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Lookin' under the hood of my girlfriend's sube I noticed that there were only two clamps at the top of the airbox and the rubber part of the air filter was visible at the bottom of said box. Not being a Subaru owner I can't say whether this is normal but I've never seen anything like this in any stock setup in any other car I've owned so I'm guessing someone broke off the bottom clamps somewhere along the way. Am I right?

Thank you, I will check out busted finger. Really Ford Ranger plugs are a hassle? Too bad, I have wanted a mid to late 80s ranger for ages. My Nissan Hardbody was such a pig on gas though it pretty much cured me of all my pickup truck desires. Still good to know. So how are the early 90s Subaru Loyales? That's what I'm looking to buy. I saw one at the junkyard the other day and it kind of did my head in for a bit. so weird seeing that kind of engine, lol. I knew a guy that had one years ago though and he used the stock setup for mud bogging, drifting and jumping offroad. He said he couldn't kill the thing and this is a guy who took us over a (at least) 30% grade covered in basketball sized rocks in an old New Yorker type car so quite the endorsement.

Wicked! Thanks guys, I will definitely have a look at those things although I suspect if it's any of the listed things it'd be the spark plugs or plug wires. The idle speed is correct and consistent so I'm thinking the PCV valve is good. Will have to check it though just to say I did. Fuel filter probably needs changing too. Seems like most people neglect to change them 'til they conk out on the road somewhere because of a clog. Do they make Haynes or Chiltons manuals for Subies? I've gotta admit the layout under the hood isn't as obvious to me as a more common drivetrain etc. This is the first car I have dealt with in any way with AWD and a boxer engine.

Ah well she's got just under 98'000kms on it but she's pretty tough on the engine; lots of short trips and hard driving on a cold engine. I'll ask her if the ticking noise is something new or if it's always been that way. I'll also see if the local parts store'll hook up their code reader to it for her. Saves me wasting 200 bones when I don't even have OBD2 on my sled. Thanks

Her car is making a deep grumbling sound going up hills regardless of the temperature of the engine. It's a fairly quiet sound but it is accompanied by a lack of power compared to before. Occasionally the MIL lamp will come on but it goes off after a while so if someone can tell me how to check OBD 2 codes on this car without a code reader I would greatly appreciate it. Also, I can hear the valves operating when I am standing beside the car, is that just a Subaru thing or are her valves in need of some work too? I don't have a Subie yet so I am unfamiliar with these things. It seems odd that her fancy car makes more noise than my $200 (Ford) beater, lol.