Well, it's been a longer road than I would have originally thought, but I'm just about done with the Outback now. Although the car ran well when I bought it, I needed to catch it up on a lot of maintenance and tune-up items, most of which I detailed in this blog.
Recently, I finally installed the new steering rack boot. As the passenger side boot was still intact, and it's still cold here, I opted to only replace the torn boot.
I also finally replaced the missing exhaust manifold stud. I was going to replace 2, but one hole had apparently been drilled and tapped to a larger size. So, that bolt had to stay in place, for at least the time being.
Next, I replaced the cooling system hoses, which looked original to the car, and then washed the car and cleaned the engine compartment.
Then, yesterday, I got the fog lights working. The factory ones didn't work. I put a new bulb in the driver's side, and it worked for a few minutes, but the passenger side light was corroded on the inside past the point of no repair. Given how hard these lights are to find, I opted to install a pair of aftermarket lights which also use H3 bulbs. I'm pleased with the new lights. They work well and don't look too out of place.
So the next time you drop in for a read... I'll try and have some Mercedes stuff for you. I'm glad to be getting back to that project, and that the Outback is now solid.
So, I've been delayed in getting back to working on the Mercedes. I've been putting the Outback together, but mostly have been delayed by weather. It's snowed pretty much every weekend for the past month. But, I try to do at least a little something each week.
So far, I've done the following:
transmission fluid flush
changed front differential fluid
changed spark plugs
new air filter
new PCV valve
fixed interior lighting
installed stereo from my old car
fixed/replaced broken/missing interior trim
replaced missing alternator tensioning assembly
replaced accessory drive belts
replaced valve cover gaskets
replaced vehicle speed sensor 2
replaced battery
I still have a few more items to take care of, but the weekend weather has slowed me down significantly. But, I'm daily driving the car and am getting closer to having the car caught up on its maintenance items. Once that's done, I'm getting back to work on the diesel.
Here's a few pictures of this weekend's work (the speed sensor replacement):
I'll leave you with a few videos I've done of some repairs to the Outback:
I've been away from the Mercedes project for a few weeks now. The daily driver Subaru took a turn for the worse and lit a fire under me to get a replacement car sooner rather than later.
I hadn't seen any promising Toyotas or Hondas in a while. I came to my senses and pretty much scratched Volkswagens off the list after I went to see the Jetta that wouldn't start. Pretty much every Volvo I looked at needed a lot of expensive work. I even got to the point where I was considering rear wheel drive Mercedes, just to have something reliable.
Well, as I said, the Legacy kept getting worse. The check engine light was constantly on, and blinking with alarming regularity. Plus, the engine's idling was getting even choppier, and I believe it was using oil at an increasing rate.
Two weeks ago, I saw an ad for yet another potential replacement car - a 1995 Subaru Legacy L... Outback. This was a 2.2L car with an automatic transmission. Based on the ad and a phone conversation with the seller, it sounded like the car was in decent shape. So, that Saturday morning, I packed my wife's car with an assortment of tools and we drove an hour to see the Outback.
It was a first-year Outback and even the same Mica Ruby color as both our other Legacies. It wasn't perfect by any means. It was wearing beat-up alloy wheels and had a green hood from an old fender bender, and had bumps and bruises all over. Plus, it was sitting on an ugly set of beat-up alloy wheels. But, my philosophy is that an old Subaru should look used, much like an old truck. The interior had been cleaned - something I hadn't seen in a used car in quite some time.
The car started right up and sounded pretty good. The test drive went pretty well, so with the seller's permission, I pulled out the spark plugs (old, worn-out, and nearly seized into the cylinder heads) and ran a compression test. Compression was healthy across all four cylinders, so we made a deal and I drove home in my new daily driver.
I spent most of the rest of the weekend swapping parts over from the old car, starting with the correct Mica Ruby hood and my wheels. Then, I put the old car up for sale on Craigslist. Unfortunately, with winter weather and street parking bans, I had to get rid of the old car quickly. In its condition, the only interest I had was from junkyards, and for a lot less than I wanted. But, the car was getting needier by the day. At the last moment, a co-worker who was painfully aware of the car's mechanical condition showed interest and I let him have it for scrap value. He intends to repair or replace the engine. So, the old car will live.
I've been driving the "new" car pretty much every day and handling maintenance and repair items as time allows. New spark plugs are now installed, which is a good thing, as the old ones were worn to twice the recommended gap. I also flushed the transmission, which made a big improvement in the way the car shifted. I'm still trying to properly dial in the fluid level, but it's close now.
Overall, I'm happy with the new car. Once it's caught up on needed repairs, I'm going to move back to the Mercedes project.
Well, it looks like this may be the beginning of the end. If you've been following along, you know that I replaced the cylinder head in my 1995 Subaru Legacy daily driver earlier this year, which supposedly cured a misfire issue I;d been having.
As of this past week, the misfire is back, unfortunately. The car threw the same P0302 code again. I did a compression test and verified that I have low compression in cylinder 2. This is the same test I did back in April. I had meant to re-test the car after replacing the cylinder head, but never got around to it. Earlier this year, cylinder 2 clocked in at around 70 PSI. This time, it's showing around 100 psi, which is still bad compared to the other three cylinders, which are showing 165, 165, and 160.
I'm not 100% sure why the misfire took so long to return, but it may be because I cleaned the carbon buildup off the cylinder 2 piston when I replaced the cylinder head. To buy myself some more time, I ran a can of Seafoam through the car this past weekend and replaced the spark plugs. As it is, I think I'll get through the winter (most likely with the check engine light coming on at times). But, come springtime, I'm hoping to be driving the Mercedes project, and hopefully can start looking for a "new" daily driver.
I was hoping for more miles out of this car (I've put around 45,000 very well maintained miles on the car as of now). But, the car has never run quite right for me. I'm guessing that cylinder 2 has been problematic for as long as I've owned the car, most likely due to mistreatment by a previous owner.
Because of the car's overall poor cosmetic condition, including rust, a rear suspension crossmember that's suspect, an aging transmission, an already-patched gas tank, a leaky cooling system, and numerous other issues, it's probably not worth it for me to try and replace the engine, and rebuilding it is out of the question. So, I'm most likely going to end up replacing the car. With what? Time will tell.
