jarl

I'll have to check the valves eventually... or maybe just have them replaced. Dunno yet... As for the lug nuts... yep, I agree. There's no reason for a dealer to ask so much for some plain nuts. At subarupartsforyou they are still $2.50 per nut, and I need 20!!! Your offer sounds interesting, but do you have that many? (BTW: the ones I need are the open ones... the closed ones bottom out before tightening the wheel)

Holy smokes... my alloy wheels are pristine compared to that But they leak Thank you for the replies, people. I read somewhere that the Forester steel wheels (let's call them SW for short, and AW for the alloys) came in 48mm and 55mm, so I don't know which ones are the one I have. Is it *that* critical?. Also, If I were to put the SW as they are (with the all season tires) I would need to buy the lug nuts as well (the SW are thinner), but Subaru wants $100 for a set of lug nuts... and that's just not going to happen. Now... one of the tires on the SW (I bought a set of four plus one) is a Bridgestone that happens to have a perimeter just a tad over 1/4" bigger than the tires currently on the car. I tried to have it mounted and was told the tire is older than 10 years and they can't mount it because of that Edit: they say a picture is worth a thousand words, so here you have a couple thousand words: - The damaged tire (damage at 10 o'clock): - Wear on the tires. The current ones (Cooper CS4) and the set on the steel wheels have about the same thread left (~0.170 inches, or about 5/32") ...and the bridgestone has about 7/32"

[sorry if I'm asking too many questions, but as you can probably tell my '99 OBW is in need of some TLC to be in shape for the winter] I guess this is just thinking loud, but maybe someone who have dealt with this issues before can offer some advise: When I bought my '99 OBW one of the tires was obviously damaged. PO probably hit a curb or something like that, and the side of the tire has a bump. After buying the car I learned that (a) tires must be changed as a set, ( all the tires are leaking air some faster than the others, and © it looks like the alloy wheels tend to leak air when corroded. So... my questions/alternatives are: 1- Can the alloy wheels' leaks can be fixed easily? Is that something that can be done by the tire dealer? Is it even worth it? 2- Put the steel wheels+tires on he car... But: should I be concerned about the offset? Where can I get a set of cheap open lugnuts? The car is a '99 OBW with the original wheels, but I don't know the year of the Forester wheels. They are 15", though.

Yep... I can see clearly now My car is a '99 indeed, and it looks like -as you say- ODB2 will not give any more information. SSM, on the other hand, seems to provide a *huge* amount of data, but it's not compatible with the EBay ELM327 clones. Have you toyed with SSM before?

After reading your post I went ahead and bought the Pro version. Wow The only thing I miss is the information from the transmission, but Torque says the car doesn't have multiple computers. I'll have to check that. Among the release notes for the Pro version there's a little sentence to the tune of "corrects a bug that prevents communications with some Subaru ECUs".

The gurus may (will) chime in later on, but I think I read on the forum that if you don't take care of the binding quickly enough the plates of the center clutch (it's not a differential) can fuse together, giving you a permanent 4WD and the symptoms you describe. Let's see what the Gurus say... In the meantime, search the forum for "torque bind". i.e. http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=125399

Page 11-54 of your user manual (if you don't have it, it's available online). Do you have a Sedan or a Wagon? If it's a wagon, Shawn is correct.

Excellent One question though: do you use the "Lite" or the "pro" version? I read somewhere that there seems to be an OBD2 extension you can buy at amazon for $13 or so... you may get it and put the current dongle somewhere it doesn't get kicked too much? (pre-post edit: http://www.amazon.com/OBDII-Extension-Cable-5ft-144201/dp/B000SBCHCA )

After three months of working in the car (holy cow!), looking for parts and waiting for those parts to arrive from an online vendor after I couldn't find them locally, my '99 OBW has finally hit the road. Last night, after fixing a leak from the radiator (radiator's drain o'ring was kinked) and burping the system as much as I could, I drove a couple of blocks. I almost had to return because the temperature raised almost all the way to "H" as I started to drive, but then whatever bubble was there moved on and the temperature went to the middle of the scale. So, I think the cooling system issues have been dealt with What I found was the following: - The rear brakes seem to be dragging somewhat - One of the rear discs must be badly distorted... when you hit the brakes the whole car shakes *a lot* - The rear shocks may be shot - The transmission has the "delayed forward" problem - The engine is surprisingly smooth - CEL came on, and the code is P0135... time to look for an O2 sensor? - The crack on the windshield *does* obstruct the vision somewhat The only issue that really bothers me right now, of course, is the shaking when stopping. I guess new discs are in my future... any preferences from you guys? What about O2 sensors. I have seen some posts saying Bosch O2 sensors seem to work fine, but on my Saturn they are a no-no. Anyone may shed a light on this? What are the preferred sources for brakes, struts, O2 sensors? Edit: add to the mix... - Idle speed too low? (tach indicates 600RPM) - Incorrect slack of the gas pedal -I think-. Is there a specific procedure to adjust the gas pedal cable at the throttle? - Rattling exhaust shields

Sorry to be beating an old horse, but: did you get your ELM327 dongle to work with Torque? What do you mean by "you have to mess around with it"? I'm trying to check how my car is running but Torque (a) disconnects from time to time and ( have very few dials available on the Subaru. On my '99 Saturn it "kinda" work, though, so I'm wondering where the problem might be...

Uhmm... avoid that particular dealer when buying parts... The studs were very cheap ($1.25-ish) from 1stSubaruParts. The exhaust gaskets are not *that* far off for OEMs (depending on the year). Being so close to NY, are you familiar with SubaruOnlineParts? Their prices are somewhat similar to 1stSubaruParts, but I think they charge actual shipping.

May I suggest something? If you really want to do the work inside the car (and even if you don't), start by washing the engine compartment *really* good...

I wonder why nobody mentions tapping into an inmense source of metane: cow's farts. In terms of generarion of greenhouse gases it would be a double play... I have a saturn with the infamous stuck oil rings... I see some seafoam in my future. I just wonder if I can get into trouble if I do the treatment in a public road. Any anecdotes in this regard?

Come on... you can't go back to the original question before other people get into the fray, can you? Just joking. I just wanted to set something straight: - Ethanol in Brazil is produced from sugar cane, not beets - The US has been subsidizing the corn farmers in this country for decades, long before Obama got to the White House. The corn is sold for half what it costs to produce it. Google "PBS corn movie" and you'll understand why ethanol is needed. It has nothing to do with reducing the dependency from oil.

Congrats! Isn't it wonderful when the little guy in the bottle fixes things up?

Do you know if the misfiring happens only when the ECU goes closed loop? That could help to pinpoint the problem...

I saw a DL or GL (not sure) at the 8th mile Parts Galore in Detroit a couple of weeks ago, if that helps. But I'm curious about something: is it nuts to try a drivetrain transplant from a GL into an Impreza?

Hmmm... I thought he did NOT want a permanent AWD system. The SX4 seems to allow you to select 2WD or 4WD with center lockable LSD (or something that works just like that). I think the Panda uses a different 4x4 system as the Fiat version of the SX4 (the Sedici) Edit: just saw the video... amazing Just don't tell Jeremy Clarkson.

Never tried one, but it looks like the Suzuki SX4 Crossover has what you are looking for.

The dead tach/speedo suggest a bad ground or something like that. You can try something: with your volt meter on volts, see if there's any voltage between the battery neg terminal and the engine block or any piece of metal o n the engine. Try it also while cranking the engine. You may want to check as well any splice done to install the cd changer. Sometimes the plastic crimp-on splices end up cutting the cable, even partially. Add some vibration and you'll get a very hard to diagnose electrical problem Next time the car start acting up, check to see if the cd changer (or something else for that matter) stops working. Hopefuly it won't act up anymore, but just in case...

Yep... on front of the driver's door according to the FSM. Connector B46

Interesting... I wonder if they use the same components... BTW: I'm not implying the Mizumo kits are not good, just that the problem with the tensioner bushing has not been addressed. It's not a biggie anyway, since the old bushing+bolt are usually in good condition.

Well... the price of all the parts involved at 1stsubaruparts is $156 plus shipping... which is still too much for my taste. So, let's talk options. Or option -singular-. It looks like the main differences between the old model and the new one are a) the diameter of the vent pipe, and the evap valve and associated pipes. Would it be possible to modify one of the old design filler tubes to accept the valve, and use some form of adapter to reduce the diameter of the vent pipe? As far as I can tell from the pictures there's a single hole communicating the valve to the filler tube, so it should just be a matter of making a hole on the old design tube and finding some way of fixing the valve over it (epoxy/something). The valve itself seems to have remained unchanged all the way to 2009, so there should be a few in a decent condition at the junkyards. Opinions? Edit: There's an option #2!!! A guy at the Forester forum got rid of his rusty valve by joining the two hoses going to it using a piece of pipe, and says he didn't get any codes. That just leaves the vent tube to deal with, meaning I could use the old filler tube design Again, I'd like to hear your opinions/experiences with this...

Ah! But they were fleeing the dryer sheets so fast they got caught on the traps!

You have an email, Sir... Now... if you say the car ran fine before and after the engine swap that's very interesting. As I said before, I would stop messing with the wiring before doing something you can't undo. To answer your original question: the right way of finding what's wrong is following Gary's suggestion. Look at the diagram, identify which pin on the connector goes where, and measure continuity between the connector at the ECU and the one at the sensor. Cheers!