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might be getting some water in the fuel. Hard to tell without being there. Try some dry gas in the tank.

is looking more cost effective with extended drain periods every day. With all our busses and trains we have been doing this for years.

that should tell you if the injector was making noise. Anybody done this on a Subie? When I was looking for a noise on my ex mercedes I did that and threw a code. I had to clear the code after working on the car. Pulling the plug and inspecting it to see if it looks normal would also be good. I have seen one with a cracked insulator that caused noisy preignition.

I almost never hear or a wristpin noise anymore. I would put a guage on it and check the oil pressure. Next step is to analyse the oil to see if it has bearing material in it. If it does it needs to come apart before it does it all by itself. If it were my car I wouldn't drive it until I had identified the noise. Any knock on the cam or lifters should not stop if you pull a plug, but removing the valve cover to inspect would be a good thing to do. A damaged piston will usually make the engine run poorly.

I have heard of reoiling fouling Maf sensors or stuff like the TPS. Never had the problem myself because I don't use oiled filters for this reason. Check fuel pressure if possible after the filter.

here in the Bay Area since we have refineries in Richmond. I have lost about 1 mpg.

to consider a Magnum as we are entering the highest priced fuel the US has ever seen. I think the value of big cars will drop as it did during the fuel embargo. For me I will be hauling my groceries in a 4 cyl for the forseeable future. This month just saw a huge drop in expendable income for the average American. I watched my health insurance go up together with every item I buy increase. They all depend on shipping which means fuel.

Junkyards used to have interchange books.

that is what is called getting the wrong part. You have to never trust anybody on parts and always double check that they are identical. I have even gotten the wrong part from Subaru on a couple of occasions. You have a better chance at the dealer, but some of these things are so close but different. On the Forester rear drums I checked them and they looked identical. They were in a box with the right part number. When you bolted up the wheel the wheels froze because the slot for the backing plate was a few thousanths out. Turned out to be for some model of imprezza.

I just loosen each one a bit untill they are all free and spin them out with an air wrench.

seriously though thats not so good. I thought my 99 Forester had haydraulic lifters but one of the folks here told me it was mechanical. I've never had a problem so I have not looked. I'd start by pulling plug wires to see if I could isolate it to one cylinder if a valve lifter adjustment did not cure it.

trade thier LSDs for lockers. LSDs are marginal in that type of situation and application of the handbrake might have gotten you out.

a leak can get you a PO420.

This is why some companies have gone to synthetics. In a number of modern engines the operating temp is hot enough to sludge them up. Most timing chain tensiors are hydraulic these days and sludge is a no no. If it were my car it would get synthetic oil and regular monitoring with oil analis for a while. I am not sure what conditions in Colorado might have to do with it, or if this will turn out to be a problem as with some Toyotas and Hondas. It sure sounds easy to fix.

was said to be a bloke who could do for a pence what any bloody fool could do for a pound. If in question just overengineer. I have made seat raising brackets from 1/4 inch thick square tubing. This replaced engineered stamped sheet metal and probably cost five bucks. This would not be cost effective on the production line but works fine for me. Use grade 8 bolts if you can get them.

and the H6 it would be a rough choice for me. I've heard the turbo has a closed block which fixes the head gasket problem, but it is still a fairly new engine. The one thihg I have heard about them is that they get poor fuel mileage and for anybody that is not blind and deaf that may become a problem. There is also the question of one more system to go wrong, the reason turbos once had the nickname "trouble chargers". The H6 is also pretty new and so far I have only heard of two people having a problem. the few folks I know have had no H6 problems, love them but don't like paying for premium fuel. If you are looked between these two engines drive them both. If you are looking for more snap I bet the turbo wins. My guess is the H6 is going to last like the 2.2 that gave Subaru the good rep.

I would not fix it on a travel car myself as its pretty expensive. If you do want to fix it my brother in law might know somebody. He is over in Queenstown and run Pegasus car rental there. He always has several Subies to rent to skiers. Let me know if you want me to email Norm.

track with spirits, but Frag has to bring us back to reality. If it wasn't for the fact that Commuter has been pretty sane in the past....

That is the first time I have heard of a timing chain problem with the H6. This makes sense as that would easily affect all three cylinders, fairly rare on a chain engine. I'm glad they found it for you.

It is probably a TSB that they don't have. It would be something that cold areas may be doing during the warranty period. No one has had it done at thier dealership. He thinks it would be too expensive as a short block is only $1850 and that is what this dealership reccomends when a car is past the warranty period. They don't even have instructions on how to change a piston.

I just left a message with the local dealer's service advisor. We will see if he calls back with the info.

Ed, one usually grinds on the piston boss to balance an engine. I imagine they just make sure the weight is within specs. At this point we don't know for sure what they did to make the slap go away.

the defroster. Keeps the windows clearer.

is installing one and finding out why they junked the car. If you have more time than money it can be the best deal out there. I have heard that JDM used trannies are a better bet to work well, but the cost might be high.

I bent the pedals where I wanted them. I think the only one I had to move was the gas on this car. In SF with a car with no hill holder it is much easier if the pedals are aligned to where you can heel and toe the gas and brake with one foot. I also got the angle better for more comfotable driving. If you bend it make sure after that you still get full throttle. On my BMW I raised the seat a bit with spacers to get what I wanted, but the Forester has a seat position that works for me.