jayhawkroy

Chris, we have a 2003 and have exhibited none of the problems listed above. Have used the Subaru coolant conditioner from the start ($2 or less per bottle at dealer) and have had no problelms. Current have 126K on the engine. Timing belt should be changed at 105K, or not if you believe that a timing belt should be changed at the 7 year mark regardless of mileage. My next decision point for retaining this car is 150K miles. All said, I am not sure I would purchase a used Subaru unless very complete maintenance records were kept. There are too many variables and too many people who will (knowingly or unknowingly) short the car on maintenance and tire issues.

Here are a few shops in Fairfax that come recommended from cartalk.com: Personal Mechanix (says he is an AC specialist) SK Auto Services Adams Automotive Kim's Automotive Precision Import Service. Surely one of them can identify the problem and get it fixed for you.

I would get second opinion from an independent mechanic. His estimate should bring the price down even if all this needs to be done. Do you have any maintenance history for the car? Do you know if a tune up was done around 90K miles? If so, then the new plugs probably are not part of the solution. If you go ahead and change plugs, change out all the filters so you have a baseline on your maintenance items. If maintenance history is unknown, doing a full 90K service per the owner's manual would be in order, too. Valve cover leakage could probably be dealt with later -- I have difficulty conceiving of a situation that in would negatively influence your idle and engine performance.

Consumer Reports likes Michelin X-Radial (available at wholesale clubs only) for all round performance, Goodyear Assurance Tripletred (may have issues on ice-performance good, otherwise). I have also seen folks recommend BF Goodrich Traction TA. I just got the X-Radials for my Mazda MPV.

Follow the maintenance schedule in the owner's manual and you'll do fine. I would check brakes and tires if you haven't already done so. 90K service and the timing belt change at 105K are your next two big events. Verify that the previous owner actually accomplished the 60K service, and get it done if it wasn't done.

Take a look at Nov 05 Consumer Reports. They just finished testing Winter tires. They judged Michelin X-ice, Viking SnowTech, Goodyear Ultra Grip Ice, Bridgestone Blizzak WS-50 and Mastercraft Glacier Grip II as the top 5. Both Nokians tested came in lower.

For oil drain plug, I change out washer at 30/60/90K service. For AT, think it will get changed out at about 120K. I do this mostly as a preventive service (never had an old one leak, either), because the crush washers are about 87 cents each at my dealer. Have seen them cheaper on the internet, but wasn't ordering enough to justify shipping.

I used standard Mobil Dexron III ATF to change out our 03 Legacy wagon at 30,000 mi. Did not change the AT filter because owner's manual says it is not necessary so long as there are no leaks or other work to be done on the AT. I got 4 out of 9.8 qts out for each drain, and drained it twice over about 1000 miles. Am planning on changing out ATF about every 30K miles. With this schedule, I don't see the value in using synthetic.

According to the info at Bobistheoilguy.com, there are three manufacturers of SuperTech dino oil: Warren Performance Products-Omaha (midwest), ExxonMobil (east coast, looks like a Mobil bottle), and SOPUS (owners of Pennzoil and Quaker State), mostly west coast. Suspect you are getting the WPP stuff, as we do here in Kansas. While you are at Walmart, recommend looking at Phillips Trop-Arctic at $1.24-1.28 per qt. It is a dino/synthetic blend at a fairly inexpensive price and is SM rated.

Our legacies take 17mm socket for drain plug, for both 2.2 (1999)or 2.5 (2003) engine. Trans filter is external and spin on. I suspect your is the same.

No offense taken. Actually the 1/4 of a Subaru may be my daughter's Subaru that lives in Wichita but keeps coming back home for maintenance and repairs! Just finished her 90K service at 99K. Timeliness is not one of her virtues.

Correctted to 50% more than last year (2 vs 3 now). Guilty of bad math on Sunday.

Three, but that is 33% more than last year. Think we are slowly winning converts.

As far as AT fluid goes, you never really said if you had checked the AT fluid level or not. I would do that immediately and put in any make up ATF needed until you can change it out. At the same time, check out the color of the ATF. Red is good, brown means change out soon. If your Impreza is like our Legacy, ATF change requires only 4 quts for drain and fill, because only about 40% comes out. Dexron III runs from $ .80/qt at Costco for Mobil to about $1.22 for Supertech at Walmart. Cheap insurance. Do a drain and fill ASAP if you have been neglecting your maintenance. $5 buys you a lot of quality maintenance for an AT. Do a second drain and fill about 1000 miles after the first one if your current fluid is really brownish. Continue a third time if needed, until you get a good red color. If you think you have water in your gas, run some gas dryer chemical like Heet through the gas tank. Follow up with an injector cleaner like Techron in the second tank of gas. By all means get the fuel filter changed. My personal opinion is that Sam's gas and Wawa's purchasing strategy is to buy from the lowest bidder, so one is not superior to the other. Wawa is not one step up in quality from Sam's, but kudos for going to 93 octane for the next tank. If I have gas problems like this, I switch to a Top Tier gas or a known brand name for a while (purchasing from a high volume dealer is a plus). If your performance changes, then you know to quit buying Sam's gas. Top Tier designation gives you at least a level of security due to the fact that Top Tier gasolines must have been tested to meet a specified standard. It would also be helpful to tell us how many miles are on your Impreza. That will help focus on your most immediate maintenance needs....Roy

Without seeing the tire, the one that is worn substantially on the inside is evidence of an alignment problem. That is probably the mechanical problem they are talking about. Did you get the vehicle aligned (4 wheel) when you bought the tires? Did you do an alignment since then? I am sure their recommendations is to have alignments every 12K-15K miles or so, and it may even be in their warranty agreement as a requirement. These discussions are why I always get my car aligned when I purchase tires from the same place that I purchase the tires. I also make sure I get any recommended suspension work done from them, so they can't blame someone else when I have a tire wear problem.

A couple of points to ponder: 1. In addition to KBB retail, get NADA book values. NADA values are used as much as KBB for payoffs. Sometimes there are big differences. In your arguments/discussions, have available the highest value to use as leverage/encouragement for them to pay for the repairs. 2. It is possible to "buy back" the car back from the insurance company. In many cases the "buy back" is deducted from your settlement and you avoid the salvage title business. Check with the body shops you are getting estimates from. Some of them offer cash paying customers substantial discounts and you can get the same identical work done by the shop much cheaper than the insurance company. You may also check in to having a local vo-tech do the work on your car. Quality may not be first rate, but the price is usually outstanding.

We have used Wix, Purolator and Advance Auto Parts (made by Purolator) in our Legacies. Have seen no differences in oil filter performance, even though the Advance Auto filter is half the cost of Wix and one third less than the regular Purolator. They get a steady diet of regular Pennzoil 5W 30. So far, so good, with 96K miles on our 1999.

Think I would have asked him about the other 130+K miles and see what he said.

I wouldn't worry about oil use until you have done a couple of oil changes. My personal philosophy is one quart between oil change intervals (my OCI is 5K mi) is pretty normal. It is entirely possible that your last oil change did not include the full amount of oil that it should have. Read your owner's manual. It is pretty clear in our 2003's owner's manual that Subaru suggests 5W30 as the preferred motor oil weight. I know of no reason why a franchise dealer would vary from that recommendation. I suspect the recommendation is still true for 2004 models. While not a major cause of concern, I don't think 10W40 is the optimum oil for normal use.

Go over to bobistheoilguy.com and do a search on Marvel Mystery Oil. You will get a variety of opinions about this additive. I am skeptical of all oil additives, and this one, as I understand it, dilutes your oil, because it is mostly mineral spirits. The folks who do use it run it for only 500 miles or so and then do an oil change.

Before you go for the Pep Boys solution, check starter warranties on both options. Most likely the Pep Boys solution is inferior quality or refurbished vs remanufactured. There also appears to be a major discrepancy on labor -- I would ask the mechanic what his three hours' labor entails and then ask Pep Boys if they are doing the same type of work. If there is actually three hours labor involved, I would go with the best part. If the part fails and you have to pay labor again (out of the warranty period), you have not achieved any savings at all.

This car has approximately 194400 miles or 324K kms on it. Your call, but I would look for a Subaru with lower mileage.

What you probably need is the NADA used car guide. Libraries usually carry a couple of years back issues. As I recall, there was a quarterly version that the libraries maintained on file and got rid of all the monthly updates. That should work for determining the value of the car at that point in time. Check out your local library and see what they have.

I have owned two Subarus, and my dealer has never seen the car after warranty. All of my services are done by an independent import mechanic that I trust. In general, Subaru parts are used, because he found that non-Subaru parts cost as much as Subaru parts, so we defaulted to the OEM parts. Last time I checked, his labor rate was about $10-15 per hour cheaper than the dealership and is more convenient to me. Ask around and find a good independent mechanic who is familiar with Subarus and you may find your overall costs to go down. As for timing belt replacement, I would go by the owner's manual and what it says. I have noticed that several dealers, not all Subaru, think you should change your timing belt more often than what the owner's manual calls for.