[rockwerks]

Originally Posted by jarbadgolfer

This seems to be a dead forum, no postings other than mine since Sep. 2006. Sad. SUBARU TECH is an especially valuable resource to lose.

To sum up my experience for anyone with a similar problem stumbling across this forum:
I noticed that the voltage at the speedometer went down slightly when the speedometer stopped working, from 2.4 to 2.36 v DC and 2.6 to 2.56 AC.
Based on SUBARU TECHs note that voltage should be 4 volts, I thought this suggested a bad speed sensor 2. I asked my dealer, and he told me that replacing speed sensor 2 was cheaper than replacing the Speedo Head ($300 vs $400). I told him to replace speed sensor 2. It turns out that there are two speed sensor 2 configurations in the 99 Outback. In one, the sensor is separate. That's the cheap repair. In the other, mine, the sensor is part of a harness, an expensive ($760) repair. Since the car was already in the shop, I told them to go ahead and change the harness. It did not fix the problem, and the voltages at the speedo head were still "too low".

Now, I didn't know if the 4V that SUBARU TECH specified only applies to the non-harness version of the speed sensor. Since I already knew how to pull the instrument panel, I found a used instrument panel (through automotix.com, a good service) for $90 and tried that. It didn't fix the problem.

I've tried everything I have been told to try, I'm $860 poorer, and still have the problem. So, I'm going to give up, take my dealer's advice to wait until it breaks and stays broken, and let them fix it. Since it's been intermittent for over a year, I think that it may never finally break, and I may never buy another Subaru. An intermittent speedometer is an absolutely ridiculous thing to have to live with.

after reading a bunch of stuff in the forum, I came to the conclusion that subaru tech didnt know as much as he thought, Mine was the speedo head and I repaired it myself, with a used one for 10.00