99obw

I'm afraid that's where it's done. Walmart sells a blue funnel with a long clear plastic flexible hose that works perfectly for both the ATF and front diff lube, though I use a different funnel for each fluid.

Does anyone know if the actual odometer reading can be pulled with the select monitor? Our speedometer was intermittnet for a long time, and I don't know what the actual mileage is.

Yep, pretty normal. Major surgery is relative. It's not for beginners. I would rate it about as hard as a timing belt, but much more dangerous. Spring compressors are not very forgiving devices. Some special tools are necessary; spring compressor, strut tool, and a camber gauge is nice to have. You should get an alignment afterwards if the fronts were replaced. Make sure the front strut mounts get replaced too.

Nope, I have done 1200 miles in 22 hours and then again in 25 hours. I can say from experience that that is crazy.

I would be very carerful using sealant on those plugs, you don't want to contaminate the gear lube. I have never had a leak, I just torque it to spec and coat the outside with never sieze.

For a cheap three season tire I highly recommend the Yokahama Avid Touring.

The dipstick is pretty short, with the loop being maybe two inches above the top of the tranny IIRC.

I find this very interesting. I have run the platinums out to 60k twice now, and I never saw a decrease in performace or mileage. When I put the new ones in, no change. What could I possibly be doing different? I have the last set I pulled, perhaps once I tame the jungle that is my lawn I will measure the gap and post it. If I was going to run a cheaper plug I would use NGK V-Power.

From a reliability standpoint, if you look at the ratings charts, VW is at or near the very bottom, with Subaru near the middle. Of course the top is typically Lexus, Infinity, Honda, Toyota, etc.

A properly driven clutch can easily last 200k miles. You might try some Auto-Rx. It's supposed to be a gentle cleaner that is very effective. It's a bit spendy for an additive, but you might take a look. I have no idea if it really works. http://www.auto-rx.net/trans/

Perfectionism is a disease!!!

LOL, how did you know! I made a strut tool by welding a 14mm socket to the box end of a 14mm wrench, then welding the 1/2" drive part of a cheap socket to the wrench handle. That allows me to get the @#% nut off and use my torque wrench to torque the new strut.

I would go for the short block and valve job, or just make it simple and buy a long block. Most folks here prefer CCR. What most likely happened is they didn't adjust the valves when the head gaskets were done and the exhaust valves are burnt. The dealer sounds incompetent. They should never send you on your way telling you that the MIL will go out by itself. They should identify the problem, fix it, then clear the code. I would probably have a compression or leakdown test done before I replaced anything. If the compression is good I would have the valves adjusted and fix whatever is causing the MIL and the poor performance.

Yep. That was driving 55MPH roads at about 60MPH. Synthetic lubricants throughout. OEM everything. Yokohama Avid Touring tires at 35 PSI front, 34 PSI rear. ~156K miles. My wife typically averages 25 MPG with 50/50 mixed driving.

I left the struts intact and removed the brake lines from the calipers and struts. Replaced the copper washers too. It must be the INTJ in me. I have a little camber guage that allows me to get the struts back pretty close, close enough to drive to the alignment shop for sure. I definately recommend getting an alignment done after replacing the front struts. Match marking works good when putting the same strut(s) back on.

You have a 2.2 in that correct? With a 2.2 and a 5-speed you should be close to 28 MPG on the highway. With a 2.5 and an automatic we got 27.7 MPG consistently with the A/C on and the car fully loaded on the highway. I have seen close to 30 MPG at times lately. I am extremely critical of most if not all aftermarket air intake systems. It isn't worth the reduced mileage, potential for increased engine wear, and potential for MAF damage IMHO. I would put the stock airbox back on it and start looking at things like plugs, wires, and O2 sensor to get that mileage where it should be.

I usually get about 5 quarts out of it. The subaru part number of the external filter is 38325AA032. It sounds like your car doesn't have an external filter like the '99, I'm not sure.

I broke exactly the same bolt when doing the head gaskets on our '99. I did basically what Setright described, I carefully drilled until most of the bolt was gone, then I was able to get the remaining threads out. My drilling wasn't perfect however and the threads were slightly damaged. I did not remove the strut. I find that extractors are nearly worthless in these instances, as the extractor usually can't exert as much torque as it took to break the head of the bolt off, especially with smaller bolts. I have yet to have an extractor remove a rusty bolt with a broken head, and I have tried probably a dozen times over the years. I have broken a lot of extractors. I have however successfully removed a broken spark plug from a head, and a couple of broken oil pump bolts from the block of my old '86 tercel. The proper way to do it is to buy the heal-a-coil kit, drill it slightly oversized, and install the threaded insert. Works great. EDIT: One thing that works, before you break the head of the bolt off, if it will turn at least a couple of turns out, grind the head off, drill into the remaining piece and turn a machine screw into the hole, then turn it IN until it falls out the other side. A "right-handed" extractor may work instead of a machine screw, but I have yet to see any of those.

If Mobil 1 was so good it wouldn't need to be mixed with a thicker grade to run without increased engine noise. I quit running it because it made the engine sound like a bucket of bolts. Mobil 1 Xw-30 is a GOOD oil for newer engines that is way too thin for most engines with some miles on them. I would still be a Mobil 1 customer if this wasn't the case. I have found two of my engines with ~150k miles prefer a ~12cSt oil such as Pennzoil HM 10w-30 or Amsoil ATM 10w-30. Less engine noise and much lower consumption. The subaru drinks Mobil 1 at 10cSt. I do plan on switching to probably a 5w-40 at 200k miles. Say what you like about Amsoil. I agree that their marketing is very questionable. I think Amsoil would be a much more successful company if they would drop the pyramid scheme. PS: Fram filters are available everywhere too.

I use a mity-vac brake bleeder. The thing pulls the fluid through so fast that I have to be very careful not to let the reservoir run dry. Takes about an hour to do all four wheels. I am a maintenance nut to say the least, and I do this once a year on any vehicle I care about. Our vehicles seem to turn the fluid very dark in a year, but living on a dirt road and doing so much wet weather driving is bad for vehicles in so many ways.I am unaware of any procedure specific to the ABS system. I simply bleed the brakes like I would any car.

I think the fact that Mobil 1 is relatively thin may have given all synthetics a bad name. That's why I use Amsoil, much thicker. I actually think Mobil 1 is a little bit better oil, but too thin to use the proper grade in an engine with some miles on it IMHO. At least with Mobil 1, the kinematic viscosity of the 5w and 10w-30 are the same at operating temperature. Both 10cSt. 30 weight oil runs from 9.30-12.49cSt, so you can see that is on the thin side. The 5w has a higher viscosity index, giving it better cold temperature performance. Synthetic oils clean better, so if you put it in a really dirty engine with old seals you might see some new leaks. When synthetics were first introduced, leaking was a problem. Then the oil makers began adding additives to condition the seals, and now most major brands don't cause leaking problems.

I don't know that a fluid and filter change will eliminate your symptoms, but it can't hurt. Subaru seems to have contradicting recommendations on the tranny filter and fluid. I have read some places that the filter is a lifetime item. In my owners manual it says to replace it every 30k. IMHO if one runs a tranny filter for the life of the tranny, the life is going to be reduced. I change the filter and fluid once a year or about every 30k miles. The filter is expensive at around $30, but cheap insurance none-the-less. Our car is at 155k miles and has never done that. It does have a little bit of a shift flare from 2nd to 3rd and it is starting to hit 2nd gear kind of hard on the 1-2 upshift once in a while. How many miles on your car? What is the maintenance history?

Dealer cost on the 10w-30 ATM is $4.55 a quart or $52.20 a case. For 15w-40 AME it's $4.00 a quart or $45.60 a case. For 15w-40 PCO it's $3.45 a quart or $39.00 a case. The PCO is a blend but should easily go 6k miles, Amsoil recommends twice the manufacturers recommendation on this one. The dealer markup is pretty slim, and I think you are paying a pretty good price. I pay the dealer cost but I have to pay shipping. I am going to start buying my ATM by the 2-1/2 gallon jug for $4.40 a quart, as cheap as I can buy it.

I have a preferred customer membership with Amsoil. It costs me $20 a year, but I pay dealer cost for lubricants. I use the 5w-30 and 10w-30 engine oils in the soob, and soon the 10w-30 oil and synthetic ATF in the jeep. I am using the Mobil 1 75w-90 in the diffs, but the Amsoil gear lube should be just as good. Extending the drain interval is tricky business. Do it right and you can save some time and money. Do it wrong and you can ruin your engine. I don't care what any Amsoil dealer says, oil cannot be run far beyond the manufacturers recommendations safely without periodic analysis. To have the oil analyzed costs nearly as much as changing it with a $4.50 a quart oil and an $8 filter. That is not something I am interested in doing. My solution is to not have the oil analyzed and change the oil every three months, which works out to about 7500 miles. That is where I feel comfortable. I don't trust any BS about extending the drain interval for diffs and trannys using synthetic lubes. I change that stuff once a year. On a vehicle driven less I might go to once every two years. AFAIK all over the counter oils with the exception of Mobil 1 that call themselves synthetic are actually group III. Castrol, Pennzoil, Valvoline, Quaker State. Basically a "super refined" petroleum oil. Mobil 1 and Amsoil are group IV, poly alpha olefin. Synthesized from ethylene gas AFAIK. I think the group III is good stuff but for barely more you can have the real thing. I did read today on BITOG that Pennzoil may release a group IV PAO. If that has a kinematic viscosity near 12 I may take a look. I find 5 or 10w-30 Mobil 1 to be too thin, kinematic viscosity of 10, at the 20 weight end of a 30 weight. Amsoil 10w-30 is 11.9. Engine runs quieter and uses much less oil. FWIW Pennzoil high mileage (great oil BTW) has a kinematic viscosity of 12. Even the Amsoil guys say that 10w-40 is an oil best avoided. I would run the 10w-30 or the 15w-40 instead. It has been well worth the few extra bucks to extend my drain intervals from about every 6 weeks to every three months.

I actually called the dealer on this when we first got the car. I felt stupid when he told me. RTFM!!!