heartless

Thanks for the info, Fairtax. the weather has turned nasty bitter cold here, spending any amount of time outdoors just sucks the life right out of you. hoping it warms up a little bit next week.

good idea! hadn't thought of that.

hatch opens and closes fine, and as far as I can tell, it is sealing ok - drove it home that night and to work & back the next day - didn't notice any new wind noise at all, or exhaust smells, either. the impact did cause one tail light to blow out, got that bulb replaced and all lights work as they should. not positive she hit at 40mph, was most likely on the brakes right before impact, but 40 is about the slowest I have ever seen traffic run through there. As long as there is no structural damage to subframe, I plan on driving it till it either quits running, or is unsafe to drive.

I am very happy with the Mastercraft tires - even ran the set I had on the Legacy on the Forester for a little while, until I had the funds to buy a new set for it. I did end up getting the Coopers for the Foz - only because of the rebate deal, tho. LOL Otherwise I would have happily purchased another set of the Mastercraft all seasons The other half bought a set of Mastercraft for his 06 LL Bean Outback, too, and he is happy with them as well. and the snow tires that are on the 95 now are also Mastercraft - Glacier Grip II's - awesome snows.

Yeah, I know I am quite lucky in this one - it could have been so much worse. She did knock me forward a couple/few feet... a very solid, square on hit - she didn't try to swerve at all - i think that was the saving grace. Thanks for the thoughts on possible damages. I will get it in for a thorough inspection as soon as I can.

I will second the Mastercraft brand - reasonably priced good quality tires. Ran a set of their all-seasons on my 95 Legacy - very little wear after more than 2 years Mastercraft is made by Cooper Tires.

yeah, me too! left shoulder is a bit out of sorts from the seat-belt grabbing, but I would rather have that than major injuries. This is what it looks like... doesn't look bad, but I know there is always potential for hidden damage the other side had 2 of the clips pop out...

So coming home the other night, waiting to make a left turn, I got rear-ended in the 2002 Forester... impact speed was probably about 40mph (speed limit is 35, but nobody pays attention to it - it is common for people to run 45-50 through that area)... I was sitting still at the time waiting for some oncoming traffic to clear. Was hit hard enough that my coffeecup went flying out of the cupholder (thankfully it was empty), and the stereo remote came out of the cubby below and ended up on the drivers floorboard. Rear bumper did exactly what it was designed to do from the looks of things... and the car is completely drive-able as it is. At first glance it is difficult to even tell I was hit, but closer inspection reveals the bumper is pushed downward, one side is dented in and several of the upper clips that hold the cover in place were popped out. I also have a small dent in the rear hatch on the right side of the handle - maybe 6-7in long, but shallow (should pop back out easily enough). There is no apparent damage to rear fenders at all... just wondering what the odds are of hidden frame damage? I wont be able to get the car in for a complete inspection for a few days, possibly a week or so. looking at car-parts, a full rear bumper assembly runs from $125 and up... will post a few pics shortly..

as others have said - soak the nipple with penetrant - hit it a couple of times a day ahead of time to give it time to soak in well... 6pt, 1/4 drive socket has worked well for me to break them loose initially.

lol, you don't have to wait IN the car until the passengers get out and shut the door - just step out at the same time they do, wait until they shut the door, then lock it up.

is it really a knock, or is it piston slap? I would determine that before I did anything else

I have a 2002 Forester, and am getting about the same results for MPG, maybe a little more (most of my driving is rural roads, not city, or freeway), but not by much, and I did not expect it to be otherwise. the Forester is taller/more vertical in the front than a Legacy/Outback meaning more wind resistance - this has a negative impact on fuel economy. Removing the crossbars on the roof rack may help a little, but it is not going to be by much. And yes, winter blend gas is also an mpg killer... being in the Chicago area, you are most likely getting winter blend now Keeping it in tiptop running condition is the best you can do to try to improve fuel mileage. clean filters, good plugs/wires for the best combustion, tires properly inflated. That is about the best you can do. If you want higher fuel mileage you will need to look at something else - something without AWD. Me - I will keep my Subaru, and it's AWD, and live with the reasonable mid 20s MPGs

in all honesty - unless you plan on doing your own struts on a regular basis, and have multiple vehicles to do them on, buying is not really that cost effective. renting is kind of a crap shoot - you may get a good compressor, you may not. If you have all the parts in hand, struts off the car, and just need to get the spring compressed to swap things out, try taking it all to a local, independent auto repair place and ask them if they can do the spring compression for you. We did that with the fronts on my other half's 2006 LL Bean Outback.. took the struts off the car, took everything to a local shop, they used their spring compressor to remove the old strut, stuff in the new one, and for a small fee (maybe $20-25) we were in business, no muss, no fuss.

yes, there are 2 access panels - one on each side of the car, just behind the rear seats. there is only one actual fuel pump - on the passenger side, and is most likely what the junkyard has/is referring to. of all the Subaru's I have owned (on my fourth road legal one - have also had several "parts" cars, and the other half has had a few as well), only one really had a gauge issue and I had no luck trying to fix it, so I learned to live with using the trip meter trick.

a side view of the item you are holding would be helpful. the only wires that run down below the engine are for the O2 sensor at the cat.

LOL, you misunderstand how it is set up. there is the main fuel pump and float assembly on the right (passenger) side of the car, but there is also a secondary float assembly along with a jet pump pickup on the left (drivers) side that moves fuel over the driveshaft hump. So basically there are TWO float assemblies that are supposed to work together to tell the gauge the fuel level. If one or the other of those float assemblies quits working, the fuel gauge will not work correctly.

I would have to agree with the others here - there were "known" issues with the car you test drove, who knows what "unknown" issues it has - not a good example of the platform to be basing an opinion on. You need to find, and test drive, one that doesn't have issues before you make a judgement like that. I have a 2002 Forester with the 2.5 (single OH cam, 251 version) and it has plenty of get up and go for passing. I also have a 1995 Legacy with the 2.2 and it has plenty of Oomph for passing as well. These cars are not speed demon powerhouses by any means, but they are not under powered, either. Coming from a turbo motor car, yes, it is going to feel very different than what you are used to - kind of like going from a v8 to a 4 cyl - it wont seem as powerful, but a well maintained, good running H4 will have enough power to do the job required of it.

Personally, I would not try dropping the tank, you are looking at way more trouble trying to do that than it is worth. buy enough line to reroute and just replace the existing back to a point of easier access.

completely understand! =D

no - the float itself doesn't "go bad", but the little circuit board it swipes across does get worn out, dirty, etc and fails. my 1990 had that problem, would only read from full to 3/4, then drop to E until it got down to around 1/4 then it would start reading again... =/ I just learned to reset the trip meter every time i got gas, and would refill at or around 225 miles, give or take a few. (most of my driving was rural roads - 45-55mph)

You do not need to drop the tank to gain access to the fuel pump/float assemblies on a Subaru. Just behind the rear seats, under the carpet are 2 access panels main pump/float assembly is on the right side (passenger) - it has an oval shaped access panel. The secondary unit is on the left and has a round access panel. They are easier to get to if you have a wagon, simply fold the rear seat backs down and lift the carpet. Obviously, in a sedan, they are a little more difficult to get to, but they are in the same locations.

yup, what wtdash said - the bladders on the struts are shot and they are ridiculously expensive - if you can even find them. It is cheaper and easier to just replace the air struts with standard struts & springs - I did it on my 90 Legacy LS. It rode fine. Just disconnect the air pump, cut the lines off, and done. Or you could opt for the slightly taller version, but do a little research on which struts & springs to use for that. I did this on my 95 Legacy L using 98 Forester struts & springs - but 95 is slightly different than a 91...

the attached pdf is from my 2002 Forester FSM, but it is the same engine, so it should be fine for your needs. Camshaft.pdf

Both of the cars I mentioned above had Ethanol gas (up to 10% ethanol) in them - we have had it for many years around here. Not trying to argue, just stating the facts as I know them.

Amen to that! Glad you found the problem.