tirod

Yes, if the radiator is working properly, the part going back to the motor should be cool. That is exactly what it's supposed to do, dump the heat and only let colder coolant back in. Testing by hand after a short warmup isn't very definitive, tho. A temp gun would show much more precise differentials. The inlet would be running 190+, the outlet well under 150. And it should do that in Death Valley in the middle of summer. The thermostat is really a variable orifice to choke down the system and force it to run warmer. Otherwise you simply don't have the capacity to cool in the worst case situation.

A utility trailer no bigger than 5x8 lightly loaded would probably be the biggest I would go. I regularly use mine in that capacity, it's rated up to 1,000 pounds, but has hauled quite a bit more. The major issue is that puts your brakes at the upper limit of their capacity, and you have little extra to handle sudden stops, etc. Just the same as a 80,000 semi on the highway - it's not going to haul you down very quickly at all. You have to be a lot more defensive in driving, stay out of dense traffic or be in the way. You have to react to things happening 2-3X further down the road. Other than that, the mechanics of installing and using a hitch isn't rocket science, I'm using the 1 1/4" factory stock hitch and wiring that came on the 99. It's the same trailer I used behind a 4.0 Cherokee that had almost the same hp and much worse brakes, I considered the Forester an upgrade with all discs. Balance the load on the trailer and keep at least 150 pounds on the tongue to ensure proper handling. Having the trailer actually neutral or pulling up on the hitch is extremely dangerous if it starts oscillating at speed. It will quickly increase to the point all control is lost and you will have an interesting time watching the world go by your windshield. Keep weight on the tongue. If the car starts nosing left and right you need to reduce speed immediately and if necessary, pull over. Get more load on the hitch and it should go away.

Do you have the factory remote door locks with alarm? If so, disconnect the battery terminal, reconnect, and then on the first start, look under the dash for the small push button dangling from the wiring to the left of the steering wheel. It's the alarm reset - press it while cranking the car and it should reset the alarm. What you are seeing with the lights is a programmed "Tamper" alert that your battery was disconnected. I had the same situation while removing and replacing both the engine and transmission. Working on major drivetrain parts, you disconnect the battery and on the restart, the system tells you what you did. If the car is to be parked for weeks at a time, it's best to disconnect the battery to prevent ghost loads in the system draining it dead. In my daughter's 98 Legacy, we couldn't cure it until the starter was replaced. Apparently the solenoid was causing the problem which activated the alert. With an 85 pound wiring harness, Subaru has a lot of back feed and electrical interrelationships that start popping up as the harness ages. And since auto wiring isn't even as good as a bass boat, the incentive to buy new creeps into our thinking, and off to the dealer we finally go to eliminate the problem. It's planned slobsolesence, IMHO.

While the cable connections may be tight, that doesn't mean they aren't corroded enough underneath to create a layer of lead oxide. That is electrically non-conductive, the downside of using lead as a cheap casting metal for terminals. Since they stick up from the interior of the battery, they aren't gas tight and fumes will leak out around them in close proximity. So, for all the noise about maintenance free batteries, the terminals still aren't and likely never will be. They need servicing about every 6 months, scrubbed shiny clean. I get folks in to check their battery, I clamp the tester on the outside of the cable connectors, and the first thing that comes up wrong is that the tester cannot detect voltage. That is directly related to a mild layer of oxide buildup - we aren't even talking the gross green fungus that accumulates on some (and they get away with it!) Clean them up bright and shiny, if the problem goes away, fine, if not, you eliminated the #1 reason 85% of AAA wrecker callouts are billed, and can move to the much more rare causes.

Please post links to those lift kits for the OP. Scott's response describes exactly what I'm talking about - 5" spacers to drop the drivetrain doesn't really constitute a lift. The oil pan isn't any higher from the rocks doing that. Anyone can "wheel" with other off roaders, but when a trip to Moab in the spring is taken, I don't see shots of Subaru's traversing the infamous obstacles there. Nor have I seen much in the way of it described for those going over the rough patches on the Rubicon trail. That requires actually moving the drivetrain up to gain ground clearance. Moving the body doesn't count when it's the oil pan and axles getting in the way to begin with. If the subject is a bit new, take time to surf around. I brought up the HMMV and portal axles because that is what the pro's use in military vehicles to solve the problems of ground clearance - not lifting the body only and leaving the CV's as much in the way as they were before. Try driving centered over a 12" stump and the difference becomes noticeable. Even the 4WD trucks with front CV's can only accomplish it because the tire radius was increased. Lifting the body doesn't help. Live axles are still a bandaid. Portal axles get the job done. Portal axles: https://www.google.com/search?q=portal+axles&espv=210&es_sm=93&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=51UkU4D9FuyFyQGIhoAg&ved=0CEwQsAQ&biw=1024&bih=515#imgdii=_ Lifted Subarus: https://www.google.com/search?q=lifted+subarus&espv=210&es_sm=93&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=q1YkU4DoFcSMyAHe1YDoBA&ved=0CCYQsAQ&biw=1024&bih=515 Compare the photos. Portal owners show the ground clearance side by side with conventional axled cars. Lifted Subaru owners don't. Why? If someone has successfully lifted their Subaru, a full front photo next to another stocker should be the first thing they would post up. We aren't getting those, and certainly not next to other off road vehicles. They aren't showing us the ground clearance. Let's not encourage the smoke and mirrors of the average owner getting anything in the way of ground clearance with a CV shaft vehicle. It's a goal that is difficult to achieve in comparison to live axle vehicles. CV shafts are not the recommended method of gaining ground clearance for extreme off roading. They are primarily for smooth road operation, and that's the explicit reason for the difference in design between the two. Nobody converts to CV shafts to get ground clearance, they eliminate them and install a live axle. The Subaru drivetrain layout pretty much excludes that from happening.

And open ended repair with no written estimate of costs was agreed on, and that is what has resulted. Allowing someone with NO previous experience to work on one of these - including myself - is also questionable. I spent about 6 hours online over a period of two weeks until I understood exactly the correct procedure to install the torque converter, and then, diagnosing a bad solenoid that came in the used trans. The rationalization to spend more on the transmission than the car could sell for is known at being uneconomically repairable. Most choose to scrap the car on the spot when definitive evidence exists. I had the problem recently, after replacing the motor, the trans went. I was already in over my head, bought a replacement and installed it myself. I now own a car worth about 2.5X what it would sell for. Nobody else to blame. When sourcing my solenoid, it came from the old one, took about 15 minutes and a salvage yard with a core would be as quick. I agree, it's highly suspect that it would take weeks to source one and that it had to be made. I agree the shop has some questionable practices but all in all, with the expertise demonstrated concerning the sales hijinks and how they were countered, it seems the basic decision wasn't at the same level of discretion. Anybody can say "Sue the bums" but it's not their money they are spending to get an attorney on retainer - and it's very common in this day to overlook the basic responsibility that the owner has when they agree to the repair in the first place. That will be a major issue in any legalities. It's difficult to complain about getting soaked when someone walks outdoors into the pouring rain with no umbrella. I'm still drying off myself.

A battery going dead overnight indicates some form of load on it. The test is to get it charged up 100% - which may take over 24 hours. You cannot quick charge one effectively, and repeatedly doing it will damage the plates in it. Once fully charged, monitor it for 24 hours unconnected to the car. If it hasn't gone down, the car is the problem. There is a short and it's draining the battery. If it does go down, the battery is defective and should be replaced under warranty. It's a pretty simple test and most vendors won't argue the point much, they should just replace it. But - the second battery showing the same symptoms definitely will be considered innocent and the car very suspect. So far the one thing that wasn't described was getting the battery fully charged (at least 24 hours at 10 amps) and leaving it disconnected overnight to prove whether it's at fault or not.

When pulling the valve cover don't distort the tubes, which are crimped into the head and non-replaceable. Meaning that if one is loose, the factory fix is a new head. Other makes don't do it that way, but they leak more often. If you have one bad plug, likely another is, too. You can pull them and check (no, not that easy,) since it has 188k on it they should be the second set nearing the end of their life. New plugs all around is indicated by mileage alone, don't scrimp or downgrade from the factory OEM type. Cheaper types of plugs tend to misfire more than OBD allows and it flags a code.

If you have the replacement seal in hand, just hold it up and compare to the installed one. If you can see all the seal, you can pull it straight out. Some of the reference data on MT vs AT transmissions get it mixed up. AT transmissions are inside, MT transmissions install outside. What does your trans side plates do? My Chiltons was wrong as usual, Checking with the seal next to it confirmed the problem. No way it was going to come out on my AT, the side plate had to. I left them alone until they leak, the car needed to get back on the road. No need to pull the trans, just count the turns and lock it back down in the same place the retainer did. Mark with a paint pen or whiteout to check. Pulling the trans is major mojo work, avoid it unless absolutely necessary.

Subaru builds cars on a unibody platform that has the chassis and body structure integrated and welded together. Body lift kits aren't an option, just like the old Cherokees. The use of CV axles and having the inboard connections hard anchored to the drivetrain means they can only accept limited angularity. "Lifting" the car really means just dropping the wheels as much as possible, which extends the inboard sliders to their maximum limit and puts the outboard CV joint at a high angle of attack. That causes damage and potential separation. The traditional limit to any Subaru getting a "lift" is about two inches, more if special axles with roller splines are used to extend their length. Those are becoming available. If more than two inches is involved, then custom extensions to the struts are needed, which some have done. It doesn't fix the high angles of attack the CV have imposed on them, it just requires an even bigger more expensive custom CV shaft. At $250 each they get expensive. This is why the CV front axle trucks drop the front differential to keep the axles straight - which dumps the the differential right back down into the dirt and makes having clearance problematic. It's been considered with the Subaru, just drop the drivetrain 6" and voila, it's "lifted." But the pan and everything is still right down there close to the dirt. And rocks. The one solution that does work is portal hub/axles - like the HMMV, large gearboxes at each wheel which separate the driving spindle from the CV by 5-6" or more in vertical height. Instant real ground clearance at the tune of $1,500 a wheel. Aside from all that, the reason off roaders use live axles is that the differentials aren't bolted to the frame and can float. That allows the wheels and tires to have significantly more movement going across obstacles. It's call articulation, most glamour shots of off road vehicles show the opposite wheels at full droop and bump to demonstrate the ability. With the inboard differentials anchored to the drivetrain and chassis, it simply can't be done as well. This is why racing off road vehicles with CV axles really can't cross extreme terrain the way full live axle rock crawlers can. So, building any Subaru to directly look like or compete with a Jeep style vehicle is a vain hope unless you have access to lots of money and portal hub conversions. That's why there are almost no 6" lift kits or ever will be.

No, it is not dealer only. Dorman part number 917-034 available at an auto parts store, about $40-50. Rock Auto, $16 plus shipping.

Likely the battery was already low. Modern batteries are wonderful things, they have double the power they did 30 years ago, and are maintenance free. No checking the water, etc. That, unfortunately, has nothing to do with the terminals on top, which seem to need a cleaning every 6 months. Those terminals stick up thru the case, as water tight as the designers can make them, they will push sulphuric fumes thru that area and it bathes the connection in a corrosive atmosphere. Those little felt rings that the auto parts stores push are actually helpful in keeping the fumes off the connection. If the connections present too much voltage drop, the battery won't charge. I've seen some clean looking terminals that had enough hidden corrosion in the connection that a diagnostic load tester couldn't detect any current. Like it or not they need maintenance. And that goes for Optima's, too. Charging a battery takes time. If a 500 CCA battery is down at 50% of it's power rating, then, charging at 10 amps with a bench charger hooked up, it's going to need 250 amps put back in. 250 / 10 equal 25 hours. Two hours won't even begin to do the job. And idling the car that long won't either. While the alternator puts out over 100 amps, the fuel injection, pump, circuits, etc consume up to 80% of its output, so, you're back to that 10 amp hour charge rate. Nobody is going to drive the car for 25 hours to charge it up. Jump starting it does nothing. Batteries are rated in cranking amps output, but another rating on the label is reserve capacity. That's how long the battery will put out 25 amps of power at 80 degrees before falling below 10.5 VDC. Most will run at least 60 minutes. If you are running a big stereo system with sub woofer rated at 1000 watts, it will pull 25-30 amps all by itself - hence the fuse on the unit. If the battery was already discharged from corroded terminals, it's no wonder the battery was toast in 20 minutes. Case in point, a few years ago someone pulled into the store off the Interstate with a complaint the headlights were flickering and the car starting to run badly. They had been on the road for four hours, running a 2500 watt stereo system off the normal alternator and single starting battery. Testing the battery showed about 15% power left - the system could not keep up with the draw from the stereo and had drained the battery nearly dead. The clue was the huge cable attached to the positive terminal. In every case that I have seen, the home installer had no clue that the system would easily exceed the power output of the alternator and drain the battery. The few shops locally will install another battery in the trunk for stereo power, but the downside is they seem to last about two years. That's pricey when it's a $150 Optima, but cheap up front compared to adding another alternator and drive system for $500+. Which is exactly what is required on ambulance chassis. It's all about the math and nobody teaches it or writes it up in the owner's manual. Mostly School of Hard Knocks learning about it.

Crimped butt splices work just fine - in fact,tcrimping is military specification in combat vehicles, even aircraft. Soldering is not, repeat, not all that good because it stiffens the connection and can crack under repeated vibration. Soldering is great on Heathkit projects but isn't transportation grade or practice. Use heat shrink tubing over the joint to help seal out water, or a heat shrinkable butt splice. Nonetheless, it won't stop water from creeping under the insulation, which can travel numerous feet inside the wiring and it exactly why flood damaged cars get totaled. It's not the water in the transmission, the 4 wheelers deal with that easily enough. Water in the wiring loom is eventual death to it's nervous system. The #1 requirement that the military system has is that it's completely sealed and waterproof - which is how the loom keeps it's integrity and prevents getting corroded. In the scale of transportation, the average bass boat has better wiring than a car. It's all about selling you a new one in about ten years - the makers are not giving away the farm with high quality looms that let a car resist voltage drop to sensors, turn signals, etc. for decades. Any restoration shop knows a car over 25 years old needs the original harness ripped out entirely and replaced to get it running the same as new. Otherwise it will be one spliced repair after another. Every termination on an auto wire harness can suck in moisture by capillary action - it's already too late when we buy them to fix it better. So, crimp it and move on, if it's a particularly rare edition that deserves restoration, deal with it then.

I've been selling auto parts for 6 years. Everything you described is entirely normal. I've run across the plug heat range issue before, I'm thinking it's slightly different because old worn out motors with a lot of oil in the cylinder and blowby need it. If you pull your present plugs and they are dark and sooty, a step up to a hotter plug might help. Then the issue becomes, did they ever actually make that plug? They don't make them to sell on speculation, they make them to fit a specific year make model. Never assume a hotter or colder plug is waiting on the shelf. Filters, no big deal. it's all about the gasket diameter and threads. Those must match. The different sized cup wrenches to take off the old ones are a bit of a scam, I use a pair of filter pliers, they seem to fit a range without any difficulty. What exact build date is the car? Makers have an advanced numbering system for what "year" model they designate, it usually starts in August of the previous year. And then, they make running changes which are not even documented. Other previous owners do, too. As a point of discussion, it's never a guarantee you have exactly what you expect on a car - you have what you have, and that's what you deal with. I've frequently discovered that the car was not only the year the owner thought it was, it wasn't even the year option the factory discusses. It had the first few weeks of the next years parts on it. Confusing? You bet, but it goes to you have what you have. Doesn't mean a thing what either the owner or parts guy thinks it is. When you run across this kind of anomaly, the best thing to do is remove the part, get a drive down to the parts store, and show the counterman what you are working with. Much harder to screw it up - OPEN THE BOX and compare it. Even then things can turn out different. I'm no fan of the retail clerks they hire at Autozone, and my company is trending the same way - salesmanship over experience and education. Nonetheless, it's not that the store is broken - every disconnect I've investigated was based on a lack of knowledge about what the car really was. That's why we have VIN lookups, and you'd be surprised how often those are no longer accurate. A wreck or blown motor and a resourceful mechanic who knows his make can put together a good working combination the factory never made.

As said, ABS doesn't do a thing to make you stop shorter. The concept that it can is completely wrong. Again, as said, all it does is let you steer around the objects that you are quite likely approaching too fast to miss. SLOW DOWN. BRAKE EARLIER. I've taught four of my children to drive, and this has consistently been a concept they have refused to accept. Youth gives them quick reflexes and a mental frame of mind that doesn't calculate risk. Age and experience change that - and every time they have had their first brush with the dynamics of an out of control vehicle, they learn differently. We can blame the brakes, tires, service manager, or Subaru all we want, but the reality is that car, with whatever brakes it has, has to be driven within it's capabilities. If the driver is sliding into objects and hitting things - or nearly so - then the driving habits need to be modified to prevent it. If the car needs to be fixed, fix it and then discover it's improved capabilities. But thinking that ABS can magically stop 3200 pounds of aluminum and steel on slick roads while driving it like it was on a dry race track is doing it wrong. Accept that neither you or the car are capable, make whatever changes you need, and test it out safely. You will likely discover you might be able to get an incremental improvement in performance, but you can't rewrite the laws of physics. If you want to see examples of how badly it can go wrong, visit the nearest salvage yard or pick and pull. Don't expect fancy options to correct the mistake of overoptimistic driving beyond the conditions of the road.

Very rarely is a timing belt an "easy fix' - or THEY would have. Right? So, if apparently it was too hard or expensive for them, it could still be a nest of snakes for even a qualified mechanic. What happens when the belt breaks is that the cams go out of time and the pistons hit the valves. Valves get bent, which could damage the valve guides, and the pistons could get dented or more likely cracked. The roller rockers from valve to cam are in the way, too, and the bar they ride on gets stressed. Somebody in the life of that car was negligent about changing the belt, which usually includes the water pump at the same time. So it's an indicator the car had poor maintenance by an uncaring or uninformed owner. What else was ignored? Interference motors in certain cars are causing a lot of depreciation and loss of credibility, the public is noticing, and the makers are responding by moving back to chains which don't have those catastrophic blowups as much. On the market of used cars, tho, too many attempt to sell them by glossing over the real reasons and give powder puff answers that don't really express the reality of how badly they broke it. They are just trying to bail out and make as much money as they can. I would assess the car for it's used car value less the cost of another used motor less the cost of labor. That might be enough that if it was just torn down and sold off for parts it would pay for itself. People need struts, fenders, transmissions, etc. Taking an example very close in my experience, a $2400 used Forester with blown motor, less $1,300 for the motor shipped in from another state, or $1,900 for a cheap reman, less the $500 labor (which I spent in tools and aggravation) means the price of the car on craigslist would be about $600 to even get any attention. Most that I see sell for less when cash is pulled out of the wallet. That is why so many get junked. You only lose a few hundred, rather than get stuck driving a car with 220,000 that now is has $3700 in it and couldn't possibly sell for that. Nonetheless, some still do it. Who knew the AWD trans would shell itself out three weeks later? Oh, my. Moral of the story is that any car over 150k has a short finite life left in it measured in tens of thousands of miles and the downside of replacing major drivetrain parts will result in expenses beyond it's book value. You will sell for a loss or be economically forced to drive it until the next major failure just to get some of your money out of it. If that happens unexpectedly I will part it out and junk the rest. Or, put an ad in the local craigslist saying "easy to fix." Yeah, using your credit card.

The electrical gremlin would include the dropping resistor connection on the passeger fenderwell, and the wiring loom as the solenoid connections inside the trans hanging down from the valve body. Because it is intermittent, it indicates that heat may also be a cause. As a part warms up to a critical temperature, expansion causes it to separate at a crack and you lose connection, throwing the TC into limp mode. It would eventually be prudent to pull the pan (save and reuse the fluid) to check the solenoids and wiring inside. The pan at the magnet is in extremely close proximity to the line pressure solenoid next to the drain plug. It it gets pressured up from the transmission jack, it could crack, or simply getting high centered on rough ground off road. If the magnet/pan is resting on it, as it warms and cools it could be causing it to change. Kind of off the wall, but all the symptoms present to electrical and loss of the circuit as if a solenoid is shorting out. PS use a gasket, not RTV, as it can dissolve and clog the valve body.

Again, they are. In the limited perspective of only working on front drive transaxles, they're much the same. Working on economy three speeds or automatics from 30+ years ago, they are a nest of snakes. In those days you could drop the driveshaft by loosening four nuts, 4-6 transmission bolts, and then out. 30 minutes was very practical. The average DIY who has never done it, not so much. Please don't overstate it. There are posts on the internet about owners trying to clock the TC and not accomplishing it for three months. Their set of instructions never mentioned the third internal tube which has to mate correctly. All they get is a pic of one half an inch too far out. Nobody even mentions test fitting the starter to see if you have it right. They are apparently not the accomplished professionals others seem to be. If you have been down that road many times, bragging about it doesn't make it easier for the new guy. He needs the details and cautions. Who has mentioned it in the thread for the OP? An AWD transaxle is a piece of cake only if you already have the skills. Many do not. It's what keeps the dealer in business, and reading up Subaru threads, the business is really good with this demographic. Most of the owners have extremely limited skills. The much smaller group of those who do work on them are much the opposite. But, mechanical competence doesn't equate to posting skills, either. Nope, you don't have to disco a lot of the suspension to get the axles out, but claiming they just pop out, not so much. That is a high level skill trick many aren't going to finesse the first time out. Removing the lower control arms, OK. Pulling the nuts off the top of the strut will do it, too. OR - you can remove the lower strut bolts at the camber adjustment/spindle and re-install them by the witness marks you left on them. Lots of ways to do it. Not all that common to find on the internet tho. If we keep it up, we might be able to catalog all of them here, the OP certainly will benefit. Then he can make an informed choice and do what he needs.

One issue is this - if the ABS isn't doing what you think it should, then, modify your driving habits. If you are having issues with being too close with the brakes you have, then complaining about it being a mechanical problem isn't taking responsibility for how the car is used. Back off and make more room. Then, you can't rear end anybody. Once the brakes are "fixed," then, don't take up a risky behavior until you have proven they are reliable. Nonetheless, using dry pavement summertime habits is the issue - in winter or wet weather, they are inappropriate. If you have seen older drivers who look a bit less sharp because their following distance is longer, or they brake gently earlier, the real reason is they are driving with year round road habits - not ones based on optimistic best case circumstances. Frankly, blaming defective ABS just isn't good enough. If it really is, you know it, and should adjust your habits until a repair is made. If you discover it actually is working just like everyone else's, it goes to just backing off. You already have the proof in your policy expense.

Ethanol isn't all that. One problem is that it will also carry every drop of water it comes in contact with thru the injection system, second, it has a 90 day life and then becomes acidic, which starts deteriorating the fuel system causing no starts, etc. We've been running state mandated gasahol for years here, and one affect has been to run all the small engine vendors out of business. They get stuck for the warranty service for units the big box sells. Now the remaining ones require no alcohol premium and their fuel additive for warranty purposes - which works. i work auto parts, I get a lot of folks who come in with driveability issues, or trying to revive a car that has sat for awhile. I can sell a lot of fuel additive, and do, but my first recommendation is to use a tank of no alcohol premium first to see if that doesn't clear up the problem. If it's been sitting, drain it and refill with no alcohol premium. No news is good news, hopefully they got it fixed. I never hear back they have continuing problems. I have tried tankfuls of gasahol and no alcohol fuel back to back, and, anecdotally, saw a 2MPG difference, plus more power. To do that requires using a grade with more octance, but the result is less retardation due to knock. That makes more power, and if you are really driving the same, you use less pedal. You do the math to see if it's justified for you, basically, I decided to just say no to the cheap gasahol at the pump. It's less octane than the '60's and not saving all that much if the car is running better. You get what you pay for. Missouri is now floating legislation to eliminate the mandate on blending alcohol. One aspect is that the refiners have purchased feed corn stock to make it, driving the price up, which translates to more expensive beef. Another is the deterioration issue. The opposition camp sounds very environmental, but the bottom line is that the agricultural lobby is dead set against ending their monopoly and government subsidized handouts. And that goes to the fact they think gasahol couldn't survive on the open market. It has to be forced on the consumer with that perspective. Which is not the kind of country I thought I would grow up to live in. Give me free choice and just see what would happen. Texas and Oklahoma aren't mandating gasahol, guess what, you can't find it. It won't sell enough to bother putting in a pump.

I had an '80 F150 with the 300 six, the mileage wasn't good. I could haul a load of firewood, but without 4WD, your buddy will destroy a new clutch when he gets stuck in the woods. As said, the cab is small, there's no sheltered storage or seating for more than two others and that gets cramped quickly. It's also big, it doesn't maneuver in traffic well, and it heels over like a yacht in high seas in quick lane changes. The ride is too soft in front and with no load it's harsh in back. This coming from the perspective of someone who had just sold his '66 Mustang and moved into the truck. No positive comparison except you can haul a lot of DIY home remodeler stuff around when you need to. I sold it when the cab was crushed in a tornado, I had already moved on to a Jeep Cherokee with auto and 4WD. Lots more room, plenty of sheltered storage, and yes, I could haul a small load of wood in back with the seat down, and did so. But - every now and then, I needed something bigger, so I bought a 5x8 utility trailer. One that small tracks behind with no curb jumping and hauls the same stuff as a pickup bed - but doesn't destroy the gas mileage so much. Nonetheless, the 4.0 in the Cherokee wasn't all that economical and got about the same as the truck, 16-18 in town. That's a more realistic figure for everyday driving. Off road, it was far superior to a 2WD truck, but without lockers in the differentials, you can get stuck just as much, just further into the swamp. That is the #1 problem - 4WD isn't without some kind of limited slip or locker to get at least one tire pulling. I've had to the the F150 pulled out, and the Cherokee. Jeeps aren't bought, they really are built. Stock Jeeps aren't all that, just compared to 2WD sedans that would be out of place off road. Since then, I bought a 99 Forester AWD. Just a tad smaller than the Cherokee, but newer ones of any of the three have morphed into supersized. I can still use the trailer and have with the Forester, that size doesn't challenge it and the combination is still well matched. The Jeep had 171 hp stock, the Forester 174 or so, plus the AWD shuttles the power to whichever end has traction. I does pull better in the snow, and the ABS chattering reminds you that you can go too fast when you clamp down on the brakes. The upgrades to heated mirrors, windows, seats, etc make it a much better cold season car, and that is obvious when you see the distribution of sales nationwide - AWD is a northern or mountainous terrain seller. Off road, tho, the Subaru is not and cannot be used aggressively. It simply does not have the ground clearance that the live axle trucks and 4WD Cherokees have. That is because of the CV axles, altho those are now on the front of trucks. You cannot really lift a Subaru - the shafts are anchored inboard to the frame thru the differentials mounted to the unibody, and they will not tolerate excessive angles. With a live axle vehicle, you can at least lift them moderately which will elevate the engine and transmission pans away from things that can and will destroy them. Subarus have solenoids hanging into the transmission pan, striking the pan and bending it even slightly upwards will damage them. Note the rally guys are using manuals with high travel suspensions and lots of skid plates. AWD cars are much more prone to crushing the solenoids, if you really plan hard off road use, then modifications are necessary with any choice. It's a matter of which achilles heel you pick, and none are exempt from it. You can choose to run your Subaru easy off road, the problem is that terrain is no respecter of persons, and things can and will happen. Consider carefully to what extreme you mean to take things, then the costs to get the vehicle prepared and armored to meet that level of challenge. Don't plan on doing any water crossings deeper than hub height - despite all the hype, off road vehicles aren't warranted for it and the electrical systems are toast if they sit in water longer than 1/2 hour. You can drain and change all the fluids, but a wet wiring harness is a total as far as insurance is concerned. They aren't waterproof - the average bass boat rates higher. It's planned slobsolescence on the part of the makers. It's why trailer wiring on pickups hauling boats has such a short life. Define what you really plan to do with the vehicle 85% of the time, and then bias it to at least not be all wrong for the other 15%. I still enjoy the capability of the Forester even if I have lost a lot of working ground clearance. It's a matter of knowing - now - that I can plow thru creek banks knocking them down without having some concerns about engine and transmission damage - something the truck and Jeep would tolerate. I can't recommend Subarus in that use, they simply aren't intended for it.

That screen is indeed bolted to the valve body and can be accessed by removing the pan. Not too much to it, tho. Transmissions don't generate a lot of sludge and the screen doesn't trap anything - it just keeps the big pieces from getting into the pump. From there fluid flow eventually puts it thru the spin on filter. The point is that the magnet in the bottom of the pan catches most of the iron filings, and the rest floats around in the pan. Since there isn't any carbon buildup or junk from the intake system getting flushed past the rings like the engine, the trans stays pretty clean. Dexron being 60% detergent keeps a lot of stuff in suspension and won't let it accumulate. There is a TSB on delayed shifting on the Phase II 4EAT and it was an engineering choice to improve mileage, It's not a tightly valved transmission that instantly responds to control, more like a polite "I'm getting to it." and it's noticeable if you switch from a Detroit make back and forth. Same for downshifting under power - the trans computer gets into economy mode and it will take a two-count getting around to it. You have to drive it in third for awhile to improve the downshift, or do it manually with a poke at the accelerator pedal. All known symptoms of it being Subaru, not so much a symptom of it being a malfunction. The line pressure has something to do with it, when the solenoid or dropping resistor fail, you can count on it shifting a lot harder and with no finesse. That is another way to test for the source of the problem - disconnect the resistor and you should experience it going to limp mode, hard early shifts, stuck in 2 or 3rd, with a constantly flashing AT TEMP light and throw a P0748 code, at least in a 99. If the trans mechanically fails, none of the sensors "see" it and you get limp mode with no codes. No need to ask how I know. Anyway, if your lag is more than normal, it might be hard to assess over the internet. You could add a can of transmission cleaner to see if it sharpens up the shifting action, cheap solution first. If it does nothing, then varnish or sludge isn't likely the culprit. I have three Subaru AWD vehicles in the yard, 98,99,01, they all seem to shift the same, just a bit of lag and certainly less sharp than a 03 Caravan. It has the least mileage, which is another factor - transmissions with a lot of miles just run a bit softer and less crisp. The newer one I've installed seems to have it a little better than the older with 220k on it when it failed.

My link was to the elaborate process to pull the transmission codes, not OBD. Agreed, I preach it daily, codes do not tell you what is broken. OBD is mostly emissions and won't even tell you the oil pressure is low. My comment about AWD Subaru transaxles being complicated comes from the perspective of comparing them to a Detroit sedan. With three input shafts connecting the torque converter, things are not easy peasy, plus having the front differential between the TC and actual unit, it gets further complicated. Add a rear output shaft and you have another item. The front CV shaft seals are installed on the back of the differential preload plates, you do not simply pull them out and drive in new. Plus installing the TC requires pulling the pump drive tube to connect it to the TC first - and most DIY Subaru owner's working on a transmission replacement aren't going to find those instructions in a Chiltons (which are largely filled with errors - including a misleading CV seal reference.) I have put an AWD transaxle in mine. Along with all the engine connections, pulling the CV shafts requires disconnecting enough of the struts to get the spindles some free travel. It's not easy like a 350 Chevy station wagon, and they are not light weight units. The tool rental places prefer to upsize their trans jacks to the 3/4 ton capable ones because of it. You cannot bench press this thing into place like a Mustang three speed. I'm not going to be the one to misinform the first time installer and say it's easy like any other car. It's not - install the TC incorrectly and you can shove the pump tube into the pump, which results in destroying the replacement transmission. I found I had to spend as much time on the net to find the correct procedures as I did under the car. It can be done, tho, and it's running now, even with the P0748 code and flashing AT TEMP light episode that resulted in replacing the "A" pump pressure solenoid. For those not aware, use of a trans jack under the pan can drive the magnet at the dimple into the solenoid rendering it useless and requiring more repairs. There's a fraction of an inch clearance and the pan will flex that much. Not your dad's 350 Turbo Hydro. Complicated.

Post #20. http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1297696 Have the same problem, new-to-me used trans. Code, flashing AT light, hard shift to second, no overdrive. Of course I used a trans jack, they all pretty much lift using the pan. The issue is that a dimple in the pan holding a magnet is directly under the solenoid. Use of a jack at that point pressing upward will contact it as the dimple eliminates most of the clearance. It's vulnerable. Jacking the pan and distorting it won't likely cause it to starve the filter pickup. It's located on the valve body 2-3 inches above the pan and would be obvious if crushed that far. But that dimple is deliberately placed where it is. A better pan would be solenoid friendly. I haven't seen one designed to create damage. Bears consideration. Replacing the solenoid does not guarantee a repair. The wiring, dropping resistor, and TCM are suspect until proven innocent.

Is it too soon to suggest he read the transmission codes? http://www.subaruoutback.org/forums/99-do-yourself-illustrated-guides/44383-199-2004-how-read-diagnostic-trouble-codes-dtcs.html IF there are any CEL codes note them as input from the engine sensors is needed for the transmission computer. Check the two connectors on the passenger side behind the bell housing are plugged in, and look to see a ground wire is connected at the bellhousing strut rod. Simple things like that mess up the computer. Second stage, check the wiring harness on the transmission has continuity on each wire. They can be unplugged and done more easily out of the car, plus the connectors cleaned and sealed with dielectric grease. Good luck, Subaru automatic transmissions are complex and not much is known about them. I bought one recently for the same money and have replaced the engine already, the transmission is getting finished up today. Subarus with over 200,000 miles aren't economically justified to repair by normal standards. Just ask my wife.