July 17, 200619 yr Well we are about ready to go on our vacation to Mount Desert Maine, which is very close to Arcadia National Park. It is going to be about 1500 miles round trip from Philadelphia and back with some possible stops along the way. Anyway we just completed the following on the vehicle Changed 4 Tires 4 Struts Left front ball bearing 4 spark plugs, NGK Iridium Fuel Filter Air Filter Oil Filter and Oil Added Gas Treatment PCV valve Well anything else we should do before we leave which is July 29th, Timing Belt and all was hopefully done at 60k, do not have repair history, plus I don't have the $$ presently to do it. Top and bottom hoses are a little mushy and thinking about replacing them everything else seems to be working well. With the exception of the Catalytic Converter Protector being bent and making some annoying noise at higher rpm.
July 17, 200619 yr one other thing, wiper blades. nipper Make sure you have a fuse to disable the AWD if you need to use the mini-spare. Take Bounce dryer sheets, moistened they clean dead bugs off your car like nothing else on earth. Go to the library and get audio books to listen to on the trip. That way you can avoide the airwavevangelists out in the radio desert.
July 17, 200619 yr Author Ok the spare is full, I want to try and put a full size spare in but I don't think I have the room in the cavitiy, I do have a tire in really good shape would just need the rim. Forgot to mention the wipers where replaced about 1k ago, back wiper a few days ago. We have a freshly installed Sony stero that plays, mp3, wma, cd's, etc, it even has an input for our mp3 player to play directly from that. If I can scrounge the money I want to get 4 new POLK DB650 speakers but will see, the wife is giving me some small whining about that, she wants to buy sewing stuff . Thank you all for your sage advice, maybe we'll post some pics when we get back, thanks again. Jay and Yolie.
July 17, 200619 yr I would work on the timing belt as soon as you have the $. The 98 2.2 is an interference engine meaning if the belt brakes there is a good possibility the valves will hit the pistons and your engine is gone. I'm not sure whether the 98 had a 60k interval or the 105k but either way its due for it especially if you don't have the history for the car.
July 17, 200619 yr The only thing to "worry" about is engine cooling. Keep a watchful eye on the temp gauge. How old is the coolant? I suggest removing and cleaning the overflow tank and replacing the radiator cap - with a genuine Subaru part please. The overflow tank collects a lot of "snot" and it's a good idea to clean it out before it gets sucked back in. In any case, bring some engine coolant concentrate and some water. Just in case your engine gets a little hot and spills some of it. A pain to get stranded. If the rad hoses are looking tired, you could at least bring some new ones along. IF one of them bursts you'll be okay. This will save you doing the work now.
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