If the ticking noise is coming from a gold coloured cylinder with two wires coming out of a rubber cap at one end and two pipes attached to the other end(mounted on the drivers side strut)then I don't think you have anything to worry about.

This is the wastegate solenoid and it clicks loudly on my 98my,normally just above tickover.Lots of other owners have commented
that theirs do it to.

I noticed one day that mine had stopped ticking and later that day it started to overboost.The dealer replaced the solenoid
with a new one,which clicked even louder than the old one and the car has been fine ever since.

PS because you have a 97 model its possible that you may have a different type of wastegate solenoid to me so the description may be incorrect,however it is still located in this area I'm sure somebody will clarify.

Hope this helps

Andy

I've got 1 month waranty left and am starting to get a bit paraniod about my Scoobie. It's a 97,50k-er and just recently I've noticed a tick-tick-ticking noise coming from the engine bay. I took the car to Subaru who reassured me it is just the injectors and let me listen to a 10k RB5 which sort of put my mind at ease. But then I managed to pin-point the noise to a bank of relays on the driver's side of the engine bay. Has anyone got the same thing or any idea what it is ?

Andy,

You're an absolute star - that's exactly where is coming from.

Cheers

Carl