nipper

could be but I havent read anything about it. Is it the lock up torque converter disengaguing or an actual down shift? nipper

bang on the 1-2 upshift all the time? Can you feel it in the pedals, in the steering wheel. or on the floor. Rolling resistance doesnt mean much.. that could be anything (low air in tires, rusty rotors, stuck caliper). How does the car drive otherwise? how does it shift otherwise? How does it drive when manually shifted. How many miles are on it. nipper

Im not sure how the auto tranny on the 99 decides to shift. A tranny if it is not too computer controled, justifies shift points by balancing govenor pressure vs throttle pressure if i remember correctly. Govenor pressure is the speed of the output shaft, throttle pressure is sourced either by a vacumme signal, electrical signal from the computer, or mechanical connection from the gas pedal. For it to downshift going downhill, means either the govenor is loosing pressure, or the throttle circuit is gaining pressure. It is a balancing act between the two pressures. A good transmission shop should be able to put gauges on the trransmission to see the two pressures and see whats going on, assuming there are pressure gauge taps. nipper

OK i am impressed by the aluminum repair rod. I think that would fix your problem perfectly since you can catch enough threads to kep the hole square. It should be easy enough to make the landing (flat area the peice lays on) square, just take your time and dont rush. I may order this myself just to play with it and see what it can do for future reference. nipper

Does this car have a distrubuter or a coil pack? It sounds like what ever controls the coil, si on its way out. I had this issue for about a month, it drove me up the wall, and there was no rhyme or reason to it. Finally the pickup in the dist quit, and that was it. Fuel starvation tends to sputter to a stall from starvation, but this sounds like the spark just dies. nipper

Alot depends upon how cooperative the other insurance company is with you. The reason i got forced into suing was becauase no one would cooperate with me, and the other driver never reported it to his insurance company. Get a few estimates, to submit to the other insurance company. Get one estimate from a body shop you like, and tell them you want an estimate for a cash repair, meaning you are paying for it yourself. Use this to decide if the car is getting fixed. If the insurance company totals your car, then you buy it back from them, find out what that does to your title. I am not sure of the ramifications of this. It may go on record with DMV as a total loss. This may make you think about weather you still want to carry collision on the car. The next collision (god forbid) or next claim, the insurance company may come back at you and say "we dont have to pay because the car was a totaled loss", but they will still gladly take your money for the premiums. Yes they will total your car. You dont have to accept the payment from your insurance company, you can go right to the other insureance company, and tell them you want your car fixed. Before you decide, CAREFULLY walk around the entire car and make sure all the doors and hood are still in alighnment. Make sure everything opens and closes as it did before the accident. You have one advantage here from what i can tell. The car is still driveable. You dont have a 30 day time clock for a rental running down. Use that to your advantage. Also it may take 10-15 phone calls to lawyers to find one that wil take your case. In those 10-15 calls you will get a lot of free legal advice, so listen to it. Tey your state bar association web site, as they sometimes have aservice that will match you up with a lawyer. Ask freinds, ask business associates. Kepp receipts and track of everything, including milage and postal costs (i finally found a use for outlook). Keep phone logs when talking to insurance companies. I hope this helps. Good luck and feel better nipper

heheh sorry about that. The semi synthetics, what are the price differnentials to make it worth it. Thats the other thing is cost. Also i wonder about the high mialage oil JL sells. nipper

Well thats the deal with the oil changes, to get you in the shop. They are there to make money, and you can always say no. Do you belong to AAA. Look for one of thier shops. I would personally take the car to the dealer only if it was a computer problem of some kind, and that would be only after giving it to a local shop first. nipper

Oil filters are the best for very high dust areas, like the desert. nipper

Its the white thing with the wires coming out of it nipper

JB weld is a 50/50 shot. I wouldnt recomend it for anything that is buried, as it will prbbly give way again at the worst possible moment. That and you will always know that that peice is there basically glued on. I personally would have it welded, and give yourself peice of mind. nipper

You dont have to go to the dealer to get the glove box lubricated (old joke). Just tell the shop what your in for, show them the manual, and keep the receipts just in case you have a major warrenty issue. The first maintanence (oil change) should be the dealer. nipper

The discussion of oil change intervals seems to be penny wise and dollar foolish. 7500 miles is under ideal driving conditions. If anyone here gets in bumper to bumper traffic, your not in ideal conditions. 3000 miles is the standard for harsh conditions. As much as I hate to agree with JL, they are right. Also look at it this way, If you stick to 3000 miles, and lets say in reality, you do 4000 by the time you get around to it, its not a bad thing. On the other hand going 8500 miles vers 7500, thats a lot of mialage on the same 5 quarts of oil. 7500 sounds like a very long interval on non-synthetic oil. The aditives in oil start to break down around 3000 miles. I always do 3000 (usually between 3-4) on all my vehicals. I would rather spend a few 100 dollars more over the life of the vehical (I am usually the last owner of a car) and have a good running car, then have an engine throw something. With the excpetion of a 73' Beetle, I've never had a vehical die on me due to a lubrication issue.

Are the electric cooling fans coming on? Thats a typical sympton of a failed cooling fan switch . nipper

heheh see i get them right once ina while When i had mine done i think the it cost me all of 125.00 to fix (not including the labor to install it as i did that myself). They installed a uni from a small ford truck that had a grease fitting. I would recomend removing the offending part from the car, as eventually the vibration will come back again. Call around to some local drive shaft palces in the phone book, im sure you will find somone. What helped me was searching the threads here, especially on the older subaru list, as people there knew about it. nipper

The people who get rearended and jump out of the cars holding thier necks are the fakes (as i was told in the er last month after getting hit). There are two scenarios here, The first one is that your neck is broken and your not getting out of the car. The second one is that 24-48 hrs after the accident your going to hurt like hell. See your Dr sooner then later. If it gets to be too much dont be afraid to walk into an ER, just realize your going to kill alot of time there. i was there for 7 hrs and was not satisfied. A rear end is 100% the other drivers fault. You may want to talk to a lawyer just to make sure everything is ok. I am finding dealing with my own insurance company a hell of a lot more traumatic then the accident itself was. Please do take care of yourself first, and go to a DR. best wishes nipper

ewwwww looks more like an alpha and a bmw mated. nipper

On the bright side, thats about what that job seems to be going for. You may want to price an entire tranny rebuild and see what it goes for. I am facing the same issue, only mine does it in turns, but oddly not when backing up. nipper

WAY COOL! I want one too nipper

A fire can get hot enough to melt an engine, but that usually involves the entire car burning. A ompression test will tell you what shape the engine is in. Also since everything seems to be on top of the engine, as oposed to other cars, it might be ok. I would go to a junkyard and pull the under dash wiring harness. I would replace any rubber hoses that were not melted (if there is such a thing). The computer may be fried. If the fire caused any of the computer input/output wires to short, the puter may not be happy. Again the under hood harness just get from a junker. The alternator may not be happy either. Sounds like an interesting project. nipper

I had something close to it, and it was the U Joint on the driveshaft that goes to the rear wheels. If it turns out to be that, have the driveshaft taken to a driveshaft shop and let them rebuild it (they put in a forduniversal joint), as the sooby part is unreasonably expensive. Remeber by putting in the fuse, you are shutting down half the drivetrain, and removing half the load (if its not the driveshaft). Also this is a bit wierd so sometimes a fishing expedition is needed. Driveline vibrations are hard to diagnose without being there. good luck nipper

They have clutches inside the transmission, but you cant have a clutch replaced unless you have the entire transmission replaced. Heres a thought, does it make any noise? Maybe its the flex plate or fly wheel that has a crack in it. nipper

this is an auto i thought .... nipper

Heres a thought .... Is it possible that the driveshaft going from the rear of the transmission to the rear axle has a bad Universal Joint in it. The torque bind going straight ahead is puzling, as it shouldnt be happening then, even if the car is locked in 4wd. Torque bind develops when one wheel is spinning faster then the others. Also check all the cv joints to make sure you dont have a riped boot or a seized joint. Try to rule out all the cheaper things first. nipper

Year old gas sitting in a sotrage containes is not an issue. Yes the inside of the tank will get a little scummy, but a low precision engine will run well on it, and a high precision engine will run on it too, as long as it is strained. I have tried both methods, running the tank dry, or keeping the gas in (this was with a kawi ninja). Running it dry seemed better then letting the gas sit in the tank for 2-3 months. Gas has a shelf life of about 90 days when stored in a vehical, due to some of the additives seperating and evaporating off. In a tank up to a year or longer is not unheard of. I have a generator in the back yard that I replace fuel on a 4 month cycle. The car doesnt seem to mind it, as i dont dump the entire tank in the car, the last bit i get rid of as it has gunk floating in it. When old gas sits in the carb jets, its an issue. That gunk will clog jets and orafices. SInce gas is a solvent, i would imagine that it would start to attack the 2 stroke oil and render both useless. Why not just mix as you need, and use STABIL in the gas. nipper