nipper

Who did you get it from. Have you reste the computer to help it relearn things? nipper

You can attach an electric motor to the front of the engine and start the car that way. Oh yea, they have one of those on the back of the engine already. Yes it can be done, the starter motor does it all the time. You just need enough levergae or a really long rope. You also need some battery voltage to run the electronics. nipper

*whew* Subarus dont smoke when they blow a HG, they are odd that way. At that mileage, a new Radiator is not throwing money away. If it is a HG once you drain the radiator to work on the eninge, things tend to turn into goo in there anyway. The engine replacement (if it is a bad HG - compression test) is a very valid option. There are also over the counter test for exhaust gasses in the coolant. It sounds like you are fairly well along with the symptons, so you should have a valid exhaust gas or compression test data. Sometimes the HG issue can be hard to pin down, but i dont think this will be the case. nipper

then nothing makes any sense at all. I am totally confused, as nothing is following any logic or making any sense. Take the car to a sompletly difernt shop and get another opinion. Tell them nothing about the other shops opinions, just tell them the symptons. nipper

I sort of lost track that it is still running. It should be running very poorly then. nipper

At 160,000 miles you would need a compression test first to make sure its a head gasket, and to see what condition the engine is in. A clogged radiator usually is a heat load problem (Ac on, or car gets hot the faster its driven), unless its really bad. It may be time to take it to an indepdent shop (get guestimates first) then have them do a compression test. I recomend a guestamit, this way if it does come back a bad HG, that shop can do the work, instead of moving the car around. nipper

Gloyale, about something really bad, like valves hit pistons. nipper

Very high (by 600.00 or more), where did you get that estimate, and what are they going to do for it? nipper

Thats bad. Sound slike a head gasket to me. nipper

hehhe ill still stick by my advice, a tuneup and see where it goes. i cant promise improvement till spring or a drive to florida. Imperial gallons, is that the "roayle we" gallons :-p nipper

Thats just the top end. Make sure that the engine gets fresh oil too. I am going to disagree with the dealer, as there have been many over heats on this board, and no multiple cylinder reduced compression. good luck, you may need it. Keep proper records of everything, including converstaions and who said what when.

Its the low conpression on all four cylinders that is the weird part of this. Back to a HG issue, its usually just one cylinder. Personally I wouldnt trust this engine or block with the information at hand to be repaired. Maybe if it was in front of me, I would have a different opinion. nipper

How did we go from low cpompression all four cylinders, then possible hydraulic lock with a bent connecting rod, to headgaskets? nipper

So he is complai9ng about 18mpg on a high mileage car in the middle of winter. bad bad human, no biscuit. Thats pretty good. i get as low as 15mpg. nipper

Got mine nipper

Get yourself a vacume gauge and see what is going on. I bet that pump is tired. It may also be the cause of your vacum leak. nipper

Find one of the oneline suppliers to help you out. I know one of them will ship to upper north dakota. Alos keep in mind, that winter and snow can really kill gas mileage. nipper

Does this thing have a vacume pump on it? I know some with cruise control did.

Lets do the wires and plugs first. The front O2 sensor will be obvious I am curious to see what it comes up to before an O2 sensor change. Bad plugs can make a lazy o2 sensor even more lazy. nipper

With any gas mileage complaint, first thing to do is a tune up. Plugs (factory spec) OE wires, fuel and air filter, pcv valve. I would also change the front O2 sensor (OE) as it may be getting lazy. They can get tired and lazy, and not throw a code. That would give a good baseline to start off with. Check for draging brakes, and tire pressure. nipper

HVAC and cruise control, and possibly the shifting are all pointing to a huge vac leak someplace. Start spraying hoses and connections with a spray bottle of water, or if too cold, a can of throttle plate clearner (not carb cleaner unless it ok for electronics). This would solve so many of your problems. The Dipstick is usually a sign of the PCV valve being clogged. Replace with a OE PCV. A clogged PCV valve cna cause oil leaks, the dipstick popping, and oil consumption. nipper

Its real but ... Some mfgs say its never nedded. Some have a very short interval. Some people never flush them and are fine. Personally, I feel if its done at every brake service (pad/shoe replacement) you will be fine. Its not so much the interval, but the obscene amount of money the dealer wants to do the service that gets my goat. If you are doing it yourself, its like any other fluid change, do it as often as you like. nipper

We have all hoped for that, sadly no. Those are locking connectors. The constant flexing of the drivers seat cushions and age break the coil wires. If it helps i am in the same boat, but my seat bottom works. nipper

If you look at soobymods.com, I think they have an entire step by step procedure. On the face of it, it is not that hard. the hardest part is taking the seat apart (including the seat cover). I think the grid is in the 100-200 range. nipper

Seat heaters. Bottom and back in parallel on high. Bottom and back in series for low. This is not unusual that one of the grids have failed in the drivers seat. Not easy at all to fix but doable. nipper