nipper

Odd mine just popped off in the parking garage when i had a dead battery. I have leaned though to keep the two screwdrivers in the car just for that emergency. nipper

Depends how often AAA gets pissed at you. In an extreem case you can make the engine junk. there are only so many times an engine can over heat before you warp the heads and destroy seals, bake the oil, clog the radiator, etc etc. nipper

Once the head gasket is fixed its fixed. So just build that into your cost. I dont think it really matters, just depends on your budget and what you want in a OBW. nipper

Sounds good, and since its due for a timing belt in the future, that would take care of the oil seepage nipper

go back and look at my posting "get it while its hot". I forget what yeqars it covers, but it does have the bulletins listed there. nipper

Well with the car in the on position, not running, you should be able to hear it (window down etc etc). Sounds like this may be something as simple as wire knocked loose or a dirty connector. You should be able to hear the it run outseid the car as the car tries to pump itself up. I am not sure if they time out or not. You can always have somone press the button as you put your ear to the fender. nipper

Its rare for all 4 air struts to go poof at the same time, unless she was flying at that speed bump and caught some air. Mechnaically its not a hard system to dignose. Hyanes does cover it in thier manual. It sounds like a broken air line. can you hear any air leaks when you press the height adj button? can you hear a compressor running? The compressor is in front of the left front wheel under the mud guard. nipper

Go for the fatory seat with the height adjuster if you can find one. It maks all the differnce in the world. nipper

Lets get everything down on one page: Combustion gasses in the radiator? Cooling fans working at full speed? Radiator Clean? Cooling fins in good shape and attached to the radiator Radiator cap good? Radiator hoses good? Are there any collapsed Hoses? Does the car get heat? Has the engine block been burped? Are all the cooling fans in one peice? Has the system been backflushed? Is the AC condencer clean? Can you see water flow in the radiator once the thermostate is open? Run the car without a thermostat and check for flow. Check the coolant temp sensor for function. After all that, i would start looking at the waterpump. nipper

If lubrication was compromised we wouldnt get over 200K out of the bottom end of the car. Lubrication is not compromised... It just doesnt dump all the pressure.. if its over 71 psi, the bypass in the oilpump cracks open to releive pressure. nipper

I would have them checked, but its a common complaint on new cars over the last years that the brakes are noisey. Cleaning sometimes helps, putting on new silent compund helps, but usually people go to a name brand aftermarket brake shoe thats has a differnt compound to get rid of it.

i always used not RTV, but the brown liquid stuff (senility settling in ... or the back pain meds not sure) just to hold the gasket in place. nipper

I would just go with a name brand wire and be done with it. I have never really paid attention to wire resistance, unless they are long runs. I think ive been around this planet too long, or have had too many interesting cars and jobs... When I worked for Standard automotive products, and blue streak, we used to match our wires with factory spec wires to pass acceptance (amoung other tests). For such high voltage in an ignition coil, it really doesnt matter all that much. What i would look for more importantly is the insulator. Is it nice and thick and pliable, instead of thin and hard. nipper

A subaru tank does not fill drian in the normal method. It is divided in two sections, a left section and a right section, and drains it as such. There is a pipe that joins the two sections. The driver side drains first, then the passenger said drains (passenger side has the fuel pump and fill neck). From what i can see it looks ok as long as the car is below 1/2 tank, you can do this easily, you may be able to do it at 3/4, but i dont want to say that and have you get soaked with fuel. nipper

You really need a guage that reads 1-15 psi to read oil pressure during cranking (and dont let the car start), this is nothing to worry about at this time. There is always a fine film of oil on the surfaces, and thats good enough for starting. as soon as the car fires off you get oil pressure, Now if you had zero sitting at a red light i would worry. Sometimes we worry way to much about things. nipper

DO a search on the topic, its fairly easy to do. They are double DIN units if i remeber correctly, so its also easy to replace too. nipper

Alot of cars with puter have this. It bypasses something in the puter so the mechnaic can help to troubleshoot, but for the life of me i cant remember what it does. Not all wires under the dash are meant to be pluged in nipper

The low fuel light comes on then maybe you have 1.5-2 gallons left. The light doesnt blink, but the car will bauck and stall when it gets to true empty hehehehe nipper

Maybe snag a seat from a higher trim level legacy? My 98 seat would bother me, but when i got the 97 with a height adjuster and lumbar support, it made all the difference in the world. nipper

Gauges or most innacurate at the bottom 15% and top 15% of thier posted scale. You get what you pay for in gauges ( I used to calibrate them). I have never seen any gauge that was so badly out (new out of the box) that it was junk. There is such a thing as too high an oil pressure, but that is usually due to an inferior oil filter (again dont buy cheap). Have seen oil filters burst due to pressure bypass failure in the filters, but internally inside the car, it doesnt matter. Oil is thick when cold. Synthetic vs non is discussion that goes round and round and i see no difference, especially now with so many blends out there. nipper

hehehe i know that .... just passing on how to test the awd nipper

Ok oddball things to make a car overheat...especially on cars with high mileage 1- The impeller in the water pump seperates from the shaft. This is rare, but not unheard of in high mileaage cars. 2- The impeller can erode. Ideally one would want to use deminierilzed water and Subaru antifreeze, especially since middle age of subarus seem to be around the 180K mark. On other cars its rare they are still functioning at the 120K mark with an eye to making it farther then that. Either 1 or 2 may have a leak out of the weep hole in the waterpump, but not always. Exercising a thermostat is the silliest thing i ever heard. And really the true way to do that is by put it in boiling water, which is a test that should be done anwya when you have an odd overheat issue. Put the thermostate in a pot of water with w meat thermometer, and see when it opens up, and if it fully opens up. Another cause can be a thermostate installed backwards. ALso check for weak, colllapsed raditor hoses. nipper

Found this.... http://www.answers.com/topic/subaru-justy nipper

NP thats what we are here for ... i would suspect the pump may have an issue nipper

mine is stock too but my sound system isnt, nor will the soon to be after market lights.. nipper