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On a 98 a lot of things on maintence would be due by now. What is its mileage and history? By turn over do you mean the engine rolling on the starter or starting to run? If you mean the starter is tunring slower the car was due for a new battery by now by me.

Oh, one other thing I have heard is that an exhaust leak can throw it off and cause PO420 also. Usually it is pretty easy to tell if you have a leaking exhaust though. If I recall my front sensor lasted about 110,000 miles or so before it first gave me a PO420. I cleared the code and in a year it came back a couple times before I cahnged the sensor.

My stuff says it means the cat is operating below efficency. A lot of mechanics change the cats for this, but the cats were very expensive on my Forester. I reckon anything that causes the cat to operate below efficiency can cause this. The front ox sensor is taking much more heat to control the mixture. The rear is just monitoring how the cat is doing and is in a cooler location. I bought both front and rear sensors but have not installed the rear to see how long it will last.

I have not seen it on a Subie but BMWs have squeak in cold weather in the wheel to column form too little clearance. The cure is to spray silicone lube and I have never heard of a problem from it. If it is not rubbing and is an actual dry bearing this won't help.

Spray some silicone lube on it and see if that is a fix.

That's not something a lot of us do at home. I have only done it in a shop with a headlight target chart. If you must do it at home face a wall with your car and turn on the lights. Mark where the car is now and mark the wall with masking tape in an x in the center. I have seen the up and down on both top and bottom of a light, but if you use the tape you can put it back if you screw up, as well as see your change.

I have run through northern Texas in ice storms with a Greyhound bus and I know you aren't kidding Carl.

That was a ton of work but I'm sure it made the old beast a new car for you. Now in a couple of years you can do a bit of body work on the rest of it and remove trim. Then I take it in to a cheap paint place like Earl Schieb. They won't bother to do bodywork or much masking but if you do that first you can get a pretty good job. You end up polishing and removing over spray and a few drips, but by the time you get the lights and trim back in it feels like a whole new car. My last Jeep got compliments most times I drove it and the paint lasted better than the paint on my BMW and Subie.

I havn't had chains since I used to plow roads with my Jeep for extra money in high school. Those look like a hot set up Carl. One thing I'd keep in mind is that chains can do major damage to a car's body work if thay come loose. Over the life of the car those things might ot be so expensive after all.

It gets more complex in New Zealand. Was the car sold there originally or is it a used Japanese import? Kiwi gets some very interesting JDM cars we don't get here. I believe NZ also uses the English system for rating pump gas. Although the rating is higher in octane at the pump than ours, the high octane actually performs about the same as high octane here in the states. There is a very good chance that car was set up for high octane. My brother in law Norm in Queenstown has had a couple of turbos and they both required premium.

There are a couple of place here in the San Carlos area that work on Subarus. While they are cheaper than the dealer they are not a bargain, but do good work. Rumor is that Berkeley and Oakland have the best deals on mechanics.

The milling would be a new one on me. Sometimes you have to shim gears to get a good pattern or the same with a power take off. I can't see my Subaru dealer milling stuff when they won't even put a piston in.

I'd take a couple gallons of water and the back road. If it got hot you could wait untill it cools and add water.

I'm sure you checked Craigslist?

It would be a somewhat tough and grubby job. I think you can do it without pulling the whole tranny though.

Gnuman is in Berkeley. Why don't you pm him and see if he has a used one or could help you install one?

frankly if a 96 has not changed the front ox sensor it's time, and if the IAC has never been cleaned it's time for that too.

I think PO 420 might come up for a few things that make the engine run poorly. In my case replacement of the front oxegen sensor cured it. So I can only speak for my car.

OOPs sorry, it censored thier last name. F*A*G*G*.

Do you happen to know Jed or Kathy *********g? Or if you are a bit younger Colin or Laura?

Japan I believe.

Yep, I thing Frag may run into those issues about rusted seal areas and such. This area is so easy on wheel bearings I ran my last car 17 years and sold it with no problems, and my Forester with its stupid ball bearings is doing fine at 126,000. I suspect that if this car was run in salt and cold those bearings would be bad now, but my cars don't get the daily work out TCs do. I put the Forester on a rare perfect patch of tar the other day and coasted it with no noise at all. Today I am going to rotate tires and inspect the rear brakes so I'll see if there is any play, but I doubt it.

Sounds pretty normal TC. We don't have to worry much about rust here in CA so when I have to do mine I expect it to be fairly easy.

On BMWs silicone spray is often used.

both the slave and master can cause that. I replaced the slave and hose per a TSB after trying bleeding. I still did not have enough pressure so I replaced the master. That was in 2003 I think and it is still fine.