GaryW

Thanks for the very detailed responses. The process seems quite straight forward. I'll check my local manual car wash and see if they have an engine degreaser option. I admit, I haven't kept the engine very clean in the past 6 years and well.. it shows. I have some rust/corrosion in the engine. Salt is nasty stuff. -G

Thanks a ton.. i'll check this out over the weekend. The sucker hasn't worked in a few years. As it wasn't too important its been sitting and nagging me. Easy fix.. i'll break out the dusty soldering iron. -G

Thanks for the info.. I guess i'm in for as trans eval as I had planned. I am dreading the expense of a new trans. -G

The engine compartment on my 2000 Forester is rather cruddy. I see some corrosion and my belief is the sucker should get a good cleaning. I bet there is still some salt/grime in there from the winter months. Nasty. This may be a noobish question to ask ... but. Whats the proper method to keep an engine clean and prevent corrosion? Just a regular old hose and water? Should I use an engine degreaser spray instead? Something else? What about water and electrical components? Thanks in advance.. -Gary

I currently have 118k miles on my 2000 Forester L. Automatic trans. At around 112,000 I noticed that when shifting into D it would sometimes lag a few seconds before going into gear. If I give it too much gas, it may shift a bit too hard.. so i've been extra cautious with this to prevent damage. The car is semi-retired right now as i'm commuting with a different vehicle. It now sees limited use which is good.. until I get this trans thing figured out. I have changed the Trans fluid 3x since owning the car. Last one was at 100k miles. Maybe not as frequently as I should have, but not too infrequent. Vehicle saw 85% highway miles. The trans fluid is clean/red. The level is good, though ever so slighly over the full mark when the vehicle is running. My thoughs for my next move. -trans filter change (I am quite sure they didn't change this on the fluid change). -diff fluid change If it continues to act up.. -go to a trans shop for evaluation. Any other suggestions? -Gary

The clock up above the rearview mirror on my 2000 Forester has been dead for who knows how long now. Its probably a fuse somewhere.. unless the thing itself died. I checked various fuse diagrams, but for the life of me cannot identify one specifically for the clock. Anyone know what fuse I need, and where it is located? -Gary

My local friendly (and incompetent) oil change place has busted so many splash guard fasteners, I have lost count. Well.. ok.. they busted 6 or so over the past year. Well... I am in need for replacements. And I won't go back there to get more broken. Where can I get these fasteners? -Gary

I had a similar thing happen to my 2000 Forester. My conclusion was that some corrosion on the wheel/brakes caused the cyclic scraping sound. Boy was it scary.. it sounds nasty. But after driving for a couple miles, the sound went away and has not returned. There were a few rather moist/humid/rainy days and the car sat in the driveway for 3 days or so. I think it was just enough to corrode somewhat. On the other hand, be cautious if you hear such noise. I had a sears auto center rotate my tires once. They incorrectly mounted my front right tire.. it was not on flush.. and also made a nasty scraping noise. I knew darn well what it was as I had just left the place when the sound started. Never did I go back. Oh.. I should also mention they denied that was the problem. After 'looking' at the car they said there was nothing wrong. Interestingly.. the sound stopped after leaving the place.. and I watched what they did carefully. They remounted the very same tire. I no longer trust sears, nor many of the 'speedy' type oil places. I have had too many amateur mechanics there that just do things 'fast' without caring about the quality of their work. Many busted splashguard fasteners, oil and ATF fluid overfills, I had enough. The convenience wasn't worth the pain. *now that I have strayed from the topic.. i'll stop* -Gary