Hester

I told him to buy a vacuum brake bleeder and change out the brake fluid. I am big on preventative maintenance and, yes, taking the calipers off and lubricating the friction points so that the brake pads float in the caliper mount bracket and the caliper slide freely on the pins might inrease the life of the brake pads (if there were a problem in either of those areas) but that might be a little overkill (not that I don't appreciate your input). At this point in the car's service, the most important maintenance is probably changing fluids and filters. Speaking of fluids, I think I should add the clutch master and slave cylinders, assuming that the 07 Legacy has those. Does anybody know?

Well, I've always overdone the maintenance on my cars on the theory that, maintenance items like fluids and filters are cheaper than parts and components and an over-maintained car inspires more confidence on a dark and stormy night than a car maintained to even the manufacturer's minimum recommendations. Also, I like getting all of the maintenance taken care of once in the Spring and once in the Autumn. That leaves the hot summer and holiday rush of winter free of car maintenance concerns. My little brother is 28 and he has a badge. I suspect that, although he isn't towing anything or doing much mountain or off-road driving, his car gets a good workout regularly. 30,000 miles in a year is pretty crazy and I don't expect that the rate will be slowing anythime soon (although he is getting married this year and that tends to slow down the best of us). I pegged the differentials as something that should get attention. It snows a fair amount in New York and I am sure that he gets a fair amount of wheel spin. Do those cars have limited slip or open differentials? Does he need an additive for the limited slip? Is the lubricant reservoir for the front differential separate from the one for the transmission? I may be old school but, I believe two coolant changes a year is good practice. Change it once in the spring with a summer mix and once in the autumn for the winter. At the rate he's going, by the time he gets to September, he will have another 15,000 miles so I am going to recommend that he does all of this stuff now. As for the transmission, its up to him but a few dollars worth of gear oil is cheaper than a transmission and it will inspire confidence. He already bought the Chiltons.

My little brother put 30,000 miles on the 2007 legacy that he took delivery of in the autumn of 2006 and now its time to do some maintenance. The car is in New York with him and I am in California. I'm looking for tips and recommendations for maintenance items to supplement those listed by Subaru. So far we have: Spark Plugs, Air Filter, Fuel Filter, Coolant, Transmission Oil, Differential Oil, Brake Fluid and Power Steering Fluid. For the transmission and differential, I am not very familiar with Subaru's but am guessing that one differential is between the rear wheels like most front engine/rear drive set-ups and the front differential is part of the transmission, sharing the same reservoir of lubricant (my brother's Legacy is a manual shift). Can anyone help me with the location of the drain and fill points and the type/grade of lubricant required? I also am looking for a recommendation for a coolant mix. I was thinking 50/50 for the summer. Does anyone have a spec on the capacity of the cooling system? Is there anything that I'm missing?

Just some supplemental, on topic reading: http://www.elektro.com/~audi/audi/toluene.html