nipper

Ping can be hard to reproduce. usually going down a heat range in the plugs will correct the problem. They may have flashed it but i doubt it. nipper

clean ALL the drains as long as you are at it. Both fenders, the doors, the air cowl under the hood, and make sure the HVAC drain is clear. nipper

thats NOT a good noise. Pull one plug wire at a time and see if the sound goes away or changes pitch. Lets start there. The fact that it comes and goes is puzzling. Its not a lifter noise, and yes you can hear the injectors but thats not it too. If this is is an automatic, what condition is the flex plate in? nipper

Yup stuff happens. The heater cable came off. It is real obvious when you stick your hread under the passenger side of the car towards the center. There is only one cable down there. nipper

for the record, the oilpump is low on the engine, and makes a real mess when it starts leaking. nipper

Remember if all four wheels are poiting up thats a very bad thing Regular fluid changes, especially tranny and coolant. Rotate tires and try to keep them matching nipper

nahhh jiffy can do a tranny flush and an oil change if watched. Not everyone has a dealership nearby for an oil change, and im not one to sit around a couple of ours to get one. It was quicker to let htem flush the tranny then me doing the rampo thing three times in a row, then there was the isuue of putting the fluid in a container and taking it to station to be recycled. The only thing you really need to watch is tire pressure. They go by the pressure for the original tires, not the tires that are on the car now. Dont let them play with tire pressure and you will be fine. Dont do the radiator service as you can do that yourself. BTW last time i went to a dealer for an oil change, they never changed the filter, so they can be screwed up too. nipper

wasnt sure about that, as ive gotten bum keys made before. nipper

Now if you mean slow to fire off instead of slow cranking, there is a reason for this. What sooby is doing is letting the oilpump get the oil circulating before firing off. i have never noticed it, but then again aside from rentals my last 4 cars have been soobies. nipper

It takes 4 tanks of gas to justify an increase in gas mileage, all bought at the same station ideally. Things like humidity in the air, altitude, wind and air temp can increase (or decrease) your gas mileage without you doing a thing. There can be a 5mpg jump with a head wind verses a tail wind. In my legacy (RIP) with the 2.2 my mileage would vary from 27-32 on the same trip same fuel stations (driving acrosss pa) along with a 100 mph run after state college. You can go in any fuel tank of an car and see crud in it. Get a vacume gauge if you really want to increase gas mileage. nipper

at over 100,000 miles a quart every 1000 is still considered acceptable (but i wouldnt). In the winter i use a quart between oilchanges due to a problem with valve stem seals. In the warm weather i cant even track it. ALso you may have leaks you dont know about (yet). nipper

If its a worn key, do not have a key made from yours. Have the delaer make the key if possible (not sure if they can do it via the VIN), otherwise you will have the same problem. nipper

It's a new engine! Don't go over 4000rpm at least until you reach 10 to 15,000km. enjoy your sub EEEEEKKKKKK DONT DO THAT. Read the owners manual and follow break in procedure. What he said ab.out 4000 rpm. You may have caused a problem that you have to live with now. nipper

clean your battery posts, they may be corroded. You can always ask the dealer to start another one on the lot to compare it too. nipper

sigh... use the search feature, K and N filters are not highly reguarded here. The pil in the filter can damage the MAF sensor. they also allow more dirt. There is always a trade off to more flow, and thats larger poors and more dirt flowing in. I am not a big beleiver in a fuel system cleaning unless the car has a problem, especially below 100,000 miles. I (used to work) in the industry, and alot of it is a come one. In the last 5 years it has been completly uneccassary as a maintanince item since the fuels are so clean compared to 10 years ago. Your second point i dont understand, and in actuality hood scoops can cause more drag. Finally the amount of increase you got could be had just by changing driving habits. i have a 97obw auto, and just by changing my driving habits i went from 19 to 23 mpg in town. Sorry to rain on your parade. nipper

i am thinking its a backing plate rubbing against a disc. That can drive you crazy. Also could be a seperated brake pad. Sounds more mechanical then air, and i dont think its a vacume leak anymore. nipper

How old is your pcv valve? nipper

This sensor can make the car do odd things. Attack one problem at a time. Replace the sensor then pull the codes and let us know what they are. nipper

They planned it along to be against you..... they are following you this very minute Seriously, soobies are giant lego sets, they dont change mush within the same generation. Look at a 98, they should fit. nipper

You have torque bind. 1- make sure all the tires are the same and all inflated 2- Pop the hood and put a fuse in the AWD holder. If the problem goes away you have torque bind (if it doesnt you have another bigger problem). 3- Go to jiffy lube or something and get the 99.00 tranny flush. Then go out and take the car for a few u turns, and 90% chance of it going away. This should be done anyway, and maybe so should the differnetials, but the tranny MUST be done. 4- Your subaru will love you. nipper

well i dont know if it is an issue today, it may still be on other trannies. Transmission 101 The shift points of a tranny is determined by balancing two pressures against each other. Today you have other inputs in the mix, but it still comes down to throttle pressure (which is now the TPS) and the govener pressure (which is on the outputshaft of the tranny). This is done electronically by the VSS. The govenor pressure increases with car speed. The throttle pressure is determined by one little old ladies foot. With a very light foot, the pressure slowly goes by the throttle valve, causing the clutches at whatever gear to slowly engage, and have a lot of slip. Now we all know soobies love to snap the 1-2 shift. The 2-3 shift on the other hand ( and i have no idea if it does or doesnt) seems to have a much softer shift, so that may be a matter of some kind of pressure regulation. Buying classic cars from little old ladies they usually need a tranny. Now re thinking what is wrong with the car at hand, the reverse clutch requires a higher pressure then the forward clutches to engage (this is also why it's doomed). You have lost some pressure for some reason. Either your front pump is dying, or more typical, the rubber in your transmission has weakened. Since Reverse sees the higher pressure, it will be the first to leak, and hence not fully engage. What you think is no reverse is actually "not enough traction" reverse. Reverse is applied, but not engaged. That means these clutches burn up real fast. Now with wet clutches slipping enough to burn up, the fluid reaches very high temperitures and starts to cook. The brown color of the fluid you are seeing is the clutch material, and the burning smell, is well, burned clutches. From that point on you have a slippery slope. Reverse requires 2nd gear to operate. There is a clutch pack and a brake band that is engaged to get reverse (hence why the higher presure). NOw whenever you engage reverse, you also have 2nd gear engaged slipping its heart out due to a pressure leak. Usually (not always) 2nd gear will go next (failure from trailer towing is usually an upper gear). This is another reason why it is important to change fluid by the calender and not by mileage. Tranny fluid will loose its properties with time as well as mileage. Now the best way to milk this tranny for time is to change the fluid and DONT use reverse. Remeber just because you lost a gear in a tranny it doesnt not mean things are not engaged, it just means they dont have enough traction to transmit torque. hope that helps. nipper

Haynes says (as i thought) its under the car on the transmission nipper

What is under the front cover; Timing Belt cam seals main (crank) seal Oil Pump Water Pump This is the time to replace all those goodies and the timing belt tensioner too. DO all this you will be good for 100,000 miles nipper

WIth a brand new motor, you have to get 9-10K miles on it before the rings seat, and subarus seem to be on the high end of this. Three words, document, document, document. Keep a diary of who you spoke to when and about what. What was the reason for the first engine to go south. nipper

do you mean the timing belt cover? You probabaly have the usual culprits to suspect, oil pump, crank seal or cam seals. nipper