OB99W

Where you are saying that the exhaust leak is located, after the catalytic converter (and assuming the cat is working correctly), the CO levels are not as high as before the cat. Nevertheless, an exhaust leak isn't a good thing and should be fixed. It may be contributing slightly to the mileage problem, but your earlier mention of a smell of "gas" is probably more directly related (or did you mean "exhaust gasses", as opposed to "gasoline"?). Anyway, it seems that you should have someone with experience look into the problem(s).

As Ranger83 said, CO (carbon monoxide) poisoning is a real health risk (as may be the gasoline leak). A CO level in the air you breathe of 800 ppm (parts per million), which is only 0.08%, can cause dizziness, nausea and convulsions within 45 minutes, and be deadly within as little as 2 hours. As others have suggested, mpg shouldn't be your major concern.

If they're all down to 1/8" near the shoulders, by all means try to get them replaced. I hope whomever decides warranty issues will see the situation from your perspective.

I can't tell you for certain that there are still places that do it, but it might be worth making a few more calls. I'd expect race shops to still be doing this kind of work, since reducing tread to make "semi-slicks" is (was?) popular. If you do find one, you should probably ask them if they see any risk in shaving a street tire for size-matching purposes. EDIT: I looked on Google, and found the place listed below. I know NOTHING about them. Perhaps they can help, perhaps not. Might be worth a call. ------------------------------ Speed Shop 9491 W 44TH Ave Ste 102 Wheat Rdg, CO 80033-2900 (303) 232-3774 ------------------------------- Best of luck.

Okay; I hope you get home soon and can experience "noises" (and more pleasant things) firsthand.

I'd click on this link http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=18 , read the page (especially the section headed "Matching Tires By Shaving Them to Maintain Equivalent Tire Tread Depths"), and make up my own mind. BTW, I'm not avoiding the issue; the "safe" approach is to closely match the sizes. Obviously, you can gamble on not doing that, and maybe win. Sorry, but I am not going to take sides beyond what I've already said on this one!

I wasn't "inferring" anything. I was providing a bit more data so that you might be better able to draw your own conclusions. If you are concerned about the size difference, have you considered having the replacement tire shaved? You could have it reduced to the same size as or as much as 1/4" larger than the tire you intend to use as it's axle-mate. Obviously, you'd throw away some of the shaved tire's tread life, but you wouldn't have to buy 3 other tires right now or be concerned about the possible damage to the drive train.

Good point; I guess I was thinking in terms of compression and doing a cylinder leakdown test, but even that might be difficult on a rebuild that hadn't been run in yet.

Lots of things can cause bad gas mileage. As Skip mentioned, "lazy" sensors are possible. Did the dealer put a 'scope on things, or just connect to the OBDII (On-Board Diagnostics connector) and read codes? If the latter, some problems can be easily missed.

Depending on exactly what "made noises then quit" means, besides HGs that could also describe a timing belt failure. Hopefully not, because the 2.5L is an "interference" design. How many miles are on the engine? HGs might be worth putting in if the mileage is low enough, and general condition good. If the timing belt went, or HG failure caused other engine damage, probably a replacement engine is the right move.

It might be a useful test. Certainly if it bleeds down, assuming your t-stat outlet plugging and hose connections are tight, you've got a problem. However, keep in mind that cylinder pressure is about 10 times coolant pressure, and coming from the opposite direction, so this wouldn't be totally conclusive.

Blatant, I answered your Qs in the thread about the FWD fuse. See: http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?p=392973

I don't know which trans you have. If it's a manual, you don't have (or need) to disable anything. With an auto, there should be a holder clearly marked "FWD"; in my '99, it's in the engine compartment, high on the firewall near the passenger side. My owner's manual covers its location in the "In case of emergency" section under "Temporary spare tire (if equipped)". The dash indicator light, if it exists, is also "FWD". It is not normally illuminated (tested) like "BRAKE", "ABS", etc. are when the ignition switch is first turned "on".

Chazmataz, while you didn't quote me (so I can't be sure you're responding to my post), it seems that you addressed what I said, and your post directly followed mine. Therefore, I'm going to assume that your post was addressed to me or what I said. "The old myth" has some basis in fact. I admit that opinion seems to be changing concerning the importance of maintaining radial tire travel direction. However, having seen the result of steel-belted radials which were rotated so that the direction of travel was reversed, and not wanting to experience that myself, I'll continue to be conservative about this. My Subaru owner's manual ('99), incidentally, shows only front-to-back/back-to-front rotation. Hmmm, I never said you mentioned the spare; in fact, my previous post in this thread was in response to the original poster, and not to anything you said. Sorry, but excessive toe by itself doesn't typically cause significant outside wear. In effect, wheels that are toed (in or out) get dragged somewhat sideways while rotating. That causes excessive wear, but it's mainly parallel to the road surface, straight across the tire (unless there is also a camber problem). Depending on the severity of the toe, there can be noticable "feathering", and with radials, even some diagonal banding across the tread. Those patterns change direction depending on whether the toe is "in" or "out". The pictures may not have been good enough to see those things, but they aren't apparent to me. Actually, brushing one's hand over the tread is a better way of detecting that kind of problem. The amount of weight that front engine/drive put on the front wheels doesn't require much lean before the shoulder area of a tire gets rounded, especially on tires with soft "performance" compounding. That's why correct inflation pressure is given "cold"; the expected increase is taken into account. A tire that's underinflated when cold will be a tire that's underinflated when hot. Anyone disagreeing with what I said should read my sig . I'll even refund what I charged .

Stock, in good condition, with auto trans, a bit over 9 secs. Do one too many runs to verify that, blow head gaskets, a lot slower .

More wear near the shoulders than at the center of the tread can have a couple of possible causes. The first is underinflation; even if you're doing it to spec, it may need a couple more psi. Also, sometimes leaky rims or dropping temerature can mean that the pressure will be down between checks. Another cause might be hard cornering; if tires haven't been rotated, that would show up mostly on the fronts. Misalignment is not likely to be the cause, as long as the wear is fairly symmetrical and similar on all tires. Rather than explaining what happens when camber, toe, etc. are wrong, I found a site that explains it pretty well: http://www.familycar.com/alignment.htm As far as rotation is concerned, if the spare is a "compact" type, then there are only 4 tires to move during rotation. Since it's not a good idea to change the direction of travel of a radial tire once it's been run for even a brief time, that limits the rotation options. All that can properly be done is to exchange the positions of the front and rear tires, keeping them on the same side of the car, and that doesn't take very long once the vehicle is lifted (even less time if the correct tightening sequence and torque are being ignored ). The only way to cross-switch radials safely (use a front driver's-side tire at the rear passenger position, for example) would require dismounting and "flipping" the tire on the rim, in order to keep the travel direction as before. However, that really isn't practical for a few reasons, including because whitewalls/lettering wind up facing the wrong way.

I have no personal experience with Kumho tires. Did you read all the reviews? Some reviewers apparently aren't happy with wet/snow performance, while others complained about poor tread life. Those complaints did seem to be in the minority, but obviously "YMMV" is literally the case. BTW, Kumho apparently also sells under the "Marshal" brand name, and the company used to be known as Samyang; perhaps knowing that can help in making a decision.

This can sometimes be caused by something as simple as an insufficiently-tightened gas tank cap. Make sure the cap and/or filler neck aren't damaged, then tighten the cap fully (a few "clicks"). If the problem is resolved, the CEL will go out after several ignition on/off cycles. Or, you could have any stored codes read and erased by an OBDII scanner, and see if they recur. My own '99 OB used to intermittently light the CEL, and it was also under highly humid conditions. The dealer said they were unable to find a cause, and the problem hasn't reappeared recently, so I can't offer other insight.

To at least some degree, you're experiencing normal cold-start operation. A cold engine can't use fuel efficiently, for several reasons. The mixture has to be enriched and idle speed increased, just too keep the engine running acceptably. Carbureted engines use a choke to reduce air intake, and a fast idle cam or other device to hold the throttle open a little wider until the engine warms up. With more-modern FI systems, the computer is in control; however, at cold start, engine management runs "open loop", a default and somewhat rich state. That's necessary because, among other factors, O2 sensors can't even function when cold. I suspect that the '00-'03 Subarus aren't particularly prone to what you mentioned. When cold, the exhaust from my '99 OB certainly smells different than warm, as does that from my '69 Firebird . It's the nature of most gasoline-fueled engines.

Exactly, I "dunno" either. The NASIOC poster mentioned "highflow" cat. If back-pressure is significantly reduced from spec, that can play havoc with things that the engine management systems can only compensate for to a limited degree. Or, there might have been existing problems or other mods made before the cat change. Of course, looking like it does, that cat may not remain "highflow" for long. Sometimes you can't just out-engineer the factory with a seat-of-the-pants approach without having some mishaps along the way. Not everything the factory does is related to emissions; sometimes it's just to keep things below the melting point .

"Nice" pic: http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=907773

It seems to have already been determined that the vehicle in question has LSD, but as further verification, an excerpt fromhttp://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3012/is_6_179/ai_55055339 says: The one change for 2000 is that the Legacy GT and Outback Limited models (and the Outback wagon, when the all-weather package is ordered) get a limited-slip rear differential to better manage power distribution during cornering.

I don't know whether there's any history of heated windshields being more likely to develop cracks. However, I've seen info claiming that about 3/4 of windshield cracks are edge cracks, and I have no reason to doubt it. It's pretty obvious that from a structural standpoint, the edges are more vulnerable. Even before the windshield gets mounted, it can be struck on an edge and a small defect introduced; that can later "grow" from stresses due to heat/cold, vibration, etc. When mounted, if not set in rubber or other resiliant material, any metal contact can lead to chipping and eventual cracking. Since we obviously can't see the extreme edge area of an already-installed windshield under normal circumstances, cracks can seem to come from no apparent cause.

You mean a drip regulator? Might work, although I'm not sure whether they're designed to function under any significant pressure.