CNY_Dave

OK, that's the how, where's the where? I'd be interested to see if that affects the bang into 3rd when downshifting on the interstate. Dave

That's why until you need more from the rear, it slips so much (90 front 10 rear). I don't think which way the clutch slips makes much difference to the efficiency of the system. Dave

The english looked stilted, the emissions stuff is called 'the carter controls', looks foreign. Server is in Berlin, the registration service was in Russia, Domain name is registered to a company "protect details inc" in St. Petersburg, Russia. I assume the company allows domain owners to remain anonymous. Dave

There is one tank, but it does have 2 separate motors/pumps, could be the motor for the rear, or a loose connection. Dave

So its a 9V 1.3A device running off a 120VAC inverter in the car? Call it 12 watts, call all the conversions 75% efficient, so make that 16 watts, 16 watts/12 volts = 1.33 amp draw on +12V whenever its in use. Dave

(kibbitzing without a schem in front of me) It does seem to make sense the ECU only needs one speed signal, while the TCU of course needs both. Dave

'03 LL bean. The 6 cyl 4eat's have a different final ratio, I hear, so any swappage involves swapping the front diff or the rear diff as will. Dave

I don't think the heated windshield is a huge help- it makes it easy to get that part of the windshield cleared and helps keep it cleared, but crud still builds up and the wipers still freeze. I'd miss it if I didn't have it, but as an add-on I'd think heat tape that could go at the bottom, and the left side, and the top. Especially the left side. And heated wipers. So for adding it I'd say put that effort and money (less money, at that) into some really helpful winter mods. Dave

It may help to maintain a low pressure area behind the radiator. Or maybe not- it could even hinder air from escaping and so actually may keep the engine bay at a higher pressure than it otherwise would. Someone could hook an hour-meter to their radiator fan and track fan usage vs. pan-on, pan-off. Dave

Just to add the data point, my '03 OBW will take something 4 feet wide, if its thin enough, diagonally through the hatch. At no point is the hatch 4-feet wide. Bummer. Dave

Technically, the binding should be able to occur in neutral if the duty C solenoid is not activated, or if it fails to activate, or if the clutch pack just plain old binds. But, while going in a straight line? Either you have wheels of different size, or its not torque bind. Dave

Thanks all- I am a pretty experienced mechanic, and all indications point to the tire (which is unfeathered, but the potenzas are worn to the point where there is just a touch of tread left on the shoulders, where the tread only goes partway down), it sounds hella-like a wheel bearing, even getting slightly louder on left turns (its the rt-front making noise), but if it IS the tread on the shoulder of the tire, then it should indeed make it louder if its the tire making the noise. The way I bomb on/off ramps, I'd figure the left-front bearing would go 1st. If I wasn't so lazy I'd just jack the damn thing up and check it... Dave

It makes a classic (to me the mechanic, in a past life anyway) wheel-bearing noise, but it also made this noise, more softly, when I bought the car, and it stopped when I put snows on last season. The noise came back when I put the stock potenzas back on, and the noise recently has gotten worse. So, I think it could still be the tire, have not jacked it up to check the wheel bearing yet, just doing the background work for whenever it needs doing. The noise was actually worse and funkier on a recent 50 deg. F morning, which I have not seen a wheel bearing do before. I'm 75% sure its the tire, but until I jack it up... BTW I have about 80,000 miles on it. Bought it in October with 55Kmiles. Dave

*Have* searched but could not find a definitive answer- Is a press required to do the front wheel bearings on an '03 OBW? If no, has anyone successfully done it with the knuckle still on the car? I remember some GM ones being very easy- wheel bearing went on/off from the outside, didn't have to pop the ball joint or anything. It sounds like I'm going to be wishing it was that way on a subie... Thx- Dave

I concur with the earlier replies. Coolant-to-air only, seepage only, maybe add the magic gasket conditioner, and just watch it closely. A little anti-freeze seeping is not a big deal. It could seep the way it is for a long time- or get worse tomorrow, but I'd say chances are good it'll only seep for a good long while. Dave

Across several sites, consensus seems to be you'll gain bupkis. Now adding an air dam, that might get you 2-3 mpg easy. Dave

1st case of a leaking H6 head gasket I've heard of, what's the confidence level its the head gasket? What kind of leak, and which way? Coolant out to the air, oil into the coolant, coolant into the cylinder, exhaust into the coolant, etc etc. Since you made it to 169Kmiles, I and the other H6 owners would love to hear what major work you had to do along the way- timing chain? water pump? etc. I have an '03 LLBean with about 80K. Dave

If you have trouble bleeding, a sneak-attack trick that sometimes works is to loosen the MC cover, loosen the bleeder of choice (usually furthest one) and just walk away and do a slow gravity flush. Let that bleeder run for awhile, then close it and go to the next furthest one, and repeat... Keep the MC topped off to ensure the most head pressure. Dave

The solenoid that activates when you insert the fuse could be bad- that could be the cause of the binding, if that is what's occurring. That doesn't usually get described as a groaning, though. Dave

Real fog lights are great- they have to be mounted low, amber, and have a very narrow beam vertically, and very wide horizontally. They have to be aimed to just over the ground. Aiming them a bit off to the sides is a great help, too, so you can pick up the edge-of-road cues when its really foggy or snowy. And one other thing- you have to turn off the regular headlights. Big gain in safety for the driver, absolutely no loss in safety for those around you. At the speeds you go in those conditions, the fog lights (with the standard marker lights) are plenty. Sometimes here in CNY it is foggy enough I miss having real foglights, and its ofte snowing hard enough they'd be a big help. Every winter I swear I'm going to drop the coin and get some, I think its just that I'm too lazy to disable the DRLs. Dave

'03 OBW, I hate 'em. Low beams are OK, but subaru f'ed things up royally by leaving the low-beams on when you switch to high-beams. The bright wash of light near the car drastically reduces your ability to process the dimmer returned light coming from far down the road. Stupid, stupid, stupid, its of no benefit. They did it, I think, because if you are going to turn off the low-beams when you turn on the high-beams you actually have to do some work on the lens or reflector to splay a little light near the car, and they were too f'in lazy to do it, or the headlight assembly would havme cost too much. Best headlights I ever had were the 4 small round system. 2 with seperate high beam and low beam, and 2 that just come on for high beam. Dave

My '03 H6 has a small bypass in the muffler, but its just actuated by the exhaust flow pressure overcoming a spring and pushing a flapper open. Dave

I just meant, if you really wanted to get nuts with it! Also, if you were concerned about the actual rolling circumference, you would have to do it that way. For tires of the same model, however their rolling circumference varied from the tape-measured circumference, it'd be the same (no impact). For tires of different model#s, or from different manufacturers, the difference might be important, that is the tape measure might show them to be OK, but the rolling circumference might not. Dave

1K? Deal! Dave

I think the best post-install check would be to find a flat empty parking lot, park the car at one end, chalk the tires where they hit the ground (one thin line straight down), drive 10 tire revolutions, and see if the chalk marks all point down. Find the mark that has moved the largest amount (car would need to roll backwards for it to point down), roll the car back so it points straight down, then find the mark that needs the car to roll forwards the most for it to align, mark the car position, roll the car forwards so that furthest-off mark tire is pointing straight down, measure the distance the car has moved, if its more than 2.5 inches you're boned. Something you can do is take one 'new' tire and put it on the front, and put the other 'new' tire on the back, on the opposite side of the car. This will 'average out' the front-rear circumference difference, but if you have a limited-slip rear differential, it'll hose that. If you have an AT you could put in the fuse and put the large tires on the front and run 'em down a bit. Dave