heartless

you get used to it after a while - mine has been been on for the entire year I have owned the car - how long before that is unknown... My car has several wheel sensors with the wires broken off right at the sensor (non-repairable) - $100 or more per sensor, and not sure I could get the old sensors out... I pulled the fuse and live with it - brakes work fine otherwise.

Northcentral Wisconsin - at least thats what it was last time I bought some - about a year ago... ok, so I over-estimated...better too much than not enough

running plain water is not a good idea - in any car. the color tinge is most likely from residual coolant that was left in the system - the other things you mention could be leftovers from the previous headgasket failure... I would advise you drain the system and refill properly with premixed 50/50 coolant - around $7 a gallon - you will need about 2.5 to do the job correctly. do a search here for how to burp the coolant system properly to avoid air pockets in the system.

those spots could be from stone chips (most likely), or it could be defects in the paint. A "hood" deflector will do very little to prevent roof chips - the stone would just hit a little further back is all... either way, a good body/paint shop should be able to fix those for you - without having to do the entire car. My other half had a small rust spot from a stone chip right near the top edge of the windshield on his new to him 2006 Outback - we found a shop that would fix it for around $350, and they even added a strip of the clear protective film to help prevent it from happening again. The car looks great, you cant tell where the work was done, it was blended in so well. on the flip side of the coin, another shop had told him they would have to do the entire roof - at about 4 times the cost... my advice is to shop around, take the car(s) to several paint/body shops and get estimates. If the cars are in otherwise good condition, it would be worth the cost to fix the problem(s) before things get worse.

99.9% of the time, oil leaks on the back of the engine are from the separator plate, not the rear main seal. tranny fluid level is right? being checked when fully warmed up, parked on a level surface? what are the rpms running when fully warmed up at around 55-60 mph?

just because the ends are clean does not mean the cable itself is in good shape - check closely for signs of corrosion up under the insulation of BOTH cables. if either looks like it has corrosion up there, they may need to be replaced. These cars a bit fussy about grounds, too - make sure they are clean and tight (working from memory here, so may be a bit off on a couple of these) - main battery ground at the tranny bellhousing; another smaller one on the upper rad support, in front of the battery/above drivers side headlight; there are a couple of engine harness grounds on the back of the motor, near the tranny bellhousing, one on the passenger side (on one of the intake bolts I think), one just a bit to drivers side of center... Look around for others, making sure they are all clean and tight. check the underhood fusebox over as well. the ECUs on these rarely fail - not saying it doesnt ever happen, but pretty rare.

yes, post all the codes you are getting then clear the codes and see which, if any, come back and post those up.

maybe they use a different supplier for the Forester? I dunno Kind of concerned about the other half's '06 Outback - even tho it only lists 03-05 models for Subaru - so far - there is always that chance?

it is a Subaru site, but many have multiple vehicles, and/or family members, or others they care about, that may have one of the affected vehicles so I see no problem with posting the entire list, since there are Subarus on it... If it doesnt affect you, then dont worry about it.

a very good possibility ^ requires pulling the center cover off the wheel to gain access - at least 94 doesnt have airbags...

Welcome to your new obsession - er - passion! Once you go Subaru, you never go back! hehe strut lift (KYB Outback or Forester struts & Forester springs) and larger tire/wheel combo! and yes - we definitely need pictures!

Well done, Texan! and that Perrin pulley - yeah, "mistakenly" my backside! LOL

did you replace the tophat, too, or reuse the old one? is the nut fully tight? possible the tophat is failing (if it is the old one)? a picture or two sure would help...

yes, and they are not good - cheap, chinese junk

one small addition....otherwise, excellent reminder, Texan!

good to hear you got it fixed.

Exactly! and that is part of the reason I did it that way. the other part was that the old ones came off of a donor that had over 350K on it and were in pretty bad shape - as in "bucking bronco" bad...but - they were still better than the busted springs that were on the car when I got it... have to agree with the Monroe being "wet noodle-ish". Have also used Gabriel struts in the past on the old GL - better than Monroe, but not as good as the KYBs. with a bit of shopping around one can find KYBs at a better price, too... I think I ordered mine, along with the tops, from partsgeek.com My advise is: go to the KYB website, look up the correct part numbers, then shop around for the best overall price - and dont forget about shipping costs when comparing prices! one site had the actual struts a little cheaper, but soaked on the shipping... total cost ended up being more with them.

I dont think this is the cause of your melted cover - as it notes, if the pulleys are accidentally swapped, the engine wont run - at all. misplacing the pulleys could cause rubbing damage to the plastic when trying to crank the engine, but it is gauranteed it wont start. there was something else going on for that cover to be melted that badly. and I agree with the others - get that "gasket" out of there and use the proper sealant to avoid leaks, and headaches, down the road

go here: http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html punch in the stock size and the size you are thinking about using and it will show you the differences. you can switch between side and end (tread) views, and it will also tell you how far off your speedo may be and which way (slow or fast)

I can relate - 1600 miles of holding the throttle gets old quick - even on these cars. Just try to understand that the cruise control may not be an "easy fix". Even after getting a bunch of new parts for the one we had that was missing the clutch button - as in a complete OE cruise install kit - never did get the cruise to work on it & never did figure out why...

have used both Monroe and KYB replacements - I like the KYB much more. did KYB struts & tops with OE springs (everything brand new) on my current daily driver & like the ride - firmer than Monroe struts, but not harsh

both cables are supposed to have just a little bit of slack in them - they should not be tight against the throttle plate at rest so the throttle plate can close fully/properly. both cables should be at about the same amount of slack adjustment. it isnt/doesnt need to be much, maybe 1/16th inch, but it does need to be there. If the cruise cable is much looser than the other, it kind of says to me there was an issue with it that the previous owners didnt want to spend the time/money investigating and they (or thier mechanic) loosened the cable so it wouldnt interfere with normal driving of the car.

holy cats! I've never seen one that badly rusted up, either! it is usually just a small area - like a ring around the shaft - that has rusted. Congrats on persevering and getting that pulley off of there! I dont have as many belts as lmdew, but have done a few... the timing cover... umm, yeah...not good! what does the other side look like? is it melted as well? even a little? would be very odd for one side to be that badly melted and the other side to not show any signs of melting...

year & model would be very helpful, but yeah - KYBs are about the best replacement you can get for a Subaru.

the weight itself wont be a problem as long as your suspension is in good shape - but getting things to fit might be a bit tricky...