heartless

LOL, thank you for the giggle! glad you got it to close!

hugs for Dad from me too. I am also an Orphan, of sorts.. lost Mom in 2012 - never really knew dad, so no idea if he is still around or not. Life is short.. tell those you love that you love them every chance you get! (and that includes the furbabies!)

yeah, i hear ya.. but back issues are not something to put off taking care of.. I started having some issues about 3-4 years ago... went to chiropractor and called it good.. turns out, no, not good 2 subluxated vertebra - L4 & L5, with associated arthritis causing issues with nerve roots, which, let me tell ya, is no fun at all - major pain, and cant stand for more than 10-15 mins at a time. Went thru PT for several months with no improvement, was referred to physical medicine, where things are in progress to hopefully kill the pain for a while. This last year & a half has been hell. And for the record.. the chiro did not cause the problem, nor did he make it any worse.. As I understand it, this is something that develops over many years... and it was probably the truck driving that had the biggest impact.

no idea on the console lid.. there honestly isnt anything in that area that could jam it up.. unless something slid down thru the slot? or maybe something sticky congealed?? sorry to hear you got rearended.. but glad you are ok (i hope?)

to make sure there are no air pockets in the system, get the nose up in the air (jack or ramps) and run it for a bit to full operating temp.. let it cool, while still up, and then check the radiator - top up as needed.. set it back down, make sure the overflow is at the correct level.. run car again, to full operating temp, and check the overflow bottle... I am going to bet you will see bubbles coming up in there, which are exhaust gases getting into the cooling system... classic headgasket failure

sounds like classic head gasket failure to me. do a search here about it, and you will find it is relatively common on certain engines.

yup, small pin in the hole.. and tiny movements make a big impact be prepared to spend some time fiddling with it, lol

i don't know where you came up with this, but imho, it is nonsense. You may not have rust issues down there in TX, but in the northern climes, we do, and rust causes expansion of metal... I have had more than 1mm of "lip" on rotors but they were still well within spec. there is only one way to know thickness, and that is to measure, with the proper tools.

yeah, not something to be celebrated... that car needs the timing done ASAP before it lets go and costs you a whole lot more. 105 months is 8.75 yrs.. 2011 puts you at 10 yrs... disaster waiting to happen. we just picked up a 2004 Forester.. written on the radiator support is timing at 133K, in 2013 - the car has 185k on it now.. only 50k miles wise, but pushing the limits time wise. It will be getting done very soon.

why do you think you need to replace the rotors? are they damaged? out of spec? warped? a small lip of crud around the outside is honestly quite normal.. as long as the braking surface of the rotor is in good condition, and within spec (thickness) there is no need to replace them.

it is just a dust cover, and there is usually a foam rubber bumper kind of thing that holds it up.. that is probably a bit worn if it came down - the bumper thing just slides over the strut shaft, the dust boot slides over that... there is nothing else to hold it in place. would be more concerned about whether there is any oil showing on the shaft - even gas filled have a little oil in them.

definitely go with the NGK - and whatever type the manual calls for

clear the codes with a code reader.. not hard to do. drive the car a bit and see if anything pops back up.

for the fronts at least, you do not need to remove them.. there is a rubber cover over the top - pop that off, shine a small flashlight in there, and you can tell if it is bad or not.. if you can see the ball bearings and/or rust, it needs replacing. (front has bearings for steering purposes) rears don't have the bearing so are less prone to problems, but the rubber does deteriorate over time.

I am female also, and yes, it does happen a lot - shops see female and try to take advantage.. happens all the time.. But, I grew up doing things myself.. too poor to hire simple stuff done, like basic tune ups, brakes, and so on.. so I learned a lot and am able to do most work on my vehicles myself. i have a decent shop I work with now, and they know I know what the heck I am talking about, so they don't try to pull things over on me. In fact, the shop owner has asked my advice a couple of times on Subarus he has gotten in the shop for work. have owned, driven and worked on my own Subarus for just over 20 yrs now, and i dont see that changing anytime soon.. As I get older, I do seem to be relying on that shop a little more for things I would have done myself in the past, but the body refuses to cooperate anymore, so... and yes, dry graphite is the best for any lock cylinder.. auto, home, whatever.

the belt is a quality issue, and sadly, Gates has gone downhill in recent years - i wont use them anymore for timing. Mitsuboshi is the OE supplier and preferred brand for timing belts on these cars. Aisin for water pump, NSK or Koyo for idler pulley bearings, and NTN for the tensioner assembly. These are all OEM parts and what is recommended

assuming you have inspections and need to fix this, correct? my 2002 has the same issue, but it does not affect drive-ability at all. I did buy the part from RA, but never put it in... one look at where it goes and I said nope, not dealing with it.. rust is the issue on mine. that solenoid sits on top of the charcoal canister, at the rear of the car, passenger side. even if rust were not an issue it is not exactly easy to get at.

there are 2 pairs of single wire diagnostic connectors on older Subarus... one pair is green, the other is black.. they are there for a 95, I know this for fact since I owned one. they should be UNplugged for normal driving mode.. 95 was a voluntary OBDII setup, Subaru did not have to do that, but they did.. they also left the diagnostic connectors.

yup, you should be able to unlock the shift lever look for either a small hole, or maybe a small cover near the top of the shifter cover.. most commonly on the left side, but i guess there are a few on the right If there is no obvious hole/cover, you may need to pull some of the trim around the shifter.. if you find the hole, use a small screwdriver in left hand to push down - does not take a lot of pressure - then with right hand, move the shift lever to neutral it is possible that when the strut popped thru, and the body of the car dropped that things got squished/torqued,

i can verify the Forester struts will fit a 95, and they do raise the car a fair bit... I had put the forester struts under the 95 lego L wagon I had, and also fitted the 15" wheels to it.. you can see a pic of it here: https://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/topic/171162-lifting-a-96-legacy-l/?tab=comments#comment-1417502

yeah, selling that car should be for PARTS ONLY - it is not roadworthy any more. and here in WI at least, the way to enforce that "parts only" thing is to write "JUNK" in big letters across the front of the title. just because you can drive it, does not mean you should.

the chances of finding a shop to do that work are pretty slim. If you were going to do it yourself, yes, it is doable, but not a lot of fun. time to move on from that car... salvage what you want out of it and scrap it, or sell it for parts is about the best you can do at this point.

definitely sounds clutch related to me.. but then.. has been a while since i have had one,...

220k on ours.. still a baby

i live in the rust belt and have never had it happen to me personally... used to see posts about it a lot on the old EA series cars but yeah, gonna have to pull the strut out of the car, get some new metal welded in there, and make sure the other side is ok before you finish up. Or, go to Colorado, get a nice clean body - with or without a good engine, LOL