Subaru Outback

I was quoted $599 at WMass Subaru Dealer, Feb 2011

I had to do this on my 1997. You have to order the part. The blower is located behind the glovebox, just remove the glovebox and look up behind it and you should see it. I think three screws hold it in place. Keep track of which screws go where as there were quite a few when i did it.

Danger high Voltage

Depending on the model the curb weight ranges from 3,622 to 3,902 lbs

The height of the 2009 Subaru Outback is 5 ft. 3.2 in. (63.2 in.).

The 2004 Subaru Outback has a flat 4 engine.

Inside the fuel tank.....

Specs says 18 miles per gallon in the city and 24 miles per gallon on the highway. My Subaru Outback 2003 VDC makes 18.5 miles per gallon in suburban driving, which involves some highway divining but much more 'city' type driving with many stops and much lower speeds (meaning less then optimal speed for fuel efficiency).

Generally it is recommended replacing the timing belt and water pump on a 4 cylinder Subaru engine at 10 years or 100,000 miles, which ever comes first.

I've been searching for this answer myself and finally found it after about three or four hours of frustrating dead ends and spam sites. There are several free wiring diagrams on the internet, and most of them are wrong. All the info you need is on this site: http://ae64.com/

Here are the wire colors for your 1996 Subaru Legacy:

Illumination+ White/Green

Right Front Speaker+ Red/Yellow

Left Front Speaker+ Brown/White

Right Rear Speaker+ Blue/Yellow

Left Rear Speaker+ White/Red

+12 Volt Constant Memory+ Blue/Red

Dimmer (Illumination-) Yellow/Blue

Right Front Speaker- White/Black

Left Front Speaker- Green

+12 Volt Accessory Yellow

Ground Black

Right Rear Speaker- Red/White

Left Rear Speaker- Red/Black

Power Antenna Green/Orange

The color before the slash is the main color, while the color after the slash is the stripe.

Jack up one front side of the car. Take the wheel off and then undo the 32mm axle nut. It's normally bloody tight on there and needs to be, use a 32mm socket and breaker bar to get it off, you might need to stand on the breaker bar. You can also use a big open ended or ring spanner for this, provided you can get access to the nut (the cowling around the nut makes this difficult). Then take the nut off the bottom of the lower ball joint (it has a split pin, you'll need to get that out first.) The ball joint is the part that attaches the hub to the swingarm, swingarm is the curved bit that attaches the hub to the engine crossmember. With either a really big lever (5ft long metal bar with a flat end works good) or a ball joint separator, separate the the swingarm from the hub. A crowcar can be used for this by placing it between the top of the swingarm and the bolt housing on the back of the hub. You should be able to pull the suspension with the hub away from the swingarm towards the front of the car now, although you may need to unbolt the sway bar if you haven't already. Be careful not to stretch a brake line too far. As you pull it away, pull the axle out of the hub. It is splined and usually very difficult to remove, often requiring the use of a hammer to disconnect. If you are not replacing the entire cv joint (just the boots) then be careful not to burr the thread or you will not be able to put the axle nut back on later.

Now there is a pin in the inner CV cup that holds the cup to the gearbox (If you can't see the pin then you will have to turn the axle while the car is out of gear). You will need a punch tool the right size to fit in the hole in the cup for this. I use a screw driver with the head cut off for this, don't use a normal flat or Philip head screw driver to bash this pin out it's a bad idea. Hammer the pin until it falls out the other side. Now that you have the shaft out of the hub and the pin out of the cup, pull on the shaft really hard and it should pop off the gearbox. It may be jammed, and tapping on the part of the shaft between the transmission and inner boot whilst pulling will make removal easier. What might happen is you might pull the inner CV apart which will stretch the boot, so watch out for this. The only thing holding the race in the cup (the race is the bit with the balls on it that goes on the end of the shaft to hold it in the cup making up the Constant Velocity joint) is a circlip running around the outer edge of the cup, this sometimes pulls out. In which case can make it very hard to remove the cup from the gearbox. You might be able to lever it off with something, pretty much make it up as you go along using logic. This circlip isn't strictly necessary seeing as the cv joint is held in by the ball joint on the swingarm, thus mechanics will often neglect replacing it when they reinstall a cv joint.

Hopefully you will have the drive shaft out in one piece by now. To put it all back together (without doing the RWD conversion) do the reverse of what has been said taking note to these few things. Make sure the pin in the inner CV cup is tight and wont fall out, sometimes getting a new one is the best option here. Make sure you replace all the split pins on all the nuts that had them (lower ball joint nut and axle nut.) Replacing these with new ones is a good idea again.

If you just want to replace a boot on the shaft follow these steps.

Unclip the boot from the inner cup and pull it back along the shaft towards the outer CV. Pull the ring out that holds the race into the cup. Be careful not to bend this ring as it does stop the joint from pulling apart when in the car. Now pull the cup off the shaft. Remove the split ring on the end of the shaft that holds the race onto the shaft. Now pull the race off taking note which way round the race was put on the shaft . Now you should be able to pull both boots off and replace which ever one you want.

For replacing the whole shaft, well that's just simple, just get a new one and put it in the place of the old one :-P

If your inner CV is damaged, i.e. making clicking noises, you can just replace the race, and maybe the inner cup to fix this which will cost a fraction of the price of a new driveshaft.

Also remember to re-grease everything in the joints with Moly grease, or also known as molybdenum disulfide grease.

It takes 4.2 quarts with a filter change. The filter holds .6 quart. That is why there is a discrepancy between the manual and the dip stick. If you did not change the filter the oil pan would hold only 3.6 quarts. Bottom line, change the oil & filter and add 4.2 quarts.

Check out the forums at subaruoutback dot org. There are a few posts and videos.

Park the vehicle on a level surface. Drain the oil and change the filter. Add 4 quarts of the correct weight oil and start the engine. Let run for 1 minute and shut down. Wait 30 minutes and check the oil level. Add enough oil fill it to the full mark. You now know the capacity.

check the switch! then check the harness to the bulb/switch make sure you have a power and a ground

Subaru was kind enough to place the starter on the top side of the engine. Relatively easy but there are a lot of wires and hoses to work around.

This light warns that transmission oil temperature on an automatic transmission is too high. If the light is flashing it indicates that the transmission control system is not working properly.

Have not had the opportunity to do so on a 2004, but I have changed plugs on a '96, '00, and '07. They are essentially the same. You will need to remove part of the air intake system and possibly battery and windshield washer reservoir. Plugs are in a deep well and having an assortment of socket extensions and accessories is essential. A long-tipped angled needle-nose pliers always comes in handy to fetch the socket and plug from the well. If you have a well equipped tool box and you have changed spark plugs on other vehicles you should be set. Good luck!

The 2004 Subaru Outback is 5 ft. 8.7 in. (68.7 in.)1 one-touch power windows wide.

You should not need to burp the radiator. You fill the radiator to overflow, put the cap on and any trapped air will work its way out through the coolant recovery bottle as you go through several heat-cool cycles. If you are finding air in your radiator there is a good chance that you have a head gasket issue. Ask me how I know. --Ken

Different years of Outbacks have different fuel filters. Some don't have a filter outside of the gas tank.

get the service manual

if you don't have one and you have a little time, you can save a few bucks...

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it is pretty easy, if you have a jack and a stand and a few blocks of wood.

on level ground with the back wheels blocked with blocks jack up the car after loosening the nuts a little and take off the tire. Unbolt the two bolts that hold the brake assembly on and hang the assembly with wire or a bungie on the sprin so the hose isn't cramped, twisted or dangling. Remove the old shoes. Get a c-clamp or something that will work, this is the hard part, getting something that will work.

The right sized c-clamp will work. Use the old plates from the old brakes to cover the hydraulic rams to squeeze the rams back in. Put the new pads on and assemble bolt the two bolts in tight. spin the tire. shouldn't squeek or be weird.

throw away the grease. Lower the car bolt the tire back up and do the other side. The jack, jack stand, blocks of wood, tire iron(the cross thing with different tire nut sizes in it) or the cars tire iron, anything even your shoe laces to hold the brake assembly up so it doesn't hange on the brake hose, 5 inch c-clamp or wood clamp or parts from a christmass trees stand and some washers and a big socket will work. You need all that crap especially some kind of clamp to squeeze the hydraulics back in. OH! don't forget to take the brake fluid cap off before you try to squeeze the fluid back in. Tighten up, ride away.

The 2002 Subaru Outback has a flat 4 engine.

The ground clearance of the 2003 Subaru Outback is 0 ft. 7.3 in. (7.3 in.).