cww516

Good to see that the tradition of enabling is still strong!

Having just gone through a similar headache on my Baja not too long ago, you don't want to leave it with a stuck slide pin. I tried doing that, figuring maybe if I at least got it to turn, it would loosen up, but it just made angry noises and kept dragging. I was able to eventually get the pin freed up (with heat, penetrating oil, a bench vise, and channel locks), but the caliper bracket is $26.79 on Rock Auto, and the slide pins and rubber bits are pretty cheap as well. If you leave it stuck like it is, braking performance will be a lot worse than it should be, you'll probably end up right back where you started pretty quickly.

I would ask them to at least flush the compressor out with compressor oil before they recharge the system, and make sure there's no glitter in there. Zero displacement on a piston pump means that (nominally) the pistons don't move, but it doesn't mean the pump stops rotating- if the internal bearings are counting on the oil that's normally in with the refrigerant for lubrication, they might be pretty unhappy right now. It's also worth noting that having the HVAC set to "auto" can still run the A/C unless you specifically hit the button and turn it off. There's a chance everything is fine, but I'd probably take the more cautious route just in case it's not, so you don't end up having to replace everything else downstream if it turns out the compressor did fail.

Chalk up another victory for the Wayback Machine- looks like the most recent archival saved the pictures: https://web.archive.org/web/20221223102952/https://www.subaruforester.org/threads/subaru-oil-filter-comparison.99130/

I've been using the Wix 57712 on both vehicles for a while, and neither one has blown up, so I guess I don't have any complaints. I think my main reason for going that route was that it was new-ish (introduced the higher bypass pressure setting) and well-recommended (or at least well-hyped) right around the time I discovered that Fram makes/made the OEM filters with the same cardboard innards that they use in the OCOD. I actually bought a 12-pack a number of years ago from the link below, since both of my vehicles use the same filter- as of today, the per-unit pricing including shipping beats everybody but Rock Auto, assuming you're already ordering something else that ships from the same warehouse. Down to my last one, though, might be time to reorder... http://www.discountfleetsupply.com/wix57712.html Edit: Looks like Rock Auto would be $0.15/ea. cheaper (including shipping) if you buy 12. I have other stuff in my cart right now, and adding filters royally screwed up the shipping prices...

Building on what GTEASER suggested about letting the fuel pump prime for a bit- how long do you generally wait between turning the key to the "run" position and turning it to "start"? Not that a 2007 Focus has much in common with the 5th-gen Legacy, but a friend of mine had the check valve at the fuel pump go bad, which resulted in the fuel system losing prime when the car sat for a while. Started hard if you stuffed the key in and immediately cranked the engine over, but if you stopped at "run" for a second or two, it fired right up. In that situation, the solution was to do nothing, since the check valve was part of the fuel pump carrier (and, therefore, expensive), and they were already shopping around for new cars anyway. I would assume that our cars have a similar check valve, probably also integrated into the fuel pump carrier (and, therefore, expensive), but I guess I don't know that for sure.

Speaking as someone with a ~214k mile Baja with thoroughly clapped-out rear diff bushings, that's more of a solid clunk right when you engage the clutch unless you slip it just a little- those bushings are probably about 1.5" or so across the inside of the steel outer ring, and it doesn't take long for the mounting studs to slam from one side to the other. What I get in the Baja feels more like an expected bang than an unexpected bang, if that makes any sense. I can't claim to have experienced this issue in my LGT (before or after damper delete or rear diff bushing inserts), but I don't recall ever getting anywhere near the same hard clunk as I get in the Baja. I don't get it now, either, but my OTS stage 1 tune doesn't hold a candle to what you've got going on. The fact that it's only happening in higher gears would probably lead me to look at the clutch first, since that's usually where you'll start to notice a worn-out clutch slipping- direct- and over-driven ratios push back a little harder than the under-driven lower gears. Onlething to watch out for on the rear diff bushing inserts, when I did it, one of the nuts pulled the stud out with it. Not a big deal, I just put a little loctite on it when I put it back in, but it's something to be aware of. I was just looking at bushings for my Baja the other day, and based on the amount of rust under there, I don't think I have a prayer of getting the nuts off of that thing without it backing out the studs...

It very well could be- the damper extends how long it takes for the clutch to fully engage, so what you're feeling could very well be the clutch slipping a little before finally grabbing.

Maybe some, but probably not as much as you're hoping. I'd have to wander out to the garage to look at the one I pulled off of the Baja, but I believe those studs are both anchored into the same steel plate, so as long as that second stud is still there and tight, the bottom of the mount can't really go all that far. Not really what you'd call ideal, though, that's for sure. The Group N mount is more or less solid rubber, as compared to the OE mount that has a couple of big windows through it. Definitely helps some, but it's no silver bullet. Here's the link I have bookmarked for the one I bought: https://www.amazon.com/Subaru-D1010FE020-Transmission-Mount/dp/B00I7967OO ...and for comparison, here's a link to the stock one out of the Baja (should be the same as the Legacy unit- I moved the OE piece from the Legacy over to the Baja when I installed the Group N mount in the Legacy, didn't really make a difference): https://www.amazon.com/Subaru-41022AC180-Transmission-Mount/dp/B00I798SFK

According to this thread, it doesn't look like Tapatalk is in the cards, or at least, not in the immediate future.

I definitely looked into what I'd need to MIG weld stainless at one point. Never actually went anywhere with that, but the thought of "what if I just, you know, fried up a set of headers?" did cross my mind. I've also only used my welder twice since I bought it, both times with the little spool of flux-core wire that came with it, and I still haven't bought a gas bottle for it, but it sure does look nice at the back of the garage...

Yup, generally 3 will do it. Only issue is that "drive cycle" is a pretty specifically-defined in terms of duration, engine speed, etc., and those 3 cycles need to be consecutive. My Baja has a flaky rear O2 sensor (intermittent, so it's probably the sensor heater), but since most of my driving is done around town, the light tends to stay on more often than not because I rarely hit 3 "drive cycles" in a row.

You can pick up a can of mass airflow sensor cleaner for quite a bit less than that- there's 2 screws holding it in to the airbox outlet, pull it out and give it a spritz. May or may not solve the problem, but it's a good idea to do this as a routine maintenance thing. ...which reminds me, I haven't cleaned mine in a while, probably ought to get on that.

Yeah, that sounds correct, now that you mention it.

I do, but the only gnarly thing about mine is the piston slap on cold starts. Edit: and the exhaust leak, too, I guess. The muffler gasket gave up the ghost at almost exactly 200k miles, and I've been too lazy to replace it.

One of us, one of us...

Government mandated, no less!

Believe it or not, the lower fuel economy with the Pennzoil Platinum High Mileage was actually a selling point for me- the little chart comparing a bunch of oils suggested that fuel economy would be better with the regular formulation than with the high mileage stuff, so I said "huh, must mean the high mileage oil is higher viscosity" and picked up a jug. No idea if that's actually the case, but I was 150 miles overdue, out of T6, and standing in the store needing to make a decision.

I made the same discovery recently, and I ended up going with Pennzoil Platinum high mileage 5W-30 because it seemed like the thing to do at the time. I used to run the standard formulation before I switched over to T6 and didn't have any issues with it, so I'm not expecting anything to fall apart on me. I'd rather give up the higher viscosity at operating temp in favor of keeping the 5W for cold starts, especially in winter. I'm not going to claim it gets as cold around Oshkosh as it does in Duluth, but I wouldn't call it warm. My 206k mile Baja, on the other hand, definitely appreciates the extra viscosity, so hopefully SOPUS figures out how to resolve the shortage before it comes time for the 210k mile oil change...

Just for the sake of comparison, I think the factory fill (which I replaced with Motul at ~70k miles) did better in cold weather than the Motul does. Both turn into molasses on cold startup when you get down into the single digits, but I don't think I ever had to double-clutch in order to downshift into second with the factory stuff. For whatever it's worth, I put Super Tech (Walmart) full-synth 75W-90 GL-5 in the Baja, and it's much happier shifting in the cold than the Legacy is. I seem to remember reading that the 1st- and 2nd-gear synchros are made of something different in the '10+ Legacy 6MT than in previous iterations of that transmission, though, so that could be an apples-to-oranges comparison.

Motulgear 300 is good stuff, but from my experience, I wouldn't expect it to improve cold-weather/cold transmission shifting at all. Now that it's getting colder out, I'm finding that I have to double-clutch to get back into 2nd, and 1st is usually a fight.

If I had to choose only a single modification to make to my car, that would probably be it. I'm not as far down the rabbit hole as some other members (and with my timing belt interval coming up in ~500 miles, I can see that rabbit hole deepening), but it's hard to overstate how much of an improvement it makes. Also, if you wouldn't mind, report back on how that transmission fluid cocktail works out for you in the cold. I'm running straight Motulgear 300 at the moment, and I'd say dropping down into 2nd is a little more difficult than the factory fill was until things warm up a little. I've never been able to get back into 1st at anything over about 5 MPH without double-clutching, and since I'm awful at double-clutching, I just settle for taking off extra slow in 2nd. My Baja feels almost identical in that regard, so that might just be a fact of life for these transmissions.

Yeah, man, screw those cancer patients on immunosuppressants. And those losers who have severe allergic reactions to injections, they should just sack up and deal with having their throat swell shut. Small price to pay so Penguin can live his #bestlife.

Could be worse- you could be in a state/area/office with all of the resentment, none of the masks, and nowhere near the vaccination rate. I'd guess we're at maybe 50% in my office, substantially lower than that out on the shop floor, and I haven't seen a mask since probably the beginning of June (not that I saw many before then).

The vaccination status thing may have been a bit of personal bias peeking through, so I apologize for that. The point I was trying (unsuccessfully) to make is that refusal to take any sort of precautions isn't okay. Don't want to be vaccinated? As much as I may disagree with that point of view, that's an individual's choice. Being unvaccinated and acting like we're not in the middle of a pandemic (ie. refusing to wear a mask), not okay. Best analogy I've come up with so far is drunk driving- drinking is okay, driving is okay, but your right to drive is taken away if you've been drinking, because you're endangering the lives of people around you. As far as the pseudoscience homeopathy thing, I think it's fairly common for the parents to see criminal charges if their child dies because the parents used healing crystals instead of taking the kid to a doctor. I'm not a parent or a DCFS agent, though, so that assumption isn't based on much more than (hopefully not misplaced) optimism and what I've seen on the internet. No, the irony of using this as an argument against misinformation is certainly not lost on me.