killjoy323232

Well, I'm pretty sure I've got the issue figured out. All of the important vacuum lines are looped, and all of the vacuum sources on the manifold are open to atmosphere, which as we all know, is a very bad thing. God knows how long it's been running like this, and I'm probably going to have to start budgeting for a new motor. As an aside, these forums are a veritable treasure trove of information...you just have to dig for some of it . Moral of the story: If you buy a super-cheap turbo Subaru from a sketchy dealership, give your vacuum lines a close look. Someone might have Ray Charles'd one/some/all of them.

I looked under the hood on my lunch break, and took an especially close look at the MAP sensor hose...and found nearly every single vacuum/purge hose is connected wrong!!! It's a wonder the car hasn't blown up yet. There's at LEAST one massive vacuum leak from where the MAP sensor should be connected, and the FPR and recirc valve are tied together, so neither are actually doing anything. Haven't pulled the IC off, but all of this crap is getting fixed before I drive the car again. They had the MAP sensor connected to one of the purge valve lines (17 and 26 are tied together). What's connected to the MAP port, you may be asking? Nothing at all. No wonder I was getting a lean code. So, the codes and the MAP sensor not working are two related issues, but the MAP wiring must still be bad, since the MAP reading doesn't change when it's not connected to anything (it reads high with one sensor, and REALLY high with the other). I'm going to get the vacuum lines sorted first, then attempt to figure out what's wrong with the wiring.

Well, something's officially broken. Swapped out the MAP sensor this morning, and the new one is reading extreme in the other direction (11 PSI boost...at idle). It threw 2 new codes, so at this point, I'm thinking wiring somewhere might be the issue (P0068 for the MAP/throttle position correlation, and P2227 for the barometric reading being crazy, AFAIK). Once it set those 2 codes, lo and behold, the AP started reading vacuum! I've got a PDF of the service manual somewhere...just don't remember where. Definitely not looking forward to this one. Edit: need to do a little more digging. Apparently 14.65 PSI is normal barometric pressure for my altitude. The MAP readings, especially with the new sensor, however...

I read up on both the 0171 and 2097 codes...evidently I didn't read hard enough! Especially the bit about a failed MAP sensor possibly causing the code. I've got another on the way. Fingers crossed.

On the way back from getting my alignment done, I had the CEL come on. When I read the codes, I was getting the dreaded P0171 and a P2097, which I initially dismissed as a leak in the exhaust (there's a throttle-sensitive tick that I'm pretty sure is an exhaust leak). When I plugged my AP in to check temps/lambda/boost and the like, the boost reading was stuck at 1 PSI at idle. I checked the MAP and baro values on the AP, and they were something ridiculous like 13 and 14 PSI (hence the 1 LB boost reading). I unplugged the MAP sensor, and the car throws a MAP CEL, but the boost/vacuum readings appear to be correct. I'm pretty sure my MAP sensor is hosed (got another on the way), but does the ECU have a backup way to measure boost/vacuum? I'm just curious at this point, although I'm also curious if the P0171 is related.

Swapped the wheels yesterday. The front looks okay, but there's too much of a gap in the rear for my liking. I think something between OEM OBXT and OEM Legacy might do the trick. That, and some slightly higher offset wheels. I think it looks kind of stupid in the rear thanks to the OB cladding sticking out so far...or maybe I'm just noticing it with the lower profile tires. IMO, it looks way better than the "minivan" look that the OEM setup has. The alignment came out okay. The rear is spot-on, but I might have installed one of the front struts wrong. -1 degree of camber and 4.9 degrees of caster on the RF, but -0.3 degrees camber and 5.9 degrees caster on the LF? The GPSing will have to wait until I can fix the gauge cluster (I have another thread about THAT fiasco. LEDs behind the highway speeds have failed). That, and I have some simultaneous 0171 and 2097 codes to chase. Methinks it's a hole in the exhaust. Insert joke about feeding money into hood scoop Here's where I'm at now:

If it's anything like the FXT (which is currently wearing the Legacy alloys), it should be about 5% off. Can't remember if the wheels came off of a 2.5i or a GT - I got them from a wrecker. They've got 205/55's on them now rather than the OEM GT 215/45, but they're the '05 GT style wheels. The ride is great so far. Definitely stiffer than stock, but that was the whole point - trying to bring handling closer to a Legacy than an Outback. Pre-alignment, there's still a little weirdness on REALLY rough streets, but that could be the trailing arm bushings (i.e. the only ones in the rear I didn't replace...or it could be bump steer), but it no longer wants to put you into the nearest tree or guardrail.

Car's back on the ground and awaiting an alignment! One of the toe bolts in the rear has me a bit concerned - the nut is extremely tight, but the toe cam bolt can still move with a 2 ft breaker. Pretty sure that's not normal, but then again, it WAS frozen. I'll replace it with a lockdown kit since I'm running the adjustable arms. The car feels much more stable now, albeit noisy. I'll chalk part of that up to just snugging up a lot of the bolts just to make it down the road. I've got a set of Legacy GT wheels/tires that I'm going to swap on next weekend, since the tires on it now are crap, but I'm very happy with it now.

Good point. Sure enough, had to use the death wheel a couple more times to get the toe bolts out. I've got stock replacements in now (on one side) until I can buy/fab a lockdown kit. I specify "one side", because as it turns out, the trailing arm and new links are kind of a pain to wrestle back into place when you have basically nothing holding them in, in this case, the forward links. Just have to bust those 4 bolts free, install the 2 lower forward and the passenger toe arm I got with the KTA-124, then swap the springs. The car has officially been on jack stands longer than I've been able to drive it. Here's hoping I can actually get it finished this weekend, because I am so looking forward to driving it with the new setup.

I'm going to work on the car this weekend, but I had a thought... For those, like me, who are averse to sparks/flames (especially after using copious amounts of penetrant), could a ball joint tool work to remove the seized toe bolt from the inner metal sleeve? Put the cup around the entirety of the bolt head, other end against the threaded end of the bolt, and crank down with an impact...might be stupid, but who knows? Maybe the sheer shear (heh) force will be enough to overcome the corrosion?

Well, lucky me...good news is, with some CRC Freeze-Off and my impact, a lot of the easier access bolts came free without a fuss. Bad news is, I’d read that the rear toe bolts are usually a PITA. Mine are no exception - they’re frozen solid inside the stupid bushing. At least it’ll rotate, so I can get to it with an angle grinder/sawzall. So, between that, and the fact that I can’t find the replacement bolts I ordered, I’m stalled again. So, my shiny new King springs and Whiteline links are going to have to wait a bit longer.

That sounds miserable...I was going to start on the other side before common sense got the better of me. I preemptively ordered another upper link bolt/nut for the other side, so IF I have to cut it, I won't be totally screwed. Fortunately, I took care of the strut bolts already. How I managed to round off the smaller 17mm uppers and NOT the 19mm lowers is beyond me, because those guys were SEIZED.

So, I started working on the car, and immediately got stonewalled (like last time - stupid lower strut bolts) - except this time, my dumb self managed to round off both the inner bolt and nut on the D/S upper arm. So, we're going to take a grinder to it (and try to protect the various evap lines and what not that are already limiting access) and cut the bolt/bushing. In the mean time, I'm going to place an order for some replacement bolts while I'm waiting on the Kings to come in. I might also see about trying to find a deal on some adjustable lowers, too, just so everything is complete.

Alright, got some Kings on the way. They'll take a while to get here (would have ordered from Primitive, but they had the "Outback standard height rears" listed as KSRR...which is the lifted spring). If it wasn't going to be so dang hot this weekend, I'd be swapping the upper arms and installing spacers to make it semi-driveable (I took a flashlight and looked through the wheel and yep, it's resting on the stops...no surprise there). Silver lining is, I won't have to tear it apart multiple times.

Ah, all good info, thanks...I don't mind the stiffer suspension (I've had 2 Miatas and an MR2 Spyder), but right now, it's practically sitting on the bump stops so anything is an improvement over what it's doing. So, sorry if I'm stating the obvious - if I'm looking at new springs (King or otherwise), I'd need to be looking at Legacy wagon springs, right? King's site had "raised" and "standard height" (ugh) for the Outback, which might be too much for the LGT/s.B struts.

Whoa, wait, I think I might have missed typing something in my last post (edited it for clarity)...I swapped in strut/spring assemblies from a JDM Legacy...probably a GT or spec.B, which is partially why the rear of my car is on the ground. So, straight Legacy Bilstein suspension. I didn't change the springs, since I didn't want to run Outback springs on the Legacy struts (bad idea), and I didn't have a spring compressor on hand (or Legacy wagon springs, for that matter). I didn't want to go with OB suspension again, partially because it's WAY too soft for my liking, and I hated the way the car sat so high. I was trying to upgrade it on the cheap, and it kind of bit me in the rear. I've got new Legacy upper control arms on the way since the bushings are completely shot, and I've got some .5 in spacers that should help with the droop in the rear.

In that pic, everything is stock Outback except for the struts and springs, which I believe came from a sedan (no spacers or LGT upper arms). Although, I think I'm going to buy a new set of uppers since the bushings are completely shot in the old ones, and it'll give me a little more travel. The pic doesn't show it very well - not only is it squatting, but there's a lot of negative camber in the rear. I guess, logically, that'd be the upper links that are worn out, so I can kill two birds with one stone.

So, earlier this week, I ordered a set of front and rear strut assemblies (for fairly cheap, too!) for the Outback, since when I picked it up, it was exhibiting some straight up dangerous handling characteristics on the way home. The front and rear of the car were not on speaking terms, presumably due to some VERY worn out bushings on the rear and totally blown struts too. I got around to bolting the struts in just as they are. The front is great, but the back of the car is still a disaster, thanks to me not having a coil spring compressor to get the studs out of the rear shocks (for some .5 in spacers...AFAIK you can just hit them really hard, even though the rubber top hat is in the way) and not knowing exactly how bad the bushings were. They’re so worn out, I can push the top of the wheel in at the top on both sides about an inch. I think this week, going into the weekend, I’m going to order some LGT bump stops since the car is practically sitting on the old ones, and gradually start replacing control arms/bushings (I’ve read the lower forward ones go bad fairly quickly, so I may start with those. This multi-link rear is something else...). The car rides much better though, so I bet once I get the rear sorted out, it’ll be awesome!

I ordered some SMD LEDs off of Amazon that look to be the same size...hopefully roughly the same brightness. If I bung up the cluster somehow (hello, stepper motors!) I may look at the cluster replacement route.

So, I've got the dash set to 100%, all the time. If I dim the cluster and it's dark outside, the dark areas in the cluster dim slightly, but I think it's just bled off light from the other LED's. As to the car's history, it's "only" got 210,000 miles. Aside from the weirdness in the air bag lights (I think it's the stupid overhead console) and the gauge cluster, electrically, it seems pretty sound. The sunroof drain does appear to be clogged, though. It was the cheapest 5-speed XT/GT on AutoTrader at the time, so you get what you pay for, I guess. As far as I'm aware, the mileage is stored in the cluster. I was considering just doing some research and tearing the cluster down to test/replace the LEDs in the dark spots. I hopped on eBay, and there are a few manual XT/GT clusters, but the mileages would be off (of course). And changing that involves EEPROM programming, which is a whole other ball game. I don't think it's possible for a dealer to do with an SSM3, but I don't know for sure.

I came across a thread on one of the UK Legacy forums, and it looks like someone's run across this before. I'll take a crack at it and see what I can do. Hopefully, I don't irreversibly break the gauge cluster. It's no wonder the car was so "cheap" (well, as cheap as a car can be in this day and age). It's definitely a work-in-progress, that's for sure. Yesterday, it's the gauge cluster. Today, the air bag light's on - but I'm going to try the solder fix in the map light cubby on that one. That said, even with all of it's faults and "quirks", I'm loving the car so far. It's way quieter and more comfortable than my 4EAT FXT.

Alright, I think that worked. The pictures are awful, but one is midday, and the other is later in the afternoon. You can see the top parts of the gauges are noticeably dimmer in bright sunlight. In fact, they're almost impossible to see (both pics are at max brightness). Weirdly, there appears to be some condensation behind the lens in spots, too. You can see it in the second photo, where the needles are for the fuel/temp gauges.

So, this weekend, I picked up an '06 Outback XT Limited 5-speed (wanted a LGT wagon, but as y'all know, are hen's teeth rare, and with a price to match). The car is...well, let's say, not perfect. It definitely needs a lot of work on the suspension (HEAVY body roll over uneven bumps. Kind of feels like a Jeep with a bad UCA/ball joint on the rear axle). That, I can fix, but what's got me stumped is the gauge cluster. There are dark spots at the 12:00 positions on the speedo, tacho, and the fuel gauge, and there's some condensation behind the lens. I was hoping to just swap it out, but that doesn't seem possible thanks to the immobilizer, and the nearest dealer that's willing to do the cluster reprogram is like 2 hours away. Has anyone ever dismantled one of these to swap/solder in new lights?