1 Lucky Texan

Depending on how you're checking for spark, you could have coolant (or vaporized exhaust valve metal) on your plugs, or a bad crank angle sensor, or melted plugs/plug wires or broken TB or ? Start with what we know happens with severely overheated engines. follow alias's advice and confirm good compression first You quite likely could have holes in pistons, melted valves, scored cylinders, broken rings, warped heads, blown gaskets, and need an oil change. Spark is a secondary concern.

So make an offer on the engine, tranny, front clip,doors,and seats and see if they'll throw the rest in for free. Trust me there is a way they could sell it to you. maybe a new title, maybe they've never done it before and they're ignorant of how to do it, but there MUST be a way. Even without a title, they could sell it to you with a bill of sale maybe and you could title it if you get it running. Do some research.

I think alias did a more fair analysis. I think a couple differences I always point out to people is the general advantage ATs have in most towing situations. Probably less an advantage with small cars that are not used for towing much. Also, a MT can usually be push/roll started. Not with an AT. I admit I am not a very good MT driver. Folks riding with me get whipped pretty bad. I am not uncomfortable driving MTs and find them a little more 'fun' actually. But as a daily driver I would never get 200k or even 100k from a clutch. I am shopping for an OBS and if I wind up with a MT I may try to find a driving school to get my skills up for RallyX or AutoX. Woulkd there be significant differences between AT and MT in RallyX for a non-tirbo vehicle? Which tranny should I shop for?

Try cycling the key from off to the full on (not start though) position 10 times, in fairly rapid succession. This is a bypass for not having a remote on some security systems. YMMV

covert military operation - he IS a Colonel right?

I read once that , a long time ago, Citroen (IIRC) had a news conference and invited all the papers and dignitaries they could muster to roll out a new 4WD vehicle. They had been running behind schedule but finally pulled an all-nighter before the morning unveiling. They pushed the vehicle outta the garage - Ooooh-Aaaah, etc. The test driver fired her up, revved it a few times, dumped the clutch - and it dug itself 10" into the ground! The rear axle had been installed upside down!

Did you do any TB or crank work? If a tab is broken off the crank gear the thing won't fire the igniters IIRC. Any way to 'hard wire' the fuel pump just till the the thing starts?

You could check out eBay for WRX pull-outs.

ok - I don't know your tolerance for or ability to do some troubleshooting of your own, but one test that comes to mind, based on Josh's reply, would be to construct your own parallel wiring circuit for the 'c' solenoid. Complete from the cpu to the tranny, bypassing as much Soob stuff as possible AND making your own good clean ground if required.. If you don't get the voltage drops or binding you know it's the wiring (or a ground). If you do then go for the comtroller or a solenoid I guess? thanx for reporting btw.

that's what trains do. It'll work.

Bad ECU, or bad info (speed sensor opening up when hot or after vibration?) to the ECU. just guessing

You are so brave - all those parts SCARE me! How long did it take? Where's you get the new injectors? Congrats and thanx for the pics.

If you feel like putting out some effort, either tellthem you want both sides to get the newest revision gaskets OR a free extended warranty. Say;" You'd want the same if it was your car wouldn't you?" good luck

Try moving the 'new' tire to the rear.(is it on the front?) 'MOST' (I know, but really usually is) of this type problem is bad tires. Sometimes even a 'bulge or bubble or tread sep.' that isn't obvious unless the tire is off the ground. Might be worth jacking the car up and spinning them. Plus, as has been mentioned, that wheel could have put undue stress on the tie rod ends and the rack. I also think any brake issue is secondary - fix the tires/steering first.

what car? mileage? ever wrecked? suspension,steering work? how old and what kind of tires? "throw us a bone!"

Setright, might be worth doing a search over at the forums at http://www.nasioc.com

Hey buddy, I know you read as much stuff here as I do and I always enjoy your posts - just chiming in to remind you of the whole TB tensioner vs. piston slap controversy. Seems like the consensus is the tensioner is a real problem, the piston slap isn't. May not apply to this engine. Anyone? Oh and another reminder, make sure it looks like the coolant level is normal, no bubbles in the coolant, no chocolate mousse on the oil filler or dipstick, etc. enjoy your new ride, I know you've been considering it for some time.

maybe move some gear to the roof to distribute some weight to the front? get a small trailer? UPS some gear ahead 'hold for pickup'? other than that, unless they make 'load leveler' struts I'd guess you're looking at installing heavier springs.

If this car had crank angle and cam angle sensors, they are used in tandem. one as a check against the other, if your cel was on because one was bad, AND THEN the other one goes, that might cause this symptom. Do subies have a 'run resistor' that is bypassed during satrting? maybe it finally burned up - though the symptom is more like 'cranks - fires - dies when key released' kinda thing. physicusman...if you don't give us more info. I'm sending snotty over to rip off your TB covers!

try http://www.autotrader.com

If you can give us a little more on the cars history it might help. Mainly, the timing belt changes and fuel filter maintainence plus any wrecks or recent work done to the vehicle. Starting with fuel, spark is never a bad idea but your symptom could be a lot of things! Including a TB jumped a tooth or two.

In what year did the Impreza Outback Sport wagon get rear disc brakes? tia

Perhaps there is more than one type of tensioner, but recently there has been a lot of complaints about it. If Emily says you could have another bad one installed you have to respect her. They know a lot about these engones. I wonder if the tensioners are just a dice toss or if there is a newer version available - could be the dealership just grabbed an old style of their shelf - voila! same problem. All the piston slap issues do get reprted as going away after warmup. So do some reports of tensioer noise - maybe folks not equipped with stethoscopes (or decent service personnel) are getting the noises confused.

Seems possible to me the dealer scr@wed up the tensioner/belt change and the oil is a side issue. How much overfilled was it -probably need more than a quart too much to hurt something - others may know. Did you get noise when you picked the car up after the work? Usually, the vehicle with bad tensioers exhibit noise on cold starts that goes away after a few minutes. Evidently the tensioer doesn't pump up fast enough and the belt slaps the inside of the covers causing the sound.(I'm not an expert - just read a lot of stuff here on these great forums). I do think the stealership is responsible and if the overfill is the way to get them to 'step up' then by all means pursue it. I think you should either push to have them absorb all the costs or buy you an extended warranty - blame the oil overfill (basically, if oil is up too far the crank can beat it into a foam - foam is compressible and the oil pump can't move it well - leads to poor oil delivery) tell them 'If you were in my position, how can you be sure this didn't greatly decrease the lifespan of the engine?" - kinda stuff.whatever. good luck

Please disregard this post - I admit to getting confused - the mod I remembered concerns DRLs - not foglamps. MY BAD! sorry for any confusion -XXXXDo a search using the terms fog lights and hand brake. There was a mod someone posted that involved moving/defeating the handbrake switch to force the fog lights on IIRC.XXXXX-