bulwnkl

Though I understand your point, Subaru's owner's manuals also tell you to check tire pressures very frequently (does yours say every week, every fuel stop, or something else?). So, you really have no legitimate (not saying legal, saying legitimate IMO) cause to claim they didn't tell you to check your tire pressures and thereby avoid what you believe is the cause of this failure. You didn't, and it cost you. It cost you MUCH less than it could have (blowout from low-pressure-induced tire failure resulting in your death and the death of the small children riding in the other car you ran head-on into after losing control). Forgive me if I appear to come across a little harshly. I do understand your point and your frustration. If I had a reasonable way to help you I would. I do NOT think it is even remotely appropriate for a person to grasp for a payoff in consequence of not reading or not heeding the owner's manual.

See the website linked in the post above yours. It's $25 or less depending upon how many bottles you need, and there's a coupon code on the site right now for a couple bucks off. Shipping is included in the prices posted on the site. If you're interested in the results on my XT-6, go to their testimonials page and look up #58. I had low compression in that engine (though it ran well and gave no really big signs of trouble) and the product corrected the issue. {DISCLAIMER} I HAVE NOT BEEN AND AM NOT COMPENSATED IN ANY WAY FOR THEIR POSTING OF MY POST OVER AT BITOG AND I DIDN'T EVEN KNOW THEY COPIED IT UNTIL WEEKS OR MONTHS AFTER THEY HAD DONE IT.

Without disparaging anyone's choice of cleaner, I personally will not use a Seafoam-type product in the oil. I have used a vast number of things over the years and found them all to be complete crap EXCEPT Auto-RX. I used that on my '91 XT-6 to positively excellent effect. It is not a quick flush like Seafoam or the Amsoil products. It takes a few thousand miles and a couple oil changes to complete the cycle. However, it will NEVER break chunks or gunk loose to get lodged in some other, more critical place. It does, however, work as stated and will clean things up slowly, safely, and better than anything else I know of short of a teardown/rebuild.

Hawk296 at NASIOC answered my boost question, so now we're Baja owners!

No, those guys are saying the opposite thing. Jamal's assertion there would indicate that the viscous coupling would fail in a way that the center differential reverts to purely open (i.e. the car would not move and the rear propeller (drive) shaft would just spin). Jamal does say in the thread here that the viscous coupling may be designed such that it will lock up tight and the car will drive.

We're looking at a Baja. We've had a few Subarus (XT6, Outback, Legacy), and I like them overall very well. The thing is, our '02 Legacy GT Limited's leather seats were so unbearably hard I couldn't ride in the car for long drives. I didn't think that would be the case when we were driving it prior to buying, but after taking it on an all-day trip and back, I very nearly abandoned the thing on the side of the road it was so awful. So, since the Baja is based on the same Legacy as our '02, how are the seats? If they're as hard as our Legacy's were, was there any change in the seats for any of the Baja model years (like there was for the Forester in '05 and maybe other models, too) that made them softer? Thanks for any help or input.

I thought the air suspension on my AWD XT6 was pretty cool until it started not working. It would have been big money to replace the strut whose air bag exploded. Well... big money is a relative term. It would have been $300 - $500 per strut depending upon which dealer I bought them from. However, that is no more than 1 month's payment on a new car (assuming you pay over time for cars), so that's really not expensive from that point of view. I replaced mine with conventional springs and I can't believe I spent more than about $200 - $300 total. I did all the work myself, though. Afterwards, I kind of wished I had replaced the air suspension parts because the springs lowered the car (which was what I wanted at the time) and I shortly realized I wanted the clearance back for crashing through the toolies, and the extra height that the air suspension lifts when going over rough terrain. Anyway, a fellow here called "grossgary" has good pointers for preventive maintenance on air suspension. Depending upon whether he replies here or not, go to XT6.net and look around there. They have some terrific info on Subie air suspensions. Good luck!

Fortunately for Neon owners (like me), the 2g motors had adjustments made which appear to have solved the issue. For example, they machined all the head bolt/stud holes deep enough so that all bolts can provide the proper clamping force on the entire gasket so that it won't fail. Thank you, fellows, for making and cleaning up this thread.

^^ You're talking about the expensive rear-end fluid, right? That's not the best choice. It's too thick (140) and it's built for high-load rear ends. I've used RedLine and Specialty Formulations. They're both top-notch.

Although I agree that the MT-90 and the NS are both "high-friction," the presence of a sulfur-phosphorous EP additive in gear oil does not automatically mean it's corrosive to the synchros; that's an old wives tale. Sulfur compounds can become reactive under certain circumstances (i.e. sump temperatures above ~250-275 F depending upon the formulation), and sulfur in certain old-style, low-grade base oils will become corrosive quickly. However, most (all?) gear oils sold in the USA & Canada have metal deactivators to address the issue at normal operating temperatures, and therefore are not corrosive. Thus, one need not choose between synchro corrosion and shiftability in a properly formulated, quality lubricant like Redline or those from Specialty Formulations. Also, to each his own, but these Subies specify a GL-5 lube in the mtx, so MT-90 does not meet the spec. I know many guys run a GL-4 or GL-4 mix, but nobody seems willing to confess to running a GL-4 for any considerable mileage to see what happens to the diff.

I think replacing the rings will fix it. I would suppose, from your posts here, that the rings were either damaged by high temperatures from your mountain trip, or else oil was coked in them by that trip. Either will cause increased consumption. Also, nothing will cause you to see smoke in the exhaust with a consumption rate anywhere near 1 qt/1,000 miles. If it was my car, I'd be pleased that Subaru is offering to re-ring the engine under warranty when the oil consumption is below both their own and SAE's maximum acceptable consumption limit. As nipper said, this is the reasonable repair. I encourage you to accept their offer, be happy (because it will fix the problem entirely IMO), and watch your coolant gauge!

I think this is a cool/funny idea! You're actually trying to make a Subaru engine into a Johnny-popper! For those who do not have agricultural backgrounds, a Johnny-popper is an old 2-cylinder John Deere tractor. They were inline-2 motors and went Bang-Bang-pause-pause. Deere quit making them a LONG time ago. They were not a smooth engine For this project, what will this help? I understand that the instantaneous torque at firing will be doubled (is that okay for the EA crank and transmission?), but the power output will be the same as the engine runs. Will this help with low-rpm pulling ability? Off-hand I'm not seeing how it will. Good luck with this. I hope you get it to run and have a lot of fun!

My Michelin experience is more general in nature and recent experience is with pickup tires (I haven't driven any Michelins on cars in a few years), so take this FWIW. I think Michelins are very good tires. They have excellent ride quality and often do last quite long. However, they're SO much more expensive than others that they're not worth the price to me. Also, once you get off the road and especially onto gravel, they get chewed up super-quickly (I'm talking about pickup tires).

It would make absolutely no sense in all the world for an insurance company to total a car just because the ECU needed to be replaced. That's a flat-out lie, IMO (perhaps by someone other than the seller, but a lie none the less). Insurance companies are supremely good at taking the cheapest route no matter what. If the 'only' damage was the carpets and computer, totaling a 2002 Subaru is NOT the cheapest way to fix that. Neither is there any potential liability trouble down the road from replacing the ECU. This story is seriously incomplete at best, and likely a fabrication IMO.

Without disagreeing with anything else that's been said, I note that you said it's been fairly warm there lately. Crankcase condensation from the atmosphere is much more likely and 'severe' when ambient air temps are going back and forth across the freezing point. As was said, take it out at least every week or so for a good highway drive (at least 60mph, and I would suggest 20 minutes or more if feasible).

Glad you got it fixed; sorry it was so pricey. I obviously need some updating. When/what models did Subaru start using the viscous center diff with the manual transmission? Is it just the same as the "clutch pack" at the back of the automatics?

15000 miles on diff fluid may or may not be appropriate. It is certainly appropriate for dino oil in the front and rear ends of working pickups (i.e. farm pickups running through the mud and sand with a full payload towing a trailer, or tow vehicles). So, I'd say Subaru probably knows what they designed the diffs for and if they're saying 15000 under severe service, I'd heed that. Of course, if I was using my favorite Redline I wouldn't change that often unless I got water in the diff. I also wouldn't bother with 15000-mile changes if I wasn't towing and/or offroading much.

That milky substance is the emulsion that results from water in the oil. It could be something serious (if it is you'll see evidence on the dipstick), but most likely it's simply condensation under the filler cap.

Have you thought of any benefits yet?

Am I mistaken, or is WaterWetter not very useful in a proper anti-freeze mix? I run 15W40 in my XT6 during the summer. Right now I have some lighter stuff for winter commuting; we'll see how quickly it burns/leaks now that I've cleaned the motor up some. I used Redline motor oil in the Neon to great effect, but the budget is so tight I'm trying something different right now.

I've not used that many new rings, but I have bought the cheapest thing I could find and even on my little turbodiesel pickup they've been fine. If I had my druthers, I'd use maybe OEM or Deves rings.

Yes. There's a thread or two here if you search for it. Best bet is to go to the discussion board at xt6.net. There are some sticky threads at the top called Huck's ultra-secret suspension idea, both front and rear. They tell you how and have lots of pictures. Basically, any late-80s rears will work. Lots of fronts work with a little modification. I have '01 Impreza 2.5RS fronts on mine.

Yeah, that's a little steep, but what do you want? I mean, they never get to sell any because they never wear out!

Just to give you a little context, I have a Mitsubishi turbodiesel pickup. I rebuilt the motor shortly after I got it because it had massive blowby and huge piston-to-cylinder wall gaps. I did nothing with the turbo because the guy I got it from put a kit in it just before I got it ('Put a kit in it' essentially means rebuilt the turbo). The motor was great after that, but it would still burn a quart in about 200 miles if I was working it hard and you could never see a trace of oil smoke. The turbo was shot despite having just been rebuilt. I agree with you that your trouble is likely the turbo. Take care, though, because if the oil leak is a result of wear in the housing, a rebuild does not address that and you'll need a completely new unit. As I posted on XT6.net, I would be a little surprised if these turbos have actual 'seals' in the sense of a crank seal or a cam seal. Turbos 'normally' create their own oil seal through the design of the shaft and housing and the oil flow around them. This is why it is possible to rebuild a turbo (even completely replace the turbine wheel, compressor wheel, and shaft) and still have it leak oil; if the housing is worn. EDIT: I see that you posted back a little before I got this up. Good luck with the TD04!

I agree with the CV diagnosis. Open differentials can't bind unless there's something broken, which is what the front diff should be (open I mean, not broken ).