heartless

have you checked in the owners manual for info?

yup, the 4EAT is a darn good tranny, all things considered. my Foz is an auto, and it still shifts quite nicely - super smooth when fully warmed up.

glad you found it and got it sorted.

not likely to mess with engine related stuff... the other half's 06 LL Bean had a BUNCH of broken wires in the rear hatch junction... no rear defrost, rear wiper, license plate lights, etc.. all gauges and engine stuff were fine. But definitely agree about going back thru the engine bay and double or triple checking all connections & grounds - the gauge acting squirrely with turn signals & what not definitely indicate a problem somewhere

NGK plugs are good - but what about wires? Cheap parts store wires are known to be problematic on these cars (as noted with the GL wagon - those wires were only a month old when the problem happened). Use OEM or NGK wires only.

just going to add to the confusion, i am sure.. but ... many years ago - 89 GL wagon (EA82) started running like crap going down the highway - misfiring, etc, limped into a fuel station and found a cheap plug wire was arcing - also ended up with a bad O2 sensor on that car due to the misfiring. would stumble, misfire and run like crap even after putting good wires on - took it a long time to throw the code for the O2.. 95 Legacy had random misfiring but usually on initial startup - would run like crap until warmed up.. after paying closer attention for a few days, it was always on damp days.. fog, rain, whatever... pop the hood and could actually see the arcing from the coil in full daylight when it was acting up. have a short video somewhere of it.

yup, it is most definitely due to the road chemicals used. They use salt or salt brine pretty heavily here in Wi so yeah, even 5 yr old vehicles are rusting out.

pretty much... if maintained, and paid attention to, yeah, they can go for a long time. The biggest issue those of us in the rust belt have to contend with is frame rot - have had it on multiple vehicles, and not just Subaru - pretty much every car suffers from it up here. might be able to slow it down some, but can not completely get away from it, no matter how hard you try - unless you never drive the vehicle, lol. my first Suby - an 89 GL wagon - got up to 285k, but the undercarriage was so bad it just was not safe to drive anymore... motor & trans had lots more to give, but the chassis was done. Hoping to get over 300k out of the Forester before she gets to be unsafe.. so far so good, but there are bits that are looking kinda rough..

the 265k would probably be me, and mine is a 2002 model - supposedly hgs were done around the 85k mark - i bought the car (private sale) at 214k and very near to hitting 266 now.

replaced a damaged fog light.. original one had a nasty stone chip in it that allowed water in.. inside was flaking off pretty bad because of it. "local" junkyard (hr away) had one listed on car-part.com, so-so picture looked ok... was not off the car when I called, so the guy had no idea what it looked like.. got there and it was even worse than what I had. should never have even been listed (I envy all you guys with good pick & pull yards - no such thing here) back to car-part... called a place in PA that had 2 listed (with better pictures) After chatting with a guy there, and fresh pics sent, i got the light, with shipping, for $32.50 (just for reference, a NOS one is nearly $300, and the local yard wanted $25 for the pos one) and before anyone asks.. the "hole" has a stick about the diameter of a thumb stuck in it - have no idea how or why it got there - it was there when i got the car, lol. the bumper is otherwise in very good shape for a 19yr old car

it is not the alternator, i would put money on that simply based on how the OP describes what the lights are doing - one steady and the other 2 flashing is NOT indicative of a bad alternator. seriously.. seems to me a lot of you have not actually experienced the "light show" of a bad alternator and are just regurgitating 3rd hand information. i have experienced it firsthand and I am positive what the OP is describing is NOT how the lights behave. the "light show" of a bad alternator is having multiple warning lights (typically battery, CEL, & brake for sure, others depending on the actual model) FLICKERING in varying degrees of intensity (bright/dim) and ALL of the lights involved do EXACTLY the same thing at the same time. That is not what is being described here. the vehicle dynamic control relies on both the tranny and the brakes to function correctly - if a fault is being seen with either, or both, of those two systems, it stands to reason that it could potentially throw an error light for the dynamics. Not something i would just "ignore". I would be looking into WHY are the lights coming on? Tranny fluid at proper level and clean? Same with brake fluid? ABS system operating properly? Faulty sensor, damaged sensor wiring? multitude of possibilities.. There has to be a reason those specific lights kicked off, the question is, what is the reason?

with that specific combination of lights, i would be leaning more toward checking brake & trans fluids to start with. AT Oil Temp = tranny fluid is too hot - could be low? Obviously Brake has to do with the braking system so checking brake fluid would be in order... the center one is Vehicle Dynamic Control - which relies on both tranny & brake systems to operate properly. alt going out tends to illuminate ALL the lights, and not necessarily brightly, either. Nor do you get one steady and others flashing.. they all do the same thing at the same time and is usually more of a flickering than a regular flashing on/off.

basically - it puts a simulated load on the circuit to make sure the circuit is working as it is supposed to. kind of like when testing alternators, you first test with all accessories off to get a baseline, then turn things on to make sure it is working properly when loaded.

ok, so apparently they have made changes to all that.. and honestly, one email a day is still plenty for me.. LOL i only have the popup notifications turned on myself for when i am on the site. I get enough email, i dont want, or need anymore.

unless the owners manual specifically calls for one of the oddly colored specialty coolants, then yes, the green stuff will be fine.. brand does not really matter. if not premixed 50/50, you will want to do that with a demineralized water (distilled). i like to buy the premixed stuff - a lot less hassle, just open and pour. as for getting notified, there is a little thing at the bottom of the typing box... turn it on.. pretty sure there are settings in your user profile area as well.