Judd

Tim Farmer (Subbus) is a mobile Scooby mechanic based in Lincs, he's done work for me incl aux pump delete but that was on a 2.5T Forester, whether he can do the same for you i know not. He's noted for good work around the various Subaru forums, reluctant to post his tel number openly and unsure if there's a PM option here or if i've earned the rights to it yet but if you have a poke nose around the Subaru forums you'll probably alight on him. There's also Zen Performance at St Ives Cambs, not mobile.

If you put these search words into Ebay you'll find several suitable complete units for sale, course i can't guarantee the joints arn't seizing, some Chinese knock off brand new kits for around £40. ''headlight level sensor link''

I suggested a Levorg to a friend of mine when he was looking for a decent estate car different to the endless German clones, he test drove the only one we could find in the county and was quite smitten with it but the Subaru dealer would not budge on the (in my humble) inflated price, he ended up with a really quite nice A4 Diesel estate instead, so didn't get something unusual after all and i'm a little concerned his typical running won't keep the DPF happy, but so far so good.

2.7 twin turbo, Diesel PSA engine which also found its way into Jaguars if my memory serves?, linked to a standard RWD vehicle of much more modern design with a very slippery shape, Diesels are much more efficient than petrol engines, hence why almost all vans and trucks are Diesel powered. Somehow i doubt that V6 will be running as well as your Scooby when its 21 years old. It might be worth servicing your brakes properly, ie all pads out exercise the pistons in their bores, remove the stainless anti rattle clips that sit at the top and bottom of the caliper, wire brish the calipers and those clips before refitting, re-assemble using the correct brake grease on the sliding pins. Japanese cars all suffer with salt corrosion issues of the brakes, it might be yours are dragging a little more than they need or you could have a seizing piston or slider causing excessive brake drag. Good brake servicing is something we should all do at least every other year, preferably annually in the spring, few garages service brakes correctly, peering at them and squirting brake cleaner in their general direction is not servicing the brakes.

You're doing mid twenties mpg, depending on the type of driving you do that's about right, you might get early to mid thirties if you drove open roads at steady constant speeds, but for general running about mid twenties is par, this is the downside of full time 4WD. Those with turbocharged Scoobies have seen figures of 15/17mphg when driven hard or in stop start traffic.

Job went well, glad of the impact rattle gun mind because the caliper carrier bolts were in tight, didn't want one snapping off, rears just needed cleaning lubing and the pistons exercising, might slip new pads and discs on the back next year. Knees giving me some gyp now so didn't get round to swapping the gearbox oil out. Used Delphi parts which were really well priced, usually use Brembo, be interesting to see if i notice a difference. Noticed quite a difference driving on the summer tyres/wheels which are 17" 55 aspect whilst the winters are 16" 60 aspect, soon get used to the feel no doubt.

Changed the engine oil earlier in the week, so easy and clean witha Fumoto drain valve, whilst underneath noticed the front inner brake discs were developing a bit of a wear ridge, removed calipers and discs after work today i think those discs were originals, painted the unswept parts of the new discs (hate seeing rusty discs) re-assembly tomorrow. Will service the rear brakes too, and may change a sumpful of autogearbox oil whilst in me overalls. Swapping over to the summer wheel/tyre set at the same time.

Same as any car if you want it to last, here's my suggestion this is what i do to all my vehicles. Service it as if its never been serviced properly before, it's my experience that most vehicles never get serviced as they should, it may not have seen a gearbox oil change and who knows if the diff oils were all changed, then full strip clean and lube up with the correct grease of the brakes, brake fluid flush and coolant renewal. If we ever get global warming (the warm bit that is not the green tax scam) and this winter finally ends, once the salt has been washed away by the late spring downpours give the under side a damn good wash down and then apply some decent rustproofing product to the subframes and suspension parts, what you do about cavity and nook and cranny rustproofing of the bodyshell is up to you. Enjoy your new car.

Wasn't an easy fix, never ever failed to proceed in N, so left it.

Had this with the previous Outback, would once in a while not want to engage the starter motor in P, shift to N and it would start every time, suspect the switch gets worn/pitted/dirty whilst in the P segment.

Mine on the Foz was worse because the ball joints within that headlight level sensor had seized solid, so as well as the bracket had to replace the link, for the link i bought and altered slightly an adjustable suspension level link from a Toyota Landcruiser to fit (found on ebay i think), for the bracket i used a corner bracket from a diy shop designed to repair chipboard so a matter of 50p or so, but any piece of fairly sturdy angled steel would be fine with the right holes drilled through. In theory the genuine bracket should be cheap even at Subaru dealers, but wouldn't surprise me if you have to buy everything involved and you do not want to know the cost of the link, i'm not mean honest guv just fed up to the back teeth with having me knicks pulled down by everyone from Doris DePfeffel Johnson downwards. Note people, make sure you grease those little ball joints before they seize solid.

Don't blame you for the solution Duffsaw, but not the ideal solution for the UK because MOT inspectors are hot on DPF removal (even if the now gutted canister remains in place) and i'm sure there's insurance implications too. You won't get any stick from me because DPF is a pita in cars and domestic 4x4s, in lorries they've got it pretty well sorted unless the vehicle is on short haul multi drop work, even then the latest vehicles are fitted with switching so the driver can regen on command whilst stationary if the vehicle needs it and the type of running won't allow a normal regen on the move.

This is one of the best tyre review sites out there. https://www.tyrereviews.com/Tyre/Vredestein/Quatrac-Pro.htm he also posts some decent vids on youtube. My own thoughts about Vred Quatracs, at one time they were one of very few tyre makers offering snowflake stamped proper all season rubber, daughter's cars were both shod with Quatracs (2 and 3) in the past and whilst not a tyre test they kept both of them out of trouble, but haven't tried the later variants. I've run other Vredestein tyres in the past too and no cause for complaint. However, there are lots more tyre makers in this market now and Vred are no longer the only choice if you want winter capable all season rubber.

This is farcical but without the humour. So these eco miracles are dependent on your driving further than intended in order to keep them healthy and even then it's a toss up if its going to work, well done, as insane as having to drive a modern Diesel further than intended to allow the DPF to regenerate, which sounds OK in theory but seeing as the car itself decides if now is the moment to start regen you might drive nowhere 50 miles only for the regen to start just as you pull onto your drive, course something as simple as a message/warning light that regen is about to start would be too much info for the average car buyer according to the makers, perish the thought that a switch to start regen might have been made available. Can we please stop now it's no longer even slightly amusing, rewind the clock to the 90's and in some cases early noughties when car design and manufacture was at its pinnacle and the entire world hadn't allowed lunatics free rein to ruin everything. By the way this lunacy is now infesting lorry world, my wagon has a smart charging system which has already killed both batteries @ 2 years, and odd mornings the thing only just starts weeks after new batts were fitted, never had this situation back when things were simpler,

Top rate road tax for one, anyone's guess what the future holds in store on that account. Thirsty too. Other than that you'll have to be more specific in what you want to know, what sort of mileage price and auto/manual choice.

This is really interesting the responses so far. Subaru owners are proving to be individuals with minds of their own and not falling for the mainstream narrative, this is not the usual case out there among most people who have fallen for the hysteria hook line and sinker, i wonder if this is the same on other make specific forums, somehow i doubt it, individuality can be found here. I'm a lot older than most here, it's rather refereshing knowing not everyone has been taken in by the state broadcaster and mainstream, in other places and on other forums those not 100% in agreement with whatever the state decrees minute by minute is attacked.

Both our Outback H6 and Forester 2.5XT have done around 22/23mpg general running about with a mix of town and other roads, doubt any of the older models 4 pots with a turbo will be much better other than on a longish run. LPG is the answer if it suits you, having a spare wheel well toroidal tank i refill the Foz at around 150 miles for £20ish with fuel @ 56ppl, if that was petrol it would be more like £44, though on petrol alone it would probably be 10% better on fuel and have slightly more oomph. As said Subaru driving isn't about fuel saving, what makes Subarus unique is the way they can cover the ground in complete safety almost regardless of road conditions within reason, what other vehicle can you take off at full power from a T junction in any weather bar ice/snow without a moment's hesitation or scrabbling for grip and the car just throws itself down the road, wet bends just point the thing and it will do all you ask of it without any drama, Forester can move swiftly smoothly and confidently down the bumpiest of twisty roads without any grip issues, that grip and safety comes at a fuel cost however, if its too juicy or taxation unfriendly then you have to look elswhere these are not cheap cars to run, but you will struggle find that combination of good points and awd durability anywhere else for the equivalent purchase price.

Yes to Volvo brake issues, son had an S60 and when we stripped the brakes found one of the park brake shoes had delaminated the friction material, apparently a regular issue which in extreme circs can lock the rear wheel solid. Like you most of my maintenance is DIY, and i always overservice my cars because i've found it pays in the long run. Brake issues are a serious problem on cars, with good reason, because as far as i know (and this might have changed since we sold the Hilux, the only new vehicle i've ever or will ever own) apart from Toyota not one of the maker's servicing requirements involve proper routine brake servicing, where brake pads and any drums are removed, parts cleaned checked and re-assembled with the correct lubrication, most of the car buying public don't have a clue about such things themselves, how many people apart from the generally more mechanically minded and sensible with money East Europeans that may live near you, do you see ever doing anything to their cars other than washing and polishing the topside, i'm sure half of them have never checked an engine oil level in their lives, our trouble is finding those rare used cars that haven't been neglected all their lives, increasingly difficult. The bills your previous owner suffered has some competition, we bought a 10 year old Merc W124 E320 estate, one owner jobbie with every receipt inc the original invoice in the file, basic car cost £31k in 1993 and had a grand total of £19k in extras fitted (still wasn't as high specced as your car in standard form), but the service history read like a blackmailer's wet dream, no bill under £500, some around the £3000 mark yet the two MB dealers never failed to top the bill up to max with piddling amounts for windscreen wash and sump washers etc, aircon system failed replaced twice (and still wasn't working), self levelling suspension replacement in the £thousands, everything that could fail did fail and continued in the short time we owned it. Rust issues are just the same with Landcruisers, again almost all down to where its lived and the care previous owners took, got very lucky with my present one, well heeled previous owners living in the south really looked after it, if i hadn't found this one then a JDM grey was on the cards. Have JDM prices really gone up so much, when i last looked about 4 years ago Outbacks were pretty sensibly priced, Prados like mine reasonable. On fuel, we had the previous shape H6, 2002 model, on petrol or LPG it generally ran around the 23mpg mark general running, my commute is not an easy journey, about the same as the Forester XT, i would have expected your Outback to be slightly better being newer.

Car lived in the North all its life presumably? subject to heavy salting every year. The problem with Subarus and Japanese 4x4's in general (i own a Landcruiser 120 series (Prado) too), is that they are very very reliable and first owners sadly do not always take care of them as they should, i'm referring in particular to so many owners not giving the slightest thought to washing the salt off the underbelly every now and again during the winter, and especially around April time when every car shold get a decent underbody wash down to remove the encrusted salt. Last year especially will have taken a heavy toll on subframes and brake hardware in particular due to national house arrest courtesy of the lunatics in Downing St, many cars stood during the early rains when simply being driven would have helped remove the salt for the bone idle who can't manage this simple task for themselves, this especially applies the further North the car lives due to the heavier salting used. Yes 3.0 litre powerful full time all wheel drive automatics are heavy on fuel, but you'd be pushed to find any petrol engined all wheel drive of a similar size and power of a similar age that would be any better, that fantastic all weather unshakeable grip comes at a cost. The thing with these cars is to find one that isn't rusted underneath to start with and then to take some action in rust prevention yourself to help prevent it getting any worse, i rust proof all my cars soon as i get them, they get washed underneath regularly and will all get a mega clean in April when the salt has gone and then i'll have them up in the air and fully strip clean and lube the brakes (all Japanese cars suffer from seizing calipers if you don't service them properly) and then top up the rustproofing as required, i make it a policy never to buy a car that's lived in Scotland or the North because you're starting out with a rusty used example to begin with unless you were lucky enough to find one with a rare decent early ownership. Talking of fuel, our Forester XT is just as heavy on fuel as our previous Outback H6, had them both LPG converted, it's not the answer for everyone but suits us.

From the sounds of it the LPG system isn't at fault as by the time its warmed up and its running on LPG you say the light has gone out by then, or did i misread? I don't think you need an LPG specialist, yet, you need someone competent with the right equipment to find out which cyl or issue is causing the engine light to flicker, someone familiar with Subarus would be best, but not essential i don't think at this stage. Flashlube system will have a container, usually holds about a pint, of an oil which is usually clear or slightly amber in colour, genuine flaslube is amber but there are other makes miuch lighter in colour just as good, the container could supply via a small pipe to the inlet manifold by vaccuum, not ideal on Subarus, or it could feed into a small unit that pumps the fluid via one or several small bore pipes again into the inlet manifold itself, if you don't have a lubing system it would be wise to get one fitted, you can get kits and DIY this if you feel up to it if you have trouble finding an LPG pro. When i fitted new plugs to the previous H6, also running LPG, they were OE spec NGK's but either Platinum or from memory more likely Iridium so able to take the much hotter burn of LPG without degrading, never had any issues with them, nor with the NGK Iridiums the LPG shop fitted when they converted the present Forester. When your H6 is ticking over is the engine smooth, it should be absolutely still and able to balance a full cup of coffee on top without spillage, my son and i went to buy an H6 once at a dealer, compared to my older H6 the one we looked at was running lumpy especially in tickover, the flashlube bottle was bone dry, suspect VSR was already an issue there, we walked rapidly away.

Your car is behaving exactly as it should. Car LPG systems are not meant to run from cold on LPG, the evaporator or whatever its called has water from the cooling system pumped through it, the system is only meant to switch on when a pre determined tempertaure has been reached, usually these are set when fitted so you cannot override the temp sensor ie switch to lpg before the temp is reached, and in any case switchover is normally fully automatic. Haven't a clue why the check engine light is coming on. Do you have a flashlube system fitted and do you keep it topped up, you should because LPG running on our engines without flashlube will cause valve seat recession without fail, if there is no flashlube system fitted then any decent LPG installer will fit one for you, not an expensive job at all, preferably an electronic system due to intake design. Gas4cars at Woburn Sands fitted the system on our Forester, whether they would be prepared to work on yours i don't know, would depend on what make of LPG system is fitted, installers tend to have their own preferences in makes and all the software needed to program the system. You might find an LPG pro here https://www.lpgforum.co.uk/

Go here https://cv.don-brakes.com/online-catalogue/ should end up here https://www.brakebook.com/bb/don/en/PKW/107/10158/applicationSearch.xhtml open brakebook, select your make and model, brake pads will be displayed as a diagram with dimensions, compare with current pads then compare with what's on offer at your chosen supplier online or motor factor, all should have diagrams and dimensions shown on their site or catalogue. looks to me like there are two differing part numbers depending on engine code has a B suffix.

Lots of damp salt thrown up on the way home from work yesterday so gave the Foz a wash and a good water spraying underneath concentrating mainly in the wheelarches to shift some of that salt before it dries on and does its thing, lovely warm and sunny outside one could easily be lulled into imagining winter is over.

Thanks MrB, i'd never heard of them before, how i read it there's free delivery over £140, by the time you've bought any pair of discs plus pads all round you're not far of that for the the stuff we run.

If you're taking a wheel off, suggest you whip a pad out too, then stencil it pressing hard on a piece of card, both sides, that way not only do you have the correct pad sizing, its an easy double check you have all the correct parts before starting full dismantling. I do this when i first service a new to me car and keep that piece of card in the service records, makes buying parts much easier months or years from now when you've forgotten the sizes you need.