heartless

wow, yeah, that would definitely explain the burning smell... just glad it was not any worse! glad you found it and sorted things out

gonna state the obvious here, but start with the bulbs themselves, and the connector at the housing. work back from there

would have to agree - even a higher 4 digit car... a $1500 car, probably not - would go with one of the free services (and did for my Forester) - one that is $7500 or higher.. i would pay for the real carfax report - but that is me.

there are also free services out there - but again, you get what you pay for.

pinched, or just fatigue from opening & closing? I know the wires suffer from that - just fixed the other half's hatch wiring last fall (at least it was still warm!) well done on finding it, tho

yeah.. i prefer to err on the side of caution myself - especially with an interference engine.. 80-100K

yeah, i would do the water pump & t-stat as well, just for peace of mind. just sitting here thinking about it.. My little Forester had 214K when I got her and I did a full timing job myself, just to make sure - PO could not remember when it was done last, so yeah.. but thinking about it just now.. only have about 20K to go before she is due again..

you can get a copy of the FSM here: http://jdmfsm.info/Auto/Japan/Subaru/ if you can do the timing on an EJ22, you can do it on an EJ25 - not really any significant differences. I went from a 95 Legacy with a non-interference EJ22 to a 2002 Forester with the EJ251 - pretty much the same as far as that job goes. Same "rules" apply - change all the pulleys, etc, all in one go and be done till the next time. I would do radiator hoses as well, and possibly vacuum lines - depending on condition.

have you checked the headlight bulb connectors? have come across a couple "melted" ones over the years.

ok, so going to get the damn thing pulled out this weekend and get a good look at it.. I have a wearable magnifier to get a good look at things, and a good solder station an know how to use them, LOL GD - thank you for the link, i will pass it along to the other half - his choice on this one.. I know he looked at doing that in the past - not sure why he didnt.

and just so there are no questions about which system he has.. these are the controls

ok, just tested this theory of the ambient temps being a major part of the problem here... was -9 this morning when no heat now 6 above - a difference of 15 degrees - and the heat is working fine. i did nothing other than start the car and let it warm up..

if this is what was happening, it would not be an intermittent thing, would it? this is a very intermittent situation here.. comes and goes, and seems to be ambient temperature related.

Any good alternator/starter rebuild place should be able to refurbish the old one and make it better than any off the shelf unit would be. Might be a little more costly, but in the long run well worth the added cost. yeah, you may need to get something in to hold you over temporarily, but i would have the stock one rebuilt and put it back in when done. did this with my old 95 Legacy and it was so worth it. Still have the aftermarket one up on a shelf, lol This is the kind of place you want to find.. https://www.generatorstartershop.com/

As far as I can tell, yes, everything is functioning as it is supposed to - temp readouts are fine, directional controls all seem to work correctly, fan functions as it is supposed to on all speeds - just no heat when heat is called for. I could probably go out right now, having touched absolutely nothing, and it would work fine - temp has come up to 6 above now. In fact, just to confirm, i may go do just that. No, Texan - there is NO heat at all when it does this - none - it blows COLD air, even when heat is being called for. All of this just reaffirms my belief that more electronics in cars is nothing but problems.