CROSSTBOLT

SPRINTMAN: What are all the abbreviations?? Our 2001 Forester did not do that well on gas. It had a 4 speed auto and, well, the distinctive shape of the Forester to push thru the air. I think they got the EPA stickers reversed for MT and AT.

Ok, Sprintman. How much does each fuel cost, 87 and 98 octane, and what kind of mileage do you get on each?

Your story is proof that this forum is the best idea since sliced bread.

Could be the body guy does not really know what he is talking about.....:-\

The one thing I failed to consider was the timing varying at the command of the computer from the input of the knock sensor. What I said was true with fixed timing (P&W 985) and centrifugal/vaccuum advance/retard timing. Everything changes with knock sensors and ECU. That was very interesting stuff about toluene. It would be more reliable than MAYBE getting 93 out of the ground at the quick-stop.

Go to "SuperchargersOnline.com" and click on the thread "The Mystery of Octane explained." It seems that we all had certain valid inputs about using higher octane fuel in an 87 octane engine.

Just got back from a trip to Baltimore. The Baja took us there & back towing about 1200 lbs of pop-up camper trailer all the way bothways in cruise in 5th gear. That is not the whole story. On the way home, on I-40, between Mile Marker 410 and 412 near Knoxville, we caught the FLYING WRENCH in the windshield. It looked like a 6-inch extension for a half-inch drive, spinning end over end and heading perfectly for my face! Every thing was in slow motion and VERY much in great detail. I had time to think & plan. There was no room to move either left or right. There was no opportunity for heavy breaking. So I did nothing and waited for impact. The windshield was destroyed while keeping the wrench ourside completely. The spinning extension put a couple of kinks in the radio antenna, a small dent in the roof and broke the plastic at the front of the roof rack. Out side of some really fine glass in my lap, all of the above was it. I told you all that to tell you this: The body shop guy did a WONDERFUL job of repair! Cannot tell a thing had ever happened. He said the paint on Subarus is a Zinc Oxide base the same as on BMW and Mercedes! In his words,"The Best stuff I have ever seen and I wished they used it here!"

NO, no, no, NO! You all got it WRONG!! Tell the wife who won't learn to hit the road....permanently! Next best is what TinyClark said.

Josh, I cannot believe ANYTHING in your car is worn that badly! I am going to check mine even though the Baja has only turned over 20k miles!

Josh, Legacy 777 said something on a previous thread that made some good sense about the 4AT transmissions: furt gear locked up converter actually slips between 5 & 95% depending upon demand. This I did not know until I read this MB. I always thought lock-up was, well, LOCKED UP! As far as octane at elevations, you get 85 above 3000 feet because for the same engine performance you do not REQUIRE a higher octane rating. You generally get better milage at higher elevations because there is less air the higher you go and the ECU leans out the mixture to compensate. There is total fallacy in using higher octane in an engine that is rated for a lower octane. You may THINK you are getting more power but that may be power of suggestion. The fact is that higher octane fuel burns slower and produces less pressure all other factors being the same. The slower burn rate is what precludes ping, or detonation. Superchargers and turbochargers generally require a higher octane or A LOWER INITIAL COMPRESSION RATIO. A typical geared supercharged aircraft (Pratt & Whitney 985) engine will have an initial CR of 7.5:1 and burn 80/86 octane. This system will allow up to 36 in Hg boost with no detonation. Higher octane fuels may be used as long as the pilot understands he will get a NOTICEABLE REDUCTION IN POWER AND WILL AFFECT TAKE-OFF ROLL ADVERSELY. This stuff was figured out in the 30's and was used effectively by both auto and aviation industries successfully proving it was correct. The other facts of life are the gasoline people are famous for mix and match at the in-ground tanks. You can bet that you are more likely to get 87 or 85 octane when you buy the higher octane fuel. Sure, it is fraud. Are we gonna catch 'em? We do not have the time to stake 'em out and so on.

Yeah, we looked into the ARE cap after the Duck's Unlimited show in Memphis this year, last year, whenever. The caps are really nice and in keeping with Subaru quality. We checked out the price with several dealers in several locations between Jackson & Memphis and decided to stay with our tonneau cover: $1300 to $1600 installed!! That was a little rich for our blood. The word is that Subaru saw these things at a show and bought the two first prototypes and really liked 'em. I do not know why they bought the prototypes unless they were considering building some of their own. Contracting a vendor would make more sense and ARE would be a likely source.

I had an '01 Forester and got that kind of mpg in Utah and other areas above 3000'msl that had 85 octane gas and no MTBE additives. Ours had an auto trans.

ECU reset: Pull "Eng Ign" fuse for 45 min or more like Setright said. TCU reset: Pull "TCU" fuse at the same time. Easier than disconnecting battery and does not wipe out radio preferences, etc. Use transmission flush AFTER filter change if you decide you need to do that also. Have fun!

99obw, you are sooo right about other hands on my car! That is why I have learned to deal with the slight clutch judder. I made the mistake of letting the dealer take care of the pulling problem on my new '03 Baja. never again unless the dealer is willing to let me interview the tech to find out if he knows what he is doing. You were impressive on those percentages, too!

This is not only a message board but is GREAT entertainment!! What happened to the moose! GASP!! Nyuk, nyuk!

Whoa, ho, ho! I am the dummy that got screwed up on TSB/TPS. TSB: Tech Service Bulletin, TPS/TPI: Throttle Position Sensor/Indicator. There is no TSB on this ferky throttle as far as I know and my TPS must be fine because the "buck" showed up at different throttle positions. I put another post in on easy ECU Reset that was inspired by Josh/Legacy777: pull the ECU fuse instead of disconnecting the battery. No ECU fuse? Pull the one for Eng Ign (engine ignition). I am inclined to believe it is a good idea NOT to use cruise for a couple of hours after resetting the ECU since cruise SEEMS to bring the jerks back. Fast. I reset again and drove manual throttle to let the confuser learn and throttle response is still smooth as glass!

Subie Gal & gang: Where did you get this redline stuff? Y'all 'bout got me convinced!

I have become a firm believer in AT flush, costs about $100.00 around here and gets all the fluid changed including the torque converter. Fleet trannies last longer, usually beyond the lease, and is therefore less expensive. Changing tranny oil only gets about one third of the fluid so it does not really change anything. Subaru spin-on AT filter is the best idea since duct tape and I hope you have one 'cause then you could change it yourself after the flush. Be prepared for a price shock as Subaru want about $40.00 for one. It gets kinda complicated if yours has the filter in the tranny pan. Have fun!

We have had our '03 Baja all the way from TN to WA and all points in between and have received only rave reviews face-to-face on the street and hand signals thru the windows while underway. These raves were from all walks of life including several of the redneck-looking bunch that resemble the dummies on the Chrysler, "That thing gotta a Hemie?" ad. Personally, I really liked our '01 Forester but it was too small for our purposes. The Baja does a lot of things remarkably well and gets better gas milage at all speeds. Yeah, it is kinda like an Avalance wannabe in concept only, but so what. It ain't gonna leak like those panels on all the Avalanche's. Ever see a GM T-top hold water out? It was pure jealousy, pure and simple. Frame the note and hang it in your den next to a picture of a redneck and show your kids and friends good examples of people who need redirection. While you are at it, hang a picture of Woody Allen up there too!

HB_Dad, I forgot to thank you for sending us the rendering. It is good that we at least know what they are thinking about so we can comment. Who knows? They might even listen thanks to you.

svexpert and rezmutt thanks for the answer and the question! That was a great reference that was very informative. This thread is a great example of how well this forum works.

(Yawn...) Kinda looks like everybody else's SUV.... call me when it takes on some of the interesting individuality characteristic of Subaru.....zzzzzzzzzzzzz....

Reset my ECU again but did not disconnect the battery & lose data on odometer and clock, radio, etc. I am sure that most of you already know this but I figured this out almost by myself! I read Josh's response to resetting and he said, I believe, pull fuse 16 for 30 minutes for a certain Subaru and that would do the ECU. So I ran out to my Baja to check the book and it did not list a fuse for the ECU. I popped the fuse block cover(coin tray to left of driver, on lower panel and it had "Eng. Ign/Air bag" and that had to be the ECU. I think it was fuse 11 but what the heck! Why would I do this again so soon? Because the throttle got real crabby real fast after the last reset. I think this was because I used cruise too soon after the first reset and it "learned" from the cruise control to be pretty snappy to maintain speed. This time I stayed off cruise for about 30 miles and so far the throttle is pretty smooth. Let y'all know what happens.

Applegump, I will bet you are right that a turbo system from Subaru would be all around cheaper than aftermarket and it would all be worked out. However, how much would the car cost over a na version and could I roll this one and not get burned at finance. Thanks again for the good input, guys. Maybe you can tell me what is next in line for increasing torque out of this existing engine.

I have requested information from three different turbo outfits referenced in this forum and have yet to receive any reply. My main question is : Is there a turbo set-up that allows the use of 87 octane unleaded fuel? I am thinking of purchasing either a turbo or supercharger set-up for my '03 Baja and would like to know what I am getting into. So far, I am like Schultz: I know Nothing!