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And NO ONE appreciates an inadequate tool. That extra adequacy can mean the difference between a job well done, and an excruciatingly long hand finish. GD

Try the MMO (Marvel Mystery Oil) trick--it'll loosen up any bits of gunk. Drive for a few days then change oil & filter.

Heartless is intelligent and logical. (Love ya, Babe!!!)

Check the u-joint assembly between the column and the rack. Ideally remove it and check for loss of motion in one axis. GD

If you remove the door cards yes they can be lubed. White lithium grease is your freind. Lubricate everything including the lock cylinders. Are the floors solid? Thats not a usual rust point for Roos. Congrats.

That all these functionally-unrelated systems are failing at the same time points to a global electrical fault - as the previous posters suggested, portions of the circuit that are common to pretty much everything. Get the FACTORY TSM schematic, follow the lines, then (and I know this is going to sound really unscientific) start wiggling stuff. That the radio is failing should be a big help - you can turn it on, lift the hood, and push wires around (and remove/reinsert relays and fuses) until you replicate the failure. As suggested, the problem is probably in the main power distribution area. (A few months ago I chased down a similarly transient failure in my 2002 Forester ABS - it was caused by a corroded fuse termination in the fuse/relay box.) As you remove each fuse and relay, look down into the terminals, and if they aren't clean and bright you're probably getting close. This is very much a DIY thing, because chasing down intermittent electrical failures is more a job for time and patience than it is of skill, and you could easily get into thousands worth of shop time if it's a nasty one.

Check the pos cable at the starter, check the neg cable same area. Closely inspect the smaller hot wire from the battery to the fuse box.

Yeah, USMB s a great place. And don't worry about it being "2 sophisticated!"

The second poster "Heartless" had this problem nailed immediately! And then none of the subsequent posters even asked the OP to specify how old the SP or wires were,and he never specified. Almost everyone besides Heartless missed the easy, first step.

I have no experience ewith it but have read that using some marvel mystery oil has helped with sticky HLAs. and some quiet engines will let you hear a spark if conditions are right and a plug wire is bad.

Statistically - no one. That's why discontinued. Duh. GD

you get a code for a misfire on cyl 3, but think it is a sensor or fuel related issue? really? misfires can, and do, foul and/or damage the spark plug.. change them. it is relatively cheap... same with wires... not that expensive - but do NOT use the cheap parts store brand wires... OEM or NGK ONLY. Then, and only then, do you look for other causes if the issue still persists.

Took the radiator out of the 99 Outback to replace it. Have to get some fittings welded on the new one. While that's out and we're down for the winter I decided to replace the head gaskets. I read a lot of horror stories doing these so I've been hesitant but it's really not bad. Take the timing cover off and you find this piece of machinery: Probably the biggest problem we had were the oil pump bolts, I had to grind flats on a few of them and use vise grips to get them loose. For future reference for someone else doing this job, you only have to remove the five socket head bolts that stick out around the oil pump, you don't have to remove the flat heads. For that matter you don't have to remove the water pump but I'm going to replace that and the gasket. Also a couple of the hoses near the front of the intake were rock hard and broke. This is what the heads and gaskets look like, can anyone tell if they were bad? Steering slop in the 99 Outback turned out to be the u joints in the steering shaft, that will be easy to replace with the engine out. I'm also going to weld up some cracks and the inner sides of the subframe spacers while the engine is out.

Don’t worry about the extra gaskets, the EA82 is bound to leak after the first start up. Cheers Bennie