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love the WRX the headlights and STI wing really give it that aggresive rally look.....any engine mods?...

supposedly most of the HG problems were gone around 03-04....personally i havent seen one from 05 up with HG problems yet..... 15,000 miles....as you said you did take it to the dealer and they said everythings fine...i wouldnt worry about it to much....the only thing i can think of from the info. you provided is maybe the belt stretched a little bit....we get those comebacks alot....even when you put the new drivebelts on and they feel tight...they loosen/stretch after a few hundred miles or so and need to be readjusted sometimes.....is the steering hard to turn?..also the weather might play a part on the belt noise...

cant really answer the gas mileage question for you.... check out http://www.cars101.com maybe some info on there.. As for the longevity....as any car it depends how you drive it......most of the blown turbos we see are out of WRX's (kids street racing and such) ....ive seen a few of the 2005 Outback XT's with around 80-100k and to my knowledge havent needed a turbo yet.....it does help that all of Subarus modern Turbo's are water cooled as well as oil cooled.....

man i hear both of you...i think some of them think that just becuase they work at a "Subaru Dealership" they know more than ANYONE that comes in off the street....

also...not very likely but check the connectors for the fuel injectors are plugged into the correct injector...chased a misfire for months only to find this was the cause....i guess with such a problem one can overlook the simple things....lol

i belive is should be a rubber o-ring.....i found it on http://www.1stsubaruparts.com ....i tried to link it but i couldnt.....go to the site go to OEM parts catalog and type in your car 98 subaru forester..... go to cooling, oil cooler, oil cooler (again),gasket....you can view the illustration to make absoultely sure its the right thing....

if its not the oil filter gasket itself....i would suspect the o-ring between the oil cooler and the block....i have a small leak from one of my lines to the oil cooler on the WRX...which i origionally thought was the sandwhich plate o-ring so definately take a look around under there to be sure that is what is leaking....

whenever i burp any cooling system i wait for the fans to cycle on and off at least once and make sure both the upper and lower rad. hoses are hot and pressurized..this insures that the thermostat has opened.....sometimes when i get a stubborn air pocket i sit in the car and give it a few high revs and that usually works to get the pocket out....or i turn off the car for a few minutes and let it sit than start her up and that also works sometimes too....

First of all Welcome to the USMB....... as for your vehicle first off make absouletely sure that all the air is burped out of the system......as for your head gaskets...yours should be a SOHC engine..the SOHC are not to difficult to do with the engine in the car...

what a carrier that would be...

when it comes to that lateral link bolt that goes through the knuckle and you dont have air tools available....i have found it much much easier to remove the nut than try and remove that bolt...after the nut is off you can usually just kind of knock the bolt out with a hammer....after you coat the whole thing with PB of course...

the seperator plate is behind the clutch and flywheel on the back of the engine...you will have to pull the trans or engine to get to either the rear main or seperator plate...they are literally like right next to each other behind the flywheel....if you do end up pulling the transmission to fix this oil leak i would definately replace the clutch assembly it has to come out anyway.....

i bought a cheap one from harbor freight on sale for $39.95 i believe...just enough to pull the code...it came with a book to say what the code was....good enough for now....

Wow the original clutch at 200k miles? im impressed....if the leak does happen to be coming from the rear main seal...they will most likely pull the transmission....while you are in there i would replace the clutch assembley and also reseal the rear seperator plate and replace the plate with an updated metal one....however i would prob. put money on the leak being the seperator plate and not the rear main seal...they rarely leak on these cars....

thanks for all the help fellas...pulled the cluster from a 95 Lego.. and swapped the tach head out...easier than i thought....now im back to cruisin at 2500 RPM in 5th at 60mph.....again thanks!

Are you sure that it only misses when your driving under load? not at idle or anything? is the CEL illuminated? have you seen the CEL come on when you feel this problem happen? if your posative that the plugs are good...than with the vehicle running you could try and spary some water all over the plug wires and see if you notice any sparks....

+1 ^ also if you can get them down there...i use the boot pliers frequently for this and they work well for me.....

might be a good time to do like a 60k mile service if no maintaince records were available with the vehicle.....

thanks fellas....ive already considered just swapping the cluster but i dont think im going to go that route...im just going to do the tach..the directions i got earlier in the thread are phenominal....thanks again for all your help...hopefully it will be a successful swap...lol..

usually there is a pin spanner tool that the dealerships use to hold the cam sprocket in place while you loosen the bolt...however i personally have had good luck holding the cam sprocket with a metal strap wrench or (not the way i would recommend) but you could jam a huge screwdriver or pry bar in between the cam sprocket spokes (this has worked for me also but not recommended, try the strap wrench method first) as for the crankshaft bolt....yes there is a special tool to hold the pulley also.....try to look again on the passanger side rear of the engine block near the bellhousing there should be a little access plug which when removed exposes part of the flywheel.... in your 03 you have the new tensioner assembly compared to your 96........with the t-belt still on stick a small pry bar or large screwdriver under the tensioner pulley and rest the end of the screwdriver on the part of the oil pump which sticks out and pry up...as your prying up install a small allen key into the hole to hold the tensioner compressed..... not to sure about trans fluid....but as for the diff....icurrently have valvoline in my 02 WRX and castrol in my 96...i believe both are 75W-90

thanks fellas....so a tach from a EJ22 or EJ25 will work 95-99....not that it should matter but does it matter if the donor car is auto or standard?

anyone?...lol

thanks frag..i managed to find the thread i needed.should have done that first...duh...lol...i do still have two unanswered questions....does it matter if i get the tach out of a manual or auto car? what year legacies will work? thanks again...

Hey guys....well i finally need to replace the tachometer head on my 96 legacy....i believe i read a thread a while ago about how this was done but i forget...my question is is this job pretty straight forward? do i need any special tools or anything?....i will hopefully be picking up a used tach. head from the JY and just wondering what all the tools i need to do it are.....the tach still reads but you can. def. tell it has the wrong RPM's....thanks for your time and knowledge.....also what other years will work....95?97? Just to specify this is just the head not the whole instrument cluster...

+1...we had about 3 or 4 of these the other day at work with the temps getting ever colder.....on the p/s or d/s you can kind of see the line between the two intake runners....thats the most common spot they leak, but of course do a visual of the whole system if you can...a little tricky to get to but replacing the hose between the runners( if that is truely the source of seepage) shouldnt take more than about 20-30 min....good luck.. OH, also you can try tightening the clamps but from what ive seen and heard usually you will have to replace the line.....