SevenSisters

Did you correct all the emissions codes? If not, what are they. Hard to tell from your description what's going on. How's the IAC? You might look up some existing posts for precautions and procedure to clean it up.

Dittos on the starting the plug by hand. I slip a 6" piece of rubber tubing over the insulator to give me some reach and something to turn until the plug bottoms. It really helps me because the angle the plugs go in isn't always obvious. Another key is to use a torque wrench. As I recall, it only take about 15 foot pounds to seal the gaskets.

My hoses were stuck on like glue. Finaly managed to get them off, but you may want to do the change when the Auto parts stores are open in case you need to cut off the hoses and buy new ones. Easy job but can be a PITA.

If you have a little grinding tool and pencil bit, you might try grinding a lateral slot in the nut (like a nut splitter would do) and using a chisel to split it off.

My AC blew -5 F one day in January. BigMig is on the right track. Low blower speed should give about a 20 delta. Faster speeds can't cool as much. Never have been too impressed with my AC. Black Legacy seems to suck in heat faster than the AC can cool it.

If the windshield is bad enough for a citation, his insurance should cover it. Has he checked?

Get at least a half inch drive socket and a long breaker bar. I had a little trouble because I couldn't generate enough torque to loosen the nut without everything rotating on me. Wish I would have had an impact wrench. There's a good bearing "how to" in the online Subaru End Wrench if you didnt know about it.

120-115 is only 5,000 miles. No law against doing it now for piece of mind. You can easily get the covers off enough to check the condition if you want to wait. Call Subaru. I believe they'll give you a manual. 30 mpg. Sweet. Good luck and welcome to the world of Subaru.

My wife told me I had too much beer in the refrigerator and she didn’t have enough room. I told her I could fix that. With that, please excuse any rambling here. Extended warranty costs are generally very negotiable with the dealer. They're like $500 undercoating. Perhaps others can share their experiences and prices paid. I didn’t buy one based on the high reliability rating of Subaru at the time (1991). Avoid third party warranties. At least if you buy from Subaru, they will be around to back it. Subaru and the dealer aren’t offering extended warranties to be nice. They know the frequency and costs of repairs and make money selling the warranties. That said, on the average you don’t need the extended warranty. If you are unfortunate enough to have a major problem, buying the extended warranty gives some piece of mind. By the way, you can’t drive the Forester like Subaru shows you in their commercials, it will void the warranty. I couldn’t get into the Subaru website because of my firewall settings and their use of pop-up windows to convey information. I admit I don’t know the details of the Gold Warranty, but here’s my take on warranties in general. You’re not buying a 70,000 mile warranty. You already paid for a 36K bumper to bumper warranty and a 60,000 mile limited power train warranty. You’re just buying the difference and $1,700 seems like a lot for 10,000 miles worth of power train protection that you could probably justify. Otherwise, they’ll eat you alive with the $100 deductibles on any small repairs. Also consider the real cost of the warranty if you’re financing it along with the car. I believe someone on the board talked about getting the cost of their extended warranty back if they didn’t use the warranty. That may change my opinion if factual. My 91 Legacy only has 130K miles, the only significant problems I have incurred have been two rear wheel bearings. I had the dealer do one for about $300, I bought the tools and did the second myself (90,000 miles) because they seem to be a reoccurring problem. If the dealer had done both, the cost savings, less deductible, would have been just $400. I consider myself lucky. An extended warranty wouldn’t have helped me. Remember, the last one would have been out of the warranty period. It’s disconcerting to hear that cookie has had to shell out over $4K to keep his ‘ru running and so many other board posters are experiencing major and costly problems with their Subarus. A car should be able to go 70K without a major repair. Chrysler had to provide a 7/70 warranty just to get people to buy one. In general I’m opposed to buying extended warranties. Here’s my dilemma though. With JD Powers and Consumer’s Reports rating recent Subarus below the industry average for quality and reliability, an extension may be justifiable to get the advantages of Subaru AWD if the price of the car and extended warranty are right. It wasn’t clear to me if you bought the warranty already or wanted it and forgot. If you didn’t get it yet, tell the dealer how much you want it but your spouse thinks it’s too expensive for not much additional coverage. See if they’ll lower the price and good luck.

Subaru owners should know the basics about their cars, towing instructions are in the owner’s manual. However, a professional tow service has the proper information and should follow it. Someone screwed up or didn’t care or didn’t take the time to check or just wanted to make a quick $50 and figured they could get it to the garage before something went wrong enough for someone to notice. Come on, when your Doctor screws up (100,000 dead every year because of preventable mistakes) are you going to buy the " You should have known know he (or she) shouldn't have left the forceps in you and told him (or her)." line? Sorry I don't know how serious the situation is, but it would seem to be hard to prove damage in the future. Why not contact the dealer and ask them to look up the service records and see if they'll sell you and extended warranty. If they won't, you know you're in trouble.

Like he said, "normal expansion and contraction of the engine". Just like the wheel bearings, sun visors, transmissions, fuel sending units, etc. I gotta keep mine running because I couldn't afford the repairs on a new one.

Was it a buldge or a dip in the sidewall with the GYs?

You're not going to get poor performance from the Triple Tread. When you buy them, let everyone know what you think. The tire guy I talk to says people buy a set and bring their other car in the next day and change them over too. I plan on a set before winter sets in.

Check 1stsubaruparts.com for the cost of a Subaru bearing and then look at Auto Zone, Advance Auto Parts, etc. They usually say who the manufacturer is and give the manufacturers part number. Can probably get the same thing at a parts house down under. Need to have a Hub Tamer or take off the hub to have the bearing pressed out some place. Good luck.

I haven't had to do a front bearing yet, but when one of my rears asked for attention, I sprang for a Hub Tamer and did the replacement on the car. Figured I saved taking off the hub and the cost to have the bearing pressed out. For the fronts, it'll save the cost of an alignment too. Kind of a neat tool to have. I think there're about $250 now days. If you own a Subaru you need to have one.

The new 'rus probably have them. Not real sophisticated, but they'll store the trottle position to see if you well accelerating, the brake position to see if you were braking, etc. Not forever, just for a few seconds. The car is just storing all the functions the engine and transmission management computers use to make the car run. Too bad someone can pull the data.

Not exactly sure how they put on the door panel for you guys with new cars, but there should be a couple of screws holding on the door handle and a lot of plastic clips holding the pannel to the door frame. Get a $5 clip tool at an auto parts place and gradually go around the outside perimeter of the door and pop off the pannel. Once it's loose, it should lift up and off.

I should have been more specific. Enter the first two letters or characters of the DOT code, e.g.: NJ into the DOT ID field. The tire will have: DOT NJXX XXXXXX 2404 for example. The 2404 means it was made the 24th week of 2004. Don't worry about the x's. Alright, go outside now and check yours. Also ckeck your pressure!

Speed ratings" SR means S speed rated, Radial tire. Rated to 112 mph HR rated to 130 mph VR rated to 149 mph You’re not going to go that fast but this rating is indicative of heat resistance. Also of cost. Higher is better but will give harsher yet crisper handling (good) but will cost more. A lot of manufacturers are producing private brand tires, e.g.: Falken so check out NHTSA to see who and where your tire is made. You need the DOT code molded into the tire sidewall. Check out: http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/rules/manufacture/ Block out all the categories except tires. You can get a realistic feel for quality by looking at the UTQG ratings on the tire too. Again, Tire Rack etc will have an explanation for the ratings. Good luck.

I didn't read down past the pics and didn't know it was a 134 retro. Don't know about them. Sorry.

It should be clear. You either have air or, more likely, an under charged system.

Used motor oils have been classified as carcinogenic so do wash up afterwards. There have also been implications that contact with used oil may cause some people to tackle more complex automotive repair tasks in the future.

Interesting post. QUOTE: "Garages confirm that something is fouling the sensors, which can cost up to $900 to replace, but typically total $400 to $500." Of course at $2+ a gallon Marathon can afford to fix'em. Thanks for the info.

Do you want inexpensive tires or inexpensive H speed rated tires? Try Sam's club and the like and compare UTQG ratings for traction temperature and treadwear. Subaru likes H rated tires for handling but, the way I drive, I couldn't tell much difference with the Goodyear Reggata T's I put on. Cooper Cobra would be an economical H rated tire but everybody has a private brand true performance tire that's cheaper than their flagship brand. The only reason private brand tires "aren't as good" is because the tire dealers make less profit on them. If you're driving on the edge, get the Goodyear, Bridgestone, Dunlop lastest and greatest High Performance tires. If you're a normal driver, get the name or private brand at a more economical speed rating. The dealer may want you to agree not to drive at 130 mph though.

When's the last time you changed the fuel filter? A partially plugged filter can create a lean run condition and melt the catalyst over time. Change it, clear the codes, and see if that works.