nipper

One more thing. When you do this job pull out the radiator and inspect the front of it. Its not necassary for the TB replacement, but at thiat mileage, its not uncomon for the fins in the radiator to no longer exist. This way you can inspect them and see what condition they are in. nipper

my 1988 GL never had great heat in the winter. It took the chill off the car, but never got it toasty warm. Engines under 2.0L from the 1980's were never really known for heat unless they came from car mfgs in in really cold climates (and thats why even then they had heated seats). nipper

Work as clean as possible. If your doing a valve job make sure everything goes back from where it came from. Work clean. If you have a digital camera use it to take pics of connections and hoses and anything else. Work clean. If you have to ask us for the torque specs, you dont have a manual, so get one firts then read up on doing the job. nipper

aha USED is not new. Using a used knock sensor is like using a used o2 sensor, its just not done. The older knock sensors crack and that causes failure (they even had a recall onthem i think). Get a new one. Normally the knock sensor would not cause a no start condition, but it in conjunction with something elese being just on the edge of tolerance may (tolerance stacking) but it is very rare. Now if it is a combination of mistimed spark and a bad crank/cam sensor (im guessing crank as that has to do with fuel injectors) it can be an issue, a real long shot. Have you gotten yourself a Haynes manual yet? nipper

at 239,000 miles i would just stay with dino oil. The change to synthetic may cause probelms on older engines. Remember when they talk about switching from dino to syn, they are talking about cars with less then 100,000 miles on them. nipper

So many things can go wrong to cause what you describe. SOunds like you may have a vacume leak, when was the last time the air box was opened up. An OE o2 sensor only comes from one place, the parts counter at Subaru. O2 sensors wear out with age, thats how they are designed. To find a vacume leak get a can of carb cleaner and start sprating hoses and gasket surfaces, and see if the engine rpm changes. Actually firt (if its now winter yet) use a garden hose and get a feel for in what arear of the engine to look for. Also this would tell you if its the wires causing it (you can see sparks) nipper

Well sure make it difficult. SO lets confirm, the car has a subaru brand o2 sensor in it. DOuble check what the recall was for exactly. Il'd say let it fgo for now, though even bad gas wont throw off an o2 sensor. It is possible that the second o2 sensor is tired (either one can give that code) Let us know if it happens again. nipper

All oils do this, be it motor oil, gun oil or cooking oil. Its a property of oil. nipper

I had an oil change done at the dealer it cos 39.00 I use jiffy lube, but i tell them NO a lot, and to leave my tires alone. Ask your neighbors where they get thiers done. nipper

Water pump Oil pump seal (actually at that age i would replace the oil pump) cam seals main seal timing belt idlers Thermostat nipper

I hate to state the obvious, but why not replace it yourself? Since you had it replaced recently, the threads should be easy enough to deal with. Or take it to the shop that did it and hand them the OE o2 sensor and tell them to install it. nipper

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkswagen_K%C3%BCbelwagen nipper

Yes it did, going up donner pass, heading home from CA, cruise control gave full throttle, then less then a second later lots of smoke and oil everywhere. Found a great dealership in auburn CA that sold me a rebuilt subaru engine. I paid more then i should have, but i told them if we are going to do this, i dont want to open the hood for 100,000 miles and lets do it right. nipper

im an automitve engineering technician, unemployed from a back injury still (grrrrrr). You think civil service is hard to get into, try cracking this field

but what you posted did, so now i am confused. Stay with one transmission and ask the question. Also the automatic is NOT 90/10. its 90/10 all the way through to 50/50. So if the computer wants to give you 76/24 thats what you get. nipper

that split is controlled in a fixed fashioned ny the viscous coupling. A viscous coupling is a bunch of alternating plates in silicon. Silicon gets thick as it heats up. The holes in the plates are calibrated to give a specific split. The differnce in speed in the plates shears the fluid, causing heat, and locks up the plates. I am not a subaru engineer so i cant tell you why they biased it the way did, but its a complicated decision. nipper

well thats an auto, thats the 4eat, so i have no idea what your talking about. Manuals dont have computers. nipper

er um You may find it easier to just replace the tranny. Its a job you can do, but its not something you want to use used parts in. Its like putting a used clutch in your car, you can do it, no one does, and its a waste of time. You need new parts. nipper

MEMEMEME this isnt hard to understand. Just because a car is awd that does not mean it has the same system as the others. SOme systems arent worth the cost. Automatics do not have a center diff (do a search youll find tons of info). Automatics have a clutch pack that is specially designed to allow for some slipping. The duty c (isnt this a sticky yet) Regullates between a 10/90 to 50/50 split by cycling on and off. The spool valve regulates how much pressure is applied to the clutch (duty colenoids always cycle). What wipes out the AWD on the automatic is (in this order) Mismatched tires (even more true for manuals), failed duty c solenoid (failed solenoid will give constant 50/50 full pressure AWD), Dirty tranny fluid (reversable) ignoring the tranny temp light. Pre 1997 1/2 trannies had a design faul;t where the seals leaked internally and would apply the AWD all the time. The system will last the life of the car if taken care of, but it seems that wearing out after 180,000 miles is just like anything else on a car that old, that its just worn out. I dont see how it is so hard to find the information, just google it. nipper

Well if they ruled out the the fuse, i would suspect an automatic. In a manual you never get 2wd in a failure, it fails in full TB. nipper

Photos are posted at http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/photos/showgallery.php?cat=500&page=1&ppuser=597 nipper (no i dont have a picture of the huge hole in the block)

Thats true with any used auto part. nipper

possabilites, junk tires, but then front and rear sshould spin. My guess is that the clutch pack is so badly worn that it no longer transfers power. Duty C fuse kills the AWD, it does not engage it. Duty C solenoid is probably working well. Sounds like its time for a rebuilt AWD unit. Failed duty c will give constant 50/50 split. nipper

Winter fuel, tired o2 sensor. Gas Mileage doesnt really count untill you have 3 tanks of gas recorded. nipper

It does a really really good job on degreasing, but it can be harsh on some plastics (like the clear plastic over the gauges) nipper