Numbchux

Yep, without disassembling your transmission, you cannot get all the fluid out. So you get 1/3-1/2 out, run it to mix the old with the new, and repeat. You can just do a single drain-and-fill, but do it often, or if it's long overdue, do a few consecutively. This is why there are flushing machines that hook up to the cooler lines to completely replace the fluid with fresh as the old is pumped out of the trans (expensive, overkill, and frequently can require replacing those cooler hoses after they've been messed with). It calls for Dexron II. Which was replaced with Dexron II. Dex/Merc covers that, and is by far the most common ATF you can buy. I buy 2.5 gallon jugs of it at the local farm/fleet store for about $1.50/qt, and do a partial change every 10k to keep it fresh (my philosophy is the best fluid is new fluid). Subaru HP is a synthetic fluid designed for the ~'08+ cars that is backwards compatible, that's probably the best fluid you can buy. There are probably dozens of options, and thousands of opinions on what's best. I did a bunch of searching about the filter, the OE one is surprisingly expensive ($40? IIRC), and there are a bunch of aftermarket part numbers that will fit for cheap (<$10). Most appeared to be an engine oil filter, with a very different micron rating than OE (forgive me, it's probably been 5 years since I did the homework). Ultimately, I decided that it was OE only, which is not like me. FYI it's a spin-on filter, mounted behind the bumper/fog light on the LH side. You have to undo a few of the clips, and peel back the front edge of the fender liner from the bumper to get to it.

Fair enough, I was under the impression those would still affect turbo oil supply. Either way, I've seen many of those with high miles on them as long as oil changes haven't been neglected.

You'll notice I said AVCS turbo EJs, that does not include 22ts or 205s. And they definitely carried over well past 2009: https://parts.subaru.com/p/Subaru_2011_WRX-25L-TURBO-5MT-4WD-SEDAN/UNION-SCREW-AND-FILTER-ASSEMBLY/49226885/14445AA090.html

Here's my 2 cents. Those screens saved you once (without them, the debris you found would have likely made it to your turbo, and if left unchecked even longer, debris from your failing turbo will be introduced into your engine...). Keep them in place, be extremely vigilant with your oil changes, and you won't have an issue. Also, I'm pretty sure all turbo AVCS EJ Subarus have those. The later FA20 cars do not, but are a very different system.

NiCopp. $50-75 in stores, about 20 on amazon. I have several rolls on the work bench at any time. I also spend the money on stainless fittings from "the stop shop" (on their website, or through Amazon. And an inline flaring tool. I used this one for years, then bought this one when I needed more sizes.

Yea, it would eventually be running off. Depending exactly where the leak is, it might take awhile to be visible. But with your symptoms, I was expecting an empty reservoir. Any leak would leave fluid, and not terribly difficult to see, so I don't think that is your issue. I suppose it's possible to have a catastrophic master failure.

Just because it's cutting power to the "acc" circuit doesn't tell you anything about the condition of the contacts in the "ST" circuit. I'd get the multimeter out and test for power coming out of it in that position. I wouldn't be surprised if it's nothing. Ignition and inhibitor switches have almost identical function, they can fail without warning.

Start circuit on that is not run through any relays other than the solenoid on the starter. Power before the ignition switch is shared, so the fact that it'll run, means that it's not a fuse or anything like that. It's either the ignition switch, inhibitor switch (on the side of the transmission, like you pictured), or a wiring break. Get out your multimeter and see where the power stops. The inhibitor switch has seperate contacts, so I've seen them fail in "Park", but still work in "Neutral". So if that doesn't work for you, I'd be inclined to ASSume ignition switch, but test it. Diagrams: http://jdmfsm.info/Auto/Japan/Subaru/Legacy_Outback/1995/1995 Legacy Wiring Diagrams.pdf Start circuit is on page 15. Super simple circuit.

How's the level in the reservoir? Do you loose fluid? Your's sounds like a fluid leak. Any other symptom I can think of would yield a spongy or hard pedal, but still functional. These are somewhat notorious as they get old for rusting out lines above the fuel tank, so look for brake fluid leaking down from that area, usually on the passenger side.

You put spacers between the crossmembers and body to lower the driveline and therefore lessen CV axle angles. The stock Outback that you took those struts off of had about 1" spacers on the subframes. Look up a lift kit for your car (sjr, adf, and others), and you'll see that higher lift heights require considerably more components.

No, it will fade, but not break down. I painted my driving light mount on my last Celica with it (completely exposed), and it turned a pretty light shade of gray over the 6 years that it was in use, but never rusted.

No, I'm saying water and dirt and chemicals from the road build up there and turn good steel into rust. I would hit that with a wire wheel, and then paint over it with POR15 to keep it from spreading. Most primers are porous, so you should paint over it with something, or your brand-new fender can rust right through the paint.

Yep, just a rusted out fender. Pretty common for road grim to build up behind the factory mud flap (first thing I do is throw those away) and dissolve the steel behind it. It's only cosmetic, that'd be listed as rust-free here in MN, so nothing to worry about if you aren't concerned with the look. Otherwise, look for a used fender in the same color, or get a new one (OE or aftermarket) and have it painted.

I don't see a CD changer port on the back of that. So the modulator is probably your best hardwired option. Yes, rocker switch just a simple on-off switch

Plug in a code reader that can read live data. See if you have any stored or current codes (no light does not mean not codes). Then check the temperature. After sitting overnight, the engine temperature and intake air temp sensors should read almost identical.

Reason not to? How about it's not what Subaru calls for, what they do call for is about 1/4 the cost, and abundantly available. Maybe it won't do damage, in fact, it probably won't make anything worse. But why spend more on the wrong stuff? Plain Jane, no-name Dex/Merc is perfect and costs about $2.50/qt

In my experience, the signal on these between the adapter and radio generally sucks. Which is why I went with a hardwired unit. Same idea, but cleaner looking and better looking.

I don't have any specific experience with your model, but I've added an Aux input into my last 3 Subarus with stock radios, in 3 different ways. Look up your specific radio (either with a part number/manufacturer on the faceplate, or use your VIN on parts.subaru.com and look up the subaru number there, the former will likely be more helpful, though). Subaru doesn't make their own radios, and they use many different manufacturers, so there will be different answers depending what radio you have. Every Subaru radio I've looked at in the last 25 years, has had an unused CD changer plug on the back. The McIntosh in our '04 Outback VDC, I bought a yatour digital music adapter, which plugged right in, and was super simple, but cost like $100. I had a '97 Legacy that had a pretty simple input, I was able to make a quick adapter using a rocker switch and a panel mount audio jack. When I looked into it on my '00 Outback, I don't think the Yatour one was available (or I just didn't want to spend $100 on a $500 car), and when I looked into a DIY, I discovered it was a digital signal, so would require a converter. I found someone who made a converter for it designed to integrate into an ipod or thumb drive, but was way overkill for what I wanted. I ended up just using a hardwired signal modulator. Works the same way as one of those crappy remote modulators, but it's actually wired inline with your antenna, so it gets a much better connection to the radio, and disconnects the car antenna so you don't get any interference. I got this one, and their install kit, simple install, works great.

Yep, as long as it's a matched set of 4, no problems.

They've been making Foresters for 22 years, with a variety of different engines, some require synthetic, some do not. Please be more specific. The best oil is new oil. I do not subscribe to using better oil. I use cheap oil (my go-to lately is a blend, anyway) and change it more often then recommended.

The Takata airbag is in the dash. No, the seat does not need to be touched for that job. Something else is going on

A detent lever has a series of notches and has a spring that pushes against it. This is the "clunk" you feel as you move from one gear to the next. Here's a good picture of a GM lever: The notches on the left are where the detent spring/roller rides. The hole on the far right is for the linkage that puts it in park. And there's a roll pin through it that holds it to the shift shaft. This is all internal to the transmission, definitely requires removing the transmission pan, maybe valve body as well. On a subaru, I'm not sure if there's any mechanical linkage that selects the various gears, or just back to the park pawl. I'm extremely unclear on your symptoms of whether the transmission is damaged or not. And it sounds like you've already disassembled the transmission, so you can no longer test it. There are hundreds of ways to resize an image. Google it. Or upload to a different site (I use Flickr now, you can click the "share" icon on the picture, and then copy the BBCode and past it here and the picture will display).

And just as an anecdote. Here's how my '01 VDC came to me: 20190602_191605 by Numbchux, on Flickr Front ujoint broke at fairly low speed (20-30mph, according to the PO). Ripped the heat shield off, beat up the exhaust pretty bad, and mangled the rear oxygen sensor. I can absolutely see how with more speed, or just different luck, that shaft would have been kicked up into the shift cable and body-side linkage.

Answers in red In the US anyway, only the H6 VDC models have the VTD AWD, the other models (LL Bean, anniversary, etc.) have MTD, and those transmissions are identical to the 4-cylinder ones (might want to check the axle ratio, as I think H6s got 4.111s and H4 ATs got 4.444s). So, assuming this car doesn't have the VTD, the parts should be very easy to swap. The VTD and MPT transfers are mechanically interchangeable, but electronically not. The only case I saw of someone retrofitting a VTD transfer into an MPT car was not fully functional.

The lever on the side of the transmission has a roll pin that connects the inner linkage to the shaft (and therefore the outer linkage). I suspect when the driveshaft grabbed the shift cable, it yanked it back so hard that it sheared off that pin. So regardless of what you do with the external linkage, the trans is still in 1st. I think this pin is accessible/visible from the pan without removing anything else. When you move the linkage, do you feel the separate gear positions? Yes, all 00-04 Legacy and Outback Auto transmission driveshafts are the same, regardless of body style or engine (manual transmission uses a longer driveshaft), and in fact any Legacy/Outback AT shaft from 1990-2004 should work (I used a 2007 shaft in our 2004 temporarily, but it's a bit longer and I was worried it would bottom out in the transmission). Some sources say that the Outback center carrier is shaped differently to account for the small body lift in the rest of the drivetrain, in practice, I noticed no difference other than a small rubber bushing on the mounts that spaces it down by about 1/4". There's a chance that the yoke being stuck in the transmission means internal damage, but you can't get in there to address that without removing the yoke, so it's just a matter of applying enough force. Maybe a slide hammer? Considering that and the linkage damage, I'd probably be checking the local yards for a decent used transmission....