Bushwick

You can remove the timing belt covers and either verify or rule out the tensioner. When bad, it moves around abruptly. Any idea what weight oil he put in? I've seen a couple threads now where guys decide to ignore the factory recommendations and run a 5w 40 or 10w 40 and post they have a similar noise. With a 5w 40, it'll act like a 5 oil when cold (easier winter starting/cranking vs. 10w- "w" stands for winter BTW), then thicken to a 40 when hot. If it's quiet at start up and gets louder as it warms up, that could suggest the engine is having an issue with the 40 weight for example. I know when I replaced my lifters awhile back, there was a small amount of oil varnish built up in the rocker's oil feeds, which are rather small holes, and had varnish in the oil pump assembly's feed areas as well. It could be possible that an engine with a higher amount of varnish built up (like say the engine only had conventional oil it's entire life and was neglected at times), that there might be more of a restriction and the a 40 oil is too thick to clear it. Or maybe the oil pump is creating too much pressure with it? Maybe someone can clarify if I'm too far off base here? Another issue could be the guy mixed different oil weights which can bad. Either way, there does seem to be a correlation between running thicker oil and extra noises that appear to be coming from the tensioner. And given the tensioner is hydraulic, it might be an issue.

It was definitely a 3 speed. The engine was newer but still carb with mechanical fuel pump. It was definitely idling. It might have slipped into 2, as the shifter was rather loose.

It had a 302w, so it most likely had the Ford C4 (3 speed) though there was an option of a C6 trans with the small block bell housing pattern, so most likely one of the two. Truck was pulled at 70mph, but not sure what speed got it started or how long it had to be pulled to fire.

LOL. I once was towing an 83' F150 with auto and RWD on a dolly, with rear wheels on pavement. Towed it about 95 miles. Once I got to where it was going, I got out and heard something. Turns out, the damn thing had a somewhat loose column shifter and it slipped from Neutral to Drive, and actually started itself and had been running the entire trip. Never even knew that was possible with an auto, but apparently if you get them moving fast enough it'll start same as pushing starting a manual car and popping 2nd-3rd. Even weirder was my Lincoln Mark VIII was acting as the tow car and it never let on anything was wrong. Chalk it up learning the hard way

There are ways to test for the AC issue. You could also drive to an Auto Zone, unbolt the alternator, walk in with it, and have them test it (call first to make sure they have the tester) OR go to an actual generator shop that specializes in alternator upgrades/repairs as they'll be able to test bench it and repair, and in many cases might have a loaner they can hand you in the meantime (need to ask) if they'll need to order something. If alt is bad, it should put a charge light on the dash unless they did away with them by 04'? Remove the serpentine belt and start the car or just unplug the alt at it's connector instead. Any lights on the dash now appearing? That'll be your warning light for if/when it fails. If knock sensor is bad, replace it. If the engine has a turbo, it's more important to have that working correctly as you don't want erratic timing being abruptly added and removed under harder acceleration. My knock sensor that failed a couple months ago had a break in the pigtail wire of the actual sensor itself, and under engine movement it sometimes canceled the CEL only to reappear later. They are cheap and easy to replace, so quit dragging feet. You'll also get better mileage and performance will return.

This site isn't the issue, it's the fact it'll never disappear and anyone doing a basic search on google or whatever can have access to it w/o being a member. There are specific other sites that dredge through visible online data and link emails, user names, passwords, etc. and sometimes link your real name to them. From there, it's possible for motivated individuals to gain access to weaker password-protected sites, mine more info, and use that to work into other sites you are a member of (banking, social, personal). Used to be "hackers" would just be mischievous, but now they mine your accounts instead. People that use the same password across multiple sites are at very high risk. Anyhow, my advice would be to only give that type of info out in private messages with known members, or swap emails in private messages. Can go a step further and use a secondary email account to help reduce future issues. If you've ever sold/bought anything through Craigslist for example, they remove the risk by assigning a temporary email contact. If you ever want to see what's actually floating about, try googling your own email address, name with the state listed after it, your phone number, etc.

I'd edit out your phone number or ask the mods to remove it if it's locked out. It'll never disappear from the internet and if you use the same screen name for everything, it's not difficult to connect the dots. Recently discovered my mom's email address was apparently hacked and up on some Russian site advertising her email as a free email account with password included. Some how her birth date was also attached. Actual site was blocked by my AV software, but everything mentioned was visible from google's list if you searched her email. Rather unsettling to be honest.

I have a sensor issue on mine but can't fix at the moment and have been putting it off. Normally, the ABS light will be on. A couple times when raining, the light has gone out. The last time the light went out, the car was doing the exact same thing as yours. If doing 40 mph, hitting brakes for about 5 seconds, all was normal. Once at nearly a stop, it did the same thing. Pedal went crazy, ABS pump was making a racket, braking effect worsened as the pedal pulsated, let off brake and pressed again and it stop for a second or 2. Kinda surprised it wasn't throwing a code for it and light was staying out. Anyhow, after car sat and dried, it cleared the issue after a later restart and ABS light came back on, and brakes at least worked w/o the ABS pump going crazy. I believe you can pull the ABS fuse and at least get normal braking, but avoid hard stops as the wheels will likely lock up and cause skidding. But that's at least safer than the pedal pulsating and causing the car to NOT stop safely, and you'll be able to diagnose if sensors are dirtied up or have failed.

LOL, it sounds like an old, worn out mattress in one of those $15 a night motels. If it were me, I'd ascertain exactly what's making noise, but everyone is probably correct. Good news is these cars are overly abundant so a used drive shaft should be like $20-50 depending where you go, just remember to inspect the donor's bearing and use yours for a reference of how bad the donor might be. If you call around, don't mention anything about carrier bearings, etc. Just ask point-blank how much a driveshaft is for a Subaru. Reason I'm saying this is some "unscrupulous" yards might try charging you more if you say the carrier bearing is attached. I don't trust most yards and have been given prices before only to be told things were extra at the counter which in some cases can be someone skimming $$, so get their name (if over the phone) and repeat the price back i.e. $25 for a Subaru driveshaft, right?" This way if they try tacking on extra $$ you can call them out on it. In a temporary pinch to get you by, I believe you can remove the driveshaft and run it forced FWD. I know someone on here did this to theirs and it's driveable. But it supposedly puts extra strain on the solenoid that decouples the rear, so keep that in mind. You could also try mashing grease in there and see if that quiets it or not (vs. say raising the car to inspect). Not exactly sure what type of bearing it is, but it'd at least quiet the noise if it's actually faulty and buy you time to get $$ to replace yourself. If you attempt the repair yourself, but some red thread loctite and apply that to bolt threads and torque to spec. One of my Mustangs from years past liked to loosen the rear shaft bolts at the flange and I was unaware of thread locker back then. Just add a few drops. This way, if there's a slight unbalance, the vibrations won't cause the bolts to back out. Believe it or not, anything that moves at higher RPMS like lug nuts/bolts to driveshaft bolts can completely work themselves OUT if not torqued correctly. I once has a rear wheel come off an F150 I was towing on a dolly in under 45 miles. One of those weird physics deals. So, just be safe.

Only bearings you can repack with grease are ones with actual needles or balls. And even then, that's a more or less temp solution and requires pressing grease into the side dust covers by hand then wiping excess, and you need to catch it very early on before it eats the needles/balls up, and won't prevent lateral loading issues from a heavily worn bearing. I did this on a couple of my timing belt pulleys (not recommended and not telling others to do this, especially on interference engines) that were on the dry side and they've held up OK, but again this isn't recommended. Here's a video of a center carrier bearing failure: Should be similar to our cars. But I'd have to think it'd make noise regardless of direction the car is moving unless it's loading it differently in reverse? Get a video of the noise and link here (use youtube and just link) and others will pipe up. Does the sound change or go away with forced FWD (putting fuse in the FWD holder under the hood)? I get some noise with forced FWD but it's up under the hood. Pretty sure it's the dog bone at the top of the trans, but not positive. It only occurs on hard acceleration in FWD.

Did you fill the torque converter BEFORE bolting it up? Any time you pull an auto trans, you should drain the old fluid from the pan AND the converter. Fill the actual converter back up so it's at least at spline level (pour in through spline opening). Then add a ballpark amount of fluid to the trans (like 75-80% of what it's supposed to hold, taking into account what's in the converter). Start engine, let it warm a bit, then manually shift from "P" to "R", to "1-2-3-D", back to park, repeat again, then check dipstick levels. If too low, add a little more and repeat the process again, recheck level. Keep doing this until it's in the correct range. Do NOT overfill. Not doing this (or worse, installing the torque converter dry) can manifest trans troubles.

Might be possible some of you have different thermostats? Some cars have various temps available and it's possible a different temp thermo was purchased w/o realizing. If you live in the desert or really hot/miserable (muggy) areas like Florida, running a cooler thermostat might be preferred and all-season cars or really cold winters benefit from a warmer thermostat as it'll help provide more heat (a 10 degree difference in thermostats can make big difference) provided the fans are not on constantly. On newer cars, it's not as simple as many check the heat up time and compare that to the predetermined heat up time and will throw codes if it takes too long i.e. a "hold open when fails" thermostat will cause the engine to NOT reach desired temps fast enough or at all if it fails open. (ask me how I know) BTW, do NOT buy those fail open thermostats, they are junk. Went through 2 of them in under 2 years on my Saab, and of course it's one of the ECM's that check for that.

All the "whoosh" is telling you is that the area immediately in the tank is under vacuum and vapors are being contained. Gas caps are $10-15. If you are getting codes that point to it, just replace it. If the code reappears after you've reset the ECM with a battery disconnect, start looking at the EVAP system. Do you overfill the gas tank? Meaning when the nozzle's vapor detection shuts off the flow from the pump, do you try and force more fuel in? If so, that fuel can actually enter the charcoal canister (ruining it) along with flooding the hoses to it, and cause drivability issues, codes, etc. Or it could be something that failed on it's own to leaky vacuum lines. EVAP issues are rather annoying as the system runs basically the length of the car as it includes the fuel tank area. Best bet is to eliminate the cheapest common issues (fuel cap) and hoses along with visually inspecting the charcoal canister which should be dry, but will wreak of raw gas fumes. Check this link for P0440 solutions: http://www.obd-codes.com/p0440

Looks good. Remember, a taller tire will turn the speedo slower, so it'll appear you are going slower than you actually are. MPG from taller tires will improve, but the added drag from sitting higher might make it a wash. Taller tires also negate steeper gearing, so you'll loose off-line acceleration but might pick up mid-rpm cruising pulling power if it's sitting near peak power. You'll also drop cruising rpm which will be the same as driver slower. An often overlooked effect is the engine will record less mileage, so if you go to sell it eventually, might be worth mentioning it's off.

Piston or rod issues should change with frequency of sound at different RPM, and won't get better. Meaning it'll knock quicker with more revs if it's an actual bottom-end issue. Only engine I remember developing a true knock that could go thousands of miles on said knock was the old Buick 4 banger found in the 80's in cars like the Skyhawk. Friend had one and knocked like a diesel. Was apparently a wrist pin issue but engine somehow could tolerate it. Also, if you are getting metal on metal whether from damaged bearings or rings, you should have metal in the oil and oil filter, and will probably have excessive oil consumption and dropped compression, etc.

Just do the lifters and switch to a less stressful oil. 10 40 is rather heavy for a daily driver not in the desert. It actually hurts MPG and causes more strain as the engine has to work harder to pump it in temps that are average; it's designed more for really hot temps; guys with high hp race engines might run it or 50 but that's a different ball game from a Japanese tight-tolerance engine. If you have colder winters, you definitely don't want it. Also, the rocker oil feed and lifter clearances are rather tight and that feed hole will NOT open up over time. Just run recommended oil. Also, the last guy in here about a week ago complaining about noise IIRC was also running a heavier weight. For what it's worth, been running 10w 30 FULL synthetic Valvoline and engine is quiet with exception to occasional tensioner noise at start-up, but this is because the tensioner is old and wasn't replaced during last belt job as it wasn't noisy then when it should have just been replaced. When doing the lifters, make SURE all the black tarnish gunk is expelled. If any lifters are NOT fully pumped (will be very difficult to press w/o touching the ball check valve) "pull" the hat up then try bleeding. Can even run a a diluted amounted of a degreaser into it if really bad. I found using a cap from a 5 qt bottle worked great, though any cap large enough to submerge the lifter and give room to get fingers around it is preferred. Empty the cap for EACH lifter so only FRESH oil enters and when pumping it, don't allow it to pull the black swirls in. One lifter will be enough to darken a cap full of fresh oil. Once cleaned, bled, pumped, drop in 1ltr bottle with oil or similar. Takes about an hour to do all 16 if you are motivated, even if first time assuming everything is in front of you. BTW, be SURE to cleaner the rocker out. The feed hole mentioned above in them can clog and/or become restricted over time. Clean with degreaser and make sure hole has any varnish or sludge cleared then wipe down. Pour a small amount of oil into the rocker cavity the lifter slides into, then press lifter in.Oil will squirt out the hole like a squirt gun. Do this several times and compare the flow of that hole to the others. It should be a consistent flow across all of them. If not, find out what's blocking it. When ready to reattach the rocker assembler and insert lifters, don't forget to fill each hole with clean oil then insert lifter, and don't forget to properly prime the engine (do NOT just start it). Oil added to lifter holes (and even a small coating to cam lobes) during the engine prime will reduce metal on metal. Worse case you'll have really healthy lifters that make almost no noise or it'll rule them out altogether as it leaves the timing belt tensioner to check. I did my lifters around 2 years ago and it's still quiet at idle and they don't seem to collapse either if the car sits 5 days whereas before they'd be REALLY noisy after sitting 8 hours. I actually had to replace basically all of them from a lower mileage unit that also had the gunk inside them, but they pumped back up firmly after being 50% collapsed or were already firm even after sitting the junk yard engine. I can also hear my injectors over them they are so quiet. What's interesting is many Subaru engine videos have very noisy lifters and the owners are completely oblivious- even guys running modded (used) engines in VW swaps, etc.

Are either cars mentioned in post 1 and 2 turbo'd? If you see smoke like you are describing on a turbo engine, quite often the turbo is failing, though most often the smoke is actually coolant being burnt off and will be white vs. bluish-grey (oil). If at all possible (goes to either of you with smoking engines) and safe to do so, immediately pull over and discern what you are actually burning by trying to get a whiff of it. Burning coolant is sweetly smell and it hangs in the air awhile. Sometimes when cold out and you first start an engine, you'll see a more white-colored vapor but it disperses almost as fast as it leaves the muffler, which is normal. Burning oil is rather pungent. So much so it can assault the senses and even be detected with windows up and heat/AC on IF it's not set to recirculate, just by driving behind someone that might be 5 cars ahead of you as it hangs heavily in the air. As already mentioned, PCV valve can be an issue. Some engines are poorly designed with regards to their PCV system, others are VERY sensitive to a malfunctioning PCV valve that often gums up and/or the check-valve sticks. These are also problematic on turbo'd cars too as they often run to the turbo's inlet which pulls too much vacuum through the line which causes oil to get past the baffling in the valve cover, which then gets pulled IN to the turbo's inlet. Under lighter driving, oil will pool where it can until it either pools too much, or certain circumstances will allow it to get sucked up from the pooling and you'll see it burnt out the pipe. Heavily worn valves can cause smoking too, though I think you'd see small puffs of it vs. large amounts. Rings when bad seem to be constant smoke and very clearly oil being burnt. 80-90's Chryslers were notorious for weak rings and puking oil, though their turbos were also culprit too. Excessive carbon deposits on valves can also cause smoking. Usually it's a darker grey (w/o the blue oil burns with) and occurs when you step on it. Seems to be caused by people overly babying a car and/or running 87 (or low octane in general as this is a side-effect of it people rarely mention). Really dirty engines will have rather large deposits build up internally on the valve faces and piston tops. When you see a car tromp on the gas trying to merge with traffic on the highway (going from say 25 to 75mph) and there's a small amount of solid grey smoke that doesn't really linger or spread far, that's probably carbon deposits getting burnt. Even newer cars exhibit this if driven too lightly constantly. Other thing that can cause smoke that's harder to deduce is a leaky master cylinder. Since your brake booster is powered by vacuum, and the master cylinder connects right at the brake booster, it is possible for fluid to get past the seal and end up in the booster. Going from cruising/accelerating to decelerating, changes the engine vacuum rather significantly, even on an NA engine. On turbo engines, you are producing vacuum at idle, and will go from vacuum to boost under harder acceleration. Very light throttle and you can actually keep it from creating boost. Whereas a straight up NA engine will get to right around 0 on hard acceleration then go back to vacuum on decel or idling. If you are in say 5th gear or OD and coasting at near idle RPMS, it should be going into near full vacuum. As you can realize, going from basically zero (no vacuum or boost) to a 12-15 vacuum can have interesting effects on liquids within an engine. Check the brake level. If low, top off with correct fluid and keep an eye on it. It'd shouldn't ever drop unless there's an actual leak, which you can smell though it's not as strong as say coolant. You won't see or smell any leaks if it's leaking into the booster. Foot pedal might feel softer and go to the floor or travel further than before, but pump 2-3 times and will firm up. Bleeding won't correct the pedal feel. Also, to rule out PCV, pull your intake inlet hose off the throttle body or turbo inlet if turbo, and inspect either the inside of the TB or the impeller of the turbo for the presence of oil as that's a clear indicator. Just in case Subaru did something different due to the boxer design, find the PCV hose and follow it to where it connects to TB, intake, turbo, etc. and inspect the PCV line and whatever it attaches to instead for oil. REPLACE the PCV vs. trying to clean it with degreaser. It should rattle when shaken, but that doesn't means it's OK. It should seal nearly perfectly when blowing in the one side and blow straight through when blowing through the other side. Really old ones or ones that might have internal cracking preventing the sealing, will have you running in circles when paying $4 would have solved it.

Don't take it personally. It wasn't an attack on you. Toyota does make really good engines, but some were problematic. The years/price range the OP might be looking at would cross into some of the questionable years.

Not all Toyota's are great deal. They had BAD oil coking in some engines that can't be ignored. Only way you'll for sure is to pull valve cover and inspect. I've seen BAD oil cooking before on 36k mile engines that ran ultra quiet and gave no warnings there was 1/4" of sludge building up around the rockers and valve springs. Need to google "Toyota engine oil coking" to get an idea of bad years.

Yeah, stay away from the Saab. It looks nice and mileage is great, but they might as well be Porsches as they are very expensive to fix and maintain vs. say a Subaru. Avoid VW/Audi at all costs. They run interference engines and belts like to snap between 50k-60k miles (ruining the engine) and have water pump issues (plastic impeller breaks prematurely; aftermarket has metal impellers as upgrade) and need the water pump replaced basically when timing belt needs done. Did I mention you need to pull the front bumper and motor mount and allocate a good 10 hours just to do the belt? Yukon sold. Odessy is high mileage and will be very boring to drive (your call on that). They do run forever but the V6 in a van isn't fun to work on and figure wheel bearings, steering components, etc. are probably worn and won't be cheap to replace. Plus side is it's doubtful it was driven hard. Mercedes and Inifiniti- avoid. When you start getting into niche cars, they'll be more expensive to maintain, especially when foreign. Both have really high mileage too so expect regular wear items to need replaced. Lancer has really high mileage for an 08' which means it probably saw a ton of highway driving and might have been beat on with no pics. Not sure how good their CVT trans is. Highway mileage is often preferred as it probably saw a constant speed in OD so maybe a 2.5k RPM, meaning less stress, but the motor probably broke-in like that. Good news is Lancer forums are just as strong as the Legacy and Impreza. I'd google the year/model along with keywords like "broken" "trouble" "not starting" "issue" etc. and do some homework on it. If a bunch of people are having issues with the CVT trans, timing belt issues, etc. you can make a better educated guess if it's up your alley. I'd say at that mileage if it's running an actual timing belt, it's had several by now but you can't be sure, so you'd be strongly advised to put a new one in. How hard that is on those I haven't a clue. If it has an actual timing chain, it's most definitely stretched by now, but might not be an issue. This is a question you'd want to ask in the Lancer forums. I wouldn't link the actual car in their forums, but would state you are looking to buy an 08' with the CVT and 2.0L (dunno if it's turbo) with 174k miles. What are "known' issues to look for; does it have a timing belt or chain and how hard are they to replace/ how long can the chain go; how trouble-free is the CVT, are there known mechanical issues with the engine, suspension, etc. etc. It might be a good buy, it might not. Mazda should have the same following in a forum. I'd ask basically the same questions as the Lancer (minus the CVT questions). If it has a turbo, it might be at it's limit as often turbos start getting towards their rebuild age between 150k to 180k miles. Can go longer depending on how hard the PO was with it and brand matters here as well. Some turbos just inherently last longer. It should be a good car though for what you need and judging by appearance, seems like a good price for it. The red Subaru. I'd actually try and talk them down a little bit on this as it doesn't appear to be as nice as the Lancer or Mazda which are newer. But since you aren't going in with car's cash price in-hand, they probably won't budge. If you are looking for a dependable, inexpensive car to drive and maintain, this is the one you want. With just some basic hand tools you fix almost anything, and the forum these is fairly mature and very knowledgeable. I'm guessing your mechanical knowledge is limited, so whatever car you get you MUST try and get a warranty of at LEAST a year factored in to the loan. No ifs ands or buts about it. I've worked at used car lots before. I know the behind the scenes scoops of plenty used car lots. They go to auction, bid on one of these cars that were traded in at another lot (and sometimes often shuffled to numerous other lots as it won't sell) and unless it has a blatant issue will NOT put money into it, and often put the cheapest tire they can find on a corner if bald w/o doing any alignment. This also means no oil change, no "real' inspection, etc. Other than a detail to make exterior, interior, and engine shiny, nothing else is done. If they get a REALLY nice, low-mileage car in, they might put a couple hundred into it to make it more appealing but that's rare. Basically whatever condition it was in when traded-in is the condition it'll be in when you buy it. Hence why I'm not a big fan of used lots unless it's a hard to find car I know everything about to catch any issues or getting a car loan makes more sense. Forgot to mention, you need an accident report history. I remember a 40k mile Chevy Corsica coming in once. It was as clean as you'll possibly ever see. Interior and exterior were near perfect. Wanna know it's history? It had been cut in half after an accident totaled the original rear and a complete new rear section of car (unibody and all) was fitted back in. Why? Because at the time it occurred the insurance valued the repair cheaper than totaling it. It ran/drove fine, but yeah, that's a serious repair. If a car had an accident at 10k miles and it now has 150K+, chances are it's an actual good car. Look for signs of mis-matched shades of paint, over spray on weather stripping, lights, trim, plastic, etc. Run finger under lip of fenders (especially in the rear as those can't be replaced like fenders; you want finger to be on top of the inner lip and should end up with road grime on it; any holes or odd surfaces need looked at by eye) and feel for clumps of bondo, poor weld jobs, etc. BTW, put your Honda for sale on CL and you'll have more cash in hand

Did you figure it out? Could always help the next guy if he/she has the same issue

You can still find decent, running cars in the $500-1500 range. When you go to high interest used lots, that $4000 Subaru was an $800 auction trade-in at another lot where it either wasn't nice enough for the place, too high mileage, wrong brand, etc. When it's said and done, $4000 + 25% interest becomes $5k plus everything else tacked on at sale. So you think you are getting a good deal because it runs and looks OK, but it was traded in for a fraction of the cost. Even better is when people *think* the car is worth less than it actually is and try selling for $900 thinking it's high mileage or easily fixed issue means it'll be hard to sell. What's even better than that is clueless people automatically see a "$900" price and assume something must be horribly wrong with it and assume if it had a $2500 price it'd be "OK". I got my Saab that way. Guy was originally selling for like $800 and got bombed with a ton of low-ball offers so he sat on it longer and raised the price to $950 thinking it'd weed out the rif-raff. I saw pics of it posted (15 minutes after he relisted the car) and was outside of his house 30 minutes later. Looked it over and it was an easy $3500-$5k car. Fully loaded with leather, heated front/rear seats, 5-speed, sunroof, no rust, turbo, AC, 9.5/10 paint, never in an accident, very desirable 99' year with last year T5 engine (their T5 2.0L turbo is comparable to the EJ22 for reliability and durability) but newer appearance, etc. Was a serious score. Didn't even haggle on the price which definitely threw him.It did need a motor mount which was a known issue on those and brakes were grabby from sitting in his driveway for 6 months. Subaru had some rust but it was backed up with a list of dealer maintenance records, was perfect mechanically minus lifter issues and still runs strong and great transportation. Less worried about it's appearance as it was designated as winter/back up vehicle and obviously need some minor work. Anyways, if a car has no rust and runs good, the cheaper you can get it the better. But people thinking they MUST pay $4k+ are completely clueless. And those saying it's impossible to find good deals aren't looking hard enough. Found the Saab 3rd day of glancing at CL and Subaru after a couple days as I'd been looking at trucks first. If you know what you are looking at and how to find issues, you can easily tell a clunker from a gem. Hell, when I was buying cars to scrap years back I found a Tercel for and a Tempo (part of a deal, guys kids had driven them in college) for $150 each. Both ran and drove fine. Found an 83' F150 ($350) with strong 302 had nothing wrong but some bed rot. An 85' LTD that was just old ($350). A 97' Taurus that had overdrive failure but ran fine in "3'. Sold that to a guy working the junkyard and he drove it to work every day. Point is, they exist.

That's actually a bad idea. It can create too much pressure in the tank AND can flood out the charcoal canister and damage some EVAP equipment, which often won't be readily noticed unless it actually throws a code. Other issues like excess vapors getting created and either pushed into the environment or forced back into the gas station's pumping machine can occur as well. Any weak areas in the filler neck can start leaking raw gas if it's actually too high, etc. In other words, don't do this. It's also pointless to the test as forcing an extra gallon won't improve MPG, it won't do anything helpful and raw gas getting pulled into the evap would actually hurt the test and most likely cause drivability issues. If a tank holds 17 gallons and the light comes on when 2 gallons are left, and you add 15 gallons, you can use that 15 gallon usage with how many miles driven. Having the light come on is more accurate than guessing how much is left as it reads off the float sensor vs. say trying to use the 1/2 tank line on the gauge which can be off by a couple gallons (digital would be ideal as it'd read a more exact amount). So if you go through 15 gallons of 87 and the light comes on, then you add another 15 gallons to try 93 octane and tally the results when the light comes back on, really can't get more accurate than that. You can't just rely on the gas filler nozzle's shut-off feature either as they are designed to sample the fumes being displaced from the tank and shut off when concentration reaches a predetermined level. Some nozzles are more sensitive than others; some are just wonky. But the gas station gauge is at least accurate regardless so knowing exactly how much gas is going in and being used in X amount of miles is key. The very best time to get MPG readings is with cruise set on a long, flat highway as it removes a ton of variables, but you obviously loose city MPG numbers, though if you can set speed to 40 it'll be a little better, but obviously doesn't factor in hills, idling, stop/go, etc.

You are to the US what the US is to Australia. Australia gets some rather interesting options at their local pumps. Think Germany is similar as they get 100 as premium and like 95 is their regular. Doesn't make sense to be honest as we could have 12:1 engines with 95 and 100 being available. About 25-30 years ago, we used to have access to a I think 105 or 110 octane that seemed to be geared more for high compression cars from the late 60's (older members would know for certain). Usually it was smaller independent gas stations that offered it and now everything is part of a chain company anymore. Hell, there's a private airport locally that used to let you pull up to their pump which ran aviation grade fuel and was about the highest rating you'd find locally. My mom dated a guy with a 67' Vette convertible that had the rare L88 427 and it wouldn't even run on pump. He had to go that airport for fuel (back in 1987-88' which was a different time). Think the only places selling higher than 93 grade are near drag strips.

I updated the previous post when you were replying. Refresh the page and re-read everything. I'd hate to see you get in over your head, especially when your cash in hand is low. If you can't find a decent Subaru locally, look at other cars. The older the car, the cheaper it should be. Mid 90's Fords like an Escort would be a good buy, as would a Cavalier, or even a 2.3L RWD base Ranger.