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on pressure. If you put in a slightly thinner oil results you describe are normal for an engine with a bit of wear. Since Subies have oil pump sealing problems it might be a good idea to check your actual pressure as reccomended above. The cheap fix is to add slightly heavier oil.

good stuff. I would check with a knowledgeable Ozzie about exactly what your engine is. The reason is that I married a Kiwi and travel to Kiwi and Oz now and again. I know that Oz gets engines we don't, often before we do. In kiwi all bets are off becuse they allow import cars that meet any major standard and get versions from all over. I see stuff in Kiwi that I thought was home market all the time. Maybe some of these folks have truly worldwide knowledge fo what is fitted to what, but I find it pretty confusing, made more so by the importation of used Japanese cars to Oz and Kiwi and used engines.

common a failure item. One interesting thing about OBWs post was that his clearances were down but consistant. Usually exhaust valves are the killers. You could pull the valve covers and put each cylinder on TDC on the compression stroke and just measure what you had there. Emily would know more about the habits of the mating Subaru, but usually these sort of things have patterns. For example on VWs #3 cylinder was shrouded by the oil cooler and that was where most of the valve problems were. Emily might be able to tell you if most Subie valve problems are on a particualr cylinder. Then you could check there and if you had running clearance it would be a fair stab to assume you would get by for a while.

with Subies, but has varied over many engines, lots of them Diesels, your experience may be as valid as mine. The point is the same for both of us. It is a good idea to check as wear will occur. When you go in for a midlife adjustment you are going to see things a bit more in tolerence than you will on a failure teardown. VWs used to be a real pain for valve adjustments requireing them every few thousand miles. At least with OHC and bucket tappets we see less change and wear. As long as there is enough clearance so that a valve is not kept open while it is hot it won't burn. It is better to have the factory spec becuse it allows for later wear.

but I agree with commuter that when you go to adjust them you will find some too tight, some loose, and the majority will be close enough. On Jags it was a real pain with bucket tappets. It would only be worse with a 4 cam Subie. If you don't do it you do take the chance of some valves getting too tight and burning. If I had your engine I would be very tempted to pull the heads and have a machine shop do the valves, replacing with the latest head gaskets. If I did not have the money for this I would probably try the cheaper place as it seems they know what they are doing.

I am wondering if these tests are not as infallible as they were sold to us as a few years ago. I am sure that if you have a signifigant leak they can identify it.

and with that many Ks it deserves a bit of wear. A lot of other engines would already be dead. I would just plan on doing a cleaning every few months as long as you plan to keep the car.

On another board a mechanic claimed that he had seen a number of subies with blown head gaskets that the traditional exhaust gas in the coolant test would not reveal. I was wondering about that as I have heard of a couple of instances where folks said the coolant test said nothing but all the other symptoms were consistant with type 1 blown gaskets. I am now speculating that if the gasket is just starting to blow perhaps the residue is not in the coolant at a level the test can detect it.

I ever checked oil on. I find I get the most consistant readings by warming it up fully. Letting it sit about five minutes and then wiping and checking the stick. This is on a level of course.

I would think it may be unusal for water to go into the oil without a head gasket being badly blown. I would start by changing the oil and cleaning out the overflow tank and hope for the best. Perhaps you will be lucky. (Fingers crossed).

I have fixed radiators on the road with epoxy. not the best but better than blocking up internal engine passages. Try pulling the rdiator and plaed poverty to the guy in the local radiator shop. If they really want to they can solder some pretty bad holes. I used to hook my oxy acetelene out fit up with a propane tank and clean the thing really well when I had to do it myself. The final stage trick was to loosen the radiator cap or put on a lower pressure cap to keep from blowing the soldered joints till you had the bucks for a new radiator.

if you have to bear the cost yourself watch the water closely until you have the bucks to fix it.

have Subes. One runs a rental car place in Queenstown and has several in his fleet. The other has a couple of subes in his three car family fleet. The Kiwi ones with the 2.2 have been very reliable at high klicks. Far better than my 2.5 Forester. I agree with the folks who extoll the 2.2. It earned its fine reputation. By the way I think the Legacy is the best to drive, maybe Outback next, and Forester last. Don't throw rocks Forester lovers, I have one too. For my situation an ideal car would be an Aussie 2.2 Forester, but you can't get them here.

will play some part. If my car varied that much from its 24-25 I would look for codes and see if it needed to be tuned up first, but I live in a mild climate. How are some of you cold weather folks doing on mileage?

I rely more and more on the torque wrench and less on the breaker bar.

headlight connector. Frankly from what you say I expect it to be a headlight switch or the relay if so equipped. Ever since the day I saw all four beams out on one I check the headlight connector first. That one was caused by a bad ground wire that grounded the whole system.

in late 2002, but someone correct me if I am wrong. The early phase 1s blew them into the cooling water, and the later phase 2s blow them more as a leak to the exterior of the head. My 99 Forester leaked externally a small amount and I would not have noticed it if people on the board had not pointed out the problem. I think I might have assumed a small leak from a hose or water pump until it got much worse. This is a classic phase 2 leak. On a phase 1 the car will overheat after a hard run and into the coolant overflow tank. I believe our Northern neighbors have a tougher time with the phase 2 as they tend to leak more when very cold.

That had torques like very tight and good and firm listed in the manual.

to whine a bit more when you back off. Sounds like a slight pinion whine. I have nearly 100,000 miles and I expect some increase in driveline noise, but my brother in law's Legacy at about the same mileage is quieter. The Forester may be a less expensive model with less insulation, and so more sound. Is this fairly normal with this car? The noise increases with load but not much. I was thinking of trying Redline oil because of all the good reports I have heard. Any comments from you long time Subie folks?

but it got a clutch, an oil slinger, and the heads went out for inspection. Not to mention oil pump seal, water pump, tensioner, etc.

from a private party I tried to get a warranty from my credit union. Unfortunately they only covered them until 80,000 miles and it was over that. Boy do I wish I had gotten a car with a warranty now! I figured that by buying it cheaper from a private party I would have a few more dollars to bring it up to the maintence standard that I require. I must have about $5,000 of reciepts on mine now to fix things that should have been corrected before it left the factory. I would really try to get the head gaskets changed if it were my car. Even if I had to pay half, it would be much cheaper than on your own later. I have been much encouraged by the performance of the the new gaskets. TOS and others seem to have cured thier cars.

I have seen them work. That or couplings that lock the shaft, or replceable brass rings. My favorite syncronisers were the relaceable rings as they tended to be much cheaper to repair. But the point is the same, regardless of what type of device is used. Try it you'll like it.

a number of my friends are using the Resline Jamie mentions in thier racing cars. Everyone I know who has used it loves it and reports easier shifting, and in one case in a a BMW that was freezing when relly hot it cured the problem.

since I have never had a Subaru transmission apart I will trust you that it would be syncro teeth grinding in first. There are several ways these can work and if that is what Subaru has chosen for first gear so be it. This does not change the fact that if one selects first in that instant before the car stops it will not grind or squeal and be easier on the components. All of us have our opions based on waht we were taught to do when we learned to drive. The first way I was taught was exactly what Lesbaru was taught. Later when I was trained to drive heavy vehicles I was taught the other technique and it worked well enough that I changed my ways. That s my story and I'm sticking to it. hope you all had a good new year and that Alias is not still stuck in the snow.

Let us know how it goes!