nipper

This doesnt work (they never have). You will never get all the oil out, and still leave some setiment in the pan. You still need to get under the car and change the filter, and thats the messiest part. The oil drain plug is neat in comaprison. nipper

You know i've been noticing over the last few months how snotty some of the posts are getting, first off i am trying to help you , and th no s**t sherlock comment was UNCALLED FOR. Now if YOU did do the reading on torque bind you WOULD have noticed that rebuilding the AWD unit on cars over 100,000, some close to 200,000 is perfectly justified. You would also see how to test the unit, and also find out that by putting the fuse in the holder and nothing happening that the solenoid is part of the issue. Its funny, you remind of the kind of person that drives with the oil light on for several thousand miles then wonders why they need an engine. For YOUR information i had this done on my car at 186,000 miles. If you had this taken care of when it first appeared you would most likely just need a solenoid. If you really loved the car you wouldnt have driven it this long with a MAJOR problem. Also in your original post there is nothing about you having flushed the tranny. I am more then happy to help anyone on this, since it seems on this board im the TB expert, but you just pissed me off. So go have a good time trying to get it fixed yourself. Good Day.

Two possabilites....1- the universal joint in the sterring column is shot. 2- the rack is bad if it does it when cold. and the full lock cant be acheived, but when warm is normal. nipper

waiting for the "big one" to move to alaska eh cookie? nipper

what he said nipper

First off do a search on torque bind. Secondly you have a pre 1997 1/2 tranny which is succeptable to inernal wear, and requires the AWD unit to be rebuilt/replaced for a cost around 800-1000 dollars. There is more to the AWD besides the duty c solenoid. there are seals and a spool valve. SInce you have been driving for so long with TB it is possible that the tranny has been torn apart. The clutchpack is shot at this point, so replacing the solenoid is most likely a moot point. You can try to replace it but i think the damage is done. There is no tranny additive to fix this, the first thing that shold have been done was to make sure all the tires match and are properly inflated. Second thing done should have been a tranny flush. The flashing light tells you the last time you drove the car there was a fault. The fault can be a stuck, open or shorted duty c solenoid. You can try to put the fuse in the FWD holder and see what happens, but again, i wouldnt get my hopes up. Best bet may be to find a used tranny, rebuild the awd unit on the bench, then install it in the car. nipper

rule out the coil tower next. Spray the coil tower with water in the evening and see if you see any sparks. Another possability is a leaking injector. nipper

The 2.5 is basically at its design limits (as per subaru). Your better off using a 2.2 or smaller, otherwise the bearings wont handle the load. nipper

Well this may be a little late, but check with the local BBB to see the companies rep. if you get a good report may put you at ease. What they will do is take the engine apart to find the cause, which could be as simple as an assembly error (it happens). The one thing about the boxer design is that its much easier to replace the bearings with the case split, and once you get to that point, its only another hour to do it right. nipper

Actually i cant recall a cat failure on this board in ages. Most cat failures when investigated are o2 sensor failures. Not replacing the senosr can cause poor performance poor gas mileage too rich a condition resulting in a fried catalytic converter emission failure nipper

Depends on why it threw a rod, and what the turnaround time is. Did it spin the bearing, or actually throw a rod. If they send out a repalcement in a fairly shoort time odds are its a differnt block. But best to call them and tell them you want a differnt engine. nipper

All it takes is a one time event to seriously damage the car. i bet that was not a pleasant ride for the car nipper

actually doors are prefered to get jammed shut in a collision as opposed to flying open and ejecting people. But now the new standard is no deformation of the passenger cage so the doors always work. heheh passive saftey is called the car not starting nipper

i was going to jump in this thread, but it seems like its taken an ugly turn. Automatic uses an clutch pack that is varied between 10/90 to 50/50 using the TCU computer getting information the ECU and a few other inputs. The MANUAL uses a center differential which can be locked electrically. There is also a viscous coupling to give you a fixed 0/100 (all wheels spinning at the same speed, no power transmission to a slipping wheel) or 50/50 split, no inbetween. For those of you who did not read the first thread and keep insisting on installing the fwd fuse THERE IS NO FUSE IN THE MANUAL, and in the newer automatics i think they did away with it too. The manual lock just means that you dont have to wait for the wheel to spin to engage the AWD. Subarus are biased towards the front wheel drive. The symetrical drive applies the brakes at each wheel to help transfer torque to the non spinning wheel, this is NOT done at the transaxle. i am bowing out of this insanity, so everyone play nice. nipper

i thought it already did nipper

hrmmm .... You know its really hard to do burouts in a sooby by dropping the clutch..... How ever, i know when i was somebodies son, clutch dropping was all the rage..... nipper

or the huge chunk of aluminum fomr my engine block nipper

welcome to the club.... bubles in the overflow, you dont need to go any further. nipper

You have a leaking heater core. Those fumes are not the healthiest things to breath in. Either replace the core, bypass the core, or try a can of stop leak. nipper

Replace your rear main seal in the engine. Replace all the shifter bushings. If you have the plastic seperator plate in the engine replace it with a metal one. ou may want to replace the tranny seals too. nipper

Fuel tank is 15.9 gallons. If you feel adventurous run it down sometime, you will see. Another thing you need to look at is does your fuel tank have any dents in it? That will screw things up too. Do a search on gas gauge/fuel gauge you will see many threads and possible solutions The techron additive works well. nipper

Personally, i have learned here and in life, never to assume that anyone has a skill untill i am corrected. i will ALWAYS start with the very basics untill someone tells me otherwise. On any given thread, there may be somone here just learning his mechanical skills. Also it doesnt hurt to review basics, as its sometimes good to be refreshed on steps you may have forgotten, as well as a new way to doing something. It's more then a bit self centered and pompus to think just because you know the basics that everyone else should too. I'ld much rather help somone who knows nothing and wants to learn then help somone that thinks they know everything. nipper

You should see all the nasty things the BMW list says about UK dealers. I've noticed i this case its not so much the mfg, as they are just doing what they have to by law, and nothing else. If BMW isnt rising to the occasion, i doubt anyone else will. This is more a reflection of consumer law. At least hee in the US and the problem is documented, you at least have something to stand on. nipper

Typically a short life is 60,000 (new driver) , worst i've heard is 30,000. An exp driver can get over 120,000, more if you have a functioning hill holder. i've gotten 160,000 out of a soobie clutch 13K there is something else going on.... nipper

There are a few advntages, but not on the customer side. From an engineering point of veiw, it makes for a lighter door, easier design, easy to seal and less wind noise nipper