nixon

Cos they're in the way?

The original poster asked if he should get snow tyres or all seasons. Since he drives most of the time on COLD dry pavement, and in 2 or 3 snowstorms a month, he probably could do with some WINTER tyres, of the European variety. Michelin Pilot Alpins might well be a better bet than the Nokians. They won't last as long, but they won't skate around like the Nokians do.

Chip referred to WINTER Tyres, not SNOW tyres. Snow tyres are just that, for snow. Winter tyres are for winter temperatures, below 7C. They perform better in snow, on ice, in slush, rain and even dry conditions, below 7C than summer , or all season, tyres. All seasons may have the tread, but they don't have the compound. Never mind how snowy it is: if it's cold, you need winter tyres.

Why would you want your synthetic oil to perform like dyno oil?SOME high mileage engines will leak when changed to synth , cos the synth cleans the crap out of seals. If the engine has been looked after properly, it won't leak.

If you want to be patriotic, get the Subie, and some prodrive stuff- PPP or stickers,, either will do!

By the way, is "reliable British car" an oxymoron? YES!Even in Great(!,?) Britain, Jaguar only sell 10% of BMW's sales. Reason, Jaguars are a pile of arse! No wonder Ford are trying to offload them, with no takers. There's patriotism, and then there's plain stupidity.

So... I go to make a bid on E-bay, on Sunday morning, 24 hours before the auction ends, and find the SCUMBAG seller has only gone and put the starting price up by £100 ! Fair enough, if another bidder raises the ante, then one can re-raise or fold, but to raise the price cos someone wants to buy it? I phoned him to find out what was going on. "You should have been quicker, shouldn't you!" said he. (????) So, on Monday morning, with no bids on the table, he threw in £100 worth of road tax (realisation that he'd screwed up?). The auction ends with no bids at all! It's now re-listed at the original price, with tax thrown in, and CASH ONLY, on a 3 day listing!!! I think a low bid may be in order. After all , he would have had a sale, if he hadn't started monkeying around with the price.

I drove it today! Seemed like a car half it's age! Figure of eights revealed no nasties. It has 5 matching michelin synchrones, with about 6mm left. No engine smoke, clean oil and coolant. pink atf, clean interior, but tatty bodywork. The brakes need attention, but I've got some young calipers in the shed , off my S-turbo. I think it's a yes...

Thanks for the replies! Just as I thought- pot luck. The car's only going to be used for short local jaunts, so might be worth a punt at £1000 ! Foresrter boxes might be a bit tricky to find used in the UK, but I suppose an Impreza one would fit? Final drive might be different though? For the money, I think I'll go for it. Cheers, Nick

I'm thinking of buying an MY2000 NA Forester auto with 202,000 miles on the clock. It appears to have been well looked after, with dealer service history to about 180,000 miles. I'm expecting to have to change things like shocks etc. but my main concern is the gearbox. What sort of mileage do these boxes achieve before things start failing? Any insight would be welcome. Cheers, Nick

There's no piggy back canister on my SLS struts (99 S-turbo). Front struts are the same as with ornery sus.

It feels stiff 'cos your old struts were knackered. Struts start to lose it after 40,000 miles. (koni recommend 20,000 miles). You want plush and floaty? Great, until you float into the ditch!

The same thing happened to my 99 forester a couple of months ago. I guess they're prtty similar. There is no need to take apart/remove the shifter . everything can be done working under the car. At the shifter end of the cable, there are two nuts holding the cable to the shifter. measure the distance from the outer nut to the end of the threaded rod (this will enable you to get iton again, pre-adjusted) .Undo this nut. The outer cable is held to the shifter casing by 2 nuts on a flange. remove. At the tranny end the outer cable is held on with 2 nuts on a bracket. Remove. The cable is held to the selector rod with a wire clip. slip this off and waggle the whole lot free. replace with new cable.Bingo. The whole thing takes about 30 mins and the new cable cost me £40 ($80), so it should cost you less. The bad news is ... I had to wait 3 weeks for a cable to be shipped from japan! Hopefully you will be able to find one quick, new or used. If not they are pretty easy to cobble up. My local parts store let me rummage through their clutch cables to find something that would work. It may be that the outback cable is completely different. If so, good luck!

Sheep and wellies come to mind....

Nipper, You sounded just like Peter O'Toole then!

If they want to whup my rump roast, or give me a licking, no probs! I can turn them.

You've never driven a citroen, or peugeot, or for that matter, a renault, have you? Until recently, French cars were restricted to 45 watts, with yellow lenses, so the design of the beam/reflecter was thought about a bit. Whatever happened to Cibie ? Haven't heard of them for a while.

An 80k tire? What is it with you guys? The sidewalls will be cracked long before the tread wears down. Both equally dangerous! Thease are TYRES, they stick you to the road! They are expendable, Good ones don't last forever, unless you drive like you're ready for the knacker's yard !

I get the point, but we don't get sea foam here. Is it some form of Xylene-Toluene toxic nasty? If so I'll hunt for something similar, but there ain't anything here with such a fan club!

I've borrowed my sister's 97 Outback Auto 2.5l, for a couple of days, with a vew to maybe buying it. It's got 140,000 miles on the clock and had the head gaskets replaced about 10,000 miles ago. It's now running sweetly, and pulls like a train. One problem , the idle is RUFF. My sis has had it checked out by her local (trusted- 10yr+ relationship) mechanic, who says "they all do that". We all know the boxer is a bit rough at idle-yForester S-turbo misses the odd beat- but this is something different . When first fired up, it's pretty smooth, hot or cold, but once driven, and sitting in traffic ,it feels like it's firing on 3 pots. Then it will pull away ,smooth as silk. Anyone got any ideas?

Sadly, you seem to know where I'm coming from! Cheers Setright. (any connection to LJK ?)

Synthetic engine oil is widely assumed to have a "detergent" effect when first used in engines accustomed to mineral oil. ie, it will de-gunk all gunky bits, and generally cleanse the engine. Will using synth at fluid (dexron 3) have a similar effect on a gunky 4eat ? Can it be introduced on a drain/fill, ... drain/fill regime , or is a complete flush necessary? Thanks in advance for your opinions, Nick Any recommendations?

Do you double dip the throttle pedal? I find this drops a couple of gears far quicker than I could in a manual, and no spilt coffee, or donut jam on the gearstick!

I'm not trying to hijack the thread but fnlyfnd seems to have popped out for a while, so i'll keep his seat warm, and since his symptoms are exactly the same as mine, and nipper's on the case, I'll butt in! Mileage is 76000, and it's been doing it for 20000 miles, not getting worse, not getting better. Any ideas? Ta, Nick.

This sounds familiar! My '99 S-turbo does the same thing. Gentle bucking at 1500 rpm (38-42 mph) in top gear (auto box). It isn't apparent in lower gears, and isn't there all the time. I first noticed it when the Maf sensor was replaced to cure severe hesitation on acceleration, but it could have been masked by the faulty maf sensor. To your list of parts replaced, I can add Lamda and Knock sensors. All parts are OEM. The dealer is mystified/not very interested, and thinks it is a failing sensor (wait for a cel), or dodgy auto box (£2500). So I'll be interested to see if you fix it!