bulwnkl

When I changed the PCV valve and the 'Christmas tree' (don't know whether others have it; it's a multi-way junction of crankcase ventilation lines) on my XT-6 at ~100,000 miles, I didn't have any remarkable issue with the PCV valve but the christmas tree was almost completely blocked off by hard carbon deposits. That engine had low compression on 1 cylinder and marginal on another before I fixed it. If you have a brown sludge my thoughts would run toward whether there's a similar gunk inside the engine. Lots of short trips can allow condensation to build in the oil and result in a similar mess. So could a coolant leak...

This might sound like a silly question, but I don't know: Is the muffler/tailpipe section a single-inlet, dual-outlet style? If that's the case, I'd say the muffler just doesn't have even flow out the outlet pipes, which I can't believe makes any difference.

Nicely put, nipper.

I expect this is the problem, and it's triggering an evap control system MIL. Sadly, I know little of the system such that I can't make any useful suggestions.

This possibility occurred to me. It is not only possible, it's quite plausible. However, I found it more convenient at the time to be a smart-aleck! Sorry!

I believe the fix here to be simple: Fill up at Petro-Canada instead of pioneer.

The Baja drives like a car... well, a Subaru Legacy/Outback (which it basically is). To me, it's a little stiffer than the base models. We had an '02 Legacy GT Limited which had a stiffer ride than the base Legacy wagon that year according to our perception driving them both. The Baja rides a lot like our Legacy; a little firm/stiff compared to lots of cars, but definitely not a pickup-type ride. The Baja Sport has the same motor as the Outback: non-turbo 2.5-liter. I believe it's fair to say there are not big head gasket issues with this engine in the Baja model years (though newer is always a safer bet). The Baja (which is the turbo model in '04-'06, as opposed to the Baja Sport non-turbo) is essentially the WRX STi engine with less power: bulletproof.

I agree with the suggestion of an Outback or a Baja. I have an '05 Baja (bought used) and it's just about perfect. Be aware, though, that Bajas are 4-seat vehicles ONLY. There's a console-thingy in the middle of the back seat. '04-'06 has more ground clearance, though '03 is not bad. To deal with any possible HG issues on any Subie, I'd just get a turbo

Would anyone care to explain to me why it is thought that a colder thermostat is good for cooling system efficiency? I can see doing it if your cooling system is inadequate to the task, but you only need 1/4 mile of cooling or something. Otherwise, however, the thermostat has almost nothing to do with the cooling system's capacity except in a harmful way. The size and area of the radiator, airflow, and so on are the things which determine how much heat you can move. If anything, a cooler thermostat decreases cooling system efficiency because the lower coolant temp decreases the temp difference between the radiator and ambient air, thus making the radiator less efficient/effective. It also generally decreases engine efficiency. In any event, I'd suggest sticking with OEM thermostats in most import automotive applications, especially Subaru. BTW, the temp listed for a thermostat is the temp it's trying to maintain, meaning that's approximately opening temp.

This is a really interesting thread. I was about to cry foul on several of the posts describing the difference between FT4WD and AWD until I remembered that everyone is talking about Subarus specifically and not 4WD as used in most vehicles on the planet. So, to the OP, I'd take AWD like my XT-6 had it if only it was still available: open conventional center differential (no silly viscous anything) with the ability to manually, mechanically lock it. Then, I'd add dual-range if it was available. That's nearly the best combination IMO because you have low range for off-road and open diff for zero possibility of torque bind ever. The only thing better might be the planetary center (or that concept, since I don't think I understand that system having never seen a good schematic with an explanation of function) to bias torque rearward most of the time and only bring it forward as necessary, but I'd like that with dual range, ability to lock it up tight mechanically, and a manual transmission, please!

I agree that Subaru's coolant is pretty much a Peak long-life coolant, probably phosphate-free and probably silicate-free. My point is that they say to use that which is the most 'conventional' or old-school antifreeze there is in the absence of their own branded product being used. The presence of these things does not cause any difficulties, IMO, it just means you have to change the coolant out more frequently. I agree that the OAT could be an issue.

You can go read the Cooling System FAQ in the Service & Maintenance section at NASIOC if you'd like. There's a link to a Subaru publication there which specifies that you must use a phosphate-additized coolant for proper protection of the aluminum. It makes no mention of silicates whatsoever. Unfortunately, the thread in that FAQ almost immediately says you should use a non-phosphate, silicate-free coolant. Bottom line: Subaru's specification of a phosphate-additized coolant and no mention of silicates means they are specifying the use of good old-fashioned anti-freeze. None of the newer, fancy, extended-life or lifetime crap. Use the plainest, most traditional stuff (if you don't use their branded stuff) and change it out every couple or three years is what Subaru says to do.

Can't answer your question, but may have a helpful suggestion. Try to locate a fuel injection repair shop (usually they advertize to the heavy diesel industry) and see if they can rebuild it for you (they can test them, too). A rebuild is not always possible/helpful with electronic fuel injectors depending upon what's wrong, but often is. I had a shop in Boise rebuild my '91 XT-6's injectors. No problems and something like $20-25 each, IIRC.

I don't think that's germane to the point at all. You could substitute the word 'winter' for the word 'snow' in that post and still have essentially the same point with nearly the same validity. It still may be extremely foolish to utilize xxxxx (insert your preferred word: ice, snow, winter, etc.) tires if you only make use of them a tiny fraction of the time, and then grind them up on dry, graveled?, warm? pavement the rest of the time, particularly if you have the option of something like the WR or similar.

I like longitudinal layouts as well. Though, my SAAB, Mopars, and Honda (all transverse) were all at least no more difficult, and sometimes easier, to perform repairs and maintenance on. I agree that the Subaru timing belt seems easier to do than the Neon, for example, because you must undo the motor mount on the Neon. However, that ends up taking no more time nor is it more difficult, except for needing a floor jack and a 2x4 or other block, than doing the ER-27 in my XT-6, at least for me. Things like valve cover seals, spark plug seals on the DOHCs, valve adjustments and so on (which like to leak on Subarus as we all know) are easier to do on an inline engine in general regardless which direction the engine is oriented. The half as many thing is pertinent IMO because twice as many components = twice as many to repair and, in the case of seals at least, twice as likely to have one fail.

Though I like Subarus and love our Baja (nearly as much as our old BRAT, but not), this is an argument my experience prevents me following along with. Now, I've not had a bunch of Subarus to get experience from; only 5 (3 EJ motors, 1 ER, and the EA in the BRAT). On the other side, I've had inline 4s (and an inline 6) from Alfa Romeo, Honda, Mitsubishi (both gas and turbo-diesel), Mopar, Nissan/Datsun, SAAB, and even a little experience with a Toyota of my brother's. Now, of all these, each have their quirks, their peculiarities, their easy things and their hard things, but I find Subaru engines more complicated or difficult or inconvenient to repair and maintain overall than most. They have what seems like twice as many parts as the inlines (like 2 crankcase halves instead of 1 block, 2 heads instead of 1, 2 cams on an SOHC and 4 on a DOHC instead of 1 and 2, cam towers that are separate from the heads and the block/crankcase, and so on) and the maintenance items in general are in less or merely equally convenient places. Now, everyone has their preferences and such, but to say that inline engines are harder to maintain and repair is just silly.

Late 80's Japanese Yen was fairly weak against the dollar while their economy was very strong. Thus, they were making very, very good money selling cars here. Thus, more could go into engineering and QC. Things have changed since then and they're forced to change how they build cars if they wish to maintain price point in the market. Toyota has done a brilliant job keeping their quality as high as they have, but their explosive growth has certainly hurt their ability to create the culture that exists in their traditional, core Japanese factories. Combine this with the factors in the paragraph above and the fact that the American nameplates are trying hard to improve quality (Buick has been in the top 3 quality-wise for years now, often better than Honda/Acura, Toyota/Lexus, and M- and you have little better than high-average quality from Toyota. They and Honda have been living off their years-out-of-date reputations for quite a while now.

We had a BRAT that did this. Don't know what it was; we sold it (had bought new in '78? and used as a farm pickup). Be interested to hear what you find. I later wondered whether the BRAT was a mechanical timing issue?

Sorry, wrong thread; Post deleted.

You're absolutely right about things leaking sometimes, ed. You just have the reason wrong. Those grooves are there from either the metal being too soft (rare), the seal material being too hard (also reasonabley rare), the oil allowing deposits to build up and create the scores, the seals aging and thus becoming too hard/brittle and scoring the metal (from, for example, insufficient seal conditioning, excess heat build-up, etc.), or things of that sort. The oil allows deposits to build up and fill areas to slow or stop those leaks. Once they're cleaned off by any means whatsoever, there's too much gap and things leak. In your example, if the engine had been kept clean from the beginning (either from using synth or some other means) then the leak wouldn't suddenly be there; simple as that.

No, I'm afraid you're in the position of having to prove your load of garbage, not the other way around. No large-scale consumer synthetic motor oil has not had seal conditioners in it since approximately the time they came to the mass market in the 1970s or shortly thereafter. Amsoil is one of the brands originally responsible for the stories of leaks partly because of their diester formulation and the inherent seal-dissolving properties of some diesters and partly because of some of the seal materials used in then-older vehicles, but they switched to PAOs over two decades ago. Valvoline is making big advertising claims for the same reason that everyone else in the market is: to try to get you to spend your money on their product instead of someone else's, and to try to get you to spend 3 times the money on something that only costs them 30% more to make. Someone had mentioned in this thread that synthetic oils are thinner than conventionals, which is also exactly the opposite of the truth, interestingly enough. The primary base oil in a 'conventional' multigrade oil of a given viscosity (let's say 5W30 for example) is actually noticeably thinner than the primary base oil in a genuine PAO 'synthetic,' but the 'conventional' then uses a load of viscosity-index improvers to make it thicken as it warms up.

Wrong, wrong, wrong! Seal conditioners are a part of every consumer motor oil apart from API SA grade that you can only find in some grocery and dollar stores. Please don't post this misinformation (the part I put in bold). If you've had a vehicle of your own that leaked, go ahead and tell us, but to repeat this flatly false and obfuscatory statement about not having seal conditioners is harmful to the board's knowledge base.

If you want a 'synthetic' engine oil: 1) RenewableLube bio-synthetic 2) Pennzoil Platinum Oil filters: 1) Amsoil 2) K&N (not air, just oil) tie 2) Subaru The Subaru filters are Tokyo Roki, which is a subsidiary of FHI just like Subaru is. I guess that's the best approximation you can get of Subaru making them themselves. Another good option for motor oil is a CJ-4 rated oil (which is a diesel oil spec) like Shell Rotella T (either the synth or conventional). Mobil's oils are broadly substandard at this point, even in the synthetic and/or diesel lines. My responses are based on oil analysis results.

Thanks for pointing to proper clarification about difference between VDC and VTD. Cars101.com is where I'd seen the Baja (turbo) listed with VTD on the A/T. The other mis-info came from elsewhere.

Well, apparently the turbo A/T Bajas (like mine) are VDC/VTD vehicles as well. This according to a couple/few websites, none of which are Subaru. Frankly, I can't tell the difference between how the Baja drives and how our '02 or '99 Legacy and Outback drove. OTOH, if anyone knows whether these Bajas are not VDC/VTD vehicles, I'd sure like to know.