aluminum case of the tailshaft. Since aluminum wears faster than steel the result is hydraulic pressure problems and torque bind. Torque bind due to this wear to the aluminum case almost always occurs betwen 80 and 140 K miles, so your 115K falls in the middle of this. What you need is the revised tailshaft assembly which has a steel sleave to protect the aluminum tailshaft case and a new duty solenoid. Cost $750-$1,000 for parts and labour. This problems affects nearly 100% of all 4EAT's prior to 1998 (when Subaru changed the design), why would the dealer not know about this? Find another dealer or independant Subaru repair shop. BTW: your 4EAT is perfectly fine and will last pretty much forever, it is just the AWD mechanism that has gone wrong. It is generally not a good idea to drive around with a failing duty solenoid, especially if you are experiencing torque bind. Torque bind places a lot of wear and tear on the rest of the drivetrain and you may end up destroying your driveshaft, rear axles, and rear differential. In your case you simply may not have any power to the rear axle, if the TCU detects a fault with the duty solenoid it will try to hold the car in FWD (which is not good). Do you have any snow and ice near Tucson to test the AWD? If got about 12" of snow with about 15" or more this weekend to test mine here in Canada..... Actually I just checked the Tucson forecast and it will hover around 25C for the weekend so I guess snow is out... You might also want to inspect the electrical harnesses on the 4EAT, sometimes these are damaged or loose, and if so the TCU could report a duty solenoid failure. I have seen loose wiring harnesses on two occasions, both times after a dealer inspected the transmission.

They do weaken over time causing a little more body roll than when new. This following post deals with a broken one, which is a very rare occurence: http://usmb.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=7436 So I guess you could say they go bad....

I ran my Legacy about 40,000km or more on a rumbling rear wheel roller bearing, it was over one winter and once the bearing warmed up it quieted down a lot. But the ball bearing type would probably not last as long. From experience in my 85 GL, the ball bearings go from minor rumble to major in very short order.

The damage does not look that bad, and as the others have indicated parts should be obtainable from a scrap yard at low cost. Unfortunately front end parts are hard to come by (I said low cost NOT easy to find), since most accidents involve front end damage and there is always demand for these parts. The most expensive part could be the headlight. Replacement parts from any 92-94 model should fit and you might be lucky enough to find ones with the same paint color. The big concern would be rust on the lower part of the fender (below the side marker light) on the replacement. This is one of the areas where Subaru's tend to rust through first. Be sure to clean the new parts of any rust and paint with a rust preventative primer, I would also apply undercoating to the inside of the replacement fender. You might want to rust proof the other fender too. If there is damage to the front crossmember/rad support (in your case it looks like there may be a small amount of damage), this can usually be hammered and pulled out, just be sure to repaint it to prevent rust. I am not sure why the body shop would consider it a legal item, it is not a strong load bearing area. Another concern is your bumper, its hard to tell what damage is present to the bumper attachments, Often fibreglass, "Auto Goo" adhesive and some aluminum strips can be used to attach the bumper back in place. As noted earlier there are no hidden bolts on the fender, just the underhood bolts, two bolts below the vehicle, 1 or 2? by the front door edge and a few in the bumper/headlight area. The hood is just four bolts. Also make sure that you reattach the fender liner properly, since these can occasionally come loose and get tangled in the front wheel causing considerable damage to the new fender. You car would make an ideal fixer upper, so if you feel comfortable selling it by all means do so. But consider that the 92-94 Legacy's are among the most reliable Subaru's out there.

As I noted in my earlier reply, removal of the intake silencer can cause some bogging problems, I have seen this many times and usually in colder weather (sometimes hot weather too). So you have a K&N filter panel but no intake silencer? I would reinstall the intake silencer (perhaps for the winter only) if this happens again. If re-installation of the silencer does not correct the bogging, I would then consider cleaning the MAF. As far as I know more air gets into the engine that is detected by the ECU and you end up with lean burn, which leads to detonation which is detected by the knock sensor, spark timing retardation and "bogging". Closing the throttle cuts the air and restores a more proper A/F ratio. I have found that many of the add on chips cause a lot of idling and low speed problems such as the one you described. The hot wire/film type MAF is a simple item that automatically compensates for air temperature and density by its design and method of operation, but if it is contaminated it gives information to the ECU that is very wrong. Only on a sustained medium/high speed drive will the ECU detect that it is running lean or rich from the oxygen sensor readings, and even then only if the oxygen sensor is in good condition. The oxygen sensor is somewhat disregarded during acceleration, since it is a lagging and somewhat slowly responding sensor.

Front bearings last a long time.... The rears don't. I got about 190,000 km out of one front, and almost 400,000 km out of the other on my 93 Legacy. They seem to start to fail at 200,000 or so, but I think the seal just lets go at this point causing a quick bearing failure. I would repack and change the seals on the front bearings, since this does not require removal of the steering knuckle to do. It might add 20 minutes to pull out he hub and grease everything up, so from that perspective it is probably worthwhile. And no tool needed for the inner seal (which is usually the seal that fails).

The ones I cleaned were usually the hot wire type, although the wire is not truly round but flattened and elongated. Some of them had what could be a film, and these had a much lower success rate with cleaning, but on occasion it did work. I remember seeing a thread years ago indicating that a much less expensive MAF from a Nissan was plug in compatible with Subaru. Hopefully someone can elaborate on this.

I don't think any preventative maintainance would even be suggested, just replace when they fail. When bearings go they will rumble and whine, but not strand you on the side of the road if that is your concern. You should be able to get a couple hundred miles out of them without problem, but it is still recommended that you fix them as quickly as possible. Roller bearings can be noisy for a long time before the wheel feels "loose", mind you I did see one Subaru toss a whole wheel/hub assembly because of a bearing failure (I am fairly sure that this was a very rare isolated case). Subaru will not change the bearing until it has failed, on some occasions they will change the bearing under warranty if it recently expired. One of the issues is that replacement bearings often fail shortly after being installed, it is important that the proper installation tools be used and that the replacement bearing be cleaned of the grease that it is shipped with and be repacked with a good quality bearing grease. Subaru recommends that the bearings be repacked and new seals installed at 60,000 miles, but as far as I know this is just a few steps short of what is required to change the whole bearing, so why bother? Does Subaru have a method of repacking the wheel bearings in a quick and easy fashion that we don't know about? The 60,000 mile service is listed at 7.5 hrs and $800 (with timing belt) here in Canada, so I think this bearing service is quite time consuming. Of course Subaru lists the timing belt at about 3 hrs while I can usually do it in 40 to 90 minutes, so perhaps their estimates are the worst case scenario.

I forgot to add: Also have the mechanic check the vacuum hose routing and EGR if so equipped. Is it possible that the vacuum hoses were connected wrong when fixed a while back? Your spark plug wire that comes loose should be easily fixed by compressing the connector ring so it grabs the spark plug firmly. You should also use spark plug boot grease to seal the wire to the plug and wire to the coilpack. I had one wire on my 93 Legacy that was alwasy popping off, I eventually used a small amount of RTV sealant (or something like it) to hold the wire in the head of the engine, problem solved... My problem was with brand new wires.... The hissing sound could also be air trapped in the cooling system, or the rad drawing coolant back in from the overflow.

You often get overheating with a blown headgasket, but in some cases you do not. If your leak is isolated to a single cylinder, it is possible that the temperature would not rise. If your mechanic has a scope he can inspect the cylinder walls through the spark plug hole, if one cylinder (or a bank of cylinders) is much cleaner than the others, coolant has likely gotten in and cleaned them (blown head gasket). Usually at this point you would have milky oil though. In addition to the hydrocarbon test, definitely take the timing covers off and inspect the water pump and timing belt assembly. You should also check the timing belt tensioner and belt for signs of wear. You need to find that coolant leak!!! A leaking water pump is a very dangerous thing to have for a long period.

It looks like the HubShark is just a puller type tool with some adapters, while the Hub Tamer is a far more complete set, unless the photo of the Hub Shark is not showing all of the parts. The Hub Tamer certainly looks to be far more substantial. I am in the market for an inexpensive puller tool that will do front and rear bearings on just the Subaru Legacy/Impreza/SVX, but so far I have had any success in finding one. Nor have I had any success in locating one for rent. I am looking for two tools, one to pull the hub out of the bearing, and another to pull the bearing out of the steering knuckle (this tool should also be able to pull the new bearing in and hub into the bearing as well). I have old Subaru bearing parts that work excptionally well to install bearings with a floor standing hydraulic press, and these should work with screw type pullers as well. I anyone knows of some inexpensive tools to do the job, it would be of great help to all of use to know about them!! If the other posters are like me, we don't need the best quality tools for daily usage, just tools that may be used a max of a dozen or so times (a dozen uses should get anyone through 3 or more Subaru's)