1 Lucky Texan

if you're able to warm it first, then spray with PB Blaster or brush atf/acetone on it , as it cools, it may pull some penetrant inside. (careful with acetone around any painted/rubber/plastic items you care about) good luck

any 'thunk' noises starting forwards or backwards? if so, check the rear bushing on the lower control arm too. sway bar endlinks worth a look too I guess.

hair dryer - good tip!

surprised in doesn't bind doing tight circles. all 4 tires same brand/model/size/wear? any chance a trans or rear diff have been swapped? sometimes, fresh trans fluid can help. 3 drain/fill cycles get you over 80% new fluid. put in the FWD fuse and you can drive indefinitely.

power ports are also fused directly behind the port so, you probably need to get the cig lighter out of the trim and check it's backside. not uncommon for older soobs to have bad wiring in the boot from the body to the hatch. Soldering in splices can help for quite a while and is cheaper than a new harness. other issues you mention could be related to ground connections that need refreshing. take em loose. wire brush every surface of the lugs and the bolt and the body or manifold w'ever it came from, re-assemble and smear with dielectric grease. hope others here have more specific help for you.

does the car have original alternator? H6 owners are frequently sold the wrong part when they get alts.

mine on the WRX were bad at under 70K miles - take 'em off, spin them on a finger. I was shocked at how dry/crunchy mine were. (WRX is only on surface roads and gets driven hard on occasion) if anyone involved in changing struts out is a new to the process, there are a coupla 'gotchas'; the top spring mount has an orientation. There are a 3 holes and the center one faces to the fender. Or there's an arrow or something, it may vary by brand of strut. When you remove a stock assembly , look at the top spring mount. and, there'sia a beveled/cone-shaped spacer that goes on the top of the top spring mount and the narrow side will be pressing on the underside of the strut mount's bearing - don't flip it over or the assembly will 'drag' when turned.

backfiring or very poor running in all conditions could indicate slipped timing I guess. if you get to a point where you want to check, pull the covers, align the marks, find the tooth count for your engine and check for slipped timing. (belt marks are only good for installation.) knock sensors go bad often with no CEL. and will kill power., easy/cheap to replace

95 is probably OBDII, part store should be able to read codes, if possible, ask for 'freezeframe' data too. or consider an OBD app for a smartphone (like Torque) with a cheap ELM327 BT adapter (bafx, veepeak - check Amazon) if missing is confined to one cylinder - swap its plug wire with another cylinder and see if problem follows. OEM plug wires GREATLY preferred if they need changing.

miles on car? 2.2l engine? new to you? well maintained? how old are the plugs? which cyl is missing?

year of car? one uncommon failure is delamination of the crank pulley(it's 2-piece) - but I'd expect other problems like heavy steering during the 'screech' sound if that were the issue. hoping a new or adjusted belt does the trick.

details on car? yeah, many folks have good luck with $10 ebay knock sensors - make note of which direction the cable comes off the old one, remove it, maybe wire-brush the mount are, mount the new one with the cable oriented the same direction. Don't overtorque its bolt. you might check the roll bar mounts and endlinks, also check the rear bushing of the front lower control arm - they could knock/thump. if there is a lot of red dust under the hood and around the a/c compressor's area, it may not be the belt slipping, the clutch may be slipping. Some folks have adjusted their a/c clutches - others have found the a/c relay to be a problem. If the belt seems ok and tensioned properly, try the relay next(maybe swap with a headlight or other identical relay in the box), then perhaps pursue a compressor adjustment or get a used one from car-part.com.

you might contact user ' west_minist ' over at subaruoutback.org or email him thru website - http://xtremeracingtuning.com/ he may be able to tune your car to alter shift points.

if you hear a click, but there's no cranking, probably need to rebuild the Denso starter's solenoid. The contacts become intermittent. You can get contacts only, or plunger-contact kits and DIY it. Pretty sure there are youtube videos for the process. very common on older cars. Starter may pass a test because it's intermittent. Some folks can have a failed start, whack the starter with a chunk of wood, re-try and start the car.

wait, this began after strut install? decent chance the 'spacer' (#3 in drawing) at the top is inverted - it is a beveled or cone-section washer gadget that must be oriented correctly or it drags instead of turning the bearing.

CEL on? post codes and any freezeframe data you can get. Or use app Torque on smartphone with an ELM327 BT adapter to get data.

maybe get the car down to Superior Soobie and Import (Milwaukie/Gladstone area?) - let our own General Disorder take a look at it?

strut bearing?

....how old are the timing components?, what about the timing itself? check for timing a tooth off - set the marks and find the tooth count for yor engine. also, check inside the vacuum line from the fuel pressure regulator - it should be dry.

I tried polyseamseal on a taillight assembly - just pushed along a seam from the outside with my finger - didn't work. can't be 'certain' I put it in the right place, just looked like the most logical entry point.

there is an engine temp sensor - separate function from the temp gauge, though, in soobs after the 90s, it shares the same physical part. Maybe it is holding your car in 'choke' mode? It's located on the coolant crossover I think. Not sure about resistance reading or testing but, it could be bad and not throw a code. maybe you mechanic can test it.

does look like a spot where any chemical corrosion that starts would be accelerated by heat. any idea how much the part is? is it hard to replace?

take another look at your receipt and see if there's a longer description of work done or parts used.

I am unfamilar with models as old as yours - could brake fluid be pooling on top of the fuel tank or inside a crossmember or ????

whynot didn't mention overheating - but Ido is definitely right about that engine's reputation for bad HGs - maybe this is the very beginning? I'd for sure try a different rad cap - OEM or stant maybe.