nipper

You don't know what else is powered when the radio light is on. There could be a few lights that are very dim. Unplug the radio for a week, live with a ipod, and see what happens. Another possability is a crap Alt. there are quite a fe really poor rebuilds (read China again or Mexico) and that may have a short in it. Can you fully charge the battery, disconect the Alt at the Alt and let it sit for a week to see what happens? After that we will suggest the next step.

My better LED christmas lights sometimes flicker too. I wonder if they are seeing the cycles in the electrical generation.

a 2nd for Rock Auto

Yes. The new ones used LED's but these are just normal everyday edison based lightbulbs

We all missed the obvious place to check first, the exhaust hangers. Blu bangs alot, but due to the lift and the trailer hitch, I had to loose an exhaust hanger to clear everything. And don't rule out the axles yet. How is the idle is it smooth?

Do not get me wrong, but when you have a major leak or problem, there is NOTHING wrong with trying a single dose of additive to try to fix it or at least slow it down untill it can be fixed. I will ALWAYS stand by that rule as it is a solid suggestion.

OE thermostat ONLY. Cheap aftermarket ones are too small for flow and dont have the jiggle valve which lets air through or any foam/bubbles from turbulance.

The additive is just stop leak. I would use Barrs. ONLY use one bottle at a time! Two bottles might (and has to some people) clog the radiator (especially in the future when exposed to air - thats how it works). it can also clog the heater core.

Is this a manual? Either way get a second opinion. A diff doesnt knock it usually wines, but if the output shaft is bad it may knock. Other possabilites tranny mount or driveshaft. The car has the right mileag for the mount, but low for the driveshaft. Look at the dipstick to see if there is material on it.

From Subaru Thank you for contacting Subaru of America, Inc. We appreciate your interest in this publication. I am in the midst of trying to obtain some information for you. Are you aware of our Technical Website? As I am typing my response to you, I was thinking maybe it is out there? Regardless, as soon as I hear back, I will let you know. The offices are closed on Friday so if I don't hear back from my contact person by tomorrow, I hope you have a Happy New Year! : ) Sincerely, Kelly Shinault Subaru of America, Inc.

Water pump, idlers tensioners and cam seals. anaerobic sealer = "The Right Stuff" made by Permatex; Loctite 518 to name two. It is commonly called gasket maker and it will be a thick red paste. You can also buy it from EVINRUDE as GEL SEAL as it is also used for sealing engine case halves in outboard motors. It is a sealer basically used where tolerances are critical and a silicone can't be used due to torsional flexing of the parts.

This may be like replacing the engine because of a fouled plug. how many miles? When does the knock happen? Is it a knock or a bang?

Nevermind ... in the process of posting someone answered my point

The long heading is if someone does a search on this they can find it. The plate itself can get hardspots and no one machines them. Those little fingers are called a bleville spring and do get exposed to heat. They actually apply more force halfway through the disc's life. After that point they loose the clamping force. Towards the end of the discs life they will start to slip (before you can tell) and heat up. When you can finally tell they get rather hot. They also need to be a matched set as they are balanced together. You can just replace the disc if there is very little mileage on it (ie a failed oil seal). Clutch Assembly 101. http://books.google.com/books?id=U4TBoJB2zgsC&pg=PA905&lpg=PA905&dq=belleville+spring+pressure+plate&source=bl&ots=MUSQVrNIqh&sig=US2FieCeupO1W9tM-8RcRGFcn3o&hl=en&ei=jTQaTYA2goLyBt30zKQD&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=9&ved=0CFEQ6AEwCA#v=onepage&q=belleville%20spring%20pressure%20plate&f=false Start at page 900 .

Shocking aint it. :lol:

I was scarily sick for the last ten days, nice to notice my absence from the list hehehehehe I dropped SOA a note asking what happened to it. I did butter them up so they usually answer whaen I ask a question.

Comon give some credit I am an auto tech and engineer.... And yes I have strongly suggested that maybe the wires are too "cold" and need some "warming" up

With the gas gauge they used to drop the gauge volatges to 6 volts to minimize this. I can see my gas gauge move if I am below a (honest not gauge) 1/4 tank and I am on a long steep hill. I think they changed this due to costs and the gauge cluster has gotten far more sophisticated. They really cant run 6 volts from the sneder back due to managiing the voltage drops, the terminals, and the ECU may over/under process the signal. The nice thing about the fuel gauge is that the mostly aty now when the car is off. Iunderstand the temp light, a throw back to 1960's GMs. My uncles small chevy (not tiny but smaller then an impalla) had a cold light and a hot light. People tend to notice lights on the dash then a guage (which is not saying much). Also real-estate has gotten really tight on the gauge cluster. Maybe as everything switches to multiplexing they will get that realestate back, The lights are also much cheaper. Digital readout is useless as the avg driver has no idea what those numbers mean. I dont like them.

Is it dead? I just get some generic pasrt site.

I have no idea where you get the idler 100K number. If you look on this list as well as others, they tend to fail at about 20K or more after a timing belt is done. Subaru also recomends (Subaru itself as dealers in some cases have been giving bad advice I think to make more business) replace everything with the timing belt on 2.5 and 2.2. Now if you want to personally guarentee and pay for the next time the front engine has to be taken apart before 210,000 miles I am fine with that, otherwise it is just foolish not to replace all idlers.

ALWAYS replace the pressure plate. The spring gets tired and they are part of a clutch kit

I tried. I thought I had it pinned down but I do not have a wiring diagram for the truck.

Get OE

Do you have power to the fuel injectors? The injectors gournd through the ECU. If you have a dea short, pull out all the fuses, With the car offlook for no resistance to ground. NExt follow the cables and disconnect downstream connectors and repeat on each pin. If you get continuity unplug one thing at a time on that harness and see if it goes away. Look for wires that run near anything hot. This is why electrical wires charge by the hour. My freind has a 2000 dodge pickup that keeps draining the battery. No one can find the problem, so he is trading it on and making it the dealers problem. It is either that or fire.

http://www.subaruforester.org/vbulletin/f66/timing-belt-pump-change-14416/ SOHC That is a forester but they are all the same.