silverton

'fix in a can' never works, but I suppose it could be worth a try.

If that's the general consensus I would honestly start with the cheapest pair you can find, and work your way up. Pave the way and do the research for the next person with your question!

If you replace your battery at home, and don't feel comfortable replacing it while the car is running (just be careful with that positive!), when you start the car let it idle for 20 minutes. This is the "idle relearn procedure". If you don't do it your car will be very grumpy when coming to a stop and will likely stall.

I believe there is a TSB that addresses this. I do not remember what year/models were covered. I believe the fix is a redesigned torque converter so it makes sense a rebuilt old one would present the same issue.

The fanciest wiper blades I've ever bought were the RainX ones. You can get quality blades on rockauto for $5, I generally go with whatever is cheapest cause... it's a wiper blade, how much technology can we get in there?

Fair enough! I don't have a lot of experience with the start stop system, other than a '19 Forester for a short time, but I do remember being impressed how long the engine stayed off while the hvac was going.

It's also very dependent on what is going on in the cabin, you may need to be more conservative with your AC/heat, etc..

check the motor for a reman badge, those shouldn't have consumption issues, but still can. 11-13 foresters are by far the worst for the consumption issues. EJ's don't generally consume internally, they'll let you know on the bottom when it's time to do head gaskets. If you're dead set on an SH, I'd stick with a '10

Picked this up on Monday, just shy of 58k on the odo. What do you guys recommend as some 'nice to have' mods for these things? This is the newest car I've owned; prior to this were my two 2001 Impreza RS/Legacy GT. My biggest gripe so far, there is nowhere to put my phone, which seems to be a common complaint with this model. I've already purchased a CourseMS phone mount as it seems to be the cleanest looking one without detracting from usability of the rest of the car. I'm also thinking about doing the diode dynamics fog lights and 'tail as turn' module cause that just seems neat.

Did you replace the brake pads yourself? Did you put the Brake Control Module in to brake maintenance mode?

Your OE thermostat lasted 170k miles, why not try one of those?

There's no way that much coolant would evaporate over two weeks time, that's more like 9-12 month fluid loss. Even with the overflow bottle the system is pretty well sealed. If it was being pushed it out, it would look something like a leak, as it generally gets all over nearby components and leaves a residue. With it being minor, and no noticeable external leaks, you could have a small internal leak into the combustion chamber. Which would produce a thicker white smoke, not to be confused with normal steam from the exhaust system warming. If you were really curious you could pull the spark plugs and see if any of them look cleaner than the others as an internal coolant leak will steam clean the combustion chamber. Are you positive there are no external coolant leaks? Are the tanks of the radiators wet where the aluminum is pinched on? If there is any "grey" slime looking stuff where the head gasket is; that would be coolant mixing with the oil.

According to the FSM, if you have codes 302, 304, and 306, it recommends replacing the spark plugs, replacing the fuel injectors, checking the compression ratio, and finally verifying mechanical timing.

oh now that is some carnage!

Can you get pictures? could it be coming from the AVCS banjo bolt that feeds from behind the timing cover? If it's actually coming from the head gasket it'll need to be taken apart again and redone with a new gasket. Sorry I haven't been following this thread, did you get the heads surfaced? I've had to crank some motors an excruciating amount of time to get the pressure light to turn off.

Did you disconnect the battery? If so did you do the idle relearn?

That's the OE hose, paint dots are from the factory. It was cut down on the one end that has rough edges from some other damage and should have been replaced at that point and not reused on what you received. I wouldn't be too rough on the place you bought it from to start, mechanics are only human and we miss things. You'll get further being nice; obviously make them replace that hose and bleed the cooling system, but see if you can get a written promissory note of some sort like "if engine fails within X miles we'll X" kind of deal. And then if they give you the middle finger give em that earful. Since you kept the temp out of the red your engine should be fine though, replace that hose, bleed the cooling system and send it.

you'd make money from the recalibration too... I'm not saying it is necessary, I'm not saying it's not... just who wants to fuck around with a safety thing? It's like saying "yeah, these $25 brake pads are probably good enough" yeah... they probably are... but do you really want to fuck around and find out?

we always did eyesight calibration with windshield replacement at the dealer i worked for

I'm built exactly like that! It's nice cause I can fit in most seating positions, but there are times where I get in someones car and feel like I'm 6 years old. can't reach the pedals or the wheel, "HOW DO YOU DRIVE LIKE THIS??"

The park switch is an independent circuit, so you have some figuring out to do there. if the park lights work in the second position on the headlight stalk, but not the third, i would replace the headlight stalk. according to the wiring diagram the switch connects to the park light circuit (not to be confused with the park light switch circuit) in the second position, and then when turned to the third position for headlights, it passes through the park light connection in the stalk so, something inside the switch isn't working. just for information, the park light switch is connected to fuses 14, 15 and 16, the headlight stalk and park light switch go direct to the tail/illumination relay on their own circuits, fuse 14 is hot at all times.

the forward bushing of the front control arm is in the engine cradle/subframe, the rear bushing is bolted to the body, either of those bent rearward would push your caster negative and give you less adjustment. The rear camber is likely one of the links in the rear, possibly the trailing arm(the one the strut bolts to). I know they make aftermarket arms that give you more camber adjustment

10 years. +/- 2 years.

Have you replaced the front right control arm, if it's bent rearward it makes sensor for that much negative caster? Somethings gotta be bent in the rear too. Fix the caster and you can likely get the rest of it in spec. camber, caster, toe... adjust in that order. if the one before is out of spec by too much, it won't have the same adjustment as if every thing were straight. But honestly, with total toe and steerahead in the green, just keep up on your tire rotations and it'll be fiiiiine.

My vote is PS steering fluid if you can't quite track the smell, atf is unique and many people spend their whole lives not knowing what burnt atf smells like. axle grease smells awful.