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There was also a period where Subaru tried a new organic lining. At the best it chattered like mad and at the worst it failed early. mine was slipping at about 80,000 miles and still amanged to chatter. None of the new ones have any adjustment so a new clutch is the only remedy.

At about 90,000 miles my 99 Forester 5 MT started whineing. I figured it was just a matter of time before it died, but I had the oil changed in all of the drivetrain. Immeadiately the whine in the tranny stopped and has not been back for 35,000 miles. Frankly I am a bit surprised as it seems that if I keep the oil changed in the old beast it should last as long as the engine.

I'd just swap in a new one as they are cheap and easy. I've had a couple of friends that tested thiers and were convinced they were good. Swapping the sensor fixed the problem and I have no idea why they seemed good. Perhaps it was fixed by removing and installing the sensor?

The first thing would be to bleed the brakes.

Dnag near every 2.5 seem to get to a point where they slap on startup. This is just piston slap usually and seems ok if it goes away when warm. This is currently a problem with a lot of manufacturers due to short piston skirts with new EPA regs. Do a search on piston slap and you'll feel better. My 99 Forester has been doing this for 40,000 miles now.

Try a hotter thermostat.

Only if the owner breaks down excessively.

Now you know how to sell a Subaru with a blown head gasket. Take the thermostat out. The sooner you fix it the better off you will be.

Do a search here, a couple folks have done it recently.

The reason Rovers don't get as many miles is that they are often a second car around here. With fuel what it is they make a better toy than a daily driver. If you lived in a place like Tahoe there would be a better argument for a car like the Rover. In New Zealand my BIL has converted his to a Nissan diesel becuse fuel is so dear. These days he mostly drives Subies for his 4wd work, but the Rover is there if things get really ugly. This would include hauling out one of his rental cars that a tourist has ditched.

On other types of cars this used to be fairly usual to replace the rad if it was several years old or at least have it cleaned up. They are often full of sludge and the shop won't want to take a chance of redoing the job.

also check other posts for the things you should do at the same time.

Is it a 2.5? If you do gaskets, valve adjustment, and the usual belt and seals most of them are fine until the rings wear out. The new gaskets seem to work well, use the latest Subaru parts only, not after market. It could depend also on whether the person kept going on the freeway after the overheat.

My advice is to get a low miles car a few years old with lower payments, lower insurance, less depreciation, and a good warranty. I did this on my BMW and it has been the most satisfying car experience I have had. I hate to pay the big penaly on buying one that is brand new, but this seems next to new with the programs they have now. On my BMW I got three years free maintenence and a 100,000 mile four year warranty too. The car had 7,000 miles on it which is new to me and still looks new four years later because I keep it up. Good luck Chef, we'll miss ya!

A limited slip rear end end that is not performing well can easily cause this. They grip with one side or the other and steer that direction. You don't notice it on dry roads but when it is very slippery it shows up. There are other possibilities like something loose but that is usually easier to find.

It's kind of funny to notice this thread shortly after emailing an Amsoil dealer to see if he carries a filter for my car. I wanted a bigger one to add a bit more oil capaicty if I could. On Fords I used to used the truck filter that was twice as big.

Not much there really. The Japanse licensed a lot of things before and after the war as well as copying freely without license. I have Canon and Nikon cameras that freely take Lieca and the Ziess Ikon lenses they were copied from. Each time there was an improvement though. We gave Toyota a contract to manufacture the Land Cruiser after the war to get them back to work. They copied the Chevy army truck fo most of the bits.I used to swap Chevy parts into the early LCs as I had trouble getting Japanese bits. Datsun started manufacturing the Austin 10 under license as did BMW. In the 60s you could use a Datsun pickup head to fix an MGA. Datsun even did some of the same wiring mistakes Lucas used to and thier blocks persisted in using the English style useless endplates for years. We even got to see some of the engines and aircraft parts they licensed from us at Pearl Harbor.

put the fuse in before driving.

the coolant sniffer does not always work on these cars. Probably because they vent the gas and seal back up while cold. On the other hand I am told they don't give false positives. Your coolant will not circulate becuse the coolant at the top is replaced by combustion gas. You have to remove the timing belt to replace the head gaskets. The only other likely culprit is the water pump. Inspect it while you have the belt off and if the impeller was not turning try a new pump before doing the head gaskets.

It should be fine to drive. That fuse is for automatics only.

Look at it this way, if you can't get it yourself then you can go have it fixed. If you are near San Mateo I can loan you a wrench.

you guys probably knew this but I just read in Automobile magazine that the Subaru boxer was copied from a Borgward engine design. It said that the first boxers could swap parts with a Borgward. This was pretty common for many Japanese machines at the time of course.

The two items I would consider most expensive and most likely to go are done. If the valves are adjusted, new timing blet and water pump this should be a runner. It all depends on condition though.

Actually they are tighter. The phase one DOHC looks like you'll never get it out, but I have it on good authority that you can.

Having done a number of head gasket jobs on Japanese pickups my opinion is much like that of the other folks here. I was trying to think what might compare and I can't think of a good match, but the boxer is much tougher. I also think that while the phase 1 2.5 is not Subaru's proudest moment, a set of head gaskets as soon as they leak will have that engine a reliable beast for at least as long as the rings last.