ThosL

Some curved balls on this job which I did not anticipate checked out some Youtube videos. One was the difficulty of accessing the bolt on the valve cover lower one toward back on driver's side. Also after putting the driver's side back together was getting oil burning smoke, so I took it all apart again thinking that the valve cover was not evenly snug. After that no real problems after running it a while.

2002 Forester. It was old oil, I changed it out last week so it must have been in there sitting.

I changed my oil last week and started in on my valve cover gasket replacement today. When the bolts loosened as I was removing the cover, some old oil leaked out probably 8-10 oz or more. Not sure what that means; possibly a previous overfilling where extra oil was pushed up in there? The outside of the plug wires previously had a lot of oil on them, why I decided to change the valve covers, etc.. I don't know how this would have happened. Also there was some milky residue on the inside of the cover though I don't have any head gasket issues. Going with Denso Platinum plugs, I assume these are as good as the NGKs? https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08PVYN3N4?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

There's a mechanic who has a lot of followers on Youtube who reviews many of the fluid additives and makes a lot of sense. Greyhaired energetic fellow.

Here's one video:

I pulled a couple of the plugs which looked fine but there was oil on the plug wire holders which may be the source of a leak. I'll look around for good solutions on this. Spark Plug Change...oil in plug wells. | Subaru Forester Owners Forum

I figured I was probably overdue on an oil change. My 2002 Forester has around 230K miles. I bought the Mobil 1 10-30 and the Fram Tough Guard filter. Draining the old oil 4 quarts at most came out. Also thinking of adding Lucas Oil Treatment.

I had that several times; it gets expensive so if you can do a diy solution that holds you are ahead of the game. If the bearing has damaged the hub then the problem can just re-emerge, and I ended up getting the whole knuckles at the junkyard for installation.

Seems to be ok now.

I checked with a mechanic today after my brother said the unburned gas smell was noticeable like the 60s cars. He said the plugs should be checked may have been fouled by the 10 or less mpg I was getting.

After replacing the coil, the car started running normally again. The fuel injector cleaner was to get a cleaner burn, hopefully do something to help the catalytic converter. There are dedicated products for the cat converter, doubt they do a lot of good. Looks like NGK is the OE on the coil, around $130 online. All the franchise auto stores sell a coil knock off for around $100, probably not much better than the China imports on ebay for $25 delivered.

I liked the way the mechanic loosened and pulled the plug wires while running for confirmation which I had not thought of. What damage does running a Subaru with a bad coil, do? I ordered some fuel injector cleaner.

I'll look for a used Bosch unit at the junkyard, not worth taking the chance of a breakdown on the road. With other cars other problems, as one friend said: Compression check? Dirty injectors, bad coil, spark plug, fuel pump/filter, pvc valve, egr valve...

Thanks for the recommendations; the last ignition coil was replaced on last October 15, so I went to the mechanic he emailed proof of the receipt/transaction and they reluctantly backed up their guarantee. Problem solved. FYI the diagnostic on it was to remove coil wires while vehicle is running, two had no spark.

I replaced the ignition coil nearly a year ago and I was thinking of that too. The previous owner said that he had replaced his a year before. But when mine failed power loss was greater and the unit broke down physically. I replaced the cat converter last winter. I'm assuming running the car with gas not burning even for 50 miles puts an undo load on the cat converter.

I had two jobs I contracted for today. They involved driving down from New Canaan, CT to New Rochelle, NY. On the way to NY the Subaru lost power. I noticed a gas smell out of the exhaust previously. It bogs down when you put your foot on the gas pedal. Gas is burning excessively, 10 mpg at best. I ran a computer check on it and it showed cylinder #3 and #4 misfire. Also codes for O2 and evaporative came up. I disconnected the O2 censor into the main engine thinking that might effect improvement which it didn't. My older brother warned about doing work with a car with problems such as towing a work unit if the car breaks down being very costly. I was able to get the work done without car breakdown. Is this likely electrical?

I've bought and sold a lot of precious metals and numismatic coins over the years; get weekly reports from numismatic crimes on thefts in the mail, houses, smash and grabs from cars and at coin shows. They almost never catch the thieves or retrieve the loot. One of the government officials' wife got cleaned out a few years ago and they pushed a very onerous law to document everything that comes in to pawn and coin shops, didn't do much good.

In CT, they are pushing a bill to make it illegal to sell a Cat that his not connected to a vehicle: https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/connecticut/articles/2022-05-02/connecticut-bill-attempts-to-stop-catalytic-convert-thefts#:~:text=In general%2C the bill prohibits,converters they sell or transfer. Not sure why they didn't just qualify that to aftermarket cats that are not worth that much.

Sounds very complicated. I have had cruise control on some of the Outbacks I have owned, it worked on the last one but not on my 2002 Forester. Not a priority for me as it is only useful when all the other cars are going at steady speeds on long trips which I don't do much.

I got $40 for an aftermarket. https://rrcats.com/?campaignid=16523044477&adgroupid=134844517352&keyword=rr cats com&device=c&gclid=Cj0KCQjwjN-SBhCkARIsACsrBz4NgY9W-tCkpdtBY26Ih8TSLTvq1Fj9pFtFvrAncD5kVJgf-xbPsG4aAgfBEALw_wcB They paid for shipping to them. It's worth checking around. Local car metal buyer offered $10. .

I overfilled it because cold it was low on the dipstick. I assumed it was burning oil and put in way too much. I wonder if that had anything to do with the catalytic converter getting clogged.

Thanks for the advice. On my newly purchased 2002 Forester I have overfilled it; there seems to be a lot of variability and was not sure what caused that, I thought it could only be the asphalt it was on not being level which can be hard to ascertain.

I've noticed that there is considerable variations on reading the oil level with the dipstick depending on the asphalt surface I am on. Is there any way to know whether you are on a level surface?

If you can find a mechanic or exhaust shop that allows you to get the parts and then charge you based on their time that may be the way to go. Get the parts at Rock Auto or Amazon. I have not found a work around when the joints are damaged or corroded, but as others said it may well be possible. Someone with welding skills can be hard to find on the side.

No leaking; the oil residue is splatter from when I overfilled the engine oil and or tranny fluid. Thanks for the advice.