heartless

nope, i did not... that is what was on the car when I got it.

my 2002 Foz also has the left rear window antenna. no major issues here with an aftermarket head unit. I changed mine out for one that has bluetooth for hands free phone use, also has a USB port.. a bit more "modern" than the stock unit, lol you can see the antenna traces pretty will in this pic...

Odometer tampering is a felony offense with penalties varying from state to state. Not a smart idea...

have had very good experience with Mastercraft Glacier-Grip snow tires. Made by Cooper Tires. http://mastercrafttires.com/Tires/Passenger/Glacier-Grip-II.aspx To be honest, however, I would not call 3yr old tires "new" by any stretch. sure, they may have a fair amount of tread depth left, but they are not "new" any more

here is a picture of the crank pulley - note it is the mark on the BACK side (behind the belt) that you need to line up correctly this one does have a mark on the front, but not all have that. there are similar hash marks on the cam pulleys that also need to be aligned properly - everything should be pointing straight up (ie: 12 o'clock)

around here it is rust that is the primary killer - of ANY vehicle... beyond that, poor maintenance would be #2. Had my local garage call me a while back to ask if I would be interested in an Outback he had towed in.. Owner let it get hot (had a coolant leak that was neglected) and was not really interested in having the motor replaced. Sadly, it was an H6, too. After looking at the car, I said nope... this poor car had been used and abused, rode hard and put away wet. The interior was filthy, suggesting the owner did not care about the car - at all. No telling how much other stuff had been let slide on it.

ALL 2.5s ARE interference motors... the earlier 2.2s (1990 to about 1996) are non-interference, as were the older gens EA82s, and i think the 1.8s (out of my realm on that one) The timing job is not hard to do, but it is highly recommended that you do ALL of the timing components when you do it - idler pulleys, water pump, tensioner, etc. Also a good idea to replace the cam & crank seals while you are in there since they are probably hard as a rock by now. Shop "book time" is around 4 hrs i believe, but even a newbie can accomplish the job in a day, taking their time with it.

Gee, thanks for rubbing it in about the warm temps down there, LOL mine was howling when i took it off.. not even gonna waste time with it. It will be replaced with a metal pulley, that has an easily replaced bearing.

get one of these - they have replaceable bearings in them...you cant replace the bearing in the plastic pulleys.. http://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/subaru,2004,forester,2.5l+h4,1426788,belt+drive,idler+pulley,6956 I just had the AC tensioner pulley fail on my 02 Forester and will be replacing it with one that I can change out the bearing. Not in a huge rush for it as it is still most definitely winter up here in Wisconsin.. teens & twenties for highs.

does the sound change at all depending on the road surface? if yes, then probably tire noise - if no, then it is most likely something else.

if you have had the CEL come on, go get codes checked - it will have stored something (even if it is not currently on, there should be something) That could point you toward whatever the culprit is... beyond that - don't lug the engine? shift to a lower gear...

just gonna leave this here: http://mastercrafttires.com/ quality tires at very reasonable prices

well, that can actually be a blessing in disguise... reman caliper, new pads - check the rotors for wear.. fill the fluid, bleed, and good to go actually easier than trying to splice brake lines, LOL

Seeing as how you are on the east coast, the brake issue is most likely a rotted out line - the rears tend to go before the fronts do. fill the reservoir, then get a friend to gently apply the brakes while you look underneath the car to determine exactly where it is leaking at. Where the leak is located will determine the best course of action in fixing it. as for the turn signal.. start by checking fuses. Do they light up at all? if they do light up, but don't flash, then it could be the flasher unit itself that has died. pretty easy fix for that, too.

get some better wires - NGK wires or OEM I have used the parts store brand of wires before and had issues with them, as have others. They just don't last

it is not a difficult job to do, just basically need a good soldering iron (preferably one with adjustable temp and a fine point) and a bit of time & patience. all you need to do is reheat the solder joints to make the solder "flow" again, "fixing" any cracks that may have developed over the years. but yeah, having another unit on hand is not a bad idea.

I think you completely misunderstood his comment. generally speaking - off-roading (any vehicle) very commonly results in some sort of damage to said vehicle - tire damage, broken axles, etc... it is not specific to any particular brand of vehicle, just a risk that is taken, in general, when going off road. your "concern" over using the spare in your situation above was kind of... silly, shall we say? If you plan on doing more "off-roading" with this car, I also suggest getting a full size spare that will match the tires already on the car, as well as carrying any other "tools" you might need if/when something else breaks... a portable booster pack would be a good idea...

the little door you are looking for is located here...

why swap the engine? is there something wrong with it? 177K is not a problem on a well cared for Subaru. My 2002 Forester is about to hit 239K and still going strong.

I used 98 Forester struts/springs on a 95 Legacy. could then easily fit the Forester wheels, too (15s vs 14s) so, early Forester stuff, or early Outback stuff will give you what you are looking for. there are plenty of posts about doing this floating around.. a search should yield plenty of info

not in a huge rush for it - spring is still a long ways off, LOL We just had around 8" of snow dumped yesterday. and yeah - not putting another plastic one on there. Will get the new metal one and be done with it for a long time.

most likely the tensioner pulley - just had mine go south in extreme cold also on a 2002 Forester... But yeah - what about the timing? Do NOT let that timing slide unless you like the idea of having to spend a lot more money...

there are no "you pull it" yards around here - none. the ones I am seeing on RockAuto - the pulley only with bearing installed - look like all metal ones that the bearing can be pressed out of/in to, but yeah, there is a "belt kit" that has a pulley like the one I pulled off. the new pulley w/bearing is only $21 & change, not terrible so it will be ordered sometime soon.. =P This is the one I am looking at getting: http://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.php?pk=366348&cc=1378739&jsn=398 This is like the one I pulled off: http://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.php?pk=6355527&cc=1378739&jsn=404

just a quick update on this - it is definitely the tensioner pulley for the AC belt - it is shot - crunchy sounding and does not spin smoothly. Will be getting a new pulley bearing for it and will re-install once the weather starts warming up again. Thanks all. =) edit: Upon closer inspection, there is no way to press the bearing out of this pulley without destroying it - the pulley wheel (plastic) wraps around the outer race of the bearing on both sides so I guess I will be ordering a whole new pulley from Rockauto - not terribly expensive, but still about double the cost of just a bearing.

if the car is otherwise running fine, no CEL, no other obvious issues, it is most likely caused by the winter blend gas.