legacycentral bbs

Hey fellas, this forum has been a tremendous amount of help for me in the past. I was never a car guy, hesitant on changing my own oil in fear that I would screw something up. Upon purchasing my 91 Legacy Turbo 3 years ago, I have learned how to change the timing belt, got it to pass emissions, removed and replaced alternator, starter, ignition switch, etc... Now that I'm nowhere near as timid on working on cars I'm going to change out my pads and rotors. Have read everything I can find in this forum, in my Haynes manual, and watched numerous videos in regards to changing them. Since my Legacy is a daily driver and a very important vehicle to my family for transportation wanted to make sure I had all my ends covered prior to messing with the brake system.

Questions:

http://www.monkeysee.com/play/11917-rep ... ng-caliper I watched this video to find out how to install the new pads on to the caliper and was wondering is it required to loosen the bleeder valve to depress the pistons on the caliper (I was going to have my entire brake system flushed by a local shop so I didn't have to worry about doing it and getting air in the lines)?

I ordered drilled and slotted rotors for the car because they weren't priced to bad but is there anything I should know about installing the caliper on them (they were advertised for my specific year and model so I didn't think anything would be wrong with getting them)?

My car has 270,000 miles on it no idea if the calipers are original, is there anything I should inspect when I have the caliper apart and rotor off?

Thanks for any responses!!!

If necessary, you can compress the piston with a simple largish C-clamp—you don't need any bullshit that turns the piston as it compresses or anything. Just compress it slowly until it's flush. Opening the bleeder is just going to get fluid squirting out instead of going back to the master cylinder.

Inspect the caliper, clean and put some new grease on the slider pin (though, I only did this once and never had an issue with sticking calipers. Even after sitting for over 4 years, pushing the car back and forth 30 feet freed them up.). If it's working, there's nothing else to do.

Rotors are rotors—if they don't go on, they're the wrong ones.

Thanx for the response evo

yea as already said, the C-clamp is the way to go if you don't have the service tool.

Here are two videos for the front/rear brake system with the method used. they're for late Subaru models but the process is still similar to ours.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8dDsCu5iko
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axSa9dWCcQo

Brake and rotor change went very well, didn't know rotors were so simple to swap out. One thing that is puzzling me, it took a crap ton of WD-40 on the lug nut bolts and hub itself to get the rear passenger tire off. The rotor was stuck on there pretty good as well, took some serious pulling to get it off. When putting the new rotor and wheel on, I had to push it on and continuously tighten the lug nuts to the get the wheel on secure (the other three wheels lugnuts would hand thread on a lot farther than the rear passenger would). When the tire and rotor were off I used a scotch pad and wire brush to get as much rust off. Any ideas as to why it was such a pain in the ass to take the wheel/rotor off?

Probably haven't moved in a while. They can get stuck on the center of the hub and can partially bond to the rotor. But, the rear rotors have the parking brake drums incorporated into them. Did you turn the star nuts to withdraw the shoes from the inside of the drums? Didn't have the parking brake on, did you? Sometimes, the pricks are just stubborn. I've had wheels I've had to sledge, spin, sledge, repeat to get off.

Also, WD40 is a poor rust penetrant. PB Blaster is much better and commonly available. IMO, the best is ZEP 45 (their PLS is also good), but it's not easy to find as I don't think it's sold as a consumer product (a marine supply place might have it) and it's about 3x more than the PB. It uses some kind of unfriendly aerosol I believe, but the can does seem to last forever, even long after you'd swear the can is empty. However, PB Blaster is a better bang for the buck. Another thing that makes a big difference is letting penetrant sit for a while. On old suspensions and ornery-looking stuff, I'll blast the area to work on a couple times a day for several days before working on it. Also a good strategy for more delicate bolts that like to snap, like those damn 10mm timing belt covers.

No I didn't touch the star nuts, and at first I did have the parking brake on but once I started having an issue removing the wheel I disengaged it because I thought that might be the issue, which it wasn't. Thanks for the heads up on the PB Blaster. Quick question, I know this is the wrong thread for it but I'm going to remove and replace my knock sensor for the same reason that most people on this thread have. In my Haynes manual it states that the coolant will need to be drained during the removal. I know where the knock sensor is located, on the driver side behind the intake manifold next to the throttle body, but I don't understand why the coolant would play a factor at all. My book is for 1990-99 year models so is it speaking of a different year model than mine?

I have no idea why it says that. All you need is, IIRC, a 10mm socket on an extension.

Haynes Manual--In warmer climates, where the steering wheel becomes hot from the sun, drain the cooling water before removing the steering wheel.

I didn't think it would matter at all. To quote it exactly so I don't look like an idiot: under the heading of Knock Sensor "The knock sensor is threaded into the engine block, when it is removed, the coolant will drain from the engine block. Drain the cooling system. Place a drain pan under the sensor, disconnect the electrical connector and remove the knock sensor." Just thought it was weird it said that and wanted to know if it had any relation to my vehicle. Like I said it is for 1990-1999 Subaru Legacy and includes Outback and Brighton.

It doesn't contact a water jacket on any EJ, but maybe that applied to the EA82, but that engine was only installed in the Loyale from 1990. I think gremlins used to get into the Haynes offices and write in weird stuff, so use them with caution. A big one is the crankshaft pulley torque spec which should be around 110 ft./lbs., not the 80 I think they put in there.

Evo do you have any suggestions for good manuals to use for repairs. I have read that specific service manuals that the dealership maintenance personnel use are as good as it gets, but don't know if those types of manuals would be to specific rather than helpful.

Haynes is probably the best of the general ones. I use the factory service manuals. There's 6 books for the early Legacys, but you don't need the 1st one if you're going to try to find them.