Bushwick

Try a junk yard. I have a 95' wagon and swapped hatches awhile back, and donor had a dead motor, so swapped my good wiper assembly on. I removed both units w/o issues (original hatch had a seized key lock from giant rust hole, but actual wiper assemblies were no issue to remove), despite being in the rust belt as well. I'd just buy an entire wiper assembly for $5-$15, or try and remove the nuts and don't say what they are from, and pay $1 for them. Reason I suggest entire wiper assembly though is a spare can com in handy.

Take it back to the dealer and have them respray the trunk floor under warranty. It almost looks like there were contaminants during the factory paint/prep that went ignored, etc.

No delete if it gets emission testing. I'd investigate what went wrong and repair.

Yeah, Ohio for instance will fail you for CEL, leaky o-ring on gas cap, or emissions, though the tailpipe portion seems to have relaxed in the past 20 years as they used to be more stringent. If they can't connect to the OBDII, they'll run only tailpipe. Although rare, it is possible to pass a sniffer test despite sensors failing, so long as it's still below the limit. If ever in doubt, call a testing station and ask if the dash lights being on matter or not. Don't say anything else.

A leaking/missing/broken vacuum line can fail a test marginally, as it leans out. A failing/clogged/damaged cat will definitely fail a test. Normally they seem to last awhile, but if the engine wasn't routinely maintained previously (like leaving in factory plugs for 100k miles) and/or car was idled heavily, or even someone running the incorrect gas tank additives, they can fail. Can be semi-dangerous as I've entire cats glow orange/red from excessive heat which is VERY hot.

Just run a turbo. The biggest issue that causes lag is the exhaust, notably the cats. If possible, run a single 3" race cat. They are round, short, and have larger holes through the ceramic- all of which will increase flow and decrease backpressure at the turbine. If possible, run 2 smaller high flow cats (one per side/header) BEFORE the turbo and it should be similar to running a straight pipe as the turbo will have unrestricted flow after it. Heat loss from the gases shouldn't be an issue in this scenario (especially when there are rear-mounted turbo kits). That'll give a ton of earlier, usable torque and HP until red-line, otherwise a 3" dump pipe AFTER the turbo feeding the 3" cat is the other option and running say a 2.5" exhaust after the cat (or full 3"). In order to get that as a high compression engine that actually runs strong, you'd probably need better valve springs, better cam, solid lifters, and the ability to run up to 7-9k RPM, though it'll be a dog as a daily driver unless you can get steeper gearing and keep it strung out in the powerband. Hydraulic lifters won't be very good at that higher RPM. If we are talking a "get you to work and back" car, grab some exhaust manifolds from an NA car and plug all the turbo stuff up (oil feed, oil return, coolant) and switch to an NA intake pipe and filter. It probably won't make the power the factory NA cars have, but it should be close. ECM should be able to run it as full NA as it'll think it's off boost, though it may still run rich. Hard to say and it may not work with Subaru. I did this briefly over a summer with my Saab 9-3 while the turbo was getting rebuilt and it ran like a low-po NA.

When was the last time it had it's timing belt changed? When were the vacuum lines replaced last? Is the check engine light flashing on at start up at all? (some people pull the bulbs hoping you won't notice) At 112,000k miles, it probably needs a full tune-up by you. Very easy to do. Ignore the owner's work and do it yourself i.e. new plugs (gap yourself), fresh 10w 30, NEW air and fuel filters, NEW plug wires, and put a FRESH tank of gas in it. Then, replace ALL the vacuum lines and run a new timing belt with idler, pulleys, etc. After all that, run it a good 100 miles (say 50 highway first, then 50 city if running OK). If it feel down on power at all at wide open throttle, it might have a failing cat. Can swap in a $100 universal one if needed, but make SURE it's not storing codes. A $15 vacuum gauge connected to the vacuum source on the manifold will tell you if cat is clogged or not, as well as general issues like ring, valves, etc. issues.

Dunno know if you did this yet or not, but 2 things you must do. One is you need a minimum of TWO straps and they can NOT have slack in them. Problem is the required force to safely secure will be too much for the plastic. Get going at 45mph or faster and it'll want to lift and push reward if on the actual rack rails and slide forward on braking, or become an issue if you get into an accident or have to make a sudden move. Other thing you should do is pad the surface where the TV rests on the rails. Road vibrations, bumps, etc. will possibly damage the delicate pcb, etc. I would wrap the set in blankets along with padding under to be safe. Might be able to fit in the back seat area if you put it on the tunnel and put seats forward to fit. Plywood is a bad idea as it'll want to lift even more w/o strong strapping. Weight-wise, I've had 6-8 sheets of plywood strapped to mine, and they didn't move even under heavy braking (tested in parking lot), but it had 2 ratchet straps extremely tight so it could have rolled over and broke the rails before they let loose.

When was the last time you changed the oil? What weight are you running? Synthetic or conventional? I'd drain the oil, and run a quality 10w 30 synthetic along with a new oil filter, and see if it continues or not. If you still have the same oil in it that was used during the break in, it definitely needs replaced ASAP. Wouldn't mess with Lucas or any other oil additives. If you change the oil routinely and use correct weights for the application, you shouldn't need to touch the oil cap and only the dip stick needs a periodic inspection. Many car companies are switching to extremely thin 0 and even 5w which can be too thin on engines not recommended for it or with looser tolerances, extremely HOT conditions, etc. Since you have a hodge podge of different year engines and live in AZ, I'd run fresh 10w 30 and see how it runs and see if it stops. IF you are in a very hot region of AZ, consider a 10w 40 instead as the extra desert heat in the summers will be harder on the thinner oils. You also might want to try and snag an oil catch can for the PCV line that many run on turbo'd engines. The oil will instead accumulate in the catch can vs. reaching the PCV valve (if it's even reaching that). I think there's a higher chance of oil getting into the line under high vacuum when engine is cold, but not positive. Also, as others have pointed out, white smoke that lingers is usually coolant. When turbos completely fail, they'll leave huge plumes of it. Oil smells differently when burning (completely noxious when a diesel engines burns it) and is typically darker with a bluish tint, and smoke amount is determined by how much is getting burnt.

The rubber they use on almost all production cars (save for higher performance variants) for engine, trans, suspension, etc. mounts are almost always a soft durometer, as it provides less noise, vibration, and dampens road bumps better, etc. which is a main goal of engineers when they have market certain cars to everyone vs. say a niche variant, and make compromises so as to keep little old ladies from complaining about feeling every vibration while still offering safe performance. On the flip side though, soft durometer bushings can and will fail easier and can allow too much movement over time, which can allow metal on metal clunks, excessive trans/engine movement, etc. Once they rot and/or get oil on them, they can swell, blow out, become too soft, etc. To be honest, a trailing arm can be converted to a solid bushing in many cases and still have very quiet ride with a great improvement in handling. This is the first area I tackle on Fox Mustangs (early 80's) for example as the OEM soft rubber on theirs can cause horrific wheel hop, extremely poor 0-60, bad overall handling, etc. (it doesn't help that they used a "U" channel arm design either). On one of my previous Mustangs, the OEM lower trailing arm bushings were so shot (the actual rubber on both lowers looked 10x better than what yours in the pic looks like) that I got smoked by a 99' V6 Accord getting onto the highway, meaning it was slower than 15 seconds 1/4 mile. After replacing JUST the lowers with Southside bars that ran a basically solid bushing, the car ran 13 flat and was always dead even with the 00-02' Trans Ams which were also 13 second cars. So in that case, it was slowing the car down, and it also caused excess body roll. Point of the rant is don't underestimate a rotted out bushing. You can either get replacements from Subaru (I'm assuming they sell them) or try and find a better set from a newer boneyard car for a huge discount. Very easy to remove those and replace entire arm. I'd buy a 1/2" breaker bar, the correct socket size, and a wrench from a parts store and it should come right off. While you are at, buy a socket that fits your lugs on your wheels and leave the breaker bar with the spare, and you'll never have an issue getting your tires off

Mine was the same way. Actual pump still spun, but engine wouldn't fire. I used the exact fit from parts store (everything lines up perfectly and it includes a slip cover akin to a beer can cooler) and it's been running OK since installing. If car lasts another 190k miles, it'll be an engine held together by rust

If you catch the turbo quick enough, you can remove it, buy new bearings for $35 (if a GTxx Garrett can also upgrade to a 360 thrust plate) then ship JUST the rotating assembly (with or w/o the housing) and get it balanced at a place like G-Pop for $70. If compressor wheel is bad, can add $50 for replacement roughly. If Turbine is bad, around $125~. Doing the math, you can get a freshly rebuilt turbo for very little, and yes it'll be done "right".

Are you spraying brake cleaner on the rotors to remove the protective grease that's applied to prevent rusting while in the box? Has the car been curbed at all? Is there a broken belt on one of the tires? Is there a reason why you are using ceramic on a daily driver? When you replaced the rotors, did you carefully inspect the axle hubs for scaling rust that might be pushing the rotor out slightly? Or conversely, a gouge in the hub's mating surface that might causing a few thousandths lip? Are the balljoints, tierods, etc. solid and tight? Wouldn't hurt to take it to a shop that does free inspections and see what they say. Bet you'd feel like a complete rump roast if she wrecked and it was actually your fault for overlooking something.....

The bushing is definitely shot. If you unload the rear tires (lift rear off the ground) try grabbing the link with your hand and moving it. If it's loose replace. To be honest, you really can't go wrong with replacing that regardless. If the noise is still there after replacing, at least the rear will be tightened up a bit. Are your rear tires wearing unevenly at all? If off the ground, can you grab the entire tire and get movement? Try grabbing at 12 and 6, 3 and 9 o'clock, etc. and see if it moves at all. Might as well replace both left/right trailing arms (can get used for next to nothing, make sure rubber is solid; wouldn't hurt to lather some grease on it as protection and lube the tubes the bolts go through and anti-seize the the bolt threads, then take it in for an alignment after).

Your pic is upside down. Fix that and you won't be stumped anymore j/k

Hmm, I've run cheap brakes ($15 pads and $20 rotors) on all my daily drivers for at least 20 years and they last just as long as anything else under normal driving conditions. My 96' Lincoln Mark VIII weighed roughly 4k pounds with me in it plus audio gear, tools, etc. and even towing 5k+ pounds (putting entire weight between 8-10k pounds) for a summer, they were still on the car when it was sold and were over 40k miles on them. Main reason brakes go bad early is improper braking habits, just like you shouldn't slip your clutch or even let your foot rest on the clutch pedal. People often use their brakes to "moderate" their speed for some reason, which is wrong. After driving a semi for over a decade, you learn immediately what brake fade is and how to avoid it as a 1/4 mile decline can have you w/o brakes in under 20 sec. Cars really need pushed hard though to get brake fade from heat, but hitting that brake pedal every 5 seconds will wear them quickly. ONLY time your foot should touch the brake pedal is when you need to stop, and that's it. Next time on the highway, stay in the middle lane and watch the far left lane. They'll hammer it at 85 only to almost run into the next guy doing 80, then the brake lights come on, then they are hitting the brakes every couple seconds. Quite often, they are the ones with pitch black front rims from overheating their front brakes and the pad dust is caked everywhere. To properly moderate speed, lift off the gas pedal and it'll slow. Follow that simple rule and your brakes should last quite a long time. If you live in a congested city with constant stop lights every 150', let the car slow further on it's own. Believe me, this helps. If the pads are wearing unevenly, then there's an issue with the slides (bent, rusted with ripped dust boots, lack of grease or grease boiled off from excessive heat, etc.). If you are driving the car like it's on a 24 hour race track, then it might be wise to upgrade to slotted rotors with cross-drilled holes and possibly run a better a pad material, or better yet upgrade to largest brakes that will fit and pull weight from the car.

If the car is in great condition and regularly maintained, there's nothing wrong with putting a lower mileage engine in it vs. trying to rehab a tired one. 252k is a ton of miles regardless of what it is (semi truck engines excluded- those rarely go above 2k rpms and can go 900k+) and no one will blame you for swapping it out. Sell your junk engine for $100. Someone might want it for parts.

You can either try something like rockauto.com (they carry a ton of quality brands, very reasonable prices, AND they have parts that can be difficult to find elsewhere i.e. new lifters, etc.) Go there, plug in your car info, then carefully look as they should have most everything needed including timing belt and pulleys. I've purchased a HG for another car from there, as well a bunch of suspension parts, etc. They do a great job of packaging, and their prices can beat parts store prices even with shipping factored in. Pistons, rings, bearings, you might also consider Summit Racing if you want forged or higher quality aluminum. Hypereutectic are typically cheapest, and suitable for stock power levels, but they can be brittle. Can also find things like honing tools, etc. FWIW, it'd probably be cheaper to swap in a used engine with less mileage. Hell, you can get full car that at least starts for $600-$900, which will be cheaper than doing the heads, rings, pistons, bearings, turning crank, time spent doing the work, etc.

Change the wires, air filter, fuel filter, and do an oil change (oil can get contaminated from unburnt gasoline getting past the rings). Unhook battery neg. cable while doing these so the ECM is fully reset. Get everything squared, reconnect battery, then take it out on the highway for a good 50 miles, or drop it a gear (4th for manual or "3" for auto) and drive it on longer rural roads at 45-50 w/o constant stops. Idea is to get engine hot and burn off any fouling on the O2 sensors, cat, etc. It should run OK after the 50 miles or so. If it's still acting up, you have other issues.

I don't know if Subaru does this or not, but many manufacturers have a standard rubber-grain steering wheel like what appears in their base models, and they just stitch a leather cover those. So if you were to pull the stitches out of the cover, you'd have a normal model steering wheel. On high-mileage cars where the leather is heavily worn, you can pull the cover and have a brand new steering wheel essentially, which can clean up the look of the interior, especially if going with a private sale. If you can find out what's under the leather cover, you might be able to just remove it and not have any future issues. FWIW, sweaty hands, holding the steering wheel in the same spot constantly, etc. will wear the leather covers faster.

Go to a grocery store or even a dollar store, and buy a couple cans of generic Easy Off Oven cleaner, or get Easy Off. The generic cans run about $2.00-2.50 a can. It has lye in it, and lye is bar none the BEST oil, sludge, grease, etc. remover. Shake can, spray on oil, let it set for 4-5 minutes (it'll pull the oil into the foam), then rinse off with garden hose water. Heavy, caked-on sludge (like thicker than 1/4") scrape high spots then spray, maybe a second time for really bad build up. It'll completely remove the oil and residue, down to painted or bare metal with just the garden hose pressure rinsing off. Works extremely fast and no worries about it getting blasted around or ruining paint like high pressure water only can do. Spray oil pan, subframe assembly, etc. and it'll look like new. Cast iron (if ever used on say an old V8) heads or manifolds will look like they did when new. Engine degreaser at auto parts store is junk compared to it and 2-3X more expensive. Just keep it OFF polished aluminum and try not to inhale or get on skin or cuts as it's caustic.

You might want to splurge and go with a fully aluminum radiator meant for the Legacy (aftermarket) as the plastic can be brittle after time, and the dumbest idea of having high pressure hoses seal on plastic tubes..... What ever you get, use anti-seize on EVERY bolt, including the ones going into plastic as I've sheared my share of them. If you don't care, revert the antennae to a normal one that doesn't retract and call it a day, or go with used and replaced the assembly. If junk car has it in down position, chances are it's OK. I have a hand drill that's 12v, or actually closer to 14 when charged (use voltmeter to ascertain 12v+ and attached wires to it), and it's got enough juice that if jumped directly to a seat, it can move it, same deal with windows, etc. Connect to the power antennae and see if it goes up/down fully. May need some fresh grease.

I think it depends on the alternator and if it's been modified. On my old 96' Mark VIII, I had the alt rewound to a 290 amp beast due to having a heavy draining amplifier system + all the electronics that were in the car needing more. Anyhow, the shop failed to mention that the alt would no longer kick on at idle speeds, which is useless in a daily driver. I had to rev to around 800 RPM before it'd even charge, despite still having the factory exciter on/off connected. Started thinking about it, and if it needed a certain RPM to even get the "OK" to want to charge, got the idea to call an undersized pulley shop I found through Summit Racing (undersized meaning they make pulleys to slow everything down) and explained the situation. They needed crank and alt pulley OD, what idle was, and what RPM the alt needed before even wanting to charge. Cost nearly $80, but they custom ground a new pulley that allowed the alt to spin roughly 250 rpm faster at idle. Worked like a charm.

Anaerobic is the ONLY sealant you should be using on an oil pump. It's designed for extremely flat surfaces w/o gaps. It'll seal in the absence of air (gasket surface only) but remain soft if it enters the oil. Unlike RTV which can/will break off and clog oil passages, anaerobic won't as it won't harden in open air. Yes, it costs $15 a tube, but it's a must, especially on rotor-style oil pumps. I used it on mine, and even installed a mechanical oil pressure gauge. On cold starts with 10w30, it's around 75-80 psi at idle. Once fully warm at idle, it's around 8-10 psi and I think reaches the 40-60 range when moving but I haven't been paying attention while moving to be honest. Anaerobic can be a PITA to break the seal on. If you end up having to pull the pump assembly again, and it's sticking like glue, put some propane pencil torch heat on it evenly, then tap it or carefully pry, it'll pull right apart.

Have they actually changed the material in the rings at some point? If the rings are the same as rings from before this issue started, then it might actually be a symptom. When did they switch to the really thin oil viscosity? 2011? People are also spinning main bearings on low mileage engines, all which can be a result from watered down oil. I've noticed also people seem to like running thinner oils regardless. Why, I don't know. I'd personally rather have the extra protection. Another way to look at it is Subaru has made the same engine for how long now? And after they started running the thin oils, all of a sudden oil consumption is high, parts are physically failing whereas they used to be sound in 250k mile engines with routine maintenance....