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Starting fluid whould have been my first shot. I know a lot of folks don't like to use it but a short squirt tells you fuel problems in three seconds.

If you don't feel like doing the work yourself take it to someone you trust. My first thought is the car is overcharging and has possibly ruined that battery. All the connections need to be cleaned as well as the battery area and the entire changing system tested.

I would not be surprised if the salt had a bit to do with early wear. The rotors can get pretty rough. Might be a good idea to keep an eye on it. Another thing that could cause the rear to work more could be air in the front lines.

I know its pretty difficult to master your door locks. In my opinion this guy screwed up two different ways, about a foot of running water can wash your car away and those little plastic things will unlock your door. It seems he is trying for the Darwin award and the gene pool might be better off if he wins.

On my last Mercedes the valve seals were different between exhaust and intake. I had a cam replaced by a local shop and they screwed up. The upshot was the cam drive bolt came off and bent the valves. They went good and pulled the head and had a local machine shop redo it. These folks revesed the seals and it burned oil like mad. Symptoms just like yours. By this time I was tired of the issue and put new seals on in the basement. Oil consumption dropped to where it had been before the incident.

Adjust the clutch not for you but for the clutch. It is probably a bit tired by now. Adjust the adjuster untill there is about a quarter inch play and live with it until your next clutch job. It needs play to keep it from being partiallly disengaged.

Are you sure you checked the right sender? I know this sounds silly but I just had a local guy bring one over the other day and he was looking at the wrong sender.

I work on one Subaru and probably know more about busses and trains. Glad to hear the occasional secret from you two. I used to know a heck of a lot about Ford FE engines too but they are as much history as I am. When you work on anything all the time you find you often run into the same problems over and over. I think I will beware of 90 91 2.2s after hearing from you guys.

Easy test for piston slap. If it does it with the car parked and reving the negine it is probably slap. The CV joints can't make noise when they are not moving. My slap is gone in about a minute but it does not get that cold here.

Good explanation which was pretty much as I understand that this works. The idea came up when someone said they got better mileage with high octane. I figured it was worth a try as mileage is always a topic with Subarus.

And by the way down here in SF after years of testing on fleets I have found that if I change batteries at four years I brought the on road failure rate to near zero. That sounds similar to your experience. I expect the guys in hot and cold states need to use different numbers, probably heat is worse.

Conditions are not always the same so the longer one averages the more accurate the test. Since I have no patience for long tests this will be a short one. Your observations are interesting since you did get a bit more ob the 93, but perhaps the Honda could use it effectively.

I was wondering because Richie has a Subaru shop up norht somewhere and it seems like you work on them too. Good to have your experience around because it takes forever to figure something out the first time and ten minutes the next time.

Oh boy, that adds to more stuff I want. It's been more than ten years since I was a shop manager and I'm sure everything has changed. A code reader used to be somebody who worked for the CIA.

I'd go for battery as most likely too. Connections are always a problem but it sounds like you are getting decent voltage when it is running. Like CB says the next bet is starter contacts but when I have seen that it did not dim the lights when you attempted to start. Load tests are nice when you have a tester. Got a pal who will loan you a test battery?

Where do they crack Colorblind and did you used to post as Richie Rich?

That would be my conclusion so far. I think with my very high compression BMW the results might be different. This is also sea level here and folks who have reported better mileage with higher octane have been in the Rockies. I am going to give it another tank of premium to be sure and then drop down to 87 where I used to run it. I think this car is probably designed for 87.

I have friends in Miami and this is not the first time I have heard of a Florida shop freaked out by a northern car. These guys think salt belongs in the ocean. I am sure you can fix it up but it is going to take hard work, removing rust, and I would replace a lot of the brake parts myself. It is fairly easy work and much of it you could do yourself. Folks do fix cars up north every day that are as bad I am sure. When I lived in Maine it was not unusual to have the cutting torch out for jobs I just unbolt here in CA.

So far on my car that would be correct. There is not a lot of difference between 91 and 89 which is what I get around here. I really didn't expect much noticeable power increase but I did think the mileage might be a mpg or two better.

Before Xmas a few of us were discussing the effects of premium fuel on mileage. This is my third tank of premium so I thought I would check the mileage difference. The results are not totally fair since I changed the front oxegen sensor just before this fill up. Before on winter No CA regular (89) I got 23.90 mpg. This is a drop of a mpg or two from summer fuel. Now armed with premium (91) I got.....are you ready....23.73 mpg, a drop of .17. This is close enough to be almost identical and the fact that it has been a bit cold and rainy can easily make up the difference. The computer was reset a couple of times since I added premium so its not a matter of relearning for the new fuel. The power is just about the same and you would need a dyno to see if there is any difference. The piston slap is about the same too. This is a 99 forester in mixed city and freeway driving.

Just an observation, recently I changed my front knock sensor on my 99 Forester with 120,000 miles. So far the only difference I notice is that the engines drops revs slower when I stop for a light. I cleared the codes and computer and it seemed to readjust shortly. I think the car is doing just what it is supposed to be doing, avoiding extra nox production when the throttle is chopped. I am thinking along the lines that my old sensor was too lazy to respond like this. Any other ideas? I have not burned my first tank of gas yet to see how my mileage is affected if at all. This was done because I had code PO420 and I wanted to see if a sensor would fix it.

to fix an internal head gasket leak in my 30 years of fleet management has been new gaskets. The $2,000 is a city type price for this job but several folks have shown that even in an urban area you can shop around and do better. I know that even if you get it down to $1200 the struggle is what is the car worth VS what I am going to spend. If the rest of your car is OK there should be another 100,000 miles in it, but you are the one who knows what you have.

I would have to agree with you that the Forester is small and tall. The stiffer shocks and the sway bar I added to mine help a lot in corners but it still doesn't corner like a Legacy. When I drive my brother in law's Legacy in New Zealand I am always impressed with how nice it handles on the winding roads over there. You always have to buy a car for what you are going to use it for at this point in your life. The Forester is a good city car for parking and has been a champ for me in my off road use. When I retire and move to New Zealand odds are I will be out of the city and have a big yard. At that point a Legacy size car may appeal to me a lot.

You just signed up for seven more years of trying to find your Forester behind the Escalades in the Home Depot parking lot! I keep coming out and going"maybe it's under that one."

On mine I replaced the slave and hose per the TSB. I still did not have enough pressure and replaced the master. Over 33,000 miles on the repair and it is still fine.