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Hello. Writing here 'cause I have my eyes on '92 beauty - legacy turbo station wagon. I am still in classic saabs world but I guess I need to try something else. Tomorrow I'll be looking at the car and I need some answers. I can't find any 'buyer's guide' but it doesn't mean it's not here. I need some hints what to look for. For now I know car idles erratic. After some weeks of stay no smoke from exhaust while starting so I assume turbo is OK. Boxer is a mystery to me but I know some things about engines in general so I guess I'll understand what you tell me .
OK - look that beauty and don't worry page is in Polish. Fortunately images are international-style

What to look for and what to avoid?
Are there any special ways to check clutch, drivetrain (4WD), gearbox? Any leaks that looks very dangerous?

Can't lie - that's the shape that suits me the most so I'm a little bit hungry for that car. Don't let me buy a lemon

IMAGES

I know there are a lot of guys here in North America that would KILL for a stock black 5MT turbo with that beautiful leather interior and woodgrain.

The engines last a long, long time, as do the turbos. I drove a 91 with 230,000 miles last Saturday and it ran and drove fine on most of the stock components.

Just drive it as far as they will let you, and make sure it's up to operating temperatures so that any drivetrain issues will show themselves. Gears grinding is not what you want, but unless you plan on making heavy modifications or driving it hard, it'll still work fine for many years. Clutch should disengage an inch or two from the floor. The higher it gets, the worse it may be, so my experience has been.

If you do get it, please take a bunch of high resolution pictures and post them or send them to me to post.

Look up torque bind. If you drive the car slowly in tight circles the transmission will act funny. Make sure it does not do that, or get them to lower the price significantly because of it.

Car looks beautiful. I don't blame you for wanting it.

OK. Some things look clearer now to me. In fact it's green - not black but I still like it. Car came from Italy so I guess there's no rust problem but I need to know what parts should I check more thoroughly than the others. If car was involved in big accident what to look for? What about heads and gaskets? Is well known ways of checking it OK? I mean coolant in oil, oil in coolant, bubbles of air in coolant tank while pressing acceleration pedal? Anymore engine trouble spot? I have auxiliary boost gauge on my shelf so I think I can check turbo output. How high should it be (stock)? I know - big bunch of questions

as soon as you take it for a drive you will love it

and as seeing how you said you love the shape of them (dont we all ) here are some photos of them from my photobucket that im sure you will like

http://s60.photobucket.com/albums/h12/mfnbk/legacy/
http://s60.photobucket.com/albums/h12/m ... y/liberty/
http://s60.photobucket.com/albums/h12/m ... cy/wagons/

Same checks as any engine. For damage, check that spot welds are intact and that things line up properly. The body panel gaps aren't laser cut by any means, but they should be consistent and straight. The best place to look is under the hood and under each end of the car for anything bent or assymetrical. Previous collision damage should be obvious unless it was done very well (and long ago as nobody would pay the money for perfection unless the car was almost new).

So wish me luck. And a good car to buy. No offence about the shape. Next generation of legacy is similar to older ford mondeo which is quite popular here in Poland. I'll report what I discover tomorrow

It looks nice... I would love to have that interior. And from my experience with Subarus, the engine rarely seems to get worse on its own. You may have to put work into it to make it idle or run properly, but chances are it will just continue as it is until you're ready to do that.

I've just ended my first subaru ride. It was quite fun . However two things that should be resolved. In tight circles sometimes there's a subtle sound coming from rear left wheel. It's not knocking - rather delicate rubbing - could be pads but if not pads would it be a BIG ($$$) problem? Another thing is turbo - I'm sure it doesn't pull how it should. Over 200 hp should act in different way. There's no lag at all but car starts pulling just after 4000 rpm. So possibilities are:

1. shot turbo - but it doesn't smoke at all
2. shot or burnt wastegate
3. something with electronical system - in saabs we have APC I don't know what it is in scoobys. I assume here is also base boost which is increased by SOMETHING depending on knock sensor and inlet pressure and perhaps something else.

SOLUTION (means - my ideas)
The easiest one is unplug wastegate and be gentle with acceleration. If car starts to pull, turbo is OK and I need to find another thing to fix. But how to do that? Could anybody post a picture and point a wastegate hose to me?

Am I right? Or there's any other way to check if compressor works? Thanks for every answer.

And hey, where is intercooler? At the front? Or I am goofy and scooby has 2 radiators?

Ok. The rubbing is probably a wheel bearing (no big deal). There is no intercooler (unless that one has an AWIC, but I doubt it) and the boost should only be coming on at about 3-4k RPM (at least, as far as I know). If the turbo was cooked, you'd notice right away.

Add to that, the car with the turbo is only rated at 160hp...not 200+

He's in Poland. You probably have an AWIC, but I'm not sure on the Euro models (Japan and Australia have them). So the intercooler is on top of the motor behind the manifold (metal box that says 'Subaru') and the heat exchanger for the system is basically another radiator.

Oh yeah - I'm in Poland. There is a box that states 'intercooler' - look at the hood of this car (pics in first post) - there's hood air dam so it must be it. It's for sure 211 or 216 hp rated engine. First time I see that kind of setup, so I am in stress . AWIC means what intercooler? And is this better than FMIC?

Surely the car has some problems with spooling up. If the turbo is coked than what? How to notice? I never have had anything to do with completely shot turbo. And of course please help me with testing turbo - is unplugging wastegate good thing? I know - gently, gently.

Please heeeelp with my questions .
OK - I got it, I've got AWIC - air-to-water intercooler. I think it's OK to have something like this. I also can't find any tech spec for this model. But still searching. Any help?

Bartek wrote:Oh yeah - I'm in Poland. There is a box that states 'intercooler' - look at the hood of this car (pics in first post) - there's hood air dam so it must be it. It's for sure 211 or 216 hp rated engine. First time I see that kind of setup, so I am in stress . AWIC means what intercooler? And is this better than FMIC?

The car is rated at 160 HP. It's just what the EJ22T is rated at. No more, No less.

A boost controller may fix the boost lag, but....

It is a european car, so it's an EJ20, air-water intercooler, ~200hp. That's how it's been EVERYWHERE else in the world from 89-92.

Bartek: I have a Japanese brochure for the early Touring Wagon, but it's an extra-large format and I haven't been able to find a scanner that'll do it in one pass. Besides the fact that it's in Japanese, it's pretty cool.

Thanks DLC and sorry to start some kind of quarrel Meanwhile the turbo is bigger problem than tech specs I guess. Perhaps we can start from this question - could turbo be choked without any sign of blue smoke from exhaust?

North American turbos of 93 vintage put out 160 hp and 181 lb-ft at 2800rpm.

Those sold elsewhere with the awic were rated at about 200 of each.

The ic and a slightly bigger turbo made the difference.

You could try taking the intake piping off the compressor side of the turbo and looking for fin damage, make sure it spins freely by hand, and try pushing it in and out to see if there's any play in the shaft.

Thanks - fortunately I know how to do that. Oh - and update - car went to 200km/h with no big problem, but I still think spool up time lasts toooooo long. Has every legacy so short-way acceleration pedal? Or is this some bug in this particular car?