legacycentral bbs

Sorry for the long post, but want to give as much detail as possible for good input.

A local wrecking yard just got a '91 Leg L AWD wagon, light blue, no roof rack, blue interior, 4EAT, No sunroof, no ABS, runs excellentl, but has been biffed in front and driver side fender. Minor core support damage (not as bad as mine when the wife wrecked it), will need fender, hood, bumper, and corner marker light. The rest of the body is mint!! Belly looks factory, no floorboard dents, all suspension links good, etc, exhaust also looks brand new (factory).
Also has a shifter problem, will only select park and reverse, but I think that it's NOT trans. Tires appear to be original equipment, still legal but about due for new ones. Radio is AM/FM w/no tape or aux inputs. Heater control panel works, but only blows thru the heater ducts (I have a spare heater panel).

The biggie is it shows 062K miles (yes, that's 62k and change). It needs to be vacumned out and detailed, washed/waxed, (and the body work of course), and a set of tires.

One other thing I noticed is that right after starting the engine the power light flashes about 12-15 times (counted 10+). What's this about?

Yard owner isn't sure whether he wants to part it or sell it to me outright, but told me to "get a price in mind" ... SO, what's a fair price for it as described??? I'm thinking about $300-400, since it's biffed, am I high or low?

NO, I'm not saying which yard has it until I find out if I'm getting it, but if I he parts it out I'll let everyone know.

tahiti350 wrote:
One other thing I noticed is that right after starting the engine the power light flashes about 12-15 times (counted 10+). What's this about?

Check the TCU for codes. If you have tranny issues, you may want to stay clear.

www.surrealmirage.com/subaru/trans.html

Copy that. found the procedure to pull TCU codes. Only problem is that it says to warm engine by driving at speeds greater than 12 mph. That's going to be tough since it won't shift beyond reverse. Should I just let it idle in reverse until the water temp comes up?

ok thats worth it.

just the engine (hopefully) is worth that much at least!
the body stuff and lights will be easy and relatively easy to do.

i'd say go for it.

i don't know about the water pump stuff or transmission...yet

but i'm sure someone else can chime in

around here a yard would buy that car for $200 easy
the not shifting past reverse issue may just be a stiff cable / linkage assembly. I had to fight my 2 automatics to shift into drive when I first got them and then they loosened up and shift easily now.

tahiti350 wrote:Copy that. found the procedure to pull TCU codes. Only problem is that it says to warm engine by driving at speeds greater than 12 mph. That's going to be tough since it won't shift beyond reverse. Should I just let it idle in reverse until the water temp comes up?

The TCU should still give you some codes without it warmed up.

thanks for the info, heading over in a bit to check it out. What if I can't get it to shift drive, 3, 2 &1??? Just thought of that...

I was able to get thru the TCU diagnosis. Had to disconnect the shifter from the trans and shift from underhood. Found the rear driveshaft front U jount is blown out and beat the crap out of the bottom of the shifter (that's why it wouldn't shift right).

Anyway, it's flagging for code 23, Engine Revolution signal. How do you fix that one??

It's not getting the engine rpm signal from the ECU. You'd just need to check the wiring.

More then likely, that code may be fake. Unfortunately, without probably driving the car and seeing if any codes pop up after clearing the TCU, it may be difficult to tell whether that code 23 is legit. Either way, that issue wouldn't cause the problems you're describing.

The shifting problem was from the driveshaft beating the crap out of the bottom of the shifter. Once I disconnected the shift cable at the trans I was able to shift it thru all gears, and it seems to work fine.

Also found out it's NOT a 62K original, found a sticker showing speedo repaired @ 117K and set to 0, so it's actually got 179K. Runs better than mine right now though...

Looks like the Baby Blue Subie will be coming home with me next week. I offered $300 for it, and he said okay.

What I have to do (so far):

1. vacumn all the cat hair out!!!

2. Replace drivers fender, hood, bumper, corner marker, pull core support back out, and do a little work on the drivers front door.

3. replace driveshaft

4. replace shifter

5. check brakes, struts, and half shafts

6. replace tires. I found some 15" GM FWD wheels that are very close to the same offset, but about 1/2" wider than the Subie 14" wheels. I'll cpmpare them this weekend and post up the measurements. It may also open up some different alloy options.