Subaru Legacy/Outback Wagons Maintenance & Repair

denver5357 · January 2007

Thanks for all of your replies. They have been very helpful. Final question ... Outback vs. compact pickup like Nissan Frontier with rear 4WD? It seems to me that read 4WD on a pickupwould be difficult, since the weight is up front. But some say yes, some no. Anyone with experience? Thanks again. I like the Outback ... just don't know if the clearence is high enough.

krzyss · January 2007

"rear 4WD"?
"read 4WD"?

Krzys

xwesx · January 2007

A friend of mine has a 2005 Frontier - base model manual (SE?). A nice truck; it actually feels like a truck versus the oversized car feel of most modern pickups. Anyway, it does quite well in 4WD snow situations at low speeds, though I would much prefer the Subaru if going any appreciable speed (>10 mph?). I daresay it would take more snow to hold up that Nissan than it would a Subaru, but there is optional equipment on the Nissan, too, like ABLS, etc., so you would need to make sure you get the options you need.

Tires, like always, make a huge difference.

lilengineerboy · January 2007

I have found that driving in situations where AWD/4wd is actually helpful are also aided by reasonably equal weight distribution. A lightweight bed with nothing in it means there is very little over the rear axle. This can increase the opportunity for the rear of the vehicle to pass the front of the vehicle.
They make bags to be filled with water that can go in the bed of a pickup to get some weight over the rear axle, but if you are going to make the bed more difficult to use and add weight that will invoke a MPG penalty, why not just be comfortable in a Subaru?

paisan · January 2007

I have an Armada and my buddy has a Frontier. The 4x4 w/ABLS will outperform an Outback in deep snow and offroad situations. With that said, the Frontier's 4wd can't be used on dry pavement so you lose that advantage in the dry.

-mike

PS: ABLS is Anti-lock Brake Limit Slip, this gives you an LSD in both the front and rear which is AWSOME in snow.

jaxcar · January 2007

I have a 2000 Outback. The security light (a red dot and the word "SECURITY") just started flashing when the engine is turned off. The light flashes twice, then a short pause, then two more quick flashes, then a pause, and it continues until the engine is started - when it stops. Anybody know what's going on? Thanks for any help.

lilengineerboy · January 2007

PS: ABLS is Anti-lock Brake Limit Slip, this gives you an LSD in both the front and rear which is AWSOME in snow.

It gives traction control in the form of limiting power output, not limited slip. Not really a big deal in snow, but a big difference in performance situations (although I don't see many Armadas at track events unless they are towing something there).

tirebuster420 · January 2007

Here it goesIve got a `98 outback, and Ive notice a few people had complaints about their trannys, but Im not sure if mine is in the same ballpark.
My outback started developing intermittent shifting problem, in first gear, that was more prevalent after the car was driven for a while, and then stopped. If it were left to sit for more than 5 minutes, it wouldnt shift out of first gear, with out stopping and trying again. It has begun to happen more and more often. My regular repair shop didnt pull up any codes, even though they could recreated the issue. The next stop was the dealer. They suggested a regular tranny service, even though it had already been done earlier in the year. They test road it. They suggested a power flush, and sent me on my way. Now the problem happens all the time. The fluid has been change 2 more times, to no avail. The tranny finally got stuck in first the other day, and wouldnt work again, until after sitting all night. The dealers check still shows no code, but they go, as far as to say that the tranny is NOT serviceable. They reference a bulletin from Subaru that says to not attempt rebuilds, but to offer a re-manufactured tranny. They wont even tell me whats wrong! My warranty expired over a year ago, and Im a little put off at the fact that Im looking at a couple thousand dollars to fix a car thats less than 10 years old with only 102K! I really do love my car, but theyre telling me that the cars not even worth the repair? Is this true? Is there somewhere/ someplace I can find out what exactly my problem is? I dont want to get rid of my car, especially with the way it handles so well in the snow, but Im not really sure what else I can do. Thanks, Tirebuster420.

xwesx · January 2007

I am not convinced that replacing the transmission (if it needs it) is "not worth it." After all, we are talking about a $2000 transmission on a car with only 100K miles. That's a heck of a lot cheaper than car payments!

So, has it been flushed with solvents to remove any glazes and grime that could be causing or exacerbating the problem? And, has the filter been changed?

It certainly seems pointless to just flush the fluid out if the fluid is new. It seems a no-brainer that such a flush would not solve anything.

jfl · January 2007

Did you ever do the power flush? Or did you just have the fluid changed?

ateixeira · January 2007

What mike said. Check the axle/CV boots.

I had a leak in our old 626 and the grease spilled on O2 sensor and ruined that part as well. So fix it soon.

-juice

ateixeira · January 2007

What mike said. Check the axle/CV boots.

I had a leak in our old 626 and the grease spilled on O2 sensor and ruined that part as well. So fix it soon.

-juice

ateixeira · January 2007

They make very minor revisions all the time - I doubt most people will notice the change.

Go by the style, do you prefer the old look or the new bigger-grilled face?

-juice

ateixeira · January 2007

Yikes. Glad you were OK.

Dibs on the rims.

JUST KIDDING!

-juice

xwesx · January 2007

Haha... playing catch-up, juice?! You could have had them, almost new tires included, but I decided yesterday to let the car go. Now I just have to find the darn title..... I have the title to my van, Pinto, truck.... even my 3-wheeler.... but cannot find the title to the Subaru. :mad:

ateixeira · January 2007

Hmm, I might have taken the rims for my snow tires, then left the steelies behind. Meh, too much work and the snows aren't on long enough for it to matter.

-juice

tirebuster420 · January 2007

Had the fluid changed 3 times now in just one year. The last time, was last month, and it came out clean. :confuse:

tirebuster420 · January 2007

The filter has been replaced twice in the last year, not the third time. The fluid, each time it came out was clean. I just can't emagine that a $160 power flush can be a cure from the dealer, when they can't even find a problem.

b10609 · January 2007

A leaking head gasket can let coolant drip onto hot exhaust and create pretty strange smells, too. Worth a look if all else fails. Problem occurs a bit too often here in Canada. Hope this helps.

xwesx · January 2007

Well, if there is quite a bit of varnish build up in there or a blockage of some type, it would not be solved just by flushing the fluid because it is not suspended in the fluid. A solvent flush would dissolve the buildup and allow the clean fluid to flow properly. I just have a hard time believing this procedure would not have been done if the fluid was replaced so many times in the last year, but stranger things have happened.

The solvent flush is fairly caustic, so I have heard that it is not something to be done as "preventative maintenance." But, if it will keep you from having to replace the transmission, then it is well worth it!

Do not feel like you must have this done through the dealer - often times there are far more competent independent shops around!

njjuliano · January 2007

I noticed something sticking out from under the front passenger of my 2002 wagon. Getting under there, it seems that the plastic underlining there has a connection piece that was cut off, and the remaining bigger piece is sticking out and down. I'm fairly sure that it doesnt interfere with anything mechanical, looks like a simple covering, but I'd like to replace it, once I know what it is called. Does anyone know what piece that is?

Thanks in advance.

njjuliano · January 2007

Well, I'm a bit confused on how this happened but here it is....

This is facing the left side of undercarriage, with the front of vehicle is the top of the image.

http://njjuliano.smugmug.com/photos/123117530-L.jpg

That's the strap that seems to have been cut. It is the part that tucks under the access hatch.

Here's another connection that keeps the hatch in place that seemed to have been ripped as well, same orientation as the above pic.

http://njjuliano.smugmug.com/photos/123117534-L.jpg

Here's the view from the front of the vehicle and how it hangs. My hand in the picture so show some perspective. I have very minimal pressure on the piece, if any.

http://njjuliano.smugmug.com/photos/123117544-L.jpg

Here is what it is supposed to do.

http://njjuliano.smugmug.com/photos/123117548-L.jpg

And here's a view of the other side, and what it should look like.

http://njjuliano.smugmug.com/photos/123117552-L.jpg

I just had an oil change on the 3rd. Went to a new place, and just wanted to get it done. Pretty routine thing. Had some minor alarms go when the oil change guy couldnt figure out how to open the hood. Had to go to him and tell him how.

Its my wife's vehicle, and I only noticed the protruding part as I was doing my routine checking the car for dents and and anything weird as I was driving away in our other vehicle.

Is it possible that something was hit that dislodged it? It looks alarmingly like it was cut to access the oil filter. I'm heading for the lube place to ask for some explanation, but knowing I have no way of showing fault, I'm going with a "Hey, did you happen to notice this?" demeanor.

Also 2 of the 3 screw fasteners weren't there as well. Just cant figure out how this can happen with an accidental bottoming out.

Thoughts?

njjuliano · January 2007

Apologies for such a late reply, here.

I had the radio repaired at a Audio/Stereo Shop here in South Jersey. I asked for a recommendation from the dealer, and he went ahead and gave me the guys they use. If you're in the area, and need the actual name, let me know, I'm sure I can look it up.

plim77 · January 2007

Is this a Legacy or an Outback? I had something similar happen to my wife's 06 Legacy sedan. (I know, because I did it.) I parked the car and the concrete parking bumper scraped the bottom of the car, just behind the bumper. The car was literally on top of the concrete. When I pulled out of the space, it sounded like it scraped the bottom of the car right off and left a similar plastic hanging.

It's also possible that those screw fasteners not being there are a coicidence. They could have never been there or vibrated out as the car has been driven.

njjuliano · January 2007

Its an Outback. I've been trying to see if I bottomed out recently, and I cant seem to remember. Also, there doesnt seem to be a scraping cut, but an actual knife cut. The remaining piece does not show any scraping either. Also dont know how to explain 2-3 inches of it missing.

Cant see replacing it, since its part of the big housing. I might have to just cut off that whole piece, and just put in new fasteners.

Did your end piece have scrapes on it? What did you do with it in the end?

rangner · January 2007

I would put my money on the oil change place being the culprit. they're just too lazy to remove the three screws to access the oil filter. The same thing happened to my car.

Go back and pitch a fit and send them the bill from the dealer.

paisan · January 2007

Actually you are not correct.

VDC- limits power by cutting the throttle.
ABLS- applies the brake to a slipping wheel on an open differential to force the power from the slipping wheel to the wheel with grip, same as a viscous or clutch-pack LSD except that you wear your brakes quicker and it's only a hair less useful than the viscous or mechanical LSDs, it doesn't work well in a track situation because the constant application of the brakes would cause the pads and fluid to overheat (I saw this at Pocono on a MB owned E55AMG they were testing at one of our track days)

Interestingly, you can disable the VDC on the Nissan implementation, but the ABLS stays active even if the VDC is off.

-mike

runnerjohn67 · January 2007

I'v searched on this, and it does sound like several others have had this problem. What was done to solve it, though? I can pour a little water into the sunroof drain holes, and it does go away immediately. However, on the driver's side, it immediately goes into the headliner. On the passenger side, it drips down by the passenger's feet from the lower part of the door seal. Our service person blew out the drain tubes with compressed air when it first started doing it this past summer. That didn't change anything, as it did the exact same thing before he did it.

To me, it sounds like the drain tubes have come off. Has anyone taken apart the inside corners to fix it? My Haynes book doesn't cover those areas, so if someone has instructions, or can point me in the right direction, I'd appreciate it. Car interiors are always a pain, if you don't know what to take apart first or how to pull on what. We take our car to the dealer for real repairs, but minor things like this, I usually handle them if I can find the info on how to do it.

By the way, my wife and I are looking to buy a new Forester or Baja. (That wasn't a solicitation for offers.) We love the Sub's!

Thank you very much!

Mr_Shiftright · January 2007

That's exactly what happened..the drain tubes inside the trim have come off (or were blown off by air pressure, or someone stuck a coat hanger down there).

xwesx · January 2007

I agree. Looking at the photos, it does not look broken but cut. The only "damage" to any of the other plastic just looks to be rock deflections - no gouges or anything that would indicate an impact with something. The screws could have rattled out, but considering that both of the interior screws are missing (it looks like there were 4 across the front of that panel?), I think someone just failed to attach them. Now, whether the screw loss happened last oil change or prior is hard to say.

I managed to break every bit of plastic off the bottom of my car during the years I owned it and I guarantee you that none of the breaks were anywhere near as clean as that! That plastic is very durable and it does not break willingly (though subzero temperatures "help!").

How infuriating. A local Jiffy Lube "forgot" to tighten the oil plug on a friend's new Toyota a few years back - she made it about 50 miles and the engine seized up. Initially, the vendor denied any wrong doing! :surprise:

njjuliano · January 2007

The burden of proof is on me, which is the dilemma. It was almost 2 weeks ago, and I noticed it this past Saturday. Would I expect these people to own up, or would I need to throw energy towards this and get nothing in return but more frustration? I feel like Jim Carrey in Liar, Liar. After a few realizations that all his fit is going to cost him more in time and money, he finishes his rant with ".....going to just go ahead and take it up the taaaailll piiiipe....."

Will, however, make the phone call, and write it up to Better Business Bureau and take my oil changes, and warning to all my friends and fam's, elsewhere.

grumpy13 · January 2007

I posted awhile back about a blown head gasket on a 1999 Outback that was diagnosed by the dealer (based on hydrocarbons in coolant - car has never overheated). Rather than pay the estimated $2500+ repair, I took it to a highly rated independent shop for the work. That shop did not detect anything (HC in coolant, overheat, etc) that suggested a blown HG and passed up a $1,400+ (their estimate) repair job.

Two months later (1K miles) and the car runs fine. However, after a long trip discovered a full coolant reservoir that had small, clear air bubbles coming up through the coolant. Concerned about the bubbles I re-checked with the independent shop who says that it's still fine.

I don't want to have unnecessary work done, but at the same time don't want to be left high and dry on the side of the road. I guess the question is, are the bubbles in the coolant reservoir always a sign of a blown head gasket? Don't know who to trust...

paisan · January 2007

What I would suggest is to have the indy shop flush the radiator and refill with coolant and the conditioner that Subaru sells.

-mike

xwesx · January 2007

That is a good suggestion to start. If the bubbles are small and persistent, though, it would likely suggest that air is being injected into the system somewhere... possibly a head gasket. If you do not see any black gunk or discoloration of the coolant then it must be a very small leak (if, indeed, it is a HG).

fibber2 · January 2007

Wes,

Just catching up after being absent for a while. Wow! You guys were really lucky based on what your wagon looks like. Too bad, as I know how much you were attached to the OB, and how much care and effort you invested in keeping her running well.

Steve

fibber2 · January 2007

I went thru the dealer a couple of times on brake problems on my '02 OBW ("warped" rotors, sticking pads, uneven wear), then finally took on the issue myself.

I spent $450 on PowerSlot 'frozen' rotors and Hawk HPS pads, removed and cleaned the stainless steel springs and the slots they fit into, cleaned and lubed the sliders, etc. Amazing difference in performance, and no re-occurance in any of the above mentioned issues.

Steve

ateixeira · January 2007

I ended up removing the plastic under mine. It got in the way of oil changes.

You can probably rig a screw to hold it together, if you want.

-juice

marc_outback · January 2007

The car: 2005 Outback 2.5i
The issue: The air coming out of the passenger-side vents, with the temperature knob set on maximum, the blower on maximum speed, and all dashboard-vents open, is not warm, while the air coming out of the driver's side vents is warm.
The question: What could be the origin?
Thanks, Marc

marc_outback · January 2007

With the fan on maximum speed and the temperature knob turned to maximum, the air coming from the driver's side vents is hot, but the air coming from the passenger's side vents is not warm at all. The flows are comparable, just the temperature differs.

ateixeira · January 2007

Saw your post in several thread - stick to the Problems & Solutions threads, which get the most traffic.

Not sure about the problem, but it may just be that the system can't supply enough heat for all vents on full blast.

Is it warm with the vent on 1 or 2?

-juice

marc_outback · January 2007

The problem exists in any vent setting. A few weeks ago, I had the 30K service done at the dealership. This includes replacement of the cooling fluid. Could air in the system be the cause? Does the 2.5i, even though it does not have the dual climate option, have two separate heating units?

xwesx · January 2007

Ah, that is a good point! While it probably only has a single heating core, it might, indeed, have two separate "flaps" that control the amount of air flow over the heating coils. Perhaps the one for that side of the car has come off its cable? The cable (only one) on my '96 was problematic in this way, and I had to be very cautious about moving the heat settings between "cold" and "hot" or I would end up with "cold" when I really wanted "hot."

natetheskate · January 2007

Hi. Please help. I have a '97 Subaru Outback and a few months ago the A/T Oil Temp light would flash a few times and then turn off. It would especially do it when the car was warm. And when the light would turn on it would cause my car to rumble from the rear end when I turned the wheel sharp, especially in reverse, and if i was travelling slowly it would cause my car to stop moving. It would also cause it to set back after i turned the engine off. In other words, it was like even though the car was in park the engine was still pushing the car forward until i turned the engine off. So I took it in and my mechanic checked all the fluid levels and pressures and said everything was fine. Then it started acting up again but now the light ALWAYS turns on and the steering conditions are worse. Any ideas on what's wrong? It seems nobody else on here has had the same problem. thanks

xwesx · January 2007

Hmm, that is strange. I almost wonder if there is something wrong with the torque converter or center differential, but unfortunately I can offer no concrete feedback on your problem.

natetheskate · January 2007

Cool. Thanks. With the way it's been driving lately and with it being kinda slippy over the ice, snow, and slush this seems like it could be the problem. I'll suggest it to my mechanic.

dte · January 2007

So i'm looking into buying a 2000 Legacy. It has 95,000 Km's on it(59,000 Miles aprox.). According to the service history it was brought in for piston slap and they replaced the pistons at 54,000 kms, and then the head gasket was just changed now because it had a small leak. The rotors were also just turned. Other than that it doesn't seem to have any problems right now, but what are the chances of the piston slap coming back, and when do you think the brakes will have to be redone? I am buying this car to drive to BC, which is all the way across canada for me, so i need something that will be able to handle the distance, and not find out half way there that i'm getting wikid piston slap because the replaced pistons didn't solve it. I realize it was done a long time ago, and i couldn't hear anything when i test drove it for two days, but i am just worried about it coming back and costing me a lot of money to fix right after i buy it.

It's listed at 12,000$CDN, is that a decent price? should all the bugs be worked out by now since it is already 7 years old? they just did a major tune up, but should i be worried about something else popping up in the near future (next year or so)?

thanks for any help

Mikey.

ateixeira · January 2007

The new gasket material is better, I just hope the heads didn't warp from overheating.

The rotors aren't that expensive. We looked for my dad's 01 Outback and they were $150 for the pair at Advance Auto Parts. Not a big concern, IMO.

-juice

whitemaryr · January 2007

1998 Legacy wagon postal, where is the fuse for the all wheel drive switch, this seems to be a secret as we cannot get it answered from service. thanks :confuse:

ateixeira · January 2007

It's not a switch, it's actually just an empty fuse slot. You insert a fuse and it switches to FWD only. Default (no fuse) is AWD.

I think it's under the hood, not sure where on your specific model. On the Foresters, it's on the driver's side.

-juice

xwesx · January 2007

My guess is that it is in the same location as on the '96, and that was under the hood, passenger side, mounted to the firewall, iirc. It was a small black box with "FWD" stamped in white on the top.

Subaru Legacy/Outback Wagons Maintenance & Repair

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