Crashton

I've had this happen twice on my 2000 Forester. The last time I took it all apart I used some small hose clamps to hold the hoses on tight. I'm guessing the anacrids can't get in there now since it's not happened since. Chuck

As far as I know there are only 2 choices when it comes to Forester struts. Stock ones from the dealer or KYB's. Tirerack sells them. I've read that the KYB's are a bit stiffer than stock, but I have no experience with them myself. http://www.tirerack.com/index.jsp?source=S13674x009-branded&code=yes&keyword=tirerack Chuck

Even if it does check out I'd ask for them to throw in a SUBARU extended warranty. Chuck

I use a set of Speed Bleeders on my Miata. They worked great the fist couple of times I used them. After a few uses the sealer on the treaded part wore out. Buy a bottle of the sealer from them so you can clean & then reapply the sealer restoring their function. Don't use teflon tape.Chuck

I just removed some badges from my 05 XT. Used some dental floss to saw behind the emblems I wanted to remove. I used WD40 to clean up the glue residue. That was so easy I decided to remove some badges from my 95 Miata. Well that was a whole different kettle of fish. I was able to get them off with my dental floss technique, but that glue was really hard to deal with. Probably took me an hour or so to remove the sun baked glue. I used Goo Gone & then WD40. If I knew what a pain it was going to be I'd have never done it.

Stan, the the differeces you felt could come down to an alignment issue or something as simple as wrong air preassure. Usually cars on the dealers lots have the tires seriously over inflated & that could cause a loosey goosey steering sensation. I think which ever you buy you'll be a happy Subie owner. Those Audi's are nice, but more $$$$ than they're worth IMHO. My advice would be to get the turbo over the H6. Chuck

I've got 215/65/15 Yokahama Tourings on my 2000 & at the rear the clearence is very tight right at the spring perch on the rear struts. They fit, but just. Make sure when you check that the car is on the ground with the suspension loaded. Chuck

A coworker of mine just had a recall on her brand new VDC Outback. I believe she said it had something to do with the manual shifting of her auto tranny. Do what you like, but if I were you....yes I know I'm not....I'd call them back with the VIN number & find out what's up.

ATF is a high preassure lubricant & so is gear oil. Drain it out & put some new gear oil in. If you can't drain it yourself it won't hurt a thing to drive to the dealer or to the local oil change place & have it drained & refilled.

When I changed the tranny fluid & filter on my 2000 Forester I used the Subaru filter & Mobile One synthetic ATF. For the diffs I used Mobile One synthetic 75-90 gear lube. I did the change about 60,000 miles ago & all is well. You won't be able to drain all the ATF out of the tranny. IICR you'll get about 3 to 4 quarts to drain out. I don't remember, but I believe the tranny holds 12 quarts. I drained mine & put new fluid in. Then I drove for a week & repeated. I did this three times, the last time I installed the new filter. One more thing. Take the fill plug out of the reat diff BEFORE you take the drain plug out. If you drain first & you can't remove the filler plug you're truely ##**^%!!! Chuck

The Hella's are great, but for the money I'm with Strakes. The Fiam's work great & are loud enough to get you noticed. I don't know where the horns are on a new Legacy, but on my Forester XT they were uder the left front fender. Chuck

Just because they say that it's aproved by Saab, Volvo & BMW doesn't mean you should be using it in a Subaru.

Have you ever changed or had the tranny fluid changed? I'd recomend doing that along with a new tranny filter to see if that helps.

I don't think I'd be putting snake oil in my tranny. Why do you think you need it??

I use Mobile 1 5w30 in the winter & 10w30 in the summer in my 2000 Forester with 101,000 miles on her. Been using synthetic since 8,000 miles or so. Some people say not to switch to synthetic on a high mileage motor. I switched a 88 4Runner to synthetic at 95,000 & put another 100,000 miles on without problems. Oh yes, my oil change intervules are 5,000 miles with a new Pure One Purolator filter.

I don't believe you'll have any problems using those Blizzak's. The only issue & it's not a big deal is the speedo error.

Listen to this ^ guy. It won't take long to toast your diff. Hypoid gear oil is a high preasure lubricant & what your diff needs. Yes some FWD transaxles use ATF, but they contain no hypoid gears. Neither does a BMW transmission. Good luck, you have been warned. Chuck

I had them put their special oatmeal in my Forester. I'm now just a couple hundred south of 100,000 miles. As far as stop leak plugging heater cores goes, I think it's an old mechanics tale. I had a 88 Toyota 4Runner with 90,000 on the clock. The block started seeping coolant. I was told it was a pourous casting. The fix was a new short block $$$$. Well not quite, first I drained & flushed the coolant & added a can of Bars Leaks. I sold that 4Runner with 195,000 miles on it with the same engine in it & the heater working as good as new. Even though this stuff worked for me it's a bandaid at best. Subaru is hoping it's bandaids get you through the 100,000 mile zone. They are saving a ton of money doing this. Chuck

I'm running the Hakka 2's on my Forester & to me they are a great tire. I've heard the RSI's are very good too. I believe they are the replacement for the Q. If you are looking for a very good all season tire look at the Hakka WR.

I don't see how you could possibly go wrong buying those. Heck the wheels they're on are worth $80. WARNING >Once you drive your Subie with 4 snow tires you'll never go back to all seasons again. Chuck

Happily no it's not that common, but as you found out it does happen. When you have the wheels off you should clean the mating surfaces. I use a small wire brush. Then I put a very light coating of antiseize compound on. I don't use the compound on the studs though. The sticking wheels syndrom happens more with aluminum wheels than steel wheels. Hope this helps you out. Chuck

I've got about 8,000 miles on the brakes. I had the wheels off last week to chase down a noise. Turns out I had a piece of gravel jammed between the rotor & the dust shield. Guess I picked it up on a rally I ran. The rotors looked great, but they only have 8,000 miles on them too. I replaced them when I put the pads in. My guess is that the ceramics aren't going to be hard on the rotors, but only time will tell for sure. Chuck

I put a set of Akebono ceramic pads on my 2000 Forester L. They are great. Not any dust to speak of & they stop very well. Also they are very quiet. These pads do not need to be warmed up before they work well like a racing pad does. I bought them locally, but you can buy the from the Tire Rack. http://www.tirerack.com/brakes/index.jsp Chuck

I've been using the PureOne Purolator for the last 4 years or so. They seem to work well & are easy for me to source locally. I'd say either filter you've meantioned would work well.