Outback Jack

And higher octane is ONLY needed IF you have a car that requires it as stated by the owner's manual. If your car isn't high compression, supercharged or turbocharged, or doing a lot of towing in hilly country you are WASTING your money and going to ruin you catalytic converter! If 87 is all you need, 87 is all you use!

There is no point lifting a "off road" vehicle unless you plan to put on larger tires. And then when you install larger tires, you have to change the gearing to compensate for the tires. If you have money to burn, go for it. If not, save your money and buy a true off road vehicle.

Ya, I posted a situation with a dealer that cost my dad 60 simoleons for a tow because an Subaru specialist installed the wrong drive belt on my car (which was in for warranty work). All I got was the 60 bucks in shop credit.....but when it comes to crunch time, I'll be taking it to a dealer rather than an indy (unless he's familiar with the car). I think independants get intimidated by these cars. Sure the configuration is slightly different, but its still a gas powered engine!

On my 2000 I get about 21 city / 28 highway. Its the AWD that causes the drop in MPG. If it were just straight FWD the MPG would be AOK.

Boy, this sounds familiar. Factory trained technicians.....Ha!

I like the headlights on it, but thats about it. It looks like what I have now. I'll hang on to my 2000 thank you!

Just don't forget to not to do something to void a warranty (if its important to you). I'm surprised there are no head gasket issues with the WRX yet, considering there is more chance for detonation and the extra heat in the engine compartment. Go nuts on the mods AFTER your warranty is up, otherwise when a problem arises.....you are up ****e's Creek without a paddle.

The other closest Subaru dealer is 40 mins away. My local dealer would have to screw up really bad for me to go to another dealer. But the 60 bucks my dad forked out was cash, not credit in service. The dealer can over inflate a repair or part cost and easily absorb the 60 within a day. Or rip off other people. Still, leaves a bad taste in my mouth and it won't be going back until my timing belt is due at 168,000kms.

Being diplomatic and polite only got me a $60.00 'in store' credit with proof of towing! They admitted the mistake and put in the proper one and adjusted the other one. Next time, I'll theaten to call my lawyer. What a bunch of a-holes!

Mine didn't blow completely, but the external coolant leak from the driver side head was stopped successfully by Bars Leaks Extra Strength stop leak. My problem occured at 104,000kms and have 121,000 now.

Yeah, this is quite a zinger. I had my 2000 Outback at the dealer for recall work. One was for re-rustproofing the rear suspension and two, was for replacement of the the front o2 sensor. Anyways, while it was there, I knew the drive belts needed replacing so I says go ahead on that. So they did after a 182.00 Cdn bill! 35 for one belt, 76 for the other plus labour and taxes! Whew! Who-da thunk it, eh? Well, my 70 yr old Pa was using the car (I needed his truck) a couple of days later and on the way home at night on the highway the battery light comes on. Well, he shuts everything off electrically and makes it for the next exit to hopefully "die" in a safe spot. So after the car is towed to his place so he can inspect it in the morning. He informed me that it was the alternator belt, which was hanging on the electric fan, totally shredded! So, I jet over there to inspect the situation. Sure enough the belt was the same size, but the "tooth pattern" was TOTALLY wrong so as it just walked off the pulley and got shredded in the process. AND the back drive belt wasn't even completely on its main pulley, its one tooth too far back....STRIKE TWO! Good thing I kept the old belts. NOW, even a complete auto mechanic neophyte would NOT install a belt that doesn't match the orignal belt's teeth (deep straight grooves). And of course make sure the other belt is properly installed (critical attention to detail). So, I'll be going to the dealer on Monday after work to not only reclaim my losses on the belts, but my dad's tow bill of $60.00. Needless to say, I'm :madder: I'll give ya'll an update that night.

A Tommy Kaira influenced STi is what we'd all really want

Then we should maybe get our automatic transmissions flushed there too!

I would get the alignment first before buying the tires. This way the new tires go on properly tuned components. Thats what did the spring. Alignments only need doing if you've replace a component or you live in a pot hole infested city. And of course, the tires will be the first thing to show this.

To give the Jiffy Lube guys a little bit of slack, it is probably more to do with being intimidated and ignorant about SUBARU in general. I'm sure they don't make the same mistakes with the cookie cutter cars out there. I myself was quite surprised in a good way that the tranny has a drain plug and seperate filter. But to somebody who should be careful, could spell DISASTER! (too much oil in engine, low oil in tranny :temper: )

If the pan needs to be removed its only because it doesn't have a drain plug. Since the filter is outside the tranny, then the pan doesn't need removing to remove the filter. I know for sure on my 2000 that there is a drain plug.

The tranny set up is like the engine. Seperate filter and drain plug. Dexron II or III will suffice. I'll be using a Mobil Synthetic equivalent. On my 2000 Outback, I'm just wondering how much fluid will I lose when draining. I know the entire system has 9 litres total, but not sure about just the pan. Does the filter need to have fluid inside prior to installing?