nipper

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.

If there is oil on the sparkplug boots, this may make it come and go too. The valve cover buckets are leaking and will cause the voltage leak to come and go in the right conditions.

Dash gauges have been made less sensitve then when electric cooling fans first came out. I had a datsun and a honda where you could watch the temp gaughe go up and down with the fans. People thought there was something wrong and driving dealers nuts ( iworked for a VW dealer at the time and got tired of telling owners them it was normal) OE (all of them) made the "normal" less senative to 175-215 swings (normal range). to save time and costs on customers complaining. Below t and above those temps they are close enough for the driver (if they even look at the dash) to let them know something is wrong.

The original subaru CVT was killed by drivers who drove like... drivers. They do not fully stop when chaining direction, that tore up the drums. They also never used Ds for heavy traffic or hills that burned out the electric clutches. As long as there is lubricant or some sort of lubricating properties ( the metal gears may look dry but they have properties in the metal that allow them to operate without lube in some applications) they will be fine. You can never design for the idiots. You design for the majority of the end useres, not the dummies (to which most are when it comes to cars). The CVT is an ancient technology. Subaru has had them since the 60's just not here. They have extensive knowledge on how it works. one day they just didnt decide to poop one out. The only issue subaru has had so far with them is that they had torecalibrate the reverse gear "ratio" as it was too steep and in someconditions the car would not move uphill backwards. I have heard of only one being replaced due to a failure, and that is about par for any new car where 10.000's are made. People have been getting way over the rated highway MPG with them, and are very happy with them. There is always the ones who complain about automatics. There are quite a few CVTs that work like sooby, and others that use cones. They are hitting over 100K now with no issues.

Say, how old is your thermostat? The gauge may look Ok but the car can be running cool.

Nathan all I want is SOMEBODY to go out and try the same thing to see if it was my imagination. Aparently this request may be impossible. As far as the Justy saftey Issue, I was pointing out that subaru has been building safe cars (using the smallest as a baseline) for quite sometime.

Well it is a pretty well known thing that it is much better to start off and stop in 2nd gear in very slick conditions as it reduces weell spin and lockup. Yes I could look up the diagram but not in the mood and it is in the car with a blizzard outside. @nd gaer (well any gear in a 4eat) changes the dynamics of the awd, Engine braking does assist in service brakes. The ABS does use other inputs other then the wheel speed sensor and brake pedal.

115 K That is just a child! With care the drivetrain major parts the sky can be the limit as far as life of the drivetrain

Sooys are always top rated for saftey. Heck my 1989 Justy passed those crashtests with flying colors!

Crankcase sensor?

170-180 in BITTER cold as the heater core is enough to cool the engine (10 degrees) Normally 180-210. I have had it as high as 218 which is fine, at 100 degrees outside and AC on in traffic. Transmission temp is normally 100 degrees over ambiant temp.

Maual is one since it has a more basic AWD system. Did I miss it being a manual?

Nope. Get an original key made by a dealer using the Vin number. Cops can wear faster then OE.

If you have a head wind it will knock it down as Outbacks/Leggy are not all that aerodynaic. Last time for a tuneup?

I just accidently did an experiment that I need someone else to try (in late 90's soobys) (and sorry but people that complain about it I personally think are overdriving conditions) In really bad conditions I use D2 to strat and stop. With enough distance D2 will reasonably get you down to 5mph. I treid some hard stops from 25 mph on the same section of road. In D or D1 the abs (STANDING on the brake pedal) did its thing working hard. I tried it with a reasonable stop for the conditions and it was active but only at the very end of the stop. In D2 (which of course everone uses in bad weather for better starts without wheel spin and better braking and AWd control ) It really seemed to calm down the ABS action. The wheels actually locked up a few times (conditions frozen snow over 2" of powder). Also the ABS did not kick in for a reasonable stop. Standing on the brake pedal it seemed to cycle less with a shorter stop. Can someone try this w/o traction control? I want to see if I discovered something.