jp98

If a part of a spark plug is actually broken off and fallen into the cylinder your only two choices are either trying the magnet or pulling the head. There is no place for the part to go other on top of the piston or along side it, either case it can cause problems. Can you see the spark plug hole into the cylinder or is it still blocked from view like part of the plug is still in the head?

I have been running a set of Big O tires that are comparable to their Euro Tour tire and they have been very good in the snow and slick roads. I commuted from Gypsum to Vail every day for 7 years running these tires without a problem, and a few trips to Denver over I-70 when I should of stayed home and they always got me to where I needed to go.

Have you checked out junk yards. And as was mentioned you are going to have a problem finding one that matches your other tires in diameter.

Instead of a used tire shop go to a new tire shop and see if they have any good take offs. They usually have quite a few used tires for these kind of cases.

Pay and accept cash only. If you feel like something is wrong with the deal or don't feel safe do the transaction at the local police or sheriffs office parking lot. If you are selling print up two bill of sales with the words AS IS in big capital bold letters, leave the price blank and fill it in when you accept the cash. Have a area on both bill of sales for both of you to sign. Give one copy to the other person and you keep the other one. I have never had a problem selling or buying a car from a private person but there is always the first time.

If the CEL light was on I would get the codes read and find out what they are telling you. Most auto parts stores can read the codes and then once you have the code then ask your questions.

The owners manual says only 100 lbs, I tried to read the sticker on my rack but it is so sun bleached that it is unreadable.

If you actually ask for a Subaru part for these things they quite possibly will never find it. Most of them are generic or generic enough that they will fit multiple vehicles for a multiple of purposes. Taking one in and showing it to the counter person or matching it to one on the rack is the easiest way to go. I have found that whenever I need a strange part to take one with me even if it is broken and ask them if they can find me a match.

If you haven't do so yet check your auto parts stores in your areas. My NAPA carries a lot of different fasteners in a bin or check on the racks in the store.

On my 98 Outback to unlock all the doors you hold the unlock button in past the time that it unlocks the drivers door. About a second extra and all the doors unlock.

Here is a list of quite a few codes for a 96+ Subaru there are quite a few that have nothing to do with emissions. http://www.obd-codes.com/trouble_codes/subaru/subaru-obdii-obd2-codes.php

For recall information just call a dealership and ask for the service manager then give him your vin number and he'll be able to pull it up and tell you if there are any open ones for your car.

I'd start by finding the grounds and getting them cleaned.

I don't believe that you can order a new sticker. They are usually specific to the vin number of the vehicle and can't be changed. A lot of people are having problems with cars and trucks swapping in different engines that require older EPA regulations but they need to meet the EPA regulations that were for their vehicle and not the older engine.

A lot of things you can get by with only repairing one side instead of both. CV joints, bearings, head gaskets are some of them but you need to ask yourself the question of why did it fail and if it was due to age then the other side just may fail very soon. Brakes, struts, springs, and other suspension and stopping items really need to be replaced in pairs. If you just replace one brake the opposite side may have problems keeping up with it's new neighbor. The same with the suspension parts only you may get a lean or unsafe handling out of the old one vrs the new one.

Even a bad motor will allow the window to go down but not have enough strength to take it back up again. Smoke from the switch is a good indication of something going on in the switch or drawing too much current to do it's job of lowering or raising the window. Time for some advanced trouble shooting.

I fought the ABS light in my 98 for a couple of years. It didn't hurt anything with it on so I just ignored it. Turned out being the inertia switch was bad.

The thing that I remember back when the pin up models were all over the calendars was that very few women would bring their vehicles into the shops to have them worked on and those that did stayed up in the front office until their car was brought out to them. Now this was back in the 60's and 70's. I can understand the problems that could come up with one of those calendar being where the general public could see it and why most shops now days frown on them. But also back in those days the Playboys and other girly magazines were kept behind the store counters and you had to ask to get one, very seldom were they out where the general public could seen them other than perhaps the cover of one of them.

Trying to charge a almost dead battery by running a vehicle 20 minutes is going to be iffy at best, and they may be the reason that it tested bad on the first test. You should of put it on a charger overnight and then had them test it. I believe what happened on the second test is that you ran the car enough to fully charge the battery, so it tested good. I would still put the old battery on a charger overnight and then have it retested. Also have the charging system also tested. You may of just had a light on inside the car that drew the battery down when it didn't want to start the first time.

Anytime that you upgrade your alternator to one with higher amperage output you should also upgrade the wiring. The stock wiring is designed for the stock alternator amperage and not much higher. If you go higher and start to draw that higher amperage you are looking at a electrical fire at the worst and melted insulation at the best.

The GM engines in pickups were prone to head gasket failures. The company that I worked for bought a lot of them and just about all of them had a head gasket failure within 2 years. One problem with new designed engines is that the manufacture doesn't put them on a torture rack of stop and go, start and get hot and then shut them off to repeat it. They hardly ever let the engine cool down and see what the expansion and contractions of the block will do. This is a problem with all of the manufactures.

I personally believe that the stories about Fram filters are just that stories. I ran them for well over 500,000 miles on multipul vehicles without a single oil filter issue on vehicles other than my Subaru. I just happen on my Subaru to be able to purchase the factory filter in bulk so I run them on it. Wouldn't it be interesting if people found out that Subaru of America was contracting with Fram to manufacture their filters? I'm not saying that they are but it would open some eyes. The construction of the filter tells very little on if it will do it's job for 3,000-5,000 mile between changes. The best way to determine if a filter is doing it's job is to send a oil sample to have it analyzed and then look at what is suspended int the oil. If the filter is doing its job you will see it in the print out that the lab that does the oil analyses done at it isn't you will see that also.

The amount of filter media does not mean that one filter is better than one that doesn't it is what size in microns that the media will filter that counts. You can have filter A that will filter down to 100 microns and have a lot of media packed into the canister and filter B that will filter down to 10 microns and have half as much media in the canister. Most on here will stick with OEM for their Subaru's or Puralator which is suppose to be the manufacture for factory filters. But then again that is open to argument since the factory will let out a contract with specifications and if you meet them and have the cheapest price then you get the contract.

Usually shops have a torch available to apply heat to break those stubborn bolts loose. But as Rooster said start spraying them down with PB Blaster and let them sit an then try to break them loose. You may have to take the car back into the shop and ask the alignment guy which ones to do it to if you don't know.

I agree with nipper it sounds like a thermostat problem.