shinjyo

Want to report back. It was my brake switch problem. Replaced the brake switch behind the brake pedal. Problem solved.

My symptom as stated on top was the light will come on after I press and release brake pedal no matter if the car is moving or at the driveway. I can pretty much replicate the problem by pressing the pedal really hard and then release it. The ABS and traction control light will then stay on. Thus, the cruise control will not set. Also the rear brake light will not light when press on the pedal.

Part Number for my 07 Spec B is 83370AA001.

Tried to pull any DTC code from my AP, but got nothing.

Was sitting in parking in night, I notice my brake light doesn't come on unless I step further down on the pedal. Resting the foot on the brake fir the first 1 cm doesn't trigger any brake lights to come on...could it be the light switch? I will look into it more.

As title stated, my 07 Spec B's ABS and Traction Light on only when press brake pedal hard. Lights are gone once I shutoff and restart the car. I can replicate this situation exactly when I have my car parked, press brake pedal hard (with handbrakes on or not). I haven't try it when I am driving cause it's kinda difficult to press really hard during driving. All fuse looks good other than a dead battery for a month while I was cleaning intake manifold and replacing some vacuum lines. Brake light bulbs and wiring seems fine. I might check the brake booster hose first.

Any idea or advice are greatly appreciated. Thanks!

After removing everything, I only see wet around the bolt which is actually a knock sensor. The sensor itself looks ok. I might just replacement it along with whole brunch of vacuum hose, and PCV while in there. Because of the knock sensor, I found another thread that talked about the same issue. They think it's the throttle body hose that is leaking. My TB hose also has oil in there and if it leaks, that can explain why it's wet in that area after a long time. I am getting the new TB hose anyway and hope it will solve the problem. Will report back the result.

https://legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php/oil-leak-help-please-275727.html

thanks for the pictures. I highlighted the area I think it's wet. I checked with my fingers and it's oil. That nearby vertical pipe/hose seems dry.

Is it possible my intercooler duct has blowby and leak out from there, my other picture shows oil in the intercooler duct.

Seeking advice about oil leak under intake manifold/intercooler duct on driver side near a bolt (seems to an oil line bolt). 07 Spec B at 110k miles. Was checking to see my PCV condition as I do lose oil about 1 qt/1k miles. There is little oil in the intercooler outlet duct toward intake manifold, duct appears to be in good condition, no rips/wrap around the lip, no oil in intercooler. PCV hose connects to the block looks dry, the wet is on the driver side. No boost problem as I get 14-16psi stock, no weird noise from tubo. oil analysis from Blackstone say it's perfectly healthy. Car idles normal hot or cold. Oil pressure switch near the alternator is dry and clean. Any advice are appreciated!

Gas Price was pretty good lately.

Got a great deal on the JDM STI Flex Front Strut Bar for BP Legacy. Improved the steering input a little bit.

Sunset with Gloss Pearl White Wrap

More complete pictures

Finished the spoiler, I split into upper and lower portion

Fog light close up

JDM Bumper and JDM Fender gap, fit much closer than USDM

Gas Cover

Door sill, I could finish inside but I rather leave it since it's not a show car.

Complete

Park next to a real white painted C63, one of my favorite car.

Chapter 17: Vinyl Wrapping

Now, it’s time to do something to the two-tone body color since I installed the JDM front end. I am a cheap owner and doesn’t want body shop to touch my car. Although my original paint is decent, I prefer not repaint the front end yet still have to deal with 100k miles paint since my car is almost 100% sitting outdoor. I don’t want to spend $3-4k to repaint the whole car also. Therefore, I decided to wrap the car so that the JDM front end can match the body color. Over the years, I have wrapped various parts from interior to exterior. I have also removed wraps after several years of used which shows no damage to the car parts to prove that wrap is safe to use. In addition, I park my car on the driveway and my neighbor has a tree that spits lots of tree saps onto my car during the summer time. I hate it so much. I know the wrap can help to protect the paint for the next 5-10 years. Also, I always want a white Subaru (you know the subie white with gold wheels always rock!) and never been able to find a white one. This is why I decided to go with gloss white pearl. I have used two manufacturers before: 3M and Avery Supreme SW900. I like both. But I find Avery a little easier to stretch overall which will make the installation a little easier. The other thing is Avery SW 900 has a gloss white color which 3M only comes in stain white The 3m white doesn’t come with the gloss effect like a real paint. The Avery gloss looks a little bit more like a real paint. I won’t go into detail about installation. Most is the combination of my own experience and watch the youtube channel, CK Wraps. It took me roughly 55 hours to complete the whole car with on and off over the course of two months. I spent at least half of those to clean, detail and perform paint correction. I also took the chance to apply Carpro Cquartz Vinyl Protectant to protect the wrap. I did two coats and the result was wonderful. When I wash it the first time after two months sitting outdoor, all dirt and grease come off like butter. A little detailer with microfiber makes it look like the first day I finished wrapping it. So far, the wrap went through the whole winter season with a few heavy storms in SOCAL, it has been holding up great. If you stare close enough to the pictures, it’s not perfect. I might have to redo some of the area if I have time again, but I am really happy with the result.

Parts that I used:

- Avery SW900 -109-S Gloss White Pearl (5X70ft) about $650 shipped

- Typical Wrap Tool kits from Ebay or Amazon

- Get the wrapping magnet if you don’t have a second pair of hand

- Very sharp cutter

- Your clean hand

- Heat gun

- Wrap wire cutter

- Carpro Cquartz Vinyl Coating (Optional)

- Patient and lots of time

Things to remember:

- Keep clean hand and clean floor

- Detailing and paint correction prior to the wrap is highly recommended. Just don’t wrap on freshly coated paint surface since it doesn’t stick well.

- Overlay some areas are needed, do not use any adhesive prime.

- Buy extra material in case of error

Washed, Detailed, Paint Correction, Prep for the wrap

Side Doors done

Doing Hood

Hood Done

Fenders and Quarter Panels

Look close to the panel gap

Inlay for front bumper

Working on the front bumper

Front bumper on

Trunk and Rear Bumper

Some say if you cannot finish your projects during this pandemic, you will never finish it. Turn out I was crazy busy due to work and kids. I actually haven’t done much during the pandemic other than regular oil change. I am not sure how many of you still read forum as 90% of people are on FB or other social networks now. I even saw many new legacy group showed up in the FB during the pandemic. However, I still think that the forum is a very good place for information sharing especially those step by step diy tutorial. So, I decided to come back and finish the writeup of what I have done in 2019.

Chapter 16: Power Steering Rack and Steering Pump

I had ongoing problem with leak and smell coming out from the steering pump. Steering fluid level dropped a little at a time and I always have to come back to refill the fluid. I replaced the O-ring but that doesn’t fix the problem. Look underneath the car, all the area around the steering rack are full of dirt and grease. I suspect there is a leak within the steering pump and one of the line that feeds the fluid to the steering assembly. You can see the pictures below for the mess. I read about other owners has various experience with aftermarket pumps and racks. It looks like either hit or miss. I didn’t want to take the risk and deal with the mess. While I was wondering around, I was lucky to get the new OEM steering assembly as well as the steering pump from Subaru Parts Warehouse with 30% discount. So, I decided to bite the bullet and replace them.

The procedure was pretty straight forward. The only thing that got me a littlet nervous was to remove the tie rod. Many tutorials tell you to hit the rod end with a hammer after you remove the castle nut and cross pin, the rod is supposed to drop itself after it’s loose. I hit it many times and nothing moved. So, what saved me was the ball joint separator. Clap on it, slowly tighten the bolt and it will slowly squeeze the rod end out until you hear a huge “Bang!”. The rod came out. To remove the solid fluid line, I have to use small wrench along with wrench crowfoot set. The rest is just unbolting everything. I don’t have to remove any of my exhaust in order to get the steering rack out. You will also need to remember how many turns when you loosen the tie rod out on each side, mine was about 14-15 rotations on each side. For the steering wheel, I just loop and wrap my seatbelt around my steering wheel to hold it in place, also mark the steering column teeth before you loosen it. I have attached a couple youtube videos for removal instruction. I didn’t remember any problems overall. For steering pump, you will just unbolt everything directly per the service manual. But I have to transfer the steering pump bracket and one of the connector. After I replaced everything, I performed a time consuming manual pump priming and bleeding process (as this is my first time doing it). Before I put the belt on, I rotate the pump by rotating the pulley clockwise to get the fluid into the pump first. I did the whole process myself without any help. Wat I did was to put a camera looking at the fluid reservoir while I am turning the steering wheel from clock to clock to bleed the system and seeing the air comes out. I did not start the engine at all until I complete the whole process. After that, test drive it and come back to fill the fluid up to the full mark just little bit if needed. I have no whinning, weird sound or leaking rack at all after this installation (as of now it’s 10 months already, still look dry and clean).

Steering Rack Removal

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGVeeLNuDv8&t=889s

Steering Pump Removal

Steering Pump Prime process

Parts that I used:

- 34110AG07A Steering Gear Box Assembly

- 34430AG03B Steering Pump

- 34115AG01A Adapter Gear Box Unit

- ball joint separator

- wrench crowfoot set

- breaker bar

- torque wrench

- Subaru Automatic Transmission Fluid (ATF) for the steering fluid (2qt)

- Lots of grease remover and brake cleaner

- Patient and lots of time for bleeding process

Things to remember:

- Alignment is a must after everything is done.

- Hand prime the steering pump while adding the fluid, do not start the engine as I heard it will damage the pump if you didn’t complete the prime/bleeding process.

- Bleed the air out by steering to left and right clock to clock, add fluid as need when you see the level in the reservoir drop, do not let the level drop lower than half full mark.

- Count the number of rotation when you unscrew the tie rod out. Use about the same number of rotation when you install it back in.

- It took me probably 2 hours to prime and bleed the system by doing it extremely slow and keep reading the service manual, reading varies posts, and watching youtube video.

Dirty and Wet

Drain the ATF first

Steering Pump Removed, look at all the wet housing

Steering rack out

Old Steering Pump

Cleaned Rack Support

New Steering Pump in

New Steering Pump in

My Spec B was originally DGM color. I decided to wrap it in Pearl White so that I can qualify to post it in this thread. Love my first kinda "white" color car.

Kinda off the topic now, my Spec B's latest form with DGM underneath Pearl white warp.

Gloss Metallic Black would be an easier route for sure as you wouldn't have to wrap the door jams etc. I've always thought that if you stray too far from the original colour then you're going to have to pay attention to details like that. Being said, since your colour is fairly dark to begin with you might not need to wrap door jams and such with the White but it might make panel gaps appear larger.

Thanks for pointing it out. You are right! Per many professional vinyl wrappers, it's actually easier to wrap a black or darker car to white than a white or lighter car to black as the light color door jam will show up easily after wrapped.

In my case, I wont worry about it because I won't go that far to wrap the door jam because I don't want to remove my doors completely. It's not going to be a show car, only for my own daily use with a little protection to the 10 years old paint. I think black color looks great on the facelift JDM frontend. But I am leaning toward white since it will hide imperfections better. Also, the vinyl black is no where near a true black paint.

I want it to be a sleeper without any attention. Thinking about either Gloss Pearl White or Gloss Metallic Black:spin:. What do you guys thing?

White

Black

Then it's the headlight. Mine is the JDM HID Headlight (nonbixenon). There were a couple thread I read again and again to understand the concept of the wiring. Attached are the links (here I thank all those members who spent countless hours to walk through the process and left many important information for other members to aid the installation!):

https://legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php/jdm-headlight-install-walkthough-249269.html?t=249269

https://legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php/jdm-headlight-install-walkthough-249269.html

https://legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php/wiring-post-facelift-hid-lamps-270311.html

YMMV, my headlight comes with harness both on the headlight and from the JDM car. The color of the wires is the confusing part which as long as you can trace down the wiring and figure which one is the ground, the rest is just following the general guideline from other members who had done the work. I will attach one in my case which you can see what I have. All I did is:

JDM Headlight--->connect JDM harness/wiring attached to the JDM headlight originally(male) --->connect JDM harness/wiring to the JDM car (female) --->splice wire/soldering USDM harness/wiring cut/removed from the USDM headlight (female) ---> plug to USDM harness from the car.

This method is the most basic method that took care the low beam, high beam, signal, and little corner light (assumed you removed USDM DRL already). The rest is the foglight which is even easier to wiring. Feel free to PM me if you have any questions. Several members suggested to wiring the ground to the body in lieu of the USDM harness grounding. I am still looking into this. In the future, I will work on the JDM beam pattern conversion and level switch. Since I don't drive it much at night, it will be a later project. Hopefully my USDM retrofit lens will work on this headlight. If not, that set of retrofit lens with H1 HID kit will be up for sell. I got them from lightwerkz, you can find out more here.

https://www.lightwerkz.net/index.php/complete-retrofit-kits/retro-quik-subaru-legacy.html

This is the JDM harness from the JDM car side. Again, color may varies.

A sample of wired harness

Wiring mess...

JDM Headlight wired for testing

After that, I just fit the splash guard with minor cutting to fit the new bumper. Installed the bumper and the took it out for a spin.

Headlight on!!!

Installed the Ebay JDM front lip and did a carwash.

Side view.

Complete with two tone color. The JDM conversion is probably the mod with the most satisfaction! JDM parts fitment is 10x better than USDM parts fitment. Every signal panel lines up perfect with a tight fit. I can tell you even the JDM plastic clips have a much high quality than the USDM ones.

The next chapter will be vinyl wrapping....just waiting for the ebay 15-20% discount code....

Chapter 15: JDM Front End Conversion

I got a pretty good deal for this front cut from a JDM seller. If you need the info, I can pm you the information. I have always loved the JDM front especially the S402. I am not a perfectionism. So, my goal wasn't trying to be a S402. It was a front cut from japan. It comes with bumper, bumper beam and misc parts, fender, headlight and headlight bracket, and grill. I need to source the JDM fender liner and modify my plastic splash guard for a short bumper. There is not much DIY in this chapter except the headlight wiring took me a while to figure out. So let's begin....

A quick comparison of USDM and JDM.

This is the USDM bumper beam.

This is the JDM bumper beam. All you need is basic tools to remove all clips, bolts and screws. Most of the them are reusable if you are careful.

Here are two pictures showing the difference between USDM and JDM bumper beam. You can see the USDM beam are wider and sticking out more.

Time to remove fenders. There are bolts at three corners of the fender including the one hiding inside the side skirt. So you need to at least remove the side skirt half temporary to see the bolts.

Here is the difference between JDM and USDM headlight.

Here is the difference between JDM and USDM fender liner. Luckily, they were not too expensive to ship.

You might have mentioned it and I missed it......

 

What wheels are those? Specs?

They are JDM OEM STI Enkei. 18 x 7.5 +55, PCD 5x100

Just hit 100k miles not too long ago.

JDM facelift front end conversion is coming next.

Probably the last picture before doing the front end. Smog check day! Pass!

Smog Check Day.

Smog Check Day.

You went with the 2004 oem exedy clutch and flywheel? Is the 2004 sti flywheel dual mass like our spec b flywheels?

From my understanding, the STI OEM flywheel is not dual mass like spec B. I got the complete OEM STI clutch/flywheel/PP for the replacement, so I don't have to deal with dual mass flywheel issue.