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I don't think it was the injector being clogged but probably a loose wire connection. The engine harness connector just doesn't seem right. There's 54 pins in five rows and the three small rows are difficult to insert the wires into without kinking. I'm thinking about replacing it, maybe with a few 20ish pin connectors (open to suggestion there). When you flex it around it will cause the engine to run well or poorly. I got it to run decent and taped that connector up and it ran well for a few days. We've been planning on going to the Badlands off road park today for a month or so now. This weekend they allowed 2WD buggies which they normally don't. One of our buddies we used to race with was planning on bringing his buggy so we wanted to meet him there. Yesterday B's blue Forester was running rough again and he eventually noticed the fuel coming out of the fuel filter looked like coffee but the fuel going in to the filter looked clear. So somehow the fuel filter had started pushing dirt into the engine. He replaced that and the complete intake with injectors. Then it ran fine. C and I headed down in the green Impreza. Aside from the lack of cruise control, AC, a speedometer, etc. our drive went fine. We're pretty sure the rasp in the exhaust is one or both collector gaskets, I want to replace them with V bands. At light load there's no rasp and the exhaust is actually fairly quiet. We got a message on the way down that B's Forester started running like crap or not at all after they filled up with gas. C told him he'd had the same problem with his Subaru Baja and he just had to run it at full throttle when it was full of gas. We're guessing it's getting fuel in the vent/evap system and flooding the engine. B was able to get it going again. Meanwhile C and I checked in and started wandering the off road park looking for J. The green Impreza has no problem cruising around the tailing piles (similar to pea gravel). I was mostly cruising around in second. Only a few times all day did I need to use first on some fairly steep hills. B had to use low range on at least one of those. I had the center diff unlocked all day and it got quite a bit of rear wheelspin. It will slide the rear end out a bit but nowhere near enough to spin. I didn't think about it until we got back but I should have tried locking the center diff and seeing how it did. We eventually found J and followed him around a bit in his buggy until B showed up. We mostly drove around on the tailing piles as J's buggy is too wide for some of the trails but we did hit some of those too. J's buggy can easily eat up the rolling whoops at high speeds. We swapped back and forth to the different cars during the day. After we'd been riding for a while Z was driving the Impreza and said it started running rough. I was able to push the wire harness into the connector and get it to run smooth and taped it in that position and it ran fine the rest of the day. With the heat in the engine compartment that connection had gotten significantly softer than when at room temperature, something I should keep in mind. The light weight and high horsepower/torque of the Impreza was great for just getting around and climbing hills. I exceeded the limits of the approach angle a few times but just in the tailings. We'd noticed a looseness in the RF corner of the Impreza and eventually C noticed it was leaking shock oil. Went back to the campground and took the shock off and the hose was kinked and caused it to start leaking. We were running out of time so we headed into town for dinner. Drove back home fine. We were disappointed that only a few buggies showed up to the park that we saw but glad we got to ride in J's. Probably drove over 500 miles and burned about 25 gallons of gas, overall a solid first run for the Impreza. Also the first real test of the billet rear knuckles / front CV axles in rear setup. Even at about 10 degrees at ride height and some occasional wheel hop in the tailing piles they survived the day. I will probably put slightly softer springs on the rear to cut that down a bit.

I've read on an OB forum where that belt guard connecting the PS inlet to alt bracket moves as engine is loaded causing the PS inlet o-rings to move enough to suck air. Like nvu said, replace those o-rings to start with, replace both PS reservoir hoses. Put the PS inlet bolt into the belt guard first, then tighten the alt pivot bolt, making sure the alt washer is in the right place there. If that guard is at an angle then that washer is not in right place. Some people delete the belt guard. YMMV.

The reservoir cap isn't sealed but it's strange to have it leak. With engine on, steer left/right a couple times quickly, if the oring was leaking it would suck in air and cause a whining noise and random choppiness in the steering wheel. You could have someone steer back and forth while you check in the reservoir with cap off and see if there are any bubbles. I don't recall ever having fluid leaking out the top of the reservoir cap, but guessing if there's an air leak at the top where the steering pump is, any fluid higher than the reservoir will eventually drain back down into it. Betting either that upper host end is so hardened and brittle, the rubber can't contract any more even with the hose clamp. The oring is under that black elbow, I usually replace it with whatever fits from the auto store.