My 92 Legacy Wagon Problems and Solutions

I don't have any pictures to upload at the moment, I will try to snap some this weekend. This will be the very slow build of my wagon because funds are tight and I have too many projects.

 

It's a 92 Legacy Wagon with a 2.2 NA engine.

 

The back story is my friend was moving and my rabbit had just broke down so I needed a new daily. The thing is really ugly but it ran and only needed a new clutch. I made a deal to pay him $500 over a couple months and drove off with it.

 

I drove it around until the clutch went up in smoke. Literally there was white smoke every where and it died in an intersection. I got out and pushed while people were honking at me to move.

 

I ended up replacing the clutch, flywheel, and pressure plate. She drove amazing for 2 days then I had a blowout. I went and got 4 used tires from a tire shop and I was back on the road.

 

Now when driving, I was getting the check engine light for awhile then it'd turn off. The car would jerk and act like it wanted to die so I would slam on the gas and power through the jerks.

 

I replaced the house brand wires and Autolite plugs with NGK plugs and wires. The jerking went away, now the check engine light only comes on when I apply the brakes and goes off once I start moving again.

 

Is there a brake pad sensor or something that would trigger the check engine light? I do get loud squeaks when I apply my brakes.

 

Outside of fixing the check engine light, doing the rest of the maintenance I only plan on driving the piss out of the car while I build my other cars.

 

Question: It was asked on here but never confirmed. I can get cheap coilovers that are made for an impreza and they bolt on? What is a good size wheel I can stuff under here without too much rubbing issue. I was thinking 17x8 or 18x8.

 

That's it for now, will update as I do more work on it.

Does your tach drop a lot when you apply the brakes

from low speed? Like below 650 RPM?

 

The loud squeaks could be the wear sensor on your

brake pads scraping the rotor or the pad not having

any grease on the back. Take your wheels off and

see cause if it's cutting grooves in your rotors they'll

need turned or replaced. Also if your pads are dead

you wont stop worth a crap.

 

Hmmm...not sure about coilovers. Cant really switch

the tophats on them :/

 

I have the 205/55/16's from the WRX on my car now

and the tires sit really, really close to the spring perch.

Any wider or taller and they would rub without spacers,

but spacers kill your wheel bearings a lot faster.

Does your tach drop a lot when you apply the brakes

from low speed? Like below 650 RPM?

 

The loud squeaks could be the wear sensor on your

brake pads scraping the rotor or the pad not having

any grease on the back. Take your wheels off and

see cause if it's cutting grooves in your rotors they'll

need turned or replaced. Also if your pads are dead

you wont stop worth a crap.

 

Hmmm...not sure about coilovers. Cant really switch

the tophats on them :/

 

I have the 205/55/16's from the WRX on my car now

and the tires sit really, really close to the spring perch.

Any wider or taller and they would rub without spacers,

but spacers kill your wheel bearings a lot faster.

 

Yes, the tach does drop. Sometimes I have to check to make sure the car didn't die.

 

I didn't find grooves and the pads aren't horrible but I can tell they haven't been replaced in a long time.

 

It almost sounds like a bad wheel bearing too.

 

Driving around, I just started hearing a click when I turn too hard left. May be the CV, both boots on both sides on the front are ripped.

 

I heard the coils bolt on without modification? Someone asked in another thread here but he was told not to go the cheap route and whether they could fit or not was not confirmed.

when you replaced your plugs did you look at them and if so, did they all look the same?

Try idling and putting on your headlights and holding

the stem for your brights back gently so that it puts

on the brights and headlights at the same time and

see what it does to your RPM's. May be a bad ground

or a power issue with the alternator.

 

If the boots are ripped it's time to replace or rebuild

it. I would suggest replacement since Autozone has

lifetime warranties on CV axles. It rips, you bring it

in, they give you another one.

 

I wouldnt know what to do about the coilovers.

I'd be hardpressed to believe it'd work with

the Impreza's coilovers though. Have you tried

asking on bbs.LegacyCentral.org?

when you replaced your plugs did you look at them and if so, did they all look the same?

 

They all did for the most part. They were dark black, the two on the driver side were worse than the 2 on the passenger side. The front plug on the driver side was drenched in oil. Not sure it's related but I smell burning oil 24/7 ever since I did a tune up, which is weird.

 

What oil do you guys run? I was roughly 2qts low and topped off with Castrol 20w50. My VWs with a lot of miles run better with the thicker oil. I applied the same principles with the Subaru.

 

 

Try idling and putting on your headlights and holding

the stem for your brights back gently so that it puts

on the brights and headlights at the same time and

see what it does to your RPM's. May be a bad ground

or a power issue with the alternator.

 

If the boots are ripped it's time to replace or rebuild

it. I would suggest replacement since Autozone has

lifetime warranties on CV axles. It rips, you bring it

in, they give you another one.

 

I wouldnt know what to do about the coilovers.

I'd be hardpressed to believe it'd work with

the Impreza's coilovers though. Have you tried

asking on bbs.LegacyCentral.org?

 

I'll try that tonight and give you an update. I am going to replace all 4 axles(there's 4 on this car right?). I just wanna address other issues first. I need to do an oil change because I'm unsure when it was last done. I'm going to get an OEM filter, I haven't seen any leaks but would you guys recommend new VC gaskets and resealing the pan? I tried searching for pan gasket and it said it only uses a little O-ring gasket to use silicone to seal the pan to the block.

 

I also need to do a coolant flush and change the t-stat since winter is around the corner and I have %90 water in there. Local Subaru shop said to just get the Prestone 50/50 stuff. Is that what you run?

 

I haven't asked there, didn't know about the site. I'll sign up now.

 

Thanks for all of the help!

I wouldnt know what to do about the coilovers.

I'd be hardpressed to believe it'd work with

the Impreza's coilovers though. Have you tried

asking on bbs.LegacyCentral.org?

 

Found this on BBS

 

GC impreza coilovers (and almost everything else suspension wise) fit.

 

What years are GC Imprezas?