nipper

Ok time ot get technical. If the car only had a center differential you can have 1 wheel drive. All the power can go to the wheel with the least resistance, thats the weakness of a differental. The VCD adds resistance to the center differentail so that when there is a speed differnce between front and rear, it in essance locks the center diff, to allow for 50/50 split os power to front and rear. nipper

how many miles on this, auto or stick nipper

You can stay and hangout you know nipper

Usually when you get a single code, just fix/repalce the offending part and all is well. When you get multiple codes it time for a good think... nipper

Ive had both, i like the automatic. There is a misconseption with the manual. The manual has to have some slippage to get the 50/50 split. The automatic uses a computer(and solenoid), two speed sensors and an internal spool valve to figure out when where and how to apply the AWD. The newer systems are also more responsive do to G sensors. The autpmatic will give better handling when the car is pushed to the edge, but that doesnt matter in normal agresive driving. The automatic tends to get more torquebind if its not maintaned. the manual doesnt get it as much, but when it does, just write a big check. Manual will give you better gas mileage. nipper

Check your tranny fluid for color and odor. When you get this condition, there isnt much you cna do about it. This is the opposite of torque bind. no AWD at low to moderate speeds. Put the car in low and try it again. Low forces the car into full 50/50 split. This will just tell you what condition the clutches are in and how far gone they are. The bad news (why am i the mailman on this stuff) is that your clutches in the AWD are slipping, or if your lucky the non electrical valave in the tranny is stuck. If you get forced AWD then it may be worth trying a fluid flush, if not, your headed to the shop. nipper

If ti doesnt go away, im going to agree with connecting rod bearing (which is rare). I dont ever recall one throwing a rod, i do recal one doing nasty things to a cylinder liner due to an over heat. I bet at some time in its past life this engine was overheatedm and the oil was never changed whan it over heated. nipper

Remove the covers and inspect the belt. Look for cracks and freying at the edges. if it was a sooby maintained car either register at the website or take the vin to subaru and they can tell you. nipper

106,000 is 1/3 to 1/4 the life of this engine. Subarus have piston slap, the noise goes away as the engine warms up. This is a we love our soobies noise. Connecting rod noise, remove the spark plug wire from the cylinder and noise should change pitch, if it doesn its not a rod knock Subarus dont get main bearing issues Oil leak... easy You need cam crank and to re seal the oil pump. Might as well do a timing belt too. nipper

Without the spedo sensor, the car has no idea how fast its going, its in limp mode. In order to test anything, you need to get the car out of limp mode. This is a important sensor, and one that can be "wildly" replaced. No where did I suggest anything more then replacing the spedo sensor. Its like trying to figure out why the tranny wont work when there is no engine, or the alighnment when the car has 4 flats. There are some things that need to be fixed first. You say you dont know how the sensor affects the car, well in this case I do. No spedo sensor puts the car in limp mode. That limits the cars performance and driveability. If he had something that was borderline in normal operation, the limp mode could have put it over the edge to give him the problems he is seeing. nipper

still either way he needs to replace the spedo sensor, as that can be having a big part in the problem.

show off nipper

There is a reason they are mounted IN the car. MFG would love to have them under the hood and free up dash room if they could, but they cant. Inside the car is dry, weatherproof, and has a fairly easy to manage temperiture range, where as under the hood you have none of that. Also the unit is near high voltage where emf can affect it. nipper

we are forgetting the obvious questions... was there any pulsing in the steering wheel or brake pedal was the brakes making noises when you took the car in did you actually bring the car in for brakes or something else nipper

now now now ive had 2 hondas and a niassan blow a hg for no reason other then age. Hondas and nissans and some toyots do it quite regularly. Also there are other cars out there with suspected HG issues, just the dealers are more forthcoming in the repairs. i bought my 2.5L fully aware of the HG issue, and ive yet to regret it. nipper even less so now that gas dropped 20 cents by me

seems to be, also we dont find it to be that big an issue, considering how long the car will last, and once you get over a specific mileage (120K) ANY aluminum bolck engine can blow a headgasket. . With ANY awd vehical tires have to match or something is going to give. the circumfrance of the tire must be within 1/4" of each other. We dont find it to be that big a deal. nipper

Subarus are 1/4 inch by cirumfrance. The automatic is far more forgiving about this then the manual. Most AWD failures here are from a design defect that was fixed in 1997 1/2, mismatched tires, or running on a flat or low tire. In general its a very robust system, and tire pressure should be looked at once a day by a simple walk around the car on any car just to eye the tires. The automatic AWD is a clutchpack, and manual is a center diff and a viscous coupling. Auto is computer controlled and the more sophistacted system, the manual system is mor complicated mechnaically, but both are trouble free if taken care of. After 180,000 they may get tired and need to be rebuilt, but then good for another 180K or more. i dont think anyone has hit 400K on a suby yet, but somone must be close. up till 2001 about 10-15% of the 2.5L had headgasket issues, but once its fixed its fixed. There are some external leak issues, but they are very easy to live with in that group, internal ones are expensive to fix. As time goes on, this happening less and less. The car body will last forever. Its rare to hear of a bad balljoint, and struts dont come as often as one would think. The interior bits and peices seem to last the life of the car (switchgear and stuff). Annoying things are HVAC bulbs burning out but they are replacable in your driveway. These are fairly simple cars considering how complicated cars can get. They are reliable and as long as fluids are changed, tires match, they can take a lot of abuse. They have a high resale value. Ive owned AMC's VW Nissan honda Chrysler Ford, this is my 4th soobie, all dying of old age. When this one goes, ill get another one. nipper

Get a second opinion. Rotors maybe just on the front IF the front calipers were sticking so bad to warp the rotors. Unless you drove the brakes down to metal against meatl you dont need all 4. Brake pads, its not unusual. one persons light on the brakes is another persons heavy. I cant tell you wnats wnat without seeing them, so go to a regular shop. nipper

can be very strict, depends upon who is more bull headed and makes more noise. Oil change intervals are what the mfg recomends, they dont have to by clockwork, but if the engine is under warrenty and the recomendation is 3K usually do before 4k. Doing proper oil changes is cheap insurance against a blown engine. Your going to have to really fight this one. You may get nothing better then a compromise. nipper

im going with the 6" round hellas, the one where there is a enough light to send signals to mars. nipper

Jiffy lube was 99.00 for mine, no "filter" as soobys dont have filters, just a screen that is good for the life of the tranny. nipper

I am going on a long drive and love driving at night so im getting some Hella driving lights. I've seen them mounted to the roof rack and the bumper (97 OBW) i prefer the bumper. How does one mount then to the bumper? nipper

you know its not unusual to have the tranny resealed. i'm not sure about the gear ratio. If you do swap trannies, do the clutch too. nipper

CALM DOWN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! first off if your going to be running 180 amps of anything you need a bigger altenator. Your making yourself crazy. Use whatever fuses you need to use to protect things. do not use a 30 amp fuse on a 5 amp load. I'm bowing out of this one since you seem to be a bit of crazy person , let someone else explain it. i can get deep into materials plastics electrical testing and everything else, but your worrying about it way too much. You didnt even understand my analogy of the light switch. nipper

ok you need to fight. Since you didnt overheat the engine, you need to get an oil analysis to prove that the oil was not cooked. Also stick to your story and if it is a subaru warrenty engine, get after subaru. nipper