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Head gasket extended warranty: never was notified of it either but I think my 96 2.2 L is not subject to premature head gasket failure. As for the «spring corrosion» recall, I received one, the result of which was the free install of a spring retainer or catcher on each of the front struts. It consisted of a steel «cup» going around the struts and having the function of preventing the spring from puncturing the tire if it ever broke. About a year and a half later the left front spring broke (I was just about to replace my four struts) and SOC paid for the part and i installed it myself while replacing the struts. Of course I decided to replace the right spring also but SOC was not willing to finance that. The spring that broke, broke in the top first spire. It had no effect on the way the car handled or sat. I was not aware of it until I began hearing strange noises when I turned the front wheels al the way to one side. I imagine that if it had broken in the middle the story could have been different.

Touché!

Subaru should hire you to test drive their new models.

Dont know if I read well either but they seem to say that this vibration occurs only if you run more than 10 lbs of boost in a turbo engine.

Emily, What do you think about the opinion that single port is hard ont exhaust valves and bring about their failure more rapidly than dual port ?

Yes, this came from Lesbaru.

Look down a few threads for one beginning with «my notes from head gasket...»

Just to add to this piece of very good advice : it may be not necessary to «remove» the two bolts securing the steering column. When I installed a tach on my Brighton, it was sufficient to slack them a few turns to have the column clear the cluster. Much easier to reinstall afterwards. My .02$

Mine is the Palm version of Harrison's OBDScan software. Dont know if it's the best but it's not very pricey if you already own a laptop or a palm. It not only gives codes but real time output from all the sensors. http://www.ghg.net/dharrison/obdscan.html

Just trying to explain why a car could fail the «dollar bill test» and not necessarily have a bad exhaust valve. Pure theory... 1) The exhaust system is the theatre of a rapid succession of hot gases bursts. It's reasonnable to think that between those bursts, after a certain mass of hot gas has been rapidly expelled from the pipe,there is a small moment of vacuum during which time colder outside air is sucked in even a little bit (normal flutter). The hot gases exiting the system fast enough for a certain inertia to take place create a small amount of vacuum as they leave the pipe. 2) Imagine now that one cylinder miss for any other reason than a bad exhaust valve. This vac period will be longer and might be long enoug to have the bill sucked in. Trying my best...

1) My Brighton and a least two others I know off around here have manual crank windows. Are'nt most of them manual ? 2) The fact that the sole electrical window is still operational even with the ignition key off points to a makeshift install. 3) An accident damaging three doors seems less probable than only one. I rest my case. Happy new year!

Pretty obvious that you have a least one replacement door coming from another car. Start looking for other details of the same sort. Hope the accident was not too big and that you will not find anything too much out of whack. Good luck!

!stSubaruparts lists the front axle at 100.76 + core charge and the rear at 215 and no core charge (they must be new then). So they are not the same. Moreover the front differential is wider (I think) than the rear and thus the rear shafts must be a bit longer. Finally, I've never heard of anyone having used rear shafts in the front or the other way around. Sorry, miracles rarely happen in the technological field. Good luck!

Which leads to the question : what good is an electrical device that the battery cannot sustain? When it was left on for the duration of the night, my battery was drained also and had to be replaced. Someone somewhere did'nt think that through. Suzam : no offense. In fact my first post could easily be read as sarcasm. I'll try to be more explicit in the future.

Bowjam, just in case my little try at humour did'nt get through like I intended, let it be known that the «parking light staying on» thing has become more or less a rite of passage or an initiation for a lot of new members here. A lot of us have fallen for it like tripping this switch while cleaning the car's interior. It happened to me also. Welcome aboard and people here will be more than happy to help if and when they can.

Well, maybe one's sarcasm is another's friendly humour... Happy new year to you too Suzam!

Welcome to the board! A lot of us have gone thru this and it's not an easy fix. Are you a good do it yourselfer? It's so difficult no tools are really up to it. Here's what you have to do. Open the driver side door. Sit behing the wheel. Take a deep breath. Look on top of the steering column just behind the steering wheel. You'll see a toggle switch. This toggle switch is on. You push on it and it will extinguish your parking lights. You are now an official member of this board and you have performed the first (?) repair on your car. Have a happy new year!

Hi, What I meant is I think I remember that the last time I checked the functionning of the OEM thermostat I was installing the stat was closing while compressing the spring. So I infered that if the expanding mecanism that closes the stat failed the spring would keep it open. Wrong?

Are'nt thermostats designed to stay open when they fail?

I'm pretty much in tune with what cookie writes above, but... to be completely honest with people posting on this board on the oil pump subject, here's a look at the thread you quoted. Three poster gave advice about what to do with the oil pump. (1) First poster on the subject: I would have the timing belt, seals,[u]oil pump sealed[/u],tensioner if it needs it, and water pump done. (2) rule of thumb would say, while spending $2700 on a HG job, pay the extra $200-400 on anything else i.e: water pump, [u]oil pump[/u], tesioners, timing belts, and anything else you can think of, (3) if over 100,000 i'd think about getting a valve job and new valve stem seals. other items to replace - crank seal, cam seals, [u]reseal the oil pump[/u], valve cover gaskets, water pump, timing belt Two out of three poster specifically refer to resealing the oil pump and the third is not specific but list the oil pump with other things to be replaced (could be misleading). Maybe it's because I make a living (a little part of it at least...) grading papers but reading that thread carefully I would be under the impression that the majority position is for resealing the oil pump not replacing it. Moreover a quick search on this board with «oil pump» would have come up with innumerable posts advising to reseal and not to replace. Dont take this personnal Shimonnor. I'm not flamming you. Let's say I'm in the role of the defense attorney, you're prosecution and Cookie is doing a good job as an arbitrator. Case closed and we'll all try to weigh our words. Happy Christmas (in the profane sense) to all !

Can you point to some specific posts to substantiate that ? I remember numerous posts advising to «reseal» the oil pump and other to «do» the oil pump meaning resealing it, replacing the O ring and tightening the back plate screws but I dont remember ever reading anyone advising to replace the oil pump. Please prove me wrong. :-\

Another source of fuel smell is the vapor recycling canister (black canister up front on the right (passenger) side of the rad. You might (1) lift the canister after unfastening it (spring clamp I think) and check for smell underneath. (2) check all vac-vapour lines coming and going to it for a crack. Th canister itself might be cracked. My 2 cents.

Idling a cold engine for a long time is not good for the engine. It prolongs the time the engine is running cold and it prolongs the time the engine is running rich.

http://www.ghg.net/dharrison/obdscan.html

Have a look at this if you have'nt already. Not a direct answer to your plight but might be interesting for comparison. Was posted here recently by outback_97. http://www.users.totalise.co.uk/~scoobydoo/imprezaweb/reviews/handling.htm