Gauges and tranny issues

[rcascoob]

First time Scoob owner!

Just bought a '94 Legacy L postal Wagon for my mail route...

It sat for about a 1.5 years after a slight t-bone accident.

Mech. got it running and rigged it up (b pillar and doors) for use last week, and did my 93-mile route yesterday in 105 temps; Not a good idea by any means but I had no choice.

It died on me on the last half about 5 times and I'm thinking either fuel pump/lines/sytem or overheating. Or all 3. I would make a turn and press the gas and wah wah wahhh, it shuts off.

Second, the gas gauge isn't working correct that I know of for sure and I don't know about the temp gauge. Mech. said since it sat it could be the rheostat - So would I have to replace the whole cluster?

Lastly, there is a major delay after I put it into drive when the tranny finally kicks in - not so much for reverse. I'm really worried about when I press the gas and it "jerks" into drive... I assume this is the clutch?

 

Thanks for any ideas/suggestions!

 

*edit: The temp/gas gauges are swapped on the RHD Legacys... bummer.

[Legacy Wagon]

Hmmm....well start with the fuel filter. It's cheap and everyone always forgets to change them anyway. The pump's float gauge may be stuck or just unresponsive, which would cause it to not have a reading :/

If the delay from park to drive is only when you first start driving it may just be your transmission fluid not being warmed up yet. Let it run for a few minutes before you drive it and see if it runs any better afterward. If not chances are your first gear is slipping and since it's a strong gear it'll hit hard.

[rcascoob]

Changed the fuel filter, plugs/wires and ran some BG 44K through it... hasn't died again. That, and avoiding death-anol gas.

 

Mech. is replacing tranny/diff fluids next week - we'll see what happens. But it's definitely not *just* when I put it into "D" -

eg. I'm sitting at a box, throw their mail in, close lid, press on gas and ... jerks into gear.

Note: The "D" backlight in the dash is out - Someone told my dad (drives a CR-V) that this is a built-in indicator to tranny issues?

[Legacy Wagon]

Well the transmission isn't all that hard to drain out yourself...just make sure you change the filter. You wont get all of it, but neither will a mechanic and a flush (high pressure cleaner ran backwards through your transmission bits) isnt great for your car...at all. At least this way you can take off the drain plug, get what you can out of there.

Drop the drain pan (be ready to be wearing some sweet, black transmission fluid) and the new filter should come with a new gasket.

Scrape off the old gasket and keep your bolts in place (you'll want them to go back where you found them) and clean the magnet.

Reinstall (including the magnet...it's not fun to get all the way done and find it sitting on the table) and refill.

As for diff...never done that one. Probably just draining it using the lower drain plug and refilling it to the right specs. I think it's less than a quart if I'm not mistaken, although I've never done it before. You may be able to do these things yourself and save a bunch of money.

 

As for the backlight...I always just assumed a blown bulb, but your Honda friend may be onto something. I would just look it up and see if you can find anything on that. You could always take your cluster out and see what's up.