nipper

SOunds like you have a vaccum leak someplace. Have you fiddled with the engine recently? nipper

Open the door, and clean out the the front inside fenderwell at a do it wourself car wash. Also under the door there are door drains, clean those out on both sides, as well as teh fenders. AT teh same car wash with a freind, let him use the high pressure wash and see if you can tell where the water is coming from. There is the possability that the ac drain is cloged, b ut i dont think that would affect the drivers side. Also its possible that you can have a windshild leak. nipper

I would go with subaru parts, and do a serch on the net. It wasnt the parts fault the engine failed, it was the Technician who assemebled it and didnt replace the connecting rods. Also i think a short block would have been a wiser purchase .... hrmm .... let me look on the net tonight or tomrrow (im on pain meds and sometimes cant focus ...and im bored at home) and let me see what i can find. Can you email me privtaly the details on the car and the vin number. Cranks shaft let the speed shop inspect it and see what they recomend. Very rare do you need to replace that even with a spun bearing. nipper

The car determines which way the wheels turn by the input angle of the steering wheel or a speed sensor in conjucntion with the steering wheel http://www.mazda.com.au/articleZone.asp?articleZoneID=91 http://www.rockcrawler.com/features/newsshorts/01august/denali.asp nipper

Not really bad news. Deisles still have a bad taste in peoples mouth in this country, and they have to wait untill 2009 when the deisel fuel here is suposed to be sulfur free (or close to it). Going to gas speeeds up the entire process of getting the car to market. For a subaru hybrid (imagine an outback ...drool) I would buy a new subaru. nipper

Blue printing and balancing means that evry part is checked dimensionally to make sure they fall within spec, instead of just checking bearing journals. They also make sure all the parts are alike, and take a close look at tolernace staking to make sure everything is as close to the middle of a spec as possible. here is a good explination http://www.rpmmachine.com/engine-balancing.shtml Im leary of engines that are "tighter then factory spec" . The trick is to get all the parts within spec, and as close to each other as possible. a too tight engine can be prone to oil failure, depending upon where hes tightening the specs. hope that helps nipper

Im going to have to look up destroking an engine, see if the rod was actually shortned, or if they mean something about the crank journal size. The bent connecting rods bother me to no end. Other way of doing it is by using a thiker head gasket. Another way is shorter connecting rods, but those can be made in a couple of ways for a drastic loss of volume. Plastic gauge , and a feeler gauge will give you the prober gap, and the side to side play in the journal. Since the bearing was spun, take the crank to the machine shop and let them inspect it. Also let them blue print it, and they will recomend what size bearings to get. WHne in doubt, leht the machine shop measure. And make sure you find a speed shop, not a regular machine shop if you can. At least it sounds like the failure was caused by a spun bearing, and im surprised with wiped out oil rings that the cylinder walls were not scored. Bring that to the machine shop too.Everything is salvagable as long as the head and block is not cracked. good luck nipper

I just saw the part about bent connecting rods, they should have been replaced too. This would cause the combustion forces to not be placed evenly on the crankshaft, but slightly offset. That can cause unequal forces across the bearing, insted of a triaght line force across the journal surface ..... causing .... a spun connecting rod bearing. Balancing really isnt a big thing, it is surprisingly easy if you use a primitive balance beam and a scale. Get yourself a book on hot rod engines and it wil tell you how to do it and where to remove material. Anything you can do to increase oil volume is a good thing. It also helps keep the oil cool. I never heard fo a cat blowing an engine, and the way an exhaust system works, and how the engine moves a compressable meduin (air) i seriously doubt thats possible. Only way i can think of is that when a cat clogs, performance drops dramatically, and the cluless driver tries to push the poor car and it ends up spinning a bearing or throwing a rod from being lugged. hope this all helps nipper

there are so many things on tha list.... There is nothing worng with glass peening a cylinder head. i think the root cause of the failure was a spun bearing pure and simple. Pistons rarely get replaced unless the machineing marks are gone on the pistons. They are rarely replaced. it is NEVER a waste to balance an engine, whoever said that should get a swift kick you know where. Balancing is done in fractions of an ounce to a few ounces. it makes for a smother running engine and better performance. Oil pump should have been replaced (it could have eaten some parts from the original spun bearing). Right there is another failure on the dealers part, especially if the did not blueprint the pump. Timing chain could have been stressed from the orignal spun bearing. It doesnt take that long to assembly an engine once all the parts are preped and ordered. I have never ever heard of destroking a connecting rod in my life. Thats a huge red flag right there.... do they mean oversized bearings on the crank? Get a GOOD oil pressure and oil temperiture gauge. Bearings spin due to oil failure, or mis sizing on a new engine. Anyone who rebuilds engines has plastigauge, and if they didnt use it should be shot. This was a very penny wise and dollar foolish rebuild. nipper

Not that im one to ever deprive someone of going on a shopping spree to buy tools, but you wil be surprised at how few tools you need to rebuild an engine. Back off on the whole hog tool kit. Get a good socket set english and metric I can guarentee you that you will use maybe 20 tools out of that entire set to tare down and rebuild the engine A piston ring compressor (or rent one) Torque Wrench Feeler Gauge inexpensive caliper Rubber Mallet You may not have to have the cylinder head rebuilt or touched since that was done recently, jusyt have it inspected. Oif the engine over heated when it spun the bearing, then you should have it rebuilt at a machine shop (not that expensive). A machine shop can be your best freind, as they can inspect things for you and help you figure out bearing sizes etc. A godd machine shop wil also have the capabilities to clean the block and the sheet metal parts. Also consider replacing the clutch if it hasnt been done before. Get yourself a good manual. And remeber one thing CLEANLINESS CLEANLINESS and CLEANLINESS. I would rather see you get the 200.00 toll set and throw the rest in better parts then 200 more in tools you would rarely use.

ok look at loose heat sheilds. If its there in D3 that rules out the lockup torque converter, i think the conerter is fine. i'm going to go with a cracked flex plate. nipper

is it there in drive 3 ?nipper

its under the timing belt covers ... sooooooo on milage like that what i would do is the water pump, timing belts, oil pump and oil pump seals. nipper

OK the new outbacks, and many cars have something called 4 wheel steering, buts its not what you think. It is a passive system that is done with sterring and suspension geometry. The more the car leans, the more the tires toe either in or out. Honda accord, and GM trucks have optional active rear wheel steering. This stering can turn in synch or out synch with the front wheels. It is a very complicated system, and really for the wieght it ads and complexity, its not worth it. Thats why everyone sues the more simplier passive system. nipper

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/torque-converter.htm Usually a failed torque converter will make the car pefrom poorly. Now it is possible you have a cracked flex plate. nipper

i know on ebay where there is a running low miage justy whihc is cheap so far, i was going to keep this gem to myself, but its 2wd ..... maybe that will help. I mean its ajusty ...throw some postage stamps on it and mail it to you nipper

That should be plenty. The two high cost areas in a rebuild are machine shop time, and labor. I have done larger engines for less. nipper

ild like an autostick option myself...... a nice button to shut off the puter, and just shift hhhhhhhhhhhhhrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm nipper

my 97 OBW has 181K on it, just had the tranny flushed, and runs like a top .. if oyou can get a lower milage unit for 250? then there is the labor to install. Just your options. nipper

One solinoid for each shift point 1-2 2-3 3-4 They are in the transmission, and depending upon part cost, that may not be bad price. Get another opinion..but that deosn sound bad. My repair manual doesnt really cover the auto traiines that much aside from seals and R and R nipper

I dont think these cars dont have valve bodies anymore (not sure about your year), they have solenoids, and the transmission puter controls shifitng. It sounds like you have a stuck or bad solenoid. I dont know if that would cause a code or not. sounds like the solenoid is weak or sticky. nipper

can you define "skip" a little more clearly? nipper

YAY! good deal nipper

thanks

MAN that would count for something... when was the last time that was changed? New cap and rotor, actually you may want to look at a new or used distribtor, and replace the ignitor that is in the distributor (use the one that comes with it if you get a junkie one) Check for bearing play in the shaft. Coils are two sets of wire, a primary and a secondary coil, inside a little can, filled with oil. Coils can leak voltage internally when the oil dries out (they dont last for ever). They can also leak voltage thru hairline cracks in the coil tower. What does the rotor look like ? nipper