legacycentral bbs

Hello. I'm new to the board (been a lurker in the past), but certainly not to our 1990 Legacy. I bought the car new and the kid who came home from the hospital in it is now driving it! It's been a really great car-- stone relaible except for what seem like the "normal" Legacy issues: the HVAC control is in and out now. The brakes are due (again), etc. I have done every bit of maintenance on the car from day one. It was into the dealer for 1 recall. That's pretty remarkable for any car, let alone an "economy" ride. It's a ruby mica/tan LS AWD. Been repainted once (new front fenders too) and only has 118K on it today. Doesn't leak or smoke (mobil1 from 2nd change). New exhaust. The hard lines rotted out on the steering rack, so those were replaced. A couple of half axles. And that's about it. Anyway, the car's great and has never stranded us-- or gotten stuck for that matter.

Now the questions:

I'm hearing what sounds like a lot of water sloshing around. At first I thought it in the door, but those drains are clear. I think it's in the cowl area. Are there drains in there? Are those the ones that rot the lower fenders? I can't find any reference to it in Chilton or Haynes.

The motorized seatbelts are inop now, and I've read several threads on that. At least they're stuck in the back position so you can manually belt. Is there any downside to just not fixing them? Other than the annoying flashing light?

Is the HVAC control unit from a 91-94 compatable with my '90? The only ones on Egay always seem to be 91-up. Is there a common fail mode/ way to fix the existing one that would be a better alternative than a junkyard replacement?

Thanks in advance for any insights.

+1 on the fender rot issue. Its gonna be hard to find these fenders before too long.

Read this thread for the fix for the HVAC controls. It worked for me:

http://bbs.legacycentral.org/viewtopic.php?t=1142

oldfast wrote: I can't find any reference to it in Chilton or Haynes.

STEP 1: Pick books up
STEP 2: Walk to trash can
STEP 3: Drop books in can
STEP 4: Set trash can on fire

Most importantly:
STEP 5: check out Josh's (Legacy777) website:
http://www.main.experiencetherave.com:8 ... ual_scans/
FSM (factory service manuals) are available there along with a bunch of other stuff.

Haynes has some bad information in it.
Can't honestly say the same for Chiltons, never used it.

FSM gets her done almost every time.

Yeah, the blower relay goes out often. Tear out the old one and wire in a $5 generic 30 amper from (insert), takes 5 minutes, better than new.

Yes I meant amper, not ampere.