94 legacy wagon

[gamcalister]

If anyone has a thought...

I'm not a Subaru mechanic, but I am an Aviation mechanic so I have a little knowledge base to work from...

I recently (2/26/07) became owner of 94 Legacy L AWD wagon with 77919 miles that came from Vermont. The car has been fine, I've put 729 miles on the odometer since purchasing. I live in Massachusetts and I park the car in a heated garage. This morning, with an eighth of a tank of gas and 5 degree weather, I started the day with a trip around the corner to the gas station. I found that the gas cap was jammed in the filler opening. I live about 400 yards from the gas station, so I went home (with a purpose to my pedal foot and a slight flogging of the wagon) to get into the garage and out of the cold. After utilizing some leverage (a pair of liers), I was able to get the cap to come out, in pieces mind you. The white plastic threads stayed when the black ratchet portion came off, at this point I was able to remove the remainder of the cap assembly with my fingers. I returned to the station with my inner piece threaded into the filler neck. I put 5 gallons in and headed out on a four mile journey to my friends house. The car seemed to lack any power on the smallest of inclines and bogged down when I put my foot in it. The temperature gauge came up over the half way point for the first time, but would go back to mid range (normal for me so far) almost as soon as I took my foot off the gas pedal. I stayed at my friends for an hour and then headed right to NAPA (1.5 miles from my buds house)for a new gas cap. Brought the car home because the power issue was getting worse. Now, in the garage, I had it in park and was "blipping" the throttle. Sometime normal responce, other times, it would bog to the point where it wanted to stall. A light tap on the gas pedal could sometimes wrestle it back to normal. There is a new noise that seems to be associated with the right cylinder bank (on the passenger side of the car). It sounds like an exhaust leak (like someone playing a wisk on a drum- very rapid sht-sht-sht type of sound.) near the right cylinder bank, but I could not see any visible signs of an exhaust leak, I inspected the exhaust from the head down back to the cat. I checked the ignition plugs on that bank and they look o.k.. I noticed a bit of moisture out of the exhaust, but I didn't really get her warm. No warning lights are on. I do not own any automotive test equipment, yet, so I can't check timing and such at this point. Any thoughts out there? I'm going to contact the dealer the car was purchased from tomorrow and see if we can find a solution. His warranty is a 50/50 for thirty days, but he is 250 miles from me, and she isn't making that trip under her own power right now!

[porcupine73]

Hello and welcome! Sounds like a nice ride; sorry to hear you're having issues. First guesses might be knock sensor or MAF. As far as the temp gauge thing - was the coolant changed recently? It's somewhat easy to trap air pockets in these engines. Other members will have better suggestions.

[gamcalister]

entry made in error

[gamcalister]

Hello and welcome! Sounds like a nice ride; sorry to hear you're having issues. First guesses might be knock sensor or MAF. As far as the temp gauge thing - was the coolant changed recently? It's somewhat easy to trap air pockets in these engines. Other members will have better suggestions.

 

Thanks for the reply Porcupine73. I like the ride, it's my third Subaru. I can't vouch for any maintenance done prior to taking ownership of the car. The car was a gift, but I did check it over before we took it from the dealer. The dealer has been around for a few years(20-30) and my uncle (a retired insurance adjuster) trusts this place. I had the dealer put the car on a lift anyway, so I could visually inspect it. While on the lift, I noticed a small amount (4-5 drops) of fresh anti-freeze clinging to the bottom of the lower hose where it attaches to the engine. I asked if the vehicle had just been serviced, as I was taking delivery of the car, and was told that it was. Thus, I chalked it up to spill, because there were no other obvious visible signs indicating that the hose or fitting was leaking. I was satisfied with my inspection, so I left to test drive a different Subaru that was being purchased for another family member. When I returned, the vehicle was outside, with my plates attached. I assumed ownership on 2/26/06 (in northern vermont) and the next day, drove the car a few hundred miles to my home (in massachusetts) without incident. The following morning, the anti-freeze drip issue was on my mind, and the car is new to me, so I decided to give it another once over to check all the fluids again and so on. During my check, I discovered stop-leak evident in the coolant over flow bottle that I had not noticed when I inspected the vehicle the first time. The guys we purchased the car from have been excellent in regards to fixing some issues with two other Subaru wagons that other family members purchased at the same time. I just want to get it fixed and fast. I have no patience for unscheduled maintenace, it's aggrevating. Thanks for the advice. When this issue is resolved, I'll be sure to update this posting to reflect what and why for everyone to see. Thanks, Jerry

[porcupine73]

Common coolant leak areas are faulty radiator cap, gasket on the thermostat, or sometimes water pump gasket, or water pump bearing could be going bad.

[Reveeen]

In the area you describe, and in addition to what was already mentioned (thermostat, water pump) there are a couple of small hoses that direct water to other parts of your engine.

Of course you could get "lucky" like I did when I bought my Legacy, the idiot in there before that changed the water pump, managed to strip several of the bolts that hold the water pump to the block (steel bolts, alumnium block, guess what was stripped?) BTW: in this situation it only leaked anti-freeze when cold, when hot I guess stuff expanded enough not to leak.

In any case, what you have there is a "take apart and see" situation, but there is a lot of stuff in that area that could be leaking, some not so bad, some really no fun.

[gamcalister]

Hi all, thanks for the info. I narrowed the power loss and mystery exhaust leak down. The right exhaust manifold gasket is letting a little blow-by go just aft of the rear most stud. I could only find it with a feel test while she was running because it is such a small and new leak, there were no visible signs for this semi-trained eye to pick up. I gave it the "tap test" while she was lifted as well and found that the forward converter is packing a "BIG BAG 'O ROCKS". My ten bucks says that the little old lady who owned her before me and only averaged 500 miles or less month (77919 at delivery to me) probably never gave her a good flogging like I did, thus maybe my Subie was just complaining a little? I think the fuel cap issue and the drops of antifreeze were mere coincidence? THe new gas cap is fine, and I have't seen a drop of antifreeze since. Anyway, She was just hauled off to the garage, so I should have a real answer as opposed to my semi-educated "guestimation" by late this afternoon. I'll keep you posted. Update, the cat was junk. The front plates were in about five or six peices, all laid out against the outlet in the back. The garage is fighting with someone else's mess at the flange now. I took it to a local guy her in MA who told me he would put a new cat in a replace the gasket at the manifold. They didn't do the manifold gasket because it's way ugly (previous hacks) and didn't tell me. BIG NO NO. Rule #1, be honest. So, anyway, they are eating crow right now, monkeying with the manifold. They should have done it while they had the thing all cut apart, but they didn't want to touch those studs. TOO bad, they said they would fix it. Now they are.