1996 legacy just bought

[banjerboy]

I just bought a 1996 2.5 legacy for 500 bucks. It needs work and though being a competent mechanic, I know nothing about subarus. Two problems I am facing, one is electrical. With the key off and the battery fully charged, the parking lights and instrument panel lights flash on and off... I can hear a relay under the dash clicking on and off and every so many seconds it pauses like it is overheating and then resumes clicking on and off. I am tempted to find the relay and replace it. Any suggestions? The second problem is more complex. I bought it from a woman who had taken it to a local shop because it stopped running. the mechanic said he replaced an electrical module, but now it will barely run, has no power and feels very stiff. I pulled the exaust pipes off in case it was a stopped up catalitic converter but it made no difference. The antifreeze looks dirty, but it has 202k on it. Just curious if the Head gaskets can leak and cause it to run very poorly without shooting air into the radiator... This is the dual overhead cam version..

[porcupine73]

Hello and welcome to the board.

 

That first item with the flashing parking lights sounds like the security system. it will do that if the battery gets replaced or goes dead, etc. If you have the remote just use the door unlock button. Otherwise I think you can cycle the key from off to run three times quickly to reset it but that might have been only on later years.

 

See if you can get more details about what module the mechanic replaced. There could be lots of reasons for it running poorly. Does it have a check engine light on at all and if so what are the codes?

[banjerboy]

Hello and welcome to the board.

 

That first item with the flashing parking lights sounds like the security system. it will do that if the battery gets replaced or goes dead, etc. If you have the remote just use the door unlock button. Otherwise I think you can cycle the key from off to run three times quickly to reset it but that might have been only on later years.

 

See if you can get more details about what module the mechanic replaced. There could be lots of reasons for it running poorly. Does it have a check engine light on at all and if so what are the codes?

Thanks for the info on the flashing lights, I don't have the remote to the car but I will try the key switch. I did replace the battery so that makes sense. I don't know much about the check engine light, I'l have to look tommorrow, just got the car and I am trying to familiarize myself with it, I did notice a port to hook up a testing device. Are the 2.5's durable engines aside from the head gasket issues?

Edited September 13, 2010 by Qman

[banjerboy]

Hello and welcome to the board.

 

That first item with the flashing parking lights sounds like the security system. it will do that if the battery gets replaced or goes dead, etc. If you have the remote just use the door unlock button. Otherwise I think you can cycle the key from off to run three times quickly to reset it but that might have been only on later years.

 

See if you can get more details about what module the mechanic replaced. There could be lots of reasons for it running poorly. Does it have a check engine light on at all and if so what are the codes?

 

Thanks for the info... Car does have a subaru security system and has to be disabled by a button on the back of one of the installation modules. That was a lot of help.. I didnt know it even had one. I will try to get it started tommorrow after I disable the system and see what the check engine light does. Would you know if a 1996 2.2 would be interchangeable with the 2.5?

[porcupine73]

Yes you can swap in a 2.2L, it has been done, there are various details that have to be paid attention to such as EGR, manual vs auto trans, some differences on the intake manifold, etc. but it can be done. The 2.5L is reliable if the head gaskets are replaced properly with the new Subaru genuine HG's. There are about five key points in HG replacement, heads milled/level, cleaned and proper surface finish, proper HG's, proper tightenning sequence and torque, etc.