forester2002s

I retorque my wheel nuts EVERY TIME after the car has been in for repair. I sometimes have to undo the nuts using my socket-set and a torque-bar, but I retorque them using the wheel-wrench that I keep in the back of the car, and I estimate the torque by feel (after more than 40-years of doing this, I am pretty accurate). Then if I have to change a wheel on a 'dark and stormy night', I know that I'll be able to get the nuts undone on my own with that wheel-wrench.

1,800 Watts? What did you say? I can't hear you.

FR5AP-11 NGKs are indeed 'DOUBLE-Platinum. Check out this link: http://www.ngk.com/results_cross.asp?pid=FR5AP-11

Yes, it does sound odd, but applying any kind of lubricant to dry threads, can cause the stud/bolt to be over-tensioned. It works this way: - tightening a screwed joint, causes the stud or bolt to stretch, and to develop tension. The more you tighten, the more the bolt stretches. - on the one hand, if the threads are dirty/rusty, one cannot turn the nut very much. Yes you can apply lots of torque, but the bolt won't stretch very much. - on the other hand, apply lubricant to the threads (ANY lubricant, even water or anti-seize), and one can turn the nut easily, and the bolt can be tensioned a lot. So, when applying a known torque (say, 65 ft.Lbs) to dirty threads, not much happens. But apply the same 65 ft.Lbs torque to shiny-clean slippery-threads, and the resultant bolt tension can be enough to over-tension the bolt. It's the bolt tension that holds the wheels on, not the applied torque.

A search for 'roof rack piece' came up with this recent thread: http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=77619&highlight=roof+rack+piece Is this the same piece?

I would suspect front alignment. My experience with all sorts of cars, is that the normal slight toe-in keeps the steering very stable. And as the toe-in disappears to zero (=parallel front tires), that the steering becomes unstable. And if things get worse to a negative toe-in (=positive toe-out), then the steering is downright horrible!

Well, I bit the bullet and took my Forester in to an indie for a clutch replacement. It cost me $902 including machining the flywheel. Same day service (4.5-h labour) and no hassle. (I had two other quotes: $1,000 + taxes from another indie, and $1,200 + taxes from a Subaru dealership). I had been considering doing the work myself; but I needed to either buy or rent a transmission-jack, and it would have taken me 2-days minimum working on my own. So I gave in. I must be getting soft in my old age. But the job is done.

The clutch on my car (2002 Forester 5MT, 100,000km) is slipping, and needs replacement. I am considering doing the job myself in my garage. I have good tools, and I could rent an engine-hoist. Is it feasible to do the job myself (I have previously done the clutch on another non-Subaru FWD transverse-engine car)? And how long should I expect to take for this job? Does the engine have to come right out? Or can it simply slide forward if I remove the radiator? And should I also be replacing any other components at the same time (timing-belt, water pump)? The car has always had 'clutch-judder' when starting from cold, but this has always disappeared when the engine warms up. I recall some mention of a special clutch-kit that cures clutch-judder, but I can't find it on the forum using the search function. Anyone know the part-number for this kit. Any advice would be welcome.

The question of Subaru oil dipsticks comes up regularly on this Forum. NOTE TO SUBARU: If you can muster enough engineering resources to have have fixed the Head Gasket issue, then PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE have someone redesign the oil dipstick so it is easy to use. It can't be that difficult.

I find this language distasteful and unnecessary. I enjoy this board, and there's lots of good info here. I certainly don't agree with everybody, but I am not qualified to know if anybody is a 'moron'. And I don't see how it helps to be offensive to others.

I didn't realize that some Subaru engines, e.g. H6, have horizontal filters (fortunately my Forester has a vertical filter). I've had other cars with a horizontal filter, and I curse the engineers who designed such an awful arrangement. Each time that I have done a filter change with a horiz filter, and got covered/splashed with hot dirty oil, I have wanted to drag that design engineer under my car and insist that he change my filter in front of me, so that I could laugh in his (oily) face. Ha! Ha! Ha!

I've always had a 'kill switch' in my vehicles. In pre-electronic-ignition days, my kill-switch was wired to short-out across the contact-points in the distributor. With the switch closed, the starter would turn over, but there would be no spark. And now with all that computer stuff under the hood, my kill-switch is wired in series with the clutch-pedal switch. As someone else has mentioned, the starter won't turn over until the switch is closed. I've always located the kill-switch just below the instrument panel, not visible, but within easy reach. Perhaps not the most secure place, but easy to activate without drawing attention. And I usually use a double-pole switch. One pole for the kill-switch. And the other pole to simultaneously light a red LED in a prominent location on the instrument panel. I saw a TV documentary recently, in which a 'retired' car-thief explained that he just ignored cars with red warning lamps, since he didn't know what the lamp meant, and in any case there was another car a few feet away that was less trouble to steal.

Maybe this would be a good time to lubricate the lock. Try spraying a little WD-40 (using the straw thingy) into the lock, and then jiggle the key in and out multiple times. This will help to lubricate the tumblers and other internal widgets. Works well on door locks too.

Hey, I've never scrolled down to the bottom of the page to see the 'Similar threads' listing. Thanks for the tip.

My new 2002 Forester came with Champion RC10YC4 plugs from the factory.

When you cut open the filters, I suspect that you've also opened a can of worms....:-\

Thanks Frag. That's interesting info. When I've mail-ordered from the US, it is a bit hit and miss with taxes and duties. Sometimes the parcel gets delivered without any extras, and other times I've been hit with all the taxes and duties. But at least now the CAD/USD exchange rate is much better (for Canadians anyway).

Model and year? The only help that I can offer is that on many models, the two green connectors are for interrogating error codes. I'm sure that someone can explain how they work.

That's good to know. Thanks for posting.

I have a 2002 Forester without a sunroof. Shortly after buying the car, I looked into the possibility of installing an after-market sunroof. I looked under (above?) the headliner, and discovered a structural rib crossing the roof, exactly where a sunroof would go. That rib would have to be removed to instal a sunroof. I've no doubt that many sunroof suppliers would have no problem doing that, but it made me decide to abandon the idea.

The technical term for that is: Stinkin' Hot.

When I measure my fuel consumption, the capacity of the fuel tank does not enter into it. I just fill up completely each time. And I reset the trip-odometer to zero. Then I use the current fill volume and the distance since the last fill to calculate either: Litres*100/km (to give me L/100km); or else: miles/gallons (to give mpg). It's that easy! Having said that, I find that a single reading is not really accurate, because the level of the final 'fill' is variable. Some pumps 'click off' too early, and others too late with the gas up into the filler tube. So my spreadsheet also calculates the fuel consumption over the last five fills. I call that a 5FMA (5-Fill Moving Average). I find that useful to observe long-term trends.

Please explain how putting two people in a car changes the circumference of a tire. BTW: 'Circumference' is the distance measured around the outside surface of the rubber tread on a tire.

It's a silicone sealant: http://www.threebond.co.jp/en/product/series/sealants/1100list.html

My own take on this is that 5000 RPM is too high for engine braking alone. I would use 3rd gear (instead of 2nd), and limit the engine to no more than about 3500 to 4000 RPM, by using occasional pedal braking.