Gnuman

Isn't the saab 9-3 the rebadged Impreza? If so, midsized cars with gold had only a Subaru, and a Saabaru. . .

OK, folks. First things first: A block heater is not to warm your block up to temp. It will not do that, and is not designed to. What it does do is keep the coolant in the block from freezing in nasty cold weather. It is insurance against Mother Natures wrath, nothing more. It will keep the temp above the freezing point of the coolant, and the oil. This ensures that those two vital fluids will flow when you start the engine, the operation of the engine will then bring it up to temp. Even if you use it in a warm environment, it will not get to operating temp, unless (as mentioned above) it is badly overpower for the engine it is going into (say, perhaps one for a tractor trailer going into a normal V8. I don't even think it would fit on a Subie). If you are using the OEM heater, you are perfectly safe leaving it on for months at a time, if that is your desire. Me, I could not do that. I cannot stand to be away from my Subie that long What you will get if you use a block heater, that may look like the engine is being preheated, is that your warm up time will be a bit shorter, as the temp does not have as far to climb as it would in an unheated block.

Well, with a 5 tire rotation they mi. . .Oh right. . .Directional tread. . . (at least the ones I looked at on TireRack)

Heh, was that last directed at me or the original poster? If it is to me thank you, but you are a bit late. . .I'm about 400 posts behind you. I've been on here a while

That looks really bad out of context, but that is the part germaine to my reply, so i'll leave it as is. . . Perhaps this is the problem? Subaru had to make a trade off between comfort ("light touch" on the seat belt) and reliability (it will retract), and opted just a smidge too far to the comfort side? The gunk in the casing should not be a problem if the seatbelt has proper tension. . .

Sounds to me that the knock sensor is sending out wonky (that is a technical term) signals that your ECU is gullible enough to believe. That causes the timing to be all over the plave, and the engine does not run reliably. . .

Could be the Radiator cap. Don't laugh, it happened to me. After I replaced the thermostat, I took a look at it and the thing had a groove in the rubber part that mates up to the top of the radiator. this caused a bad seal, and leakage. My symptoms were exactly like yours. If you had a bad heater core, you would get steam when defrosting, and the smell inside the cabin would be constant.

SHIFT FORKS! that is the term my foggy brain was not coming up with. . . OK, this happens when he is in 2nd and on a hill. That would be 1-2, or 2-R as the others would not be anywhere near to engaging with the shifter in 2nd. That would cause the wheels to lock up as well, as the engine is trying to turn two sets of gears, both of which are trying to turn the wheels in different directions, or at different speeds. Hmmm. . . This only happens when you park on a steep hill in 2nd? Have you tried it in 1st? You also said that when you park it in neutral, you use chocks. Is your parking brake not strong enough to hold the car on a hill (if that is the case, get it fixed.)?

Hey, RedDevil, do you know what the clamping pressures are for the NA pressure plates are (NA are the push type, BTW)? My 92 EJ22 develops a good bit of power, and I find myself spinning the clutch way too often when I'm trying for a fast start. . . Is there a recomended pressure plate that I can toss in there that will actually hold my clutch disk?

If this is internal to the transmission it would be some component binding the shifting arms that push the particular gears in place th select the gear that you want (sorry, it is late, and I don't want to think hard enough to recall the correct name for this part) due to a slight rolling on the hill. Releasing the pressure on the clutch should correct this, however, so that does not seem very likely. I'm siding with those that are pointing to the shift linkage itself. You can also check the oil leven in your transmission to be sure it is correct. . . this does not sound at all like an AWD problem. It does sound like a binding problem with the shifting mechanism (internal or external to the tranny)

Welcome, audiciter! Your post sounds like a resolution and not a problem. Is this correct, or are you still having issues?

That brings the problem to one of "stiction" of the throttle mech when cold. Perhaps the mech is lubricated with grease that has become contaminated, or is too thick/gummy? Still just guessing until I see it or more detailed info is given on that area.

Gary, you have got to share those pics. . . PM or email them to me (please) if you don't want to post them here.

Josh, can you tell us why they are not interchangable? Is there a difference in the disc or the pressure plate? is it a thickness problem? Diameter? A bit of light on this please?

gee, Gary, it sounds like you are just like me. . .

I second the request for year and model. I will also add that I can probably be easily convinced to make a trip down there to lend a hand with this procedure. I've pulled apart climate control (heater core, AC core, Fan, and ducting) systems on several models and this is familliar territory for me. How is it stuck? catching on something? where does it seem to be catching? One area that is particularly hard to get around is the floor vents, as they catch on the heater casing. they need to be pushed down for the casing to clear.

From the position that you found that sender in, it sounds like the Oil Pressure Sender, not the temp. There is one sender located below the intake manifold, on the passenger side, on a flat pipe that sits just above the actual block (Josh, I know you have a pic, could you help us out here?). If you look under the throttle body, on the passenger side of the car, right in front of that big hose (PCV valve), you should see it.

He's so happy he said it twice!!

Heh, that is where I got my tires, actually. They did not have the cheapest tires for my car in stock, so they gave me these http://www.discounttire.com/dtcs/findTireDetail.do?rcz=80104&rc=CODINT&mk=SUBARU&yr=1992&cs=185&dVeh=dVeh&pc=33332&rd=14&vid=006477&ar=70 at the cheaper price. Hmmm, I saved $6 a tire. . .

At least.

The 2006 engine is two revisions after the one you have. The one you have has a fiarly high incidence of combustion chamber to coolant jacket headgasket leaks, the next revision (noted above) has a lesser incidence of coolant to external leaks, and the latest revision apearantly solved these issues. Subaru has addressed these issues, with a revised headgasket for your revision, and a "stop leak" additive for the following one. Your car is well worth repairing, but likely not at that shop. Look around for a lower priced shop that is still competant.

The next set will be good long-running ones with great tread, unless I get really good service out of these (if they break 60K miles, being as they are rated for 40K, and if they continue to feel as surefooted as they do now, I will consider that to be excelent service, and I would use them again). The tread is quiet as far as I can tell (I have a wind noise issue that I have to resolve to be sure though). I hear other things, not the tires.

OK, what is the part # for the RS bulbs, please. . . Looks like I an going to need to refit my switches. . . the backlight keeps failing. I pull the switch loose, wiggle it a bit and it goes back on for a while. . .Grrrrr. I hate loose connections. Oh, and the reason the 95 and up climate control lights fail is that the green covers hold in the heat so the bulb gets hotter and burns out faster. . .

That last realy points to a crank or cam angle sensor. That is how the tach reads engine speed. If it is not giving a signal, the ECU will not fire the plugs, as it needs that signal to determine timing. It sounds like you have a sensor going bad. Well, not going, actually. It is already bad, and it is getting worse. The ECM(ECU) is located behind the driver's kick-panel, under the dash. If you have an auto transmission, you will notice a square metal box right by the steering column. That is not it. What you are looking for is the metal box that is to the left of that one, and harder to get to. . . Before we go further, do you get a Check Engine Light(CEL)? If so have you read the codes to find out what the ECU is not liking? That will probably point you further along the path of finding out what is wrong than us just guessing. . .

Particularly if the ratchet flys through his window. . . The engine rotates in a direction that a breaker bar (sometimes called a flex bar) will be loosening the bolt when you bump the starter. I would still use the cheater bar and position it under the frame. By the time you register that the starter has kicked, the bolt will be loose. This is a last resort operation, though. I wore stupid marks for months after trying to hold a breaker bar in place when using this method (be sure you know where everything is going to be jumping to when you try this)