CNY_Dave

Certainly check crank pulley bolt and flex plate bolts are tight, and try without the serp belt, and make sure the crank pulley isn't rubbing the front cover (I had that happen, the rubber degrades).

That axle seems to move too much (in the not rotational direction)

I have had the shaking under power be a bad inner CV joint, can be surprisingly hard to track it down.

I had a little hub puller but no slide hammer, so I bought a stout threaded rod with washers and nuts and bought 4 5lb barbell weights to go on the threaded rod. I literally had to be careful I didn't yank the car off the jackstands.

Both control cables seized in my forester when it was about 10 degrees out, with the heat off of course. (In snowy weather I cool the windshield before parking and leave the heat off to help keep it cold) I ended up putting 2 small holes in the dash with stiff wire coming out, the wire connected to the doors.

Yes, exactly as on mine.

Yes. Has some weird rust in places, mostly paint that flaked off under-hood spot welds and brackets and a little on the rear diff carrier.

Oh and gear lube, my magic mix had gear lube. My magic hatch lock grease was atf, bearing grease, and silicone grease.

I had my cable (2005 forester) start to bind, from top and bottom I would lube with paste mix of ATF and wheel bearing grease every couple of years. Well, more the little round thing that holds the cable in the shifter than the cable.

Kind of glad now my unicorn* forester is a 2010 not a 2011. *(bought in April, 28,000 miles, manual trans)

I had a slightly different OEM 6 disc changer and yeah I had to take it apart to get my disks back. It wouldn't even play them...

I had a coolant weep from a head gasket for almost 200,000 miles, the subaru / holts rad weld conditioner kept it under control up to and beyond the combustion leak into the coolant. If something was beyond a weep or maybe a small trickle yeah it probably wouldn't work.

I favor the JDM engine route.

Old motorcycles to be fixed up in my case, late 70's yamaha XS750 triples, plus there's my XR650L to haul to further riding places.

I just bought a 2010 and reflexively clicked on this then recalled it's a stick... Haven't had a stick since 06? 07?

Recently bought a 2010 forester manual trans with 28k miles and stuck a hitch on it.

You can always try starting it in neutral, could be the neutral safety switch.

Wheel bearings increase the tone at the same rate you speed up, 2x as fast and 2x the pitch. Differentials pitch up by 4x the speed change, also diffs usually only make noise when on the gas and get quiet coasting.

If your tires are now worn differently front-rear you are inviting AWD problems.

BTW I have had an upper hose that leaked very slightly, it seemed to be coming from anywhere but the hose.

rverdoold, yes, spot on. For a small leak on this car I would be tempted to try some seal conditioner, but a major leak like this, no. This is a fairly unusual failure for this engine.

If going the used trans route, H6 transmissions are different, and one from a 2004 is an option if you swap a part in the tail section.

If the AWD mechanical bits are working then it should have bound up a little in limp mode, which is what the trans goes into when disconnecting that. You get 3rd forwards and reverse and full AWD. The TCU can only detect the voltage at the TCU so it's either a busted or shorted wire from TCU to solenoid, or it's the solenoid.

What year and model is the car? What year is important, and the test they talk about with the fuse isn't measuring at the fuse, it's the wire to the solenoid. in 2003 the fuse would do one thing, in 2004+ it would do the opposite. The resistance would be measured with the TCU disconnected. The TCU solenoid is in the removable tail section of the transmission. With the FWD fuse out, and with it in, what does the car do when turning in tight circles? 2004 and after when the solenoid fails you get front wheel drive, which doesn't hurt anything. before that when it fails you get full lock front-rear.

When you tested the resistance, it was with the TCU disconnected? The signal from the TCU to the solenoid is a pulsed pattern, you need an oscilloscope to see it, although you can get some idea of what's going on with a voltmeter, but it's not really a measurement you can use to say 'good/bad'. The pin at the FWD fuse is hust a signal line input to the TCU, it's not in the circuit with the solenoid.