nipper

minor. ( i feel like i dejavu, i just responded to this on another thread hehe)The O ring around the spark plug is leaking. You need to remove the valve cover to replace it, but if its not smoking, not loosing alot of oil, i would live with it. nipper

from reading all the posts here i would say yes. Normally i would say just go with a high grade wire from a retailer, but aparently it makes a difference. nipper

Just run it through any gromit that goes through the firewall. They may look sealed, but they arent. look at the accelerator cable gromit especially, thats where i ran my alwarm wires. nipper

i would say yes but thats just me. The rubber breaks down with time and can cause running problems and a weak spark. Replace with subaru wires. nipper

running rich o2 sensor maybe? Leaking oil, you have a leaking O ring around that sprak plug. Either live with it or replace the valve cover gaskets. you really wont see smoke since its behind the exhaust pipes. nipper

Ok a few questions. - are these automatics or manuals - does the noise appear always at the same rpm - does the noise appear at the same rpm in all gears or just one gear - Does weather make a differnce - is it a squeel or a buzz - does it happen with the wheels straight or turned, does it go away when the wheels are turned - what are the mileages on the cars - is the ac/dfrosters on nipper

please do at nipper@optonline.net

This is ping, not knock. There are huge differnces between the two. Cars run extreemly lean, and some cars ping more then others. Since you can reduce it using better gas, it is defanitly pingining. Pingining is caused by hot spot in the cylinders pre ignitinig the air/fuel mix,. This can be caused by one of those things, or carbon build up in the engine. Since its been doing it since new, and now has 110,000 miles on it, its a little late to complain about it i think you are going to have live with it, like you have for the past 6 years and 110K miles. If it just started, then i would suggest using an engine treatment to clean out the carbon. It obviously is not hurting the car. The only thing i can think of, is to run a cooler heat range plug. Since it seems you drive a lot of highway miles, a cooler heat range plug MIGHT reduce it. A cooler range plug will drop the spark plug temperiture. Surprisingly the hpt spot that causes pre ignition can be the spark plug body itself. http://www.ngk.com/charglossary.asp?kw=Heat+range http://www.tpub.com/content/construction/14273/css/14273_64.htm nipper

20-30 miles is about the limit you can tow without having to stop the car and cool down the tranny. nipper

What was it. Also thats an an incredibly high speed. Auto trannies with rear pumps could push/flat tow start at 5-10 mph. i would NEVER suggest to anyone to get a dead car pushed to 40 mph, especially if it had PS or PB. i think there is one car out there with a rear pump, but i am not going to tell people to flat tow or push start a car and be wrong. nipper

and i disagree with you. Look on this list and see how many condeseners have been replaced (or heater cores for that matter). Now if it was aford i may agree. nipper

Sigh Hondas have clutch packs and bands. They also have planetary gear sets like everyone else does. In an automatic transmission (excluding the manuals trying to be automatics which honda does not have) everything is spinning and in contact with everything else. By stopping a set of gears in the plaentary gear is how you get your differnt speeds. The reason that the fluid level is the same because honda uses extra check valves to keep the fluid from drining back into the pan. The whine you are hearing is not because of reverse gear, but due to the cut of the gears in the differential in hondas. http://auto.howstuffworks.com/automatic-transmission3.htm has a simple explination of reverse. There is no seperate reverse gear. nipper

Odd i have a full socket set that fits them They are a commone socket that can even be bought at sears. The advantage to the bolt is less stress when tightening on the bolt, and a more even force on the bolt head. You may change them out, but why? They did their job very well for thousnads of miles, why chance it for something hoepfully you only have to do once. Would be easier to find the right socket then the right replacement bolts. nipper

You cant flat tow an automatic. The reason is that even when in neutral all the dodas in the tranny are spinning making heat. Modern tranies only have a front pump, which is driven by the engine. When the engine is off no fluid circulates. This is also the reason you cant push start a automatic. Without a rear pump the fluid does not circulate to cool off the tranny internals. Transmission melts real fast. I have been told that if your flat towing and do it with either the car ideling, or stop every 20 miles and start the car to let the tranny cool down all is well. Makes a trailer look welcomed. nipper

Spare yourself the 150.00 and either get yourself a can of lysol, or go the fancy route and go to an autopart store and find an AC freshner or cleaner (not sure what its called). If you sue the lysol have the AC in the fresh air mode and run the HVAC through all the positions. Have the windows open in the car, and the lysol smell will be gone in less then 15 minutes of driving. nipper

Actually the first thing the shop is supposed to do is make sure all the tires are properly inflated before they align it. It can affect the qeometry of the car and WILL throw off the whell alignment. If all the tires are the same pressure it wont matter, but since they werent it upts the center axis of the axles in odd positions. the alighnment guy is going to try and make them al even. In any case the wheel alignment guy screwed up and they owe you an alignement. Also having tires that far out of wack will not only make the car dangerous to drive, but can really piss off the AWD and do some serious damage. nipper

The paint is a quick check to make sure the bolts have not moved during assembly and testing. It is also a way to see if the engine has been opened up after it leaves the factory. It's a common procedure to do. If you torque the bolts to yeils on a HG you will DESTROY THE HEAD GASKET! Also a good chance you will warp the cylinder head. nipper

The front differential is built into the transmission case. Once it goes bad, you replace the tranny. Yes you had all the symptons of a dying differential. On some vehicals it is so loud it sounds like a jet plane is in the next lane at highway speeds. Your gears are eating themselves up, or have been eting themselves up. The gears have a lot of meat on them, so it takes a while for them to get where the car wont go anymore. Did anyone ever check the fluid levle in this differential? It is extreemly rare for a differential to go in these cars, or for any car for that matter. It doesnt matter if the seals or bearuiings went, as it is too late now. My guess would be a leaky seal and you lost the lubricant, the rest is history. The transmission didnt explode, the differential self destructed. SInce the differential is part of the tranny they can say the tranny exploded. Trust me you are not going to need just bearings and seals, but the entire differnential too. nipper

Torque bind is alot less likely after the 97 1/2 model year, and usually if it does have it, its just a tranny flush (in an automatic). If it is a manual and it has torque bind, that can be up to a 900.00 repair. Check the tires and make sure they are all the same. Again mismatched tires can destroy the manual tranny, the automatic is more forgiving. Check the tranny fluid. Remove the raditor cap and let the engine run and look for bubbles. No bubbles is a good thing. Cut several u turns left and right and listen for any oddness. Otherwise the cars are pretty much like any other cars. nipper

COuld be a wheel bearing, a bad tire, and could be torque bind. Do all your tires match and are properly inflated? If so, then put a fuse in the FWD holder under the hood on the passenger side. If it goes away you need a tranny flush. Start there. nipper

yes and no. i agree with the seals, but only 10-15% of 2.5L have had HG failure, the rest of us are pileing on the miles on the original HG. i'm at 180K on mine, and the majority of us are still running on the originals, just you dont hear from us, well, because we have nothing to complain about. nipper

i agree, it is way to soon (if ever) to have a condenscer go bad on a sooby. Take it to an indepndet shop and let them check it out. nipper

Back when the car was new we also had better gas. In the last few years gas has been getting "odd" to say the least. i think your mileage is accpetable. nipper

yes it is, do a search here, or somone will chime in. nipper

something else i dont have. nipper