1998 Impreza L noise

OK, here's the deal:

Same car as described in first post of this thread. 107,XXX on the clock.

Timing belt, transfer case clutches, transfer valve, and inner axle end seals were replaced at about 75,000 miles. A bunch of miscellaneous gaskets, but no mention of water pump.

I can buy it tomorrow for $1800. Should I? Thanks!

Yes. Without thinking about it.

About the noise, check and make sure nothing (like the exhaust heat shield) is rubbing the driveshaft. That happened to my dads legacy and it sounded terrible, but thats all it was.

Travis_K wrote: About the noise, check and make sure nothing (like the exhaust heat shield) is rubbing the driveshaft. That happened to my dads legacy and it sounded terrible, but thats all it was.

Yeah, the exhaust heat shields tend to rot off their mounts. I use small metal hose claps to keep the muffler heat shield off the muffler on mine, otherwise the heat shield rattles on the muffler. The rattling sounds like a really bad grinding noise.

Or by driving on a really rough road and slightly bending one of the mounting bolts, which is what happened to my dads car.

I'm betting on heat shield or dust shield on the brakes. Don't discount a bad caliper....the slides can really bind up on them. If you have the option of a 2.5rs sedan, then it must be a 2000 or newer, which is worth the premium. They don't have the same headgasket issues(has the phase 2 motor), they also have a rear lsd. My 2000 2.5 rs has 230k miles on it and going strong. I love it.

Well, I've got the car for the weekend, and it definitely sounds like the left rear wheel bearing. I'll have to put it up on jacks tomorrow and see. Is it hard to get the hubs off? I don't have a press and I'd need to get the bearings switched at a machine shop.

Or is there a DIY alternative? Thanks!

A few more questions for the old-Subie enthusiasts:

1) It's got a loud tap under the hood at cold startup. It lessens a lot but does not disappear as the engine warms. Should I worry?

2) The power windows work but are very slow. It's also about freezing out. Do you think taking the door panels off and lubricating the tracks will help, or is there a bigger issue?

Other than that the car seems pretty sound. It tracks straight, doesn't shimmy, and the brakes feel good.

Haven't needed to do bearings on my Impreza L yet, but I do have the FSMs on CD, so I can look it up later.

Mine has the loud tapping, too. I think its the valve lifters. It's been like that since I bought the car last February, and I haven't encountered any problems related to it. Someone suggested using SeaFoam (?) to clean everything out, but it may only reduce the noise instead of get rid of it.

The power window motors on GC-chassis Imprezas get weak over time. Something else you get used to.

OK, I read the entire post - is this a 2.2L or a 2.5? I don't think the 2.2L had adjustable lifters - I think they were hydraulic if I remember correctly. If it's a 2.5L is it a single cam or dual? Single cam has a very simple valve adjustment and the dual cam uses disks (which I've never personally done). The vavle adjustment specs. should be listed on the hood sticker. From personal experience a valve lifter with too much clearance will make a wicked ticking noise. If the clearance is too tight you risk burning a valve. Do you have time to do a compression check? That will tell you if the HG's and valves/rings are OK. My 2.5L SOHC has 180-185 psi across all cylinders.

In reply to fornetti14:

'98 Impreza L = 2.2L engine

As AOR pointed out above, it's a 2.2. I haven't had a chance to do a compression check, but I'll try to.

If it's got hydraulic lifters, I can run a can of valve-noise STP through it.

Anybody have a factory CD player for this thing (or one that will fit) for sale?

Thanks!

Valvetrain noise on startup pretty common on Subies.

Most folks do nothing.

The phase 1 engines (especially the 2.5 for some reason) are also known to have a bit of piston slap. Just like the valve train noise though, its nothing to worry about.

Well, I just checked the oil, and it's really low. I don't know how much is in it, but I'm going to change it tonight. I'll filter the drainings and see if anything bad appears.

I figure I'll change to 10w40 diesel oil, which should help with a variety of noises. Any reasons not to do that?

I took it to a dealer for the wheelbearing because they quoted $200-$250 over the phone and that's not worth a couple winter nights in an unheated garage. Magically that became $400-$500 for the bearing and new hub (if necessary) when they called. Maybe it's worth some freezing and cursing after all.

They also said both inner front axle boots were torn (I have receipt for both being replaced 18 months/30k ago) and the right front caliper is sticking "50% of the time" (it sure doesn't drive like it's sticking at all, and that's what brake cleaner is for).

Needless to say I had them drive it back outside and leave it.

I hate to bump my own threads, but I got under the car for the first time tonight.

Oil was very low and very dirty, but shows no coolant or particles of anything. The engine sounds a lot happier topped up with Wallyworld 10w40 "high mileage" detergent oil. I'll keep on the cheap stuff until I see how much it uses.

It's got a leak at the rear of the right-side cylinder bank. I recall seeing a post on NASIOC about a blanked-off something that can leak, and that sounds like the culprit here. Hopefully cheap and easy fix.

I shouldn't have been suspicious about the inner CV boots - they are both split, right through at the same place. Although it was about 3 years, not 18 months, they still only have 30k miles on them, and they were replaced by a Subaru dealer! That kind of sucks.

How hard is it to drop the axles and replace the inner boots? The CVs themselves feel and sound great, but I want to get those fixed and repacked PDQ. The outer boots look perfect.

Thanks to everybody for the great advice.

I just discovered a bad CV joint in my driver's side front axle, so I could use some advice too. Good thing it's not on the passenger side; I think the hub nut and hub have permanently rusted together.

EDIT: [facepalm] I forgot, I have the FSM on CD. Duke, I'll try find what I can on CV axle/boot replacement by tomorrow.

The CVs are not that bad to replace. I have done them once on my '95 and about a dozen times on my friends FWD Brighton.

The front wheel drive axels are a little different than the awd axels and when the AWD axle was fitted to the FWD transmission it would seem like it fit perfect except the splines did not engage. It took quite a few trips to the store to get the tards at kreten auto parts to give us an axle that actually fit. We got so good at it we could swap the axle in and out in about 1/2 an hour. Though by now I am probably a bit out of practice.

The only issue I recall being annoying was that it could sometimes be a bit hard to tap out the retaining pin on the axle. That pertains only to the passenger side (?) front axle though...

If I remember correctly those axel pins go in and out one way - one opening is larger than the other. Look at both sides before you try and punch it out the wrong way. I did that one time. I also have one side of a 2.2L valve cover gasket if anyone needs it. They only come in sets and I only installed the side that was leaking. I'll never have one again and couldn't make myself throw it away. Send me a PM and someone can have it for shipping cost.

I don't recall one side being smaller than the other. but my memory is hazy. It may explain why that one axle was sooo much harder than the others...

I was referring to difficulty in maneuvering a hammer and punch in the space available...

From what I've read, the pins are supposed to go in one way and reverse out - they are handed.

Well, almost 6 months to the day after we got it, my daughter just wrecked the Impreza.

She's OK, and it was a single-car accident, so I'm counting those things as fortunate. What's unfortunate is that it is a 10-year-old car and anything I can't fix myself is likely to be fatal (to the car anyway). I could probably handle the body panel replacement but the unibody is pretty tweaked at the right front bumper mount. If that can be pulled out I may have a go at it, but if not, then it looks like back to the car ads for me.

Which will be too bad, because I knew the history and it was clean, rust-free, and had never been wrecked. She hit a phonepole guywire on the right front.

The RF fender is OK but shifted back maybe 3/16". It needs a hood and front bumper plus cover, and the radiator was pushed back into the engine lightly, so it needs the substructure related to that. The radiator wasn't punctured and it is not leaking any fluids. It starts and runs and drives but the electric fans can't run and the alternator belt is off, so I only drove it 50 feet or so.

The thing that worries me is the unibody is pushed in at the bumper mount, I assume like it is designed to be. What I don't know is if that can be pulled back out if I take the sheetmetal off.

If you can get me some photos I may be able to give you a clue.

Yeah, I'll get some later. I had the car flatbedded to my body man. Once I hear from him and get back to the car I'll take some pics to show. But the unibody lug where the bumper mounts has definitely been collapsed half an inch, though at first eyeball the suspension does not seem tweaked and the engine sits solidly when you change gears, etc.

I'll post some detailed pics as soon as I can.

If it's just the end it may be no big deal. Subarus that are terminal tend to bend about midway back the rail. They are designed to collapse to absorb crash energy. But a rail end usually ain't no big thing. Either it can be beat around into submission or the end can be lopped off and a new one sectioned in if it's really bad.

Well, that's good news to hear. I am too busy today to go look at the car, but from my short earlier inspection I do not think it is kinked farther back. The suspension does not look tweaked at all and even the fender is sitting in the right place pretty much.

Thanks for the info.