mbshop

lubegard is a very good product. my shop used it mostly for older a/t. i'm not a big fan of addatives if not really needed. in yer case if yer using a good quality oil then i would suggest not using it. tends to change the balance of addatives. george

be carefull of what you do. first, which car you talking about? what does it have in it ? if you mix gases or install stop leak most shops will test for this and then refuse to work on yer car. if yer gonna work on yer owb system then study up. if you have no gas in the system then you have air. air and moisture is death to the a/c system. so first look around and see if you see an oily area on the system. this is good sign of the leaking area. if not then charge it with the appropriate gas with a dye and oil to check for a leak. you will need a black light or a white cloth to rub on the system and check for dye. fix what you find is leaking. you MUST vac the system at least for an hour. you MUST replace the dryer just before vac the system. charge with the appropriate gas and oil charge. george

you are really rich. you need to find out why. check the o2 operation and also check for vac leaks as this will drive the o2 to richen up. once you find what the problem is you should be ok. if yer hc is still kinda borderline even after the c.o. is ok then you got a bad cat converter. probably ruined due to the rich running. sometimes you can rehab a converter if its not physically ruined by going down the road in sec gear at about 3,500 to 4,000 rpms for a few minutes. as mentioned already a tune really needs to be done first if not done recently. george

just as you last stated the oil/engine is not heating up enough nor long enough to burn off the condensation. if you cannot burn this off regularly then i suggest that you change yer oil more often. this stuff produces hyd acid that can eat out yer eng especially the bearings. as it stands yer eng is just getting heated up. try to go on longer trips or yer back to the more frequent oil changes. there are tests to see if you have a bad hg but i doubt it. george

if it can pass the fed requirements then it will pass the ca test. cuz its all wheel drive it only has to pass the stationary test. also the ca specs are rather forgiving so i doubt you will have any problems. just make sure the stuff on the car is all there and its all working properly. george

no matter what you choose to do you need to check out the eng tune and management system as most likely you got something wrong that caused the cat to go bad. george

if you want to keep the stock look then i would ask around at some of the stereo shops. some are better than just installers and could either repair them or know where to send them. i have two shops here in town who are great at this stuff so i'm sure you could find one in yers. george

i found a diamond ring under the backseat of a mercedes once. thought it was a toy at first but saw it was genuine when i cleaned it up a bit. george

hylomar is the best way to go. use very little. i've done engines were i've seen silicone plug passages up. that stuff will stretch into a long thin thread and get through almost anything until it reaches something vital. george

almost any silicone style sealer should not be used on an engine. you run a chance of getting an oil passage plugged with that stuff. if you do need to use something there are alternatives. also use very little. it goes a long way. most rubber gaskets like the v/c gasket are made to not use sealer and as mentioned you could make things worse. dry off the sealing surface before install and that rubber will almost bond with the metal. george

i got my obw tinted soon as i got it. not the darkest as i gotta see out at night but its dark enough. i also had the front side windows done with an almost clear special tint that actually cuts the rays down really well. was done in 01 so i can't remember much on the tech side.

hondasucks is correct. as long as yer car has not been messed with and meets the fed requirements you will be ok. the actual calif requirements are purty forgiving. i assume you have over 7,500 miles. so go ahead and don't worry if its running fine. george

i'm not to sure but a flashing light indicates you have some a/t codes stored. need to have someone check for codes. george

check the a/c hose coming out of the evaporater. if its cold then you got a heater control problem. george

considering the risks i would take it to a shop that knows subaru. done wrong you could destroy the compressor. it needs to be evacuated then repaired then vacuumed then charged. anything done wrong in this process could do $$$$$$$$ damage.