hi, my name is kate, i have a white impreza awd turbo (facelift not blobeye) that i love, ive had it for three years now and she is getting old, i love my cars but im no mechanic altho im perfectly happy working on them if its something i know what to do. i would like any suggestions on how to 'spring clean' its engine a bit, its just not running as great as it should, its had a full oil change very recently but what else can i do to basically bring it back to its former glory, any suggestions and advice will be gratefully received, thanks

Heloo & welcome, we have loads of classic owners here that will point you in the right direction,

Feel free to get stuck in and post up some pucs

Welcome to the club. When you say not running right, in what way do you mean?

it just feels a bit rough, lacks a bit of power, pulls ok in 1st, good in 2nd, great in 3rd, flat in 4th and 5th, and if you accelerate hard the power can sometimes cut off and on and kind of jerk the car a bit, when in idle it can race a bit then slow down... that kind of thing... 

Are you running it on v power or 'normal petrol' ?

May benefit from a new fuel pump (I noticed smoother idle ) maybe have a look at the maf as they can get dirty at times

thanks...its on vpower usually

Have you checked for fault codes?

If it doesn't throw up any codes it's prob a faulty coil pack. My classic was running a bit lumpy and after replacing coil packs it ran much better.

thanks, will try that  :)

If its been off the road for a while first thing i would do is give it a stage 0 tune.That consists of oil and oil filter,new plugs and leads some fresh fuel and fuel filter,change air filter check tyre pressures and condition of brake pads and discs.Once done drive it on the road and if the problem is there you can rule out the stage 0 tune then move on from there.

 its never been off the road since i got it 3 years ago.. and im a hard driver, it really needs some extra tlc as its developed some rattles and slowly gotten rougher, its also brutal on fuel even when driving sensibly and gotten worse...its been decatted but that was before i got it, 

Wotcha and welcome - check codes as suggested but it could be plugs or coils breaking down  - injectors may need a clean, if the fuel pump has not been changed in the last 10 years that could be starting to lose some of its pressure...??