nipper

ive already decided that when mine needs a drivetrain its getting it, no second thoughts. Not with the price of new outbacks, and the dull colors, and they are sort of plain. nipper 187,000 miles

not so much the headbolts, but maybe there is an outside chance the threads are tired, im a bit stumped. it passed a leakdown test. The bolts are steel, threads are in aluminum. You may want to recheck the torques. Hydrocarbon test is available at autozone. The extra heat load from the AC usually means a clogged radiator. Run cold water through the raditor and make sure the radiator is the same temp all the way across. When you drain out the cooling system to do this try to run the fluid through a filter of some kind, see if its rust your seeing or oil in the fluid. Its possible the radiator is gummed up from the 1st time the HG blew and was never properly cleaned. Check all the other possible water passages. without seeing the engine, i hate to say it, but there comes a time to surrender. nipper

The CVT has been around for ages in tiny cars and lawn mowers and snow mobiles. What SUbaru did was re invent the belt system. USusally most belts pull, this one pushes. This allows for more HP. CVT's are showing up in toyotas and fords so they have come of age, and will last the life of the car. Subaru used this really weird electromanet clutch. There was a steel disc, an electro magnet, and somesort of metal dust. The magnet would energize, bond the dust to the flywheel and off you go. This was much simpler then a torque converter which would still need a pump. SOunded brilliant on paper, didnt work to hot in the real world. Start looking for a manual tranny now. nipper

*shudder* You can find an aftermarket one. but i always thought the trunk luggage racks looked good. nipper

what kind of bubbles? a HG will push water out in huge amounts and fill the resivoir. Run the car with the cap off and if you still bubbles then something bad is happening. There are the big bubbles from a blown hg, or the little bubbles from a worn waterpump impeller. Check to make sure there is no air bubble in the cooling system. Pull the plugs, one should be cleaner then the others if you are burning water. Check the hoses to make sure they are tight. Replace the radiator cap. Have the system pressure tested. Test for hydrocarbons Do you have heat? nipper

i would imagine that 400,000 is the upper limit without the engine or tranny dying. Could be higher if the car is well maintained. Opposed engines run for ever since all the forces cancle themselves out, as long as you dont blow a HG. If the 200,000 mile one is cheap take that. Low mileage doesnt always mean less wear and tear, as soobies love to be driven. nipper

What they said nipper

2 new tires go on one side of the car, two older hte other. SUbaru spec is 1/4 inche cricumfarance between tires. This way you are splitting the difference. nipper

I got my driving lights, Hella FF200, and yes they are slightly oval. This is about where i would like to mount them, but i get the feeling there is a big chunk of steel right under the bunper skin. nipper

not true, trust me my tank took 15.8 gallons of gas once..... scary. nipper

noise at the wheel chainging when the FWD fuse being put in is not unusual. The wheel has changed from driving to being driven, hence differnt dynamics on the bearing. If the dealer says the clutch pack is fine, its fine. They usually jump at the chance of a 900.00 repair bill that they can do blindfolded. Most likely rear wheel bearing. nipper

http://www.cars101.com/impreza_archive99_01.html 15.9 gallons. The low fuel light comes on about 2 gallons before empty. The gauge weaches e at about 13 gallons. nipper

Genral rule of thumb "it didnt run like this before you worked ont it" stand your ground. If they have another 2000 on the lot have them start the other one and show them side by side its not right. nipper

COUld have been a tired clutch with a bad throw out bearing and worn bushings. nipper

at an hour per radiator fill, thats a lot to burn , like i said to the previous response. I also said that if he cooked the engine, it can be a HG and that would push it out, not burn it. Pushing it out the overflow tank would be full, or if he let it sit and run, he would have a huge puddle once the car warmed up. We need the answer to the question, why was the waterpump replaced. nipper

wooooooooooooo slow down. If it didnt do this before the waterpump was replaced, it just doesnt suddenly start. And anyone who has sprayed water into an engine can tell you that you would be producing a smoksceeen behind the car. Wash the engine, inspect all the hoses. Wash under the engine. Fill the radiator with coolant. Start the car and let the t-state open up. look for leaks. Drive the car and look for wet spots. Choice b is to let a mechanic put a dye in the cooling system and using a blacklight look for the leak. If you were burning it, wyould be pushing it out of the radiator from the combustion pressure, and that would be really obvious. Of course there is the other question, why was the waterpump replaced? Did it fail and you cooked the engine? then you may very well have a blown HG. nipper

short explinanation Fuse energizes the AWD solenoid to disable the AWD Fuse bypasses the TCU in such a way that the TCU does not throw a code, but does turn on the fwd light. NO its not that easy, as has been discussed here, you will throw a code almost every time. Also the reverse you will damage the AWD unit if its not done properly, its not just the matter of throwing in a switch. Also if you want a 2wd car why buy a subaru? Disabling the AWD does nothing for gas mileage, and changes the handling to some degree, but defanitly changes the traction, as the awd is always adjusting the torque split. If a switch is used because of torque bind, it wont work for long. nipper

The only way that turbos can fail repeatedly are one of two ways 1- poor materials so they self destruct 2 Smomething wrong with the way the bearing is cooled, some use water some use oil some use both. The liquid is not getting to the bearings. The beauty of a turbo is its simplicity. Also if your freind does not allow the turbo to speed down after driving (give the turbo a minute to stop spinning) hard, that can ruin a turbo on some cars. nipper

Sigh .. well first thing first, never use a chemical flush anywhere in the engine, your just asking for trouble. Second, remove the radiator cap, start the car and look for bubbles in the coolant. My gut says you have joined the Head Gasket club, and at this mileag i would blame age over the typical original HG design issues. Another test is to go to an autoparts sotre and get the kit that checks for hydrocarbons in the exhaust. nipper

This is something that needs to be looked at by a shop. You can be slowly destroying your AWD and not know it. The light flashes for a failure during the previous operation. I had this and it was my Duty C and eventually it failed and took my awd unit with it. nipper

pcv valve? nipper

AC cuts out when the temp gauge gets 3/4 of the way up to take the heat load off the cooling system. Ac cuts out at full throttle so that all the HP gets to the rear wheels. This has been a common thing since the 1980's. The ECU is connected to the AC relay. The reson why isa so that the ECU can cut out the AC in full throttle or when the car starts to run hot. This is common to almost all modern cars. ALso in limp home mode AC on some cars ac wont operate either, and i think subaru may be one of them. Fortunitly no one gets there car that bad to get in limp mode. The diagnosis given is done with the car at idle, standing still. Not everything is in a diagnostics book, as i see nothing is mentioned about properly reading gauges. Thats the very first diagnostics that should be done with any AC system. There just are some things that you need to take us on our word on, as we seem to have over 1000 or more years plus combined exp. :-p. nipper

a 1993 doesnt have a pressure sensor for the gas tank, that came much later. Could have been affecting the EVAP system and that could do it. nipper

i worked on bru46 and bru 47, and the jeteson systems for fuel tanks. i also worked on helicopter towed mine sweepers which were turbine powered. i would think that if the seal went first and you got low on oil there would have been blue smoke behind you. i'm betting on mfg defect. nipper

There is a LSD on ebay if anyone is interested... nipper