Fairtax4me

Is the compressor clutch plugged in? Do you have any traces of oil around the compressor? That would indicate a bad O ring causing a leak. You can try a recharge kit. They work fairly well as long as you don't use the gauges that come with them. Get a small can, and if one can makes it start working then a second small can should be enough to top it off. If you want to do it right, buy a manifold gauge set (about $50 for a cheap one) to check the system pressure.

+3 on warped rotors. A bent wheel would not make the car shake when braking. You have warped rotors as well.

:Grabs rolled up newspaper: :Whap: NO!!! Bad! Yeah you have to take it apart again. Engine and trans have to be mated 100% before TC can be bolted to the flex plate. Remove the engine, seat the TC in the trans the way it's supposed to be, then put the engine back and bolt it to the trans. The TC should sit about 1/4" away from the flex plate when it's seated properly in the trans. Then and only then you can bolt the TC to the flex plate and finish up the loose ends of installation (hoses and those goodies). The engine hasn't turned so the trans pump MIGHT be OK. But don't drive the car more than around the block a handful of times until you can be sure that the pump isn't going to grenade. If the pump is damaged it may start to whine when the engine is running. Worst case you have to replace the trans. Which isn't hard to do on these.

You just have to push a bunch of hoses and wires out of the way to get at it.

I did plan on replacing both of them since they're both leaking. I may adjust the backlash a bit while I'm at this to try and take some of the play out of the diff. What setup do I need to check the backlash? FSM says use a dial guage. We may have something at work that I can use, but what kind do I need? I'd also like to make sure preload on the bearings is correct. If I understand the FSM correctly, after setting backlash with the drivers side retainer, I adjust the passenger side the same amount as drivers side plus one full notch to set preload.

Monthly under-car inspection today, just to check things over. I have one front axle seal leaking pretty good, and the other is wet. Not grease, not motor oil, it's definitely gear oil. I have noticed over the past 3 months or so the level getting progressively lower on the trans dipstick. I've cleaned this area twice and it keeps coming back. Looked in the FSM and couldn't find anything about replacing these seals, but a search here revealed a few threads with not much more info than "You don't want to attempt changing those because if you put the bearing retainer cups back wrong you'll destroy the front diff". So that means I want to change them. But I have some questions for anyone who has done these before. It seems that the bearing retainer cups screw in/out through the use of some special wrench. Is it necessary or can I manage it with a punch or something of that nature? Second does the bearing race sit inside the retainer or will it stay (somewhat) in place in the transmission case?

How was it determined that the TCM is the problem? Just for future reference. Used TCM should be fine.

How did you put in the bolts that hold the TC to the flex plate? That's supposed to be the last step and requires the engine to turn in order to reach all of the bolt locations. Where did you place the jack to raise the engine?

Could be due to larger offset wheels to accommodate wider tires on the WRX vs the plain Impreza? Opposed forces does list different part numbers between control arms for WRX though so maybe they are wider? Transmission end of the axles should be the same though I would think.

Bubbles might indicate boiling coolant, either due to low system pressure or excessive heat. Boiling after stopping the engine is usually caused by a bad radiator cap.

Electronics typically fail hot. I would suspect a shift solenoid, or TCM problem since it only does it when hot.

If its an Ej22 it's probably a lifter. Unless for some reason you ran it with no oil. X2 Valvoline Maxlife.

Park the car on a incline facing uphill with the driver side higher than passenger. (or whatever side the radiator cap is on) Open the radiator cap and let the engine run until the thermostat opens. It will puke coolant out for a minute or so through the cap opening, but it should stop and go back down. Once it begins to recede add fresh coolant to the radiator, also fill the reservoir to the "full" line. Cap off the radiator, let the car idle until the fans cycle once or twice then cut it off and let it cool a few hours until it's near ambient temp. Repeat the process once more and monitor coolant flow through the radiator. If you see lots of large bubbles after the second attempt to bleed do a combustion gas test a.k.a. a block test.

Do you know anyone who has a gauge to check fuel pressure? Also double check (or triple) and make absolutely sure that no vacuum hoses in that area got pulled loose, or breather hoses from the airbox (the one attached to the throttle body), during the process of removing and installing the MAF.

No over-bore with dome top pistons option guys? There are only two ways to get torque without going force fed. 1. better airflow (intake, cam, header/exhaust mods) 2. more displacement (bore over to fit bigger pistons, and/or different crankshaft for a longer stroke) You can guess which one is easier.

The part comes as an assembly for about $100 at the online dealers. But they're easy to come across in the junkyard, and chances of finding a good one are pretty good.

If it only lasts for 2 seconds and only when cold it's because of a lack of oil pressure, once the pressure builds the noise goes away. Not really anything to worry about, but if allowed to go on for long enough it can lead to excess wear. This happens all the time when the anti drain back valve in the oil filter sticks open. I'm not sure is Subaru filters have anti drain back valves since the engine is flat. Any upright V or inline engine design needs one to keep the oil in the pressure passages of the engine from being drained out by gravity while the engine is off.

$70 from here: http://www.subarupartsforyou.com/cp_partdetail.php?partid=5579 I think I'd go get a bottle jack from the local parts store.

When did you last fill up the gas tank?

Can you describe this "banging" sound a littler better? Or better yet, make a video and post it? Engine related noise should become slower when put into gear because engine speed would go down. Unless this is a part related to transfering power from the engine to the transmission and s under more stress under load. A cracked flex plate can make a heck of a racket, but it won't cause any driveability issues unless it completely beaks, at which point it leaves you stranded. But you have a manual transmission, so no flexplate. Could be a clutch related issue I suppose, but that still doesn't explain the temporary loss of power before it gave up completely.

Block the wheels from now on. I keep a set of plastic chock blocks in the trunk that were like $6 at walmart.

There has to be a junkyard near you that has one.

Probably for the Evap purge control solenoid. It's hidden under the passenger side intake runners.

It will also flow slower when cold which is horrible for the engine. More specifically the top end (cams lifters) where the oil pressure takes the longest to reach. Running a cam dry at start up is a good way to lock it up. Knocking for a second or two at startup is not a big concern. If you want to try a different oil, change to 5w40. A lower cold viscosity will flow better during startup, which will build pressure faster and may cure the knock. Drivetrain-wise the car sounds fine. You just have the "old age" things to deal with, such as changing light bulbs, recharging the AC, lubricating all the various moving parts on the car. A can of spray-on lithium grease goes a long way to help out sticky locks and tired/slow windows. The AT light is probably trying to warn you about the Duty C solenoid which you already know about so you can just ignore it. The fuel smell under the hood might be a split hose for the Evap system. All of the rubber hoses (which there aren't many of on Subarus) could probably stand to be replaced. I would think you could fix all of that for around 100 bucks depending on what the junkyards in your area charge.

AM frequencies are very susceptible to interference from various sources. Ignition, power wires, lighting (very interesting to listen to an AM radio during a lightning storm). Kinda hard to say exactly what's causing it, but you can probably find out pretty easy by tracking down somebody with a HAM radio license and one of those handy little units they use for finding EMI.