[Spridgets] non LBC Subaru Outback Info

[David Booker]

Rich,
My wife(ex now) and I bought a brand new '95 Legacy wagon a few weeks
before Kyle was born. The 2.2L engine is bullet-proof, the car is great, the
seats were firm, we could get dog and kid and camping stuff galore in it, the
hill-holder clutch was appreciated by my wife in the rolling hills of Northern
Virginia. I liked the British Racing Green paint too. Probably the best family
car I've ever bought. The only thing I would ever do is hang a turbo or two on
it because they are painfully slow. My wife told me in no uncertain terms that
if I did any hot-rodding to "her" car, she would never set foot in it again.
You see, she had some experience with a car or two of mine where the engine
was tuned just shy of hand-grenade...
 
Anyway - to your questions. The belt
is critical as it is an interferance engine. It is also one big giant belt.
This is the only car with a belt where I actually paid somebody to do the
change for me. I read the instructions and got a little scared for some
reason. The waterpump you do because you have to pull it off to get to the
belt and it would just not be smart to put the old one back on. Can't remember
exactly, but seems like the schedule says 60k miles for the belt change. I had
it done twice. 
 
Drove the car for maybe 130k miles and never had any trouble
with either head gasket so can't really speak to that. I think mine was DOHC,
but Subaru went back to SOHC a year or two later. Maybe there was an issue
with some of them, but never with ours. After many happy years, I sold it to a
guy who worked for me. His wife drove it for many years after that with zero
troubles. The one thing that went wrong with the car during my ownership was
my own fault. After maybe 6 years, the battery started getting weak. For
whatever reason, I just kept charging it and putting off buying a new one. Of
course, the constant state of charge killed the alternator. Crap. Like I said,
my own fault entirely. I will say that the alternator on that car is the
world's simplest and quickest to change. It is on top and front of the engine
and held on with a few easily reached bolts. You don't even need to loosen a
tensioner.
 
Hope that helps. Ours was not an outback, but in '95 - Outback
was just paint and trim options - plus maybe a little more ground clearance.
Otherwise the same car. Excellent choice.
 
David Booker

From: Richard Ball
<rich_ball at mindspring.com>
To: 'Spridgets List' <spridgets at autox.team.net>
Sent: Thursday, February 7, 2013 1:19 PM
Subject: [Spridgets] non LBC Subaru
Outback Info

Well since the list is too quite for some I'll ask a question.
My son and his wife always get a fairly large tax refund and this year they
have decided to be smart about things and look into buying a good (for them)
family car.  Out here in the wilds of the Great Northwest you can't swing a
dead cat by the tail without hitting a Subaru Outback so they are looking at
those or alternatively some sort of minivan.  They probably can afford an
Outback in the 1995 to 1997 range, but are noticing that many of those are
listing that the timing belt, water pump, and head gasket have been changed. I
can understand the timing belt and water pump, but is the head gasket a
maintenance item on these or a design problem.  If it is a problem how much
time dose replacing it buy you?

Thanks
Rich Ball
'76 Midget
Everett, WA
------------------------

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