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Maybe I just have fairly good luck. In 300,000 miles my Mercedes had a fuel pump every 150,000, a couple of relays, the power antenna, and one altenator. This was in 17 years of ownership so I don't think that's too bad. My BMW is a 99 like my Forester and it had a gas guage and side window motor on warranty and nothing else. Neither the window or the guage completely failed, they were replaced with updates because of possible problems. I bought the Subie used so I don't know if anybody replaced anything before me, but the only electrical problems have been the stereo and a few bulbs. The BMW has required no out of warranty expenses but cost twice as much as the Subie to begin with. Now don't ask about seals, head gaskets, clutch and a few other things. My Subie has not had a pretty story here.

This is a device to apply the brake using the clutch on a hill. The adjustment is right on the cutch throwout fork. It is a very clever device and makes it so you don't have to apply the emergency brake on a steep hill. A lovely thing in SF traffic. If the adjustment is too tight it keeps the brake applied.

That's a nice one. My current project car is a 200 year job. Every day I do a little bit of work on it when I get done worrying about trains that are millions of dollars in the red. I shouldn't complain though as I just got $274,000 added to my budget today for shuttle for a couple of the Caltrain stations we are closing. that makes this already a good day. I have the world's worst 65 GTO that somebody will inherit when I die in the backyad with my torch in my hand.

That one just had an intake manifold leak and I had to pull the valve covers for clearance. The old beast runs too well to rebuild just yet. I have a rebuilt 400 with a few thousand miles on it in the garage I might use. I am tempted to build a 455 but there is really no need for it. I used to quite like building engines and I might enjoy it again. I did kind of enjoy changing the manifold on the Pontiac as it was such an easy job.

Chef's idea sounds pretty plausible. A lot of old cars have a layer of grease on the underside and there are fuel lines to rust, rubber lines to crack, and the tank to rust. Now that you have a vent system that's more lines to cause trouble and a cannister to break or leak. Fuel filler hoses can be a problem too. If it truly smells like fuel it should not be brake fluid or rear axle oil.

And by the way, the last couple of times I looked for a dragging brake on a Subie...One was the red silicon stuff to keep brakes from squeaking applied so liberaly it kept the pistons from retracting, and one was a maladjusted hill holder. You really don't need it so tight as to be a level holder. The next time I am ready to change the diff and tranny fluid in the subie I will use synthetic like Frag. We have to try to keep up with our northern neighbors.

And since this thread still lives. The gas mileage is still about the same and the engine has used no oil. This is a bit unusual as by this time I would have topped up at least once with the old dino 10-30. This stuff does not appear to be thinning out and breaking down as much as the dino did. It is interesting that the independent mechanics have come to use a heavier diesel oil. I bet that really keeps those engines clean.

I think of it more as agreement Frag. You have seen as many of these painfull head gasket posts as I have now, maybe more. Last I knew Gnu was busy changing a head gasket for somebody. Wonder how that is coming.

It could not leak until it reachs a certain tempreture. With the thermostat out it may be staying below the temp where it leaks. You have to go by the water pump anyway to change a gasket when you remove the belts. I would probalby try everything I could think of first from testing the radiator, cap, and hoses. On this type of car I often think of head gaskets first as they are such a problem. Some folks have driven them for some time with the thermostat out, but please avoid trips.

sometimes if someone slams a car into park while it is rooling it can actually kill the parking prawl. The only way to fix this is to disassemble and replace. Try the linkage first as it is a heck of a lot easier.

If it were mine it would get a new crank seal, reseal the oil pump, and if manual clutch ,rear seal and that stupid plastic slinger replaced with steel. I am sure you will check the valve clearance while it's out and easy....

oil slinger thing on the rear of the engine.

But it is a common practice on big diesel repair. I have also done it on Ford commercial V8 gas engines. The bad part is that you will probably have to go back in later to do the other side on this engine. Since a large part of the job is removing the belts and retiming you will actually save effort if you do it now. If you just need the car now and are low on money or time....I have had to do things in my youth that I knew better than. In college I recall replacing the rings and piston in only one cylinder just to get through until spring. Boy is that a lot of work for nothing. I also recall tearing down several engines just to find enough good parts to make one that would run. Sometimes you do what you gotta do.

They don't always show up on a hydrocarbon test, compression tests can't find them until they are really blown, and a leakdown test is iffy until they leak when cool. If it were my car I would change them at this point.

i went out and bought a small reader right after the problem. I cleared the codes and it has never returned. I've been waiting to install the sensors to see what happens.

I admit I have thought of adding moly to my oil. At the moment its working pretty well and my oil use has gone down so I,m leaving it alone. Seals were a big issue a few years ago when adding synthetic as it does seem like the particles are finer and the large amount of detergent eats up deposits that may be sealing an old engine. I am not sure I would want to try it with an old engine that had not been resealed, even though they say that sealing is no longer a problem.

Now we will get into opinion here, and I think synthetics are a bit tougher, stick longer, and offer more cushion. If I were you I would go to a synthetic right after break in. I'm sure others may feel differently.

Yep, Given a non slapping motor I would go with a lighter oil as I do in my BMW. I forget what's in there at the moment but it is a light multi grade Mobil 1. I am sure I am sacrificeing some possible fuel mileage with the 15-50 Mobil 1 in my old Forester, but it seems to run about the same around here as 10-30 dino. On the head gasket problem.... I also think that the overbore and open deck is the real problem and the gasket just treats the symptom. Regardless it is possible to get a lot of mileage out of these engines slapping happily away. Could subaru have done better? Yep, and engines like the old 2.2 prove it. I never seem to hear of much for problems with WRXs either, unless it is owned by a kid who beats the %%&& out of it.

This brings up the issure of weather doctors have recalls.

I don't have much experience with an automatic, but the only rental car with an auto I drove did something similar. If I recall it would approch something slippery and just start to spin. Then the rear wheel drive would kick it and it went like a tank.This was a new rental Legacy with less than 10,000 miles. I hope MT Smiths see this one because I think he has automatics and a steep and slippery driveway.

I liked the "quiets a noisy customer line."..He He He. I would like to see a comparison of the counter measure piston next to a regular one to see if there are changes myself. I have seen photos of Subaru head gasket versions on the web that were different. They just didn't work much better than the originals, which must mean Subaru's testing was not that great. As for this car I think the guy is getting great deal with a new short block. I have just learned to live with mine. It is pretty tolerable with the current heavy oil, but that is sure not an option at 20 below zero.

I guess this depends on personal philosophy, but I actually like women. I have little desire to make the aquaintance of large persons who rely on words of few syllables in the shower. Just perhaps a bit of interest on something I noticed. Weather has been fairly good lately so I've been driving the BMW roadster. The Subaru sat for several days, and when she first started after the oil had drained way down. The slap was back just the way it used to be. When it warmed up it was gone again. This makes me think that all the synthetic is doing is staying on the piston longer, but if you leave it alone long enough it will eventually drain back to the pan.

Yep, I tried periodic girlfriend replacement for years and that was expensive enough. Here in CA every time you split up she gets half and it does not take too many halfs to make a guy earning $100,000 who lives in a bar.

Another dino note. last night I started tearing down a 67 Pontiac 400 engine. It was rebuilt about 1998 and run with fairly regular dino 10-30 changes from the looks of the receipts. The last change was 76 oil done at a 76 station, before that who knows. Just jiffy lube receipts that say 10-30. This engine has sludge in it like I used to see in the 70s.The PCV valve was all gummed up. I suspect that from the low mileage it has turned that it did a lot of short trips, and most of it on LA freeways where sludge conditions are great. I think Mobil 1 or a really good detergent oil would have helped prevent the formation of this sludge. The engine runs fine, but I will be leary of cleaning it out becuse this sludge could easily plug a lifter or oil passage. Eventually you can bet I'll change this thing to synthetic because it will spend most of its time sitting, and I think the synthetic breaks down less.

I guess slo does have mileage similar to mine. I was thinking he was the guy who had about a 2002. In this case I have even less understanding of why he would get less slap with thinner oil.