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I bet its the famous piston slap. When you dump coolant in you wash the walls and accellerate wear. Does it do it worse when cold? If it is piston slap it will tick on for years.

I like 2004 and up but I have a 99 myself. Your car is getting a bit long in the tooth. If everything else is fine I would be tempted to do a major service and either give it head gaskets or plan on keeping a few bucks for them. Every mile you get is free at this age I figure. I did big time service on my 99 Forester a couple years ago at 90,000 miles and at over 122,000 it is better than it was a few years ago and trouble free. At this point it looks like it will hit 200,000 and my smile gets bigger every mile.

I hate to discourage somebody from a purchase in Humbolt right after harvest time but omce donw to SF. We have a ton here. Look on Craigslist. A 99 Outback has a phase 1 head gasket eater in it. 200 should have a phase 2 which is a better engine. If you can't trust them on mileage how can you trust them for the engine?

That sure sounds right to me but I am not sure of the nut size. I'm sure somebody here has just done it. I yhink the pin is supposed to only go in one direction and a long extension to bang on will help.

I could not open this with my laptop but if you need more I have my Chilton's now.

do you know about endwrench the Subaru tech site? Do a search here for it if you can't find it. I have a Chiltons manual home and if you have not found specs by tonight I'll check that. I don't trust the Chiltons as much as real Subaru info though.

Take off the valve cover and turn the engine to TDC on each cylinder. You may want to get a manual to help you but these are fairly easy with a feeler gauge and a set of wrenchs. On some of the earlier engines don't ask.

Only your Subaru dealer can help you with warranty. I hope they are reasonable because it is a very old car. If they turn you down ask to talk to a district rep.

Please investigate the warranty idea first. The oxy sensor would help but it is more or less a cheap borderline way to get by when both converters and ox sensors are tired.There may be something else going on with that car and I hope colorblind can find it in his information.

It would be my guess you are about the 700th person to do that. We all learn that one the hard way.

If Jiffy lube just worked on it and she is on the way home check to see if the oil is way overfilled and the tranny is empty.

It is pretty likely to be piston slap. It tends to increase with engine wear and last winter the anti-slap coating may have still been on your pistons. My forester does the same thing only it does not last very long as its not that cold here. Adding a heavier oil helped mine quiet down except for the first morning warm up. If you want to you can adjust the valves easily, but if the mechanic did not offer to do that for you its probably not the valves. If you can make a customer happy with a valve adjustment you would do it. Piston slap is another major step as it requires replacement of the block and then might only cure it for a while. Subaru does have another piston kit but my dealer does not service them that way.

If you can get a box wrench on them if you hit the end of the wrench with a hammer it works like an impact gun.

That would be great if you can get it done on warranty! I suspect my cats are tired too but I know 122,000 is a bit over.

Good going Ed and Corky. We need more stories like that.

That's usually east to spot if its blowby. You remove the PCV valve and they smoke from the crankcase like mad. Or for that matter ofen if you open the oil filler. Interesting problem.

sometimes they have to be pretty bad to pick up on the usual tests. The little buggers seal back up when they are cold and act normal.

Man that sure would put oil past the valves like seals. You ought to be able to test the pcv valve by sucking on it. It sounds like you are getting oil into that intake for sure. I can't think of any reason unless you mixed up a hose. As far as I know the pcv valve should seal the crankcase from the manifold.

good tip CB. if I hear any odd noises that is what I'll do. Since I have a fairly high mileage Forester they must be on borrowed time now.

You could have a small air leak or the linkage adjusted incorrectly, or just the worst luck I have heard of on these devices.

the sticking down usually means its time for a new slave and or master cyl. You can get by bleeding it for a while but there is a TSB on this.

I did both at 89,000 and they are still fine at 122,000.

Yep, I agree with CB 100%. I know that may be a heartbreaker though.

I believe TC Speer is a mailman with a postal Legacy. Do a search for him and PM him. He's always helpful.

If you are in PA and if you don't have many tools it can be tougher. On my forester I opened the hood, looked at the old one to figure how the connector came off, and had it changed in 10 minutes or so. Back there I know you can run into rust that can make an easy job a real pain.