keek

Hi- I'm coming in on this thread a bit late and hope that someone may still be reading and able to offer advice. My 2003 Legacy wagon started smelling sweet this week. It has 88,000 miles on it now and I took it to a local guy rather than the dealer (the dealer drained the differential fluid from my transmission during an oil change at 30,000 miles and had to replace the whole thing under warranty so I don't exactly trust those guys!). Of course, this problem is a head gasket leak. The dealer said it's not under warranty anymore. Should I push this with SOA instead of the dealer? BTW, I've been dealing with the piston slap for most of the time I've owned the car. The dealer kept saying that's just how these cars are - but the noise is documented since ~5,000 miles. Is pursuing this with SOA the best way to go? If I don't have the head gasket replaced today, is it going to cause even more problems? Thanks! K

I have a 2003 Legacy Wagon with 48,000 miles on it. It's already had the transmission completely replaced (dealer "accidently" drained the differential fluid apparently) and I've complained about a knocking sound in my engine for a long time. A couple of weeks ago I went skiing in Virginia and the car would not start in the morning or in the evening when we would go out. My friend was driving it and he said it sounded like the fuel was not getting to the engine and he'd have to pump the gas a bit. Eventually, the car would start. When I took it to the dealer, they said that it wouldn't start because the gas was pumped - the cylinders were flooded? This wasn't done until AFTER it wouldn't start. They checked the battery and it seems fine. They also told me that every car has problems starting in cold weather (even though my previous car, a 1992 Toyota Corolla with 198,000 miles on it never had a problem). Has anyone else dealt with cold starts? I thought Subarus were supposed to be reliable vehicles, especially during the snowy months! Also, is anyone else familiar with the engine knocking sound?

I have a '03 Legacy wagon with nearly 33,000 miles on it. I have had the engine tapping sound basically since I've owned the car. It's worse in the winter, but is still apparent this summer. My dealer told me this is "normal" and that they can't do anything about it (strange that my friend's '03 Legacy wagon does not make the noise). Anyway, there's a new sound that's developed - it sounds like a tapping/knocking under the dashboard -and I hear it mostly in the mornings when I'm either stopped at a light or accelerating. After the car is driven for about 10 minutes, I can't hear that noise anymore. Any ideas? Maybe suggestions of what I should say to the dealer about the noise? It's beginning to get irritating that they can't find anything wrong! I did read some of the threads about window noise. My passenger window started making noises a week or so ago. I took it to the dealer and they said they fixed the problems by adjusting the gusset. WRONG! The noise is louder now than it was before. Again, is there something in particular I should point out to the dealer to get the problem fixed?