1 Lucky Texan

Cool info. If you send the H6's 3K oil in for analysis - um, could you post it for us?

My first inclination was to mention valves, but I didn't feel confident enough. Your idea of an over-rich mixture could lead to excessive carbon buildup too. That could prevent a valve from closing completely. Might be interesting to pull the plugs to examine general condition and for comparison with each other. maybe a 'Seafoam' type treatment and , as you suggested, a coolant temp sensor or other air/fuel sensor replacemnt is in order. edit; wait, you need to read or have the ECU code read. The CEL light may point to an emmissions sensor that is bad. Autozone or a 'friendly' mechanic will have a scanner to read that.

If the problem is corrosion on the slides, perhaps 'upgrading' to 2 pots - or 4 pot front/2pot rear, woiuld be a good idea. You might search/ask this on the appropriate forum at www.nasioc.com also.

Possibly the moly is in some assembly greases/coatings. I dunno. Anyway, I can find no soob schedule that doesn't show the first change at 3K.

I pulled the factory oil outta my '06 WRX at 2200. My wife's OBW I think git changed at about 1600. I think, if you look around at the schedules at www.cars101.com , they show 3K for the initial change and 7500 after that UNLESS severe service is encountered. Since the rings may not seal well in a brand new engine, the original oil will lilkely contain more dissolved combustion byproducts from blowby. It will likely have the highest readings of other stuff (metals, silicon,etc.) as any oil analysis done for the next 100,000 miles . you might enjoy reading more about oil at www.bobistheoilguy.com .

Toe probably, camber - well, you could max out both sides - but you wouldn't really KNOW they were the same. Better have a shop do it - they can inspect for damaged parts/loose bushings while they're at it. just my $0.02

Yep - toe. Likely aggressive driving as well. If you continue to drive agressively, try a pound or 2 more pressure and increase negative camber - then set the toe as said, near 0. There's some good reading at www.nasioc.com in the 'sticky' or threads of note in the steering suspension forum. Plus, sometimes tires are made poorly - but most name brands are quite good nowadays. Manufacturers have been forced to reduce the use of VOCs and I've heard rumors it has led to increased likelihood of tread seperation as tires age - I dunno.

Does anyone have a good VIN decoder site for soobs that calims to be up to date? Carl

Is there a snorkel that is getting under water? maybe it's pulling in some water during boat launches? I got nuthin'

Perhpas he should try to retrieve codes from the ECU. I dunno if it can store them and not display a CEL on a '93. Maybe someone else has more help.

you know we're gonna need pics after those are mounted - right?

Yeah, my insurance company couldn't even figure my '06 WRXes VIN. And my Outback sometimes comes up as LL Bean but it is not. I'd like to know if other makes have these problems - seems like a 'consumer affairs' issue.

When it started at the 4:30 start - what was that like? And when you drove it home - what about the noise and performance? also, good maintanence history on the car? O2 and other sensors replaced? I dunno

I've heard '18s are for show - 17s are for go' so, yeah what they said. You can likley find some WRX takeoffs (check the proper marketplace at http://www.nasioc.com - that where I sold mine) with decent tires attached.

spotted this on Usenet - just FYI news://news.dallas.sbcglobal.net:119/43e5e33e$0$6963$ed2619ec@ptn-nntp-reader02.plus.net or go to alt.autos.subaru and search for recent post ' Justy ' by grannieannie. this is the text; >>> Does anyone want a Subaru Justy J Series 1991/92 owner's manual before I throw it out? <<<< Annie

Thanx. It's tatse thing and a lot of folks don't care for white on white but I just didn't want gold or chrome and I felt anthracite would be to dark - I dunno. I DO think - for some reason - they would look out of place on a sedan. If you dig around at the following link, you'll see me and the wagon in action; http://www.hart-photography.com/2006/apex2006.htm

I recall someone (Johnson brothers???) putting a second engine/transaxle in the REAR of a Civic! That would be surprising!

Looks like this thread is dead - but just to followup, both the inlet AND discharge hoses on the compressor had leaks. Reapired under warranty. Carl

My fear is that PROPER diagnosis may not be possible with suggestions from a forum. And your limited funds may be better spent on a mechanic than throwing parts at the car. One thought, does your car have a K&N type oiled filter oiled intake air filter? They can kill MAF sensors. So, even if the recall was properly done, the new MAF may have been compromised by the oiled air filter.

Even if the O2 sensor doesn't ficx the problem (a shop should be able to test it first anyway) at 146,000 the car likely needs one or will soon - perhaps this would be it's 3rd one. many folks only get about 80K out of 'em. I dunno

Bad hose, still waiting for the part. He didn't say which one. I asked if it was rubbing on something, he said no. fyi

use 'D' unless you have a need to lock in a lower gear or other unusual circumstances. You could always order a manual - try Jamie at www.subarugenuineparts.com also, look around at www.cars101.com Definetly investigate the coolant smell. Could be a simple as a bad radiator cap. welcome to the boards!

Is it happening also when decelerating through 3K? Some Forester owners are complaining about that. My '06 WRX has been flawless (except for the nut behind the wheel) so far.

I was just looking at the soob Usenet posts and saw someone post about a vacuum leak. Miight be worth double checking all the vacuum hoses - maybe put on a vacuum gauge - might point to a bad valve or something. good luck

There's a front sensor too. Though the CEL you're getting might not indictae them. There is a scope or other test a tech can do. An hours worth of driving might be enough time for an excessively lean OR rich condition to make the cat conv block exhaust flow - maybe. (anyone else have more on this?) good luck