99obw

The first thing I do when I get home after getting tires mounted is loosen them and retighten with a torque wrench. The ONLY shop I have taken my wife's suby to that hasn't severly overtightened the lug nuts is WALMART. Go figure. I do all fluid changes myself.

GM gave diesel cars a very bad reputation a while back. Every person I mention my desire for a diesel car to says something like "I hope they do a better job than GM did." That may slow acceptance, though I tend to think suby owners are practical and open minded about their vehicles. One unfortunate impression I get from the VW diesels is that they are very complex. The diesel's simplicity is what makes it so reliable. I hope subaru doesn't make a complicated mess out of it. Another dissapointment in the VW's is the lack of a block heater. I guess one can be rigged on but it isn't straight forward. I would probably carry some ether with me in the winter just in case. What is the thing going to do when it is -20F, which it gets down to here 9 out of 10 winters. I have a heated garage at home, but not at work. VW's fuel heating system is pretty cool though. And of course, any practical over the road diesel needs a turbo. I have always been impressed with diesels. My dad's '92 frieghtliner was so impressive when bobtailing (no trailer). He would skip gears (13 normally) and press me back in the seat like a race car. 1550 ft-lbs of torque will do that. When loaded it would get 6mpg at 80,000lbs GVW. They are probably better now. I think a diesel's power would be very satisfactory for most of the NA gas powered subaru owners. We aren't used to a lot of hp. Of course that will change with the new turbos. I sincerely don't want VW to be my only diesel option.

What gets me is that the 4EAT filter is OBVIOUSLY on the side of the tranny. WTF! If they took a second to look around they would certainly find the engine filter.

I hope that other suby fans feel the same way so that subaru's market research leads them to release it here. I have read that we are going to start seeing a lot more diesels here, especially after the sulfur content of the fuel is further reduced and the manufacturers can lower emissions even more. The Jeep Liberty supposedly will soon be available with a diesel, but it will still be an ugly POS. Now if they would release the diesel with a d/r tranny, I would forsake all other makes for the rest of my days, promise. I bet a lot of the old school guys would be pretty excited too. We need to start a letter writing effort or something. Come on diesel d/r suby!!!!! Ok, I am getting too excited, I will shut up now.

Forget power, I want torque (and mileage!). Come on diesel! Despite all of the bad things I have heard, I am almost crazy enough to buy a VW TDI to get 50mpg. If subaru sold an AWD diesel in the US I would buy one for sure! I mean, with piston slap it already sounds like a diesel anyway, right!

I have read that using engine oil is worse than not using anything at all. The oil will burn off and leave deposits that make the plug difficult to remove. It is important to only get the neversieze on the threads and not on the electrodes of the plug. I couldn't find anything about neversieze on the NGK site. I did find something on another site that said it wasn't necessary to use neversieze with NGK plugs, as their threads are cold rolled instead of cut and the smoother surface eases removal.

Matt, Could you post a link to that? I would be interested in reading that.

theotherskip, When I adjusted my exhaust valves at 118k miles, they were all at 0.007"-0.008" IIRC. It's wierd that yours were wearing so much faster. The local stealer gave me the impression that many people don't adjust the valves very often. I have to admit, in this day and age, if I didn't know better and a dealer told me I needed my solid lifter adjusted, I would tell them to go fly a kite. I am curious, do the Phase II 2.5 heads have solid lifters?

I prefer to work from underneath without removing anything but the little mud shields. Twist the boots about a half turn and pull gently but firmly with spark plug wire removers or needle nose pliers. Make sure you don't pull on the wire itself, but pull on the end. Use a torque wrench and antisieze compound when installing the new plugs. Use a little dielectric grease on the inside of the boots when you reinstall them to make removal easier next time. A '96 may be ready for new wires BTW.

I would never run Amsoil for 25k miles as they suggest. To do so safely requires periodic oil analysis, and many engines won't make it that far before the oil requires replacement. I feel pretty comfortable with 7500 miles intervals. I am totally sold on synthetic. When I had the engine apart for head gaskets it was clean as a whistle with very little wear. I was running Mobil 1 at that point.

I have used both Mobil 1 and Amsoil. I use 5w-30 in the winter and 10w-30 in the summer. I live in a Zone 4, so it gets pretty cold. I personally won't go thinner than 5w-30. With Mobil 1 I was changing the oil every 3-4k miles. Now with Amsoil I am changing the oil about every 3 months, or about every 7500 miles. I could go longer, but I think doing so would require oil analysis, and that is almost as much as changing the oil. The engine seems much happier with the Amsoil. The engine is quieter at startup. I can run it for 3 or 4 thousand miles before the color darkens noticably. Regardless of what oil you choose, use a quality oil filter. I really like the Amsoil filters, but I think I should find something cheaper, they are about $11 each. 15w-50 year round! Wow!

Very impressive. Mothers is great stuff isn't it!

The price does seem a little high, but I don't think anyone would do it for $160. The parts alone are probably more than that. 99obw

I would have been much more impressed if they had set up a course and had at least some organized racing amongst themselves before they trashed it. If I had the time to build that kind of stuff I would maximize my enjoyment for sure. For now I will have to drive an RC car with a .09 in^3 engine. 99obw

I don't mind the function of the switch, but the location sucks. I bumped it once when cleaning the interior of the car and it took me a couple of days and a call to the dealer to figure it out. RTFM! I have never used it beyond that. 99obw