1992 Legacy Station Wagon

[Bob]

I'm looking at a 1992 Legacy SW at a auto shop - it's for sale with no
warranty, but at a price of $1500. What should I look for before
deciding to buy? Any warnings?

Many thanks.

Bob

 

[Carl 1 Lucky Texan]

what model is it? how many miles?
torque bind would be unique to many AWD vehicles like Subaru. Other than
that - normal car stuff. I suppose there may be a slight reputation for
the following to be a concern; oil leaks, timing belt tensioner
knocking, piston slap, rear wheel bearings, burned out dash lights.

anybody else?

carl

 

[hippo]

Carl 1 Lucky Texan wrote:

Air suspension? Nice but fronts last about 60K miles and rears about 90.
Check for evidence of hard towing or a corrugated floor - will shorten
trans life regardless auto or manual. Radiator tanks can leak. Misaligned
windows causing excessive windnoise. CV boots (especially outers) seem
more prone to splitting than most fwd systems - esp when you lend the car
to someone else "just to drive around." Yeah right! I believe that rear
of driver's seat cushion is prone to collapse after high mileage esp with
a heavy driver.

Whatever model check that cambelt has been changed on schedule. If you
can't verify, then try and beat them down on price to cover the job and do
it now*. Cam belt idler bearings often start to seize upwards of 90K miles
& maybe water pump too. ECU failure (2nd hand isn't expensive). Stereo
displays can lose characters. Oil buring or heavy oil use is atypical and
indicates a problem. Avoid!

That's my experience over the latter 220K Km of our traded at 332K Km 91
mnl wagon. Other than some ofthe above, it had routine services, the odd
set of brake pads and several sets of tyres. Bascally, if it looks good
and drives well, then that's a good start. Cheers