Have a 1997 Outback with 94,000miles...seems like the car is falling apart on me all of the sudden -- had to have the oil pump and rear head seal replaced $1400. Dealer said that they are seeing this in this year and model...that's great to know. Has anyone had this problem--would really like to know. Also, have had a lot of grinding/squeeking noise in the front left when I just begin to brake--dealer could not hear it three weeks ago but it is now getting worse. Braking system was all checked out. Look forward to hearing from you. Thanks! Still love this car.

CV Joint?

whats a rear head seal?noise in the left front can be aftermarket
brake pads axle noise or inner wheel bearing seal or rust on axle splines between hub
dave
mspt

I had noisy front brake at 50k miles. One shop said all was fine with the brakes, but maybe cleaning the calipers and rear drums might help. They did it and the noise stopped. A month later I felt some shudder during braking-- thought I needed alignment, a different shop said my rotors were warped and my drums needed to be machined, all for about $600. I bought some used rotors, drums and calipers from a guy in the i-club for $150 and I'm doing it myself.

Anyway, I would get a second opinion, considering that the first "brake specialist" didn't notice the warped rotors. And I would ask about having the gear cleaned, since it's only $50 and it might cure the noise.

Good luck.

Not sure which Outback you are refering to but my fiance has a 97 Legacy Outback and has had little trouble with it other than routine maintainence. (Knock on wood) The only problem she has had was a pesky check engine light that went away with some injector cleaner and a change a higher octane gas.:)

The local dealer here has failed to diagnose every single problem I have brought the outback into them for.

They chalk up brake fade to "driver error". Riiight, so the brake pedal is supposed to reach the firewall? They are too lazy to even bleed the brakes or test drive it.

I now do all service other than specialized subaru stuff with a local good 'ole boy shop. They don't slack off and they don't rip me off. They even do the silly stuff I ask them to, like put that crazy blue brake fluid in the car.

I'm lazy, I have no floor jack... what can I say?

I did have alot of brake problems with the car... basically after a single stop from 70mph I would have very little to no grabbing action on subsequent stops until the brakes cooled down. So if I ever had to stop from highway speeds I would have to either drive around with no brakes for 15 minutes or park the car for half an hour. I replaced the stock pads with MetalMasters and bled the system which fixed the fading problem, however the metalmasters were pretty squeaky and I was still having problems with too much pedal travel and not enough grabbing action. I should mention that all this was before the car had 20k miles on it. I finally decided to ditch the stock front brakes and got some cadmium plated slotted rotors and KVR semi-kevlar pads. This really helped out, however I still was not happy with pedal feel until I had the brakes bled with ATE Super Blue brake fluid. Every time I had bled the brakes with generic valvoline stuff I would get good results for a week, then back down to crap. Now my brakes are awesome and I worry about braking too fast for other traffic. I need to upgrade the rears too, the fronts are so powerful that the car almost touches the nose to the ground. That's probably due to soft suspension though.



I would suggest getting a second opinion. I would try another dealer or perhaps an independant shop with a very good reputation for working on imports.

Same squeal front drivers side. MY97 OBSS with 83,000 miles

AFter the nrotor was off, we could see where the bearing failed and "scored", like a pipe cutter, around the hub. Replaced hub, bearings, refinished the rotors and new brake pads.

Nice a queit.

Now I am getting an incredible knocking sound, at rpms, doesnt matter if its in gear on not.

Not lifters/lightweight oil knocking niose.

Is this what you had when they replaced the rear seal?

Adam
MY97OBSS

we are looking at a subaru impreza OB sport wagon, 117,000 miles on it. my brother-in-law has bought new subaru's for the past 8 years and loves them. but he remembers hearing something about the 97 subaru's. he directed me to this site. we test drove it, the breaks feel squishy, they said they would replace the pads and rotors. it has real quick pick up, and we loved the car, any suggestions?