nipper

Notice how no one has suggested a slipping belt either? rain makes a great lubricant. People need to start off with the cheap fixes first, they always seem to go for the most $$$

How was the radiator "checked out" ? PS was it an OE thermostat that was put in the car or aftermarket?

As with most things AC, 1st step is to get real AC gauges on the system. this will tell you everything you need to know (like low coolant, too high, bad compressor etc etc etc). I dont know why everyone wants to skip this first step. nipper

replace the bushings first. that may be enough to make a huge differnce that you are looking for. nipper

radiator cap? nipper

I only use synthetis because during the winter i do a lot of short trips (2 blocks- 2 miles) and the oil never gets to heat up. 80% of us really can be covered by Heavy duty intervals. The long intervals started in the 90's to show how low cost maint was on cars. The trade off is the longevity of vehicals (spark plugs are a different story).

http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/subaruvanagon/ thats one of them, there is another in there too someplace. They have tons of info in the files section.

There is an entire yahoo list dedicated to this conversion and they have (no pun meant) all the bugs out of it. Plumbing is nothing compared to the wiring. nipper

So your differential was run dry and now it is whinning? thats not good. How often did you have the diff fluid serviced (bet I know this answer). On a noisey rear diff that had the oil properly maintaned you can drive on it for years that way. pOn your it was run dry, so damage was done. It is still leaking (aparently bad enough to notice as they never leak that badly). Replace the rear diff, otherwise it fail when your in the middle of no where with your car full of crap. Have the front diff checked too. nipper

My 2 cents. Subaru itself admitted that the 2.5 (when it first came out) was pushed to the design limits. Since then they have beefed them up. I have found that a 2.5 that suffered from over heating and had not had the oil changed when the condition was corrected was asking for trouble. Personally I think the 7500 mile oil change interval is just too long and needs to be reduced to 5000 miles if you want to give the car to your children someday. Very few people change thier oil early, and most change it later then they should. Also any engine which has a reduced oil capacity (less then 5 qts) really should have more frequent oil changes. The more power increases on a small engine, the harder it has to work, the more frequesnt the oil changes should be. And yes i had one throw a rod on me too, rather spectacularly. Mine was due to the owner chaining the oil once a year "whether the car nedded it or not". nipper

Search HVAC lights here. Also the switches are illuminated, which will also be on one of those threads. Also its not a bad idea to pull the cluster out (simple 10 minutes) and replace all the blown out bulbs at that time. nipper

Rut roh. Sounds like you need to replace the rack. teh rack needs a rebuild and that requires a machine shop with specialized tools to do it properly. Not only is that seal shot (and very hard to get at) but odds are is that the end bushing is all scored too. nipper

Pistons are tough, its the valves that get bent. nipper

Sheesh i hate to think what would happen if you got a blowout at 60

Have you actually checked to see if the blower motor works? If there is 12 volts at high speed to the motor and it doesnt spin, its the motor. get out the old volt meter and start going backwards from the blower motor. nipper

And for the heck of it, make sure the AC body drain is not clogged. nipper

Subaru HVAC are pretty good. Its not usually the door itself, but the actuator. I bet its as simple as a broken clip that allowed a door arm to come unattached from the actuator. nipper

Car doesnt start as far as the ECU is concerned there are no codes to read, otherwise every time the car cranks it would throw codes. the code reader is just a tool, NOT the answer to all questions. You still have to do good old fashioned diagnoses to troubleshoot. Check the timing marks before you try to crank the engine again. You can make a bad situation worse. nipper

Sheesh have patience with my 20 questions. Sounds like one of the door motors are broken. You can look under the dash and see them i think. As you go through the different selectors the motors should move. Sounds like you have a dead one. And if no one else has had this issue i'm your best shot nipper

Bilevel usually means foot and defroster. Can you shut off the center vents (I dont recall how the hvac in an imp is set up). What happens if you put it on full hot. nipper

What was the outside temp? Also what if any was coming out of the defrost vents. Was the AC on? nipper

Did you replace the tensioners and idlers on the timing belt? A code reader is sort of useless unless the engine starts. nipper

All I buy are diehards. nipper

Do all the front seals, main, cam and reseal the oil pump. If you dont do all of them, as soon as you get it all back together Mr Murphy will show up. Also inspect the end of the spark plug wires to see if there is any oil on them. nipper

Define vents please. nipper