ron917

The CEL will illuminate if the ECU gets no signal at all from a sensor. An open circuit or short circuit, for example. For some sensors, the ECU will flag it if the reading is outside of a certain range. But if the failed sensor gives an erroneous signal within normal range, the ECU has no way of knowing that. For instance, the coolant temp sensor may indicate that the engine is fully warm when it's really stone cold. It provided a signal, but it's wrong.

I change them every 30,000 miles. My '07 Outback and my '03 Pontiac Montana have them. 15,000 is too soon, but by 30,000 they are quite dirty and full of leaves and junk. For my '07 Outback, a new WIX cabin air filter cost $12.42 at Rock Auto. Changing it required disassembling the glove compartment. It was a royal pain, but not difficult, working in an uncomfortable position. I'm glad I had the FSM to guide me, as some things it wanted me to remove made no sense until I got it apart and saw they were in the way of getting to the filter. My sticker "warning" of a Cabin Air Filter (why a warning?) is also on the driver's side, but the filter itself is nowhere near there. Maybe in Japanese RHD cars it's on that side, but not for North America. But your '06 Forester may be different. Best to check the owner's manual or FSM. A google search may turn up detailed instructions, maybe on a Forester specific forum. By the way, in the Pontiac, changing that filter is a 5 minute job. There's an access door in the glove comparment, no need to disassemble anything and no tools required. Most of the time is spent trying to figure out how the wife fit all that crap in the glove compartment and getting it closed again. But the filter itself costs more than twice as much as the one for the Outback.

When I did an engine swap, I was afraid of dropping a bolt or socket down there. I stuffed one end of a shop rag into the hole, leaving the TC bolt exposed but no way it could fall down the hole.

Could be the belt is stretched. Did you change it after the first occurrence? The first engine in my old '99 OBW (now my son's) died of a seized camshaft. Hopefully that is not what's happening to your engine.

Hmm, yeah, the diagram from the FSM isn't real clear. It shows the top, rear intake bolt at 20 Nm. And the front, lower exhaust bolt at 10 Nm. There's a total of 12 bolts, and we have a spec for only 2 of them that is different with no explanation. If you didn't already know that the bolts on the front cam bearing caps (on both camshafts) were different from the others, that diagram would be open to a variety of interpretations.

Here are the relevant pages from the '99 FSM. Should be the same for your '98.

You have to be able to turn the engine to get all of the torque converter bolts off. Normally, you reach the bolts through the bung hole.

That's good news! Check the cam sprockets for cracks or damage. They are made of plastic and it doesn't take much to compromise them. You don't want to get it back together then have a sprocket come apart - bent valves are the likely outcome.

Here's an interesting article on diagnosing some mysterious ABS problems: http://www.picoauto.com/tutorials/diagnosing-abs.html

It was no match for a 4 foot pipe on my Allen wrench. But my engine was on a stand and flipped upside down, which makes it much easier to swing a 4 foot wrench

Wow, good deal then. Those low mile cars are out there, but rare like hen's teeth. My Grandma (age 89) only puts 200 miles per month on her Buick.

They're 14mm. AutoZone has a 3-pack of big Hex key sockets with a 14mm in it. On my '99 EJ25, the one plug I had to remove had sealant on it (also shown the FSM), so it didn't want to come off easily. I used Permatex Ultra Grey to reinstall. But I don't think it's really necessary to remove the plug(s) to do a coolant change. Pulling the t-stat drains as much out as you're going to get without pulling the engine and tipping it over. I removed the plug during an engine swap. The rebuilt engine came with a fitting for an oil cooler where my old engine just had the plug, so I needed to swap the plug over because I don't have the oil cooler.

Can that mileage be verified via CarFax or similar? The '99s have a history of bad speedometers, and they are often replaced.

There are millions of cars out there that have lived long lives on nothing but Fram filters. The Fram hatred found on internet car forums is totally irrational. I don't use them myself anymore, I use OEM filters which can often found for just a couple dollars more, especially in case lots. Althought the new Subaru blue filter is made by Honeywell, who makes Fram, and has very similar construction. The only difference appears to be a higher bypass valve pressure.

Good deal! Glad it was a simple, cheap fix. Those ATF hose clamps have been problematic for me. I changed all the hoses and clamps when I had the engine out of the '99 Outback, and they still weep a little. Even on my '07 Outback, two of the clamps are weeping at 30K miles.

The current blue Subaru oil filters are made by Honewell in Canada. Says so right on the filter.

Did you have the engine out or do the head replacement with the block in the car? If the engine was out, the torque converter or front transmission seals might have been damaged.

I have to disagree with you on the "ride and handling" part of the '07. I have an '07, formerly drove a '99 (same as your old '97). The '99 is now my son's car, so it's still in my driveway and I drive it every once in a while. The '07 suspension is very soft, and the rear is severly underdamped. It gets very usteady on bumpy curves. The '99 handles FAR better, especially after it got KYB GR-2s on all corners. Fortunately, the GR-2s are now available for the '05-'09 Outbacks, and I plan on upgrading long before the original struts wear out. Otherwise, every other aspect of the new Outback is significant improvement over the old one.

Yes, a tap burner is just a crude version of EDM. One type of EDM uses a graphite rod electrode that "burns" the workpiece. The big thing is the work has to be imersed in a liquid (oil of some type). Maybe they can just build a dam around the bolt head and fill the cavity with the liquid? BTW, I'm not an expert on EDM. I just know about it from a machinist aquantence who gave me a tour of his shop. It seems to me that if you could remove the head of the bolt by EDM or even a Dremel (and lots of time!), you could get the head off. Then, with the pressure relieved, the body of the bolt might easily turn with a pipe wrench or stud extractor. Call around to machine shops and see what they say. As mentioned previously, they deal with this kind of problem all the time.

Electric Discharge Machining (EDM) can do exactly that. The object is immersed in a liquid bath and the metal is eroded by an arc. It's one way to remove broken EZ-outs.

You can weld a nut onto the head of the bolt. The heat often helps to free the bolt. But those head bolts are long and run through a giant heat sink - the area that needs heat may not get hot enough. Welding would be my last choice. The heat might damage the head and you'll get spatter all over things that need to stay clean. But you might be able to save the block. EDIT: Sorry for the repeat - others beat me to this suggestion before I got my post typed up!

All four tires must match in circumference within 1/4 inch.

If you're going to go that far, just fix it. The speedo in my son's '99 Outback went intermittent. After living with it for almost a year, he took it out and re-flowed every solder connection he could find on the speedometer head. Some looked questionable, but he did them all. It's been good for 2,000 miles now.

These guys sell replacements for "non-replaceable" U-joints: http://www.rockforddriveline.com/replacem.htm I haven't needed to use them yet, but I saved the bookmark because I know I'll need one someday.

The "tar" is undercoating. One side has it, the other doesn't. To me, that indicates a possible body repair at some time in the past. Or maybe just a sloppy application at the factory. In the second photo, the metal on one edge of the bracket is smeared. Looks like the car went over a rock or something. If you can bend the bracket so it doesn't touch the arm, the noise you hear will probably stop.