Fairtax4me

As said before, the low compression of the turbo engine leaves it severely lacking any kind of power on the bottom end. Not gonna do well off road. Turbos can be used off road, but there are way more chances for failure of the catastrophic kind. Pop the vacuum line off the waste gate, get over-boost, put a hole through a piston (or three), your motor is toast, and you're up a creek out in BFE. Consider a franken motor for off road. Keep the turbo for a DD in the meantime.

Probably a bad half axle. The trick is to figure out exactly which one. Have any of the axles ever been replaced? Possibly with an after market rebuilt axle?

He probably has one of "the lucky ones". There are a handful out there it seems (probably more than a handful, but we never hear about them because they don't have trouble) that go well past 200k miles with no head gasket problems. You can expect to have head gasket issues on ANY engine after 200k, so failures of original gaskets at such high mileage really can't be attributed to the same cause as low mileage failures. It's almost considered just normal wear and tear at that point.

How about a listing of what models and years this method applies to?

Reply #7. I can't blame the OP if he/she did not see it though, as we have cluttered the thread up quite a bit with off topic BS.

Nice tires. How does that thing ride with no rear sway bar? Ship at sea? That's a lateral link.

From what I understand, all the wires are there, You just have to put the components in for the options you want. Stuff like that is easy to come across in a junkyard. I take it you want the non-interference 2.2?

PB Blaster... lots of it. And "the hot wrench". Those bolts are famous... or infamous... for causing problems getting the rear knuckle removed from the car. If you have to, cut the ends off and hammer it out.

My computer is getting ready to go on a ski trip through the back yard via window pane airlines. It locked 3 times trying to open the 05 FSM I have. Anyway... This is Subaru's definition for this code... DTC P2096 POST CATALYST FUEL TRIM SYSTEM TOO LEAN BANK 1 DTC DETECTING CONDITION: • Two consecutive driving cycles with fault That was about all I got to read before the computer locked up. It just doesn't like acrobat anymore I guess. I think it's about time to wipe this thing out and start over.

Hmmm... That probably means the after cat sensors also adjust fuel trim and are not solely for checking efficiency of the cats. You might actually have to fix this one the "right" way. The P at the end of the second one probably means it's a "Pending" code. Which according to Innova means: Try unhooking the battery - for a half hour to reset the ECU and see if it comes back.

Really doesn't matter with anaerobic sealer. I took the front seal plate off a transmission to change the input seal before I put it in my truck over the summer. It had been sealed by the factory with anaerobic sealer, back in 1984. The sealer that got squeezed inside was still liquid and very pliable, not much different (other than little darker color) than the new sealer I used to seal it back up with. This was an area mostly closed off from the rest of the transmission. It did have a hole at the bottom for oil to flow out from the bearings, so it was exposed to gear oil the whole time. But it was in there for 26 years and didn't dry.

Woah woah... just a little TMI there... I mean whatever floats your boat, but we don't need to know about it too. Jk, I know what you meant to type. :-p Sure it's not leaking further back under the bellhousing? A separator plate or rear main seal leak will drip right on the Y pipe under the bellhousing and won't show up very easily. You have to crawl way back there and look close to see it well.

You were looking for an early 90's wagon right? http://charlottesville.craigslist.org/cto/2155079741.html

On my old Ranger, the brake booster would freeze in cold weather. I figured out why when I finally took it off to replace it. It had a hole rusted in one of the top corners, and had a half cup or so of rusty water in it. Once the engine warmed, and the water melted, it worked fine.

Guys I don't see where the OP ever said the AT temp light was flashing. Or any other light for that matter.

Subaru sells aux input adapters for their newer cd players. You might try calling one of our Subaru dealer vendors (who seem to be much more knowledgeable than most dealers) and see about the cost and compatibility of one of these is for your car.

The AWD system in the automatic will cause some minor "drag" around corners even when the car is brand new and working properly. Most people don't ever notice it, but you can tell it's there if you really pay attention. Crash damage was to the front corner, it's a pretty good chance the half axle was damaged, especially with other suspension damage. I would be pretty pissed about them critter-footing around like this, replacing parts that don't need it. That is adding significant cost to the claim, which ultimately ends up coming out of your (or your grandmothers) pocket, when they raise the rate on the next premium.

A tuneup may be a good start. I've seen plenty of hard shifting problems turn out to be engine related, when people were convinced it was a transmission problem. Start with simple stuff. An air filter can do wonders if it hasn't been changed recently. Not sure if the P/O ever had the spark plugs changed. If not, a new set of OE Subaru or NGK plug wires to go with NGK plugs should do some good. You probably know what all else to do so I won't preach about what to change on a tune-up, but plugs and wires these cars seem to be very picky about. Before you change the plugs, try running a half bottle of Seafoam in the intake to clean it out. This has a tendency to foul the plugs if the intake is really gunked up. But if you're changing plugs anyway it's the the perfect time for an intake cleaning. Dump the other half bottle in the fuel tank on top of about 1/4 - 1/2 tank of gas to act as a fuel system cleaner. Also be sure to check under the hood for any loose/split vacuum hoses. Make sure the intake ductwork is clamped tight where it's supposed to be. All of the breather hoses are tight and where they should be.

Something doesn't seem right, there will be some oil in the PCV hose, but the PCV valve is supposed to stop it from entering the intake. So either the PCV valve is not working properly, or there is something causing a LOT of oil to be pushed up into the separator, more than it can handle, and it is being sucked up into the PCV hose. Excessive blow-by is the primary cause of this. Check the routing of your breather hoses. Make sure they are all free of obstruction, not kinked, and connected tight where they should be. There is a small hose that leads off the PCV hose connector. I don't know where it goes to but make sure it is clear as well.

If these are drum brakes (not parking brake) you might need to loosen the self adjusters before the drum will clear the shoes.

Does the car feel like it's short on power at all? Idle low, or feel a little sluggish off the line?

Ask them to pay for a Subaru dealer or independent Subaru shop to install a used or rebuilt engine. Again a dealer or independent Subaru shop should be the most knowledgeable here. They can more than likely track down the source of the power steering problem as well. Is there a problem with the transmission now? I know you said they replaced a seal.

I would have to wonder about the knock sensor, and O2 sensor on that engine as well. To melt that many valves, sounds like an engine-control issue. How often do multiple fuel injectors "fail" simultaneously?

Oil pressure sensor. That's right between the alternator and power steering pump. But if the wetness is starting at the head gaskets, I would have to think the gaskets didn't seal properly for some reason. But the odds of that happening on both heads? Probably very low. Do a very through cleaning and careful examination. Are you sure it's not power steering fluid?

Apparently the wheel bearings (front and rear) are preloaded when the axle nuts are tightened. So leaving the rear outer cv axle housings in place would keep the preload on the bearings. Go on a diet.