schlit

Yea, the only reason should be if your flywheel is grooved badly. Otherwise they're just being overly conservative. Same idea as resurfacing or replacing your brake rotors when you do a pad change. All I had to do is lightly sand the flywheel and spray it down with brake cleaner. Good to go for the past 50,000 mi.

http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=21899&highlight=dipstick+overfill

I'm about to be in the same boat as you. Not sure about the replies to this thread. I've read a lot of posts in this forum about some major problems with these cars. From cruising this site I sure dont feel confident my 02 Forester is going to last past 120k without a major unexpected problem. I mean, do I need say any more than the word "headgasket" or "torque bind"? Seems like a pretty common problem. Unless you start doing the work yourself, I think the car will become a money pit. The price of parts alone are highway robbery IMHO, and I'm used to Hondas that are driven past the 200,000mi mark.

02 Forester here. I'm surprised nobody mentioned that reading oil on boxer style engines is very unreliable. There is an entire thread about it. My engine will show 2x full and then if you change the orientation of the car slightly its back to normal. I would only worry that it's overfilled if you try checking it four times in different positions.

Yea, no kidding. I'm new to this board and understand what the thread is trying to achieve, and there's not many places on the net or real world that will give "heads up" info! Now only if there were a good thread that tells me what engine is in what car... too bad it isnt a sticky at the top of the forum

My thoughts exactly. It sounds like a major problem with the design of the block, otherwise the problem would have easily been remedied with a little stronger gasket. I'm mostly a honda owner that has driven my cars well over 200,000 mi. Only when I was introduced to the subaru forester did I ever hear of a "head gasket change interval". I personally will never buy from SOA in the future because of it.

I've done some serious searching and unless one only wants the glass, you're talking $250. Even the salvage yards are asking $150. Oh well.

I thought ebay would have them too but all I've found on ebay are cheap glass replacements, not the assebmly. Maybe I'm searching incorrectly?

2002 Forester. A tree branch fell from a recent icestorm while the Forester was parked outside and it shattered the side view mirror and plastic moulding. While I'm happy it didnt fall on the hood, I see these heated side view mirrors are about $200. It didnt mess with the door or anything but the mirror assembly. Is this an easy fix? Do I need to take the inner door panel off to get to the mounting bolts? There arent any tweeter speakers, so it looks like all i do is pop off one little interior panel. If anyone could give me a brief how to I would really appreciate it. The insurance deductable is $250, so if its really involved and a PITA, then I'd just take it in. Here's a picture of it.

Yes, I'd drive that whole area again in a heartbeat. Make sure you dont go below half tank of gas though...the stations are very far and few between! Ever see the movie Forrest Gump? This is that famous view of monument valley.

Thats cool. I just did a trip through there two weeks ago, up through monument valley too. Beautiful scenery. Amazing how hot it gets in May, cant imagine July or August. Didnt trust the forester for a 4000 mile trip, so we took the Honda.

Yea, but good luck finding a paperback, non crap chiltons manual set for under $150 USED.

Always running the car in recirculation mode is like never taking your socks off your feet.

The brakes arent grabbing at all. Rear pads are OK. I would have thought if it were a bearing problem it would be a constant noise when the wheels are rotating...not just during acceleration.

I'm talking about the electronic versions people are selling on CD's, not paperback. They download the entire set and make as many copies as they want and sell them on ebay. Most of the people who do it are in canada, where they dont get hit by our copywright laws. Though if a US citizen buys it, that US citizen is commiting copywright infringement.

Is it feasable that I could download the entire book in 3 days or do they have it broken up into so many pieces that you cant? All I want is a complete book but dont want to pay an arm and a leg....or do anything illegal like buy it on ebay for $3.

80,000 miles, automatic A quick metallic sounding buzzing occurs from the rear INTERMITTANTLY when accelerating. It does it both while driving straight and turning. Its not a heat shield. This is my girlfriend's car, so I dont know much about Subarus and cant tell if its the rear diff, bad wheel bearings, etc. Did a search and nothing really matches what I'm hearing. If anyone can give me a push in the right direction I'd appreciate it.

my bad, I found the FAQ on the techinfo website..... Information on this site is available on a subscription basis. You currently may select one of three subscription periods: 72 Hours (3 days) @ $34.95 30 Days @ $299.95 365 Days (1 year) @ $2499.95 Although all information on this site is available to you when you purchase a subscription, users are limited to access a maximum of 20 PDFs per hour. This will assist Subaru in keeping subscription rates from increasing, as well as allowing better service levels for all users. If a subscribed user attempts to access more than 20 PDFs in one hour, they will be taken to a warning page and will be prohibited from accessing any additional PDFs until the start of the current hour has expired. Browsing and searching on the site may be performed at any time. This policy may change at any time, without warning or notification to current web site subscribers.

Is that $20 for unlimited downloading and printing of those documents? Looks like there's about 8 separate manuals. Make your own loose leaf book? Forgive my ignorance, I am used to hondas where all you have to do is buy a single $60 Helms manual.

I need a repair manual and dont want a Chiltons. Where can I find one? 2001 Forrester.