Rooster2

I seem to remember coil springs at the struts. Shorter coil springs will also help to lower the heighth.

I would bet there is no stock roof rack weight limit listed anywhere. My guess is not much more then 100 poinds max. Those roof rails, and how it is affixed to the roof don't seem very strong to me.

Not surprised by the dealers not having a clue, or giving up if part numbers don't match. A dealer is not into thinking interchageability, they just order a number out of a computer, no need to do anything thinking that way. Wrecking yard counter guys, and info on internet is your best source to learn about interchageability on all car parts. Hope the replacement tranny works out well.

This chart may help. just scroll down to find Subaru............. http://www.aras360.com/Pdf/resources/Sister-Clones-List.pdf

I guess I am missing something. What problem is this motor having that diagnosing for a compression check is needed??

On a 2.2 motor, I am unaware that a bad head gasket will cause a poor cylinder compression reading. I have had a 2.2 phase 1 motor, and a 2.5 phase one motor blow head gaskets. Both resulted in exhaust gas allowed to enter the cooling system with resulting over heating. Is the motor you have phase 1 or phase 2 ?? A bad head gasket in a 2.2 phase 2 results in coolant leaking out of the engine, shows as spots on the pavement under the car.

VIN numbers are not going to be of any use. What is the tranny code number on your 2002?? Should be marked on the tranny. What is the tranny code on the 2003 from the wrecking yard?? Yes, rear gear ration could be different between cars. Solution is swap out the rear diff to correct the problem. The rear diff from donor tranny car would work if need be. Others on this forum know more about this. I have read that counting gear teeth is a way to assure correct matching gear ratios front and rear.

Your left front brake pads have locked up on your rotor. I have had this happen, so I have seen this first hand. The brake caliper slide pins bind up from lack of grease lube, or rubber boot is broken, so rust forms around the pin. You apply the brakes, but the pads don't release from the rotor, and slide back as they should. The result is the pads stay applied at all times, heat up, and burn up the remaining portion of the brake pad. The solution is fix the brake. It will require new brake pads, and also work to free the frozen slide pin, that the pad rests on. If slide pin cannot be freed up, then a replacement caliper is needed. None of this is difficult if you want to do your own brake work. Suggest you have your car towed home, or to a repair shop. Since all Subies are all wheel drive, you MUST have your car put on a flat bed tow truck to be moved. Do not have the car towed with two wheels rolling on the pavement. To do so will ruin the AWD system, and will be costly to be repaired. Some guys on this forum do brake preventive maintenance work every 2-3 years on their Subies by regreasing the slide pins to preclude just the problem that you are having.

Either way, it sounds to me like the transmission probably needs to come out to really get an idea of what's going on. IMO, since pulling the tranny is recommended, it makes sense to just go ahead and install a good used tranny. I just don't think spending time and money repairing the old tranny is worthwhile.

Read where your shifter isn't loose or sloppy, but wonder still if some linkage adjustment may fix the problem.

IMO, good thought about doing a drain and fill on your auto tranny. I have done that several times, with a drain and fill 3 times, with short drives between drain and fills. This does a good job of swapping out all the ATF. It is not hard to do, as there is a drain plug for the ATF. That is how the tech made a mistake, and removed the wrong plug at CT. IMO, this is about the best action you can do under the circumstances. If your tranny develops problems later, then have it repaird under the extended warranty. I don't think it would be prudent to advise the dealer of your problem, so they will have an excuse to void your extended warranty. Who knows, CT may help pay for some repairs, if needed, but I am guessing not that much. Pursuing them legally, at some point, could get expensive, and not worth your time and money. Just my humble 2 cents worth of advise.

Before changing plugs and wires, drive the car again. Watch the coolant temp gauge to see if you have over heating. If so, then head gaskets are generally the culprit causing over heating on your model motor. Air bubbles can be seen in the radiator over flow tank to confirm bad head gaskets. Changing the plugs and wires is a nasty job. There is hardly any room to use a driver and socket to swap in new plugs. It requires several different size small extensions to extract the plugs. You will learn to cuss a lot during the extraction process. I have read advise regarding loosening the motor mounts so engine can be jacked up, and tipped up a little to one side, to make sparkplug removal easier.

I am having trouble figuring out why there would be a connection between AT oil temp light, followed by engine stalling. Is the engine perhaps over heating as well. Did you observe where the coolant temp gauge was pointing? Prolly a good start would be to swap in new plug wires and spark plugs. Have you pulled out the ATF dip stick to check fluid level. It is located up by the firewall on driver's side?

Good question you ask about possible voiding of extended warranty. Maybe there's some Subie techs, or Subie management on this forum, who can give you good advise. I don't feel qualified to give advise on this issue.

I put heated seats into my 99 OBW. Don't think power seats were offered back then. I could not find wiring under the seat for a heated seat, so got the 2 front seats, and the wiring as well. Look first for wiring where the power seat control would be located. Forester seats sit taller then Legacy seats, so you are most likely to find seats that fit from another Forester.

When the ATF is drained, only about half the ATF will actually be drained from the system. The remainder half stays in the torque converter, and cannot be drained. As Fairtax wrote above, it is impossible to know what kind of ATF was used in a refill, or what damage may have been done to your auto tranny. Save any receipts, on what they did, or not do. If you had not asked them to work on the tranny, and they did so anyway, then you have grounds for a law suit, should your tranny fail. You may also want to voice your concern to upper management in the quick lube joint. It is important to start a paper trail of what happened, and that they are responsible should you have transmission problems within the next year.

How much of a low risk vehicle could you get for around $2K? My neighbor bought a 98 Subie Leggie wagon for $2K early this summer. He did okay, but car has needed work. He has done brakes, ball joints, prolly needs a timing belt. The clutch chatters a bit. These are the kind of issues you are going to find on a 2K car.

Subaru has an excellent reputation of having a better AWD system then competition. That should be a big plus, considering you live in NY state. As stated Honda builds a really good vehicle, that is high on reliability, so does Subaru. I would guess pricing, fuel millage, performance, and suspension will be comparable. Eye Sight is such a new feature, not many will know what it is here, or have experienced it. Unsure myself if I would want it. Would very heavy rain, or snow activate the sensors??

Good idea, searched their site, and they sell them as a three pack, one fits 1/4 " drive, one fits 3/8" drive, the last looks like fits 1/2" drive. Thanks for the tip, Texan.

The white Subie, ( third link) has a rebuilt title. Any evidence of how badly damaged, and how? If from a flood, I would avoid it.

Wonder if available at Harbor Freight tool?? What do you think??

Thanks guys for the good advise. Now to find a cool day to get the passenger side plugs swapped out. I haven't looked under the car to check out the motor mounts. Are they easy to loosen, so the motor can be jacked up to give better access to the plugs?? I can see where the thumb wheels would be helpful. Where can they be purchased??

Saturday, I finally got around to changing sparkplugs and wires on my 99 OBW. I did this many years ago, and remembered it to be a difficult job. Well this time around, it hasn't gotten any easier. It is still about as much fun as having to go to a dentist for a root canal. On the driver's side, I knew the battery and windshiled fluid reservoir had to be removed to have work space. The PROBLEM, is there is so little space to insert a plug socket, 3/8" small drive extensions, and the drive handle. If I loosened the sparkplug too much, then there was not enough room to remove the dive extension. The solution was to tighten down the sparkplug somewhat, then install a shorter drive extender. It was still a difficult job, and after working 3 hours, I have only the driver's side plugs swapped out. Is there an easier way? Should the motor mounts be loosened, so the engine can be tipped up to allow more working room?? I am also thinking maybe holes drilled large enough in the fender well to permit the insertion of a sparkplug socket to reach the sparkplug would work nicely. I still have the passenger side plugs to swap out. Any advise...........Thanks

Yea, I have had same slide problem with stuck slide pins. So, like yours, the pin froze, so pad wore out early, then metal on metal gouged into the rotor. If rotor is not gouged too bad, in the past, I have just installed new pads and drove on.

Sometimes bolts don't get tightened. It happens. Don't know specifically what bolt is needed, but if it is rather generic, then a hardware store should be able to find a bolt for you. I would advise fixing this pretty quickly. Nothing good can come from having your engine move around, especially where the unwanted torque gets transmitted to the tranny.