friendly_jacek

60000 miles is a mark when a whole lot of tuneup needs to be done. Dealer price tag is $300-600 depending on the location. Do it and report back to us.

Interesting. If this is confirmed, this would be one more reason to stay away from the 3.0. On the other hand, you save on the timing belt change fee.

Gasping for air? Aren't you in high altitude?

Did you comply with the conditioner recall? If so, you are covered for 100,000 miles. This must be a misunderstanding of some sort.

This is good info but correction is needed on the "stuck in traffic in summer" part. Excessive idling and stop and go driving puts lots of demands on cooling system but doesn't increase oil temp. This is a common misconception and only people with cars equiped with oil temp gauges can attest to the fact that engine oil is lukewarm in city driving. Oil is only hot with high speed, high RPM driving and thus, racing cars have engine oil coolers. This also why cars sold in US are recommended with 5W30 or 5W20 oils while most cars sold in Europe usually call for 5W40 or 10W40 oils.

I hate to sound unfriendly, but if you don't know where the sensor is, would you have the skills to change it yourself? BTW, there was a nice thread on O2 sensor a few weeks ago.

You picked up 2 mpg from thinner synthetic, not a "slicker" one. The notion than oil can be "slicker" is purely an urban myth and marketing slogan. Also your Pennzoil bashing is based on anegdotic and newer substantiated incidents in early 1980's. Now, the Pennzoil brand is owned by Shell and has nothing to do with the Pennzoil oils of the 80's. Wake up to the 21st centry.

did you check the old generation forum?

Do a search for torque bind. It sound like this is what you have.

The traction is decent but only on dry. Wet is only fair like you said. After saying that I have to say that they lasted 25000 miles without accident on my car. It's your call.

I would vote for A/F ratio sensor. if its not dead, its very weak at this milage. BTW, what is diagnostics AOK?

I'm not as smart as blitz but will give you my 2 cents. It is also my dilema as my wife does stop and go cold engine city driving and then I pull a boat on weekends (at least some weekends). Initially I used 5W40 rotella synthetic for summers as a compromise even though it is group 3 fluid (group 3 is almost as good as group 4 except for arctic conditions). However it is still thickish at room temp (175 cSt at 70F). This season I will try german castrol 0W30 as it is group 4 (the only true synthetic castrol in US), behaves as 5w30 at room temp and is high-30, almost 40 viscosity at 212F. If you don't want to go synth route, 5W30 winter and 10W30 summer will do IMHO.

Well, it was the engine yelling at you: Look at the gauges please! But seriously, no idea. I know some boats have this protections build in, didn't know about cars.

LOL! Just a couple of weeks ago someone posted almost identical question. The difference was he asked for DIY and not step-by-step guide. Edit: to be politically correct, I should have said he or she

According to oil analysis, honda's 10000mil factory oil has almost 1000ppm Mo, unlike any oil you buy in stores. Maybe the Honda engeneers know something we don't? Last time I checked, honda engines had no major problems.

"My 96 OBW also reccomends 5w30 oil." Vs. "The owner's manual says not to run 5w30 if you drive at highway speeds, higher rpm for long periods of time." Which of these is correct? BOTH! Recommends 5W30 because most people in US use cars for short trip, stop and go, city driving when oil never reaches operating temp. 5W30 allows for better protection and MPG at lower oil temps. Notice that Honda, Ford, and Mazda switched to 5W20 in USA. At the same time if you drive hard, fast, and far (think autobahn) or tow, the oil temp is 200-300F and 5W30 is just not thick enough. This is why cars in Europe and Australia specify 5W40, 10W40, 20W50, and 10W60 oils. If you want both of these worlds look at the specs of Castrol SLX 0W30 aka German Syntec 0W30 in US.

I dont see how cavitation would produce HG problems short of eating away chunks of aluminium adjacent to the gaskets itself. That has not been reported to my knowledge. While the subaru powered airplane experiments documented that the air bubles can overheat the engine and warp the heads, the bubles in cavitation are made of water vapor only, last only miliseconds and the only harm is the shock wave from the implosions (hence erosions). Sorry to burst your bubble so to speak... Edit: I was intrigued enough to look more into this. According to my sources, 007 pump is an older design for 1989-1997 cars and the 110 pump (not 010) is the newer design for 1997-now. Unfortunately, there is confusion on this on some sites. Adding to the pump quality issue, there was a recall on the 110 pump in 2002: http://test127.subarunet.com/business/service/Service_Publications/PDF_Files/WWJ-93.pdf

See if the 30000 miles (or 30 months, whichever comes first) service was done by the book. It is very important to service subaru every 30000 miles. Do it yourself or by someone familiar with subarus, as they have its quirks.

Exactly, every new car in US is sold with low rolling resistance tire to help with CAFE. Most tires you buy in tire shop are not LLR-rated, especially the high grip ones. Looking for silica based thread helps as it decreases rolling resistance.

I would say pressure is not high enough for this type of driving. Also, at 50000 miles your tires are shot. I drive semi-aggressively and replace tires every 25-30000 miles.

Not only plugs need to be replaced every 30000 miles. Check your service schedule.

The problem was he lied to you.

"To avoid O2 sensor problems" ...Apparently, didn't work

If the engine is 2.2L than it is officially indestructible. Cant say it about the the newer powerplants.

Check the BR-3: http://www.obddiagnostics.com/ Confirmed to work with newer subaru. I would not buy the cheapest interface as it may not read the front A/F ratio sensor in 2000+ subarus.