nvu

It's water getting past the rubber boots and collecting in the hole. Just pull the plug wires and look at the clamp inside them. Might as well pull the plugs and inspect while you're there. Might be a good idea to blast the holes with compressor air before taking out the spark plugs. I found a picture, see the wavy areas where the plug wires are. Water likes to collect up there and eventually makes it inside the hole.

My ej22 was acting up weeks ago when the rain was constant in socal. It had similar issues of running fine with gas and idling poor. Turned out there was water in the spark tube and it corroded the connector so it didn't clamp on the plug tightly. Worth a check if you haven't done so.

Sender port is the simplest for a temporary install if you want to diagnose the problem. You could remove the alternator belt and swing it out of the way. The car could run for an hour before batteries get low. It's likely just the sender, the engine would already make bad noises if it were actually low pressure while driving. With the engine warmed and real pressure gauge attached, rev it a bit and see if the pressure stays good.

Not sure on 99's, I had a similar issue on an 03 and it did turn out to be the relay. For the 03 it was next to the fuse box on the drivers side, had to remove lower dash to access it. It was a cylindrical relay.

Maybe check the timing tensioner? A failing one would make valve knocking sounds.

i especially enjoy that this causes cancer, birth defects, and other reproductive harm

remove the lower dash, should be only Philips screws, unhook some switches attached to the plastic panel. then if needed you can also unhook the fuse box from the frame, it's only some 10mm bolts/nuts. no need to unhook anything, but should give plenty of room

you have the version where the 2 bolts are external to the tank. i don't think it needs any washers. middle one. the one i have the bolts are internal to the tank, directly touching the fluid. the washers go inside between the bolt and the internal tank bottom. right one. rtv wouldn't hurt, just give it a day to set. it really shouldn't need any to seal. thinking that bottom plate is tweaked, check that it's flat and square. If the crush washers helped, maybe the bolts are too long and not original. Here's the link to the pic https://parts.subaru.com/a/Subaru_1996_Impreza-Outback-Wagon-22L-MT-4WD/_54100_6028409/POWER-STEERING-SYSTEM/G10-346-02.html

If it's just at the reservoir I'd rtv the mating surfaces. The copper washers are for the newer style reservoir.

push the piston 80% of the way into the block, tighten the compressor a bit more, tap around the edges so the compressor gets into the chamfer, tap the piston in

are you using the ratcheting sleeve compressor? place the piston face up on a flat surface, place the compressor over it and lightly tension it down making sure everything remains square. pick both up and put it them on the block, tap it so the skirt protrudes into the block and the rings are around the last tension band. lightly tap around the top of the compressor and tension a bit more. make sure it's squared and centered. the piston should slot in with moderate tapping.

Center diff takes the brunt of the mismatch. In a safe place, drive in figure 8's and see if there are any odd noises under the car. Center diff failures are usually a binding/release feeling, then quick knocking sounds, then catastrophic failures that could lock all 4 wheels. It's probably safe if there are no noises or binding.

For composite gaskets it wouldn't do much as they fail the rubber/graphite breaking down and eventually coming apart. Moving the thermostat to the top has the risk of it never opening if there's a pocket of air big enough to dry it out.

No

R180 only found in sti, and mated to the 6spd. Will need bigger axles and the bigger hub knuckles from an sti of that era. To drop in and replace an r160 you'd have to frankenstein some axles and possibly slot out the driveshaft flange. I'm only familiar with the gc/gd era up till 2007. Maybe later models have something what would drop in.

it's a bit misleading, they are and aren't depending on the years. 05+ sti's changed to 115x5 hubs and cartridge style bearings. They are no longer press in bearings. 08+ wrxs changed to cartridge like sti's. so, 04 sti, 07 and earlier wrx are exact same knuckle/hubs as base impreza. no differences there, only beefier axles or different brakes on the better models.

Cut up a credit card, jam in between seal and snout, pry all you want with screwdriver.

Might be a weak tensioner, it shouldn't move at all when the engine is running. Half a tooth off on one side isn't a big problem.

From the 02-03 factory manual

Another vote for tensioner

Not sure if it's necessary, but move the cam and crank sensors over too. One less thing to troubleshoot.

Is it a push clutch transmission? Could be cracked clutch fork if so.

No experience with automatics, I went from a cable throttle turbo to dbw turbo; same car, same manual trans. There's somewhat of a rev hang with the dbw when shifting gears. On the cable engine, you clutch in, let off gas, and shift. On the dbw, if you do the same thing, depending on how hard you're accelerating, the rpm would stay the same or even shoot up even though you released the gas. Not a big deal, you just learn to let off the gas before clutching in hard acceleration. I was annoyed for a month or so. With the manual I don't recall any twitchiness at the low end, but then again the rev hang bothered me more.

Some smoke in that rear area is okay, that's what the pcv is supposed to remove while idling. With the engine hot, rev it aggressively couple times, as long is it's not spewing out a constant trail from the oil filler it should be ok. Was the old one clogged? Shake it, there should be a loud and metallic clack like a paint spray can. A dull thud would mean it's starting to clog up. You'll still have to address that oil leak, take off the cam covers. They should be 10mm bolts. Being that old and oil soaked, expect some nuts to be seized and end up breaking the plastic they're molded into. If that happens, just proceed with the rest of the bolts and pry the cover off. Only the side covers are removable, the center one can't be removed without taking off belts and crank pulley. Flashlight and phone camera can be used to inspect the center area.

Maybe excessive blowby and/or clogged pcv? Drive around and get the car up to temp, take off the oil cap and rev the engine a bit. If you see smoke coming out of the oil filler neck it's blowby. It's rare to see the oil pump seal leak.