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What do you guys think? I have always changed my automatic's oil and filter regularly and they stay pretty clean and give me a long life. People are flushing engines too and I'm not sure that does a heck of a lot either. I wonder if you would not accomplish about the same thing by doing a few clean out fluid changes.

New Zealand with 2.2 Subies in thier fleets. Maybe a Kiwi or Ozzie will correct me if I am wrong here but I think they got the newer body styles earlier with the 2.2 motor. I think they use 2.5s now but the cars BILs own are older Subies. I was driving about a 99 Legacy wagon last year from Auckland to New Plymouth and it had pretty good power with the 2.2. My 2.5 Forester definately has more power, but not a whole lot. I think my 2.5 might pull some steep hills in 5th that you would have to shift down for a 2.2 to get over. I would say the good thing about Jed's 2.2 Legacy wagon is the fact that he has had to put nothing in it except regular maintence which is much better than my Forester. Oh yeah, his heat shields rattle but he doen't care. Norm has several Legacys in his fleet he rents to skiers in Queenstown. If a skier can't break it it is hard to break.

us think the 2.2 is about the best engine Subaru ever built. The early phase 1 2.5 is not one of the better efforts. The cylinder walls don't have much support at the top of the 2.5 and I believe Subaru has had three head gasket versions for the phase 1 2.5 to correct the problem. The good part is I have not heard much for complaints from folks who have repaired the engine with the latest gasket. Swapping in a 2.2 would have a few small downsides. 1 you would lose a small amount of power. 2 It would remove value from the car in a conventional sale. (Might add value for a knowledegeable buyer). 3 In my area (CA) it would be more difficult to smog.

I would probably drop a couple of thousand in it now. This is fairly cheap compared to car payments. I haven't added up my recipts on my 99 Forester with about 115,000 miles because I don't want to scare myself. In the last couple years it got clutch, head gaskets, brakes, and struts. It runs like new and seems like I will get at least three more years out of it. Most of my cars I do what amounts to a mid life rebuild on. I got about 300,000 miles out of my last Mercedes in 17 years. I had payments for the first five so after that I got 12 years of no payments. Couple that with savings on sales tax and insurance and I could afford to put a grand in the car a year in maintence.

must smooth the air making for a superior air flow.

have it tattoed on my forehead. My Forester is a 99 five speed. What is yours bj? I used to think my mileage was not all that great at an average of around 25, but that seems to be OK for what I have seen others post. I sure can't touch those early Legacies or those Outback Sports.

to a diet of the good stuff. It might be like giving my cats canned cat food, kind of hard to go back and a lot more expensive. I think I would have to have a few MPG increase to justify the expense of the higher priced fuel. In my BMW I have no choice but to support the oil companies, and hope I can give them a bit less in the Forester.

by now you will have corrosion on both contacts and mechanism. Just the other day mine was actually having loose screws too. If you take the door panels off remember it is also time to lube the wondow mecanism too, and it is any easy job if you do it all together. Also look for loose screws and damaged window track rubber.

inventor anyway Blitz. I would also like to express my gratitude to the folks who do all the real work here. This forum has taught me all the limited knowlede of Subarus that I have now, as well as given me advice to buy a phase 2 in the first place. Frankly no other car I know needs the oil pump resealed or that plastic slinger plate replaced. That is the kind of thing that can save you money later if you know to have it done at the right time. Where else can you find pages on how to fix a clock?

I stopped going to my local Subaru dealer when they did a clutch job for me and did not replace the pilot bearing. This failed a year later costing me bucks. The mechanic who was assigned the job rode with me to demonstrate why I thought it was the pilot bearing. He felt just as I did that anytime you do a clutch you replace the $10 part. My dealer has around 10 mechanics with varying levels of skill and different therories of car repair. I also had the water pump and tensioner replaced as well as all the seals etc on my Forester. I hope the front of the engine will not need to be opened for another 90,000 miles.

ones. I have an old steel case I mounted one in 10 years ago with foam padding. It has been through a few batteries and at least three sets of leads, but still worked the last time I used it. The last time was for the clock in the Forester, that alone paid for it.

but every meter I have personally seen has an adjustment, usually a knob or wheel, that you have to set before you begin.

usually you just get greatly increased effort. I think I would want to inspect this car on a rack and see if I saw anything binding after that.Shut off the engine and turn the car without assist and see what it feels like.

to keep fluid in any hydraulic system. They make a lot of noise and don't work otherwise. Find and repair the leak if possible, if not keep it full.

as well as most repair shops. The problem is that it does not always work until enough hydrocarbons build up in the coolant. If you have a pretty good leak it will work fine.

The earlier cars (phase 1 engine) are not helped by the conditioner. I have a phase 2. The phase 1s (which yours should be) usually leak into the combustion chamber. Phase 2s get a small external leak which the conditioner can stop. This was a bit late for me as I had already changed the gaskets by the time Subaru came up with the conditioner.

and cables should (but rarely is) be part of your maintence procedures. Before a trip last month I pulled my battery, cleaned the outside, repainted the hold down and greased the threads. It is also good to check the water, clean under the tray and touch up chips, then clean all cabes and reinstall. When you clean a battery cable it is good to pull the other end (starter or ground) and get it good and shiny before reinstalling. Because of this I don't have problems in these areas. I only do this once a year and I think it pays me for the time.

the symptoms. Sorry to joke about it but these are pretty hard to find when they start. Do a seach on this board and you will see the trials and tribulations of others. A combustion gas test won't always show positive, compression tests only show when they are really bad, and a leakdown test does not always work because they seal when they are cooler. Do all the usual things like radiator cap, thermostat,(Subaru brand only), check water pump, hoses, radiator, etc. Bleed the air out carefully and hope. If you are at the point where a gunky residue shows up in the overflow tank it is prestty certain. If it were my car I would change the gaskets for PM reasons at this point to prevent problems even if they were fine. Finally if all else fails change the gaskets with Subaru's latest version.

just bad luck. If the belt failed at that low mileage I'd check the water pump and tensioner carefully. More likely is that the belt was never actually changed. The good part is that it probaly did not hurt anything, just install another belt.

Right now I am working with a project to build three hydrogen fueling stations here in San Mateo County.We aren't sure what we will run on it yet but if you check www.h2carco.com you can see some of the vehicles we are looking at. This will be fleet testing with a few shuttles and city cars to start with. I worked on electric car and shuttle projects a few years ago and that went down the tubes.We have also tried propane, CNG,and now I am phaseing out my diesels except for the larger equipment where there is no alternative.

But I don't think I can count high enough for the Mustangs.

my 99 Forester 5 speed seems to usually give me around 24-25 MPG combined city and highway in the SF area. I got 27.75 on a trip through Big Sur which was my best tank ever. It drops on high speed highway use because of the brick shape and my heavy foot. In the winter I drop down to around 22 on the oxegenated fuel. I'm running Mobil 1 15-50 oil and I don't see much if any difference in the mileage. With the 4wd and the poor areodynamics I don't think this car will ever do much better. It replaced my Jeep which got 15-17 mpg so I look at this as an improvement. The important part is that complete sailing gear fits, Home Depot holds no fear for me, and it turns easily and scoots and parks in the city. A Honda Insight would get better mileage but would fall down on the Home Depot and hauling stuff part.I don't think I would feel as confident in a Christmas snow trip or on a muddy back road either. You get to pay a bit for the 4WD and boxy shape.

Pass the soma Blitz.

We are already in 1884 here in the SF area. The inspector's cars also are equipped with the same satellite tracking. These devices track the vehicle, can listen to it, activate the emergency systems, and the camera can film and tag any passenger violation while summoning the police. Any heavy decelleration event is tracked and marked on the onbaord computer. When the bus hits the fueling island all events are downloaded to the main computer. Unless the electrical or computer goes down the vehicle is always being tracked. The drivers hated the idea, but now they are used to big brother. I think we will all be taxed for our portion of the pod system. You summon a pod with your wrist tracking computer and the pod waits outside your home. The pod then drives you to your destination with no messy and erratic human input. Since all pleasure will be derived in a government controlled pleasure center this should not interfere with daily life.

Outbacks are very common here so I would just listen to a friend's engine and see if was about the same. Many of them have piston slap when cold, but that is not very scarey. If you know a Subaru mechanic have them listen to your car. My Subaru makes twice as much noise as my BMW and it is about as healthy as a 99 Forester gets.