CNY_Dave

Nothing special about subaru trans fluid, as far as I know. Just as long as it meets spec, it's the same stuff as everything else out there that meets spec- no?

Just google a pic of a brand new dark blue outback! I haggled them down an extra $500 last week, then when we decided to buy it told him to apply it to new T belt and tensioner. I wonder how my 'new' car, our 2.5x 2005 forester, would do with non-VDC VTD? I need to do a trans drain-and-fill and the diffs before next weekend when we take our first trip in it, they did the oil and coolant as part of the purchase.

We are going to buy it. Side note, turns out the poor driving experience my wife had was because she accidentally put it in 'sport' mode and drive around in 1 or 2.

There are a few used tire sellers in my area, give them size and brand and model and wear and they have a good grip on their inventory- there must be a bunch of places like that at least in the snowy areas where AWD has been common for a long time.

Just remember there is most likely a valve to swap if the donor trans is '04.

Cars in really good shape. Only rust is mild stuff on rear sway and some stuff like that back there. Had been ziebarted back in the day. Exhaust front donut is crushed by time, the exhaust flanges at the mufflers are a little sketchy. I think it made some noise on my wife's drive. There is a rust bubble on the trans pan, and some oily dirt on the trans pan. Very minimal critter evidence on top of the engine. Car had a "P0851" (neutral switch input circuit low) stored, they said they had just adjusted the shifter cable- there's a TSB on that. Monitors were set, so they hadn't cleared codes. Anyone know if a P0851 can cause limp mode? That would explain a lot of what my wife saw driving it. I can't quite tell from teh internets if it can. They will change the coolant, I'll change the rest, I got them to essentially come down another 500 (they'll do the timing belt, it has a time inyterval as well as miles).

So it was bought at that dealership, the guy is like 95 and left today with his new subaru. It's a base level 2006 outback, meaning a premium, 2.5, not a VDC etc. Wife said it was loud and felt like it was going to stall, they said it drove fine and check engine light went off after changing the air filter. They said it had no nuts etc in the airbox. I am test driving it tomorrow, I requested it be sat-overnight-cold when I test it tomorrow at about 8:30 am. 1st thing I will do is pop hood and feel radiator and do a visual. I will also ask what codes it stored.

*They* know they need to fix it *we* know they need to fix it, *they* don't know *I* know to be suspicious of the weird problems really low mile old cars can have. So we'll see, both how it drives and what they say was wrong. I give 50/50 odds it's a mess of rust underneath, all the wiring is mouse-gnawed, and the airbox was fulla acorns.

VDC is essentially a special 4EAT version. It has a slightly different case and a different (much better for most) transfer mechanism to the rear wheels. The VDC is 45/55 front/rear torque split, which is preferable to most, and it has the skid/traction control the regular 4EAT does not.

It is reputed to have been owned by a 95 year old man. It is running rough, they are going to fix it and I'll get eyes-on and -under then. My wife said it was 'loud' also, but not necc like an exhaust leak. If it is a diamond, we'll get it, if we can find financing for a decade-old car. Our credit union won't go less than like 9.5% on a car that old. I'm not sure I want to take it if we can't get GAP insurance either- the insurance company will say the car is worth $6k probably no matter condition/miles, and we'd be stuck with 5-7k in loan if the car gets totaled.

Dealer price 2006 outback with 14000 miles? Dealer near me has a 2006 outback wagon (I'm assuming 2.5 with 4spd auto right now) with 14000 miles. It might look great underneath or like crap, haven't seen it yet, I know it could go either way. But, how on earth to get a realistic idea of what this thing is worth, assuming it's in good shape? KBB etc says $9,500-$10,000 price at a dealer, dealer is talking like $13,000 and I think they are smoking crack, even for the northeast. But, so few miles, hard to tell. Could end up being a leaker, I know, dry seals and such. Thoughts?

I'm not sure there's a way to tell if an '04 is reversed without pulling the tail (difference is visible) or just driving it... unless the trans is still in the car, then you can put in the FWD fuse and measure the voltage on the wire to the solenoid. It makes sense they'd 'use up' the older version in early '04, there's never a clean break!

JDM is a year more advanced or something like that, right? The H6 LL bean uses 4.11 gears, H4 outbacks use 4.44, legacy H4 autos use 4.11 as well- but I keep hearing the H6 4.11 trans is different from the H4 4.11 trans, but don't recall hearing the details. The 01-03 H6 4EAT US bolts right in, the 04 works if you swap the solenoid and valve in the tail section, 2004 reversed the way the lockup signal works (2004, +12V to lock up, 0V to turn of all power to the rear)

Ping to clunk. Next stage involves swearing and a tow if you don't fix it!

If it's not a VDC and you have noise on accel only noise from rear diff should change if you put in the FWD fuse.

Well, I say cut to the chase. Remove the rest of the rear driveshaft and test drive that sucker! If no-go, trans is toast.

Our '05 2.5 forester has had the EGR valve stick open, shows up as a won't-idle issue. Stuck shut- maybe the timing would be cut back excessively to stop the pinging?

Pump or just the little metal cap/O-ring in the tank?

Bad sensor or maybe a bad tone ring, or the controller maybe. Do ABS codes get reported via OBDII?

How does anyone live without a pair of these?

Is the access much better with the valve cover off? Access goes from zero to good on some.

My problem is there is always a big rust ridge on the rotors that forms along the outer and inner perimeters of the pad swept area, creeping its way inwards, reducing pad contact surface area and making a heluva droning noise when the brakes get hot.

If mine had less rust and didn't need all the brakes and 4 struts and 4 springs and every suspension bushing replaced I'd fix my head gasket too- as in put in a used motor.

There is a weep hole in the bottom of the main timing 'rear' cover, which if the shaft seal leaks, could drip externally. This I guess was to put an air-gap in between the coolant and the oil.