subsince77

Her Forerunner is great. She got the thing several years ago. I think it's a 93, and it only had about 50,000 miles on it. Some guy from Texas just kept it up here for his summer visits. He had a friend run it occasionally, do oil changes etc. so it was in great shape. I think she still has less than 100,000 on it. It is a great vehicle, especially in actual 4wd conditions. It's just that she and her husband would like to have one of their vehicles get better milage (he drives a full-sized Chevy PU). They just did some work on thier house and want to pay that off first. That was one question she had though, she thought a Forester would go where her Forerunner goes - I said no way. I love my Outback, and it's great in the winter etc., but you would never confuse it with an actual high clearance, low geared, 4wd vehicle. We've taken her Forerunner on some serious roads:eek: , and it handles them with ease. Anyway, there is a nice Forester sitting there if someone wants it.

Just a follow-up report. It turns out this Forester is a one owner car that has had every recommended service throughout it's life. I haven't talked directly to the owner, but I would imagine that includes the magic coolant additive. The owner has the receipts from everything she has ever done to it. I guess she just spent $1000.00 at the dealer on an 80,000 mile service - no idea what that would be. I can't imagine my car having needed $1000 worth of work at 80,000, but whatever. Probably changed the tranny oil and checked the brakes. The only thing not done is of course the timing belt ( so probably also the cam seals and water pump too). All in all though, it's probably a sweet deal for someone. My friend has decided to drive her Forerunner for another year and pay off some other debt before buying a new car, so I won't be pursuing it. Thanks for the help.

Yeah, but when you pull up to the race with a loaded bike trailer, there is an inherent intimidation factor that reverberates through the parking lot. Since I only ever, at best, finish mid pack, it's my only chance to worry anyone. Once they see me swim, or bike or run for that matter, they know I'm no threat. I gotta get my digs in where I can! My wife on the other hand, nearly always places, and frequently wins her age group.

Sounds good. It's due anyway, so this will motivate me to change the trans and diff fluids in the next couple of weeks.

I don't think so, because adding more bikes on top wopuld just create more drag. As I said, putting two bikes on the hitch rack gives us MUCH better milage than 2 bikes on top. I use the roof rack locally all the time, because hitch racks get in the way of the rear hatch and are a real pain unless we are traveling and want the milage. I have at least one bike on the car nearly every day. The only other consideration is that pulling up some passes, like Red Mountain, you are only going 20 or 30 mph, so you are reducing wind drag, but if using a trailer, you're still pulling the weight. Anyway, enough of all that. There is no question that the trailer is easier and gets better milage than any of my other 3 bike options. I just always thought that pulling trailers was hard on vehicles that weren't really designed for it. But, I bought this one because it is pretty light, and I have pulled it quite a bit with the Subie. I just wanted to see what anyone thought and be sure I wasn't eating up my tranny.

Its a manual transmission, and I run Valvoline synthetic in it. As I said, I think the trailer weighs around 250 pounds empty. A trailer is a little bit of a pain once in a while, but I find it much easier to work with overall than to have to deal with the hitch rack when getting into the hatch. I can't fit everything on top, and that would be my worst option as far as milage goes. I've been getting between 27 and 29 crossing passes with the trailer. With two bikes on top I usually get 23 or 24.

I have what may be a very subjective question. I have a two place bicycle rack and a storage box on top of my 97 OBW all the time. I also have a hitch mount bike rack that carries two bikes that I put on when I need it. It especially works well for my wife and I with two bikes on the highway - saves quite a bit of gas as opposed to two bikes on the roof. I also have a light trailer, probably weighs 250 pounds, that will carry 5 bikes. My wife and I and a friend often use our Subaru to go to triathlons. That means three people, three bikes and gear being hauled over mountain passes. I guess I never really thought the Subbie was made for pulling a trailer, so I am always a little concerned when we use it. However, it consistently gets better gas milage pulling the trailer with three bikes, then it does with two bikes on the hitch rack and one on top. My question is, does better gas milage tell the whole story? I have to assume that in some way (less drag) the car is working less pulling the trailer since it gets better milage. But do you think its still harder on the tranny or rear end or something to pull the trailer? The next race will require driving to Durango over three long, high, steep passes. I'd rather not ruin my car for a little gas milage. Whatchyall think?

Yes, thanks, I did know that because I have the same engine. If they haven't done the belt/WP/front seals job yet, and likely they haven't, she can use that as a bargaining chip.

Thanks. I couldn't follow that last link OB99W. I know how to change an O2 sensor, no big deal there. But ECu reflash? What does that mean? I didn't know about the clutch shudder thing. This car is being sold at a local gas station. That actually is a good thing. The station owner sells a few choice vehicles on the side, and they are always from sources he knows well and in really good shape. Mostly Subarus, BMWs and a few Mercedes. I think this car is probably from a local owner, so we will be able to talk to them about the car's history if my friend is interested. This is where I bought my 97 OBW 5 or 6 years ago. I worked with the actual owner and got all the maintenance receipts. Also, the car is tagged to have originated at one of the nearer Subaru dealers, so they may know about whether it had the coolant conditioner or not. Unfortunately, I wouldn't take my car near that dealer. They are the ones that , when I first got my car, swore up and down that it had hydraulic lifters and that it did not need to ever have the valves set. They would not believe me when I told them that had changed on the newer 2.5 engines. Anyway, I'll see if she wants to go look at it.

I have a friend that has decided she wants a Forester. There happens to be a 2001 that just shoed up for sale in town. It has 90K on it, I think they are asking 8400 or something like that - remember this is Colorado. Anyway, I took a quick look at it the other day. i didn't even have time to start it yet. It looks very clean inside, it's a manual which I like, and she wants. The only thing I looked for was any sign of an external HG leak on the drivers side. Everything looked dry. When I start it I'll listen for piston slap or any lower end noise - anything else on that car that year?

I pulled the stock Subaru radio/CD player out of my 97 OBW and had a TV shop put a line on it that I can plug my iPod into. It just has a 1/8 stereo plug on the end that sits by the center console. They didn't charge much and it works great. I don't think they were able to simply plug into any rear inputs thought. They had to actually wire into something I think.

On my 97 OBW, I have noticed that it takes a long time for the oil to really settle back into the pan. I assumed that it has something to do with the boxer configuration. I usually get good reading when cold, if I re-check once or twice. If the engine has run, I like to park it level for as much as 20 minutes before checking. Then, over time I have learned that it doesn't use any oil, and if I get a slightly funky reading once. I check again later. Otherwise I get duped into adding too much oil. Neither my old Subaru, nor my old horizontally oppose VW, were this way, but this car is.

I have had a fairly large Barcrafters box on top of my 97 OBW. I used to take it off sometimes, but now I always leave it on there. I almost always have it half full of gear. I also had to move it forward so the hatch would open better. I only lost about 1 mpg on the highway. I still usually get between 28 and 31 depending on speed. A marked decrease when we are going over 70. As far as bikes, we run a yakima fork mount roof rack on close to home trips. For longer trips I run a two bike hitch mount rack - huge difference in milage. Two bikes on top, 23 to 26 mpg, two bikes on the hitch mount 28 to 31 mpg.

5 speed. I run regular, but our base altitude is just under 8000', so it doesn't need higher octane. I've tried running premium for many tanks, but it never made any difference.

That's interesting. Ours drops dramatically over 75 no matter what. Doing 80+ I'll only get 24 or 25 at best.

One thing that I have noticed over the years, but can't explain, is that my 97 OBW seems to get as good, and sometimes better, milage with the A/C running. On numerous summer highway trips, I will get a little better milage in the middle of the day when the A/C is on. I don't think it holds true for in town though. I wondered if it would carry over to this new engine. This last week my wife and I traveled about 200 miles one way and back. We had camping gear, two mountain bikes, on a hitch rack behind the car not on top, and the rocket box stuffed with gear. We went over three serious passes, Red Mountain, Coalbank, and Molas - lots of climbing and descending - and got 31.4 mpg each way. Actually 31.6 one way (with A/C), and 31.4 the other (no A/C, it was snowing hard). On those roads we are never going much over 65, and nowhere near that on the passes themselves. I now have about 5500 miles on this engine, and it has stopped using any oil, and the mpg has increased to where my old one was. It has always seemed that this car gets good milage on the highway under 70 mph, and poor milage in town and over 70. So, they will do it under the right circumstances.

This seems to be a very common but elusive problem. I think all of the solutions that you find in this thread and others like it may, or may not, solve your problem. Nice huh? My latest is to focus on the fuel avenue. I began to wonder if I have a slightly, or somehow intermittently plugged injector. I have run two bottles of BG 44K through with a little break in between bottles. It has been about 3 weeks since my last CEL. most of that was around home driving, but yesterday I spent 3 hours on the highway with no CEL. All I can do is keep trying things. Again, at least this is only an annoyance, and never seems to actually casue a real problem. I also bought a used ECU, but I have not installed it. I have been too busy, and with no CEL there has been no reason. As for the CCR engine, typically you keep your old ignition and injection parts, so I don't know if it would be the fault of the new engine. Oh, one last thing, I met a guy that had this problem for a while on a 97 OBW. He discovered that unless he grabbed the plug wire with a set of pliers and pushed it hard into the coil, the wires did not fully engage the coil. I'm not sure if that was a male or female coil. I have no such problem on mine, but you might want to check it. I think the thing is just way to sensitive to "misfires".

Mine seems perfect so far, only about 5000 miles, and they are sure great to deal with. Just 1 cent worth.

Here in Colorado, Napa oil is still Ashland. At least that's what the label says. Is it different in different parts of the country?

It's really not that big of a deal. I just wanted to know what it was before I pulled it. With all the work i have stacked up, just getting time to actually change out the seat will be great. No time for seat belt alarm experiments. I'll probably just plug it back in.

That makes sense. Can ya yank that thing or will you then have eternal annoying seat belt warning?

I was getting ready to change out my drivers seat. I noticed the wires that connect to a box under the seat (97 OBW). What is that? I don't have heated seats. I was concerned about popping an airbag or something if I unhook it. Guess I could unhook the battery, but I hate setting the clock and restoring radio stations - whine - whine - whine. Anybody know what lurks there?

Yes, this is what I was going to look for next, but I wasn't sure if you could get this dyed stuff any more, at least in a form I can use. My thoughts exactly on taking it to someone - I'm not going to take anything apart on this thing. I now know that the problem was not an electrical one, or really a mechanical one in the sense of a bad clutch or compressor or something. I have a leak. If the sealant actually works, then the pressure should stay the same. If not, I want to find where the leak is THEN take it to someone to work on only those areas. We will be in Albuquerque next week, so I can look for some R134 with dye there. It's a good A/C town. Our stores won't even stock it for another 2 months. My buddy just happened to have a can on the shelf, so we used part of it.

This bottle of 134 contained some kind of oil for the compressor, and R134, and the leak sealer - sounds suspicious, but that is why this guy likes it. Maybe it will work.

I understand that if the system is opened, it has to be pumped. I just wondered about adding some refrigerant without pumping the air out first. I went to a local mechanic this morning and we added some R134. Since it was low, I must have a leak. He used a can that he gets at Wal Mart because he is not set up to do much A/C work. He is however a friend that I can bother early in the morning and use whatever is in his shop. Anyway, this stuff has a "sealer" in it that he has actually seen some good results from I guess. So we topped it off for now, I'll see what happens. If it leaks back out quickly, I'll probably take it to Subaru in Grand Junction, or someone else in a warmer town. Funny, but we don't have a lot of A/C experts here in the ice box of central Colorado. Thanks for all the info.