friendly_jacek

Another vote here. Cars dated 99-00 had issues with leaking grease from axles. Not sure about 2001, but very easy to see if you look.

Notice that you have oil seepage on the outer side of rubber boot, too. You could have one of these bad axles filled with incorectly thin greese from factory. I had one with the same symptoms (made in 1999 though) and required regreesing the joints (done under warranty). So far so good.

Nope, not round/regular enough.

I have one from U-haul on my legacy. $200 or so installed, very impressed with quality and wireing.

Once, long time ag, my wife came back from shopping with missing muffler, and could not explain what happened. She just said that suddenly car became noisier. Felt sorry for the car that followed her :-) After saing that, I had a good share of thing falling on me from various trucks. Some experiences were as bizzare as driving into a falling winshield which broke into pieces! Nedless to say that my distance from the truck was not too great.

Also, you might want to look at plain legacy wagon as opposed to outback. Basically the same car but with lower suspension and slightly lighter with better gearing. Several $$$ less to buy.

I would not be so sure. Delvac 1 is SL rated as is your 5W30 or 10W30 "gas" oil. True, it has more phosphorus (anti-wear additive), but the 0.1% cap to prevent catalist poisoning applies only to XW30 oils and thinner. XW40 and thicker oils are burned less by engine and thus are permited to have more P (0.12 IIRC). If I was that worried about catalyst poisoning, I would drive low-sulfur gas only. Sulfur poisons catalyst short-term (partially reversibly).

Interesting discussion here. If I were to take sides in this argument: "When I come to a stoplight and there's no airflow, the coolant temp rises to the fan's on-temp. When the vehicle is back in motion, the coolant temp drops back to the point dictated by the stat, PROVIDED: that the cooling system's capacity has not been exceeded." vs. "I have watched the temps for my car on the select monitor and seen what the normal operating temp range is. Bottom line is the ECU controls what temp range the engine is going to run at, NOT the tstat." I would choose the first explanation. I observed the temp via OBD2 reader too and I am not convinced that ECU controls engine temp. For example, during high speed hwy driving in mildly hot day with moderate load, the engine temp received by ECU is constant at 180F. At idle, it fluctuates between 180-212F. How could possibly ECU regulate the Hwy temp? Heck, I will buy the lower stat and do before and after measuments.

I assume you did check that the tire circumferences are equal, right?

Kavika, Search the web and you will find a procedure for retrieving the code without any hardware. Good luck and keep up posted.

This is normal, as this the check for burned bulb. Blinking light is abnormal becouse it indicates error registered by TCU. Solid AT temp during driving means overheated AT. I could never find out though what temp triggers the light (never happened to me).

Blinking AT temp means AT TCU error message. The codes are stored in TCU memory. There is a complex procedure to get the code by counting the blinks. If you use proper search, you will find the procedure posted on the net (applicable to old and new subs, TCU is not included in OBD2). No, I don't think the smell is related unless you are smelling burnt ATF and not alcohol...

Sound impressive, but I would be cautious in interpreting MPG only after partial tank (8.445 gal). Early pump cutoff can introduce large error with this small volume. I noticed that you (and others) report great MPG with 70-75 MPH. This must be the secret! I drive a little bit faster on hwy so no wonder my MPG is lower... My driving must be bad becouse cannot get more than 31 MPG in my 03 Toyota Corolla (1.8L) on hwy. People boast over 40 MPG with the same car, makes me guess what speed they do...

I agree, this is abnormal. I changed my pads at 45000 miles (2000 legacy) and they still had several grands life left in both front and rear. My wear is higher than usual becouse of mostly city driving and some towing. True, front pads work harder ("do most of the braking" as said above) but they are bigger and the net wear is similar (at least in my car). You either have binding in the rear, or brake force adjustment mechanism malfunctions. Probably the first, becouse you would notice braking anomalies by now. Is your acceleration poor, rear wheels hotter than front? Could this explain the FWD fuse results you reported?

Using the formula posted above 11.5 L/100km~20.5 MPG. Not bad for city driving. I suspect that a recipe for poor MPG in city is lots of starts and driving short distances on cold engine. 2.5L engine warms up slowly (even in hot weather) and runs very rich in cold. This is also a recipe for gas dilution in oil and lots of engine wear (especially with high sulfur gas). This is IMHO.

I have one (option from dealer). Works well, keeps the rear window clean, I almost newer use rear wiper. However, I suspect I might pay MPG penalty at high speeds (never tested though).

Second that. With the beta software (v2.3) you will even read A/F sensor in newer Subs (2000+). Need a laptop of course...

I don't know about 04, but my 00 gets similar MPG. I took it to a dealer with the same complain, no avail. I tried all the usual: synthetic fluids, high tire pressure, checked air filter, etc. I even bought an OBD2 interface to make sure O2 sensors were working. My Sub lifetime highest MPG: 25.1 (sustained hwy, 80 mph) and lowest: 14-15 (boat towing). Short-trip only city errands can put me as low as 15.5-16.

Hi, I hope everyone had a nice Holiday. I had and put 1200+ miles on my 2000 legacy wagon AT in the process. I tested the FWD thing, alternating tankfulls between FWD and AWD (you can take this as "randomization"). The results: AWD 23.3-25.1, FWD 23.6-24.7 MPG. Did not do statistical analysis, no need, the numbers look very similar and averages are almost identical. The conditions were: Hwy, cruise control, 80 mph, AC, moderately heavy load, temp 80-90 F, essentially sea level. There were only occasional spots of congestion on hwy. I also tried the study in the city driving only: AWD 16, FWD 15.3 MPG. However, this was limited by low number of miles (my wife does only short trips during weekdays). It looks that FWD does not save gas for me. I am surprised that it works that well for JOEK. I see no possible explanation. BTW, I have synthetic fluids in the engine and drivetrain and near max air pressure in the tires (~40 psi). No codes in the ECU ot TCU.

OK, i understand that ECU reset is a must after major mods. What about stock car? Any benefits from doing ECU reset to improve MPG? I have seen recommendations to do so, tried personally, but did not see convincing results. On the other hand, a common sense dictates that it might work. For example: lets say i worked my subaru a lot over a weekend with hard towing, near WOT, and thus rich conditions and possible timing retard to prevent knocking. Makes sense that it would be valuable to reset ECU to prevent this learned setting to apply to light driving for city commuting during weekdays. Anyone with experience with ECU resets?

I know it was a long discussion and covered everything, but is the MPG improvement sustained? Did you change anything alse, like resetting ECU at the same time? Toying with this experiment in mine.

There was a recent thread on the issue of FWD being great for fuel conservation. Also, I did some reasearch and found on other sub forums that mechanics in Colorado do frequently recommend FWD fuse in summer months. Thus, I was curious about your experience. Do you still have these binding problems? Why do you think the car would not drive with FWD? Did you see any MPG difference? Sorry for all these questions, just want to understand the issue before trying FWD in mine. BTW, my MPG sucks, the best I have seen was 24 MPG Hwy with cruise (2000 legacy AT). City ranges 16-20.

Ya, it is a cost saving measure; but many cars have a separate coil per each plug...

Well, I am no expert. I just felt like speculating. Nevertheless, I am not going to argue with your posts because: A. I probably did not understand them correctly, or: B. If I understood them correctly, your insight into AWD is limited.

Scan the sensors with OBD2 scanner. Look for typical responses: front-oscilation in closed mode, rear-oscilation with cold, flat line with hot cat.