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Subaru Legacy/Outback Wagons Maintenance & Repair

8644 messages,  Last post on May 22, 2013 at 4:04 PM

You are in the Subaru Legacy & Outback Forum.

What is this discussion about? Subaru Legacy, Subaru Outback, Wagon

Messages Page 693 of 865

#6918 of 8644 Re: 1996 Subaru Legacy Outback.. New to me! [ateixeira] by tedchorlyone

Apr 05, 2007 (8:30 am)

Replying to: ateixeira (Apr 05, 2007 7:16 am)
Thanks, I'm getting the tires replaced with 4 matching ones today, and this weekend I'm going to venture towards taking out the coolant reservoir and battery to take a look at the spark plugs.
 
Right now I'm pretty upset that after all the talk by the auto dealer I got this from about how his technicians wouldn't have overlooked anything in getting this car ready for sale the car can't even run safely on the tires it came with. And I'm suspecting that they just slapped on some cheap autolite spark plugs, too, instead of NGKs. The code was 0304 (I forget the first two letters, but it was a cylinder 4 misfire...) I also heard it could be a problem with cylinder 2 manifesting itself in a misfire of 4, but I'll save those unusual scenarios for after the swapping of the new spark plugs and wires..

#6919 of 8644 Re: 1996 Subaru Legacy Outback.. New to me! [tedchorlyone] by ateixeira

Apr 05, 2007 (8:45 am)

Replying to: tedchorlyone (Apr 05, 2007 8:30 am)
I had a misfire and it turned out to be that a chipmunk had chewed up my spark plug wires.
 
Seriously, I see them under my hood to this day. Not sure why they love Subaru wires, do they baste them in au jus at the factory?
 
 
 
I'll stick with my recommendation to change the wires, plugs, and then maybe the ignition coil if the light stays on.

#6920 of 8644 Re: 1996 Subaru Legacy Outback.. New to me! [ateixeira] by lilengineerboy

Apr 05, 2007 (9:11 am)

Replying to: ateixeira (Apr 05, 2007 8:45 am)
I was thinking about this and I have a pretty big aversion to replacing parts until I know what is wrong. You can ohm out the spark plug wires and there is a spec for the maximum resistance. You can also check the spark plug gap and check it for damage.
I would think there would be a factory procedure somewhere for testing the coil pack before just dropping $80.
Plugs and wires are great maintenance tasks and it may be due for them anyway, but now you are talking about $30 for plugs, $40-50 for wires, and $80 for the coil pack. Thats $160.
I realize when doing backyard stuff, some of the money that would've been spent diagnosing the issue is spent on replacing probable suspects, but its still good to test what is testable, IMHO.

#6921 of 8644 Re: 02 Bean: brake issues [paisan] by canyuntrash

Apr 05, 2007 (9:40 am)

Replying to: paisan (Apr 05, 2007 4:37 am)
Thanks for the input, I'll give that a try. Will also check existing rotors for true.
 
But in a previous post, I believe it was you that mentioned something about "mountain rotors"; what are they? Aftermarket?
 
BTW, Mike, where does one look for P/N's on rotors?
 
Grazi

#6922 of 8644 Re: 1996 Subaru Legacy Outback.. New to me! [lilengineerboy] by paisan

Apr 05, 2007 (10:10 am)

Replying to: lilengineerboy (Apr 05, 2007 9:11 am)
On plugs, why after all the effort to take them out would you not replace them? $30 for 4 plugs? what kind of plugs are you using? I think the NGKs are way less than $30 for these cars. I dunno, I guess I'm looking at $160 as being easy, cheap and will help the car run better in the long run, unless you have just done them.
 
-mike

#6923 of 8644 Re: 02 Bean: brake issues [canyuntrash] by paisan

Apr 05, 2007 (10:19 am)

Replying to: canyuntrash (Apr 05, 2007 9:40 am)
Mountains are aftermarket smooth rotors, essentially stock replacements. We've had good luck with them as they are from Japan so they are a bit better than the cheaper ones out of Taiwan (Brembo, etc). I think we sell a pair of them for like $100 + shipping for WRX size. As for PN on rotors they will likely be in the "hat" the portion that attaches to the hub should have the PN there.
 
-mike

#6924 of 8644 Re: 1996 Subaru Legacy Outback.. New to me! [paisan] by lilengineerboy

Apr 05, 2007 (11:18 am)

Replying to: paisan (Apr 05, 2007 10:10 am)
I dunno, I guess I'm looking at $160 as being easy, cheap and will help the car run better in the long run, unless you have just done them.
 
Thats totally cool I can appreciate that. In my mind, preventative maintenance is different then repair, and I don't like spending money on repair parts unless I know its going to fix my problem. $160 is pretty easy and cheap, but if you are out that cash and you still have the issue, it starts to not look like such a bargain.
It also comes down to how sure someone is that its the problem. On the Honda, I dropped $60 on the main relay when it wouldn't start after sitting in the sun because I was 85% sure it was the problem, so if this is a similar case, then its very valid.

#6925 of 8644 Re: 1996 Subaru Legacy Outback.. New to me! [paisan] by xwesx

Apr 05, 2007 (11:20 am)

Replying to: paisan (Apr 05, 2007 10:10 am)
I agree with that - but only for the plugs.... if you are going to pull them, just replace them and be done with it. For the wires, sure, might as well esp. if they are originals. Coil pack, though.... I would wait on that one to see if it is necessary. Still, $160 is cheap preventative maintenance.
 
If you have the service records, find out if the timing belt was replaced, fuel filter, fluids, etc. It might be a good time just to give it a good flush to set the ticker back to zero.
 
I was going to look at buying a replacement '96 yesterday (green, just like my old one!), but was too slow in contacting the seller.

#6926 of 8644 Re: 1996 Subaru Legacy Outback.. New to me! [xwesx] by paisan

Apr 05, 2007 (11:52 am)

Replying to: xwesx (Apr 05, 2007 11:20 am)
I had a problem with my boat last summer, and in the process of trying to hunt down the problem replaced the cap and rotor, which turned out to not be the problem, however was an excellent opportunity to get the maintenance done on em. I also replaced the batteries in the boat too, which I'm not sure was the problem. In the end, I sold the boat before having a definitive answer on what the problem was.
 
-mike

#6927 of 8644 Re: 1996 Subaru Legacy Outback.. New to me! [paisan] by ateixeira

Apr 05, 2007 (12:30 pm)

Replying to: paisan (Apr 05, 2007 10:10 am)
I'm with mike on this one.
 
Plugs are a pain on the Forester, as there is no clearance on the heads. Same with wires.
 
Once I'm in there, I'm changing them, no question.
 
To remove them, gap the plugs, wash my hands, clean the plugs, then reinstall would take a lot of extra time.
 
I may waste more $ and parts but you're wasting a lot more time and human energy.
 
I guess those are the trade-offs, and neither strategy is perfect.

Messages Page 693 of 865

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