idosubaru

Look where you like to shop and google or look at sites for reviews. It’s like anything else - a short and simple answer isn’t likely to be accurate. Michelin’s are awesome. I’d guess there’s an exception, but Anything they make is great. IMO they’re the only tire that can be bought blindly and expect great performance. That’s what I tell people who hate thinking about cars and just want it over with as soon as possible and want to think as little about cars as possible for the rest of their lives. Michelin price points can be tough and usually you can find a great fit with other tires at a lower price if you want to research. In my experience with helping others maintain vehicles and my own, lower cost tires usually have weaknesses. Some are minor or very low risk and some are awful. Higher chance of side wall bubbles on rough roads, low mileage tread wear, lower UV and exposure tolerance, noise, turning performance, etc. stick them outside for a year or two in bright sun and the difference in material degradation will show. Michelin’s and some other models from other brands will look normal, average tires show some light surface cracking, cheap no name stuff will look scary and they perform like skis in the snow when that happens. Get in mind what’s important to you - rain, mileage wear, snow, noise...and read reviews.

“For sale: Front Wheel Drive Subaru!” I was in that area this weekend. I saw a legacy door with a rust hole the size of a sheet of paper. Easy window motor access.

haven’t seen newer motors/tracks yet, just bad switches. Not on any 2010+ Subaru windows, but on a couple models with limited space, or wrecked ones, I’ve swapped color matched doors. Around here roughly around 10-15 years old seems a sweet spot of finding a low price, no rust, and non-faded paint so a door swap sometimes is a good fit.

sounds like the beginning of a Seinfeld episode. Address what you can see or measure immediately, that’s all you can do if you don’t know any facts.

Bugs and animals leave debris and weather exposure. Probably fine but there’s definitely room for stuff to happen. How long has it sat and where? 10 years on a weedy, shaded, over grown, cluttered side of a building is different from a clean, dry area with less debris, vegetation, etc.

Doh! I was thinking automatic trans, I see yours is MT.

Make sure the diff stubs are fully seated.

Any EA82. Loyale, RX, XT, XT6, GL wagons

Same engine, same idea.

Like he said be ultra careful on removal and install. Replace them. They’re dirt cheap from Subaru, egregiously puke oil when they leak which isn’t rare, and you’ll get clean new threads. If you end up replacing the engine or heads, swap the new switches over. Two codes is too coincidental on a part that doesn’t often throw codes and on an already questionable engine. Maybe two did fail, but I’d clear the codes and see if they come back or test them first. My guess is something like the engine took a dump due to compromised oil and those switches or the codes were collateral damage or artifacts of something else. But hopefully that WAG is wrong and you find an easy fix.

Is it low idle all the time or only when symptoms present? You describe it as if it’s very rhythmic in nature as if it’s drivetrain related and no noise or leaks, so I wouldn’t expect power steering. Its a good suggestion to check though. Even more so since the 05-09 legacy power steering pumps are so prone to failure. I think 09 Forster is the same pump. Get it to experience the symptoms as much as reasonably possible and immediately get out and look in the power steering reservoir - is it foamy or have any tiny bubbles in it or does it look perfectly clean like it just came from the bottle? ive seen one Subaru have strained steering due to fluid at 195,000 miles. Changing the power steering fluid resolved it completely. This isn’t common though but easy enough to check fluid condition.

If you don’t care about loosing ABS then yes. Not if you want to retain ABS functioning. They have different ABS sensor locations and set up. 10 years ago I briefly contemplated swapping these and splicing the original ABS sensor connector onto the donor ABS sensor so it would plug into the vehicle. If tone ring teeth count is the same and the FSM lists the same testing parameters for the sensor, you’ve got a chance of it working.

I've done lots of thread repair but never heads. I think timeserts are considered better quality for something as critical as head repair but i get it that $40 talks sometimes. https://www.subaruoutback.org/threads/repair-stripped-head-bolts-yourself-diy-timesert-repair.504785/

thanks for the recap, obviously we hope it doesn’t happen but it’s fun to hear you diagnosing and figuring this stuff out as you go.

glad you found it. I was wondering about the head work. Seemed like if it was touched it would be a candidate for suspicion . so you cleaned up the scoring and replaced the cam?

LOLOLOLOLOL

Were the heads disassembled, valve job? Spring, guide issue? Silly questions of the day: timing tensioner pin was pulled? any chance it was off a tooth or so once it was rotated a couple times and settled? I avoid them as well. For the extra seats and kids a totaled Ascent would be worth a look, wish NA was an option on those. doubt I’ll see many of them any time soon anyway.

Crack. 93 FWD axles do the same thing, you even said if they’re shorter it’s not by much. all I could get was aftermarket, as you said they’re probably longer than stock. Im wondering if EJ strut mounts and knuckle dimensions/geometry are all the same? Maybe 02 Outback and 02 (or maybe 04) Impreza knuckles could cause a geometry problem? (But I don’t think so?) Or maybe the struts are too tall: 2” or more lift on their own. maybe they’re causing a severe angle inside the CV that’s preventing the internal joint from seating fully in the cup. And that’s why I have to partially compress them just to get the strut and knuckle holes to line up?

Are all EJ struts and knuckles compatible with mounting such that the geometry of the knuckle doesn’t change? are the bearings in the same location relative to the balljoint? Are lower strut mounts always the same dimension? In other words if you install 2002 Impreza struts on a 90s Legacy knuckle, does any of the geometry change?

This shouldn’t matter but if it’s MT does it have the timing guide above the crank?

Like he suggested, I’d expect that year/car to plug and play but I’m not sure. If you already have them both you could check the wiring harness differences. You can access those with the door open by popping the flexible conduit out between the door and body. Pull the wiring until you get to the connector and see where the differences are. Might not require any tools to check but a screwdriver to pry the conduit.

That’s not an ECU problem. We can run higher octane all day long without issues in any Subaru engine, people frequently do it. Unless the “octane ratings” are different than the US standards - are they? is the vehicle all stock? If the ECU has failed in such a way that octane is problematic, the solution is a $30 junkyard ECU. Though I doubt this is the case

That’s a money grab or another reason to make fun of CA. OEM pads are great and not expensive and the job is super easy and quick. Once the wheel is off it’s 2 bolts to replace the pads. Cake. New pads front and rear should be roughy $600 ($300 front, $300 back). I’m from greater suburb DC inflated property values, the brake jobs aren’t that much worse even if you’re in some jacked up area of CA You don’t need rotors if the shop is competent. The OEM rotors are excellent quality - the shop would have thrown away your perfectly good OEM rotors and installed lower quality aftermarkets that are initially shiney...but will look just like your originals in a year.

Do you mean PP: pressure plate, or PB: Pedal Box? What makes you think it was both and not one of them? Seems like one of them would probably be the main cause of the majority of the issue.

I would just install a used compressor, new orings, new Schrader valves and call it good. For additional measure replace the hoses and drier. Hoses can be found cheap aftermarket, or in your area you can definitely find a hose builder in an urban market to rebuild the hose for $30 or so. Subaru ac systems are super easy to work on and rarely fail. Not worth putting a ton of time or thought into. just do it now, they’re so easy it won’t take long at all and you’ll be able to defog the windows in the cold humid winter storms. I wouldn’t touch the core, waste of time to pull a working one, they hardly ever fail.