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Showing results for tags 'Repairs'.
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Hi everyone -
Uh hi, I drive an outback and this is my first time joining a forum ever -
To y'all with the EA81 wisdom out there, I've got a 1984 GL Hatchback which I bought back in July and haven't been driving a ton since, because I'm a college student and bike/walk/bus almost everywhere in town on a day-to-day basis. I basically start the car often enough to keep the carbs clean, plus the occasional grocery haul or similar large purchase. She's running, and I've already repaired the windshield and muffler to get 'er up to safety inspection standard. Now comes the part where I start doing repairs on the car more as preventative maintenance than scrambling to keep her road legal. I don't need my car to be a performance machine, or in perfect condition, but she's ten years older than I am and I'd like to keep her around and working well as long as I can because she's really fun to drive. Here's what I definitely know: The trans isn't slipping, and she's doing about 25-28 mpg city which is a teeny bit low compared to estimated, but then to be honest because of living in the mountains I tend to keep her in lower gears and rev to 3600 for uphill torque, instead of driving as efficiently as humanly possible. I'm sure if I shifted perfectly, used ethanol-free on every single tank, and drove in a less hilly place I'd be doing alright for gas mileage. Interior is cozy. Superficially she looks great and everything is where it should be. The good news is, she's not *super rusty* or otherwise beaten up due to being a west coast car for 28 of the last 32 years - only about 140k miles, and the frame and engine bay are pretty good looking. The car has made its way to Virginia now, hence why preventative maintenance is a bigger deal. We're not midwestern levels of road salty out here but the season is steadily approaching... I've done some looking around this forum and others to find wisdom on these topics but this is more my personal log of my own car and its questions to be asked and answered. Every Subaru is its own machine with its own quirks! Anyway, here's what I've got for questions and/or things to do: I've been doing what I can to get ethanol-free gasoline but sometimes I have to take E10 because I just can't reach a station immediately. Previous owners weren't exactly great about this either. I've heard older Subarus are pretty okay with ethanol relative to other cars of the same era, but are there any things like fuel lines i should think to check? The bad news is, there definitely is a good deal of rust in the pinch welds on the driver's side plus some in the passenger's side (not as badly, though), and the driver's side rear wheel well has definitely seen better days. How do I assess the depth of the rust, and how bad it is? I know the pinch weld in the front driver's side is strong enough to support a jack if need be from having done it myself (though I feel much safer using the frame rails, which are solid), so she's not totally f***ed yet. The body doesn't appear to be askew, so it's not like the rear panel is falling off. Yet. I'll also get some pictures soon when I'm poking around. I'd rather have to pay $100 for a few buckets of rust remover/sealer/whatever product than $1250 for rebuilding the entire pinch weld, so here's hoping that'll be the case. I may also see how hard it is to remove the interior carpeting from the location above the pinch weld and see if any rust has crept up into the cabin. That would be a definite cause for concern. I also definitely have an oil pan gasket leak, and maybe a valve cover gasket leak? I've already found a nasioc forum thread going over most of that and I'll poke around at the motor soon to get those gaskets and o-rings looked at as necessary. Maybe a coolant leak? [don't need a whole ton of advice there unless there's any useful part numbers, or big warnings I may need] The shifter linkages also certainly need tightening. 3rd gear in particular feels almost as wiggly as neutral. [see above - don't need a ton of advice unless there is a set of bushings I may need, or a warning as to other problems this may involve} What rubber bits in the suspension or steering rack might need poking at? The rubber around the original windshield was brittle, and the dashboard has cracks, and so I figure other original '84 plastics might need some work. Also, any useful replacement parts, or cases where aftermarket actually beats OEM? So here is my to-do list for the next week or so, starting today: clean the motor off to check for leaks check oil and maybe coolant levels find part numbers for gaskets get photos of the rust find products to mitigate rust figure out if I need any new bushings for shifter linkage, or if it's just a matter of tightening up what's already there go over the maintenance logs that the previous owner gave me, decipher the handwriting, figure out if any big things were ever missed in the last few years My to-do list for the longer term: fix oil leak fix up anything that E10 gas has messed with find any weakened bushings or other plastics tighten shifter linkages remove/mitigate all surface rust prevent any new deeper rust from forming solve issues with any deep rust that already exists, and especially any that threatens the car's structural stability -
Hello, At work right now so my full research will start when I get home, but figured it would be nice to have some pointers of where to look in the forum ( keywords, etc) and maybe where to look on my car to better assist my research phase. **my 1998 subaru Outback 2.5l auto with about 130k miles popped check engine light. -Drove it about 12 miles, checked fluids ( oil, Brake fluid, trans , coolant ) all looked good. - pulled battery Cable to try and reset light in case it was a one time thing. -Reconnected battery, Started car , idled until temp guage started reading, still check engine light. -Turned off car fluid check again . . . oil was way low, looked under car, 0.5 + quarts dumped right under the car. seemed to be coming from Driver side left of engine above the lower Radiator hose connection behind the plastic cover that is behind the belts. Wondering if it ends up being a big issue if swapping from the 2.5 to the 2.2 is a common thing ? The research and Adventure now begins! Any thoughts, questions or pointers would be awesome. ( will be doing a photo bucket account or the like to get plenty of photos flowing :0)
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So I got a 1995 Subaru legacy outback for a first car for $1240. The car is a AT 2.2L boxer with 244,800 and counting on it. The car has a rebuilt title and I found out that's it's been in 4 car accidents. It's originally from Texas and has no service history on it. The last owner was told that the trans and engine where rebuilt. I will slowly do the things above from the title and be listed like that. So from 6/12/14 Mods: -Roof basket -donut tire delete Repairs: -fix radio to get it out of demo mode Maintenece: -air filter Questions: - I need suggestions for what type of shocks that I should replace with the one I have, the front left is shot and the other seem floaty -how do you fix the lights on the ac controller -
Hi All, I know that it has been a LONG time since I have posted. But I had nothing new to offer and my old Loyale was always running great! I am thinking of buying a 94 outback. However (did not want to use "but") it is not a steal, or is it? There is a foot long crack along the windshield bottom, the head & fog lights do not work, and it is a ground issue, the front wheel, drive fuse blows, I suspect that may be due to mismatched tires, it is close to 200,000 miles, automatic trans, their are small dents and scratches on all surfaces, a large paint loser on the front driver side, a structural "?" crack across the bottom crossing the tranny hump and exhaust indent, Is is wide enough to affect continuity from the rear to front, is a weld safe? Broken/missing R-hand mirror, missing interior mirror, tranny shifts late, It has not had proper maintenence. Runs good but "check engine light" always on. This is a big deal in California, Smog laws won't allow it to be registered untill that light is out! There are a few other problems less severe, oh yeah NO abs. The lady is asking $2800 but I think more like $1000 - $1500 is fair. As she is a friend, I want to be fair. So, any opinions on the value of this outback? If I pay for labor, how much are we looking at? And Ballpark parts? Would be nice. Like I said I am trying to be fair with a friend, but cannot afford to overpay at this time. I'd appreciate any feedback my Suby loving brothers & Sisters! Thanks in advance!
