guidance1 Posted July 19, 2008 Share Posted July 19, 2008 1996 Legacy 2.2 sedan 220k miles rack & pinion was leaking boots falling apart nasty looking under the car. Started making a lot of noise while driving so I thought it was front brakes but I think it's a lot more. I love this car as it's like a little sports car and handles great... I can't find the after market site where I saw steeering parts etc for Any help comments etc would be nice Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EVOthis Posted July 19, 2008 Share Posted July 19, 2008 ive bought a few things off of http://www.autopartswarehouse.com and never had any problems... but of course there are subaru only sites like.... http://www.1stsubaruparts.com or http://www.subarupartsforyou.com ...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guidance1 Posted July 20, 2008 Author Share Posted July 20, 2008 Thanks, You have the same ride except I don't have the hood scoop... Have you had to replace these parts? I actually don't know which parts I need to replace yet? ive bought a few things off of http://www.autopartswarehouse.com and never had any problems... but of course there are subaru only sites like.... http://www.1stsubaruparts.com orhttp://www.subarupartsforyou.com ...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idosubaru Posted July 20, 2008 Share Posted July 20, 2008 subaru steering racks are very reliable. so reliable that replacing with a brand new steering rack is pointless, it's way overkill even on a newer car, much more so with something having 220,000 miles. if you do have rack issues then i would replace with a used unit and buy new tie rod ends. steering racks aren't hard at all to replace. with the exhaust manifold dropped out of the way there's only: 2 fluid connections (14mm and 17mm nuts) 4 bolts for the steering rack bushing brackets a 12(?)mm bolt for the steering linkage 2 nuts for the tie rod ends the only hard part is getting your steering wheel properly aligned as it will be off when removed. if the FSM doesn't have a way to do it, next time i'm thinking i'll mark full right or left somehow and install the new rack that way if possible. keep in mind how difficult it is to help over the internet. the more specific you can be the more we can help you. can you do any of the work/diagnosing yourself? are you asking how to replace or diagnose the rack or more? are you asking if there's other possible problems? "was leaking boots cracked"....does that mean it's not leaking any more and no longer has cracked boots? was = past tense? what symptoms do you actually have - if you're not sure i'd start there. we can be of more help with more info. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yohy Posted July 20, 2008 Share Posted July 20, 2008 guidance1, I have the FSM for my '97 which should be the same as your '96. Shoot me a PM with your email address and I can send you the .pdf for the "Service Procedure/Steering Gearbox". This way you can look over the procedure and decide if you want to tackle it yourself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guidance1 Posted July 20, 2008 Author Share Posted July 20, 2008 Thanks guys I'll do a better post on the problems. The car steers and handles great. It's leaking and oil and or fluids and landing on the exhaust causing smoking I could have leaky seals near the timing cover too but that's another issue, The belt was changed around 200K now at 220K During my last 100 mile ride I started hearing noises and grinding in the front end. I thought for sure it was the brakes but i pulled a wheel off and I don't think its the brakes. The driver side boot has pulled away and ripped apart and it looks like the bearings could be damaged. If I had a good manual of the front end underneath I could describe all this better. If someone could e-mail me something it would be helpful and then I do another post. It might not be steering it could be the drive shaft! Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idosubaru Posted July 20, 2008 Share Posted July 20, 2008 okay, cool. by boot being torn that could be a couple things - a steering rack boot, tie rod boot, or axle boot. which are you talking about. in general - it's best to start with and address known issues first. so the noise could easily be related to the broken boot. let us know which of the broken boot scenarios i listed is your problem - take a photo if you're not sure what everything is called. if your engine is leaking oil and it's dripping on the exhaust you need to replace the leaking seals. be a good idea to look and track down the oil leak - the valve cover gaskets are really simple to change and they are known to leak over time, particularly at your mileage. the rear passengers side cam cap oring is also an oil leak fiend and only takes about 5 minutes to replace - check it! i'm about to do oil seals behind the new timing belt in my wife's car and one i picked up for my grandmother. i always have the seals/orings on hand to replace while the belt is off. a good mechanic should know to do that. who did your last timing belt and did they replace anything else? if not they didn't do a good job. a timing belt job should include any of the following that are leaking or too old: - water pump (yours needs replaced - expecting an original water pump that 10+ year old and 200,000 miles to last 300,000 is excessive. - cam seals (2) - cam oring (1) - oil pump oring (1) - crank seal you said before the power steering was leaking....is this still the case, was that a guess or is that fact? this is a great engine - one of subaru's best. if you take care of it (don't run low on oil and don't overheat) you can see 300,000 out of it - so the additional expense is not excessive in this case. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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