nipper

Bad ignition wires

Tis ok. Trust me i am big proponent of "FOR GOD SAKES DONT TOUCH THE YELLOW WIRES" otherwise instant pillow.

Show-off. Can you mail me one one part at a time?

Actually there are quite a few that come with them now, and a NHTSA regulation allowing them to be installed on older cars. if you notice the links one of them had the proper documentation needed to get permission to get it done. Pick up trucks and 2 passenger vehicals have them. Quite a few other cars have them too http://www.nhtsa.gov/cars/rules/rulings/airbagqa.html

http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=79415&highlight=Master+Cylinder+recall Use the search! It has nothing to do with power brake booster., but the master cylinder itself and only for 99 http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/search.php?searchid=1174186 I know a few that have replace the barke booster to only have the issue return in a year. YOu can flush the brakes (which shold have been done anyway as a maint item)

There comes a point that no matter how much self control you exercise you snap.. http://www.autoblog.com/2011/01/11/marchionne-jeep-is-finally-getting-a-pickup-kinda/

Just pulled up the wiring digram (what a pain). The switches are simple pressure switches. There is a resistor is across the switch for the self test. Afterr much research look here http://www.airbagonoff.com/ This may be yout best bet. There is a form you need to fill out to get Gov't permission to do it http://www.electronix.com/universal-passenger-airbag-disable-switch-p-20433.html This is a lotus site just to show you how it is installed http://www.lotustalk.com/forums/f3/installed-passenger-airbag-disable-switch-96134/ I did find one humorus but serious site on how to disbale the airbags "for racers" by setting them off! DO NOT DO THIS KIDS! http://www.ehow.com/how_7611625_disable-airbags.html

I would ask a couple of dealers first, and ask subaru of america itself they are good at answering emails. I have a solution, but I would rather wait for other sources to answer. I would use a double pole single throw relay in the wire going to the seat sensor. If it does not have one I am out of ideas. I would wire it to disconnect bothe leads to the connector. This should reproduce the same thing as someone sitting in the seat. I would put a switch in an obvious place and a BRIGHT light in your line of vision or your line and the passengers line of site.

You can replace the booster but the same thing may happen. It is not a Master Cylinder issue. Others cars do this too. Cars are not perfect in winter, whihc is something people forget. the easy solution is tell everyone who drive the car in below freezing weather to pump the brakes three times hard to brake the seal. After that it wont happen untill the car engine cools down again, which actually takes a while. Modern cars are air tight, which is why they are quiter, this is also why Ac comes on the defrosters. one of the few air leaks, which is needed for the operation, is the power brake booster.

DINGDINGDINGDING Congratulations! You are the first one of the new year to ask this! http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=117886&highlight=Winter+Brake+Cold

*drool* I don't like the way the big (I dont even know what to call them anymore) 4wds are getting lush. It almost defeats the purpose. They really should offer stripped down model.

That sounds like a HG to me, as the only place for pressurized oil to be up there is the oil press switch. CLean it start it and drive for an hour or so then check. if not enough time check every day. Take pictures of before cleaning after cleaning and then when the oil starts to appera again before it puddles.

In coatings or anything else, people think if a little is good, more is better. In coatings going to a higher temp or a longer scintering time can actually damage the coating. How did you determin the that parts reached thier required temps? I have worked with coatings many years, and they can be really finicky about temps and times. that is why these thigs are done in calibrated enviormentle ovens that keep a constant heat with zero temp swing. Before anyopne gets any crazy ideas, the coating will fail on any higher compression due to higher piston temps. Modern engines use vaporized oil to cool the pistons, so they get rather hot. Will be interesting to see how long this solves the problem for. I have a feeling it will not last as a real fix, but then again on a pleasure car it may not need to. On a dialy driver I would kepp the AAA card handy. "race engines have shown piston life imporved over two to three times normal". A race engine is torn down between races, so I can not reley comment on that as I do not have enough expierience in that area. I will keep an open mind. For anyone else, this is used in quite a few places. if the part has a gray sort of primer looking surface, that is from this.

How did you meaasure it and how did you clean it. We shot peened them.

This is ceramic dry film lubricant. We used to use it on the pistons of bomb racks. It's been around for many years. For piston seizing: Pistons, to eliminate friction and to provide better lubricity when used with oil. Gear Kote is a very good heat barrier when used on pistons and domes. This product will also shed carbon. A combination of coated pistons and piston walls will result in reduced damage from piston rock at bottom dead center. Race engines have shown piston life improvement of over three times normal. Ok I just checked my old notes, and god help me, it does what it says it does, though I am not sure of how long it lasts in a multi RPM engine, though in a 2 stroke it may not be that bad considering how a two stroke lubricates itself. . What it does is on the ocassion that the piston skirts lock up, it makes a ceramin surface so that the metals do not gaul the surface of each other and "seize" . Wused this on many parts that moved quickly. and as listed. However, I can not see using a oven to sinter (bake) this stuff on. Usually the tmeps required are over 500 degrees (always hotter then what it would see in real use. Considering ovens are not the most acurate things for this kind of thing (use a digital thermocouple to read it). Maybe a self cleaning oven will get hot enough. http://www.anodising.co.nz/KG-Performance-Coatings/ I do not see application directions so it may not be meant for the typical backyard mechanic.

http://www.ceram-kote.com/products/ceram_kote_thinner_1/pdfs/thin1msds.pdf Thats the thinner which is standard MEK http://www.ceram-kote.com/products/ceram_kote_54_aviation/pdfs/******-54_MSDS.pdf Let me read it ...

Thats a technical Data sheet. An MSDS sheet will say at the top of it (by law) that it is an mds data sheet, include ingrediamts, combustion temps, exposure, volitiles etc. They are not the same and by law they have to supply it upon request.

Which car are we talking about, now I am confused...

Now you are in trouble, you forced me to use spell check. Ok i will repeat myself, then move on to another thread. I am 47 and have been pulling a wrench since I was 7. I have a degree in automotive engineering so I do have a little knowledge of what I am talking about, just a bit . I have worked on one, two, three, four (never a 5 darn it) six, eight (always wanted to do a 12 and a rotary), Diesels LP Hydrogen and Gasoline. I have seen many different types of materials for gaskets and engines over time. I have been trained and taught that with every part that is known for being weak, you always check with the mfg of the part, never the counter guy, to see if anything has changed. I worked for an Aftermarkets parts mfg who sold sensors, ignition parts and gasket sets. They did make some of their own parts. Other parts they got from OE suppliers. The parts from OE suppliers had been locked in (meaning the parts had not changed in X years). There was a 3-5 window depending upon the part that the OE supplier could not sell to a aftermarket parts mfg, unless the part is used unchanged. Where the Aftermarket could not get the OE part supplier, they either had to reverse engineer it or find someone who is already making it to sell to them. When they buy them from someone else they just make sure that dimensionally (and sometimes the materials) are the same and nothing else. They buy on certs (documentation). With head gaskets and more critical parts especially from 1995 to present, they are moving targets. As emissions get tougher, the HP race goes on, and the demand for higher MPG, HG's have been critically tortured on the road. Every MFG has at least one engine with HG issues. HG's cannot be life tested in today’s world. This is why auto mfg's push back when they have a short timeline on a required emissions or MPG increase. HG's to a degree can be tested in the lab and on the puter, but do need real world testing. Ping may not show up in the lab but will on the road (largest cause of HG failure, you don't hear this ping). Failures due to time, leaks, etc. Subaru does not have a lot of test mules for their engines (a test mule is an engine put into a vehicle it is not destined for to get miles on it). Today’s cars due to being overbuilt and new oils and fuels can last with no maint to 160,000 miles. The head gasket is the weakest part of that link. When you aim to build to the warranty you usual add 25 to 50% of that number, Subaru aims for the higher. That usually covers all the variables. When you test a HG on the road, the car has to be fully equipped for data. All points recorded. When it fails it goes into a lab, not a shop to be torn down. The engine is removed and all mounting surfaces examined and the head gasket examined in painful detail if need be. Once the issue is found, you research the possible fixes, have the part made in a run of anywhere from 10 to 100. Then you go back to the engine test in the lab, then the road test. If it fails the entire process starts all over again. That is why it took up to ten years for a new engine to come out. Now with some mfgs with failing head gaskets they are under the gun to fix the problem as soon as they start hearing about it from the dealer’s data. Then they have to start examining the failures. If they are similar it is a blessing, if they are different then it is going to take time. With HG's it was not just one attempted fix, it was (3 with sooby?), then they got the internal one fixed and made an external one. I personally think they redesigned the 2.5 this year to get away from any chance of abnormal head gasket failure. Now as OE changes the HG design, they scarp the existing ones after a test production run. This is just one mfg with one engine at 50,000 copies a year (just to snag a number). Let’s call them company X who sells at a parts store (As this is not just felpro). Company x makes # of head gaskets based on sales projections of failures. They do not recall parts when the mfg goes from HG1 to HG2 as they may not even know about it. It takes time and money to retool, and sometimes they depend upon the supplier to tell them there is a change. Then in 6 months later OE develops HG2, then a year later HG3. X is quite possibly on HG1 since OE is not obligated to tell anyone anything. OE will have anywhere from 1 engineer to the entire Engine Team trying to solve a HG engineering issue. In Subaru’s case they only built the 2.5, 2.3, turbo and diesel) and only had one engine with an issue. In a larger mfg every engine will have a design team assigned to it. Company X does not have anywhere near those kinds of resources. They have to make parts for 1000's of engines and n one has the 1000's of engines lying around for testing (or the required simulations). The only way they will find out about a lot of failures is either a spike in sales (and that doesn’t get past sales sometimes), or if they themselves get returns. Usually when someone blows a HG they go to OE or aftermarket. If they go to OE they throw a huge fit (rightly so) if it fails again. If it fails again with aftermarket people either walk away or go back to OE parts. With majorly important parts (there aren’t many in an engine) I will always go with OE. When engines were big lazy cast iron blocks, I would always buy felpro. When engines went to aluminum started buying oe. As engines got lighter and higher rpm I switched to only OE after I saw a pattern of HG failures with increased power demands on all mfgs. There are very few parts I will buy OE and they vary from Mfgs to MFG. On Subaru’s I would buy OE for HG, Thermostat, Valve cover gaskets, spark plug bucket gaskets, front O2 sensor and high quality OE preferred plug wires. I am always skeptical when someone comes out with major high stressed part that is not OE that solves any problem with the part as they just do not have the resources to check it. I won’t even mention the decision to rebuild the HG on an engine with such high mileage on it. I would have just gotten a used engine, but that’s another discussion. Good luck. Oh and a PS... After a car gets to be X years old (maybe ten maybe 15 depending upon the part) they do not bother updating that part anymore. It just isnt cost effective as the car ages out of the market, and they may not know a 97-98-99 parts are all different where on paper they are the same.

Oil pressure sensor, check to make sure it is not PS fluid.

Parts counter guys you don not trust. Some of them are experts who choose not to pull a wrench anymore, others think they know anything, and it is hard to tell them apart. http://allwheeldriveauto.com/subaru-head-gasket-problems-explained/ Dont know if this will help http://home.comcast.net/~skipnospam/Head_gasket_replacement.html You made me go out in the bitter cold to get my book.. "Clean the gasket mating surfaces..." "refer to the Cyl Head Gskt Mfg instructions AND IF NECESSARY.. if being the key word. Modern headgaskets are made of three different metals, two of which seal against pressures of 1500 psi and 1800 degrees. Whoever this guy is doesnt know a thing. I do remeber back in ancient times that there were a few HG that needed sealant only around the water passages. When in doubt ask a dealer, a real mechanic, or call the parts mfg hotline. You may have gotten lucky the first time. But in the last 20 years I have not seen any headgasket that has used any goo between the HG and the parts. I have however stood at a counter and heard a lot of bad information from a counter. A lot of counter people hear the word gasket and think sealant.

Remeber in the days before the internet everyone knew someone or heard from someone they could do X

Someone tried that on another buard the rear wheel bearings were not that happy (I still dont know why). Then how do you shed the other 500-600 lbs. :-p

What exactly are you expecting.... This is a heavy AWD car. 27.5 is almost what it is rated. If you don't want the AWD penalty get a 2wd car. Your mileage is right where ti should be. Subarus are always highest in class MPG. Go look it up. Even the Suzuki SX4 which is small lght and AWD still doesnt get great gas mpg due to the AWD. That gets 22/30. The new larger OUtback gets 22/29 with the CVT and on the outback board they constantly hitting 32 highway. An winter/summer fuel does not haver that large an impact on mpg. It did in the 70's and 80's but newer cars do no ntoice it as much if at all.

Then buy a honda? You would get zero gain for a car designed to handle best with AWD, there would be a lot of dead weight and alot of drag from the rear diff. You do not need all those overbuilt parts to handle the AWD.