nipper

Time for the rubber hose and a friend. Put the rubber hose to the bell housing and the other to year ear. Have the friend operate the clutch and see if that is where (I suspect) the noise is coming from.

SHift linkage, hopefully outside the tranny and not a broken fork inside the tranny. I bet it is in 1st and third

No. open the hood you can see everything. If you question if the engine has to be removed to fix AC in a subaru, you should not mess with the system. About 100-150 bucks it will be fixed.

Why hasn't the trouble code been read or did i miss that part? You are blaming the ECU and the car when it is doing exactly what it is supposed to do.

Easy. Check the linkage. I was driving in first gear at about 3000 rpm on a bumpy dirt road. No prior warning or noise. I was going about 15 miles an hour and all a sudden the engine revved up as if I was down shifting from a high speed to first gear. I immediately pushed in on the clutch and at the same time the wheels locked up and the car came to a sliding stop. If the car locks up with the clutch in you have 2 gears engaged at the same time. This will always lock up everything. the biggest clue is the mileage (worn linkage) and bumpy road.

It is not a PITA, it was just done wrong. Every car this is valid for EVERY car made. Fill radiator SLOWLY. on level ground Start car up with cap off. Wait for T-stat to open (surge at radiator neck) Once that goes away, top off SLOWLY Replace cap Fill the overflow tank. Go for a short drive Let car cool down Repeat above. If you have to do it more then once something is up. BTW get a new cap. People and shops don't do this right as it takes time or they never learned how.

Leaking grease - thumping, release. Replace the cv joint. Lets get that out of the equation and look at the transmission mount and the uni joints in the driveshaft. You are at the right mileage for a driveshaft to start getting difficult.

There is a leaky O-ring. Just recharging it will be throwing money away. Since it was low to begin with I can not fault the shop.

The rear o2 sensor tells if the cat is working. The front o2 is for the ecu. First find a measured mile on the highway (signs on the side of the road are measured miles. Match that to your trip odometer. - A bad o2 sensor will give poor gas milage. - A sticking or bad Idle Control Valve (which may not throw a code) will cause bad gas mileage. - The higher thrust it takes to launch the car (yes it is measured to become thrust) will reduce gas mileage. - Improper tire pressure - The beginings of torque bind - Seized brake caliper - Stuck parking brake - Driving over 70mph, as that seems to be the tipping point from 28-29 to 25-26 or lower the faster you go. - Heavy right foot. Slow acceleration and not running out gears will help. - Timing belt acting wierd. After sitting for 2 years i would replace it and all associated parts. - A non OE thermostat. If you are starting out at 23-25 then add these it will make it lower. Add any of these together your mileage wil get dramatically lower.

All transmission shops are EVIL! I do not care if your father, or Priest (uses it to suppliment his income), or beloved Grandmother turn people evil. As soon as they have the first cup of coffee they start to go towards the dark side. The AWD unit on the tranny could have been replaced all by itself. I have my doubts on the pinion ring. A used tranny would have worked just as well, as that could not have been cheap. If they can not diagnose a wheel bearing noise that is even worse. Wheel bearing. You do know that all four tires must match, be properly inflated, and have equal wear to keep from blowing up the AWD unit.

What he said. The only worrying thing I see here is not knowing what is leaking. the fastest way to kill and engine is run low on oil

IAC valve will also make the car idle go up and down, affect gas mileage,and may idle a little rough.

Grammer please. How many miles and what year is it. Any Check Engine Light on. How much tranny fluid do you loose. Are you sure it is tranny fluid?

ALl you need to "flush" the system is a turkey baster. Just drain the fluid in the pump and refill it. If the belt is old replace it, that sounds like the issue. Belts get loose when cold and tighten up when hot.

Front windsheild has some grids at the base to keep the wipers from freezing to the windsheild and to keep slush from freezing there. http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1875303 thats how you put one in. Those are not cheap windshields.

Check that they are subaru headgaskets and the newest version. Always get headgaskets from the dealer so you can be sure that it is the newest version. Bubbles are never a good thing.

Try www.mcmastercarr.com or www.grainger.com

Your lucky. Otherwise it coulfd have been "Subaru burning over an open fire, Tow trucks waiting at the shell"

i meant at the ECU and its fuse. The coil gets fired by being switched by the ECU to ground. One of three things will keep this from happening. A bad crank sensor or a dead ECU. or a power/wiring issue (unless i am forgetting something).

Ok Check to make sure there is a power feed through the fuse boxes.

Lest check fuses first. Someone will chime in with the pin callout otherwise I will look it up later this evening.

If you have no driveability issues, reset the codes and go for a drive. Check them again in a week or so and lets see what happens. If you are having drivability issues start here http://www.northursalia.com/techdocs/pdf/transmission/4eat.pdf

And as in all things in life, sometimes too much power is a bad thing too. Stock is not wolrse, it is correct, after is too bright.

Almost sounds like a harness/plug issue.

Save us a little work please and post what they codes mean. Can be as simple as a connnector not fully plugged in, especially if they were not there before.