Garry

Just discovered this message board. Sorry if I'm asking a too familiar question all over again: I have an 04 Outback wagon. When I first got it (new), on cold starts I noticed a clatter from the engine which the dealer said was no problem and was piston slap. It went away about 15 seconds after I started the engine. The car now has 18,000 on it and in the last month, after the 15 second clatter goes away, at about the 30 second point, I start to hear a quite noticeable tap-tap-tap-tap that lasts about 60 seconds and then fades away over another minute or so. The dealer told me that this was piston slap and that I need to have my two passenger side pistons replaced with redesigned ones. I know that without listening to the car this is tough, but would you be able to comment on: 1) does the dealer diagnosis make sense? 2) I can live with the sound -- do I need to have the engine torn down and risk other problems in the refit? 3) The dealer will not do the other 2 pistons. I have an uneasy feeling about new redesigned pistons on one side and older original design pistons on the other side. Any comments you might be able to make would be helpful. Thank you, Garry (near Syracuse, NY)