RustyShackleford

That's does THIS mod - fascinating. You'd still need to run a wire over to the dome light, and you'd still probably need to reverse the leads to the map lights, no ?

The problem isn't from the extra current due to the two new lights, or from any transient thing done while doing the mod; it's from connecting the BIU directly to 12v, which it tries to "pull" low (to GND). This is eliminated by reversing wires to map lights, but note that if the car were really wired as shown in the factory service manual, you would NOT need to reverse the wires. It seems to me like the risk could be eliminated by putting a 1 amp or so inline fuse in. If you get it wrong, it'd just blow the fuse.

Yeah, but I eliminated ALL annoying sounds the chime might make.

That's one reason why I'd never drive an American-made car. I don't like the car thinking for me too much. Had a rental and was in a campground at Zion and it was embarrassing as hell when I'd go to get something out of the car and it's shining the damn headlites. Also, eliminated my chime by taking the BIU and unsoldering the damn thing; I don't like the car making noises, I'll be responsible for buckling my own seat-belt, thank you.

Speaking for myself, the horror was when doing it on my old 1997. It's WAY easier on my 2006, simply because the location of the sparkplug wells is an inch or two higher with respect to the frame members that run through there. $177 for 1.5 hours though, geez ! And you know the mechanic ain't even getting half of that.

Yes indeed. For anyone reading this, it's very important - prevents you from frying your BIU. To make matters more confusing, if the car were actually wired as shown in the schematic, the switch wouldn't be necessary.

I wonder if mine has same problem ? My symptoms aren't quite the same. When car is first started and I try to turn the steering wheel, it kinda catches or hicccups, like the assist kicks in and goes out, kinda chatters a little like anti-lock brakes. Once I'm moving at any speed it's just fine.

This is awesome - I was just thinking of phoning them. I didn't take pictures either, but mine is so obviously a hack - I fed through a bundled wire with 3 small conductors, used one for repair and left two for later failures - that even an "after" photo would show what happened, though not the actual frayed wire, as it's still inside the boot. I just called NHTSA (888.327.4236) and the guy said "there is no ongoing investigation" on this car. He said there were only 9 complaints, and that it takes a lot more than that for a recall to be contemplated. It's very discouraging. But I don't think it can hurt to call in and log your concern.

FWIW, my mechanic said the failing Subaru bearings typically do not exhibit noticeable free play. And he was correct in his diagnosis of mine. I like the IR thermometer idea - yet another use for my new toy !

Hard to see how it could be, when you can buy the OEM hub assembly online for about $130 - and know it's assembled properly.

Yeah, the "lights came on faintly" thing would rule out reversed LEDs I think.

I think when you reattached the LEDs to the new map light assembly, they must be reverse-biased now. And/or you are now trying to get the BIU to pull down on the 12v side of the map lights; if that is the case, then you're lucky the LEDs are reversed, because you'd fry the BIU otherwise. So be care ful ! Also be aware that the map light circuit shown in the vacation pix is not exactly accurate.

Let's hope the replacement harness wasn't made from the same faulty kind of wire.

Sure seems like it - every wagon 2005 or 2006 at least. But, my old '97 OB Wagon, which died near 200K miles and 15 years of age, never had the slightest problem with the electricals in the tailgate (or anywhere else for that matter). Nope. All this PITA-ness is because some moron or idiot bean-counter decided to skimp on the quality of wire used in the harness.

Folks, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE make a complaint to the NHTSA: https://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/ivoq/ It will take you 15min, tops, I PROMISE. If we all make enough noise about this, we'll get our cars fixed for free. And we'll be doing a giant solid to all those Subie owners out there, folks who may not be as mechanically-sophisticated as us, who are having problems, don't have a clue what's going on, and may be paying big bucks to get some shop (who may not have the information we do either), to diagnose and fix these problems. What Subaru has done here is an inexcusable lapse of quality control, and they should be made to fix it.

I be really surprised if the '05 was at all different. I can't remember what extensions exactly, but nothing crazy. I came from above, removing the battery and air handler box. Took me 42 min (just kidding). I paid about $60-70 for a set of wires, the official NGK ones via mail-order, so $100 extra for installed wires doesn't seem too bad. Not that you mention it, I read about that - after the last time I did my '97 before I got rid of it. Sounds like a good idea - moving the engine just an inch or two could make a huge difference, I think.

I hate to be discouraging, but my previous Subaru was a 97 (an Outback wagon, but I imagine the engine config is the same), and changing the plugs on it was absolutely horrific. Every single extension I had (and some I purchased for this job), feeding the extensions into the plug holes with my fingers before being able to snap them together, etc. The problem is just that the plug holes are perfectly aligned with frame members, so there's literally only maybe 2" of clearance on some of the plugs. I tell you this because I think much of the info here, about the difficulty of changing the plugs, may refer to other generations. I now have an '06 (naturally aspirated) and changing the plugs is WAY easier. (I have no idea what the '99-'04 generation is like). Maybe other owners of '96-'97 can chime in of they think I'm overstating - but, I'd rather eat a box of nails than change the plugs on a '97 again. Also, since you're new to the forum, I'll tell you that it's been my experience that people here tend to understate the amount of time it takes to complete a task - either that or I'm just a pisspoor mechanic (which I'd tend to doubt, as I'm an engineer and have been working on my own car for almost 40 years). I don't think people are trying to mislead, I think they're just saying "well, that's how long it SHOULD have taken me, if I wasn't drinking a beer or arguing with my girlfriend, or didn't do this or that stupid thing"; but, all those things are facts of life. It's a normal effect, one I see in my engineering work all the time.

It actually says "the torque should be reduced by approx 1/3 of the specified torque". WTF does that mean ? It could be interpreted as using 2/3 of the specified torque, right ? I've always used anti-sieze and full torque, with no problems so far, but good tip !

Ok, so here's my list - of the wires that pass through the rubber accordion boot near the righthand tailgate hinge on a 4th generation Outback wagon. I made it from the vacation pix, so not sure if it exactly matches what's on the car (or on a model later then 2005 at least) - but it should be close. black: ground purple: license plate lights brown: high-mounted brake light light green: rear wiper power blue w/ white: rear wiper logic (for parking ?) yellow w/ green: rear wiper logic (for parking ?) red w/ blue: rear window defogger brown w/ yellow: backup lights light green w/ black: tailgate switch (grounded when gate open ?) white w/ black: to tailgate lock actuator light green w/ yellow: tailgate lock actuator

I'm a little confused about why there are two (2-pin) connectors that seem to go to the tailgate latching/locking mechanism, connectors D46 and D47, called "rear gate latch switch" and "rear gate lock actuator" respectively. I guess the latter is the one that locks and unlocks the rear gate, so what does the other do ? Is it just a signal to the BIU that the rear gate is not properly shut ? EDIT: Never mind, figured it out, that's exactly what D46 is - to actuate the "room light" etc. I'd like to make a list of the wires in the problem harness, so I can quickly fix the problems if they continue to crop up (which I assume they will).

One of my non-cyberspace Subaru buddies asked me if I attempted to contact SOA about fixing the wiring harness before I ratted them out to NHTSA. Which I didn't. But I'm wondering if anyone else here did.

Yep, it was a broken wire (keeping my rear wiper from working). I just pushed some 3-conductor stranded stuff (I had lying around) through the boot. Two to spare. If more than two more break (or maybe if any do) I'll just cut the entire harness on each side of the boot and pull however many wires (10 ?) through there and reconnect. Shameful quality. Subaru becomes more American every day ! Folks, PLEASE do as I just did, and go to http://www.nhtsa.gov and file a complaint. It takes 5-10 minutes. You will need your VIN. Hopefully there's a good chance that Subaru will issue a recall if enough of us report our experience. I said that electrical, lighting, and something else (safety equip ?) were the affected components and entered the following description (probably best not to copy it verbatim):

Well, to be fair, it was pushing 200K miles and was very close to (but not AT) the timing belt change interval.

I think the attached picture starts to make this make sense. It looks like the main harness to the rear of the car does not come through the roof (as I somehow was assuming) but to the taillite(s) instead. So I think Frank is talking about unplugging D33, D34, and D35 from the right rear taillite area, and then D37 and GB-10 from the rear dome lite area (just needing to pull back the headliner a little). Then you'd be able to pull the harness a little ways INTO the tailgate and get to the damaged sections of wire and splice a fix in place. Since somehow Subaru managed to find wire that could not survive repeated bending of opening/closing the tailgate, I wonder what's a good way to find some wire than would survive better. It's kinda ridiculous that this is a problem - my 1997 never had ANY such problem with the tailgate wires (until the engine self-destructed last year). temp.pdf

Frank, if you have a few minutes, could you explain in a little greater detail the entire procedure for fixing these wires ? It looks like you're talking about completely disconnecting one end of the harness and pulling it through the accordion boot, so you can splice repairs into the wires without messing with the boot. But WHICH way are you pulling the harness thru the boot ? I assume you're also having to pull back the head-liner at the rear, so you can access the wires where they go into the boot ? I can't see how if you just disconnect the harness at the rear dome light and the right tail light ass'y that you can then actually pull the harness through the boot. Very confused - please help !