nipper

Of course we are all missing the obvious Stay home by a fire leaves less traffic for me to run around like a lunatic nipper

if the noise goes away with the remval of the plug, its rod knock. Lifter noise will not go away with the spark removed. nipper

Unfrotunitly it sounds like your front pump may be going bad, or your torque converter. Granted it may be a long slow death. I think it may be the pump, because ion park or neutral, the pump is just circulating fluid, but not really having to do any work. Put the car in gear, the pump now has to make pressure to apply things... Just a theory. nipper

I just had it done, they dissconnect an tranny oil coil line and do it that way. nipper

wheres the fun in that ...your supposed to pull the wires and go OWOWOWOWO ...its an audible spark test hehhee glad you at least found the location nipper

the 6 cylinder has vdc. go by what the owners manual says. From what I understand the VDC has a series of protcols it goes through to get the car unstuck. First it manipulates the AWD, then the throttle, then the ABS applies the brakes to the slipping wheel to get the power to the non slipping wheel. From that scneario i would imagine that you would need a fuse for the donut, but check the manual. nipper

So your standing in the parking lot lifing the door handle 37 times? i know there are odd codes to shut off the seat belt ringer .... invloves clipping the seat belt 20 times and slaughtering a small animal on a night with a new moon ..... but this is a new one nipper

Xterra is not that dependable. a Subaru is not a jeep. If you are doing serious rock crawling, ild go with the Jeep. Jeep is the grandaddy of them all. Now finding a more economical 4wd vehical that will go off road and be dependable for years, nothing beats a subaru. nipper

Just make sure its noted by them someplace that you bought it back to have that inspected ... just in case. nipper

There really isnt alot of stuff on the ECU or fuel injection. I am going to make a blind guess here, that since it is repetative at 50 degrees, something is going open when it shouldnt be. You said you replaced the engine temp sensor, I am going to assume that the one for the ECU you replaced and not for the temp gauge. im not usre if its one sensor that does double duty or two individual sensors. What else can keep the car from starting. A TPS with a hairline crack. Before you do anythng on a cold morning (i know morning cold and i have you useing a meter) make sure there is continuity across all three terminals, also manually move the throttle to make sure the values change. I dont know the values, but there whould be no dead spots. a bad crank or cam angle sensor, again with some sort of internal problem that when they get cold they go open. I am not sure what happens if your airflow meter goes bad, I think the car would start but run poorly. any thoughts? nipper

ah ok i think....:-\ nipper

so he wants to rebuild the cv joint or replace the boot? I would recomend just replacing the axle. Once the boot is splt, and its not caught ASAP the joint is contimanted with dirt and will slowly start to eat itself up. There is aloot of work to replace the boot, and its depressing to do it then a month later have the joint start to click. If you need to replace the boot and not be able to replace the axle right now, I find the split boot kits work well. nippper

heheh but that was fargo, so it was you 35 luthrens and some deer and a red light . actully ND is the one state i havent been to yet. South Dakots was bad enough in winter nipper

strong crank is good, sounds like then it may be the sensor nipper

100K sparkplugs are under ideal conditions (labratory) Dont automatically write them off as bieng ok. Another thing you may be able to do is rent or borrow a battyer load tester. Use it first thing on a cold morning, Test the battery for load, and see how much its drawing down when you crank the engine. good luck nipper

Assuming the car cranks when cold, the car needs every little bit of help it can get when it starts cold. The fuel system, igniton and starting system work as a team, and weakness in any one of them can make things very hard on the engine. Add dirty or old battery cables, that will make for a slow crank and a big voltage drop. This the car may be able to handle normally . Now throw in old wires and or plugs that need even MORE electrical current to fire off under the best of circumstances, being starved for juice. A dirty fuel filter and air cleaner restrciting the fuel part of the mix. Any and all of these things can add up. What happens is the car wont start. You really have to look at a cold start as a team aproach and not an indivdual system. nipper

Thats a high price for a rust bucket. there is no real excuse today for buying a rusted car, as there are so many clean subarus out there. OK dont run, maybe a quick saunter ... nipper

It is time for a tuneup. 100K on a set of wires is a long time, as it is a very hostile atmosphere. If you really wants to check, do the lightning test .... get a kite, a key .... Actually get the garden hose or water spray bottle out after dark. pop the hood start the car and look for sparks. Then with a gentle spray wet the wires while the car is running and see if it has any stray sparks. Everything degrades with age. The internal resistance of the wires go up as the cables get brittel. Insulators crack and dry out. nipper

I like 98 OBW personally, but ths car is way too pricey. The engine itself is aluminum. so it doesnt rust, but what i suspect is something a bit more hideous. This car either had the engine submurged, or sat around for a very long period, and what your seeing is rust stains on from standing water. Personally for that kind of money, get a better OB with more miles, and bank the 1500 for headgaskets as an insurance fund. nipper

Make sure the clutch is porperly adjusted as a first step. In my older sooby i noticed if i shifted too fast it would grind, so I just shifted less aggressivly, and the tranny laster right up to 225K, when rust killed the car. nipper

Yes they just pull out after you remove the spring pin. The rears on the other hand can be a real bear. nipper

found this on the net .. You arent the only ones http://member.rivernet.com.au/btaylor/BMWText/technical/CosmolineRemoval.html nipper

Two Words Head Gaskets. You really want to do anything that is reasonable and within your power to help protect the head gaskets. Subaru Antifreeze and additive is not a guarentee that they will not leak on you, but every little bit helps. I found out on my 97 OBW from the previous Owner that all work was done by subaru (180K) and the headgaskets are original. and the work has beeen dont like clockwork. It seems to help. Alos dont use tap water in the cooling system, used deminiralized water. Tap water reacts with the aluminum parts and can cause scarling inside the water jackets. This may or may not contribute to headgasket failur, but for the the ocst of a few dollars, what take the chance. A tuneup can be done at any shop wou trust. ANtifreeze etc can be done at ant shop, just instruct them that you want the water and antifreeze that yuo bought along used. nipper nipper

hehehe wel i can give you a source to ask http://www.cars101.com/ drop them an email nipper

thats really odd ... ECU shouldnt care as all it does is send a siganl to the coil or ignitor. nipper