aldug

I have a 2001 Forester with almost 60,000 miles and the car has recently become very jerky at times. The check engine light flashes and then goes solid. The codes stored are P0302, cylinder 2 misfire, and P0304, Cylinder 4 misfire. Initially, the jerkyness would only be for a minute when the car was first running during wet weather, now it seems to never go away during any type of weather. When the car was running rough, I popped the hood but didn't see any sparking from any of the wires. I sprayed a fine mist of water on where the spark plug wires connect to the coil and I saw a lot of sparking on the cylinder 2 and 4 wires. It was right at the junction of the spark plug wires and the coil. Is this likely bad wires or a bad coil? Any other ideas?

What are the "FSM Instructions"?

OK, are there any other major repair issues to watch out for on the 2000-2002 cars? Transmission failures?

Which years/models with the 2.5L engine had issues with headgaskets? How much does it cost to get it fixed? Was there a specific date when the issue went away?

What do you mean by "1/4 inch by circumference"? So you're saying that from 2001 on, the head gasket leak problem has been fixed?

So the 2000-2002 subarus don't have same AWD problem the early volvos do? Is there anything else to watch out for in these cars?

The early volvos had a very fragile all wheel drive system. If your tires were more than 3/32 of an inch different, it would destroy the bevel gear inside the transfer case. Do subarus have this problem also?

I am looking to buy a used subaru (legacy wagon, outback wagon or forester) in the $8k-$12k range, automatic transmission. Are there any model years or specific cars to watch out for with known problems. If so, what are the problems. I previously owned a volvo XC which had a lot of problems with the AWD system. Any recomendations would be welcome.

Yes, I assume those are all OEM?

I just started doing work on a '01 Subaru Forester and I was wondering where the best place to buy OEM parts is. Is there a website which sells OEM parts for less than the dealer charges? I'm looking for brake pads, rotors, drive and timing belt and fuel filter.

Is that sequence closest to master cylinder to furthest from master cylinder in order to expel the most old fluid?

Has anyone used the Motive power bleeder to bleed their brakes on a Forester? If so, how does it work? What is the bleed sequence for AWD cars?