Ranger83

Revved the engine by hand as I poured it in, slowly.

I'm surprised no one has referenced the front-wheel-off-ground problem yet..... The best shovel for a car is a GI entrenching tool. Buy a real one used on eBay or at a surplus store. The civilian "camping" folders are a poor second. The USGI ones are spring steel and you can easily chop down a tree (or chop up ice) with the blade. You can use the shovel angled to scoop snow from underneath. Also handy in bar fights... FWIW Consumer Reports rated the Michelin X-Ice tops in studless snows. We have RSI's on a Honda and they're great, but I'm going to try the Michelins on the Subaru as I've had great luck with that brand and they're $13 or so per tire less, installed at Costco than the Hakka RSI's. BTW, Hakkapaliita means "Charge" in Finnish.

According to CR and others there are only three major US manufacturers of batteries: Delphi, Exide, and Johnson Controls. Sometimes major brands switch manufacturers or use different manufacturers in different sizes so it's hard to figure out who is best. The CR recommendation: the long the free replacement period, the better. Delphi has made AC Delco and some WalMart batteries. Exide makes Champion, NAPA, and some for WalMart. Johnson Controls makes some DieHard, Interstate, Kirkland (Costco), Ford, and some WalMart. I bought the same boat starting battery two years in a row from West Marine, and there were two different manufacturers. Check out http://www.uuhome.de/william.darden/batbrand.htm

Mt Washington, NH is about to break the all time record for precipitation (rain or melted snow) in a month. The old record is 25.56, and they already have 24.41, most of it as snow. Current conditions: 29 degrees, wind 70mph gusting to 84. http://www.mountwashington.org/ Other garden spots I track: Barrow, AK 29, snowing. Jakutsk, Russia (Siberia) -9 Snow is forecast throughout New England tonight, from trace to 6" or so.

One of our Subarus was extremely loud at start and had piston slap. Castrol High Mileage oil made an amazing difference. Give it a try!

I thought this had been posted before but couldn't find it in a search. Someone posted a link for an online supplier of the headlight assembly at very good prices. One is badly frosted, and the other has very rusty hardware.

OK, inspection of the old PCV valve revealed the cause - it was gunked up. Replaced it yesterday and did the SeaFoam thing. I think a third of a can is about three PCV tubefulls. Hesitation is COMPLETELY gone! Yay SeaFoam!

The Japanese don't do a very good job on coating their components. Most Japanese cars I've seen had more surface corrosion than American or Eurpopean cars. The Swedes do the best job. Don't forget that while lots of people wax poetic about the 2.2l, the reason Subar went to the 2.5 was the later cars were heavier, and s-l-o-w with the 2.2.

I could understand a Subaru owner going for a Ford Freestyle, or even a Cadillac SRX, but not a Magnum.

I'm surprised others didn't report on this.

Thanks, from another site it appears the color code is 49B - "Slate Gray Metallic Clearcoat."

Thanks. Any theory on why it stopped taking the SeaFoam in through the PCV valve? It's puzzling as the initial application seemed to be sucked in pretty quickly. There's no indication the PCV valve is not functioning properly.

I have a '97 red Outback wagon that has the contrasting color on the bottom half of the car to show just how butch an Outbacl is compared to a Legacy...... Can you buy this as a touchup spray, or get it mixed? I've got several scrapes n the bumpers down to the black plastic underneath. It seems to have some fine metal flake in it, so matching might be tough. I also need to repaint the plastic hood scoop, which has lost almost all the paint, but that's Red.

I tried Seafoam yesterday by flipping up the PCV hose and pouring it in. It worked fine for about 1/4 can, then seemed to stop taking it in. No matter, I poured the rest in the fuel tank. The stumbling I had at light throttle when warm is much reduced, so I'm pleased. I was thinking of disconnecting the airbox and putting it directly into the throttle body from there?

Umm, that's why I divided the total # of subarus listed by the total number of items for sale? And called it a quotient? Boston is not second most popular. It currently lists 36,794 items for sale. Porland OR has 80,000; NYC has 59K; Austin TX has 38K; Chicago 39K, LA 40K; and of course SF has over 100,000.

Does anyone have one that doesn't shudder?

Kakka RSI's were quoted to me in NH at $120 each, mounted and balanced.

Lawson, thank you!, it's been pouring out so I couldn't even open the hood, nor could I find my service manual. This is what makes this forum so great! I just bought some to give a try.

A picture would be great! Do most autoparts stores have it?

What's your budget?

We put Nokian RSi's on a Honda Accord V6 last winter. I have a 97 OBW and have been extremely happy with the HydroEdge and found them to be a terrific all around tire. They still have 9/32nds tread after 41,000 miles. And I take note that most of the Subarus I see in VT do not have dedicated snows. My sister-in-law lives 3/4 mile up a dirt road and uses AS tires on hers. That why you are carting the AWD gear around all year. During a snowstorm three of us drove the Honda, another Accord with AS tires, and my OBW with Michelin Hydrodge. With AWD I could start much better on hills with the Subaru. But when it came to braking or turning, the Nokian equipped Honda was best. The AS-equipped Honda was, ah, exciting. The Blizzak WS50 is a popular tire and can be ordered via mail. But I learned that the special hydrophilic tread is only the outer 50%. This made the Nokians more attractive. I bought them from Johns & Sons Tires in Manchester, NH. The RSI's have a tread depth indicator molded into the tire. They are much "squirmier" in the dry than non M&S tires and a bit noisier, which is probably true of all. They wore about 1/32nd in 6,000 miles. They wear faster than conventional tires, no way around it. Put them on as late as you can and take them off as early as you can. You should get at least 20,000 miles out of them that way. Otherwise, the HydroEdge and Goodyear TripleTread seem to be the best M&S rated all season tires. But neither has the severe weather "Snowflake." I'm putting the HydroEdge on a Quest van as well.

We put Nokian RSi's on a Honda Accord V6 last winter. I have a 97 OBW and have been extremely happy with the HydroEdge and found them to be a terrific all around tire. They still have 9/32nds tread after 41,000 miles. And I take note that most of the Subarus I see in VT do not have dedicated snows. My sister-in-law lives 3/4 mile up a dirt road and uses AS tires on hers. That why you are carting the AWD gear around all year. During a snowstorm three of us drove the Honda, another Accord with AS tires, and my OBW with Michelin Hydrodge. With AWD I could start much better on hills with the Subaru. But when it came to braking or turning, the Nokian equipped Honda was best. The AS-equipped Honda was, ah, exciting. The Blizzak WS50 is a popular tire and can be ordered via mail. But I learned that the special hydrophilic tread is only the outer 50%. This made the Nokians more attractive. I bought them from Johns & Sons Tires in Manchester, NH. The RSI's have a tread depth indicator molded into the tire. They are much "squirmier" in the dry than non M&S tires and a bit noisier, which is probably true of all. They wore about 1/32nd in 6,000 miles. They wear faster than conventional tires, no way around it. Put them on as late as you can and take them off as early as you can. You should get at least 20,000 miles out of them that way. Otherwise, the HydroEdge and Goodyear TripleTread seem to be the best M&S rated all season tires. But neither has the severe weather "Snowflake." I'm putting the HydroEdge on a Quest van as well.

In thinking about selling my 97 OBW, I got curious about where Subarus were most popular. This led to a perusal of various Craigslist listings for different cities that you might expect to have a lot of them. One thing that can't be accounted for, of course, is the relative awareness or popularity of Craigslist. For example, in Vermont there are tons of Subarus, but the list is nw and not well known. In San Fransisco, there are quite a few Subarus for sale, but a huge # of listings. And you can't get a total # of cars for sale - just the total # of For Sale items. That said, the top three (everything else was well behind, that I checked) were: 1. Denver - 217 of 43,853 - 0.4948% 2. Portland OR - 278 of 78,140 - 0.3559% 3. Boston - 96 of 34,397 - 0.2790% Why yes, I currently do have too much time on my hands.....

It's easier - or possible - to make these more complex designs as a molded part. The interior walls are smoother and there is better control of internal corner radii as well.

Look for the thread titled "Pre-emptive head gasket change" or something like that. I changed my head gskets on a 97 at 140,000 last Summer. I could see bubbles in the overflow tank which to me seemed like a precursor. I thought the head gasket problem was overblown here. But for high mileage vehicles I became convinvced it was prudent preventative maintenance unless you planned to sell the car. I now have 161,000 miles on mine with no further problems. IMHO anyone who reads this forum and owns a late 90's Subaru with a 2.5 who doesn't change the head gaskets or sell the car isn't very smart. But there are plenty of people who drive their cars into the ground. And thus there will continue to be "My OBW with 1xx,000 miles on it just spit the engine out. It's going to cost $3,000+ to repair it , what should I do" threads.