nipper

In winter allow yourself more rest time. Winter driving is very unforgiving if make a mistake due to being tired, as opposed to summer driving. A sudden course correction on dry road is not a big deal, in winter .. can be tragic (been there almost done that). nipper

in english its no more then 1/4" circumfrence diffenrce between tires as per subaru. For instance lets say the circumfrence is 100" no tire can be less then 99 7/8 and 100 1/8 inches nipper

i agree it has to set up.. thats why its best to use a place that comes to you .. or your office. nipper

Thats ok .. you should have seen my first three responses that never made it here . So where do we stand with this? nipper

DO you mean the bearing that is under the middle of the car ther the universal joints are? nipper

any of the nationwide "we come to you" ones are pretty good. Also call your insurance company if you full coverage as they may cover it. You can also call them to recomend a shop. nipper

im almost tempted to say repalce the entire transmission, in fact demand it. The only thing i can think of is that there is something internally wrong with one of the internal shafts that may be side loading the unit. Ild have them chack all the motor mounts, the carrier bearing (its in the middle of the car and suports the driveshaft). Check your tranny fluid is it burnt? There is something else going on here and i think the clutch assembly is getting the brunt of the stress. Something is either bent, or the tranny has an internal fault. Do you have a lemon law in your state? For now you can put the FWD fuse in the car and drive it that way. Have you gone to another dealer or a transmission shop for a second opinion, and tell them whats been done already. Has this car has never been hit before? Really 500.00 on a main drivetrain part that was replaced at 40K something is very wrong. This is not something that you can screw up unless you have mismatched tires on it, and you already said you havent. nipper

Here in NY they passed a law that forces the car mfg and rental agencies to tell you up front that there is a black box in the car that moonitors your driving habits. Thye used to bury it in the fine print. As far as technically the numbers being too large to handle. There is already a massive experimnet going on in this area, its called the trucking industry. The trucking industry does it by satalite, and they can keep track of the truck, converstaions, and running parimiters of the ECU ( new deisels now have engine magmt computers). Eventually all the trucks (if you veleive the owners group) will go this way. i think onstar is cell phone based, and look how many cell phones are in this country. i dont think its a matter of too many numbers to put in the system, its just a matter of time to build a system to handle the numbers. ALso they can do data in bursts, and at no time are all cars going to be on at the same time. i dont think its going to be law enforcement that drives this, but the insurance industry, so they can deny claims or raise rates depending upon how the car is driven. nipper

Ok i think i got it... this is used for mail delivery? nipper

i would suspect the wheel bearing. CV joints are very predictable in the noise they make, clicking on hard turns being the most obvious. Jack up that side of the car and shake the tire, bet there is some play there. nipper

i never said you were stupid. Unless you personally work behind the counter of the autopart store, know the part number by heart, and can swear the right part got in the right box at the rebuilder, then it is sure as hell possible you got the wrong part. This has happened to me more then once for parts, including axles. My mechanic had the same issue with a parts house and changed suppliers. So i repeat, it is possible you got the wrong part. Earlier subarus were notorious for this, and im not sure if the newer ones have the same possabilty. So dont put words in my mouth and assume i was calling you stupid. nipper

i think its time that you start lookng for the reason WHY you are having problems on the right side. Sunds like something may be twisted or bent, rusted out or broken. Is the hub in good condition. Not chaning the brake pads in sets can give you very dangerous braking conditions, and if you stop and think about the time it takes to change them all at once, it really makes no sense what so ever. Also wering more on the inside then on the outside, or the pad wearing unevenly usually mean the sliders need to be cleaned and lubricated. nipper .

i have had a windsheild crack for absolutly no reason or cause, with the car just sitting in the driveway parked. Sometimes a fast temeriture change will do it if there is a slight imperfection in the glass, sometimes windsheilds just crack for no reason. Mine was along the drivers side pillar edge. nipper

The LSD part is silicon base, its sealed, and non sericevable. The additive you put in is for mechanical based LSD .. which are far superior, and what we think of when we see LSD. The subaru version is lighter and far less complicated. Yes it sucks, but will help you movevery slowly.. you have to keep on it for it to work. nipper

They both may use the same rebuilder. Are you absoloutly sure the proper axle is on the car. That seems to be the #1 cause of premature boot failure. Do you have any idea how long the boots been torn? if dirt has gotten into the joint, you may be better off chaning the axle on your schedual then on the cars schedual nipper

Ok the cat should have been covered under the 100K mile emissions warrenty. One bad tank of gas can kill a cat. Noisey brake pads could be several things, all not the cars fault.there is a anti-squeel shim that goes behind the pad, sometimes it is left out. Could be non OE brake pads, or a harder brake pad then OE, or an off brand (i buy bendix with no problems) What model is this ? Foresters have weak wheelbearings if its a forester merry christmas

Ok the cat should have been covered under the 100K mile emissions warrenty Noisey brake pads could be several things, all not the cars fault.there is a anti-squeel shim that goes behind the pad, sometimes it is left out. Could be non OE brake pads, or a harder brake pad then OE, or an off brand (i buy bendix with no problems) i dont see what year thiis is. Foresters had weak rear whell bearings (do a search) and th fix seems to be to replace them with legacy wheel bearings. merry christmas nipper

i would just fix the head gasket, Its a fix once item. for the 2003 engine i believe there may have been a tightening of emissions and a differnt air flow senser, ECU, and god knows what else. Mechnically its easy to do, electronically i dont know. nipper

Are your electric cooling fans coming on? and yes i would ditch thre cheap raditaor cap, go to an autoparts store and get a STANT cap merry christmas nipper

whats the earlier thread? nipper

Now if they would fix the dash so you can put in an aftermrket stero .. nipper

As per Subaru (no im not looking up the email i got from subaru when i asked them for clarification, if you dont beleive me you can drop them an email yourself) the circumfrence of the tries can not vary more then 1/4 inch. Also you are wrong about your tire theory. With modern quality control (ISO 2004 .. there may be a new standard), you can pick 1000 tires (of the same brand and make) brand new tires will all be exaclty the same. nipper

you right, too lean can melt a cat or set a car on fire... brainfart. Didnt know about the o2 trick, that it would cut things that far back.... ill fie that away in my head for later:lol: nipper

Actually rotating all four tires has always been recomended as regular maintanece, especially in FWD cars. Even tire manufacuturers recomend it. nipper

Your engine is fine. For some reason your running either extra rich or extra lean. Physically inspect the knock sensor, if it looks the slightest bit cracked, replace it, or its not terrible expensive, may just want to change it out. nipper