1 Lucky Texan

Been reviewing some posts and diagrams. Hoping I just need some copper washers or similar. Give me a chance to check the oil screen too. Never looked at it. I will get some penetrant on the shield's 6-7 bolts soon but, dunno when ....maybe after the coming winter blast when it warms-up again. hard to get started on car stuff keeping the grandson. As soon as I start disassembling something, Memaw wants to bring him outside and tells me to put my s4!t away lol! good to hear about fire risk, thanx.

I'm old enough to recall a lot of high school and college teams doing electric or diesel conversions during the oil embargo. Putting Kubota small tractor diesels in Datsun 310s etc.

looked around again today, seeming more like the problem id directly under the turbo shield. no niticeable tailpipe smoke. I guess my next steps are to heat up a nail and sample the smell of my engine oil - and probably take the T shield off. How likely is a fire? The place I'd like to take it for repair work is quite far.

in 'the old days' electric conversions often used jet engine starter motors. I dunno if they were getting them surplus or ????? They were about 20hp I think which should be good. You only need about a dozen hp to move along at a decent clip. the xtra HP is for acceleration. A physics consultant where I worked (Serge Scherbatskoy) drove an old chevy pickup truck. He had a pendulum gadget that would 'capture' a mass at it's extreme deflection. Took it in the truck, did some runs in 2 directions, let off the gas at 55mph. After some calculations.... It only took 12hp to maintain 55mph. Electric motors give you full torque from 0 rpm so, 20hp electric would be a decent choice. Or, maybe scavenge from a wrecked Nissan Leaf or Tesla? Some guy here in the States is using wrecked Tesla gear to electrify other chassis.

could the relief valve stick 'open' (far end of travel)

I wish I was driving my WRX more, really only 'need' 1 car. Kinda wanting to add a third vehicle, electric neighborhood. maybe an eMoke.

fred, are your aftermarket parts usually from a chinese maker? I have read that, chinese factories with German-inspected ISO certs are OK, but the Chinese ISO certs are suspect. Adds to the risk of non-Japanese part purchases. aftermarket here often requires some research, or, for many 'consumable parts' at least, avoiding the the very cheapest. No parts supplier wants to lose a sale because you went 2 blocks down the street to save $1.25 so, there's a bit of a race to the bottom. Those cheap parts often get purchased for cars being flipped/sold immediately - but a savvy buyer would avoid them for his own daily driver that he intends to keep. Oh, they may work well-enough at first, but may not be long lasting. Plus, we may have dozens of 'brands' to choose from, that makes it a bit tricky as well. The actual number of factories building the item may be small, but it seems a lot of companies are convinced they can make money with the right packaging and marketing approach. We must have 60-80 brands of batteries, even though there's only 5-10 manufacturers (w'ever - made-up number lol!)

was the fluid OK-ish, or chocolate mousse? Sometimes, if very deep water is entered, water can get pulled in through the vent. when the diff cools from the water there is lower pressure and it can suck water in.

great post ferret. also, check this out; https://www.subaruoutback.org/threads/gen-4-headlight-access-hatch-installation.115753/

I didn'trealize they were so problematic. Is the failure some common seal/gasket/bearing that could be improved with an aftermarket substance/part? maybe a proper rebuild using GD's post would fix the weak spot?

used oem from car-part?

Youtube is the second most popular search 'engine', after Google. Could be a coupla videos showing the process. Don't use any bulb advertising as being 50% brighter or w'ever. If it's brighter, it will have reduced life and you will be under there again in a few months.

nels and heartless are right. If it reliably starts in N, some kind of neutral safety issue. But, a 20 year-old car could easily need new contacts and maybe plunger in the starter solenoid. parts are available and maybe 2-3 youtube videos. Cheaper and better repair than typical rebuilt starters too. Sometimes, you whack the starter with a piece of 2x4 and it will start. That would point to a solenoid issue and not neutral safety.

maybe start by refreshing all the grounds. Unbolt and wire brush both sides of spade lugs, the body's surface and the underside of the bolt head. Maybe smear with dielectric grease when done.

any new , 'concerning' noises when you crank it over? If it shut down in it's own, a check of the timing belt system and turning it over by hand with a wrench might be a good idea.

is noise only, vibration only or both? is the sound equal to; 1 tire rotation, 3x t rot, or 6x t rot ? can someone pace the car and hear anything at slow speed? could you use a length of hose at each end of each axle and hear any difference with the front up on jackstands and spin the tires by hand? I found a bad wheel bearing by lift/rocking in the 12/6 o'clock direction. Should not move. You can compare L side with R side if unsure. Some folks can rest a hand on the spring and feel the roughness in a bearing turning by hand on jcakstands. Or by listening with a hose/mechanic's stethoscope. confirm inner stub of axles are fully seated in the trans.

it's a lot of trouble, but the axles will swap left-to-right. see if the noise travels with the axle?

yeah, been checking but, as you say, would only take a few drops to really smoke-it-up. Smell is a bit 'waxy' so, hoping for cv grease. I knew I had a split boot before my trip to CO, just don't recall which side. (old guy's memory I guess. The CV issue goes way back to the trans repair I had done. Shop didn't want to return the car with a split boot and I OK'd a new axle. It was from FEQ. They always order HD axles, but that wasn't available for my wagon so, got 'regular'. Turns out, the HD suffix only refers to the quality of the outer boot. When I picked-up my car, I asked for my OEM axle. Pretty sure I still have it in the garage, also can't remember but, I may have already rebuilt it.... yeah, I know, lots of laziness/poor memory on my part....lol! But, the car doesn't get driven much and I thought I'd drive the bad axle at least until it started clicking....

it's the smell that is still kinda giving me hope. Maybe this weekend I can get a better look. It is possible for outer cv grease to get thrown onto the downpipe in that area I THINK. No smoke from tailpipe and car seems to run OK (I don't have a boost gauge)

I have been suspicious the last 3-4 times I've driven my WRX, but passed it off as CV grease. But today, looking underhood after a drive, 90% or more of the smoke I've seen out of the scoop is coming from under the turbo shield. I know very little about the turbo system, just wondering about the 'levels' of severity I'm looking at for this problem. Can it leak externally and just needs some kind of seal?

if the car has original struts, they are certainly worn-out by now. If the car has had some period in its life where it was loaded heavily, it may need new springs as well.Those togther could make a very noticeable improvement. Or , slightly stiffer springs on new struts. Less sway, less squat and dive too.

I have seen spacers/blocks for sway bar mounts. Dunno when that would be advisable. more than 2" lift? more than 3.....?

no sign of a spot on the brake shield rubbing on the rotor? I suppose you could try loosening/re-torquing the axle nut. maybe a previous owner torqued it while on the ground. FSM says it needs to be in the air/no weight on it. (yeah, it's a real stretch, but also easy to try ....)

seems more like a 'supply crash' with that huge backlog. The sales 'would' be good if they had the vehicles. might be more interesting to see some kind of comparison with other '2nd tier' car brands.

no oil on the plug wire boots? double check ground connections, if the knock sensor wire was broken, maybe other wiring was as well?