jmoss5723

How did you attach the wind deflector? I'm considering making one for my Brat, but I'm not sure how to securely and cleanly attach it.

So I bought a brush guard / front end protector / whatever you want to call it. It came off of an 84 Brat and i want to put it on my 84 Brat. However, when I line it up, it looks like it isn't going to mount up properly. I didn't see how it mounted on the car it came from, as my dad picked it up, not me. It seems like I might be missing some brackets or something that my dad likely left on the car that it came from. It looks just like the one in the picture. Does anyone have one like it? I'm looking for pictures of how it mounts. Thanks

I'm getting it all done. Timing belt is actually a little bit overdue, head gaskets are definitely bad, and valve cover gasket is leaking. Getting it all done at once and it should be all better for another 100,000+

I paid less than $6000 for a 2004 XS with 80,000 miles. It was a great deal, but they exist! shop around and buy from a private seller. Craigslist is your best friend. Get a carfax.

I'm not worried about the oil leaks, mostly the misfires. I was figuring that it was misfiring because of the oil being in places it should not be...? My other concern is how high is the risk that I will start mixing oil and coolant or overheating? LIke I said, it is not doing these things yet, but I'm afraid it might. Is it likely enough that I should even worry about it?

Anyone have an opinion on driving the car like this? I had (have?) misfires on cylinders 1 and 2 (front passenger and front driver, respectively) and it is obviously leaking some oil. However it is not overheating, mixing coolant and oil, or losing any coolant. If I don't ask it for much power (easy up hills and minimal passing) it feels like its running fine. I have another car that I can drive daily, but I have to drive this thing 130 miles to the closest shop I'd trust. I've put 500+ miles on it since it started showing symptoms. Thoughts?

You just named every place that I am leaking oil. And I have about 170,000km. I wish I had noticed sooner, but my oil pan gasket was leaking AND my oil pan had a hole rusted through it. This made the whole underside of my car fairly oil all the time, and I didn't notice the more expensive leaks. On the bright side, I've got very little rust on my undercarriage

I'm kinda leaking everywhere. Pretty quickly from the head gasket and a little less from the valve cover. Either way, It's going to the stealership =(

Went to Advanced Auto to investigate my check engine light (its always on because of an evap leak, so I check it periodically for other codes) I have a misfire on cylinders 1 and 2 which are front passenger and front driver, respectively. I decided to check compression and plugs/wires first. I disconnected the wire to the plug for cylinder 1 and I was met with LOTS of dirty oil all over the rubber hood for the plug. OH NOOOO!!! I crawled underneath and found some more oil. BAD HEAD GASKETS!!!!! My oil is clean and my coolant looks good, so i don't think I'm mixing fluids, just losing oil and sending it places it doesn't belong. Off to the stealership. I needed the timing belt done anyways....

Definitely the latter. Knock sensor will be my next check. Thanks for the advice. I do not have a MAF, I have a MAP. So maybe spark plugs are the issue? Would that start acting up all of the sudden like that? I would figure that would be a gradual progression.

So I've discovered that there is a second fuel filter. it is down under the back seat with the fuel pump on the tank. That's my next guess. Anyone else have any ideas?

I think i will try to take a video on my way home from work to demonstrate the problem.

2004 Forester XS 5-speed 107,000 Miles 500 miles on new oil and filter 500 miles on new K&N air filter Rough idle was cured with seafoam approximately 2000 miles ago My car has always run great and has given me no problems in the year I've owned it. I've put a lot of miles on (20,000+) but I have kept up with the maintenance religiously. It did start idling a little rough a few months ago and I gave it a full seafoam treatment last month (2000 miles ago). That is the only thing I have done out of the ordinary and everything has been kosher since. This past week I got an oil change and installed a new air filter then drove 500ish miles from Pennsylvania to Vermont without incident. When I left Vermont to come home, I got about 30 miles down the road and the car started stuttering and hesistating when I'd get on the throttle hard. I figured, it might be a fuel filter so I picked one up and AutoZone and swapped it in the parking lot. I also put a bottle of seafoam in the fuel tank in case I had a gunky injector. Even after swapping the filter, the problem persists. It idles great and runs totally fine at any RPM, but if the engine gets under too much load, like accelerating or maintaining speed up a hill, it starts stuttering and cutting in and out. It hasn't stalled yet, despite me going pretty hard on it a few times just to see what would happen. It runs well enough that I made the 500+ mile drive home just fine, it was just annoying to pass people or go up big hills. Anyone have any idea what's going on? I am completely at a loss and would love some advice.

I had it filled at the dealership when I took it in for unrelated service. It blows Ice cold for 10 minutes, then gets hot. So I don't think it is low on refrigerant. If it were, it would just be warm all of the time. A bad clutch sounds like it could be the problem.

2004 Forester XS. 100% Stock. Just had the refrigerant refilled. Like the title says, the A/C always starts out cold, but becomes hot after a few minutes. If I turn the A/C off for an extended period of time (hour or so?) it will come on cold again. It has been like this since I bought the car in May of 2012 and I never cared. I always put the windows down anyway, but my pregnant sweating wife is having NONE of that. Please help before she kills me!

I have never seen the tie-points before, but I can visualize what you're saying. Sounds wonderfully simple. Thanks!

What did you do to attach the shop-vac snorkel? It looks like zip ties from the picture...? But even if the anser is zip-ties, what did you zip them to? I am inspired by the simplicity, and I would love more detail.

Well that was sweet!

Jurassic Park Wagon! I stumbled across this online today and thought you guys would like it. Anyone know who these guys are?! The album (43 pics) can be seen here: http://imgur.com/a/wCzyT?gallery

Just be vigilant. I hunt Craigslist like its my job, and watch on here as well. I ended up buying mine from a member who lives a few hours away. Well worth the drive!! I recently posted a list of about 10 brats for sale in PA, most of them out east near philly and york. You can find the post in the ebay/craigslist forum. some of them are really nice looking! http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/topic/137342-pennsylvania-brats-10-or-so/

I tried to search for this, but 'Oil' and 'Pan' are apparently aren't long enough words and got thrown out of the search. I had an oil leak on my 2004 forester. This was shortly after I changed my oil, so I figured it was from my drain plug washer (I forgot to buy a new one when I changed the oil and figured the old one could last). So I drained all of the oil, put on a new washer, and refilled the oil. A few hours later, I had a little puddle of oil again. Upon further investigation, i discovered that a rusty patch on my oil pan that I had previously noticed and figured I should brush off and paint, had rusted the whole way through!! Oil was weeping through the rust spot, and pretty fast, too! I had the pan replaced (which sucked because I couldn't do it myself without unmounting and hoisting the engine), but I am just curious if anyone else has had this issue and if anyone might have an idea as to how to prevent it from happening again. I'm pretty sure it was just some kind of fluke, but figured I'd ask just to be sure. There were several other rust spots on the pan, too, but almost no rust anywhere else on the car. Thoughts? Advice?

Sorry those pictures were tiny. Try these. I am afraid that these are HUGE, but I don't know how to insert a thumbnail with a link to the bigger picture. Any picture uploading advice is welcome!

Found another picture. This is post-lift, but pre-tire upgrade. You can also see the nice red roll bar peeking out.

I should have done this a year or so ago, but I just never got around to it. So here it is now. This is my little project. My brother, my dad, and I picked it up a few years ago. Originally from Arizona, it is fairly rust-free. It came with a 5 speed dual range transmission, a newer EA81 engine, the original engine, and a mountain of parts under that camper shell. The parts mountain included new-in-box weber, every piece of trim imaginable, roof glass (though this is a hardtop), crossmembers, alternator, roll bar, the list goes on and on. The car runs great and has given me no problems at all. I have put some miles on it using it as a diaily driver for a while and it ahs made several multi-hour trips. Since purchasing the car, I have put on a 2 inch lift, installed the roll bar, put on 15 inch pugs with 205/70/15 tires. The tires will require a slight trim behind the the front wheels. I have been accumulating parts since purchasing the car. I paid $60 bucks to strip every part I could from another 84 brat that was going to scrap. The only things I couldn't take were the engine/tranny and the body panels. I have a steering column, radio, door seals, MORE roof glass and seals, door parts, wheels, trim, 2 sets of jump seats with headrests, factory brushguard, on and on. Next on the list of upgrades is an adjustment to the lift to correct the camber and installation of all of the following: weber, factory brushguard, jump seats, fog lights, and one CV axle. Let me know what you think!

Thanks for the info! I'l definitely feel out the owner and see if I can decide how often the oil was changed. My only real reservation about buying the car currently is the knowledge that the day after I buy it a EA81 hatch is going to appear and I'll immediately have regrets...