GeneralDisorder

No because the ring tension doesn't change appreciably on the older high tension ring designs - the rings (oil control) stop working because of carbon build up from crappy non-synthetic oil. The carbon works as a fuel sponge and causes lean detonation, reduction in ignition timing advance, loss of power and economy. GD

I hear good things about the old 7.3. Not so much the 6.0. And not much good on the gas engine side. Generally speaking we find Ford stuff to be overall pretty reliable but very hard to work on. They don't put enough time into designing for serviceability. Subaru is at the complete opposite end of the spectrum - their cars are very easy to service and have got easier the newer they are. Nothing beats my 69 GMC truck for serviceability. GD

Yes - increase secondary idle jet. If you have a flat spot off idle then increase primary idle jet. GD

If you want ultimate reliability, find a 2010 Forester or Impreza automatic. These have the EJ25 but the updated 770 head gaskets from the factory. They also have the 4EAT (bulletproof). Steer clear of early FB's (oil consumption) and all the CVT's (valve body/programming/torque converters/belt whine). Or you can send me your trans for a rebuild. Those are dead simple and I can easily make it like new again. Typically they only need about $150 in parts, and bench tear down / reassembly is $800. Shipping would be about $300 typically. Find someone to R&R it - about 5 hours labor. Should be less than $2k with a clutch/flywheel resurface/fluid. GD

They bend intake valves, not exhaust, if the timing fails. And if it were going to have a partially burned exhaust valve it certainly wouldn't be on all four cylinders. Therefore I declare your testing method to be faulty. Those are implausible results. GD

While I get what you are saying, the implicit assumption you are making is that some other brand of car would be better. Given the sate of current engineering against the state of current legislation, and what I know from my experience as a repair shop owner..... I'm afraid you will be disappointed. Also - car manufacturers don't design their own rings. Hell, they don't even design their own engines much of the time. Rings are a speciality product made in a piston ring factory by their own piston ring engineers. Many car manufacturers use the same suppliers.... It's not a cut and dry "I don't like Brand X cars anymore".... Toyota and others use the same suppliers for their basic components like piston rings, bearing inserts, o-rings, gaskets, seals, etc. These are jelly-bean parts. Piston rings used to be by width, diameter, and profile and that was pretty much it. When a rebuilder needed new rings for a 1961 Plymouth Fury 383 you just measured ring width and matched up the diameter then grabbed whatever style/material/profile ring suited the engine builders fancy for the application and intended usage. At any rate you should take a hard look at what it is you really want if it's out there to be had in today's market. It is NOT out there for me I can tell you that. I would rather sink thousands into parts to restore my classics than settle for the plastic disposable garbage being produced these days. Newest car I own is a 91 Legacy. And there's very good reasons for it. GD

He could bring it down to me in Portland. I'm sure we could resolve the electrical gremlins in short order. GD

AFAIK, they are not available outside of Subaru. GD

They said that about the 11 and 12's also. "Its been addressed". Sure it has..... more marketing to ease the transision from "problem" to "normal". They need to strike a balance between conaumption, economy, capacity, and driver alert/dipstick reading..... and the engineering/manufacturing isn't quite there yet for the perfect, consistent balance. No lie - its VERY hard to get every single production engine to use the exact same amount of oil. It is super easy to get them to use nothing - just throw economy out the window. But to ride the fence - use a little, keep ring force low, but not use too much..... The mind boggles at what the production engineers must be going through between engine manufacturing tolerances, cylinder wall surface finishing, and working with the ring manufactures who are a separate entity. Then throw in ring wear, and predicting ring tension loss over engine life.... It's easy to sit here and throw rocks at these guys, but I wouldn't want their job. They are left with giving people free engines and I guess building that into the product cost for now. Essentially to get them past the legislated Obama administration emissions and fuel economy guidelines they have to let them burn oil. Then when people complain they can dumb down the economy (to the customers detriment, but customers are fools so whatever) to yield zero oil consumption without this effecting their MPG rating with the EPA. As long as you build X number of short block replacements into the cost of the product I guess that works.... At any rate - this is a very complex subject. One that even I am not aware of all the variables I'm sure. But the math isn't that hard. The oil consumption costs less than the reduction in fuel consumption. GD

The default accelerator pump nozzle is not drilled on the secondary side. I think the dual nozzles are primarily for the 38DGAS when used with synchronous linkage, etc. GD

The ECU may still be bad. It's under the floor. 2005 is a hermaphrodite year. Your going to need an exact match. GD

Yes. I had one that came apart on my 91 Legacy SS. Clunking noises over bumps. The rubber came apart. Mind you this was about 6-8 years ago so at around the age of yours now. GD

Doing well. Shop is always booked solid. Family is well. Can't ask for much more. GD

I don't understand your loss of respect for the brand..... It uses oil - like virtually every economy engine designed in The last 10 years - notice I said designed, not built, because there are engines being built of older design and ones where economy is not of primary concern. There is no real issue with this. It's all in your (and a lot of the uniformed car buying public's) head. Synthetic oils burn very cleanly leaving little deposits, and modern fuels are formulated with anti-deposit additives. The only short term issue is educating the public - unfortunately there is a huge battle bringing the car buyers into the 21st century kicking and screaming about oil consumption when the engineers are designing them to do this. It's a salesmans nightmare trying to sell a car with this as a feature... So they don't tell them about it or explain it.... and then the customer goes and sues the manufacturer or some such ridiculous act.... It's just stupid. The whole thing. It's really very simple. Consumption of oil means you are getting more fuel economy which is financially beneficial to you. The (excellent) Subaru engineers have done you great service. Thank them. And add some oil once a month. Is it so hard to do this? Why are you so against this simple act? When you have the oil changed (do not use the dealer for this, even if you have their free oil changes - it's not worth it trust me) ask for two extra quarts. Put them in the trunk. Check your oil every time you get gas. And look over other fluids, lights, tire pressure, etc. Your car and maybe your life will thank you for it. In the Army we called this "Operator level maintenance" and every day you did a "PMCS" - Preventative Maintenance Checks & Services - before you drive that vehicle. This was not optional. This makes a lot of sense for the safety of everyone. GD

Yes they are compatible. GD

What's wrong with the knuckle? You can press in a new bearing. The knuckle is not available in the aftermarket. It's Subaru only, quite expensive, and does not come with bearing. Junk yard is usually a crapshoot for bearing quality. Take the knuckle off and have a local Subaru shop install a bearing for you. GD

Dealer oil is crap. They don't use Subaru oil at the dealer level. The dealers have contracts with Valvoline, Pennzoil, etc. Who knows if they are even using synthetic. Dealers are for $hit when it comes to service and repair. You cannot compare this to a Yugo or a lawn mower. It is manifestly neither and gets much higher mileage than either. I'm sorry that it "don't sound right to you" but that's the state of modern internal combustion of the last 10 years. Higher economy DEMANDS reduced parasitic loss and the BIGGEST friction point in an engine, by far, is piston rings. Reduce that, and you increase economy. Which is great for sales. Unfortunately it WILL result in higher oil consumption - especially as the rings age and are treated to carbon build up from crap oil. The mistake Subaru made, is not increasing the capacity to 7 quarts like the H6 and allowing 2 quarts low before the dipstick or driver alert goes off. This would mitigate customer concern and involvement. But that doesn't change the engineering of the rings. Have the dealer touch it at your own risk. The least that will happen is a loss of 2-3 MPG. MUCH worse could be the result of their hackery. I have a customer that just had her 2011 Forester short block replaced (free) and it took 3 weeks because the engine had "noises" after the first attempt. Now she's getting rid of it because it lost a whole bunch of fuel economy and she's concerned about it's longevity. This has nothing to do with Subaru specifically. It is an industry wide issue being experienced by all manufacturers. Those cars not yet having issues with oil consumption complaints are largely older design engines that have relatively poor economy. Check out the complaints about Prius oil consumption. I get your concern. FWIW, the 305 in my 86 Trans Am uses not a single drop of oil (after a set of stem seals) with 160k original miles. I get it. But your concern is based on a lack of understanding on the most up to date internal combustion engineering. This is not a 30 year old Yugo or SBC. It's not a lawnmower either. It is an engineered solution to consumer and legislative pressure for ever increasing economy. Once you understand and respect what it's doing for you, you will gladly carry a quart of (high quality synthetic) oil in your trunk. It's not a bug, it's a feature. GD

1 quart in 2500 miles is nothing. This is the price you pay for excellent fuel economy. If they replace the short block, besides having dealer monkeys strip your engine to the short block and back again, you will lose multiple miles per gallon in fuel economy and gain nothing in terms of reliability. A quart of synthetic oil is about $10 give or take. A loss of 1 MPG over 2500 miles is around 4 gallons of gasoline which is about $12 and it could be a lot more than 1 MPG. Oil consumption on many modern engines disigned for ultra high efficiency is more than the old "tight" engines that burned nothing. Friction means lost efficiency and tight rings means more friction. I say leave it alone and add oil. A responsible car owner should be checking fluids every time they get out to fill the tank. And even then - it has a low level warning. Use it. You ARE using quality synthetic right? This engine requires it. Amsoil is our choice. And step it up to 5w30. The 0w20 stuff is too thin. GD

It's not ridiculous for the guys shearing axle bars in stage rally. The six speed is strong enough to do this. Stock STI axles have been tested at the track and will do approximately 30 hard, sticky launches at stock power before the axle shaft shears off. GD

I'll see what I can do. I just threw a 7 in the scrap metal.... along with the rod knocking block it was attached to. GD

Oil cooler is not leaking - it's the head gasket on that side. The oil loss is not likely entirely head gaskets. It's actually from clogged oil control rings. Do a re-ring with 770 head gaskets and make sure you get a new 10mm oil pump for it. Going forward after that I recommend a 5w40 synthetic also. All those miles with a small oil pump can take their toll on bearing clearances. GD

Six Star is just rebranded Cometic. Personally I find this rebranding/markup marketing foolishness to be reprehensible. Just buy the Cometic gaskets - their the ones that put in the R&D to make a better gasket. Six Star is just a marketing name by a shop in WA. GD

They are not the OEM supplier. They buy them and put them in their own box to "complete their catalog". The OEM supplier is Nippon Rienz. GD

You think that's high - the chromoly WRC axle shafts (just the bar, no joints, boots, grease, etc) for STI's are about $1200 per each. GD

Most will prime without the engine connected. Some will pump without stopping. Make sure you have the manifold hose secured. GD