Yup! Sometimes it's just the little things. Keep up the preventive maintenance and you'll be good for a long time.

 

Congrats!

I've been very complacent when it comes to maintenance. I was so used to my Legacys (this is my 3rd) hardly ever needing service that I slacked off. Oil changes, tires & brakes have been about it. I think I did the air filter once. These older models with the 2.2L just worked, period.

 

Now I realize that if I want this car to make it to 250K or maybe higher, I need to baby it a little. Next in line is the timing belt. I did it at around 100 or 110K, and I'm overdue now. It could probably use struts too, but around where I live that's at least an $800 job, and I have to ask myself how much it's worth to put that kind of money into a car with these many miles. That's something that might come up more often now, unfortunately.

All day the car was running nicely. Still I decided to take a train into NYC, didn't want to chance getting stuck on the cross-bronx expressway at 2AM. On the way to the station I call my wife and leave a message, "honey, it looks like the car is fixed!" As soon as I hung up the phone, the engine starts running rough and losing power! Someone up there has a warped sense of humor.:-\

 

The front o2 sensor sounds like a good candidate for the next thing to try. I'm seeing a very wide range of prices, from aftermarket universals around $30 to over $100 for OEM. I have a buddy with jack stands, the weather is getting a bit warmer, and my hands are already chewed up so what's a little more pain?