Jadu108

indeed, will be pulling this week then.

thanks.

discovered that the previous owners headgasket job wasnt the best. did it with the engine in, seaping a bit of coolant on the rear corners of each side.

cam seal and valve covers are leaking oil. trying to decide if i wanna throw the money at it as everything else checked out fine. compression, transmission, suspension, steering, etc. Solid car except for the above noted problems.

i have an offer to do a total reseal plus machining and such for about 2k, give or take.

Hard to find a better deal at the time, seems car prices and related costs have sky rocketed in the pandemic economy.

Considering i got the car for under 1000, seems like i still got a decent deal considering what people want for their cars in this pandemic economy :|.

but wonder if anyone else has any thoughts

Removed the serp belts and it became immediately obvious.

Alternator pulley wobbled and made weird clicking noises by hand.

Started without the belt, noise was gone.

Problem solved. Figured someone might find this useful in the future...

Mechanic/friend did agree with the tensioner pulley initially until we did that.

However new problems require a new post i think, so this one will end here.

Subarus are known to rattle so not uncommon. The heatshields around the exhaust are usually the cause so I'd either look to tighten them up or remove them entirely.

That's what I thought, but where the sound is coming from doesn't seem right.

Of course it wouldn't hurt to get back down there.

But the sound is always under load, not cruise, idle, or slowing down.

Ill poke around today, record a bit of the sound too and share back when I can.

Thanks for the answer.

Title is the short end of it, but the long in.

Recently picked up a 96 Legacy outback Auto w/ 185k. Runs and drives fine. Shifts fine and when you would expect. It has new tires, new brakes, calipers, rotors, front bearings, head gaskets.

All in all seems pretty decently maintained mechanically.

But, there is a rattling noise(sounds similar to a heat shield or bad cat), hard to pin point but sounds like its coming from the front-center of the engine, almost below the alternator.

It goes in time with the engine, generally noticable under stress, not cruise or idle.

I am assuming it could be the timing belt tensioner or something of the sort?

Any one deal with something similar?

Well, seems to me air shouldnt just keep coming into the system when you were burping.

Things i would check,

Radiator and hoses for cracks, leaks.

Refill to proper level, and from cold, start the car without the radiator cap and see if you see air bubbles come up and out of there... You should not.

Also check your oil and make sure its not getting milky.

Sweet, ill probably do NGK Coppers and Denso Wires personally here in the next day or two...

Does anyone have a particular preference of the V power vs standard flat tops?

Tonight I removed the front sway bar completely. While I was doing that it made noises similar to my problem noise so I'm hoping it was the frame bushings. I'll run around this way for a couple days and see. If it works out I'll have to get some silicone grease to put it all back in.

 

Also, I cut away the bent bolt on the cross member plate. It's been bent over since my last off-roading. I needed to get that apart to get the sway bar out. Now I just have to replace the nut and bolt.

sounds like a lot of fun...

where do you go off roading out there? I didnt stay in that area long enough to explore around, however Ive been all around the desert of Tucson, and over in Quartzsite/Parker quite a bit.

Washed the car and changed the oil...

I think now I will just leave it off the stands for awhile and drive it

Washed the car and changed the oil...

I think now I will just leave it off the stands for awhile and drive it

i could only find body wiring for 90-96 Legacys that applied to outbacks, but i could only see where the interior lights run from and on what color...

from the mode actuator behind the dash a blue/red and blk/white run to the interior light system... im assuming it would keep that color throughout, so maybe check around for some blue/reds running into the door?

It's too bad all that fell to you, but if you don't live in the rust belt those things and fluid swaps will keep a car going forever or until some kid hits you at 60 mph while you are stopped at a light because they were texting and didn't see you.

the car is no longer in the rust belt, up in Southern Oregon now, so...

and yeah, as long as the engine and trans stay strong for awhile longer i wont mind all the crap ive had to do.

one reason why i dont live in the desert anymore is that atrocious ass heat.

Perhaps this is the wrong subforum... go to the 1st generation specific subforum?

But swapping the engine is going to be no problem id imagine as long as you swap the ECU withit... Id imagine the trans will bolt up. but if it doesnt and if you have to change the trans, change the differential with it as well as anything else that goes along with that(Rear Axles, DS, etc)

its all the same bolt patterns and engine mount points though for the most part...

If youre taking everything from one and putting it in the Legacy, it should all just fit with no problem.

The Impreza frame is just a shorter Legacy frame, exact same otherwise, and Forester frame is just an impreza frame, so the same as legacy just shorter.

Cant say for sure exactly what the vibration was, but after replacing the rear bearings, axles and shocks, it had indeed dissapeared.

Its hard to say if it was the bearing, because the side i suspected spun quietly, with a little bit of the resistance i was feeling turning the DS by hand. the other side spun freely but was very grindy. So i guess it was the bearings, but i did everything to be sure. and i am not sorry i did that...

Got the strut mount replaced... took the car for a test drive, handles way way way better.

Did the Outback Suspension swap to my L. So i sit a lot higher off the ground.

Ride is much smoother and quieter all around.

I suppose tomorrow Ill spend the better part of the day doing the alignment myself and that should clear up any left over vibrations...

but gd was it nice to actually get up to 80 and not feel like i was gonna shake the car apart.

Since the end of May when i got the car, Ive done the rack and pinion, inner and outer tie rods, ball joints, all 4 bearings by way of changing the whole knuckle assemblies, all 4 shocks, all 4 calipers, pads and rotors. As well as just changing the seats out to a set of 96 OB seats..., as well as changing the shifter and radio trim to the faux wood grain. Shampood the carpets and seats(plan on doing it again tomorrow). Also the car has seen a solid 7000 miles with me through UT, NM, CO, TX, LA, AL, MS, GA, FL, TN, KY, MO, KS, OK, ID, and OR

Cant say for sure, as i wasnt necessarily checking for it, but i seem to remember noticeing a harness in the door of my with a free plug.

i know my L is wired for a lot of options that my car didnt come with.

Mine were pretty dead in the back, i ended up just doing an Outback swap to my L Wagon to avoid taking stuff apart, ended up breaking a strut mount bolt on one and had to spend the better part of the day getting another strut mount on... there just really isnt enough coils on the spring to get it back together easily.

I ended up having to compress the spring, dissassemble the unit, uncompress the spring and recompress it in a different spot, reassemble, and methodically untighten then move one of the compressors at a time with a hammer until i could freely uncompress the spring all the way and pull out the compressor tools.... shit was a total pain...

14ft/lbs is all the strut mounts need. no more... theyll snap clean and flush at the mount >

Sounds like you are making good progress.

 

Late today I took off the drivers side front sway bar link to prove that the terrible sound up front is from damage to that while off roading and not from something worse.

 

Also, bandaided the header wrap.

Definitely am making some progress, i mean at this point i feel like ive replaced half of the suspension components.

Maybe i should have took pictures and done a build log for the car :\

eh too late now