Setright

Certainly a gas of some type in the coolant. My car did this when the head gasket was blown, compression gas in the coolant. Evry morning upon start-up I would hear a rustling noise...hope your HG's are 0kay:D

Could be a hole in the bottom of the fuel tank, even a tiny hole will cause a distinct smell....especially on the move

Standard "ET" is 55mm....I would not go lower than 50mm if you intend on more than 195mm wide tyres.

I started running "Redline 75W90NS" a couple of months ago. Certainly the best I have tried, but not a huge improvement over "Mobil 1 75W90". Both these fluids kick the backsides of all the others out there, in my humble opinion

Ring them and check it out. I THINK they are the same, but I can't remember for sure..

Ian, one of my adjusters occasionally clicks in the morning, although it has been a while - fingers crossed! To avoid sludge build up in the future replace the PCV valve now, and make sure all the PCV hoses are intact.

Bear in mind that the diff's job is to allow a speed difference between wheels so that the car can corner!

Left wheels on ice, right ones on dry asphalt - I assume AWD In "Ideal cases": Normal Open Diff: Gas it, and the wheels on ice will spin, those asphalt will stand still. (In actual fact the car will crawl forward.) LSD The wheels on ice will still rotate faster than those on asphalt, but all four will rotate. The "lock-up ratio" determines how big a speed difference left to right. Manual Subes have a center LSD, so if both front wheels are on ice, the rears will still rotate and move the car forward. Usually, the diffs are open side-to-side.

Use only genuine Interrocitor parts!

Mintex "Red Box" pads, which are a standard replacement pad offer slightly higher friction than OE, and far more resistant to overheating. Find the part no. at http://www.mintex.co.uk Whatever you do, don't get any "fast road pads" like EBC Greenstuff or Mintex M1144. The pad material combination will cause judder within weeks of normal driving, they don't like varying intensity. If you must, go a notch up to Mintex M1155, but be aware that winter temperatures can render these pads a little less effective at the first application. I think Legacy777 is running these?

Hello people! Since reverse gear is not in constant-mesh, it cannot possibly have synchromesh. The input and layshaft each have a straight-cut cog, too small to reach the other. Engaging reverse moves in a third cog that facilitates a reversal of the output, by conecting the two previous cogs. The sound is made by cog teeth bashing it up, since the third cog is not moving, and the input cog is still spinning down. Don't confuse this sound with the crunch of synchromesh teeth on the forward gears.

CSMOLE: Very little damage. The reverse cogs have straight-cut teeth, which is the strongest type of cut. The sound is horrible, but the actual action behind it isn't that violent. It only takes half a second for the layshaft to "spin down", but it sounds like that's longer than the War Office will wait

Leave the changes for 6k miles, anything less and there would be no reason to use synthetic oil. Don't forget the filter. Nick, you took the words right out of my keyboard

Pump is in the tank. Access via a plate below the rear seat, or under the cargo area carpet. 450 sounds outrageous.

Each wheel speed sensor is attached with only one bolt. Remove them and make sure they really are clean

It can take over 600 miles of driving to get all the air out of my EJ22 after a coolant change. Random, I say go for a new Rad cap before doing anything else. Then make sure no other hoses are leaking - don't forget the ones for the cabin heater core. Leave the Tstat for the time being. Is there a rustling sound of air and water inside the car at cold start-up? That tends to be a sure sign of head gasket problems. As you seem to be aware, the hole might be too small to show up in a compression test

The first "batch" of the present BMW 3-series had MT issues. Some cars had their transmissions replaced TWICE. The previous generation had a quality glitch in the door inner lining, some owners pulled the whole thing off when shutting the door! VW/Audi electrics are still not to be trusted. Mercedes interior trim is never quite lined up anymore. Their original TDi's ate head gaskets as fast the infamous EJ25. Sadly, there is just no way to be sure. Leonard Setright did put it nicely in CAR Magazine April 1990: "It is not always true that you get what you pay for, but unless you pay for it, you certainly do not get it." At least Alfa Romeo's don't rust anymore

Erratic idle speed sounds like IAC. I am surprised Josh hasn't suggested the coolant temp sensor - he always seems to do so with this sort of problem, so I thought I'd bring it up.

But I trust that we all agree that the buzzer or chime system is stupid?

My present Sube does the same. A 1979 Toyota Crown I once had left the lights on until one of the front doors opened, very cool. I can't understand why anyone would ever decided that a stupid warning "chime" is a better solution. Just turn the lights off!! The driver needs to make a deliberate move to keep the lights on after leaving the car. Actually, the Toyota system was even more "intelligent": Engine off, key out, door open = lights off. Engine off, keys out, light switch to off, light switch to on, open door = lights stay on.

Aye! If it's a broken brake light bulb it should only come on when you press the brake. If both bulbs go, it doesn't come on..

From one side only, or both? My fuel injectors click noticeably, but you wouldn't notice from inside the car....185K miles. Try opening the bonnet, warm engine running, and open the throttle by hand and snap it shut. An exhaust leak should produce a distinct click when the throttle closes.

Subarunation, I beg to differ: GM owns a 20% stake in Subaru, the car manufacturer, not FHI. Also, the Subaru emblem has SIX stars. And the whole constellation is known as....Subaru! Otherwise, I do agree with the derogatory comments on GM. The clutch judder situation is evidence of short-sighted penny pinching by GM :temper:

Could be a number of things, but I would start by looking at the Idle Air Control valve, IAC. If the cold idle is all over the place, then this could be it. Try pulling the codes from the ECU memory.

The circuit will light the dash warning light if ONE bulb is broken and the brake pedal is depressed. If both bulbs go, then the light will not come on. You may already know this, but it could help anyway... It sounds like there may be a current leak, from one of the bulb fittings. Either a wire is pinched or there is moisture in the lamp unit.