Fairtax4me

Agreed, most likely heat shields. You can tap on them with your hand (when they're cool) and see if they rattle similar to the rattle you hear. But, since you just did a timing job, make sure the crankshaft bolt is tight and give the front end a check over for any loose parts. Did you replace all of the idlers and the tensioner?

Put a radiator in it. That "small" leak turns into a constant spray when the system is pressurized. The hotter it gets the more sprays out. JB weld probably won't hold for long. Find a used radiator if you really don't want to spend money on a new one.

Great to hear he got it back! I hope the police got some prints or some hair samples out of the car!

With that many miles the rest of the car isn't worth the money for a reman. New head gaskets are a much cheaper option if you can do the work yourself. But I agree with Lmdew, a 2.2 swap is easiest and cheapest for reliability.

Is it leaking from the bellows, or is it leaking near the hoses? I've seen a few that just needed new O-rings at the ends of the lines. Internal leaks are very rare.

The only way to determine which is bad is to remove them and check the contact on the slider for wear. If the unit totally fails you can check it with an ohmmeter for an open circuit, but if the fuel guage still works you won't be able to tell which is bad without removing them from the tank.

There are two fuel level sensors in the tank. One for each "half" of the tank. This could just be due to corrosion in the wire connector on top of the sensor. There are access plates in the floor on either side just behind the rear seats. Check and clean the connectors first. If the code returns you may need to replace the sensor units. The sensors are only used to drive the fuel guage. The car will NOT stop running if they fail completely, just the fuel guage will stop working. The computer uses a signal from the sensors to determine when to run leak checks for the Evaporative emissions system, which is the only reason this causes a CEL.

Worn rings will cause low compression. NO compression is a valve problem or a hole in the piston. Regardless, the shop is right. If the engine has been overheated multiple times bearing damage is likely and the engine is not worth repairing. You'll need an engine from a 99-03 Forester. Or 2000-2004 Legacy. Search Car-part.com for used engines near you. Another option is a rebuild from CCR.

How long has it been doing this? Any recent work?

Just to clarify, you only hear the noise when moving the shift selector? Not when the car is actually moving? Its normal to hear some noise when moving the selector as there are some parts moving inside of the transmission. As things get broken in those noises may change a bit or get a little louder. If the change becomes drastic, ie: a light click turns into a hammer strike, then there may be cause for concern. If the sound really bothers you, take the car to the dealer and have them check it out.

Low HC is good, 0 HC means its running lean. Even with a lean mixture the HC will never fully burn during the combustion process. The catalytic converter takes care of the small amount that's left over by combining it with oxygen that the cat stores from the lean exhaust pulses that travel through it. Your cats are probably working, or that HC number would have been much higher. I'm going to suggest that you remove the anti-fouler from the rear O2 sensor, then we can get an idea of the actual oxygen content of the exhaust leaving the cats. It does appear that the front sensor is a wide range sensor. The normal voltage for that type of sensor varies depending on the design. The wide range sensors use a reference voltage from the computer, that's typically from 1.5-3.3 volts. With yours showing a Max of 4.2v, and a minimum of 0.6v, the sensor output is varying much more than normal for a wide range sensor. Wide range sensor outputs typically don't change more than 0.5 volts in either direction. But that could just be showing the range that the scanner software is able to display. How much does that signal vary while the car is running?

I agree with Heartless, a button that looks factory would be the most stealthy for a kill switch. I read somewhere a long time ago about a couple of relays someone rigged to the reverse lights and the tail lights. They had it set up someway to make the tail lights and reverse lights flash alternately unless you flipped a switch somewhere in the car. The idea was to draw attention if the car was stolen, while not being totally obvious to the people inside the car.

How can you tell the body is twisted? There are what's called "Datum" points in many different places on the car and body shops use those to measure how "bent" the car is when straightening bent frames. This is the only reliable way to say how much the frame is bent. If the body of the car is visibly bent, which parts are bent?

The bank 1 sensor 1 (pre-cat) is the one that affects fuel trim. I did notice the FT 1x1 does not show anything in the photo. That seems odd to me because the bank 1 sensor 2 (post cat) will not affect trim. If you have a bank 2 sensor 1, (I'm not sure how many sensors the euro market cars have) then you should be able to view that. I'm not familiar with the layout of the torque app though, so I'm no sure if there is a setting or selection that can/should be changed. Something you may want to look at though is sensor voltage values, rather than just looking at fuel trims.

Then it should be plug and play. No wiring differences between those two motors. Only hangup will be that you need a single port y pipe. The 2.5 has dual port heads. The 2.2 will have single port.

Positive fuel trims mean the ECU thinks the fuel mixture is too lean. Lean mixture, add fuel. Rich mixture, subtract fuel. We would need to see what voltages the front O2 sensor is reporting to tell if its reading a lean condition. The post cat (rear) sensor does not affect fuel mixture calculation. It's only there to check for operation of the cats. But having it pulled out of the exhaust stream with the spacer means we can't compare rear sensor values to front sensor values. Typically if a front sensor reads lean and the rear sensor reads rich, or vice versa, it's because one of them is fouled or damaged and is reporting a false condition. If the front O2 sensor is old, you might try changing that. Before that, check over all of the PCV and breather hoses on the intake tubing, and the ones that to to the valve covers. Also make sure the PCV valve is clean. Also check for any exhaust leaks between the engine and the cats. The header gaskets where the y-pipe bolts to the head are prone to leak if someone has replaced them with cheap gaskets, or if the flanges were rusty and not cleaned properly.

Oh those! I bent the crap out of those thinkin they might be a good spot for jack stands... You just pop them off and hammer them back flat.

2003 what?

Probably just some gear whine from the rear diff ring and pinion gears. How old is the gear oil in the rear diff? Mine whines from time to time at certain speeds whend decelerating. I've heard the same sort of noise in several other Subarus so I kind of dismissed it as benign. 240k miles on it, I guess its earned the right to make some noise now and then. I jack up my car by the rear diff all the time. Is the cross member bent on yours? I think someone would have to crush a rock or curb to do that. Agree that the low speed wobble when accelerating is probably the axles. A worn inner joint can cause that. Most likely to be caused by the front axles.

Does the 2.2 have EGR?

The drivers seat in mine doesn't slide back far enough. MPG could be better but it's not going to be great with AWD. A stock Ej22 legacy manual should be able to get 28-30 hwy IF you keep RPMs around 2500. Usually that means you have to double nickel it, and keep your foot out of the throttle when accelerating.

Nope. Foz 99 is a phase 2 engine. All the electronics are different. Heads are different. Heads are the part you need Right? Didn't yours break the timing belt?

Most likely low coolant level, but could also be due to a partially clogged heater core. Check coolant level and make sure its full.

Apparently Subarus are easy to steal? I know they're easy enough to get into with a coat hanger. I guess maybe the ignition locks aren't that difficult to defeat. Hope they catch the bastards that stole it. Good luck with the search!

The release fork is properly clipped onto the pivot stud? This is about how it should look: http://beergarage.com/SubyClutch.aspx