Ranger83

Increasing pressure will make the steering lighter and decrease the slip angle, making handling more responsive. The tire will also run cooler on the highway, stop better under most driving conditions, have increased load carrying ability, and hydroplane at a higher speed. The primary downside is a lumpy ride. I've driven my old car (which I raced) on the street with up to 45 psi for weeks, with no ill effect other than hitting my head on the roof after going over some railroad tracks. The bias between front and rear does affect handling, and starting with that front/rear pressure differential is a good idea. Inflating the fronts to max recommended cold pressure, and then backing them off a little if you find the ride too hard is a good approach. Underinflation diminishes handling, braking, and tire life so much that it should be avoided at all costs unless you're traveling in loose sand or snow. I have a good tire gage in all my cars and check them regularly. a 3-4 psi bias on the front wheels will make the car veer slightly to the right or left on the highway. Do a search for traction circle or tire traction circle if you want to understand more about how tires work. Modern tires are extraordinarily good.

If you don't have the drill press, and patience, take it to an automotive machine shop.

How did you document these gains, then? Or you're basing it on your calculation?

From places like consumerreports.org and other places that are tracking problems, it seems to be about 20-25%.

1997 OBW. 25+ avg mixed highway/secondary roads in Summer, 24+ in Winter. Best tank ever - 28.3, the other 97 OBW we had hit 29.0 once. Worst tank, all city driving in Winter, 20 mpg.

I changed my head gaskets at 140K miles as a preemptive measure, based on bubbling in the coolant overflow tank. Turned 142K today and it runs great. I have 7 friends with 97 or 98 Outback wagons. They have between about 87K and 192K miles. Three of the eight, counting mine, have had the head gaskets replaced. The mileages were 142K, 156K, and mine voluntarily at 140K at replacement. Next highest mileage is 132K. Other non-scheduled maintenance on this vehicle includes the right front wheel bearing and the camshaft gaskets and some other seals.

It's just the bulb and you change it from the rear. The instructions are in the owner's manual, along with the bulb type. The bulbs are standard and available almost anywhere. You don't have to go to a dealer.

You're gonna have to prove that one to me! Others say that these filters are made by Champion. One example is at: http://www.lesabret.com/filters/filter.html Not the same as Purolator One but seems to be a good filter for $2.

Just about any automotive radiator shop will install one at reasonable cost. Many trailer shops and UHaul trailer centers will install them as well.

Engine control systems sense air mass, not density. That's how they control the mixture so well.

I use Purolator Pure One filters, one of the few with a synthetic filter element. This is helpful if you are looking for ectended drain intervals. Pep Boys does a good job for oil changes, and I have a lot more confidence in them than the quick lube outfits.

How much more horsepower? I road-raced a VW Scirocco years ago and tried this. The intake tract is a lot louder.Maybe I had more horsepower, but there was no difference in my lap times. I suppose you are "running" K&N's now, then? Have you also researched the best type of oil to drench it in? I think it's hilarious because some of the antique cars we had used the same type of oil dip filter.

None of the 8 of us with OBW's with the 2.5 have hit 200K miles yet, the highest is 192K. I've only got 140K on mine, and had the head gaskets replaced preemptively. Runs great and I think I'll get 200K no problem.

Very few proponents of the K&N filters bother to document their actual mileage and performance before installing one, so there is little evidence about the benefits. My experience from racing is that any change you make always feels faster. I worked for two years as an automotive supplier of large plastic parts to various manufacturers - the Big Three and VW. Of course engineers are concerned about cost, but they are also designing parts that may be tooled to produce millions of parts. Very few engineers spend their time making things worse. With the CAFE standards in the U.S., where increasing your fleet mileage allows you to sell large, highly profitable SUV's, if an exhaust flange or air filter or vortex creator saved a few tenths of a mpg, they'd be OEM'd. It appears that some manufacturers subsidize the sale of the highest MPG cars, because they can sell three SUV-Marus for each one sold.

As the Subaru has two heads and Toyota 4 cylinders have one, I doubt the Toyota costs more. I'm glad this board reported on it, as I changed mine at 140,000 miles before they went bad. The car has otherwise absorbed less more for non-scheduled maintenance than any other vehicle I've ever owned to that mileage except a Ford Econoline van - and the difference with that is less than $100. The Subaru runs perfectly and promises to go many, many more miles. The only other problems were a RF wheel bearing and leaking camshaft seals. There are just a number of "glass half empty" folks here. I'm amazed that more people don't just have them changed and be done with it, or dump it, instead of driving the car until it blows.

http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=7141

Can you smell burned oil, especially after driving hard on the highway? They're prone to leaking oil out the front of the camshafts. You won't use a lot of oil, it just smells bad. The common leaks for these engines have been described. I would never visit that mechanic again. A local garage did all the usual seal suspects, the oil pump o-ring, and changed the belt at 106K miles and it was around $650. The same job at a local dealer was around $900 for a friend of mine.

You can see from the range of responses that some will, some won't. We have two Eddie Bauer seats and one Britax (quite wide) and although they are touching side-to-side and the door armrests, we managed to fit them. We also fit in a Century infant carrier and base. Three of the Britax models probably would not fit. We got along nicely with an Outback, two kids, and a Yakima Rocketbox for trips. But with three, it's a tough reach to into the middle position. That's why we now have one Dodge Caravan and one Outback, instead of two Outbacks.... The car seat tethers now standard were optional in older Outbacks in the US but standard in Canada. You had to go to the dealer and buy the Canadian tether package. The '05 probably has the LATCH system for securing the seats, very much more convenient and secure. The European car seat market is completely different than the US, because European cars are typically much smaller, and Europeans are typically smaller than North Americans. On the flip side, twins tend to be on the small side for their age group for the first 3-4 years. Dorel Industries (they own the Cosco & Safety First brands) sells Bebe Comfort, Maxi-Cosi, and other brands with completely diferent designs in Europe. We bought a Caravan (short wheelbase, not Grand) Sport with Captain's chairs. We put two of the kids outboard in the back seat, one in one of the middle row seats (that way they can't reach each other), and removed the other one. This gives us room to get in and walk around as well as extra storage space. The Mazda MPV is a nice-driving smaller minivan. All of the big minivans have pros and cons, with the Toyota and Honda being the nicest, and also having street prices substantially higher than the Dodge Chrysler models. Fords have been plaqued with mechanical problems. The Chyrslers mostly have tranmission problems but now come with a 70 or 80K powertrain warranty. You can also buy a gigantic SUV, but along with eating a lot of gas and having to hike to the third seat, you won't be fooling anybody! Minivans are incredibly well evolved designs for people moving along with getting 20-24 mpg on the highway.

And to me it is incredibly cheap. Old Subarus didn't at all meet my needs (too small, too slow, too odd looking, not enough load capacity, not enough cornering power, too noisy) so to each their own. If your criterion for a new car purchase is that it has to last 220,000 miles without any non-consumable maintenance or repiar, good on ya. This board is becoming more and more and more and more negative. Doesn't ANYONE ever say ANYTHING good about Subarus anymore? I like mine - enough to put in new speakers, stereo, tires, brakes - and head gaskets.

I look at it differently, having just changed the HG before they created a problem at 140,000 miles. I've now spent a total of about $2,300 in non-consumable repairs on this car in 140,000 miles. That's 1.6 cents per mile, compared to 7-8 cents per mile for gas or 4.6 cents per mile for insurance. And it compares very favorably with the two other cars I drove that many miles - but runs much better than they did. Among 8 friends, two have had head gasket problems. The Auto Safety sight someone registered yesterday has logged a total of 8 complaints against all Subarus in all years. Even the 95-99 OB's are still considered a Best Bet by Consumer Reports. Lots and lots of people buy Hondas. And Chevrolets. And giant SUV's and pickups.

If you do a search you will find many threads on this topic. I believe the Forester is the same as the Outback but uses 6.5" speakers. Check out this 6 page thread, which even has pictures and where-to-buy info: http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=7141 I bought the Infinity Kappa 62.5's, all on the advice of Alias20035, from eTronics as recommended by Alias and they shipped fast for MUCH less than Crutchfield. A friend of mine whose wife has a '98 OB listened to them for two minutes, then referenced the same thread, bought them and installed them as well. There are some other models suggested as well. Here's the difference between the stock Outback speakers and the Infinitys: I wanted a CD player and cassette, so I bought the AM/FM/Weatherband/Cassette/single CD Outback Ltd radio new on eBay for $159.

My 1997 OBW with 139K was exhibiting signs of head gasket failure. I had it replaced - see thread titled preemptive head gasket replacement. It cost around $1,200. I went ahead and did it because I have friends with 185K and 192K on theirs, and there is nothing anywhere near the price range that meets my needs as well. It runs great and I'm glad I did it. I live in Boston and insurance on some new SUVs is $3,500. So this repair on a vehicle that's only cost a total of $1,100 in repairs in the previous 80,000 miles isn't going to kill me. Cars always cost money, they never give back. I'm no longer much of a mechanic but back in the day a mechanic did a compression test before he started talking about a cracked block.

Most of the area Subaru service departments are pretty good, but they're also usually flat rate so they can become expensive. I live in Boston but have my car worked on in Peabody. I'd suggest the Car Talk mechanics recommendation forum at: http://www.cartalk.com/content/mechx/ Most of the independent garages have done quite a bit with Subarus since they are so common here, even though they don't necessarily advertise that they "specialize" in them. You could even take it to the Good News Garage, home turf of Click & Clack, the Tappet Brothers of NPR fame. 75 Hamilton Street, 617-354-5383. They have a reputation for doing good work, but they are not cheap and take cash only. The best garages around here are now getting $65 per hour. I have no connection with them nor have they laid eyes on my car, but have heard their comments on various Subaru call-ins and they seem to be very familiar with them. Along with VW's, Hondas and Volvos, Subarus have been approved by the Democratic Village of Cambridge People's Car Commissariat, so you should be all set.

On my 97 OBW I replaced the OEM Michelins with Michelin X Ones (aka X Plus) and replaced them (with 60,000 miles on them and still plenty of tread) with Michelin HydroEdge. Hands-down the best passenger car tire I've ever owned. Not the cheapest but are very good in snow, phenomenal in rain. They'll be over $500 mounted and balanced at NTB or the like, and worth every penny. The 16's on yours may be more.

FWIW, I'm beginning to think that SOA is technically correct in saying they don't have a problem with head gaskets. The real culprit may actually be warped heads - which leads to head gasket failure.