Rooster2

That outside rear boot on the back axle is really tipped steeply upward. Prolly causes stress, and extra wear on the joint leading to premature half shaft failure..........but who cares, owner has to have a lot of fun driving this buggy. Dual range transmissions for Subies available in Australia would be a nice addition to this drive train.

I had a garage swap in a 2.2 motor into wife's 98 OBW. The result has worked out well for a $400, 1995 motor.. It is a gamble that you can get a good motor from a wrecking yard. The best motors come from cars that has been wrecked. At least you know the car was probably driving during the accident. The wrecking yards will guarantee the motor for several months, however, if you get a bad motor, you are out the cost for labor to have a second motor installed. Sometimes a wrecking yard will recommend a garage that will install the motor for you. If you are serious about buying a motor, ask if they can recommend an installer. Last time I went this route, the cost was $500 to have the motor installed.

About 10 years back, I installed a GMB on a VW I owned. It worked okay, never gave me any problems.

When head gaskets go bad on a 98, 2.5 motor, the result is over heating, with exhaust gas entering the cooling system, but it does not result in coolant mixing with the oil. So, don't think low oil pressure is your problem. Yes, as you know, the belt tensioner can make noise like a bad rod bearing. As mentioned, the 2.5 motor does not take kindly to repeated over heating. The bearings are not the most robust, and poor lubrication at the time of over heating is hard on the bearings. That too, is my concern.

Unsure of your question, please give more description.

It may need the power steering pump unit replaced. Not expensive, an easy do-it-yourself project.

It can be helpful to Google the tire brand and model you may have an interest in, and read customer reviews. It is helpful to some degree, but I always wonder if the manufacturer, or dealer post bogus reviews. No way of knowing, but if a lot of reviews, you can get a pretty good idea of what a lot of people think about a particular tire's performance. On wife's 98 OBW, I bought Ohtsu 7000 all season tires, that the tire store recommended for a good performance tire at a low price. Ohtsu is part of the Falken and Sumitomo tire company. I have been pleasantly surprised how well they have held up, have worn minimally for 10K miles, and are very good in the snow. I would buy them again.

I recommend draining and filling the tranny 3 times with short drives between drains. Add some Lucas tranny additive. The reason for all the draining and filling is because only about half the ATF can be drained from the tranny at one time. The remaining ATF stays in the torque converter and won't drain out. Reaming out the cat converter will cause a check engine light to appear. Is that how you learned about the cat problem?? My guess is that the previous owner did not tell you anything about this. Not ethical to do this, or sell you a car with this problem. I have heard that a California cat converter is expensive. Previous owner has not done you any favors, particularly at a cost of $6,000 for a '96. Unsure Forester was built in '96, Maybe a typo, and car is actually a 2006 model?? Since you have owned for less then a year, any chance you can get previous owner to pay for a new cat converter to do right by you?

Link seems to be infested with some semi-porn weight loss ad. Difficult to view the Directory.

Well as others have said, you won't gain any additional performance that you will notice. It may sound "cool" for about the first 5 minutes with the loud exhaust, then the sound becomes noise, and will drive you crazy. Don't bother turning on your car sound system, you won't be able to hear much. Cops apt to pull you over for the loud pipe, imo, not worth getting a ticket.

I have both a 98 and 99 outbacks, that I have replaced with KYBs, at all four corners. I re-used existing coil springs. Very satisfied with the KYBs. They are a little firmer then original OEMs, but maybe that's because old struts were worn out. Can't beat KYBs for price and performance.........highly recommend.

Replacing the rad cap may help as well.

With Subarus, a failed head gasket does not result in coolant getting mixed with the oil. It results in exhaust gas entering the cooling system to cause over heating on your 90 model. If you smell antifreeze, it's possible that the heater core is leaking just a tiny bit. If it were me, I would drain the coolant, add fresh antifreeze and a bottle of radiator stop leak. Just don't add too much, or your heater core may not work so well As far as the "miss," how long has it been since you replaced the spark plugs and spark plug wires? If a long time, and many miles ago, it would be a good time to do that to see if that fixes the miss. I hope you know and trust the shop, and that they are honest? I would hate to hear that they want to throw lots of new parts at your car for no good reason, and charge you an outrageous amount. Let us know what the shop tells you what they think is wrong, and their solution.

I know that it helps to have the front of the car elevated higher then the rear of the car, when adding coolant. Also, open, or fully remove the vent screw located on top, at opposite end of radiator from where you add coolant. Fill, then wait a bit for coolant to drain down, then add some more. After driving for a day or two, with engine cold, remove rad cap to see if you can still add additional coolant to the rad. Also, add more coolant to the over flow tank, if it is low.

How much did you spend on a replacement thermostat? If you bought a cheap to middle grade, that could be your continuing problem. Subarus need either an OEM thermostat, or the most expensive one you can find at a store, or on line. I would also question the radiator cap, and wonder if it is able to keep pressure in the cooling system. Good that you are not seeing bubbles in the coolant reservoir. That is a dead give away that you would be having head gasket trouble. Head gaskets usually don't go bad on a 2.2 motor, but it can happen, as I had a 91 Subie with the 2.2 that blew the head gasket, and blew coolant bubbles.

Bad radiator???.............if so, you can buy one for cheap at one of the on line parts stores. Cost less then $100. EZ to in stall.

List for sale here on this USMB forum........... Subaru Parts / Stuff For Sale Also suggest listing for sale on your local Craig's list at no cost.

Either the handle itself snapped, or the cable snapped or came undone from one end or the other...............if you open the passenger door, then reach across the front seat to see if you can open the driver's door from the inside door release. If you can do this, then you know the cable connection is prolly not the problem. Let's hope you can do this, as it is a lot easier to remove the interior door panel with the door open. Good advise above from gphrps. He knows what he is talking about.

Any Legacy, or Legacy Outback hood from years 95-99. Should be easy to find at a wrecking yard. It is a two man job to install. Tape down cardboard along fender edge and firewall edge to prevent paint scratches upon instillation of replacement hood.

Nice repair, didn't know a heat gun could fix a bumper cover dent.

Maybe this will help................. Automotive Battery Part Numbers and Date Codes

I would not worry about your 2001 head gaskets that much. If they leak, it results in a small amount of coolant dripping to the pavement. Subaru offers a coolant conditioner to treat the potential head gasket problem of 2001. Recommend you add it to your coolant, if you have not done so. It is good insurance against minor coolant leaks.

Good plan...................Once it gets a bit warmer I'll take both rear wheels off and see if I can find anything wrong with them.

Another idea is to buy, and pull a small trailer, which would be a whole lot less work, and you would not be stressing out the suspension on your car.

Look through the slots in the road wheel at the rotor. Do you see any scratches on the rotor? If not, I would not worry too much about it. If the garage you were at that put on your tires is part of a "chain" of tire, or car repair stores, to me it would bring up the concern that they were simply looking for more work to do to your car, if it needed the work or not. Chain stores are bad about doing that IMHO.