Ravenwoods

The oil leak is so bad I had to add 1-2 quarts today after only 30-40 miles. Yesterday I put in at least 2 quarts as well. I bought another car for my wife today and now I'll drive the 98 Forester with 325,000 miles. I'll park the oil gusher until Spring or Summer before I investigate the oil leak. I'm guessing I'll have to pull the engine out.

I'm going to look at a car for sale . Automatic transmission, 170,000 miles. Sounds like he replaced the cam and crank seals. Any opinions on this car or what to look for specific to this year and model?

Sounds great. I'll plan on pulling the engine. But I still plan on getting a newer Subaru as well. Our 98 Forester is rusting out at the right back fender.

So if it is a rear main seal that needs replacing, is that a major undertaking? I've never pulled an engine. But I have done timing belts.

This car has an automatic transmission and 216,000 miles on the odometer. Just recently I started getting a strong smell of burning oil. Today I popped open the hood and smoke was coming up from the rear of the engine near the fire wall. Does this kind of leak require one to pull the engine? I'm starting to look around for a younger Subaru.

Problem has gone away with cooler weather. It only happened that one hot evening. With 323, 000 miles on it maybe the car will die soon! But the engine still seems so strong.

My wife drove it today with no issues, and it was a bit cooler today, only about 80. Yesterday I did vacuum out the old fluid in the reservoir and put in fresh. Do steel hydraulic lines rot out? We are in a low rust area so corrosion is generally not significant here. Wouldn't air in the system cause a problem even in cold weather? Wouldn't a bad slave seal allow fluid to leak out? And one would notice a drop in the fluid level? Before I vacuumed it out the fluid was still on the full line. No signs of leaks.

The "hose" is a steel hydraulic line, not a hose. Do steel lines go bad?

I'll give it a try.

It does have the hydraulic clutch with brake fluid in it.

We have a Forester S with 323,000 miles on it, and looks like it too. But the engine is still strong, doesn't seem to burn oil, but of course leaks oil. New clutch put in about 150,000-160,000 Miles ago. So the clutch is still strong. In past summers when we had lots of temps in the mid 80s or higher the clutch pedal would act strange. You could push it down but then need to pull it up again with your foot. So this only happens in hot weather and after the car has been driven a awhile and all the parts in the clutch system are thoroughly hot. So yesterday was one of those days but this time it was worse. Almost impossible to get it into any gear when the car is stationary. Once you get moving then you can manage. And of course today when the car has cooled down the clutch is back to normal. So there must be some need to make a clutch adjustment. When you have to pull the pedal back up, you can feel that a spring somewhere gives resistance about half way up the pedal stroke, then decreases after that point. It is almost like you have exceeded the springs correct depression. Any suggestions on what to do?

So sounds like the best approach is to ignore it?

Its a 4 cylinder 2.5 liter.

My daughter drives the car only for short trips. I suspect some of the problem is she never takes long road trips. I borrowed the car last month to take a 140 mile trip to test drive the car. No check engine light the whole day. But as soon as she started driving it again the light has been on the whole time.

I have no idea what an extender is.

My daughter's 2000 Legacy has the Check Engine Light on and the code is P0420. Something about Bank 1. Automatic Transmission. About 180,000 miles. So is the code referring to the Oxygen sensors on the Catalytic Convertor? One upstream and one downstream from the catalytic converter? Or is this somewhere else? The car is running normally with good gas mileage.

Normally you can find used or new parts on ebay for reasonably prices but nothing came up. Rock Auto also doesn't have this part. There are other sources online but the prices are $80 or more. I might try the local car junk yard. Or I could swap out the one on my 95 Legacy with her 95 Legacy and see if I get a P0400 in my car.

None of the vacuum hoses are cracked, but the rubber is old. So maybe the old rubber results in a less than perfect vacuum? What is the control valve?

I found a non-automotive hand vacuum pump that did the job. So at idle when I connect the hand vacuum pump to the EGR it causes the car to idle very badly and almost die. So I guess that means the EGR is working fine? Maybe the system just needed cleaning. I'll get the car insured and take it for a 50 mile drive and see if the P0400 code comes back and see if the gas mileage is back to normal.

Okay, the tubing spanner or the flare nut wrench arrived this morning and I got the tube off this afternoon. The tube was not blocked and looked rather clean. No partial blockage either. Perhaps with all my cleaning perhaps I've solved the problem. But I would like to make sure the egr solenoid is working. Seems like I saw somewhere how to test that. Also Someone recommended testing the egr with a hand vacuum pump while the car is idling to see if the egr works.

Everything appears correct.

It was a Craftsman for $6.95 and free shipping.

I was thinking I should get a tubing wrench but didn't know the name for it. So I searched Ebay and lots of tubing wrenches from China, England and Australia. So that gave me a clue that maybe they go by a different name here in the USA. Seems they are known as Flare Nut wrenches in the US. Lots them show up in Ebay with shipping from the US. So I ordered one.

I found it, a vertical tube about 12 inches long. Nut takes a 17mm wrench. I sprayed some PB blaster fluid on the top one as it doesn't want to turn. It's such a thin nut I'm afraid of the wrench slipping and rounding the nut corners.

Thanks! I'll check it out.