Husker

Ah I didn't see your location. I've looked on FF dealer page but none of the ones around me carry the NAS unfortunately. I'll keep looking for an online one though. I did just find a 5 gallon bucket of it on Amazon for $200 USD. That's a bit pricey and way more than I need.

I can't seem to find the NAS anywhere. Where do you buy yours? I just got the regular gallon pail off Amazon, it's slightly thicker than latex paint.

Photo updates off my 99 OBS. It and the FXT got FF at the same time with the same methods. This is ~1200 miles, ~2 months worth of wear through some very heavy rain (we had 20"+ from Nov-Jan) and a couple of snow storms now. Still beading water. Even in places where the film isn't visible you can still feel an oily coating. I see no need to reapply right now. I'll check it again at the end of Feb/early March.

Glad to see I'm not the only one. It didn't seem to popular in the Subaru world. People with body on frame trucks seem to use it more just from the Googling I did. The hardware stores around me only sell the aerosol cans unfortunately. :/ I didn't have too many problems out of the airless sprayer. It just took a little longer. As far as I can tell there wasn't anything special about the Fluid Flim gun vs a regular paint gun that runs off a compressor. I really need a bigger compressor before I can run one of those. It wasn't too bad to do on the ground as it went pretty fast. The hardest part was cleaning the gunk off before hand. I might be able to make it until March without a respray. It's still on there pretty good. Do you have any luck getting it to stick in the rear wheel wells or front control arms?

I'm not sure if this is the appropriate forum for this post but I haven't seen many people post opinions on this stuff so I'd thought I'd share. It seems to be more popular with the 4WD truck community than Subaru boards. I've been meaning to post this for a while but things keep getting away from me. I live in a spot that gets a good amount of snow, is fairly humid and uses road brine like no one's business. Even with religious washing you might get 7 or so years out of a car before it's structurally compromised. Enter Fluid Film. I'd heard of this stuff a while back and some folks swear by it as an undercoating. I generally shy away from such things but this seems to stay liquid and doesn't really dry/trap water like a rubberized compound. I've been using the small aerosol cans on nuts and bolts and it seemed to stand up to water intrusion quite well. So last fall I picked up a gallon bucket of the stuff off Amazon and decided to give it a shot. I did both my 2005 FXT and 1999 OBS (I only took photos of the FXT) and still had a little over half the can left. The subject. The tools needed. Highly recommend some sort of breathing protection as this stuff forms a haze pretty easily. I did it outside as it will form a film on a concrete floor that's rather slick and hard to get up. It's about the consistency of latex paint. Maybe a little thicker. Went though an airless paint sprayer without thinning without too many issues. You might want to spring for an air powered sprayer or an airless sprayer with more oomph than I did. Post cleaning of the underside but before I treated the rust spots with some Rust Reformer. I'm the third owner and the last guy didn't believe in washing it. My 99 had less subframe rot than this did. After wire wheeling, treating and painting. After spraying down the components (careful of the brakes): I did this is late November of 2015. It's been a warm rainy winter so far. It smells sort of like a barnyard for a day or two (it's made from wool wax). Once it's settled it has a high flash point so I wasn't too careful around the exhaust. It just smokes off for a little bit. After the first few days of driving the smell is gone. I didn't notice any dripping once it was applied too. First the bad: it doesn't stay very long in spots that see a lot of heavy spray. You can forget about this stuff staying on wheel wells or the leading edge of your front control arms through a heavy rain. But it's simple to reapply I've just been touching up places that see a lot of wash with one of the aerosol cans. Now the good: they claim it doesn't cause rubber to swell so and so far I can confirm that. No damage to any bushings or boots I can see. It does creep and move around so you don't really need to get too crazy with the coating. It's pretty easy to coat up in the rocker panel drains with it. On the parts of the car that don't get constant 55mph+ rock/sand bombardment it's hung on like a champ. The rear sub frame, differential, transmission support and front sub frame parts are all still covered. It also seems to withstand being washed with a household hose and warm water (how I get the salt off). Not sure it'd take the high PSI of a car wash under spray but the ones around here use recycled water anyway so I tend to avoid them and opt for a DIY approach. I love having a garage with a drain. Dirt does stick to it so I plan on washing it off in the spring. Other rubbery undercoating stuff gets everywhere and makes the car a PITA to work on the underside of your car. Fluild Film does make everything greasier but it doesn't seem to be too big of a mess if you have to pull some parts off. I replaced my parking breaks last month without much trouble. I've got about 1100 miles on the stuff now I think and it's still hanging in there. From what I've read it does need to be reapplied yearly. At any rate I'll try to get some updated photos and the season progresses. So far I'd say it's worth the effort. I know some folks like chain bar lube but I imagine this is probably a bit more environmentally friendly. Excluding water from your undercarriage parts should slow down the rust. The best test would be to do it on a brand new car and see if it remains clean. It's pretty easy to get up inside of parts and panels too. Disclaimer: FF didn't pay me, I bought their stuff with my hard earned money. Posting this here for informational purposes only.

Just an update, heard back from Blackstone. They'd like a sample of the Subaru Flush to see what's in it (free of charge). I might pick up some and send it in. He said to just watch the sodium for now and see what happens. If I do have a coolant leak it's pretty small they said but the lack of potassium make them unsure. I am pretty high on the chromium though. Universal averages are 1, so my 5 is a little more than two standard deviations above normal so it's statistically significant. It may just be normal for this particular engine though. I've driven it for 8000 pretty reliable miles with those numbers being that high and we only have two samples from this engine. I may wait another year, go through another 2 oil changes and then send off a sample to Blackstone and Wix at the same time to directly compare results. Sometimes one lab can find one thing and another can find another thing. Or I may just quit sending in samples for a while (unless something on the car changes, starts losing coolant, etc) so I don't make myself crazy.
 
 Thanks again, hopefully it's just nothing!

Yeah, I was sort of leaning that way but the way Blackston's description left me a little worried. I realize you'll never stop wear, otherwise engines would never need rebuilding. They just seemed alarmed by the amount of chromium. I've sent them an email asking for some clarification. As I've only done two oil changes since buying the car last year (I've only put around 8000 miles on it) I think that extra sodium is from the leftover M1 or Castrol the previous owner used still rolling around in the system. It usually takes several oil changes with a new brand/type to competely flush out the old. The absolute lack of potassium makes me think it's not coolant. I've emailed Blackstone for more clarification but their initial comments are in the report I linked above. They seem slightly alarmed about it is the way I'd put it. I'm pretty good about maintence. I already got most of that done. Although I tend to wait until the radiator actually needs replacing unless it's an automatic and you could get coolant/ATF mixing or I'm going on a long trip with a high mileage car. In the past I've always caught the radiator leaking before it popped. This FXT is a manual and usally only sees around town/country driving duty not far from home. Although since I already have to replace that expansion tank I may just do both at once while I've got the cooling system opened up. Turbo inlet, intercooler hose and intercooler to throttle body hose are all on the short list to get replaced this fall. They're starting to look a bit ragged but as far as I can tell they aren't leaking yet. Hoses, bets, idlers, valve cover seals, and plugs were all done with the timing belt/water pump right after I bought the car. I don't like going the full 100K on the timing belt interval. The previous owner replace the turbo and there's no shaft play (checked it myself). Thanks for the info so far.

TL;DR: bought a used 05 FXT last year. I've done two oil changes getting a UOA each time to check on things. Blackstone says I have higher than chromium that's most likely from the rings and sodium but no potassium so they aren't ready to call it coolant just yet. Car runs fine, doesn't have compression issues (at least it didn't when I bought it, I haven't had it tested lately), no losing coolant to parts unknown, no milkshake oil, etc. Does anyone else have insight into just how bad 5ppm chromium is? At what point would it be a sure sign of a impending rebuild? Not entirely sure the sodium isn't just an additive from the oil the previous owner ran still kicking around. Two oil changes isn't really enough to flush out everything. Longer version: I have an 05 Forester XT. Because I'm "that guy" I've sent a couple of used oil samples to Blackstone for analysis. The first one came back mostly positive, the second one looks worse. It's attached. I have some records from the previous owner indicating they ran M1 and Castrol. With it only having two changes under it's belt with me there's probably still some of that kicking around in there. I've also used some Genuine Subaru Oil Flush when I first got it to clean up the AVCS solenoids at a Subaru Tech's recommendation. I did the flush myself and it did take care of the code. The AVCS screens had already been removed. Still, should I be frantically saving up for a rebuild at this point? At what point does the chromium go from "that's a little unusual" to "lol what ring bro?" I do have a little bit of coolant being lost through a rusty expansion tank near the turbo that I'm going to replace here soon, at least that's where it looks to be dribbling out. I have none of the classic head gasket symptoms. No overheating, no mikshakes, no overflowing, no oil or sludge in the coolant, no leaks around the heads, etc. I've also read that UOA's are pretty much only useful for determining how much longer an oil can be used and one shouldn't read too much into the wear metals or small amounts of contaminants. People have pointed to different labs coming up with rather different metal contents for the same oil sample as reasoning behind this logic. Example: http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/topics/3248519/1 Thoughts? Thanks!

You are correct 05 (well mid-05 technically, there are some early 05s running around with the under hood filter) is when they went to the in tank filter/pump/sock. You can disassemble it and just replace the worn components/upgrade the pump or you can purchase the whole assembly together. Lots of folks jump over to the Walbro if they plan on trying to stick on a bigger turbo or they're trying to save cash as disassembling and replacing the pump/sock/filter is a good bit cheaper than replacing the whole assembly. I think SOA only sells the whole assembly.

I guess you could say I'm a bit of a lurker. I'm up to three Subarus now. A 99 OBS that still runs, a 2013 WRX and my recent project is a 2005 Forester XT premium that I picked up for cheap as a project. Turbo went out on it and the guy was scared it was otherwise going to blow up as it needed some other work. Put a little time and parts into it and 7000 miles and 11 months later it's still going. It's a fun little sleeper. Really enjoying the Forester as the WRX is getting hard to get in and out of due to old-and-fat syndrome. At any rate I do some photography (somewhat professionally although I've moved on to other things now) so here are some Subaru badging wallpapers I made a while back in various aspect ratios. Feel free to download and enjoy: 16:9 - https://i.imgur.com/CKKBF3o.jpg (eg 1920 x 1080) 16:10 - https://i.imgur.com/dxFcJFN.jpg (eg 1920 x 1200) 4:3 - https://i.imgur.com/CGggICw.jpg (eg 1024 x 768) Maybe I'll manage another 17 posts over the next decade.

Yeah it's the long all-in-one unit with the in tank filter and pump at the bottom of the with the strainer. The XT's fueling system is mostly swappable with a WRX and STI as it shares the platform with the Impreza. Hipster Forester. The Impreza with a lift kit before the Crosstrek was cool. The other reason why I'm suspicious of the the fueling system is I recently got a P2096 (post catalyst too lean) code. I did some logging in RomRaider and it looked like the rear O2 sensor was toast (flat-lined at under 0.1V, didn't see any change in voltage basically) so I changed it out for an OEM Denso. The new O2 sensor behaves as it should and fluctuates around 0.4-0.5V at 2000-3000RPM. The car is stock outside of a catless STI up pipe. I did that about six months ago to get rid of the chance that the aging catalyst material would get pulled into the turbine. At the time I noticed the rear O2 senor's bung had mostly broken off so I had a new one welded on and reused the old sensor. The exhaust shop I took my pipe to had to abuse the rear O2 sensor pretty badly to get it out of the old bung so it was kind of suspect from the get-go. I also replaced all of the exhaust gaskets with fresh OEMs and torqued everything to spec when I swapped the pipe. I've rechecked for exhaust leaks between and haven't found any. But with that code cropping up and the pump starting to sound like me after Taco Tuesday I figured it might be worth looking into. The car is fine on power and the AFRs seem to be pretty spot on so it doesn't look like it's starving for gas. I haven't driven it for a couple of days since I have the back torn apart to get to the fuel bulkhead. I'll put it back together and see if anything gets worse. The pump isn't squealing, howling or otherwise being loud as I've heard bad fuel pumps in the past so it must not be in too bad of shape if it's going bad. I might just order a Walbro 255 with my next paycheck and slap it in as a piece of mind thing. Probably should replace the filter anyhow. Thanks for the input!

OK, I may let it ride a while and see if it gets worse. I've never heard it draining before this week. But I thought there was a check valve in the return to prevent fuel from from draining? That way the pump wouldn't have to purge the whole line of air with each start up. If it keeps doing it or the pump gets louder I may just replace it out of preventative maintenance. I drive this car out to remote areas and I don't want it dying on me in the middle of no where. Thanks for the info!

I have an 2005 Forester XT that has a developed a gurgle in the fuel pump. It sounds like the check valve has gone out to me. However I did some Googling and some folks seem to think the sound is normal. It seems to only do it when the car is warm but I haven't completely verified that yet. I've attached a short video of the noise. You may need to use headphones. Any suggestions on fuel pumps for replacement if it is needed? I've seen Walbro 255 thrown around around a lot but it seems to have mixed reviews with some people complaining about it whining or dying quickly. Thanks! EDIT: file attachement apparently didn't work so here's a public link to it on Dropbox: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/694999/fxt_gurgle.mp4

I've had that problem before too, replaced the clamps and a hose a couple of years back. However, is definitely centered around the rear quarter panel area where the gas filler/canister is. The car lives in a garage now so it doesn't see terribly cold overnight temps. There isn't a terribly noticeable fuel smell in the car, just around the filler neck area.

Recently I've noticed that when I fill the tank on my '99 OBS beyond 3/4 of a tank I get a strong fuel smell for a couple of days. My first thought was a rusted filler neck (that happened a 4-5 years ago and was replaced) but it doesn't look too bad. I'm not getting a CEL or any pending codes either which if I remember correctly a leak in the filler neck/evap system will cause one. I don't see any fuel on the ground or running down the tank anywhere either. I've also noticed that if you take the gas cap off there's a strong fuel odor that comes flying out of the filler neck regardless of how much fuel is in the tank. It seems like the fuel fumes are just building up in the tube. 
Neither of our other Subarus have that problem. 
 Before I start shotgunning parts I was wondering if anyone had tackled something similar before. The fact that the fumes seem to be piling up in the filler neck leads me to think it's the canister, vent valve or solenoid but my car doesn't take a long time to fill up.
 Thanks!