Viking

As I'm in Australia, my opinion regarding snow driving would be worth almost zilch (I've done it once, on a mountain track, at 5 km/hr!) but I have owned a 2wd Liberty (Legacy) wagon for 6 years. IMO I'd go for the 4wd for any situation where traction could be a problem (and I'd imagine snow and/or ice would present severe traction problems!) because front wheel drive cars (especially wagons) are a bugger to steer if the powered (i.e. front) wheels are also spinning! Having been "bogged", or rather stuck, once on wet grass (not kidding, there was also a steep slope involved) I'd go for 4wd anytime over 2wd. Other than that situation (where I pulled off a narrow concrete track) I have had few challenges with traction in my car. The only real issue has been in wet weather, but that can be an issue for any front-wheel-drive car. Australia is largely flat, and it certainly doesn't snow in many places. I avoided dirt (gravel) roads at all costs as the undercarriage isn't up to the pounding and flying rocks of Australian dirt roads.

Sweet, as a meteorological person, I work with thermometers all the time. Either the old fashioned mercurial read yourself ones, or electric ones. The electric ones read to 0.1 degree C (we scraped into the 20th century in 1976 and Metricated) and update every minute. There is something wrong with your setup, and it would seem to be electrical (very slow changes/updates). The only other thing which would give you these results are exposure: the sensor must be "exposed" properly, and not attached to a large metal or water-filled object. I had, on another car, a simple, cheap outside temp guage with the sensor attached (with a sticky backing) to the grille near the intercooler. As I could readily check it by looking at it as I arrived at work and then glancing at the wall readout of actual air temp once inside the office, it was accurate to within 0.2 degrees C, similar to the tolerance of our own instruments! Obviously it would suffer from heatsoak if the car was moving slowly or parked (as I was in a constantly hot climate at the time 55 C wasn't unusual). So if your temp gauge isn't reacting to temp changes, I'd suggest the actual sensor would be a good place to start looking, rather than the gauge itself.

In Australia, the recommended interval is 100,000km (~60,000 miles). I'd worry about a 5 year old belt, the rubber-type compounds can break down with age and humidity, regardless of whether they have been affected by oil (and it seems nearly all are!).

My '92 Liberty (Legacy) 2.2 wagon has 287,000 kms up and still runs really well. The only issues I've had have been the catalytic converter dying, and new alternator at around 250,000km. A few suspension bushes have gone, no surprise given our shocking roads. Oh, and the aircon compressor died a couple of weeks back. I converted to R134a gas, about 5 years ago, don't know if that's an issue with the compressor (I did have the lubricant and seals, as well as TX valve changed as well as the gas).

My '92 model is due for a timing belt change soon, with 287,000km up. The cam seal has been leaking for some time, this was done at the last belt change (210,000km). My question, what's the number for the Gates (or other US-made)belt? I had a Bosch belt ready to go in but I moved house and the removalist put the belt into storage and it didn't arrive. These belts are expensive here, so I'm trying to find one in the US. I know the DOHC ones don't fit, mine's EJ22 so is SOHC, when I had the 200k service the garage was sent wrong belt, hence the delay to 210k. When I have found information on timing belts (like the US Subaru site) there seems to be a dozen belts! As far as I know EJ18, 20 & 22 are similar in that they take the same belt (same stroke?) but the WRX etc, which are usually 2.0l, take a different belt as they're DOHC.

In Australia, all the 4wds had airbag suspension, so the only wagons which required new rear struts were 2wds like mine. I have only replaced the fronts though, at around 220,000km. The rears still seem OK 4 years later!