porcupine73

Ahh...ok, on my last order, I got one rear that was silver, and one rear that was black, but I didn't quite catch on to the difference. Ah it's all marketing. The highly paid marketing guys have to change things up periodically or it looks like they aren't doing anything.

Now it was true that the 4EAT phase I's, if they didn't have the added on external filter, could plug up the cooler in the radiator with shreddings from the TC and friction materials. Then the transmission overheats. That's why the 'add on' filter was introduced, and why the spin on filter was added on the 4EAT phase II. Subaru was light years ahead of other makers who did not go this route. So I'm just saying that to say this - if your transmission is the 4EAT phase II (you haven't mentioned the model/year in the thread I don't think), then the transmission fluid leaving your phase II with the spin on filter is going through said filter before going anywhere else. So any TC shreddings that might get dislodged will be caught by this filter. And you're not hooking up a fluid flushing machine, right? You're simply replacing the fluid. Generally the conclusion to transmission flushes/fluid replacement is....if the replacement 'causes' a transmission problem, the transmission had a problem to begin with. Some problems can be masked by gunk in the transmission and so on which then starts getting cleaned away by the fresh fluid.

I don't remember off hand which is the return line. I do not recommend pumping it until no fluid is coming out; i.e. letting the pump suction go dry. That is why I I will overfill by say a quart, then let it pump out two quarts, then add two quarts, and repeat a few times. Running the level until the pump suction is dry is not good for the pump though for a very brief period it might tolerate it.

I didn't watch that video but I have done the unhook the transmission cooler line method before. I drain the pan, refill with 5 quarts or so, start it up and let it pump a couple quarts out, shut it off, add a few quarts, repeat a few times. There is still some mixing that occurs, but much less than with repeated drains and fills from the pan. If yours has the external spin on filter (4EAT phase II), the filter is at the discharge right before the fluid goes to the cooler. If you don't want old fluid going through the filter, then change the filter after you have completed the 'pump and dump'. If you have an H6 the filter is remote mounted. If you have phase I 4EAT, it either has no true filter (just a screen suction strainer in the pan), or may have a filter installed later resembling a fuel filter.

Yes I've used KYB GR-2's on all three of my soobs, and I have been very pleased with them. They have a fairly firm ride which I prefer to the sloppy 'compliant' feel of say Monroe struts. There seem to be some good prices for sets of four shipped on eBay. Some of those vendors take a little while to ship and don't have the best communication skills but they come through in the end. If it's specifically swaying, you might want to check your sway bars and endlinks and make sure nothing is broken there. Sometimes the mounts break free or the end links break.

For top end cleaner, GM top end cleaner is popular. I think that is what Subaru used to recommend for a while when they were partly owned by GM. Subaru also has their own stuff: http://www.subarupartsforyou.com/cp_partdetail.php?partid=17759 Such as 'Subaru throttle plate and induction cleaner'. I usually just use Valvoline throttle body cleaner since it is pretty cheap for a big can, most parts stores have it, and it seems to work OK. Some of the later vehicles have a Teflon or similar coating on the throttle body and plate, so you have to be very careful in what you use to clean those and not use any brushes that could damage the coating.

I would switch back to the real non-ethanol based gasoline if available. One possible downside is sometimes if the ethanol has separated from the gasoline in the tank, it may have a separate layer of ethanol with crud and water in it, so you might want to keep an eye on your fuel filter or maybe change it after having run a couple tanks of real gasoline through there. If you are at all concerned about 'old gas', simply add some fuel stabilizer such as Sta-bil or Amsoil fuel stabilizer. Yes it will increase your effective cost per gallon but can result in savings of not having to clean the gummed up grud out from oxidized gasoline later.

When you say the heat shield gasket, do you mean anything in this area?

Well what code did he read? P0420 would be a likely reason he'd want to replace the cats. Sometimes it fixes the problem, sometimes it doesn't, mainly depending on whether the cat was really spoiled to begin with. Lots of places like to use the cheapest cats, but they have little catalyst in them, since the precious metals are of course expensive.

ENDWRENCH IS BACK!!!!! I happened onto endwrench.com on a whim, and it appears to back back! At least the archives. Now granted, when you click on current issue, it says 'Spring 2004 Number 26', but it is still better than nothing!

On the 2.5L phase II, the IAC is at the top of the throttle body, likely because it does not use a MAF. So to clean it you basically remove the air filter and housing, and then with the engine idling, spritz top end cleaner into the intake kind of aimed at the top. The engine will sputter each time, which is good because it probably makes the IACV open and close a bit to help with the cleaning. Then I like to open the throttle a little bit and spray more in there to clean out the intake more.

In addition to the above items, the engine coolant temperature sensor can cause this sort of problem, but I think usually it is the other way around (wont start when cold, but will when warm).

It is, but it is not ethanol. The cheapest drygas is methanol, but it is very corrosive. Isopropyl alcohol is the 'premium' drygas. Ethanol does have an affinity for water but it does weird things as Frank noted. Water in the gasoline is even worse when the gasoline contains ethanol. The drygas does not get rid of the water; it simply helps lower the freezing point by being a mixture of alcohol and water (not unlike the mixture of water and glycol for coolant). I think chemically this is called a zeotrope but I forget for sure.

Nice info thanks Frank! haha yes a couple years ago I asked the lady in the booth whether this gasoline had ethanol in it. She said 'does this gasoline have ethanol in it?'. I said yes that's what I'm asking you. She looked at me kind of weird for a second and said 'oh honey I"m sorry I don't know.' But here in NY we can get only 10% minimum ethanol in the gasoline.

The offset does differ between some years/models, but the Subaru 5x100 (and some other makes) will fit.

One thing I like about newer stations is you know there tanks and equipment are new. Really old stations for some reason makes me think more water might get in but probably not. Wawa reminds me of this one time at lunch when a coworker with a strong accent was talking about how much he loves guava, but our boss kept thinking he was saying he loves Wawa and was like 'yah that is a pretty nice gas station.'

I found this: Let's keep that search function on the d/l, because if it catches on there won't be any new posts to participate in.

Good points. I've also heard sunspots can cause a lot of weird behavior in electromechanical systems.

Hm....the 4EAT phase I's, which I think that would have though in 99 I think some models maybe the Forester did get the phase II (w/external spin on filter), yes I think those did have a relatively weird procedure for getting the codes. I believe it involved jumpers, but also being in a certain gear or shifting pattern and possibly even the brake pedal to get it to cough up the codes. There's a good post on here about the procedure somewhere but I've never had to do it so I didn't bookmark it.

Sorry to hear about your account! Hopefully it gets fixed quickly. Maybe some bot guessed your password somehow. Nice two tone soob!

^^^ wow that looks pretty bad!

What thermostat do you have installed. If it is not a genuine Subaru thermostat that may be your problem. Aftermarket thermostats are sometimes shorter and do not correctly sense the temperature of the resulting mixture of coolant returning from the heater core/throttle bypass and the coolant entering from the radiator, and thus end up staying closed or not opening enough under these conditions.

I wouldn't necessarily blame Subaru for using thin sheet metal. Much of that is driven by our friendly government's and consumer demand for increased fuel economy. Also with modern computer based engineering tools with finite element analysis and so on it is relatively easy to design parts to meet the requirements using the minimal amount of material possible. Where as in years past you just made the body panels out of 1/4" plate and called it a day. haha ok maybe it wasn't that thick, except maybe on those big 'ol bumpers!

Salt water is just terrible on metal for corrosion. I mean except stainless, which even then can still rust, and cast iron, which does rust but seems more resistant to rusting completely through, it would be the corrosion protection applied to the metal during manufacture that would be most important. They are possibly cheaping out on that, or trying to use more 'environmentally friendly' applications that simply don't work as well.

Hm......does it work on the highest setting? Usually that applies 12V to it without any resistors in the circuit. Next thing I would try is applying power directly to the blower motor to make sure it is actually working. Sometimes what happens is a bunch of leaves, pine needles, and other junk gets down in there and blocks the blower.