nipper

Hrmmmm Since its vauge ill throw things out there. Is this with the AC on or off? Is this a stick or auto Do all the tires match? Are the tires properly inflated. Is the car green? Any work done recently ? nipper

Dang, it looks complete too. i hope somone picks that puppy up. nipper

GD, when mine went, it got louder just long enough for my brain to process that there was a new noise under the hood, then BOOM. I thought Th rod went through the hood, man, oil everywhere. nipper

The one thing you can try is to remove one plug wire at a time when the engine is running. if its a Connecting Rod bearing, you will heare the noise change pitch. GD is correct, 95% of them get very exciting, the other 5% are rebuilt before it gets to that point. Once you hear the noise, subaru's wont get any louder, but one day it will just let go and make the case junk. nipper

Look up any altenator spec. You test the output at 2000 RPM engine speed. All alt's are rated at this speed, not at 750ish which is idle. Ratings are based on the size of the alt, for the given car. nipper

36" really is not that long for a jerry can/spare tire holder. Ive seen longer. Give more thought as to how to mount the thing and keep it latched. nipper

Mileage is not an indication of the health of the engine. Low mileage is just as bad, if not worse then high mileage. Why? Low mileage is usually indiciatvie of many short trips. Even with a thermostats and better engineered cooling systems, the engine oil in a car is slow to warm up. It takes 3 times longer to warm up the oil then the water. This means that unburnt gas and water condensation does not get to evaporate off the oil as it heats up. This mix makes an acid that eats at the aluminum bearings. This also goes hand in hand with oil changes. When a car is driven on many short trips, it actually needs more oil changes then if it was driven more often then average. No one really thinks about that, nor follows that recomendation. Oil needs to be changed at regular intervals 9that are more then twice a year at the very least). Blu had an owner that beleived in once a year oil changes, and he ended up throwing a connecting rod. Low mileage also affects engine sels and belts. Rubber doesnt really care if the car sat parked or only drove 2 miles a day. It still ages at the same rate. The best thing to do is use the 1000 miles = 1 month rule of thumb. When i have a low mileage car (and keeping it that way) i change the oil once per season. nipper

Again, you cant compare a car from one era to another. It just doesnt work. Your pitiful MG had far less electrical load then a modenr car. Also that 34 amp altenator is rated at 2000 rpm (like all altenators are), not at idel speed. Altenators do not put out a lot of power at idle speed, this is an established fact. This lowly automotive engineer here can attest to that, and why new cars with lots of gizmos can kill batteries while idling in traffic with everything on. Gizmos mean the lights, climate controls, 4-5 compouters that are in the car, stero, radiator fans, solenoids, fule injector pumps. There is a hell of an electrical load at idle even in the simplest modern car. http://www.aa1car.com/library/charging_checks.htm At idle an alt may only be putting out 20-30 amps. In a modern car that is easly all consumed. your little MG may have been using 5 amps at idle. nipper

When i rented a 2005 for ten days i asked the service manager about this. He said hes had other complaints, including the rental i had, but they could never really trace it, (including using Dye and leak down testing). Thats why technically your supposed to check the fluids regularly. It may just be evaporating off. Good luck with this one, as i a unsubscribing from this thread. nipper

but i cant spell nipper

yes just swing the compressor out of the way. SUbaru may have a HG "kit". nipper

hehehe thats why i refrained form saying do a search. nipper

If your using the facotry gauge, the first thing to do is to get a cheap name brand mechanical gauge and see what it is really reading. Rule of thumb is that you cant accuratly read the bottom 20% and top 20% of a gauge sweep, and no more then 50% of any division. This means if the gauge is on 20 psi incriments, you can only read to 10 psi. This is pretty much a design standard for cheap factory gauges. Mechanical gauges are more accurate. You may not have any problem aside from a bad gauge, or you may have a bucket of bolts. nipper

OK we do the simplest thing first, we get a new radiator cap and see what happens. Maybe its just me, but i wouldnt even think of it as being an issue. nipper

Need more information. Exaclty how often do you need to fill the overflow, and by how much. Some loss is normal (thats why hoods have hood latches, to open thme and inspect/topoff fluids). nipper

mines prettier (hellas 500) nipper

No. Subaru HG's are odd creatures, very hard to diagnose when they first start out. Your overthinking the issue. Go with OE HG's and make sure the heads get resurfaced and you should be fine. nipper

you say tomato ... clutch engaged means to me the pressure plate is pressing against the disc transfering power to the transmission, Disengaging the clutch means you are disegagin the power to the transmission. Pressing the clutch pedal presses the throwout bearing against the pressure plate fingers, which loads up the bearing, and stops the noise. I've always lived with it unless it was really annoying, especially if i knew the car was due for a clutch soon anyway. nipper

http://www.piaa.com/Lamps/LampSelectionGuide.html http://www.autoanything.com/lights/51A22.aspx hope that helps nipper

That would be there when the clutch is engaged. nipper

Normally i would agree, but that wont cause his powerloss, there is really only one thing for that. nipper

That will get in there from the combustion process. All engines burn oil, its just not measurable at the dipstick. It takes very little oil to make a mess in the overflow tank. nipper

Huh? The overflow tank is a real bear to clean out, ive tried it. There are a lot of nooks for stuff to hide in. Thhe HG seperates combustion pressures from coolant and oil galleys. Some cars (well most) have the oil galleys far from the HG. Coolant in the oil usually shows up in the crankcase, if anywhere, and thats usually from a cracked block (any engine). In subarus the failure occures at the water jacket. The combustion pressure is much higher then the water pressure, thats why soobies dont really smoke when they blkow a HG. ALso it is usually a minor failure in the grand scheme of things. The way they over heat is that the combustion pressure pushes the coolant out of the cooling system. nipper

This is a thorw out bearing if it does it in neutral without the car moving. So yes. And get new TOB clips, dont reuse the old ones. nipper

In the crankase none. You cant really go by the overflow tank, since no one really cleans them ever, so anything in there can be old. You may see some oile like substances, carbon etc, but its not a true crossover. Why the bottom ends go is when people overheat the engine and forget to change the oil afterwards. The oil takes a hell of a beating when the car overheats. This car doesnt sound abused. nipper