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A little chronolgy may help: 82,000 miles: Tune up w/ new plugs, wires, fuel filter, etc. 89,000 miles: Toasted engine (overheated but not sure of the cause.) Replaced cooling system. All of it. + Timing belt change. 90,000 miles: Still overheating, installed used engine with ~40,000 miles on it. Transferred new timing belt, water pump, plugs, wires, and a few other goodies to the new engine. 91,000 miles: I bought it two weeks ago. Is there a mark on the crank I can use to check the timing with a strobe to see if it's right, or can that only be checked by physically inspecting the belt & cogs?

That's what I would have thought, but those are different line items. Just looked at the work order again, the "r&r" is the labor for replacing those parts. Plan for tonight/tomorrow is to clean the MAF sensor and throttle body. Both are cheap and relatively easy, and should be done anyway. Will look at the O2 sensor as well to see if it's obviously bad. Good news is that while reviewing the receipts from the previous owners I found that this engine got a new timing belt & water pump, so I won't have to worry about that for quite a while.

It's actually remove and replace, it was the "items" I was unsure about.

First thing I did was put a bottle of Seafoam into the half tank that was there when I bought it. I suppose another bottle wouldn't hurt.

um... wha? I'm not sure where these comments come from. My previous car was a 95 AWD Legacy, also with the 2.2L engine but with auto tranny. That car would get 26 or so, being driven harder and on the exact same routes (my weekly routine doesn't change much). That car is a also few hundred pounds heavier. More weight + heavier foot + auto tranny = lower mpg. Or it should. The car before that was a 90 Legacy AWD sedan, also auto tranny and 2.2L engine. It would get me 30 mpg. The current one is getting 22 mpg, while the book says it should be getting 28. I've never had a car that was running well get less gas mileage than the book says it should. In fact, even my cars that weren't running well usually got good mileage. Poor fuel economy (in the absence of other causes like bad tires or drivign it like I'm in a rally race) indicates that something's wrong. I'm not comparing my car to a 1.8L Civic, I'm comparing it to what it should be. I found the receipts for the work that was done on this car. 9,000 miles ago it got new NGK plugs, "BEL WIRE SET" (not sure exactly what that is) & fuel filter. There's also a line that says "R&R TUNE UP PARTS." I'm not sure what specific items that indicates either.

The tires are in good shape and no lights. Betcha those sensors are old though. Should I go OEM for the sensors or is there a cheaper alternative that's just as good? I see there are 2 sensors. Should I replace both? Is there a way to test if they're bad before I do that? I hate just swapping out parts without really knowing that it'll fix the problem. edit: this car passed NYS inspection two weeks ago, which includes checking the emissions sensors. can a bad sensor still pass this test, or is this a good indication that this is not the problem?

Maybe it's a combination of things. My driving is about 75% on the highway, usually 10 mph over the limit. But in a bigger, heavier car, with the same engine, driving more like a maniac, I was always getting 26-27 mpg for the same trips. Air filter is good, just checked it at the oil change last week. This is the first car I've had with A/C though, and it's been really hot, so I've been using it a lot. This car should be getting 28 mpg, though, and I'd be surprised if the a/c caused a 20% loss of fuel economy.

I am becoming less and less enamored with my new (to me) 98 Impreza. I'm getting about 22 mpg with a 2.2L engine and 5 speed manual tranny. It runs strong and smooth, and the tires are inflated properly, etc. What the heck could it be? A used engine with 40k miles on it was installed in January. Where do I start with maintenance & troubleshooting?

1998-2000

Sorry for the thread hijack, but I'd like to know what information you have to support this opinion since it's the opposite of my experience. A good friend of mine was the service manager for a large Buick dealer. When he started the service department was lucky to break even, but he found ways to make it profitable and after a few years it was even an integral part of their revenue forecast. This Buick dealer was part of a large dealership chain (which included Subaru at one location), and his service shop was the first in the chain to be profitable.

I don't like the Potenzas. Had them on my 95 Legacy wagon and they slipped when there was even a little bit of slickness on the surface. Didn't matter if it was a light drizzle, excessive pollen dust, or snow. It was worst starting from a standstill, but that was enough to keep me from testing it too much while driving. I just became really cautious.

NADA book value is much more realistic. KBB is ridiculously high. I just bought a 98 Impreza L in New York for $3k that needed a clutch, they were asking $4500. $4500 for a 99 OBS is not outlandish, but it is on the high side. They'll get their price (or something close to it) if they're patient enough.

My money is on what nipper said. I had a failing alternator and the symptom was that the tach and speedometer would cut out.

I found the universal joint in my shifter linkage where all the free play and slop is. How the heck do you get that bolt out? I was under the car for half an hour trying to figure it out, and I can't for the life of me see how you'd get a wrench on there.

Just curious, what was the cost of all that? I might consider replacing my ashtray bezel on my 98 with the non-smoking version.

it's actually voilà with an accent over the a.

I am too, but after 6 weeks of borrowing someone else's car and looking and looking and looking, I finally settled on this one. Next time I'm looking I'll ask you to help

Really? I'm up in Albany and was just hunting for a Subaru (any) and didn't find many listed in that price range. I was searching all the classifieds I could find in addition to all the online car selling sites. Anything with less than 150,000 miles was listed for well over 3 grand, and interestingly Imprezas and Foresters were selling for as much as same year Legacies and Outbacks. I finally found an Impreza wagon for $3k, but it's turning out to need more work than I realized and seems to be getting crappy mileage.

Nobody knows? C'mon, you guys know everything!

I'll have to double check and see if this will work or not. On my '98 the ashtray is mounted in the bezel itself, so we'd have to swap bezels. After looking at that picture again, it looks a little different than mine and I'm not sure it would fit right. I'll look again in the daylight.

Can you (or anyone) tell me which is which? Pretty cool that I'm already wired for fog lamps

I was looking on the Impreza, but I only looked on the driver's side. Are they normally hidden somewhere, or just bolted to a piece of metal and easily seen?

Can anyone tell me what these two are for? One brown, one gray, both connected to dummy place holders for switches on the left side of the instrument panel. I'm guessing fog lights and cruise control.

Can you tell me where behind the kick panel it's supposed to be? I looked and didn't find it.

I'm in. Why don't you PM me your phone number and I'll call you to work out the details.