Setright

Mobil 1 5W-50 has served me very well as warm weather oil. If you get nightime temps below freezing, M1 5W-40 would be better. Serious daytime frost would justify 5W-30. For my high-rev driving style anyway

Source a European "Sportwagon" gearbox. All the station cars with manual tranny are dual range over here

crane, that is NOT true. The xW-xx numbers are appoximations that sum up a range of oil viscosities. You need to read the tech data sheets if you want to be serious about oil thickness. For example: Mobil 1 5W-30 is viscosity-wise almost exactly the same as Shell Ultra 5W-40. Top and bottom of the ranges...

Try finding a good 5W-40 instead of 10W-30. Shell, Mobil, Castrol, Valvoline...

1.0-1.1 mm

Get a general auto maintenance book to back-up a Haynes. The Haynes that covers 1990-1998 is pretty good, I have only found one fault in it so far - the knock sensor doesn't live in a coolant passage! The engine rebuild info has not been tested by me. Chilton gets a lot of bad reviews on this site. So does Haynes, but not as many...

gros, your plugs click????

I would vote for checking the TPS, too. Unplug it and measure the resistance across the points as you have a helper slowly depress the accelerator. Anything but a steadt indicates trouble.

Searching around this site is likely to yield a lot of good information. I STRONGLY recommend that you remove the air intake piping on the left side and the battery from the right side. With these two items out of the way, plug access is much better. Loosening the screen wash tank is also helpful. DON'T tighten the plugs too much. Once the washer contacts the head, it only needs a quarter to half a rotation. Stop when there is resistance to motion, you don't need to exert any considerable force to seat them well.

Nice. Thanks for sharing

Well, the Impreza clutch is quite "progressive" which means it does have long travel, and 100% engagement comes high up the pedal travel. But it does sound like your cable is too tight. Try adjusting it. Two bolts on the end of the cable, a 12mm for actuall adjustment and a 10mm for locking it. Loosen them, back off the 10mm two full rotations, and then back off the 12mm until they lock together again. Here's a photo - worth a thousand words apparently http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v684/Setright/clutchfork.jpg Adjustement is right in the center of the photo. The pedal should not feel dead when it's on the floor, but spring back a little bit.

Battery: Not strange, your ECU will have reset itself to more conservative ignition timing. The pops will come back

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v684/Setright/twosubes.jpg Well, I only actually own the blue one. Silver one is on "commerce plates" which means most taxes and such have been withdrawn. In return I can only use it for work. I was offered another job but my boss didn't want to let me go. So....I suggested he set me up with a real car, instead of the Toyota he had in mind. :cool: Normal "white plates" like those on my car are levied a 180% "registration fee"... which is followed by a 25% VAT. The Forester plates are yellow and the reg. fee is only 30% and the VAT is 0% ! The rear seats have been removed and replaced with a flat carpeted load bay. Windows are tinted 90% black. How do you like that?

Pretty sure they're glass. My late 90'ies "facelift" Impreza is definitely glass.

Change the oil every 6-7k miles or six months. I am a big synth fan, but at your mileage I would stick with a 10W-40 mineral oil. Unless you like removing the engine to replace the rear main oil seal? It's quite likely to start leaking. Along with rocker cover gaskets and camshaft seals. During winter a 5W-40 might do well, too. Might need to go for semi-synthetic for that kind of cold flow. If you get a good oil change interval going, a 20W-50 oil could pay off during summer.

Did you know that they haven't had any warranty repairs on the original V-Tec system. Hats off from here All that molybdenum is probably there to silence the piston slap. Honda engines slap at idle when cold.

Yeah, sometimes my Bridgestone Blizzaks won't let me slide enough either. Still, good to have the extra grip

Backfire. BACK fire. That's when cumbustion flames reach backwards up through the intake manifold. Exhaust popping is not the same as backfiring. Back to the point: A slightly rich mixture will encourage "overrun" popping, so replacing the temp sensor is a good place to start. The popping could also stem from valve problems. Like a burned valved not sealing and letting combustion flames escape.

Okay, but that's not the same as "seal and protect the engine". Quite the opposite, it's less protection to allow wearing-in.

Yes, that mileage does involve a trackday or two Of course that needs to be factored in, but my driving style on tracks is very much a smooth and smoke one.

I'm not sure I agree with that OBW97. Factory oil is just oil, most likely not full synth. Danish service books say a first oil change at 3k and then 7.5 k from there, for the turbo and 3.0 models. Others just get the 7.5 from the start. Odd, no so long ago - 3 years - Subaru was still insisting on first changes at 1000 miles.

Yes sir! I just took delivery of a Forester 2.5XT and the first day of driving was in snow. Didn't take many miles before I was sliding it like my Impreza...very forgiving, very progressive. Slides in these cars almost happen in slow motion ;-)

Excuse me? If you are trying to stop an uneven tyre wear problem you MUST get a computer guided alignment. And yes, I too wear down a set of tyres within 25-30k miles. Evenly worn though.

Ermm, doing donuts? Only the really serious engined Subarus can do this. An OBW wouldn't really have the power. IF you are using the e-brake to do this: STOP ! Toe should be 0.0 all the way around. As Texan says, a little negative camber could reduce the problem. And give far better handling.

I like this thread. Nice pictures!