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And the two things happening together would seed odd otherwise. On a BMW its called the VSS signal and the speedo, cruise, computer, and even the stereo tap into it. Have'nt had Subie problems with it yet myself.

all by themselves of head gasket trouble. First of all the coolant level will go up a bit when warm normally as it expands. This is why most coolant tanks have hot and cold on them. Check it the same way all the time and you will get an idea how much yours should change while normal. You can also have a little scum show up and not have a gasket about to pop. There can be all kinds of ugly chemical reactions in an old motor if it has had different kinks of antifreeze. All cars are not equal. If you are running a very hot thermostat and your radiator is old and not as effective as new you are borderline on boiling. When the water expands inside your radiator it will be forced into the coolant recovery tank. If it is borderline under pressure it can boil when it hits the open air causeing bubbles. Then if it cools down and sucks back in things are fine. But if you overheat and have a steady stream of bubbles or if you get that thick brown goo...watch out. By overheat I mean the engine boils over, not the gauge goes up in heavy useage. The guage should go up a bit in heavy use on an old engine.

one of the mechanics to look at it for you. I don't know about back there but here in CA the insurance would be about 2- 3 times the cost of the car for a new driver.

from a crash that had a drop of silicon sealer blocking an oil passage. Proving it would be tough. You would probably have to have it disassembled by a Subaru expert to document the cause, or at least do it in front of witnesses and a camera.

I think you need to do a search on valves and valve jobs to learn a bit about it. If you drive it around on three cylinders it will have little power and depending on the cause damage the engine or not. The car should be assesed by a competant mechanic who is familiar with Subarus. The other thing you can do is buy it planning to save your money and fix it up. There is a lot of past info on this board about engines loseing cylinders that would be good for you to go through. I try not to drive a car at all when it is damaged, although when I was a kid I sometimes had no choice but to limp by. At least this car should not be driven hard until the problem is corrected. I think this might be a car you could learn quite a bit about repairing with as long as it is not over your head financially. Who is going to pay the registration and insurance?

could be moderately expensive. Say $1200 or so where you are. It could be something cheaper too, carbon, bad plug, coil, bad wire, etc.

have the same WRX we get. It might be good to check that before you take advice from us yanks. Last time I was in Kiwi you were getting more HP than we did but that may have changed now. I would check an Aussie board since they usually get the same models you do.

dropping is not a valve. On the other hand learning to do a vlave job might be good for you. My personal feeling is that I survived my teen years becuse I spent so much more time working on old British bikes and cars rather than having them actually run.

That would do it too. Or a lazy ox sensor.

put it in park. Wiggle wheel wildly while turning key. Stepping on the brake helps some cars. Not sure about subies.

sense except that it clears up when warm. I don't think a clogged radiator would do more than help since it would warm up quicker.

No wonder mine did not clear. I doubt I would ever have the patience to wait 40 warmup cycles.

It might be worth draining the oil and trying ATF. If the thicker oil is causeing the worn parts of the syncros to lock together this approach might buy time and be very cheap. People have been useing automatic transmission fluid for years for racing, and my BMW came stock with it, so it is unlikely to hurt. This would not be a real cure but it has been known to help folks get by.

by gallons used and mileage traveled over a period of a couple of weeks. Divide gallons into miles and record it. Do the same for a couple of weeks and you will have a pretty good idea of your particular use. Gas guages are not that accurate so miles per tank is iffy if you are going by that. Your mileage may vary quite a bit depending on weather, fuel, and the area you drive in.

Did you ever see someone pull an aircraft radial though by hand? This problem has been around for a long time. Modern high pressure fuel injectors can make it almost instant.

and change it yourself. Its a piece of cake unless you are outside at 20 below, and then all bets are off.

I am rather impressed by the cost of service up there and it always sounds worse in loonies. Is the beer still reasonable? That could at least offer consolation.

fan.

When I lived in Maine we viewed the border as a slight irritation on the way to visiting your relatives. I would agree that the average Canadian is more polite and less litigasious than us yanks. I agree with this in spite of having attended hockey games and bars in St. George.

I would like to see the Fel pros and see if they have done a better job than Subaru myself. Sometimes the aftermarket is a bit ahead on items like this, sometimes behind.

stuff from Jamie. She makes it the most painless process of anyplace I deal with.

in 5th gear. Yes it should probably be rebuilt. What will eventually happen is that it will stick in 5th and not come out. I also don't think changing the oil is likely to do much good as we are probably talking about actual wear on some small devices. If it were mine I would just block out 5th gear until I could afford to fix it. As long as you don't do much for trips with this car you could limp by for a long time. If you have a bit more money there are several used JDM importers in the Bay area. You could get Gnu to help you change out the tranny for a reasonable rate as he loves working on Subies.

all the Subaru of North America jokes this brings to mind as well as Subaru saying "we ain't giving you hosers no extended nothing." I hope the Canadian members of the board will respect this restraint. Frankly I don't recall any Canadians posting that they got the letter. Tell me I'm wrong Frag and Commuter.

for clutch parts. I posted them a while back and you may be able to find them doing a search. If not I can get them from the file in my garage and post them for you tomorrow night. The new ones work pretty well. On the clutch hydraulic linkage TSB it just says to change the hose, washers, and slave. I also had to change the master cyl on mine before I was happy. Most Subaru mechanics will have discovered a clutch that works for them in thier area.They don't want the car to come back again for a free clutch job. On Subarus these cars are odd enough that many mechanics will only use the latest dealer parts. There are a couple of mechanics and at least on parts person who post here, as well as what we all think is the premier Subaru independent engine rebuilder. Perhaps some of them will weigh in on what they thik is the best. I am just a fussy ex fleet mechanic who is on the paper pushing end of things these days for a few transit agencies.

The sniffer test won't work until it gets really bad. It wil slowly get worse, but if you nurse it you may make it until you can afford to do your gasket job. If it were mine I would od it now to avoid the chance of furthur engine damage.