theidealist Posted February 4, 2010 Share Posted February 4, 2010 Hello all, Okay, I bought this 5spd 2.5L 1998 Legacy Outback Wagon with 140k mi. last fall to get me through the cold, possibly snowy, and wet weather. So far, it has not been doing well. After about a month, this (blown HG). I guess that was just my "welcome to being a Subaru owner". The repair included new HG, timing belt, water pump, spark plugs, etc. and cost around $1600. 1 year warranty on parts and labor, which is nice. Since then, it's been doing ok. I've had a hesitation issue come and go - unattributable to anything I can find (weather, engine temp, driving behavior, gas quality, etc.) that is very similar to this guy's so maybe it's my front O2 sensor. Just having spent more than $1500 on the HG/water pump, I'm not too keen on replacing the O2 sensor soon. In addition to the hesitation I had some very strange behavior -- very rarely -- where I would come out in the morning and the battery could just not muster the strength to crank the engine. I'd have to jump start it (or push start it on at least one occasion). At all other times it would be fine. It always happened in the morning, when the engine was coldest (although I'm not convinced it was always when the days/nights were coldest). The battery looked old and tired, so I decided it must be just a case of a worn out battery. After a few weeks of good/warmer weather and the issue not repeating itself, I became convinced and bought and replaced the battery last weekend. Since then all hell has broken loose. Okay, maybe that's an exaggeration. On Monday, driving home, the Check Engine Light (CEL) came on and, since then (I think?) the hesitation has not happened. I have not had a chance to take it to AutoZone to get the code read, but I'm guessing it's an O2 sensor failure and now the engine is running in Open Loop mode all the time? The strange thing is, the hesitation used to happen even when the engine was cold and, according to the Haynes manual, the engine runs in Open Loop mode until the O2 sensor warms up, so it should not have happened then. Maybe O2 and something else? Then on Tuesday, again driving home, battery/charge and brake dash lights started flickering on/off sometimes bright, sometimes off, sometimes dim. I'm guessing alternator failure? Today (Thursday, didn't drive it yesterday), driving in, the lights were still flickering on/off and in addition to those lights already mentioned the ABS light decided to join in on the fun. My dashboard looked like a Christmas tree! Looking through the owner's manual I see that the first owner took hand notes on repairs/maintenance. This thing had it's timing belt replaced 3 times in its first 4-5 years of life, and finally its engine replaced in 12/02! My mechanic had told me when he did the HG repair that the engine was not original, this note confirmed it. But that is where the notes stop as I guess the first owner sold it and subsequent owner(s) did not continue the trend. One other crazy thing was that that means the timing belt that was max only about 8 years old (they should last 10-12/ 150k miles or longer as I understand it) when I replaced it a couple months ago, and the mechanic showed me the timing belt that came off -- it had huge chunks taken out of it/gouges in it. It was definitely going. So, my questions are: Is it really the alternator? Or something else? Can this all be coincidence that just AFTER replacing the battery the alternator and (I'm guessing) O2 sensor both fail in the next 2 days, after weeks of working fine? Have I bought a lemon? Should I re-sell it? Can anybody run a CarFax for me (for free) on it? I should've done that to begin with... What's your take on these old-car warranty programs? I don't mind doing light work (I can replace an alternator and possibly an O2 sensor), but I don't want to get stuck paying $3k for a new transmission if this car is just a P.O.S. As always, thanks for any feedback. I love these forums. Patrick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OB99W Posted February 4, 2010 Share Posted February 4, 2010 [...]Then on Tuesday, again driving home, battery/charge and brake dash lights started flickering on/off sometimes bright, sometimes off, sometimes dim. I'm guessing alternator failure? Today (Thursday, didn't drive it yesterday), driving in, the lights were still flickering on/off and in addition to those lights already mentioned the ABS light decided to join in on the fun. My dashboard looked like a Christmas tree![...] Yes, those symptoms are alternator-related. If not due to a poor connection, it's probably failing. This would correlate with the previous lack of decent cranking on some cold mornings, since the battery probably wasn't getting a full charge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wardssix Posted February 4, 2010 Share Posted February 4, 2010 +1 om the altenator...change it then go from there Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idosubaru Posted February 4, 2010 Share Posted February 4, 2010 yep your alternator is dying. there's a particular year that was recalled by subaru that's really cheap and genuine subaru part - get that one. it's only like $75 online and the local dealers usually match the online dealers prices. or get a used one, you can post in the parts wanted forum here if that's your plan. the hesitation is probably a cylinder misfire - which means spark plug wires and/or spark plugs. these engines are notoriously unforgiving with aftermarket stuff for wires - use Subaru only wires. knock sensor is also extremely common, you can read threads all day long here about those, very simple to replace and there's various threads here with pictures and details on how to change it. that should have you covered and back to reliably rolling around again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nipper Posted February 4, 2010 Share Posted February 4, 2010 yep your alternator is dying. there's a particular year that was recalled by subaru that's really cheap and genuine subaru part - get that one. it's only like $75 online and the local dealers usually match the online dealers prices. or get a used one, you can post in the parts wanted forum here if that's your plan. the hesitation is probably a cylinder misfire - which means spark plug wires and/or spark plugs. these engines are notoriously unforgiving with aftermarket stuff for wires - use Subaru only wires. knock sensor is also extremely common, you can read threads all day long here about those, very simple to replace and there's various threads here with pictures and details on how to change it. that should have you covered and back to reliably rolling around again. What he said. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theidealist Posted February 4, 2010 Author Share Posted February 4, 2010 Thanks everyone! Man these forums are awesome. Will do the alternator first, 98 OBW does have a recall for that, but I have no idea what that means or how to determine if its been done or what. I'll call my local Subaru dealership and see what they say. Then I'll see what the CEL code is, and proceed from there. Thanks again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MilesFox Posted February 5, 2010 Share Posted February 5, 2010 did you replace the battery as well? a bad battery will stress a new alternator an cause it to fail premautirely. make sure the battery holds a charge and have it load tested as well Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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