griffenrider

having lived there, I'd venture to say yes. Roughly 50% (or more) of the cars on the road are subies. Between that and Fx50s as farm trucks, and Prii for those who can afford separate summer and winter cars, that's probably 80% of the cars in the state

Good advice ^^. They're a little more whiny at speed on brand new pavement than going slowly on worn (but not worn out) pavement; but they are orders of magnitude quieter than the OEMs - Going down the highway at 55 (2500rpm) with the fan and radio off, the dominant sound is the engine hum, with a very faint wheel sound. Going 55 on the highway with the OEMs is like putting a hair dryer next to both ears. Ok, not that bad, but you get the idea. Also, the suggested tires are fantastic on wet roads, and ok on light snow.

+1 on having 2 pairs: winter and summer My 2 cents: I run Blizzak WS-50s (Bridgestone) in the winter, and have trouble spinning tires gunning it from first on sheet ice with a layer of sleet on top - they're a bit louder than the RE92s, but for winter driving, makes sheer ice feel like dry pavement. Michelin X-ice are great too. Summer, I like the PzeroNero M+S (Pirelli) They roll great, are much much quieter than the RE92s, and they respond faster and corner better. I used to be able to peel out on the 92s, but I no longer have enough torque to get out of my own traction circle. Caveat on my 2 cents: When I'm looking for tires I worry a lot less about whether the tire will get 40k or 120k, and more about how well it'll hold the road in an emergency and how well it drives. If you're looking for ride comfort and longevity, I wouldn't imitate me. Your best bet is probably to compare tires using the TireRack reviews, they break it down really well, and you can look at reviews of other soob owners specifically, if you want.

agreed, I'm still puzzling about how you could possibly make that happen. I know the brand-spanking new outbacks are vr, not sure if yours is, but if it is could you make this happen by dialing the flow rate all the way out on just one of the cylinders? Replace the pinion with a pair of ratcheting gears with different diameters, cut the rack in half lengthways and raise half of it? Seems to me like you'd have to work pretty hard to get this to happen. . . Definitely post back if you figure out what happened, I'm curious.

Just to satisfy my own curiosity (and since I might be doing this in the near future): 1) how does that affect wheel/steering wheel turn ratio from one side to the other? 2) how does one go about making sure not to screw this up?

I think there's some BS in here too. . . And that doesn't make much sense to me either. Rack and Pinion is rack and pinion, whether or not there are various hydraulic lines and cylinders attached, its not like the gear teeth are smaller on one side compared to the other. Ask your mechanic to explain what he means and report back? Have you driven the car since?

does your multimeter have a continuity-check function? run it backwards and forwards over the entire circuit. check pdftown.com for your FSM. The diagram you need will be in there if your FSM is on the site.

Yeah, make sure its the right connector first. I think it is the right one based on the picture, but I can't actually find any specs on the parts from thepartsbin - they're a discount place, not a full service shop. Buyerbecareful sort of place. They're perfectly friendly and helpful, but they aren't a subaru shop, and they don't know as much as one.

SKUs: W0133-1607858 ~100 bucks, already has the required connector, OE replacement 3-wire USOS-4000 ~45 bucks, 4-wire universal and needs the connector - re-use the old one if you wish, just clean it first, and ground that extra wire USOS-3000 ~45 bucks, 3-wire, also needs the connector, just hook it up exactly like the one you remove As you noticed, the descriptions are a wee bit sub-par, in that they don't really tell you anything at all. I believe The 100 dollar version will be a drop-in replacement. Likewise for the two 45 dollar ones, except that you'll need a scant amount of electrical wiring skills to move the connector over. There are probably others on the site that'll work, but without being able to see the part and see its specs, I can't really help you out more, try calling their help or your mechanic.

I don't believe that the 02 sensor itself is different for the H6 compared to the 4, there's just one more of them. Check various sites: subaruparts.com, 1stsubaruparts.com, and thepartsbin.com are my usual 1st places to look. Far as I understand it (someone please correct if I'm wrong) there are really only two flavors of 02s you can get: the 3-wire versions (which is OE), and a 4-wire universal, the fourth wire on the universal is an additional sensor ground that you should tack to the chassis-ground, and should (thoeretically anyway) actually get you a quieter signal than the OE version. Quieter signal lets the ECU give better directions to the fuel injector and you should get an extra half-a-mile or so a gallon. O2 sensor isn't as specific as, for example, a thermostat or PCV that you really need the OE part for.

Unless your shop has an incredible parts service (like Junction Subaru in VT) you can probably get the OE sensors for half what the dealer will charge you: 50 bucks vs. 100 from the dealer.

IMHO its somewhat of a crapshoot between the seafoam and replacing the 02. As you say, your car has over 200k, and if you've never replaced the 02 sensors, I'd put money on that being the problem, and if they haven't gone, they're probably close. Seafoam first might push them over the edge and you'll have to replace them too. On the other hand, if it really is your cat and you run seafoam to clear junk out of it, you run the aforementioned risk of messing with your brand-spanking-new 02 sensors.

Nipper's right, its almost always your front 02. That said, while you're looking, its a good idea to test your rear 02 as well. Failure of that can also cause a cat error (P0420, I assume?). Much much less common than a front 02 sensor, more common than a cat actually failing, but it can happen. The rear 02 sensor is after the cat on the exhaust line, and the computer compares its voltage readout to the front sensor to determine cat failure. As far as I know, the rear 02 doesn't do anything else.

1) Grossgary makes a good point on the cost issue, My gas mileage jumped by about 25% after replacing the 02 sensor (18 to 24 mpg in the city) And brought my highway back up to 28 from 22. Definitely worth it. 2) Currently have the annoying P0420 popping up every couple hundred miles, which, as I understand it, can be caused by a bad rear 02. This shouldn't affect gas mileage, so if that's your concern, the rear 02 isn't, as far as I understand it, factored into the ECU fuel injection calculation. If you do end up with a CEL P0420 and you don't have access to all the fun diagnostic equipment, it might be worth changing it out before attacking a several-hundred-dollar cat. 3) Also, if price is an issue and you're willing to do the work yourself, you can get a 4-wire 02 sensor for about 50 bucks, just attach the extra ground to chassis ground (and you actually get a quieter signal to boot, which can get you an extra 0.5% mpg)

Had a similar problem recently - if the 02 sensor doesnt' fix it, go through real carefully with a feather and a spray bottle full of slightly soapy water and see if you have any vacuum/pressure hose leaks. Not sure why, but that can throw a cat code as well.

"This applies to thermostat's as well - the OEM part cost's about $2 - $4 more than the aftermarket, and the construction quality is pretty obviously better. A long time ago I posted pictures comparing the differences to illustrate this point...." Incidentally - the aftermarket thermostats have a much lower maximum flow velocity compared to OEM parts, so you risk overheating if you drive in a hilly environment (I live in VT and see the issue all the time) I've had two friends burn their engines up by replacing a worn thermostat with an aftermarket one.

The answer really depends entirely on what you want to use them for and where you are in the country, check out http://www.tirerack.com - they have a pretty extensive selection and a lot of good tech. If you're not in the market for new rims, I wouldn't buy from them, just find the tires there. I live in VT and run Blizzack WS-50s in the winter and Pirelli Pzero Nero M+S in the summer - but I'm a lot more concerned about traction than wear distance, so my choice is optimized for that. Where do you live? Which criteria are most importat: wear duration, dry traction, wet traction, snow traction, ride comfort?

I went through the same sort of issue a few days ago, I've put 107k on my 02 obw ltd, and about 3 months ago it went from getting 27 mpg +/- .5 steady, everywhere from VT, where I live, to IL, to S. Carolina, to going between 28 and 18 per tank, turned out to be the 02 sensor. If you're mechanically inclined, you can replace it yourself - pull the air assembly and its pretty easy to get to - do a quick search for more details, there's several posts detailing the process. You may or may not have a CEL with the 02 sensor, its got several errors associated with it, most of which are pending-type, which means they have to trigger x number of times in 40 ignition cycles to trigger a CEL, and you may be just below x. If that doesn't help, check to see if your model has a MAF or MAP sensor, and if it does try spraying some MAF cleaner (10 bucks at your local auto parts store) and cleaning the thing off. It can get gunky and throw off your a/f mixture as well.