friendly_jacek

Are you describing the A/F ratio sensor (aka lambda aka front O2 sensor)? If so, did you have engine light?

I asked a related question a week ago or so with no replies. I was curious if anyone removed the piece and saw any improvements in HP or MPG.

"I fully realize that you believe you understand what you think I said, but I am not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant." Ha, ha, ha. What did you mean? Interesing info. Unfortunately I did not examine the screw-on AT filter (yes, it does exist, and no, it is not a screen filter) closely when I replaced one at 40000 when I swithed to synth ATF. Unfortunately, I had to destroy it while trying to unscrew. I did noticed some metal debris flowing from it but not sure if some of it was due to pounding a screwdriver into it. After that experience I appreciated the Subaru's recommendation of not changing it for life.

Took you 4 years to loose virginity!? I snow-tested my 2000 legacy, well, in 2000. I liked what I saw. However, ABS totally sucked in heavy (deep) snow. Little stopping power with ABS buzzing (rapid pulsing) like crazy. My non-ABS FWD cars would stop easier in the same conditions. ABS is great for wet road though. From you description, it sounds like ABS does behave weird. Myself, never heard the clunk in the drivetrain, I guess I am gentle on gas.

OK, I was worried they cut you after reading the topic. I also think there was a recall on that. Do a check. You can also invest in much needed bumper sticker: "Say no to Subaru dealer cutting off body parts"

When I discovered this site some month ago, blown HG was the recurrent issue. Now, it sounds like torque bind is the question of the day. Administrators: shouldn't there be a working FAQ for newer Subs with torque bind being #1?

Now, subary asks to change the fluid every 30000 miles, 15000 if severe service. Are you saying the intervals are not frequent enough?

If your tranny is overheating, just changing fluid is not enough. I burned a tranny one due to my ignorance in mazda. After $2000, I learned a lesson. If you believe it is truely overheating (ie temp in excess of 250 or so), determine why and fix the problem.

Strange story. But since stories like this surface occasionally on all forums, I decided to do no DIY oil changes during warranty, so no one can waive the warranty for lack of oil changes. One more observation: all car manuals tell to check oil levels during every fueling, or weekly, or so. Now the question: how many people do you see acctualy doing it during fueling? I seem to be the only one doing it in my city! Coming back to the case: 1. Do you have dated receipts for the oil/filter you used when DIY oil changes were done. Sometimes it can be offered as a proof of change (a weak one, I admit). 2. Do we know the time interval it took for the loss of these many qt of oil? In other words, when oil level check was done before the failure?

I thought the roof rack holds only 100 lbs (at least in legacy)?

Do you guys use T-rated or H-rated ones? My research also pointed me to BFG traction T/A T-rated, but the local sam's club can only order H-rated ones. Thanks

Anyone, please? I vaguely remember someone mentioning this a couple of months ago, but cant find the post. Any benefits, possible risks? Thanks

Setright, sorry to hear that. Mobil 1 0w-40 should be ok, has the HTHS of 3.6 (IIRC) and is ACEA A3 certified (unlike the thinner Mobil 1 varieties). You might want to consider pouring half of the redline oil out and substiuiting with quality dino oil like Castrol GTX. This way you will have a 50/50 group I/group V blend. Castrol actually markets similar blend in US as a "start up" oil and supposedly this oil helped some with piston slap. Otherwise, people have no problems with quality dino like castrol GTX 10W30 in Subaru engines. You may also consider the fact that a switch to different oil chemistry may change the engine sound with the first oil change. Maybe you should be patient? You spent some significant $$ for this oil, right?

Syntec is fine oil but the problem is that in US, Castrol switched from expensive group IV fully synthetic formula to cheaper group III (modified petroleum) oil with no change of retail price or public disclosure. Many people were turned off by this bait and switch. Redline is suposedly group V (most expensive) basestock. Whether this means better oil, who knows? Remember, quality of oil = sum of base oil + quality of additives. One thing I learned from used oil analysis (UOA) results is that subaru engines produce low levels of wear metals with any type of oil. If you consider increases intervals, cannot go wrong with Amsoil (group IV base).

I am glad that you posted this because I thought I was the only one having this same problem. I ended up paying $$$ for several alignments and a third set of tires (just like you) in 50000 miles in 2000 legacy. My tire mechanic blamed AWD for this, but the consensus on this board is that AWD is not hard on tires. Most of miles on my car (acctually, my wife's car) is in low-speed city driving interrupted by high speed, high load hwy (~40% miles) with occasional towing in summer (5-10% of miles; ~2000 lbs). One thing I regret is that I did not venture outside the bridgestone tire word: I had RE92 (terible, stock), followed by RE910 (so, so), and RE950 (much better but unidirectional). Two more things: hot climat (south US) and poor MPG (16-25), could that be a key? Lets hope we get informative responses this time.

It is funny that all oil makers eat that cost, yet it is prohibitive for redline. BTW, why are you fixating with the API/ILSAC certification? European ACEA certifications are more stringent and you, living in Denmark, have access to many fine ACEA A3 oils perfect for Subaru.

Hi, I did a search on this and found nothing revelant. In short, there is a plastic part on the hood that effectively resticts the inlet of the stock intake. I guess to protect from snow/ water directly entering the intake. Did anyone modified/removed that? Any effects (MPG, HP, etc.)? Thanks

did you do a search?

Please search the forum, there is a procedure to get the code by counting the light flashes. The issue surfaced several times in the last several weeks.

I guess the engine was defective from the factory to last that long... Here, in US, the engines are disigned to last less than that, much less...

I did a search and was surprised to see little relevant post on this in this otherwise very helpful forum. The story is that my MY 2000 legacy wagon (AT) with 50000 miles has had this low to medium intensity noise coming from rear diff since 40000 miles or so (cant be precise, my wife is the primary driver). It is not a high pitched whine, more like a medium frequency rumble. Starts from 40 mph and is pretty much constant with no change with acceleration or FWD fuse. It is more difficult to hear at hwy speeds (~70 mph) because road/engine noise masks this. The diff fluid is not low as I checked several times. I put 75W90 synthetic redline fliud in at 42000 with no change in noise. The original fluid did have a lot of very small metal particles near the magnet but I am hearing that it is normal. My 5 year/60000 drivetrain warranty expires soon. Is this something I can ask the dealer to fix or is this expected with the age of the car? Is heavier fluid (80W140 or so) going to help with the noise? Any additional insights into this issue? BTW, the car was mostly trouble free with the usual several recalls and a TPS failure (ouch, $330). It eats thrugh the brakes and tires though (second set of pads and 3rd set of tires installed at 50000 miles), 50/50 city/hwy driving with ~5% towing duty. Thanks a lot!

One of the main problems of this discussion here is generalization. For example, someone above talked about synthetic and mentioned syntec and mobil 1 on one sentence. Wait a moment, syntec is group III pseudosynthetic and mobil 1 is group IV true synthetic. There are also group V synthetics. Different chemistries and different seal swelling characteristics. Also, above, people rave how "high mileage" synthetic blend oils are great improvements over "regular" oils. Some of the improvements could be traced to the higher weight of those oils which are designed to decrease oil consumption and are really heavy 30 oils as opossed to most oils which are low 30 to conserve fuel (like mobil 1). It is my understanding that subaru engines do better with heavy 30 or 40 oils. People using very thin XW-30 mobile 1 oil should be advised that this oil has low HTHS and may not provide optimal protection under severe load and temp. My manual for 2000 legacy specifically states about using 20W50, 20W40, 15W50, or streight 30 or 40 in high temp, high load situations. Also, if you study enough used oil analysis (BITOG is a good source for start), you see that synthetic oils do not necessarily provide less engine wear than petroleum oils. The only reason I use "synthetic" group III rotella 5W40 (SL/CH-4) in my car ($12 a gallon at Walmart) because there is no shear-stable dino weight HDEO in this viscosity. No leaks to report with this oil at 50,000.

Depends, not everybody reports increased mpg. To do truly extended drains, you you need to do lots of driving, since oil needs to be changed every 6-7 months anyhow (unless you have have bypass filtration). Quality dino oil can take 5-6 k miles with no problems and even 7-10 k miles with pure highway driving. In some cases, synthetic oil is cost effective, in most cases is not. After saying that, if synthetic oil can prevent a castrophic engine failure or sludge, then it is cost effective. Turbo engines or engines with high oil temp (either by design or by severe service) would belong to that category.

Noting wrong with 4 tires in 70000 miles IMO. I went through 8 tires in more or less same time. As for "soft brake pedal", isn't this a feature of subaru cars and not a problem? The other items do sound like a hassle.

Be careful what you put in your Sub. I have AT but understand that people ruined Sub gearboxes by putting fancy synthetic gear oils which are more suitable for diffrentials than MT. The bottle may say that fluid is good for MT, but buyer beware! Some people say that only factory dino oil gives satisfactory shifting in subaru.