nipper

i have two words car fax run the vin number and see what comes up Car fax will show if it was goverment vehical, fleet vehical, rental. It will also tell you the milage at each inspection (if there is one) With all the information you can figure out the cars life. nipper

This is true. The thermostate is on the bottom of the engine, and the temp sensors (gauge and computer) are on top. nipper

The sure way to find out is call a dealers part department and ask them. Also if your going to post a picture, take a shot of the firewall, where we can help you. For some reason you dont want to give me your email addy, and i cant post the picture of the part since it is a pdf file, so the ony way i can show you what it looks like is by email. Otherwise im going to stop responding to this thread. nipper

Running the car through Kellys i show a retail value of 12,500. 10-15% of subarus are affected by head gasket issues. I wouldnt make that stop me from buying the car, especially if i like it, and i am already aware of the posability of a problem. I would start the car and take off the radiator cap and watch for bubbles. What kind of warenty is being offered with the car, and is there one available for purchase. I am assuming you have taken the car for a test drive. You have to take it for a test drive thats long enough for the car to reach operating temperiture (same with any car).Me i would buy the car. As far as the rear wheel bearings on the forester, thats a known issue, and tell them to replace them with legacy wheel bearings, as it solves the problem of premature wear.

Here is my qyestion for you, forget the scantool, what is the temp gauge on the dashboard telling you. If you go to a dealer, he will check for codes, maybe take the car for a test drive, but if the temp gauge is staying within the normal operating range, there isnt much he can do. One thing you may be overlooking, is the incline of the road. Climbing a steeper road to the same height as a road with a more gentle incline, the engine will run hotter. Another thing to consdier is if you had a head wind or a tail wind. Also how much stuff was in the car. To me, if the temp gauge on the dashboard is reflecting these temp changes on the scan tool, and is still in the normal operating range, i would say everything is normal. nipper

At that mileage, like i said, personally, i would replace them as long as im there. Last time i did tie rod ends they were cheap enough and didnt require much work. Also ive lost a tie rod end while the car was moving once (without warning), and it was at 180K, that ive gotten to the point at over 150K if i have to replace a BJ, i just replace anything that is ball joint like to be done with it. If he wanted to truly keep the car i would suggest doing bushings too. nipper

Yes i sort of stoped talking oil here, as its safer to talk religon and politics then oils viscosity and synt vs dino oils. i figured that this topic was safe as i haevnt seen to many discuss it, but i do have my bunker dug just in case. SOmetimes things are a coincidence, sometimes not. Only way to find out is to go back to your regular oil and see what happens. nipper

like i said in the other post which you had running on this subject, if you would give me your email address, i would enail you a picture from a manual on what the part looks like so you can identify it on the firewall. nipper

Ball joints will cause the odd handling you described. Check with subaruparts.com and see what OE ball joints go for. If you go the store route, compare the two side by side. i never heard of economy vs premium in balljoints. does one have a lifetime warrenty? if it does (and thats prbbly the only real differnce), go with the economy. Tie rod ends are easy. Jack up the car, grab the tire at the 3-9 oclock position and move it while looking at the tie rod end. there should be no play. If they are cheap enough, and while your there, i would replace them with the kind of milage that you have on the car. Im not to sure of the high mileage oil, i never use it. i know it has some additives in it that swell up the oil seals to stop oil leaks. What other goodies are in the oil i dont know. I have had many high mileage cars, and never had a need of the oil before it was invented, so i dont see a need for it now. Also last i read the literiture on it, they are calloing 75,000 miles high mileage, and i have a huge argument with that. High milage should be over 100, 000 miles or more. They also state reducing oil consumption due to evaporation http://www.quakerstate.com/pages/products/oil_highermileage.asp If you beleive that, you better take the summer air out of your tires and put in winter air (hehe). THey also claim to reduce or control alot of issues at 75000 miles that one should not be having on a well maintained engine. i think the product is alot of snake oil myself. Thats just my opinion, and im sure there will be a few here that will defend the product and swear its the best thing since sliced bread, but untill i see some test results supporting thier claims (or anyone else selling such oil) i wouldnt use it. The only thing i can suggest to you is change the oil again see if it goes away. Maybe one of the mystery additives in the oil ungummed something, and that gum was holding the lifter together. i'm a big fan of "if the car ran over 150,000 trouble free miles with product X, why should i change it now" nipper

http://www.autozone.com/servlet/UiBroker?ForwardPage=/az/cds/en_us/0900823d/80/1c/59/40/0900823d801c5940.jsp look at that, as all subaru ignition systems seem to be the same up to 00's i think nipper

HEY! i just noticed something .... has nothing to do with the topic at all.. under my name is Subaru Master .... aww:headbang: thank You who ever did that im not a Master at it, i screw up and can be a bit pigheaded, but i admit it nipper

no i have too ... ill look at the manual tomorrow and see what i have on my HD as far as manuals. The ignitor as far as i know is not built into the coilpack, but is on the firewall. i have something that may help .. nipper

yes yes yes and maybe. Your going to have to wait till tomorrow for more detailed answer. im recovering from a back surjury, and right now to get to the manual i need help, and help is asleep right now. What it is is a signal amplifier (not like that helps you) and it fires the coils. This is a common failure. but also its a part that tends to get replaced once in the cars life. It is easy to get to, but i would suggest that you get a haynes manual for your car, as i have one for the legacy. Operation and diagnises is the same, but i dont know if the location is the same or not. nipper

ok the running problem is easy. Its the ignitor, I have had a few of those go on me and the first one in a GL drove me up the wall. Same problems till it finally died. I guarentee you the ignitor is going bad (when it goes bad car wont run anymore). This is an electronic widget, hence why it fails more when the car is hot (actually its the electrics that get hot). That can even drive you more nuts in diagnosing it. The ignitor wont always trip a CEL. Its not the fuel pump, not anything else. All the other thigs you mentioned would trip a code and wouldnt make the car run one time and not the next so intimittently nipper

i paid 3700 for mine with 180K on it from the original owner. Only thing it needed was tires (they didnt match causing torque bind) and a transmission flush. Got it back in august, and it was a steal (they had the wrong vin number on ebay). Only thing wrong with it i just found out is a burned out seat heater nipper

I have one of those in blue. I also bet all the lightbulbs for the climate control and heated seats dont work nipper

i would fix the leak first, then see if the pump is shot. After fixing the leak, fill the resvior up with the car running. Turn the wheel lock to lock a few times to bleed the system of air. nipper

Well thats enough reason to replace the transmission. a bad speed sensor (an easy repair) would also affect the operation of the AWD, as the car uses two of them along with a few other widgets to determine how much AWD to apply. This car sounds like it got the snot beaten out of it. nipper

If your strong enough ... find an empty parking lot and remove the fan belt and drive through some manuvers. You wont hurt anything by doing this for 5 minutes. The waterpump operates off the timing belts, and a car with everything off can run almost an hour on a healthy battery. Thats all it should take to determine if that was the noise. nipper

since its audible on turns im going with power sterring. Look under the car towards the firewall behind the engine. Thats where the hoses connect to the rack. Thats usually where they leak fluid. If you have lost enough fluid for long enough you have damaged the PS pump. nipper

No need for a compresion test. Just fill up the cooling system and look for bubbles in the radiator. If you wantto know even better, have someone check for exhaust gas in the radiator. I would do that before you do anything else on the engine. Was there any mud in the overflow tank, thats another indicator of an issue. I would still go through the steps of the diagnostics for the transmission. nipper

Sounds like you have made the blood sacrifice to the mechanical Gods. They will be pleased. nipper

[ if you have low mileage due to short trips i would change it now for sure. if this is the case you may see residue/condensation under the oil cap. think it comes from the engine not sustaining operating temperatures long enough..something like that, due to short trips. if that's the case i would definitely change it instead of wait. It comes from the engine oil not getting hot enough to evaporate condensation in the crankase. I do agree with you, there is no such thing as too many oil changes being a bad thing. nipper

DO you always change a transmission when just a tranny flush will do? So your trying to diganose a transmission problem without even having a full tranny. First off fill up the transmission then drive the car. if the torque bind is still ther, put the FWD fuse in. If the problem goes away, flush the transmission. Remeber there is no guarentee the replacement tranny is any better then what you have now. Confirm that yours is truly shot, and not just a victum of poor maint. That usually makes the problem go away. Only 10-15% of the 2.5L have head gasket failure. You hear far more about the bad ones here cause this is what this list is for, to help people with sick cars, not to help with healthy ones. Engine noise, do an oil change on it and see what happens. What you may be hearing is piston slap. Does the noise go away after a few minutes? Is the noise always there? This is a quirk of all subarus, and something that is not harmful. If the noise is always there, remove one plug wire and see if the noise changes, then reconnect the wire and go to the next. If the noise changes then you have a connecting rod bearing problem, then i would replace the engine. If neither one of these, you may have valve train issues. Diagnose what the noise is first before you condem the car. Pull the codes on the CEL and see what the problem is. YOu may luck out, and the car may just need a heavy maintanence. ALso if you are worried about what the next buyer may have to deal with, on either engine i would replace the timing belts and water pump. nipper

i am assuming you are doing 3000 mile oil changes cause you want too (yay someone agrees with me). Why not go to a oil change place and just let them do it. i think the interval is 5000 miles (look in the owners manual as im not sure). You may think about just letting it go till then. nipper