Setright

Could the Sub control relay have burned the contacts and latched itself? Keep in mind that there are two coolant temp sensors, one for the dash dial, and one for the ECU.

Coolant temp sensor?

No, I wouldn't expect a difference in MPG either. The car's weight is unchanged, and the driveshafts at the rear still have to rotate - even if it's only because they are "dragged".

Oh, and it's well worth paying for a good mech to do the HG work. I sold my EJ22 Legacy to a friend and he's just passed 200k miles!

My EJ22 needed new head gaskets at 125k miles and 10 years of age. It is NOT a weakness of the EJ22. I suspect that the previous owner of mine had overheated once or twice due to a more normal failure, like a leaking radiator hose. They probably drove it while it was too hot and that warped the heads slightly and caused the HG leak. If your car is overheating under mysterious circumstances, and never seems consistent in it's behaviour, then I would suggest a bad HG. Have the coolant checked for hydrocarbons and carbon dioxide.

HELLO? Y'all are overlooking something very important when you yearn for LSD - especially if you want it at both ends. What will happen when you are on the side of the road, left wheels on tarmac, right wheels in snow. The LSD's will make sure that most of the torque goes to the left wheels. WHERE WILL THE CAR GO? Straight into the ditch. The unbalanced torque on the left wheels will steer the car. Open diffs prevent this happening. Decent tyres and a lighter right foot will allow you to get free. Proper off-road vehicles don't have LSD, they have locking diffs. These are not the same. The locked diff forces wheels on both sides to rotate with the same speed. THAT is what allows them to crawl uphill even if two wheels on the same side are slipping. The extra grip on the opposing side will still cause some yaw, but it won't be nearly as pronounced as with LSD. LSD is for on-road handling.

A little play, up and down, is not exactly optimal, but it's not dangerous and won't cause vibration. Play out and in, is someting to worry about, and since wheel direction control suffers, this could cause vibrations. Which way can the rod move?

Okay, a little niggle first: Please don't quote the entire text of previous posts, especially ifit's right above your own. It's a waste of space. In the morning, when I turn my key to "On" I can hear the fuel pump spin like mad and the sound of the fuel filter brimming. Only takes a second or so, but that indicates that the pressure has been lost. That's why people often suggest leaving the car overnight before replacing a fuel filter. Disconnecting the pump is only needed if you must change the filter immediately. Considering the amount of piston slap a cold EJ engine can make, I would suggest that there is plenty of clearance for gasoline to run past the pistons, even if they are lying down. This much feared hydrolocking may happen once in a blue moon, but I cannot agree that a boxer or flat engine is more susceptible.

Well, I paid roughly $100 for my torque wrench, and I trust it. Once you have got one, you can also use it to torque the engine and transmission oil nuts. Brake caliper pins and supports, and if you feel there is room the spark plugs. Saves you a lot of headaches in the future when you don't over or under tighten things.

Of course Dude, I forgot that living in a cold climate and paying 25% VAT* excludes the ability to understand engines better than you. What was I thinking?? For fuel to leak into the cylinder, the intake valve must be open. In engines such as these, tuned for low-mid range torque and low emissions, that means the piston is on a downward stroke. (The intake valve is shut immediately after BDC.) So, fuel is leaking into a volume much larger than at TDC. A warm volume assuming the engine has been running, and a volume open to the atmosphere through the air filter. Gasoline has tendency to evaporate quite fast under such conditions. Your proposal suggests that in the region of 63ml fuel will be ejected by the already falling pressure in the fuel rail, and it won't leave the engine by diffusion or simple draingage into the sump overnight. My view is that this is theoretical balder dash. *Get your facts straight!

If I haven't said it before, I will repeat it now: Bobistheoilguy is useless. The tests are irrelevant, and the conclusions are often biased.

We have had plenty of snow and ice here lately, and I find that although the wheels on one side may spin, the car still moves. Are you running winter tyres?

Well, my cars are subjected to redline chasing many times everyday. Two things to consider though: NEVER when cold and I replace oil and filter every 6-7k miles. When cold, try to avoid more than half-throttle openings and never go above 4000rpm. Don't take this theory overboard and "lug" the engine. Any deep vibrations means you're stressing the engine. Keep in mind that lower gears are "easier" for the engine to pull. In general, even on a warm engine, don't force it to do any work (accelerate, pull uphill) below 2500rpm in 4th and 5th, and below 2000rpm in 3rd. Coasting up to red lights you should get into neutral around 1500rpm, since the ECU will start to inject fuel again at this engine speed. Above there, any coasting is saving you fuel!

Yes sirree, Clutchbob! Noises that go away when warm are usually nothing serious. A bearing knock will start to appear at the engine warms up, because the oil thins out and allows collisions.

I agree that some build up is normal. However, only in vehicles that run very short distances and never get fully warmed up. Especially in cold climates. If this description DOESN'T fit your car, you may have a small head gasket leak.

The pulsing could be coming from the rear brakes. Still, some minor pulsing is normal during the last few feet of a stop.

My vote is for Mobil 1, too. 5W-40 (or 0W-40 in winter.) And NO additives in the oil please!

This happened to me once, after an air filter change. I accidentally disconnected the IAC hose, which is out of sight underneath the main air intake pipe. Get a flashlight and hunt it down under your bonnet. Also, check you air filter box, it might not be closed properly.

I normally try to avoid agressive and personal attacks in these boards, but TheDude obviously knows nothing about engines. A leaking injector would be hard pressed to FILL a combustion chamber once the engine is turned off. The fuel pump stops running and the more fuel the injector leaks the less pressure in the fuel rail, and hence the flow of fuel slows. It's a negative feedback cycle. Next up: What on earth makes a boxer engine more susceptible to the consequences of this supposed problem? A straight engine, with vertical cylinders would swallow just as much fuel from a leaking injector. As would an inclined straight engine, or a V-engine. The injectors are placed so close to the intake valves that you really need to turn the engine upside down in order to avoid fuel leaking into a combustion chamber.

Furthermore, there is no viscous coupling in the Auto AWD. It's a dry plate clutch, and it'll have been glazed/burned by the towing, meaning it will slip in the future the when transmission tries to send power to the rear wheels.

Wow, I am impressed with how well the Imp stood up to being smacked by such a big car. Good thing too, means you're okay!

Plausible. Then again, sometimes those fans just seem to have a mind of their own!

Well, you should be okay for clearance, but I would fear for the negative effect on handling. Yes, I do mean negative. Rim to tyre width is very important. The absolute minimum is 70%. However, 80 to 90% is the sweet spot. I would expect that your stock rims are only 6.0 inches wide, which means a 205 section tyre is already the limit. Going up to 215 will make the steering response more "soggy" and the overall handling softer.

If the engine has been run on a good oil, that has been replaced often along with a good filter, I doubt you have any valve train wear to speak of. Certainly nothing to spend a fortune correcting. Often is 6-8k miles, and a good filter is Genuine Subaru - to me anyway ;-) I use to own a LEgacy with an EJ22. I had to replace the headgaskets at 120k miles, and ten years. I since sold it to a friend, with 186k miles on the odo. He just called today to let me know that he was rolling past 200k miles! It drinks about a quart of oil between 6k changes. That may be due to some oil slipping by the at the valve stems, but it's not worth repairing.

Since you recently replaced the coolant, I would reckon that it's just trapped air. Search the site and learn how to purge the air correctly. If you wanna read more of my stuff search "Coolant replacment"... Fitting a new rad cap is a good idea, too.