golucky66

By chance, do you have a dirt driveway / drive in dirt frequently?

Agreed with above posters

I've changed a fair bit of subie rear diff oil. And in my own experience, I've rarely seen the fluid come out darker then a dark honey color like you've explained. (unless internal damage is occurring) not to say it will always be lighter colored. But I don't see subies getting really dark like most cars.

If you're drive to work is only 2 miles (if that's not a type) and that's primarily the only time you drive it, then yes, of course it will never get near the stated mileage. The car will never be fully warmed up and operating under ideal conditions with only 2 miles worth of driving. As for in general, rarely do I see a car that actually gets the mileage that is on the door. This is because when they test it, it's under "ideal" conditions. So perfect temperature, perfect tires/frictions between road etc etc. I just went here ( https://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/how_tested.shtml ) for the official way that they test mileage (not how the manufacturer tests) and from quickly reading through, it says that they simulate typical conditions. Which will never ever be the same as driving on route 91 etc. My mother's 08' Tribeca gets driven from and to work everyday ~6 miles. And it's not a lot of stop and go or anything abnormal conditions (like NYC) and she only gets ~18 mpg during the summer and ~ 16 in the winter. Rating is around 20 combined. Not as extreme but she drives longer then you In my opinion, if you're commute is only 2 miles and you're getting ~6-10 MPG less then rated, I wouldn't consider that abnormal as the car is never at it's ideal temperature for a long enough period of time. Keep in mind, until the engine reaches optional temperature extra energy (fuel) is being consumed to get the car to ideal temperature. Not only that but the newer cars do a bunch of things to help the car warm up quicker, for example, my mothers 08' Tribeca won't up shift until about 2.5-3k RPM when it's cold even if you're off the throttle. Last but not least. In general terms. The biggest impact on fuel economy is you're right foot. I drive my 96' Impreza hard and I get around 19 in the winter and 22 in the summer. I could easily get 26-28 if I drove like a Prius. Best of luck to you! Hope my two cents were helpful

While that should be the case, when I did the wheel bearings on my 97 impreza, it was so frozen that an impact gun was spinning the rubber. The bolt was frozen to the rubber and the rubber was literally spinning in the housing or whatever you wanna call it.

If it has the 3.0 then it is supposed to have the 91 octane (in the states) where as if it has the 3.6 you can run regular 87 (in the states). And I say can as that's the recommended fuel by subaru not can as in you can for 50k miles.

Ha, ha, I got that joke...

If you're that worried about it, when they're cold, set them like 2-3 psi above the sticker on the door. Then when the temp drops the psi will still be above the threshold. I'm not quite sure the exact psi, but if the spec is 30, it most likely will get set at like 26 psi. So yes, it is sensitive, and once you start driving the tire warms up and therefore it will raise 2 psi and may jump above the low level and the light goes off.

The dealers aren't the only place that can read that. They are the only place that is guaranteed able to read that code. my shop has an autel which can read pretty much any car from japan. Just be careful, I've seen a lot of chain places like that read the code and it may or may not even be right, and then they sell you work on something that isn't broken

My mom has a 09' tribeca, It gets like 16/17 mpg city driving, just be aware of that. does have lots of room with 7 seats, though rear most seats are kinda cramped... Outbacks tend to be nicer cars to ride in, and more of a "family" car then the imprezas. Though the imprezas are perfectly good cars. Not exactly sure about your location, but here in North East US, rust is a huge factor on all subies. Can easily make or break a car's value.

Bushings may cause a noise like that. But yeah, struts is where you should probably put your saved cashed. if they're orgional

I installed a wheel bearing in my 97' impreza and learned the hard way. After getting it done and then doing the other side I found out 5k later that the bearings came dry (with only minor lubrication to prevent rust) I was supposed to grease them much better then i did because I figured it was good to go. Lesson learned... Probably not the case here, I'd personally think it was just a cheapy part.

Yeah, not sure if it's a law yet but at my shop in CT we won't let a TPMS light be on when the car ships if we did anything to the tires or pressures at all. Of course, liability issues. No the TPMS light doesn't do anything but warn you of low pressure. I haven't looked into it for consumers but you can buy the tool to teach the computer of the new sensors.

Those metal clips are actually really important. If the pads aren't sliding with the clips on that means either they're the wrong pads, or there is a build up rust and other corrosion. Take the clips off and clean that area with a wire brush and then chisels out all the junk that's in there. Re install the clips and they should slide much better. If they still don't....technically you should then be replacing the bracket.

Agreed A lot of times when shops do brakes all they do (to make time on the job) is pull the caliper off and grease the slides and don't clean out the bracket. You have no idea how many times I do a brake job (the slow and long way) and I spray brake clean into the bracket where the slides go and then dry it out with an air gun. And there are chunks of hard grease that come flying out. All that build up will prevent the slide from going to all the way. Also, the only point of that rubber is to prevent a noise really... So I'd clean out the bracket really well and the grease it fresh. Should be smooth then

Did the new caliper come with the bracket or just the caliper?

While I do agree with your statement about the bubbles being bad, but if the car was overheated and spif checked it while the car was still red lined hot, then the bubbling could simply be the coolant actually boiling from the heat. Which makes sense as they said once the car cooled the coolant retracted back into the radiator to the point where there was none in the overflow. While the overheating may cause a bad head gasket I wouldn't connect the dots that rapidly. But from steps already taken including the fans, t-stat, hoses etc. Imo there's only a few things left. A ) The cooling system still has air in it. B ) The radiator is actually bad (defective) and it may be clogged causing restricted flow C ) Head gaskets. Just to make sure, do you have heat in the car when the engine is at normal operating temperature? If not, there's air in the system. Unrelated as your radiator is new, but I once had a 00' OBW that was overheating...Tried everything, turned out to be that over 50% of the fins in the radiator were missing and it wasn't be able to dissipate heat fast enough at idle or below 30 mph. Never leaked a drop though, quite funny.

Just a 96' Impreza always love driving my subies around in the snow

Now I know not a huge amount of people on these forums are from the New England area, but for those of you who are. Do any of you know any good spots to go driving in the snow around here? I live in the northwest corner of CT and always love driving in the snow. Are there any trails or windy back roads that you know of that are fun to adventure in in the snow? Much appreciated

Keep in mind, the average hourly rate for an auto shop is about 80-125$ per hour. And this is CT, an over priced state. Sure, hourly rate is important. But what's more important? Saving a couple bucks because the rate is lower but them trying to sell you stuff you don't need and doing a half assed job of fixing stuff. Or another place that charges a high rate but works hard to make sure you're car is safe and reliable and only sell you what you need for your budget. I remember someone posted a video here about how some "chain" place was selling the customer a ton of extra work that the car didn't need. Ended up being charged an extra 300-400$ and they didn't even exchange any of the fluid.

Putting the factory spare on alongside the factory wheels shouldn't cause issues to your differential. My guess is that the leak that you mentioned is bad enough where a large amount of fluid leaked out and you over heated the differential by driving it with no or little fluid. Not sure if there is a "fix" you might be able to save it by checking to see if there is fluid, if not add some and then drive it around a bit, drain the fluid (or at least some) and check to see if there is metal chips in the drained oil. If there is, time for a new rear end. If there isn't, you might be able to just fill it up to spec and good to go, but the overheated diff might have caused severe damage to the bearings etc, etc. And just making sure, you're sure it was the diff and not a wheel locking up due to malfunctioning brake drum(s)? Not sure about the AT Temp light, sorry. Good luck with the car.

Most of my subies I used napa remans. Never had a problem, and they're fairly cheap

I personally have learned everything I know from being a technician apprentice for 2/3 year (part time while in high school not a tech school). I am now considered a class B technician. But for me, it was really just understanding. Problem solving. "Why does this happen?" "Does this work like this...?" and always working and challenging yourself to get better and know more. And if there is a point where you have no idea, ask questions. I swear my co-workers hate me because I'm always asking questions to understand more and better. I agree, understand physics wouldn't hurt, more so the principles and the "how it works' then the "find the velocity of this random object that I threw at 10 degrees." Also, I recently took an electrical class and I feel I understand the electrical portion of a car MUCH better. In my opinion, the more you read and the more you do research on how stuff works the better you'll do. But don't ever think you can compare yourself to pros if you don't push yourself and keep trying to learn and get better. Understand cars and how they work takes time and will. Good luck to you and whatever you end up doing in life. And yeah, I agree. being able to work on your own car is amazing, most job I save like 70% of what a shop would charge someone, and it's my car, so I can take even better car of it.

My 96' Impreza does the exact same thing. A co-worker of mine told me he's dealt with that before, and 90% of the time you need to just take it apart and lube it.

Oil leak. Could be anything, others may have common oil leaks on these 2.2's. As for the power steering. At least on the last two 2.2's I've owned (97' impreza wagon, and my current, 96' impreza sedan) both leak a little power steering from the bottom of the power steering reservoir... I think they both had hairline cracks from one of the nipples but it wasn't bad enough to tell. Also, both of mine were leaking a fair bit of power steering fluid right from the rack. There's no "this is what oil leaks are on 2.2L's" either you have to crawl under the car and take pictures (and the post them here) or take it to a shop. It is very hard to diagnoses a leak without seeing the car. Whatever you end up doing, good luck! I love(d) my impreza's. The 2.2 is such an reliable engine if properly maintained, 300k+.