CNY_Dave

The factory grease in my factory replacement bearings for my '03 looked like vaseline, and there was not a lot of it. The replacement has already lasted longer than the original. It's not always easy to tell how much grease or how good it is by looking at it. I think one reason forester rear bearings go is it's easy for water to get directed right at the seal- that's what it looked like when I replaced one of my wife's rear bearings on her '05.

Pep boys, autozone, etc have pullers (really pushers, heh) for sale and loan. A good 3-arm one with fixed arms and made to be hit with a sledge after having the bejeezus tightened out of it will do the job (after you put the arm back in the ball-joint so you can really smack the bugger)

YOU CAN RULE OUT (OR IN) THE MASTER CYLINDER BY LOCKING THEM UP (oops, sorry) as you describe, then crack that line on the master cylinder, if it doesn't release the brakes the problem is between the MC and the calipers.

Would just setting the solenoid the right way (0V or +12V) be different than a more custom method? As I recall the fluid schematic fill line pressure goes to the spool valve controlled by the solenoid? Or does it get a regulated feed?

Low-beam on with high-beams is bad because the near bright wash of light drowns out the further off dim returning light. I just want to be sure it's just not a stuck relay before i set out to make it work properly (lows off with highs).

Was the way they behaved when I bought the car with 55k miles- low beam filament stays on with the high beams.

Sticking the fuse in and removing it a few times with the engine running, car in 1 and someone inside with the brake on ( ) might help too, the pressure pulses might help knock any crud loose.

OK, I just want to confirm- On other gen 2s (mine is an '03 outback), do the low beam filaments stay on when the high-beams are selected, or do I have a stuck relay?

My wifes forester ('04 4eat) and my outback ('03 4eat) both have no noticeable delay for the AWD to 'kick in', some cars seem to have a slight delay as a normal fact-of-life, but something there has to be different...

If it has the multi-plate clutch and not VTD, you should be able to supply +12V to the transfer duty solenoid to get it to lock up fully. Earlier models sent +12V to fully release the AWD, later models send 0V to fully release it. The diode trick might work, or you might need to use a multi-pole switch to switch the TCU wire over to a resistor. But, I thought at some point all the autos got VTD (the center planetary differential)?

I have never seen a warning against 'normal' amounts of ethanol for the H6, up to 10% should be fine. It does not 'need' premium, it runs fine but with less power on 87, with the caveat that there have been reports of excessive carbon build-up with lower octane fuel.

Yeah, I see it now. Silly me, was focusing on 'rear brakes', didn't guess it'd have its own listing.

I didn't see that, except for the one hw kit from england. I'll have to scour the site better.

All the springs and the hold-downs, that is, the rest is in rough shape but usable. Need to find a good paint for those things, maybe just rust converter.

Wow, what's tough to find is a hardware kit, I basically need everything inside the e-brake drum (all mine is rusted to death). Rockauto has one kit, from england.

Hmmm, 15 bucks. 5 bucks for the kit. 40-50 for a whole caliper. Undecided...

The bore is in good shape, the bleeder came out, if I end up not using it maybe someone out there can use the caliper if they have a decent pistion. I might get really lucky and might only need one caliper, the one for which I have a replacement! I think only one of my rears is dragging.

With the price of a new caliper (the rears aren't that much, are they?) I might go 15 for a piston, if they are 25 I'd just go for the whole caliper. Thanks.

It is fairly well known in gun circles, it cuts through the crud with the stoddard solvent and leaves a good film to fight rust.

Cheap-SOB question of the day... I have a salvaged rear caliper I'd like to rebuild, it has some pitting, almost all of it beyond where the square sealing O-ring will need to sit or travel over, but with a little where I think it will need to go. Is some pitting tolerable? It will polish to where it has no bumps. Can you get pistons?

Fishy, another user of Ed's Red I see, minus the stoddard solvent.

If your diff dipstick does not fit tightly the fluid slung against it by the pinion may pop it out. I was running the lucas additive, made it just thick enough to sling the dipstick out a bit, made a mess!

If it just started to howl, does it have any fluid in it? Mine got noisy over many months, no one trip where you could say it 'started'.

Yeah, bad muffler is likely to be worse than a buzz or rattle.

Used trans is always an option. Should be $800 or less. www.car-part.com