88RxTuner

1st, yes, it is a vacuum driven actuator. This does not reduce all chance of getting it out of 4wd without starting the engine, however... You should be able to remove the spare tire (if it's there) and look down at the top of the trans. On the driver side, there's a large vacuum motor bolted to the side of the trans. Follow the cable coming out of it to the lever on the other side of the trans... manually move the lever the other way from where it is. (may help to have an assistant to a) hold clutch in or bump car fwd and back to reduce the bind on the lever.) Hope this helps.. this will let you roll the vehicle without having to get it started.

Subaru's extended warranty on head gaskets expires at 100,000, under the condition that the factory cooling system treatment was installed before 60,000 or some number like that, per the recall notice on head gasket failure... if there is not a campaign sticker on the radiator support, Subaru will usually not honor HG repair even under 100,000. Of course, there are exceptions to this... see your local dealer. Subaru HG usually (in my experience) start seeping right about 90,000 miles, with the infamous "black goo" at the head gasket seam, drivers head, rear of engine. By about 120k, if you haven't had them done, expect to have them fail. Some people get lucky, some unlucky... this is a generality, people. The dealer will usually only repair the HG that is leaking actively, unless you ask for more work... = more money. Most reputable Subi shops will pull the motor and reseal everything on the front and back of the motor, both head gaskets, and put a new water pump on at the same time... providing you havent had that done. That way, you dont have to touch the engine for anything for another 100k. From what you describe, Your coolant leak is either one of the heater hoses leaking at the engine side, located just behind and above the driver side cyl head, or at the head gasket probably on the driver side rear. Good luck.

As far as that whole 'through the rocker cover' exit strategy the lifter took... I cant say I've ever seen or heard of such a thing, but if that's in fact what happened I would have to agree that something had to create that force on the rocker/lifter.. maybe piston? Keep us posted, love to hear how it tears down...

Daeron... Basically, and someone correct me if I'm wrong, the Gen3 heads have wider valve spacing in the head, which helps reduce the cracks that appear between the seats. They also have thicker casting in the exhaust port area, where these heads are notorious for cracking and leaking coolant. Generally speaking, they are an overall better casting of the same head.

When I built the engine for my RX this winter, the heads list@ 350+- each, and I got one each left and right out of 24L 17R left in the US.. at least, that's what my dealer told me.. *glad I kept that piece of paper...*

The problem with changing UJoints in the subaru driveline is that they are very difficult to center, resulting in axial runout between sections of driveline, leading to vibration problems and premature failure. As stated before, a competent machine shop SHOULD be able to center them properly and re-stake them in place, and if they cant... dont go there anymore. I agree with nipper, on page 1, a good driveline shop is invaluable... you might look into his suggestion. I am here in CA, Subaru/Suzuki/Kia in Rancho Cordova ROCKS. Their service is good, pricing is competitive, even for the junkyard world.. I know they will ship interstate, but I dont know what the charge would be. You'll be looking around 250 bucks for a used complete driveline assy, IIRC...at least they used to be. ( I know, and a loaf of bread was a nickel, right?)

Check the CTS... if it's hanging and the ecm isnt seeing a warm engine, funny things happen. Check for the infamous corrosion problems associated with it. Check resistance on cold engine then warm engine, compare to specs (which I dont know off the top of my head..) Also possibly the AAV, check as SKIP advised. Possibly a vacuum leak, but that would tend to make it act funny all the time, not just for 10 minutes...

There are sensors in each door lock actuator. Possibly one of them has shorted to ground and is turning your door lock Light on. One side of the Door Lock light is 12V, the other side grounds through door lock actuators. If even one of them is unlocked, a ground will be available for that circuit, and the light will come on. You can check each actuator individually, you should have continuity between the Yellow/black wire and the Black wire with the actuator in the unlock position. In the lock position, the circuit should open and have no continuity. Suggest getting a wiring diagram of the vehicle's power door lock circuits.

Pulling the axle is a solution, yes. It takes care of the binding around corners, and the driveline wear issue... Nipper, the idea is to pull the axle during your Daily driving experience, then maybe install it again the weekend before you plan on goin wheeling? Pulling an axle may be fantastic for those who use their daily drivers for regular off-roading.. but when 90% of your driving is done on pavement, is it worth having to tear down every time you want "true" 4wd? GD... no flames intended here, your "lazy, expensive, less-effective solution" I think is a biased opinion from the point of view of an "off-road" driver. The debate here is for occasional deep snow, not mud slinging and rock crawling... I happen to have the opinion that when I throttle my RX in the snow, and both my rear wheels spin and send the car into a drift, my LSD is working JUST FINE for the occasion... with the only added expense of using synthetic diff oil, which I would do anyway with an open diff... and I wouldnt say Lazy, just more convenient than, say, waking up to a snowstorm, going outside in the snow, rolling around on the ground for a half hour to install an axle shaft... in the snow... going inside to change clothes from rolling around... in the snow...then driving where I need to go.

I can report that we see 4 or 5 of these a year, in winter, usually break first thing in the morning after a cold night... one suspicion is that some of these are more brittle than others, specifically impreza bars, and that over a cold night (under 20degF) this brittleness is worse and the first sharp load they see, such as a hard corner or pot hole, will stress them to the snapping point. We actually keep 2 in stock for impreza chassis during the winter season. Presumably metallurgy has something to do with it, but so does age and wear history, at least from what I've seen. Just my .02...from a shop view.

With a regulator, I would use the 4-7psi. No sense in potentially under-fueling it, although with carb setups volume is more important than pressure. It's easy to dial down your fuel pressure w/a regulator, it's harder to replace a pump to raise it...