nipper

Seals go with Subaru, as OE lasted this long they will last just as long next time. KYB Gr2 (I think they are GR2). A litle stiffer when cold but nice and firm and not terribly pricey for struts.

126K is rather early for a driveshaft. or a rear wheel bearing. Rotate the tires on one side front to rear and see if the noise moves. It may be as simple as cupped tires. At what speed does it happen? Is there a vibration? You may need to unbolt the rear yoke and makesure the Unis at the rear are good. If not they issue will start to happen sooner over time, but it is usually a vibration more then a noise.

Up to the person doing it. http://www.subaruforester.org/vbulletin/f89/center-diffs-how-replace-them-46979/

Gates are wonderful products, I would buy it. What to change: Timing belt Idler tensioner Main crank seal cam seals water pump re-seal oil pump As long as you are there change the T-stat (you are there anyway but you don't have to if you don't want to) and replace the PCV valve.

12-6 method? How many miles. U-joint and drive sgaft are interchangable terms here as the uni's are not servicable for mortals. Is there a clunk from drive to reverse? Did the vibration start at high speed and is slowly working it's way down? Inspect Uni joints for play, but the one way to really tell is to unbolt it and inspect the joints in the rear half of the driveshaft. Check for play or seizing. If it is bad get a used one if not i can tell you who to get a rebuilt from.

Ok names are all wrong here but I bet I know your issue. How many miles and when the timing belt was serviced (it was serviced wasn't it) did they replace the water pump? It sounds like you need a water pump and oil seals. How many miles on the car?

Subaru Thermostats ONLY. Aftermarkets do not flow properly as they have smaller openings and a shorter stroke of the valve. replace the cap, this should solve your problem.

Yes the IAC controller can cause this to happen if sticking or dirty

But sunspots dont happen at the same point all the time.

The modern engine has to deal with emissions, power, and heat. The hotter you can the cylinder, the lower the emissions (more complete burning) to be simplistic. To help with a faster warm-up, again for emissions (and performance), pistons have gotten lighter and thinnner. They heat up faster and move more easily (this is why piston slap is normal when cold in so many engines). The trade off with less mass and hotter running is the ability to remove heat from the piston. The advantage of this on engines (N/A) is to allow you to use regular vs premium fuel on some engines. On forced induction it keeps the pistons from over heating. Some engines have specific squirters just for this purpose, others do it by simpler means. What people tend to blur is the lines of high performance over every day engine. Almost all small engines today are "high" performance. There is a hell of a lot of power being squeezed out of relativly small engines. 2.5L is a 152 cubic inch engine making 170-175 HP. If you convert Liters to cubic inches it gets more amazing as to how much power is coming out of standard 4 cylinder engines. 1.6L = 97 CI (Mazda 3 110 hp) 1.8 = 109 CI (Chevy Cruze 138 hp) 2.0 = 122 CI (Mazda 3i 148) Wasnt all that many years ago where a 4cyl of any type was hard pressed to break 100HP, and a 1.6 had HP raitings of 80 or less. As Emissions got stricter, and as they will continue to. some engine will use engine oil to help cool off the piston skirts and beneath the piston. This oilis very minute in it's amounts, as a little oil can do a lot of work It's the evaporation of the oil that removes the heat. This is actually why PCV valves have become more important. Oil mixed fumes will gum them up over time, where it used to be the PCV only dealt with and blow-by from the rings. If you have a rotary, deisel, or forced induction the oil consumption can even be higher as per design. This is why oil burning and oil consumption are two different animals.

Nah there will alwasy be someone to nag to about it, otherwise we just go back to blinker fluid.

You can brun up to 1qt every 100 miles or more, epseically with a clogged pcv valve. It is really easy to burn up 2 qts of oil before the interval (which is too long anyway) if that is what that engine is doing.

Subarus are a pain to read, but with practice you can learn to read it on a hot engine.

There is a search function folks, it does magic! http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=119634&highlight=transmission+codes If you got abs codes, you had the wrong connector.

This is the problem with long engine oil change intervals. SUbaru (and actually most) say 1qt in 3000 miles is ok. Not all engines use this much, some use a bit more. With a 7500 mile oil change, some people never open thier hoods. Going 2500 over it is most likely he had no oil volume of any substance left. Modern engines use oil. They spray the back of the piston skirts and the underneath of the pistons with oil to help cool them down. Depending upon fuel driving habits and moon phase some use more some use less. This is why you really need to pop your hood every other tank of gas and check your oil levels.

Ye old PCV valve can cause oil consumption. Maybe the dealer will go 50/50 with you, Don't admit you didnt check the oil levle just that he sold you a lemon.

Actually if you can get it restarted you will know if you threw a rod rather quickly. There is no other sound like it. Are you sure you didnt snap a timing belt?

But we gave up your parking spot

Welcome back!

Lets go for weirdness. Was it a true overheat or a gauge overheat? Was the overflow tank full or empty? How old is the radiator cap (if old replace). If a car gets near some military micorwave antenaas or other telecommunication systems, if powerful enough and on the right frequency, can do goofy things to cars. I am wondering if it is that since sampe bat place same bat time same bat channel or it can be just a combination of the perfect storm. Was it snowing outside?

Wasnt a lot of water and the solenoids are all sealed. Right now the only issue is TB when it gets hot. I have to watch the tranny temp gauge to see if there is a temp where it happens constantly.

We did the connector thing. FWD fuse does kill the TB. TB comes up only when the tranny starts getting warm from lots of turns. We also did a "purge" (start car and drain) to get it out of the converter. Google is depressing "always ends in failure". I disagree with this if it is taken care of quickly, but the age and the water of Blu's trainy, plus the fact it fixed itself has me confused and concerned. There are suggestions that say lots and lots and lots of drain and fills. The saving grace is that it wasn't a lot of water, just your typical driving through somewhat deep water. I think I am going to (ugh) take a chance with a flush when my Mechanic does the TB after T day. Blu is not having a good month, he also got damaged by a car wash.

Never seen a weight knocked off, miss with a hammer? There are drive shaft rebuilders. They are not really servicable but with the nright tools and a bal;ancer can be. I have used these guys http://www.driveshaftspecialist.com/?gclid=CJWX9bujtqECFcRM5QodjSGF_g Used works just as well.

I wish I could but no garage to work in.I am not allowed to do heavy undercar anymore due to a spinal injury, and a huge hit against my ego. Truth be told I pay for work now. It hurts really hurts to get under a car pinch a nerve, be dpwn for 6 weeks and repeate.

I may go that route. Its Christmas money doesnt exist so I dont want to piss away 1000 on what is going to cost me 2700 and comes with free fluid The self healing aspect pissed me off. I had a tow all set and everything. The Justy is a carb and a exhaust away from being legal too.