heartless

you say "rust free" but I am assuming that you are referring to visible body rust... I am wondering what does the underside look like? Sub-frame, etc my 2002 Forester has very little visible body rust for its age, but the sub-frame and behind the plastic cladding, it is in pretty rough shape.

cant help you with the aftermarket bumper covers, but for touchup paint, I would go here https://www.automotivetouchup.com/touch-up-paint/subaru/2019/impreza/

if you are just doing a drain/fill the typical recommendation is 3 times, with some driving time between each drain.. that should replace roughly 80% of the fluid hope you can get her in better shape for a little while at least.. buy some time to find a replacement.

for brands.. take a look at Mastercraft tires.. I am VERY happy with the tires I have had from them.. both all seasons and snow tires.

and there you have the reason I have not even attempted.. RUST! i can pretty much guarantee you mine is not coming off easily, lol I live in Wisconsin, where cars rust away around you long before they quit running, lol

yeah, i think you may be right, but that assumes one get even get it off to weigh it, lol the older Legacys had the charcoal canister under the hood.. much harder for fuel to actually get into them. The forester it is in the back, UNDER the tank...

OMG, that is actually painful to watch.. but yeah.. my point exactly..

i would think it would depend on how often it happened, and how much got in there.. but at this point, i would be investigating the filler neck & associated lines before worrying too much about the canister itself How i found out mine was all rusted up was when I tried to pull one of the small lines from that shut off solenoid to see if it made any difference.. could not do it.. they were rusted that badly.

yeah, load of crap. 90-94 were all OBDI - but 95 began the OBDII era for Subaru. It is not perfect, but it does work. If you ever run into connection problems, check the pins to make sure they are all out where they are supposed to be.. sometimes one or two get pushed back in the housing and don't make connection right. just need to push them back forward where they belong. (the panel that the connector is mounted on can be removed to access the back of the plug)

basically a lack of maintenance, period. keeping up with oil, oil changes is maintenance keeping up with timing, and related components is maintenance. keeping the cooling system in good working order & proper levels of coolant is maintenance. people today have no concept of maintenance - they get in and drive, period.. no idea of how to check oil, coolant levels, air pressure in tires, etc.. surprised a lot of them even know how to put gas in..

had this happen on my 2002 Forester - of course it happened in the dead of winter, too.. in my case, it was a bad case of rust in the small hose connections attached to the filler neck.. as in rusted completely shut so vapors could not move around. I would not expect that in Colorado, but i suppose anything is possible. there is also a small "switch" thing attached to the filler neck, up fairly high, that can be purchased separately.. called a "fuel shutoff solenoid" for me, replacing the entire filler neck, including the above mentioned solenoid, was the answer/cure. The replacement filler neck i purchased came with the solenoid already on it. fwiw, i do have a cel for the evap canister solenoid located at the charcoal canister and the car runs fine, and takes fuel fine, so i do not believe that particular unit has anything to do with fueling.. I do have a new one here, but getting to the old one, and getting it off.. yeah.. major rust monster involved, which is why it has not been done.

are you sure you dont have an obdII port? left side, between steering wheel and door.. fairly low in the dash.. behind a little door... this picture shows location.

if the top mount bearing is shot, it would allow the strut shaft that goes thru it to move around, which could most definitely affect alignment. Wouldn't take much, either.

stay with the 4EAT - much more robust

http://jdmfsm.info/Auto/Japan/Subaru/ factory service manuals, free for the downloading

yup. should be up under the dash, on the far left side.. there is a section of dash panel under the steering column that is easily removed.. pull that for better access.

Nipper, I wish you all the best in your search for a newer vehicle.. the newest we have here is 2006, so not much help, i am afraid. =) Only advice I could give you is to try driving an example of each engine type - see which one you like better. Trim levels that go with each engine type may be something to think about as well.. that is assuming the 6 is a higher trim level than the 4 would be, of course.

i currently own/drive a 2002 Forester with the EJ251 engine.. headgaskets were done on it long before I bought the car.. current odometer reading is 261k and counting. Keep up with good maintenance, and you should be fine.

it is highly recommended to NOT touch the rear main seal.. unless it is very obviously damaged if it were me, i would not mess with it.. like I said before, there is a 99.99% chance it is fine and the source of the leak is the separator plate. One Legacy I had, the plate was leaking so badly that I had to put a quart of oil in about once a week... fixed the leaking plate and it was golden.

the groove in the ball joint housing needs to be far enough down to allow the pinch bolt to easily fit back in.. if the ball joint is not seated right, the pinch bolt wont go in right. and yes the pinch bolt NEEDS to be installed! It provides both clamping pressure and a physical barrier to the ball joint coming out.

exploded Parts diagram on Opposed Forces site... part #20 is the "basket" - called complete shaft in the parts list.. and yes, it would appear that the piece you marked in red in the picture is the backside of that part... http://opposedforces.com/parts/legacy/us_b11/type_17/automatic_transmission/at_transfer_and_extension/illustration_3/ I have pointed out some of the grooves that need to be sanded out below.. on both the outer basket and the inner portion..( ALL grooves need to be removed.. not just the ones pointed at, btw) grooves will typically be worn in all the way around. If they are severe enough, it would warrant replacing the parts rather than attempting to "fix" them The clutch plates need to move freely inside the basket.. when the baskets get these grooves worn in them, the plates get stuck and do not move properly.

L and LS are trim levels.. LS is the higher end package, L is the base package. My suggestion here would be the 4. L Grade: L/RHD for a base AWD model, however, there may be no actual difference between that and the LS (check part numbers elsewhere for both, perhaps?) the FWD fuse powers the Duty C solenoid.. if the binding goes away, the solenoid is fine, the issue is clutch pack - if the binding does not go away, it is the solenoid that is bad and maybe clutch pack wear. For a look at the basket, and the grooves that were mentioned.. take a look at the images in this thread.. there are some good pics down the page a little https://www.subaruoutback.org/threads/intermittent-awd-issues.506385/page-3

I doubt very much it is the rear main seal... 99.99% positive it is the separator plate only that is the source of the leak. been there, done that, several times on multiple cars. (two 1990 models, and a 95) If the car is in otherwise good shape, and has been well cared for, yeah, it could quite easily get at least another 50k, probably more. is it worth doing? only you can decide that... if you are looking at a new clutch anyway.. do the clutch and the separator plate at the same time and be good to go. Would also suggest doing a complete timing job while it is down.. belt, cam & front crank seals, pulleys, water pump.. reseal oil pump... Then it would most definitely be ready to rock for many miles.

oops.. double post...

you used a part number search for that.. so yeah, all of them list the correct part number.. and that may, or may not be a factory gasket Go to the Part Catalog, >Subaru >2000 >Outback.. there are NO OEM gaskets listed.