FreeLegacy

Hello folks, I have an issue that has our mechanic stumped. The car is an '01 Legacy wagon with 147,000 miles. Automatic. The problem started on March 19th. (Prior to that the car was fine.) I drove my son to school, as usual. A ten-minute drive through typical suburban streets, 25-35 mph, stop signs and stop lights. On the way there, it would rev fine to about 2,000, maybe 30 mph. When trying to accelerate further, the customary pressure on the pedal did not produce the usual increase in revs and speed. It took longer to get up to 3,000 and about 40 mph. On the drive back it got worse until about 5 minutes later (15 minutes of continuous running,) It wouldn't rev above 1,000 and would just crawl (or limp?) along at perhaps 2 mph. I decided to tough it out and drive it to our mechanic, a Marathon dealer. Took about 30 minutes to make a 5 minute trip. His first thought was timing belt but he's checked that and ruled that out. His next thought was an exhaust blockage but he dropped the exhaust and has since ruled that out. I talked to him yesterday (3/25) and he was stumped. His next thought was to do a compression test, although he didn't think that would show much since it reved so well at low revs. So I wonder what folks here might think? I haven't found much from googling or searching here, but I did find a thread that referenced limp mode for '05 Outbacks. Not sure if the Legacies have that. Found another reference to check the fuel pressure, and I might mention that, but I'll bet he's already thought of anything I might find on the internet. With the possible exception of something unique to Subarus. Not much recent work. A couple of months ago I replaced the coil to solve a problem of not wanting to start when raining. Other that that, it recently had an oil change and transmission fluid change (but not a flush.) The check engine light has been on for...um...some months. I had the code read some months ago at an Advance Auto Parts and they came up with PO420. I have been meaning to address it but the car ran fine (until the 19th) so I kept forgetting. Thank you for any suggestions. Dave

Hi folks, I'm planning to replace the rotors and pads on a '02 Legacy wagon. Our usual mechanic, a Firestone repair shop, advised that they needed replacing. This will be my first time attempting such a thing. Even so, I have high hopes for the outcome. As I read the Haynes manual I have a few questions. How do you use brake system cleaner? Just spray it on and let it evaporate? Or wipe it off? The manual says to depress the piston into the caliper with a C clamp. I'll need to buy a C clamp. Does anyone know what size I should buy? Any recommendations on which rotors or pads to buy? Or a price point? The car has 107,000 miles; it is the wife's car and she loves it and we'll probably keep it for a few or several years. I'm thinking not the cheapest, not the best, perhaps middle-of-the road price point? What do you think? I think that's all for now. Thanks in advance for any input. I will probably attempt this next week. Dave in Cleveland

Yeah, I though about some spray lubricant a little too late...although at the time I thought it was the automatic tranny fluid being congealed from sitting too long. Live and learn. I've been under the car and can't see much. Haven't had someone try to shift when I'm under there but should do that. I think the thing to do is to accept that this will take a while. Make some room in the garage and push it in there and jack it up. Step 1 would be to get the exhuast off. Step two would be to get the shifter cable and shifter off. Step 3 would probably be to buy a new cable and start reassemblying. Anyway...live and learn. And long live long-lived Subarus.

’95 Legacy wagon, 171,000 miles. I let it sit for 6 weeks (had another car to drive) and after getting the Legacy a new battery, I fired it up. Figured it was time to drive it before something went wrong from sitting still. It wasn’t shifting correctly. The shifter was hard to move. (I had encountered that problem once before, and in the course of driving it it loosened up.) But this time it would only go into Park, Reverse, and Neutral. The shift lever wouldn’t move physically into any of the drive positions. I was able to drive the car in reverse, so it did engage properly. Perhaps this incident will teach me to be more patient. I used some force on the shift lever. Then the lever moved more easily, as if it were no longer attached to whatever was making it hard to move. (Duhhh....) It still would not go into any of the forward gears, just Park Reverse and Neutral. And once I turned the engine off, it wouldn’t start, as if it wasn’t detecting that it was in Park or Neutral. Pushed it forward to get it out of the way. There was a clicking noise as I pushed. So I’ve looked at the Haynes and Chilton manuals and jacked it up today. I’m wondering if there might be some solution apart from taking off the rusted exhaust pipe that is blocking the shift cable, then getting the shift cable off (all those bolts are rusted also) and taking out the shift lever assembly and replacing everything. Would it be conceivable to take off the shift lever assembly in hopes of finding something broken underneath? I started to do this today, but one of the bolts doesn’t want to move. Sprayed some wd40 on it and might revisit it but thought I’d get some feedback before taking it off. There might not be any value in taking it off if the shift lever is still connected to the shift cable (which it might not be, since I yanked on it!) Also, any other thoughts on this? I don’t really have the time and energy to replace the shift cable. Or experience with stuff like this. Even if I did all that, I’ve been told that the car needs left front wheel bearings and both front drive axels replaced…something I probably don’t have the time or energy to do (or the experience) and probably not the $$ to pay for (estimate from the Firestone place was $900.) Thanks all. Wish I hadn’t let it sit for 6 weeks. I’ll go back to kicking myself now. Dave

Guys, IT WORKED!! The starter contacts I obtained from the aforementioned site fixed the problem! For the last couple of months, the car had been starting so well it seemed silly to try putting the contacts in. Then, it started taking longer to start the car, like 10 or 15 minutes. Then two Thursdays ago, I got in the car to go to work. I was already running my customary 10-15 minutes late. Spent about 10 minutes trying to start the car. I figured I’d better get the contacts in. That weekend was already booked, and so was the following weekend. I figured I’d better take Thursday off and tackle the problem. Dad came over for moral support and beer-drinking. I got the top bolt out with the help of a – I’ll call it a breaker bar. Even with WD-40 I couldn’t budge the bolt with just my socket wrench. I had some metal tubing in the garage, perhaps ¾ of an inch thick, and Dad had a tube cutter. Cut a 14” piece, slipped it over the socket wrench, pulled smoothly, with ever-increasing force, and it loosened. Couldn’t get to the bottom bolt from the top. Jacked the car up. My preferred method is to use floor jacks at both jacking points (at the front of the driver and passenger doors, and yes, we have two floor jacks), then put about 3 inches of boards under the front wheels. Then lower the floor jacks and remove them. Then slide another 1” board under the front of the car, put a floor jack on that, position the floor jack under the frame, and jack it as high as it will go. Then use jack stands under each jacking point. Jacked up this way, I was able to crawl under and have reasonable access to the bottom bolt. There are only two bolts securing the starter on my ’96 Legacy. I don’t remember if the Haynes and Chilton manuals mention that or not. Here’s what threw me about the bottom bolt. The top bolt was a long bolt with the bolt head holding the starter on. I expected to find another bolt head at the bottom. What I found, mainly by feeling up there, was the threaded bottom of a bolt with a nut on it. This confused me. I wondered if I was feeling something different altogether, and the bolt I needed was yet to be found? After some confusion and such, I decided to take the nut off and see what happened. After taking the nut off, the starter came off. I was able to set it on some stuff, get out from under the car, and pull it up from the top, snaking it up through the hoses. It was a simple matter to get the starter apart and remove the old contacts. One of the original contacts was longer, kinda banana-shaped. Both of the replacements were shorter, identical to the contact that was not banana-shaped. I wondered if this would make a difference. It did not. A digression: when it was first suggested that the contacts were the problem, I imagined they were rusted and corroded. They were not. However, they were worn down where the plunger was supposed to touch them. So that must have been the root of the problem. The contacts were worn down and the plunger didn’t always touch them enough to make an electrical contact. Which would also explain why the car was harder to start when it was cold – cold contracts, thus making it even harder for the plunger to connect with the contacts. Getting everything put back together was uneventful. As I mentioned in another post, I’m a rank newbie at this mechanical stuff. And sometimes you have to do something to believe it will work. So when I went to start the car, I wondered if perhaps the contacts were not the problem, or if I had unknowningly hosed something up. But the car started, first time. Started it four times, and it started each time. Like I said, that was two Thursdays ago, and since then, the car has started first time, each time. I’d like to thank everybody here who provided info and encouragement. I gotta wonder what this would have cost me if I had taken the car to a mechanic – probably a few hundred at least. Besides, I have a great sense of accomplishment and empowerment. Next time something breaks, I’ll research it and try to fix it. This can be complex, but it isn’t rocket science. Ah, the joys of knowing the car will start. Now I can run an errand at lunch and be back on time. Now I can get gas without wondering if I’ll be sitting at the pump for 10 minutes, with people wondering why I’m not moving. Now I can get home on time! When we got the car about a year ago, we regarded it as something we could use for a couple of months until it became too expensive to repair. Now, I’m looking at it as a long-term car. Next step is to do some maintenance type stuff to extend the life of this great little car! Thanks again, everybody. Dave P.S. Where do I send Josh's 10 bucks?

To push the car out of the way, take off the plastic on the shift handle, then take off the plastic molding around the shift handle. I think the two bolts are visible when you open the lid for the compartment between the driver and passenger. Take off the molding and use something cylinderical (like a medium Phillips screwdriver) in the hole next the the shift handle. Push it down and you can put the car in neutral and have someone push it while you steer it out of the way. My description isn't that good but should suffice. A Haynes manual will describe it better. You library might have a Haynes or Chilton manual. Dave

I got the contacts from the site above. I spent some time on the starter earlier today. I think my question now has more to do with getting the bolts loose. The top bolt, which seems to like a 14mm socket, won't budge. I can pull, pull, pull, and the car will rock back and forth (or actually from side to side, with me standing on the driver's side.) I sprayed WD 40 twice. I am wondering how to best proceed. Get a breaker bar of some sort to get more leverage on the socket and just pull real hard? I'd hate to break the bolt head. Or the socket, even thought it's a Sears. Spray more WD 40 a few times a day over the next couple of days? Some other tactic? I'm also wondering how to best access the bolt on the bottom. I can feel around and touch it, but can't imagine getting a socket on it. I suspect jacking up the car would be best, and in fact a search on the forum revealed that someone else removed it that way. Sound reasonable? I also checked out the pics on the site Josh posted above. Somewhere I read something about spraying brake cleaner in the starter...how does that work? Simply spray some cleaner and wipe off which ever innards I can reach? Would I leave the starter out for a while to "dry" after using the cleaner? What a rank newbie I am. Well, gotta start somewhere. Thanks, Dave P.S. I'm going to go spray more WD 40 on that top bolt. And the bottom, if I can reach it.

Mechanically, I'm a rank beginner. In reading Haynes and Chilton I've found each to have some level of detail the other lacks. For me, having both are useful (and I get my Chilton from the public library!) Haven't seen a FSM for a '95 Legacy. Wouldn't mind having access to a free copy. Hmmm...the library might have too.

Thanks for the responses! I'll give this a try (although possibly not for a couple of weeks - vacation coming up) and post back. Thanks again.

Hello all, By way of introduction, I have a ’95 Legacy wagon. It belonged to my in-laws, who gave it to their son when they got a new Subaru. He drove it hard and declared that it was on it’s “last legs” when they got another new Subaru and gave the newer one to him. The ’95 came to us, free of charge, with 148,000 miles. It now has 158,917 and is going strong. I get 25 miles to the gallon, with probably 2/3 of that freeway. It is my first all-wheel drive vehicle. It proved to be a pleasant surprise in the Cleveland winter, accelerating nicely away from a traffic light. Most appreciated was it’s ability to drive up, amidst snow, the medium slope of our driveway like a mountain goat. Our front-wheel drive cars often get stuck. We hope to get much more use out of this great car, while minimizing the expense of fixing it and keeping it running. I would like to become a backyard mechanic. I want to stop paying gobs of money for mechanics to fix things that I could learn to fix. And I think it would be empowering to do a lot of this stuff myself. I’m pretty much starting from scratch, as I have very little mechanical experience. This issue I’m having is a starting problem. Sometimes the car starts fine. Other times the dashboard lights light up and I hear a single click (I believe a solenoid click) and nada. The work around is to jiggle the automatic gear shift until the engine starts. Sometimes it might take 10 or 15 minutes of jiggling to get it to start, sometimes just a few jiggles will do it. The problem seems to be more frequent on wet or really cold days. The problem existed when we got the car. So I suspect the Neutral Safety Switch needs to be adjusted or replaced. Jacked the car up today and crawled under there. I believe I located the switch. From what I can see, it doesn’t look anything like the switch in the photographs of the Haynes manual, page 7B-5, figures 4.10, 5.4, and 5.5. It might bear some resemblance to the drawing in the Chilton manual, page 7-49, figures 157 and 159. Hard to tell, because a big hunk of exhaust pipe is blocking my view as well as my theoretical access to the switch. The answer might be obvious, but, do I need to remove this piece of exhaust to get to the switch? Am I correct in determining that the switch is behind this piece of exhaust? If I need to remove the piece of exhaust, is there anything I need to be aware of besides whats covered in the Haynes and Chilton books? I had read somewhere that the all-wheel drive cars have the Neutral Safety Switch on the transaxle (as opposed to the shifter.) Just for laughs (and in the hopes that it might be easier), I removed the Gear Position Indicator Panel. Judging by figures 158 and 160 from page 7-50 in the Chilton manual, I didn’t see anything resembling a shifter mounted Neutral Safety Switch. Thanks for any illumination you might provide. Dave