CNY_Dave

Yes, 'feel' does play into it quite a bit. A manual hydraulic gives you a good idea of what's going on, I would be hesitant to use a powered one. There are only 2 operations that involve the knuckle taking the force of the pressing, and getting a good setup (shimming the knuckle) is critical if the force is to be seen evenly across the knuckle. If you rush it or go at it ham-fisted, yeah, it could be ugly. Other than being a single-use tool, the only negative to me is that I am skeptical the on-car screw-tool could have gotten the bearing out of the knuckle (on my car). That took a *lot* of force, and made me glad I sprung for the 20-ton press instead of the 15-ton. Dave

I snagged a harbor freight 20ton press and bearing splitter, and have a lot of bits and pieces to use as press adapters, and found the job to be straightforwards. An on-car tool would have been worth while, and not necessitated knuckle removal, but would have been a tool that only did one thing- a press is more useful to me than the convenience of not removing the knuckle (it's not that hard, at least on the front). There are a few times where you need to be VERY aware of what you are pressing on, and what is taking the force on the receiving end. Tightening the axle nut is an easy time to screw up the whole job. Dave

It does seem that some of these cars exhibit this problem, and some do not. I'm sure if all of them did, there would be a lot more NTSB/Subaru action on the issue. Dave

Did you ever load the car? That seems to be a common precursor to the problem. Also, seems snow is not an issue, but slick packed snow or ice. Dave

We get about 3 inches a day where I live, so far there hasn't been one big fall all at once. A bit north, they get a foot a day from the lake effect snow (snowmobile mecca, 50 mi to the north of syracuse). But yeah, it gets quite a workout, I go for a spin around the yard (hills etc) if need be. We got dreck out of the big storm, you probably have more in one fall than me. Dave

I don't think you're quite understanding the root cause of the problem- the suspension geometry in the rear is actually throwing the rear of the car left and right. Every other subaru ever made, any tires, any loading conditions, this problem does not occur. 2005 with a bit of a load in the back, and the butt of the car wags all over the place, and you pretty much can't go slow enough to make it stop. No load, and the problem does not occur. Dave

Sounds like a bad relay, or one with a bad connection. Open the fuse box lid and touch the relays with your finger until you find the culprit. What could happen depends on what the relay is for... Dave

Great thread on the trick: http://forums.evolutionm.net/evo-how-requests-questions-tips/215795-5-o2-cheater-non-fouler-how.html An anti-fouler is used on a car that burns a lot of oil- it spaces the sparkplug back out of the cylinder so oil does not clog the spark plug. Dave

Sounds like the classic 05+ ghostwalking, which occurs at low speeds as well as 'fast' speeds (occurs at speeds low enough that other cars are passing the 05 like it's standing still), and which can be reduced with better tires and a 'proper' rear alignment, but is basically a design flaw. One poster got relief from replacing some of the rear link bushings which were softer than normal, it seemed. Lots of folks have posted their experiences in the referenced thread, and one thing is clear- its *not* from going too fast for the conditions. Dave

I'm sure you could, but there could be unintended consequences- aside from the obvious consequence of the brake pedal becoming a 'steer or brake but not both' switch. If you want to turn off the ABS so you can do 'performance winter driving' or drive off-road, that's one thing, if you just are worrying about that one time where the ABS won't quite let you stop, this would be serious overkill. There are other ways to deal with the lesser situation. Dave

That fits with what I have heard elsewhere. Dave

There is a hill near my house. If you go over 10mph and the abs 'enables', in wet snow the ABS will keep the car from stopping, drive, 1, or neutral with my H6. Without ABS the safe speed on that hill is 20mph or so, and by safe I mean you can stop when/where you want, immediately. With the ABS, you will continue down the hill until you kill the key, yank the ebrake, or go through the stop sign at the bottom of the hill. No technique works except getting the ABS out of the loop. ABS is a great tool, but at some point the best designed system has unintended consequences, and you have to know how to deal with that fact. I'm in the go easy, go slower, use the ABS for the good it does, and know the downside (and know how to deal with it) camp. Dave

The turbo will be a good bit faster, the 6 cyl will be a better 'highway'/'touring' car, the way I see it. I have an '03 H6. Dave

Of course the idle speed is an important factor, for that last little bit where you're almost but not quite stopped. Maybe it is due to another factor, but N or D or any other gear doesn't make a whit of diff on my H6, and I do know the H6 has a slightly lower idle. Dave

Do the newer antifreezes need a different hygrometer than the ethylene glycol types? If not, has anyone ever seen a hygrometer 'go bad'? I have one that's a bit old, has a swinging needle indicator vs. a series of balls, and I can't tell if I got screwed on a coolant service or if the tester is reading wrong. Dave

Neutral seems to help with some cars, maybe the idle on my H6 is a bit lower- neutral doesn't help at all. Dave

I'm down near cortland, if there's something I can't or don't want to do myself (not often), I use Rapp subaru in syracuse. Romano subaru in syr is supposed to be good, as well. Dave

Premium has slightly less energy content. Dave

How many miles on it? I think the H6 4eat is exactly the same as a legacy 4eat, and different from an outback 4eat in that it has the legacy 4.11 gearing instead of the outback normal 4.44 gearing. Dave

I accidently drained down my battery (I had turned on the parking lights on purpose, but forgot) and resetting all the codes/learned behavior seemed to ease the 4-3 shift for awhile. Try that and let me know- I just haven't had a chance to repeat the experiment. Dave

Since I got the car the only harsh shift was a 4-3 downshift above 65 or so, and that has not gotten worse. Gary and Rooster, I shy away from additives as well, but a number of folks here use the trans-x trick for delayed forward engagement with good results, so I know it can help a seal seal. I'm also wondering if the harsh shift is a TPS issue, since it seems only the H6 has the harsh 4-3 shift, and the H6 TPS goes bad a lot more often than the H4 TPS (they are different). Dave

'03 H6, 4eat (same 4eat as in an H4, so they tell me) Last winter, the cold did not affect the way the car shifted. Last night and this morning, on down- and up-shifts the engine raced up a bit between shifts, sometimes engaging with a bang on a downshift (similar to my ever-present high-speed 4-3 downshift bang, but that is only at high-speeds, high-throttle). No delayed forward movement, just during shifts. I presume some of the internal seals are either more 'swelled' than they used to be, and dragging (resisting movement) when it's cold, or the exact opposite, the seals are that much more 'dried out' (harder) than last year, and the cold is bringing out the worst of it. I bought the with 55kmiles 2 years ago, got a full trans flush then, 117k now, still safe to do a full flush or should I do it bit by bit, is what I have to figure out. Also, should I switch to synthetic? After a flush or series of changes, I can worry about what magic pixie-dust additive may or may not work. Dave

That's a case where turning the key off would be ideal. You don't need to steer, and you won't need to stomp on the gas in the next 5 seconds. Dave

Someone will turn it into an off-road beast if it's AWD, too bad I don't live in CT anymore. Long-time no-see on RMD. Dave

My '03 OBW slid like that with brand-new Graspic DS2's. I find the ABS useful, generally, so I have practiced 2 strategies to cope: 1- Ebrake 2- turn off the key. Yes, there are a few downsides to turning off the key, but at 10mph, and when it'll make the difference between a non-event and damage, it can be a good choice. Dave