Subaru Legacy/Outback Wagons Maintenance & Repair

xwesx · September 2007

Yep, that is exactly what plim77 is hearing. Likely not an issue, but it does indicate there is air in the system. Top off your coolant in the radiator and fill to the proper level in the overflow tank, then wait a couple days to see if this takes care of it.

paisan · September 2007

Also you might want to have your system drained/filled/flushed if it has 50k miles or more.

-mike

billj3 · September 2007

I was planning to replace the rear break pads and rotors thinking the chirping/squealing noise I heard was the break wear indicator. After taking things apart it turns out the pads are not totaly worn down, and while turning the hubs by hand I get a grating/scraping noise on both wheels. I have had problems before with rust expansion causing rubbing while turning. The dealer mechanic cleaned it up a bit and it went away more or less a few years ago.

Car has 140k miles and I am thinking wheel bearings are bad. My questions are: 1, would turning the hubs by hand give an audible indication of a wheel bearing problem at such a slow speed with no load, and 2, do I need any special tools to replace them myself, what exactly needs to be done and is it a particularly difficult job?

Dealer prices in the past have been rather expensive so I thought I might do it myself.

All the axel boots look good by the way.

Thanks for the help,
Regards,
Bill

esker · September 2007

Went to the dealer. Master tech said without hesitation it was the viscous coupler going. This is in the rear part of the front transfer case. repair $1500. I am debating trying it myself, but getting into transmissions ia tricky business. Maybe time to get rid of it. Can't say I am happy with the Subaru. In 9 years I have put it over $7000 in repairs, with another $3000 looking at me. And I do a lot myself. Thanks for the help.

ateixeira · September 2007

Sorry to hear it.

I had the opposite experience with my Forester, 9 years no problems. I saved up enough to pay cash for its replacement.

jonk5 · September 2007

I just bought a 2008 Legacy Sedan and I love except for one problem - on the highway the car tends to sort of float around - almost as if it was being pushed around by the wind. Anyone have any ideas as to what it might be?

Thanks

ateixeira · September 2007

Start with the obvious stuff - are tire pressures even? What psi?

You might have one bad shock, is my guess.

stevenm1 · September 2007

If your tire inflation pressures are OK, you should check your wheel alignment on both the front and rear wheels.

stevenm1 · September 2007

You should make sure that the wheel bearings are the problem because their replacement is much more involved than in vehicles which have solid rear axles. Unless you have the skills and equipment to do everything yourself, you will need to disconnect the rear axle half shafts, remove the hub assemblies from the car and take them to a Subaru or drive line shop to have new bears and seals installed.

paisan · September 2007

Turning by hand won't indicate a bad bearing. The sound is more of a whirring when driving than a scraping. My thought is that it's the rear calipers sticking.

-mike

xwesx · September 2007

Turning by hand won't indicate a bad bearing.

Unless it is really bad! I have had a couple bearings (not on Subaru) that I could tell were bad by turning the wheel by hand, but that action was not necessary to make the determination! One revolution of the tire on the road cleared up any doubt!

paisan · September 2007

Haa yeah like the time we were racing and the wheel almost came off!

-mike

xwesx · September 2007

I saw something similar to that happen once as a teen while coming off the Muldoon exit on the Glenn Highway. It is a long, steep, and tight right-turning incline off the highway. There was an old, beat up Nissan Z-car (I think) in front of us. As both vehicles negotiated the ramp, I saw the right rear wheel start slowly moving away from the body of the car.

I told my grandmother, who was driving, to watch out because the wheel was coming off! She did not notice it at first and told me I was crazy, but by the time we crested the top of the ramp, the wheel was about 2+ feet out the side of the car (clearly coming out with axle attached, at this point!). Then the car finally dropped to the ground, sparks flew, and it skidded to a stop. Rather than stopping to help, my grandmother drove around and kept going, citing the "questionable appearance" of the car.

That was a pretty crazy thing to see.

nerd · September 2007

I would appreciate anyone sharing the procedure for adjusting the parking brake on a 2006 Outback 2.5i with automatic transmission. Thanks.

zzguy46 · September 2007

Did the tech say it was torque-bind?? Subaru use transaxles..NOT transmissions. When the fluid gets old, tarnish builds up on the clutches. An easy, less than $10 fix...put in some limited slip additive, about 4oz. It the stuff American cars use in posi or limited-slip rear ends. Remember its the dipstick on the drivers side near the firewall. I've used it on 2 older Subies already. It then takes about 100-200 miles to work the magic. I would also recommend a transaxle FLUSH. About $100, to replace old fluid. The new fluid should have a limited-slip additive, ask to be sure. Have fun...good luck.

paisan · September 2007

I've run AT subies for years, including racing them and NEVER have I put in LSD fluid. I would suggest a good drain/fill with Redline High-temp ATF. It kept my SVX in good shape for about 140k miles.

-mike

billj3 · October 2007

Thanks for the advice. It turns out that the wheel hub assembly was rubbing on the spring which keeps the parking break assembly in tension against the adjuster. Seems to me the spring should be behind the adjuster not in front of it. So I moved it there and the noise is gone. Took about 5 min to do once I saw what was necessary. Pads and rotors had little wear and rust does not seem to be much of an issue. Perhaps the dealer put it on wrong during one of my $1000 break jobs.

I have a decent set of tools and reasonable mechanical skills, but no specialty tools and have not worked on cars since I was a kid, but thinking of doing so based on the cost and quality of service I get at the dealer.

Thanks again,
Bill

paisan · October 2007

1000 brake job? Jeeze, I charge less for a super-hi performance brake job for Subarus!

-mike

billj3 · October 2007

Mike,
And I bet you put the springs on right too.

Bill

moomar · October 2007

Hi I am having sort of the same problem did you find a cure
thanks
momar

folmar97 · October 2007

I recently tried to replace a factory radio with a VR3. The VR3 radio has only one illumination wire but there is a positive wire and a negative wire from the factory. If I only hook up the positive the stereo works fine but I have no speedometer/tachometer lights... unless i blew a fuse somewhere? Anyone know anything about this "illumination" hook up... i'm not much of an electrician.

paulman · October 2007

I spent a good bit of time on the net trying to find replacement carpet. No luck, even w/ JC Whitney. Any ideas where to go for this?

Paul

mike_wolf · October 2007

My 99 Outback isn't starting when it is raining out. I am not getting fuel to the engine, it sounds like it is out of gas. I just replaced the fuel filter, am getting fuel pressure out of the filter towards the engine, but it still just turns over. Happened once before 2 weeks ago (also when it was raining), replaced the fuel pump and it's been driving fine until today. I have 156k with about 1200mi a month. I don't know what to do next. I'm thinking something in the injectors, but I find it doubtful that all 4 would go at once. A relay control for all the injectors, maybe? Corroded or damaged conductor somewhere that gets grounded with moisture? I've ONLY experienced this in the rain. Any help?

paisan · October 2007

Hmm seems more like a spark issue than an injector issue. Do you have a CEL? If the injectors aren't working then the CEL should tell you that pretty quickly.

-mike

jjcunningham · October 2007

Occasionally (a few times per month) , esp in wet weather, my 96 Legacy would crank & crank.... then start after a few/many minutes... Changed the camshaft position sensor & it got better (less frequent) changed the crankshaft position sensor as well & no further problems...

toofastdad · October 2007

The water is actually draining in the front, on the left hand side. Is this a problem that I need to fix, or is this normal? I don't have any water coming in the car, but it does seem a bit strange to have water in the roof. If the drains are blocked how do I unblock them?

The dealer is not very helpful, they just say that it is going to cost a lot to solve the problem, but refuse to give me a price. Do you know exactly where the drain is?

Thanks...Colin

truckkiller · October 2007

check the coil tower where your spark plugs plug into it sounds like it is shorting. another thing to try is pour water on that "tower" (i can't think of the correct name for it.) when the car is running in the dark it will look like a thunder storm. It may be bad wires also. pull all your wires off that "tower" one at a time and see if it is green or corroded. Be carefull it is not fun getting shocked.

wrenchspin2 · October 2007

Have a 96 Legacy Wagon (2.2)in the family since new. I have always used the Subaru (aka Purolator)white oil filter AA060 (that is what Parts Dept always gave me and I've used it for years). I ran out of my supply. Went to get some and they told me that they don't use AA060 anymore, and gave me the 'newer' AA100 (very small, black, expensive, Tokyo Roki). Is this true that they dont use AA060 anymore?
[Or did this dealer just want to move the expensive filters off his shelf and I got 'Tokyo Rooked'?]

paisan · October 2007

They have switched to the smaller filters, however you don't need to buy expensive ones.

They did this due to the proximity to the headers, especially on the turbo cars could cook the oil in the filter.

-mike

misty13 · October 2007

I have a problem with the first start up of the day. While backing out my long driveway, the engine revs too fast.. up to 3500 rpms. This is an ongoing problem since I bought the car, new, over a year ago. I have had it to the dealer twice, and I am told they cannot duplicate the problem. They also said it is normal and nothing is wrong. I should let the car run for a few minutes before I drive it,"so it can run through it's sequence". It seems dangerous to me, to have the engine revving so fast while I'm trying to back out.
This is my fourth Subaru, and I have never had this problem before. Has anyone else experienced this? Any suggestions?
Thanks, Misty

jjcunningham · October 2007

Transmission problem, I would guess.... ever go forward on first start?

I had an old toyota crown where the automatic transmission "slipped" on first starting of theday, either direction, till it got going in 20 sec.... I figured a bad check valve in there somewhere.... May not be worth fixing though.

lilengineerboy · October 2007

Our '05 Legacy wagon 5spd idles up in reverse or even in neutral backing out of our driveway. I think it does that to get the catalytic converters fired off, and also to get vacuum for the power brakes.
I haven't noticed it when going forward.

lovermont · October 2007

03 Outback Wagon, 5 spd, 160000 loved-for miles...
Recently felt vibration that was unfamiliar, occuring usually early in the am, after about a 2 mile drive, a quick stop for coffee, then about a mile down the road it starts...just an odd, noticeable but not head-rattling, shimmy or shake as i'm accelerating in the 3rd-4th gear, 35-45 mph region...and it doesn't last long. Had my mechanic ride in it once when it was happening, and he felt it, and thought it might be drive train related. Bad u joints perhaps. But today, when he had it, he couldn't get it to do it again, and he couldn't find anything wrong underneath. He was kinda miffed, as am I.
Any thoughts?
Oh, also have had the viscous coupling replaced about a year ago, fyi. It's aligned, tires are even and balanced, and we're confused.
thanks for any help
chris

iomatic · October 2007

I need to replace the brake pads on our '01 Outback. Any brand recommendations and torque specs, a DIY perhaps?

They don't feel as grippy, but I'm not sure I want to try and do (or know how to check on) the brake fluid.

Other Subaru extensive forums?

Thanks.

paisan · October 2007

Hawk HPs pads and flush the fluid, should be flushed every 2 years no matter how many miles.

Relatively easy DIY, shoot me your make, model, build date, etc and I can get you part numbers via e-mail if you want.

-mike

hamez · October 2007

I also have a similar problem. I own a 06 OB XT. From the first day it has rev'd high on the first start of the day. I either have to let it run for a couple of minutes, or feather the accelerator a little to knock down the rpm's. Have talked to the dealer they are clueless. It only happens first start of the day or when the car has been off for several hours. Have learned to live with it.

iomatic · October 2007

Just an '01 (legacy? it's not the impreza) Outback wagon.

thanks a million.

paisan · October 2007

Yes, the build date is important, some years they changed them mid-year. So shoot me an e-mail and we'll hook yah up with the proper part #s.

-mike

grumpy13 · November 2007

Update - not surprisingly, the fix didn't work. Two different independent mechanics recommend a new short block - saying that it's likely a cracked cylinder. Not sure I want to put the money down to repair or towards a new car.

novice15 · November 2007

I own a 99 outback which was purchased new, that so far, has been a terrific car...125,000 miles and going great. I am a newly single female, just recently going through a divorce, and after many years, find myself having to manage car issues, about which I know very little. So far all the basic maintenance has been done, but in the past few months I've noticed what I can only describe as a whine coming from the engine compartment. It is not an overwhelming sound, but it is something new that I have not heard before. The whine becomes very noticeable when I plug in an ipod and tune it to a non broadcast station, where the whine actually comes through the radio. If there is no music playing on the ipod the whine is quite loud. When I accelerate, the whine gets louder. My concern is that something is getting ready to give and I will end up stranded on the road somewhere this winter. Aside from the inconvenience, I have a 12 year old daughter who would be left alone if I can't get home to her. I know this may not sound like much of a problem, but I very much want to be proactive and keep myself from ending up in a bad situation. Does anyone have any thoughts about what's up? Maybe the water pump or a belt? Thanks for any input. Jan

jjcunningham · November 2007

That's ignition noise being picked up by the car radio.... Something similar has always happened in my 1996 legacy, but not too loud.

Not likely to be trouble & someone else here might know how to correct it. Have a good autoelectrician look at the engine electrical systems.

Mr_Shiftright · November 2007

Probably a stereo shop can cure this, known as "alternator whine". Have you had any stereo or speakers installed recently? If so, they may have made an error known as a "ground loop".

Some stereo shops can install a Noise Suppression Kit.

These whines aren't always easy to fix or trace but ask a good stereo shop what they can do for you.

Visiting Host

novice15 · November 2007

Thanks for your response. Do you think it might still be related to the ignition even when the radio isn't on? I hear the whine when I first start the car, with no radio, and sometimes I am still able to hear it when I am driving. The ipod/radio thing just makes it extremely noticeable.

novice15 · November 2007

Thanks for your input. As far as I am concerned, the car can whine all it wants as long as it runs right. And no, I didn't have any stereo work done..everything is original. It's just this whining noise that has developed over the past few months. Would the alternator cause a whine, which can be heard even with the radio off? My concern is that the noise is a warning that something is getting ready to give.

vwakode · November 2007

I have 2002 LL Bean edition - with approx 70k mileage - and 100k GOLD
extended warranty.

Recently a month back that my front right wheel is making skweaking
sound (metal rubbing) on sharp, slow turns. I took the car to the
dealer.

Dealer took a look at the car and mentioned that "The front right
wheel is touching back while taking sharp turns (mainly right)making
that sound and would require
right front strut, hat bearing, wheel liner to be replaced with approx
cost of 800.00."

I mentioned the vehicle is under warrenty, but he said this is the
result of the road hazard not the defect. My wife never experienced
any situation that would have caused this. The discussion with the
dealer was fruitless.

I asked another dealer the cost of same maintenance. He came up with
the estimate of around 550.00 so I took the vehicle to him. This
dealer mentioned that there is no damage after observation and would
require whell balancing.

I took the vehicle to the local "TiresLesSchwab" tire center. He (good
guy) also could not balance the whell and given the estimate of around
550.00 with total including parts like -
1) lower control arm 2) gr2 strut.

Now I am more confused - with questions. Any help would be
appreciated.

1) Does the extended warranty covers the struts movement, I do not
remember any road hazard situation that happened to my vehicle.
2) Why the parts naming is different with the first dealer and
the "TireLesSchwab" guy?

Mr_Shiftright · November 2007

Yes an alternator can whine like a banshee.

paisan · November 2007

"The front right
wheel is touching back while taking sharp turns (mainly right)making
that sound and would require
right front strut, hat bearing, wheel liner to be replaced with approx
cost of 800.00."

This seems viable, for sure, cause if the hat bearing were bent or damaged it would cause a wobble and could cause the wheel to be cocked a bit. However, it's not likely that the wheel would actually rub if it were only the strut and the hat bearing.

The LesSchwab guy is on the right track with the Lower Control Arm, because if that were bent then you would get rubbing of the wheel.

In my opinion this was caused by hitting a pothole of some sort and would not be covered under warranty. Further, I would go ahead and replace both front struts (best to always replace in pairs) and long with the lower control arm on the damaged side, and the strut-top/strut-top bearing, and the wheel well liner.

Based on the prices they are giving you, you are looking at about $1000 in damage which wouldn't be warrantyable.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.

-mike

cptplt · November 2007

they replaced my 02 WRXs rear strut under warranty. I don't know if they can tell from whats wrong with it as to the mode of failure but maybe with the wheel liner etc also showing damage this would indicate road hazard problem while my case was an isolated strut gone bad - but maybe I was just plain lucky. (having taken my other 3 Subarus to be maintained at the same dealer and having purchased one from them may have helped my case also, they also did stuff once under the ext warranty which is definitely not covered- HVAC bulbs).

grahampeters · November 2007

G'day

It might be worth having a look at the ower control arm fixings. Years ago, I had a similar problem with a whell alignment proving impossible. Eventually traced to a U-shaped fitting with a bush inside it surrounding the lower sway bar, which had been pushed back about an inch. Replaced the fitting and instant fix

Cheers

Graham

margot2 · November 2007

My check engine light has been on for a while. It goes on and off... I brought it to one shop and they said a $450.00 repair of O2 sensor. I waited because I couldn't afford it. Brought it to another shop and they said it was a Knock sensor. I finally brought it to a dealership (not specifically subaru)...and the said it was a code P0160, but they weren't sure whether it was the catalytic converter or 02 sensor. I finally am here, doing research and have found that it is a rear o2 sensor driver's side bank 2. This dealership wants to further examine it and double check to see whether it really is the 02 sensor or something else. from what I was told...the engine is trying to initiate the 02 sensor (which apparently is not functioning) and because it isn't is pulling a ton of gas into the chamber. But, the mechanic said it might be a loose fitting as well. He said he didn't want to put a $100.00 part inside t he engine and have it not be the case.
What do you think....Please advise as I really can't afford much.

Subaru Legacy/Outback Wagons Maintenance & Repair

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