Fairtax4me

When you get the brake vibration is it shaking the steering wheel back and forth? If it doesn't shake the wheel, it's probably the rear rotors that are warped. If the wheel shakes, gonna be the front and that could also be the source of your noise. Torn boot above/on front of the cv axle, if it looks like an accordian, it's the steering rack bellows/boot. That should be replaced ASAP to prevent dirt from getting into the inner tie rod end and steering rack. A bit more complicated than a brake job, but generally easy enough to do on your own.

I know there are a handful of guys here running their own shops. I'm not running my own just yet, but I've been put in charge of running the auto repair shop for a local business with a fleet of vehicles. These have to be maintained to a certain standard, and must have detailed records of any repairs done in order for the business to maintain accreditation in their sector. I don't want to give away too many details, but I will say that many of these vehicles are used primarily for transporting children. So I'm looking for some type of inexpensive repair order software. I was wondering what other people here on the board are using, and approximate cost and any features that you particularly like or dislike. Also interested to hear about any programs you've used that you didn't like before finding one that you did. Can be either computer based, or App based on a tablet/iPad. I'm mostly looking for something easy to use, that will record inventory usage, and generate monthly reports that I can email to the company accountant for easy expense tracking. Thanks for any suggestions!

Throttle body and air intake cleaner. Seafoam also makes a spray cleaner called Deep clean or something like that. Last I checked it was quite a bit more expensive than regular TB cleaner.

90-91 had problems with the idle air control valve. Need to try cleaning that first. If it doesn't help the valve may need to be replaced. There is a large hose that runs from the idle valve to the intake tube. Make sure it's connected. Easy to overlook if you move the intake tube to change the filter.

Power probes are useful, but I wouldn't consider one to be practical unless you do electrical repairs on a daily basis. Id like to buy one, but at $179, I can do all the same things with a $30 multimeter and $30 worth of wire and some switches/relays. How to get from the hood to the trunk... Long jumper wires. Go buy a couple spools of wire. 12 guage is usually more than sufficient. One red, one black to match the meter, or whatever colors you prefer if it makes it easier for you. Sometimes you need 3-4 wires, but not often. Cut about 18 foot sections of each. Put some insulated spade connectors on each end, then make short sections maybe 6"-1' each with various other types of crimp terminals, and one set with alligator clips for each wire. Also buy a single 30 amp fuse holder (one with the wires already on it) and make sure to use that with a properly rated fuse if you ever need to run power straight from the battery to the rear of the car. Match the fuse that you use at the time to the fuse size that particular circuit should normally use. For instance, don't use a 30 amp fuse for a circuit that might only normally require a 7.5 amp fuse, and vice versa.

Is it a 3 wire or 4 wire TPS?

X2 on getting it checked for codes. Also have the charging system checked. On newer models the cruise control is disabled and the cruise light will begin to flash if the Check engine lamp comes on.

The vent door isn't going anywhere. That's hogwash. The actuators will probably only be available used. How do they figure the actuator is bad? What's it doing, or what isn't it doing?

Turbos are finicky. You really have to do very frequent oil changes with full synthetic oil, and there needs to be special attention paid to how the car is driven to get the most life out of a turbo. What suspension parts were replaced? Struts on those commonly fail at about 60k, the design of those on the WRX is more performance oriented which causes them to wear faster. Clutch is all in your driving style. Some people are rough on clutches and only get 15-20k miles. Other people can make a clutch last the life of the car. Here again, this is a performance oriented car, which will cause the clutch to wear faster. I would expect around 100k from a clutch on one of those if its VERY carefully driven, or only sees highway miles. In town in stop-go traffic, clutches wont last nearly as long. Head gaskets are not a concern on the turbo engines because the gasket design in much better. There are quite a few good Subaru mechanics in Denver. Start a post asking or recommendations for another shop. It doesn't sound to me that your current shop knows Subaru's very well.

Are you doing the gaskets with the engine in the car?

Forester should be 4.44 right? Car-part.com lists 99-01 as interchanable. Safe enough to think 01-03 should be fine.

I remember reading about Daves 03-04 C duty solenoid debacle. Id like to avoid having to make modifications to make this work. I wasn't aware that the 01+ transmissions had the DFE as well. Thought that was just a 99-00 thing. If that's the case I may convince her to just let me rebuild it.

Friends 99 Forester needs an AUTO trans. She's had the DFE problem since she bought it. Couple years ago I put trans X in it and that took care of it for about a year then an ex of hers decided he would work on it and did something that caused a leak. I fixed the leak, transX again and she was good to go for another year or so. But now trans X isn't cutting it anymore, and it's been slipping on occasion. To avoid getting one with the DFE problem, I think I should be looking for an 01-03 from a Forester or Legacy Outback... right? It's been a while since I've looked into this stuff, so just want to make sure before I start checkig around for prices.

Did you ground a pin in the black connector under the dash? On the early 90s Legacys you could just do the wiggle the shifter thing and get the codes. On 95-98 you have to ground one of the pins in the 6 pin diagnostic connector and then do the handshake thing. Its a small black connector, with two bare spade terminals taped into the same harness. Plug one of the spades into pin 6( I think) in the connector, then turn the key on and follow the procedure. With the lock tab facing up, pin 6 is bottom right pin. 1-^-2 3456 I just searched and couldn't quickly find the correct method. Sorry for not mentioning that earlier.

First, make sure the lug nuts are tight. Probably the wheel bearing, but lug nuts are an easy check. Pretty sure the bearing has to be pressed into the knuckle on that one. Easy repair is to buy a used knuckle with the hub and swap out the whole thing. Or you can buy a bearing, remove the knuckle and take it all to a shop to have the new bearing pressed in. Or just take the car to a shop and pay a couple hundred bucks to have them do it.

16 flashes means there is a code stored in the TCU. Look up how to pull TCU codes. There's a handshake kinda deal to get the light to flash the codes. Probably gonna have a code for the C duty solenoid because that's a common cause for the torque bind. Also likely that if they drove the car for an extended time with a low tire the transfer clutch drum is grooved and may need to be replaced. Fairly easy to replace but new parts are kinda expensive.

Constant bubbling in the overflow container generally is a symptom of a failed head gasket. The original cause of the overheat was likely just a low coolant level. The overheating has compromised the head gaskets.

Probably just the idle control valve needs to be cleaned. Pretty simple to clean with a can of throttle body cleaner.

Rod bearings are the only other thing that might make noise like that. If the sound is loudest from the center of the engine/oil pan area, gonna be rod knock on multiple rods.

Piston location isn't a big deal as long as you had the cam sprockets on the correct locations at 3,6,9,12 o clock. If it runs and runs smoothly, compression probably isn't an issue. Have you used a stethoscope to narrow down the source of the noise? A long screwdriver works if you don't have a stethoscope. Put the end on the engine in various places and hold your ear to the handle. Just be careful of getting near moving parts.

Certainly sounds like valve-train noise. When you checked valve clearance, what marks did you use to set the pistons at TDC?

The later pumps have a speed sensor in them. It's not necessary for your setup. You can leave the sensor unplugged.

The dealer should sell that whole unit (thermister and amp circuit) as one piece. So you just unplug the orange connector and the rest gets replaced. Somehow or other that whole thing slides off of the white piece. Not a big deal if you break that, you can use a zip tie to secure it back.

There are no codes that pertain directly to the alternator as far as I know, (at least not on that model year) but a charging problem resulting in low voltage can set other codes.

Center differential is inside the trans. With the MT cars you either have AWD or you have NO wheel drive. If the center diff grenades you're sitting on the side of the road.