Hello from Sunny SoCal

[shiftyXTI]

Hey USMB!

 

I just bought my first Subaru, and officially my first car with my own money! I previously drove a 97 Honda Accord Coupe which was shared with my dad and after that a 97 Lexus ES300 that I shared with the girlfriend. The ES started out as her car 5 years ago but recently got into a small accident and got totaled with 207k on the clock, which led to finding and buying this lovely Red wagon.

It's a 2000 Impreza Outback Sport with stock everything except head unit, which was installed with a pry-bar it seems. I am the third owner and bought it with it's timing belt and water pump replaced but there is still an occasional squeak from one of the accessory belts. After a couple days owning the car I replaced the fluid in the Diffs with Mobil 1 75W-90 and did the first half of the tranny drain and fill, next weekend I will re-drain, change the ATF filter and re-fill with Mobil 1 ATF. I got new tires and an alignment last week and the whine from the rear diff is gone and it rides and shifts smooth.

I hope to learn as much as I can from maintaining and gently modding this car, the most work I've ever done to a car previously was take apart a center console or replace a worn half shaft on the ES 300. Still, I've found plenty of good DIYs and have been reading up the FSM to start fixing the little things.

 

Like that belt squeak - it's only when the car is cold and only for a few seconds before it goes away. The power steering belt looks brand new and I was told it was changed, tension looks good. The AC belt is maybe a little looser but does not feel loose by my approximation but the belt does not look as new, although it doesn't look worn, I'll grab a tensioner for a few dollars and check and adjust

Otherwise, I'm looking for a retractable cargo cover and hopefully free up a bit of money for something other than steelies 

 

-Sam

Edited May 30, 2014 by shiftyXTI