friendly_jacek

Is this a joke or truly unbiased opinion?

It all depends on the driving condiotions. Up to now I could swear by Potenza RE950 for its wet/dry grip, quiet ride, and handling precision, but I had a chance to drive on ice recently and they are totally unreliable on ice. Being from Canada, make sure you get good advice from severe winter folks.

I would not worry about the color. While some color change can be due to oxidation, most of it is due to engine cleaning. Anybody who drives diesel can attest to that, oil is pitch black withing miles after oil change. While I also got the free maxlife and durablend oils, Valvoline is considered one of the lesser brands, the virging oil analysis results show just adequate additives levels.

I used 15 AMP and it was fine for a couple of hundred of miles till I fixed the tire (FWD light was on all the time).

I had some of that driving on thick ice in AR and MO a week ago. Eventually, we spinned out of control and landed in a ditch once. The only adwantage of AWD was the fact that we were able to get out from the ditch (snow) on our own, unlike dozens of the cars left abandoned on the sides of the road (I-55). Otherwise, AWD was not big help on ice. Chains on the tires is the only solution on ice IMHO.

Maybe, but only with close monitoring with oil analysis. Group 1 oils would likely oxidase, thicken, and possibly sludge at these intervals. However, these days, with API SM/ILSAC GF-4 certification, "conventional" oils are group 2, group 2+, or mixture of group 1/3, so the performance is much closer to the synthetic levels.

We all drive subs cuz the virtues of the handling, right? But the article seemed a little bit biased toward Subaru. It is a well known fact that if you let go acceleration on a shart curve in AWD, the rear will spin but the car will regain steering when acceleration is reaplied. This is great for rallies but may take a street driver by surprise. I am surprised the test drivers didn't see that in the lift off test. On the other hand it helped in geting the best result in speed corner test. Daily drivers: do not take your foot from gas pedal when you are in the middle of the turn. Racers: do take your foot from gas pedal when you are in the middle of the turn.

This is a good point. The standard oil filter does not protect against the most common oil contaminants: water condensation and unburned fuel. So, if one drives short distances in cold weather or has a rich burning engine, exended intervals on synthetic make no sense.On the other hand, with lots of highway driving, and properly tuned engine, 10-15,000 miles is not a problem with quality synthetic oil. Synthetic oils shine in cold temps or heavy duty or turbo applications. Someone above mentioned mobil 1 0W40, it is it a good oil (HTHS of 3.5 IRRC). Mobil's 5W40 is even better for heavy duty (HTHS 4.1). I am not bashing synthetic oils, I use one myself. I just want people to be aware that the MPG savings with mobil 1 5w30 and 10W30 is due to very thin nature of these oils (low 30 weight).

Now, this is a viagra joke, isn't it?

Sure you get increase in MPG with mobile 1 5W30. It is not a magic "slippery synthetic" urban legend effect. The mobil 1 5w30 oil has one of the lowest viscosities for 5W30 oil (close to 9 cSt at 100C IIRC). Most dino oils in 5W30 start at 12-13 cSt (whoping 30-40% higher than mobil 1) to allow for shearing viscosity down cuz dino relies on unstable VI improvers additives to increase viscosity at high temp. You have to understand though that the lower viscosity goes, the HTHS goes lower (index of oil protection at high stress/high temp, or conditions at the piston rings). Unfortunately, every oil has to a reach a compromise between better fuel economy and better protection at high temp. Mobil went the MPG route. Performance oils from europe (EACE B3 certified) and heavy duty engine oils (the ones with both API SL/CH-4 or newer) go the high HTHS (and lower MPG) route. The comment: "But don't tell the mineral-oil-only crowd, they'll think we're nuts!! Let them waste fuel in peace :-)" is very immature and poorly informed. If you want, you can use dino 5W20 (8-9 cSt at 100C) oil and you will observe a similar increase in MPG (reason that Ford and Honda recently switched to 5W20 oils for almost entire fleet). Use the oil that suits your driving styles. I do some towing in hot summers, so I will never touch an oil will HTHS less than 3.6 (or below the EACE B3 standard) during summer season. Using heavy duty synthetic 5W40 oil (14.6 cSt @100C; HTHS of 4.0), synth ATF (mobil 1 ATF) and synthetic diff oil (redline 75W90) I do not observe an increase in MPG compared to 5W30 or 10W30 dino oil (used for short intervals in winter). YMMV.

??????? The link above is for the BITOG discussion board and not the timken machine Bob used to use. If you search the BITOG board you will find tons of useful info, like oil analysis results on different oils/engines combos. While I have gripes with the new BITOG administration (Bob retired and sold the site to a jerk) and they even canceled my memberships couple of times (and even blocked access for a couple of the many IP addresses I use) after I objected to arbitrary deleting of legitimate topics, it is the ultimate lubrication resource on the web that I know. The BITOG members are very conservative though, Subaru owners and democrats may enter at they own risk ;-)

First, are you sure you want to do it yourself, especially since the access is very hard unless you have a lift (this is why you are not finding it easily)? Second, there was a recall on the sensor, so why don't you ask to do have it done under the recall. Third, if it is indeed true that the sensor goes bad in 5000 miles, you have other problems than need to fixed first. I believe there was a ECU reprogramming recall on some cars from 00-01 or so. I am not trying to be harsh but I did replace some good parts in my old cars cuz I did not trableshoot them well. Let me tell you: t is not cost effective.

The voltage looks good for the traditional (non-wideband) sensor in closed feedback. At least it sounds similar to what I have seen on my OBD-2 reader. This is a front sensor, right? It would be abnormal in after-cat sensor in a warmed-up car though.

You forgot to mention about overblowing you horn...

Yes, I saw that, look like a pain during oil changes, this is why I inquired about IDP plates.

Hmmm, Another reason to put a FAQ here or pehaps a sticky topic. 3 issues repeat themself almost daily: 1. Tourqe bind. 2. HG issues. 3. Park lights switch. There might be more frequent questions.

I would be very interested. The stock plastic on my 2000 Legacy is mostly gone. Do you have one installed? Any pictures hosted online? What about oil changes, do you have to remove it for service? Thanks!

Please do a search on torque bind. If you do, you might find that your problem might not be that expensive, although it possibly could.

It is possible. My wife does short commute to her work and errands and gets 16-18 pure city in her AT 00 Legacy Wagon. While this is lower than I expect, there is nothing wrong with the car (that the dealer or myself can detect) and the various tweeks I tried (ECU reset, different weights of engine oils, synth only fluids, 40 PSI in tires, FWD fuse) did not change it. I even purchased OBD2 interface to make sure O2 sensor worked correctly (replaced under recall anyhow). When I get the car worked up on a hwy (long family trips) I get more "reasonable" 24-25 mpg. Let me tell you, no more AWD for me in future cars (we moved to snow-free zone :-) Another thing is that the 2.5 runs very rich at cold start-up. And one thing is we bought it "new" with 300 mile. Possibly abused during the brake-in.

I would guess heavy would refer to 4-5 people + full trunk or towing. I has to do with increased load on rear wheels making the rear tires effectivelly smaller rolling diameter, which can be detrimental with AWD. My manual for 00 legacy did not have this info, but I inflate rear to 40 psi when I tow.

This just shows you how short skirts could be dangerous... But seriously, I heard that Castrol's start-up blend oil helps in some cases of slap (posted on BITOG). Did you experiment with different types of oils? Some oils have moly additives.

This is a second post recently which made me realise that people are not checking fluid levels rutinely and later upset when $$$$ repair is needed. On the other hand, I asked my wife if she ever checked oil level in the Sub she drives and her response was: "why, you do it for me". I guess good enough.

Attn Administrators: please make this a sticky topic.

Intake work? I understand that 2000+ 2.5 have increased torque at low RPM due to reworked intake. Can you put newer intake into phase 1 engine? Just guessing, possibly a longshot...

different aerodinamics may play a role but I bet (if the cars are AT) different setting in tranny computers affect how effective engine braking you see in diffrent cars. Also, bigger engine may contribute a greater braking too. In summary, who knows?