montana105

Sounds very similar to the Wynns products we used at Chrysler/Jeep. GM also makes a product commonly called top end cleaner that you spray heavily through your intake,it smokes like hell and sure loosens things up,almost to much,definitely change your oil. Is this Justice Bros available to the public?

Smitty-don't forget Lakeside on top of the hill where the big motor coaches like to break loose from their tow behinds,two times now I've come across this coming back from Billings most recently last Sunday where the expensive car broke loose and rolled back into an explorer from another country,as the traveler told me in a distinctive brogue"bloody well serves him right,what does he need two vehicles for to travel".I was at a loss for words.... but then the volunteer fire department waved us on.John

I haven't seen anything advertised,and our Canadian friend is right-you don't see gun racks as much anymore.But I think with a little planning and very minimal cost you could build a rack very easily.They are still legal(at least here in montana),I see them everyday here in Kalispell.

Real life experience here although not in a subie.We went out to cut and haul firewood in a very beefed up Chevy Blazer very capable of towing the weight motor wise,fully loaded 18 ft car trailer with 4 ft sides.Towed fine till we started going down a hill and the trailer attempted to pass the Blazer weaving in and out of lanes as it tried,broke the side boards and spewed logs all over the interstate,taking out the oil pan on a Uhaul truck that ran over the pile.What was missing? Trailer brakes and even loading.Sure your Subie will pull it but it won't manage it unless set up properly.

Are you getting any vibrations at speed even on smooth tops,is the car dipping real hard as you go over a bump? I'm leaning towards struts and wondering if you're showing any uneven tire wear? John

I don't see how even a fly by night shop could get it this wrong but anything is possible,I would raise the holy side of hell to get the first shop to replace all affected tires and parts at their expense,but I do hope this is the result of a four wheel alignment because if you only got the front aligned even at the recommend of the shop you are responsible for the wear,give that shop a chance to fix their screw up and threaten the word of mouth assault on their business if they won't help. I hate to sound so what ever you want to call it but you were screwed most likely and you can't let small shops get away with this,they depend on word of mouth to succeed,at the same time if they do right by you spread the word,they may have had a hopped up wanna be on the alignment rack that day.

Is this a whine or a whistle sound ?

Not to be any kind of smart *** but did you drain the radiator after the flush? My thinking is that you maybe had a coolant problem and compounded it if you didn't drain the system after running flush material through it,or sent al that crap right to the radiator. I'm sorry to say I've seen this before.

but,but,but-no tangent here but have someone rev the engine while pressing the brake while you are looking at things.Rear of engine to tranny shouldn't move much at all,you'll se what i'm talking about if the mount is bad.John

I'm going with Nipper on this,motor mounts

who cares if he's offended,you're the one that will be spending the money to get the car up to par.He's obviously gonna take the as is route,why subject yourself to the expense? Get the car cheap enough to fix the defects and you're golden.If you don't have the cajones to back yourself up then step away right now.That's not an insult to you,i'm just trying to help you out,if you feel comfortable then buy it but don't *************** when expenses add up.John

Chipper,I would offer him 800.00 - 1000.00 for this car as it doesn't sound like he's being upfront,he either accepts it or doesn't. It is not gonna be pretty when other issues develop.keep looking. John

does the box say Subaru on it and did you get them from the dealer?Alot of boxes say meet OEM specs whereas they are really generic lengths with generic resistance.

Any pics,sounds like a great find,but I hate rust

Some of ours are open till noon on Saturdays,but none are open on Sunday,and the crooks up here can't be going to church.

Your wrecking yards are open on Sundays? Wow what a treat.

I'd also suggest a dedicated alignment shop.I would think a bent rim would show up in 3 balancing attempts,but then again.I'm surprised the dealer hasn't attempted to sell you a whole new front end.There was a good suggestion earlier about switching the rear tires to the front and see if you get any changes,this could allevaite any fears of suspension problems.I'd check to see if you have any worn bearings as this wouldn't show up in wheel balancing or alignment set ups.

Think back to the Ford Explorer fiasco and you'll have your answer as to why Costco won't deviate from recommended tires,they don't want anything to do with liability in this sue happy greedy society we've become.It may not even be Costco so much as Michelin or Goodyear dictating what they will assume in legalities.

I'm happy to say that here in Montana you can still give a one finger (index ?the one next to your thumb) to anyone on the road no matter what you're driving and get the same back, of course this is mainly driving on secondary roads where you get real sleepy over long distance and that's the only finger that still works or is available after the logging trucks or out of staters cutting you off or passing you at 70 mph in a no passing zone:grin:

Judging from the amount of people coming down from Alberta expecting beer and wine at 6:00 am I would venture to say that daytime running lights are for the inebriated( just sticking up for smitty). We enjoy our Northern neighbors and their money.

I'm not trying to direct you in your hopes of conversion as I've used Propane to run some work vans,but isn't LPG just a quick no result fix to another problem down the road.As has been stated before Propane/ LPG are not infinite supplies and their costs will continue to rise along with traditional petroleum? It is one reason we switched back to gas to run our vans in addition to performance issues.Our vans ran typically 45000 to 50000 miles per year and we replaced engines every third year,by the third year the vans would hardly pull themselves not to mention any equipment,which isn't to say that's bad to get 130000 to 150000 miles per engine but we went through alot of trials to get that kind of duration,including finding outlets for fill ups.When I left the company all vans were operating on gas,with better life expectancy,and more power through out the life of the engine,actually some of the engines were achieving 200000 miles plus before overhaul.

Equal,have you satisfied yourself that this is a valve tick and not another timing component or accessory or fuel injector. I still think it wise to get compression readings as Nipper suggested earlier.Typically a compression gauge screws into the spark plug threads,the type you mentioned where you hold the rubber nipple against the plug hole are very inaccurate.I'm wondering if your oil pump was resealed in the process which if it wasn't would cause enough of oil pressure drop to your upper end.I would ask the mechanic who did the original work if this was done and also if he/she backed up their original diagnosis with methodical testing. Good luck,John

while you're at it find another shop,that is ridiculous

Did you replace the black sooty plugs?

Thanks for bringing us up to date and I'm glad you were able to get your dilema fixed.I would like to add that one of the best maintenance items a person can keep up on in an aluminum engine is fresh antifreeze,well any engine for that matter.I've seen so many engines run for years on the same antifreeze,not only does it clog a radiator but it will clog your heater core also affecting everything.