CNY_Dave

Just want to weigh in again on the cap- they can leak direct-to-steam, you never see any liquid. Dave

According to http://www.cars101.com/subaru/outback/outback2003.html all the 4cyl 2003 OBws, and the 6cyl LL bean, had the lim slip rear. Dave

I'll have to try that. haven't 'tested' the limited slip yet- but winter's coming! Dave

These tires are fairly smooth, no edge bite left on 'em. Because this hill is very abrupt, slow is the only choice- the front scraped a little approaching it. I'm not sure my pickup in 4W low would be able to walk up that hill when wet. According to the cars101 site, no extra traction goodies on the LL bean (I could swear I hear brakes being applied though. Maybe that's the front-rear clutch pack, or the limited slip). It does say the beaner has 0.6 inches more ground clearance, though. Woo-Hoo! (7.9, reg. OBW has 7.3, if the page is correct) Dave

2003 OBW LLBean H6 3.0 When it did hook up, it walked up quite nicely- was most impressive. It was from a standing start on the steepest part of the slope. Dave

Not sure if the LL bean OBW has the fancy VDO control or not... Anyway, been testing the wagon on the wet grass in the yard (maxed out the departure angle on the front today on an uphill), there's a 45-degree or so steep spot I hit this morning. Crept up it very slow, it spun, I backed off and slowly applied a bit more pedal, it spun again, backed off again and applied gas again, and it crept right up. Is this the best way to conquer the slippery stuff? Thx- Dave

Haven't crawled under yet, but its def. a rubber/plastic burning smell, not oil. Dave

Grrr, burning plastic/rubber smell on my '03 OBW with the 6 cyl. 55Kmiles, just picked it up. Dave

Same issue when I looked at my '03 at the dealer. There is a TSB on how to properly clean the seating gaskets for the radiator cap- I kid you not. Apparently, ther slightest bit of crud prevents a perfect seal. Mine had a tiny bit of white cruft around the cap, on the radiator. Dave

What's the price, with and w/o a group buy? Dave

Was it designed to open at high revs for more power, or is it to tune the muffler to be quieter and has nothing to do with power? Sounds like the kind of thing that stops working fairly quickly. Dave

Putting on the hitch, I noticed the muffler has a 'bypass' pipe that goes from the front (entry pipe) to the rear of the muffler, and that about it has a small solenoid-looking thing sticking out of the bypass pipe. Is this just a 6cyl thing? Is it a muffler bypass for WFO? Or some kind of a tuned resonator? Thx- Dave

I googled subie towing capacity, it seems to vary between 2000 and 2700lbs, with trailer brakes recc. for over 1000lbs. My '03 with the 3L 6 says 2400. Dave

I believe its the area I'll give you instructions to here: - Remove (or lift) spare tire door - Remove spare tire foam tray cover - Remove right bottom net hook (if it has the loop that goes right down to the carpet)- you just unscrew the hook. - Lift and remove the right hand carpet sectio- should lift right up - Lift and remove the black foam piece under the carper section. - Look/dig down into the exposed areas- the connector should be hidden down in one of the areas. Haven't had another chance to look yet, myself, but I think this is where they mean. Note- right side = passenger side. Dave

So hidden down in the pass side qtr well- thanks, guys! Dave

Well, after searching here, I can say I've looked everywhere I can look without a screwdriver for the factory 6-pin trailer light connector. Behind the jack, L and R access panels for the tail-lights, in the hatch itself, removed L and R styrofoam panels under the pieces of snap-in rug... No where to be found. Are the LL Bean H6 models different, or do the subie assem. guys just like to hiode this thing? Or do I have to actually pull a tail-light? The wiring seems to come down the right side (passenger side) of the car, as there are a few connectors there. Is this a connector just hanging there, or do I untape something and find this little SOB? Dave

On this board, 120,000 miles was mentioned as the reasonable chain service limit. The subaru literature has no interval. So, pipe up those with 1st hand experience! Dave

I'm sure the fact it holds 6 bloody quarts of oil helps! Dave

Well, that was actually good news because no one could figure out if/why the timing cover had been off! This thing is great. Cruises 80 effortlessly, will hold 70 up fair hills without a downshift, and I can't wait for some snow. Except for the small ding in the fender, there is not one thing that doesn't look showroom on this thing. I mean, its minty. Bought it from the dealer where it had been sold, and always serviced. 55Kmiles. Dave

Now, lessee, hitch gets here Monday (hidden hitch class II), get the $300 no-floor 4x8 Tractor Supply trailer Monday or Tuesday, now all I have to do is find a home for my '92 ranger 4WD. Found out the timing cover had come off to replace the oil pan from a minor accident a year ago. (Had red RTV around the cover). They had hit a tree, new bumper and new oil pan, no damage to radiator/support etc. Dave

Not pretty, may be a little hard on the thumb, but if you have the spring you could use an acorn nut, or a short piece of inside-thread coupler to replace the button. Or, hit the junkyard and lift a button. Dave

I found out about the RTV- when the front bumper was replaced (minor accident into a tree) a root or rock took out the oil pan, so the cover had to come off. may have it wednesday! Dave

BTW I work in SYR, live near cortland. Do almost 100mi / day. Dave

Well, at least I can probably replace them myself, in about 100,000 miles. Dave

Back off- I have a deposit on it!! This is out at Rapp, the car was bought and serviced there, was just traded in. Got to see the whole service history. One of the reasons that I was looking at used dealers that also sold new subarus. I didn't ask them to fix anything they probably wouldn't to put it on the lot. One thing I did see was that the rotors had a little rust at the inner and outer edges, chewing at the pads a bit. This makes both the pads and the rotors effectively smaller, which made the brakes feel weak. All the used dealers seem to price right at the upper end of the KBB private-party price. I just missed an '01 outback with 25K miles for $12k- missed it by 2 days. Dave