nipper

gently pop outt the plate. I have a multiple outlet there that just snaps in, that should be the same. Then there are two screws under that plate pointing up that have to come out. nipper

Look at the allied armament thread. i am waiting to see an instruction sheet to see whats involved, as i want to do the same thing to Blu. nipper

Doesnt it go off when somone sits in the seat? nipper

You really should do a full tune up, which includes Plug Wires (which you already did). Cap Rotor Fuel Filter Pcv Air filter. Its been so long since i looked at one of these, i dont remember alot. You should do a compression test and see what condition the engine is in. The oil out the tail pipe doesnt sound too good, but can be as simple as tired valve stem seals. nipper

Yes yes and maybe. Poor combustion is ineffecient. Even if you do have a bad HG, its not burning the coolant so its passing more water then vapor. You can not tell if you have a blown HG by the water dripping out of the exhaust pipe. First get your timing right, replace the puullies. Next do a compression test again and see whats happening. nipper

The automatic will be fine with a proper cooler and filter. There are schools of thought on either side of this discussion, but an automatic is easier to control and multiplies torque. A manual is more instant response. ALso when you get stuck its easier to pwoerbrake (to shift power to non stuck wheels) with an automatic. http://dtsn.darpa.mil/ibb/Grandc_Archive/topicarchive.asp?topic_id=722 http://www.oramagazine.com/pastIssues/0602-issue/finesse.asp Personally it depends what i was doing, but if i was rock crawling, ild go autmoatic, if i was out on the farm ild go manual. Right now with a bad leg, i would have to choose automatic every time. nipper

Time to recheck and replace the pullies. Just looking at them is not enough. Once they heat up the can expand and get loose, especially with a brand new belt. this is a common mistake. nipper

Double check your cam timing. We had another thread here an older gen and it was exactly the same as you and it was cam timing. The temp issue is trapped air .. NEVER DRIVE THE (or any car) CAR WITH A PEGGED TEMP GAUGE! But .... You may have had a perfectly fine HG, but now you may have blown it again. You need to change the oil, as the oil may have been cooked too. When an aluminum engine overheats, several things happen. The alumunum heads can warp, the steel piston sleeve can move, you can blow the head gasket. I hope you didnt cook the engine, as that can quickly turn an aluminum engine to scrap. Anytime you try to save yourself work, you end up doing twice as much work the next time to correct the first time. If the engine overheated the first time from a blown HG the heads should have been checked for flatness, both of them. HG's are like shocks or brakes, you dont do just one wheel.

Ive seen it happen. The engine block is trash. This happens when the engine is cooked. The aluminum expands enough to allow the pistong sleeve to move. There are a few instances of this on the board. There is no way to ensure the sleeve is still located and aligned properly. You could have it machined down, but all the work that is needed to rebuild an engine and find out thats its not right, to take it all apart again... Get a new block. nipper

Yes, but for differnt reasons. Rear boots have a very shelterd life. They really dont do much, as the rear wheels dont steer the car. They only have to flex for suspension travel (which is minimal), are in a cool place, ans in the rear away from all the debree. There is very little chance of them getting oil on themselves also. nipper

Your mechanic is correct but they still should be replaced. Its just a matter of replacing them now or when its convienent. nipper

Not clicking, a mystery vibration also counts. i have that now so its going to be replaced, as the inner CV is causing a vibration that comes and goes. nipper

What he said. Luckily this is NOT a flair from a slipping clutch, its more akin to a missed shift. nipper

i doubt its a minor issue, but maybe you got lucky. HG's in the very begining can make you nuts. First thing to do is to replace the radiator cap. Next is to do a compression test. If that tests ok then a cooling system leakdown test. Lastly test for exhaust emissions in the coolant (or air bubbles). The scary thing is that a sooby can pass all these tests when the HG is just starting to fail, and you have to wait for it to get worse. ON the plus side if either of those tests fail you have an answer. nipper

When stuck, lightly brake with the left fott. This acts like wht subaru does now with the computer controlled traction. When you lightly brake, the wheel with no trac tion will drag, and will transfer power to the stuck wheel. A poor mans AWD traction control. Also on sand you need to drop the air pressure in the tires. AWD doesnt guarentee youll never get stuck. nipper

Ok so i ordered the KYB "performance" struts for Blu. The OE struts were more expensive which i thought odd. i had to read the SKU numbers off the web site, as there was some confusion at first. Free shipping and no sales tax, and 4-7 busines day delivery. nipper

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA i nearly wet myself. You think thats bad you should see the more archaic ones out there. i really like that compressor. nipper

People have been known to do bizzare things ...when actually it was one of the first fuel saving emission devices. nipper

Still change filters ate the regular intervals. Thats what almost all the syn mfg makers say on thier websites. You can maybe use a syn filter for the duration, but that would make me nervous. Oil is cheap, an engine is not. nipper

Another reason to move to the PNW ..... nipper

Yes you can BUT and this is a HUGE BUT, every 1000 miles open that hood and check the oil level. Subarus can use 1 qt every 3-4000 miles normally, so dont think just because you can go 8-10,000 miles between changes does not mean you cant open the hood for that long. nipper

Subaru is not a large mfg, so they really dont do a lot of variations between models. The can is universal as far as i know to all ot his stylr subaru. I looked in my manuals and there is nothing anywhere that sasy "except GT". Mechanically i dont even see footnotes saying GT's are all that much different. nipper

Coil springs can bite really really hard if your not careful. You just need a spring compressor otherwise its striaght forward. i have to pay my shop to do it though this back thing is a ***************. nipper hrmm how did ***** turn into **************.

Sounds like its missing. nipper

Struts do need to warm up weather its 30 degrees or 70 degrees, just at 70 it happens quicker. test drive another forester on the lot (same kind). This will tell you if its a bad strut or just the design of the struts. nipper