My mom got a 91 Subaru Legacy L AWD..yes its AT. It has 250k miles on it and runs fine. Only problem is iether an exhaust leak and a possible CV joint bustage. Other than that its fine. What are some common problems with subees that way i know what to look out for. the people who owned it b4 kept it in really good condition.

 

the latter part of this applies to current WRX's...but the weak link in the Subaru chain are the fucking transmissions. Aside from the ST-i MT6 subaru transmissions have been the same outdated design. The EJ20's cylinder # 3 also seems to be the cylinder to fall victum to detonation aswell

 

Mine is AT too. There are a couple problems I've found.. that will be handled at the 30k check-up. Right when the car starts up and I push on the gas pedal, it "lurches". Like it has fuel starvation or something. It goes forward, then stops, then forward, then stops (all while my foot has not moved from off the gas pedal). It has a high idle on the cold start, and since it's an AT... I tend to have to reset the ECU every 500-600 miles to get a lot of power back. Other than a few other minor things... it's been stable and good to me.

 

yea i heard about the trannys. Today when i went on break at work i went to put it in drive and very lightly press the gas( im not used to the car yet seeing as it was only my 2nd time driving it) and it launched really hard and made a "thud " sound. i took off and it did fine. alo another thing i noticed was that from goin from 1st to 2nd it felt as if i was dirving a 5spd. my bf (cootees) said that seeing how its an older car it wont shift as smoothly. I know of a few people to take a lookat it but what could make it launch and thud like that. I dont wanna let my moms bf look at it. (hes the "i know everything about cars (domestics) person...arragont SOB)..any ideas

 

Well, the transmission problems generally occur when driven hard and/or with heavy modifications. I'm betting your mom will be doing neither.

The clunk could very well have been the CV joint.

 

headgasket/s..

 

drive it.


exhaust leak is usually the headpipe where it crosses over at the convertor, and the CV joints are common for having issues at high milage. axles are about 75 bucks a side, and are simple to install.

they are a pretty reliable car, alot of my customers have them with over 200k on the clock, running great.

 

hmm.. well It never actually jerked when I was in it.. it shifted fine.. It did sound like an exhaust leak and she said there was a clicking only when she turns. sounds like a cv joint to me.

 

However now that I am thinking about it. The struts were pretty shot so the large "thud" that was heard could have been coming from your springs if you were not taking it easy on it.

 

The clicking when turning is the axle.. Finding a decent Subaru axle is a pain in the ass, so as long as the axel doesn't break, don't worry about it...

Yes, the clicking is a pain in the ass, but I've had one of my Roos that is been doing it for like three years now.