nipper

Time to go to an independt shop, or another dealer. Alot of dealers have had their mechanics retired, so they dont have people that cant do any real thinking unless the computer tells them a code, and they go look it up in the book. Also thier senior mechanis are prbly working on the tough things like internals of the drive train. Try an indepoendt shop (it wont void your warrenty) and yell at your area rep too. nipper

The automtaic transmissions tend to overheat, and thats the fastes way to kill any tranny. People have converted them two 5 speeds, or replaced the tranny and added a tranny yemp gauga and cooler, which seems to be the first thing you do even befreo you register the car. nipper

Maybe we are looking at the wrong end of this problem. How about a bottom pulley that is coming loose, or something else in the accessory drive that isnt quit right. nipper

You ever notice how people always tend to leave out the minor details For some reason these cars seem to be sensative to things being perfect, The tranny mount may be the key to the entire thing ... nipper

The AC systems used to be dealer installed options. All the under dash stuff may already be in the car, not sure how the kit came, but it is a straight bolt in from a doner car. nipper

I ran into this, and unfortunitly had to junk the car Firts problem I had was that the shop I was working I was using, was just getting a generic cv joints for the car, not noting the engine/tranny combo. Make sure you are getting the proper axles. I went thru 3 axles in a mmonth because of this. A year later, my baby started doing it again. Alas it was terminal cancer and the subframe was giving out. I drove the car as a 2rwd for a while, but it wasnt safe, and it had to be retired. nipper

I have a 97 OBW 2.5L that doesnt, and my 98 Leagcy 2.2L never did nipper

OK lets try this... You need another person for this (someone who likes you) and water spray bottle. When you can reproduce this condition, spray all the hoses under the hood with wither one. i would start at the power brake booster and work backwards. SPray everything and see if the way the engine runs changes at all. Check arouns the air box, intake hoses etc... nipper

I had a nissan with a timing chain that had the same issue. It is theirr weak link. They are trying to make an automatic adjustment on the chain. For what it is worth, when i did some research on this engine, it had good reviews. They did warn that to change the timing chain, that 86 bolts had to be removed to do it. nipper

It doesnt take much as the car has a small crankcase. Always check all your fluids and tire pressures after a servicing. Normally its the class B or C mechanic that does the oil changes. Class C bieng the kid working PT while in highschool. nipper

It hard to help out over the net with something like this. Out of all the systems in a modern car, the AC system is fairly straight forward. With the exception of the refrigerant it hasnt changed much over the years. To me the short cycling, especially in a new car sounds like the high pressure cut off switch is cycling. It could be something is cloged in the system, or the system is overcharged. COuld also be a stuck expansion valve. This is one of those things where you need to have a a set of gauges on it and read the pressures. It is possible that it is the controller itself, but i seriously doubt it. nipper

I had an odd one, almost like this, i replaced the radiator, it was all gummed up and falling apart. It wouldnt overheat anymore but it ran hot. I forgot how i figured out what it was, i think i noticed the cooling fan "just didnt look like". I rpelaced the cooling fan , and that solved the rest of the problem. After 160K on the car, the cooling fan bearing was starting to go, but i never would have found that without replacing the radiator. nipper

Well your clutch is not going to be happy ill tell you that. Its impressive but i wouldnt want to do it more then once. nipper

Nother possabilty is a leaky power break booster. If it doesnt do it with the handbrake on and the car in drive, i would bet its the booster. nipper

ok there goes that idea thanks nipper

Usually if it doesnt rattle, you need a new one. Cleaning them just ungums them, but you should still replace it. nipper

YO DUDE ( i hate when im called dude). Haynes manual says nothing about replacing the screen at any interval. They say change the oil at 30K miles. DUDE my owners manual says nothing about changing the screen. DUDE my subaru mechanic said they rarely change them uinles there is another issue with the car, as they dont remove the pans that often. From a subarru dealers web site: http://www.cars101.com/subaru/subaru_maintenance.html . so DUDE if you want to change its that fine, but RARELY is it done DUDE. Also DUDE its not often on here that one sees anyone talking of cooked auto tranny (non svx), which does hapen with age, so i am quit comfortable that if a subaru dealer is missing the oportunity to charge me more labor and money for a part, they must know something. nipper

Just out of curiosty, i think a sooby engine can be done while on the bench, since the starter bolts to the engine and not the transmission itself, or am i worng. Hate to have you bolt it all together just to find a issue.. nipper

In automatic mode the puter does it. Picking the gears one at a time your overiding the computer. If you buy it, change the fluid and it may all straghten out. nipper

Compression tests dont work like that, Valve timing determine how much of the piston volume is traped. Also you are not sampling one stroke but several strokes of the piston. you are loking at the maximum compression. the 9.5 to 1 is purely a mathmatical number. Also compression testing, you are looking for a variation between cylinders. You can 4 cylinders test at 130 psi and be ok. you can have three at 160 and one at 120 and have a problem. nipper

well a quick look at the hayes manual, your in luck.its accesable. usually its a PITA to get to on some cars. The book says remove the wiper arms.to pry off the front defroster grill and remove the two bolts underneath it. Then you carefully pry off the front cowl (there are plastic clips that hold it on so be nice to it). From there it seems self explanitory. I have never done this so i dont know how easy it is. nipper

SOunds like the bushings in the arms may be worn. A w/w is a simple crank mechanisim. Are the proper blades and arms on the car? With the wipers on shut the car off so they are out of the park postion, and see if there is any play in the wipers. There should be none. nipper

Could be a stuck govenor, a internal solenoid, a gumed up valve body. Sort of expensive thing to take a gamble on as far as its not working. How does the tranny fluid look and smell? nipper

a skip? Differntials ROAR when they go bad. If you have ever heard one, it really is a unique sound. Also it gets louder with speed. What is the engnine/transmission/mileage on the car. nipper

Just out of curisoty, when was the last time the O2 sensors were serviced? The care computer has an open loop and a closed loop. Open loop is when you first start the car. Untill all the opertaing parts and seinors get all to thier happy temperitures, the car is running off a fixed program. Once the car warms up, it goes into a closed loop. This is where the car is reading all the sensors and everything has reached its operating temps. The three things that can screw this up are, a bad coolant temp sensor, a bad o2 sensor, and maybe a bad tps. I dont think a bad TPS would throw it into a forced loop. so i would check out the other two first. With a good manual and a ohm meter, all three can be tested. nipper