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It appears that the misfire was a decaying coil, that really helped with driveability other than the automatic seems to be struggling on what to do with all that extra power Going to replace the axle soon.

Wires look to be correct diameter and were new when I got it. All of the protective covers are installed and everything looks to be routed correctly. The guy who did the work prior to me buying it is a Subaru guy, used to wrench full time but went into something else when the economy tanked some years ago. He rescues Subarus for fun, now. I can't imagine him using anything other than NGK's, he had a stock of them in the garage last time I was there, but I can ask. Switched front tires to rear one side at a time with no real change. I did see that the inner boot is torn on the drivers side axle and I can see the joint underneath so that needs to be addressed, I'll do that first and see what kind of effect that has.

The misfire appears to have been a knock sensor, no CEL or anything else as a clue. I'll move on the to suspension wobble next.

Plugs and wires were replaced right before I bought the car with 205k on it, so maybe 20k ago. It was a Goodwill donated car with a botched timing belt job but it's a Carolina car with no rust so a Subaru guy rescued it and went through everything before reselling it to me. Has 2.5 RS heads on it as well. Wouldn't a bad plug/wire cause a misfire based CEL? The howling is probably more a low hum that seems to be coming from the front and changes pitch/tone as straight line speed increases/decreases I can't get it to change pitch/tone by turning side to side at speed to load and unload the wheel bearings which is how I typically figure it out on a VW and why I'm not sure it's behind the noise I hear. I was thinking maybe axle/CV joint, i need to pick up the front end and start prying on stuff.

thanks for the reply. this sure seems like the same problem my bad knock sensor caused on the Forester so it's good to know that can be a problem and not cause a CEL. I'll replace the sensor and see what happens. I'll check the other items on your list and rotate the tires front to back.

Car is a 2002 Legacy wagon 2.5 NA with an automatic tranny and 225k miles. No CEL at the moment, but I have a P0420 for the 02 sensor that comes and goes, has been doing it for a long time (I've had the car for 3 years and 22k miles). Problem 1 (I think I have two separate problems). Symptoms are misfire type shuddering on acceleration under load and dismal mpg. Seems a lot smoother when revving in neutral or park versus driving. The driving version of the problem seems like something I've seen with a bad knock sensor on a past Forester 2.5 NA but it caused a CEL for the knock sensor when that happened. Is it possible to have a failing knock sensor that does not cause the CEL? Any other cause for this behavior that wouldn't cause the CEL? Problem 2. I have an occasional slight steering wheel wobble that seems to be most noticeable between 2.2k and 2.5k rpms, it settles down above and below that, at 2k or below it's pretty much unnoticeable. Tires are new, balanced when installed as usual, no comments made about bad wheels by the installers. Coupled with the misfire, it's tough to separate them completely when driving but a misfire should not cause the steering wheel to wobble unless I had play up there somewhere. I'll get a clunking noise up front when turning the wheels slightly from side to side with the car stationary. I'm told that is some play developing in the rack and pinion. I get a very slight howling noise from the front end that rises and falls with the speed of the car. Front brakes do need to be replaced, I've had the parts for a long time but have been unsuccessful at getting the bolts loose up there. The howl makes me think wheel bearing? I'm not quite sure about the wobble. it's been there a lot longer than the slight howl, so i think it's separate from the wobble. Struts are not bouncy and I get no noise from pushing/pulling on the wheels. Any suggestions? Thanks in advance.

My plan developed into "I don"t have time to mess with it so I replaced it". i have two other projects in process that need to be done before cold weather so I really don't have time to wrench on anything else right now. If anyone is local to Dayton Ohio, you can have it for $1,500. http://dayton.craigslist.org/cto/5727048486.html Otherwise, it goes into the barn and becomes a Vanagon swap donor down the road and the rest gets parted out when the Vanagon is done. Thanks for the help, guys! I'll get another one some day and take less of a gamble next time.

I need to have some work done on my Subarus (02, 03, and 06). Looking for someone in the Dayton Ohio area that you guys know and trust. Thanks!

Will do. I actually have a guy about a half hour away, I met him when I bought my Legacy wagon via Craigslist. He buys repairable Subarus from Goodwill auctions and the like,rebuilds/repairs as needed and puts them back on the road. He's done timing belts and other stuff for me, can do about anything on a Subaru when he has time. He works out of his garage evenings after he gets off of his day job. He currently is swapping a Supra inline 6 into a BMW 3 series in the garage (not sure why, other than it's not been done before) so he can't take on a lot of side work due to space and weather considerations. I have this work to do and my son's Legacy GT needs some work done as well, having trouble getting him to do it.

The car did have torque bind when I bought it, but I liked the rest of the car enough to take the risk on it and the price was reasonable for the risk. I called my usual guy who does side work and he recommended the oil change as a starting place after jacking it up and giving it a pry or a shake to be sure nothing else was at fault. He said the oil change might help but it was a place to start. The previous owner was nice enough but reminded me of someone who spent too many of his formative years in a facemask hooked to a very large bong, if you know what I mean. He said something under the car had been replaced and thought it was the center differential when I mentioned it but I suspect it could have been anything from the oil filter to an exhaust clamp out by the tailpipe.

I hosed down the steering coupling and U joint with PB Blaster before I left for the weekend and it was good last night, drove it 30 miles to work this morning. Thanks very much for the help with that! Now I need to find somewhere to have the viscous coupling done, once I find a replacement. Some bad noises under that car on sharp corners.

Thanks everybody. I have a lot to look at when I get home next week.

Also, I've seen discussions on torque bind being something found only in an automatic? Not so, I guess. One other thing I forgot to report from the Subaru guy after he drove it...this Forester apparently has a optional gear ratio, maybe a low 4:xx versus a high 3.xx? Might be part of the S package, I've only owned the L version so I don;t know. I do know that this one will get out of it's own way a lot better than my other Forester did, certainly better than the Legacy, but the Legacy weighs 10% more. It's not on a par with the GT but it's definitely spunky. Subaru guy said that contributes to the problem because of the additional torque from that gear ratio option.

I did find the U joint on another search, I'll look at that, thanks. I have an OBDII scanner, used that to find the knock sensor and the secondary 02 heater fault from the missing cat. Pirellis from my Legacy did not help. Problems in driveline are unaffected by warm up. I used the official Subaru oil from the dealer and they knew the VIN, not a good idea?

Thanks for the reply. Just to be clear, installing a set of matched tires from my Legacy wagon did not help the problem.