Mr B

On the 2.5 you got treat the HG like a service item , not that big a deal caught early .

Trouble is lot of the airlocks you get could be combustion gases that forced through at specific running temp points that effect the sealing ability Can be reason for leaks too as strains older pipes and radiator. Everyone hopes it a leak but continuing coolant issues on the 2.5 tends end up head gasket, they all fail no exceptions even non turbo 2.5 same issue . Main thing is not ignore issue and get to bottom of it in timely manner ...

Best way test these is with gas analyser at the radiator cap, from your remarks of oil film and smell it should conclude issue in seconds . It better than the chemical tests on the subarus with intermittent coolant temp fault . HC don't have to be bad but indeed if head or pistons for example allowing some oil bypass and poorer combustion pressures then gas readings will show it to some extent. Gasket issue on these is normally always external flow and any engine damage is normally more from overheating rather than fluids mixing or burning heavily (low comps and fluids in cylinder easily diagnosed and to what severity) . Trouble is as most hard spot and still run well they get ignored and owners try function around the issue and make it bigger mess ..

Looks normal wear debris to me (see it every day on boxes and diffs), on drain plugs with magnets attached you get what on your rag when wipe them clean or stick finger in around casing at drain point . If oil totally full of metal and got a shiny metal marble streak when stirred then yeh you may got issue. Very very rare have huge amount metal particle without noise or some usability issue . Keep an eye on it and if got doubts get advise from trustworthy mechanic and do quality photos of drained oil and filtered debris .

Can tell nothing from that, pretty normal have a grey powdery paste unless all the oil was that way Would have see the whole drained oil in person to give you a real worthwhile opinion. Have they sieved or run magnet through oil and found any bigger metal fragments rather than that pretty normal surface wear paste in the photo ? If box making no noise and working A1 I wouldn't go jumping the gun but rather drain and check oil again after few thousand miles ...

If you after performance you not really going be type of guy trying achieve million miles from a air filter or even 10% of that lol . Just buy quality dry panel filter suitable for the maf and has half decent filtration and cosworth or ramair both are great products and sensible prices. k&n milk the marketing and hike the price in quite a vulgar way .

cosworth and ramair both quality panel filters . not biggest fan of k&n

Yes any M30 will do BUT be sure have one working remote or pin code supplied with used unit or it useless unless got sigma software program it . With one working fob you be able program your key fobs and set the 4 pin code any decent breaker always sells them with a fob, expect pay more than £30 for workable option .

Seen them fail in various ways, sometimes motor runs but drive failed, sometimes seized, sometimes carbon build up stops it seating fully or opening full range. All of which can be detected by the ecu monitoring and can flag the money light if code criteria match to ecu received sensor/conditions data . Generally new egr only way go, sometimes you can clean them but we only tend do that as a quick fix during diagnosis so owner can carry on like normal until job booked in or part delivered . egr is a consumable product due to harsh job it does, It's true value in emission and environment impact is somewhat overestimated as it has negative effect engine lifespan, mpg and service parts waste during a vehicles life, much like the dpf while making nice numbers at tail pipe under test conditions if review exactly how it achieves that and the negatives it has on reducing mpg/power and increasing parts/service waste over vehicle lifespan it a long way from environment marvel .

The 2.0 n/a Forester normally pretty cheap with only rear struts and front window motors being the normal issues. Newer handle fine but not always cheaper maintain . If you fancy better acceleration you maybe better going back a year to the 2.0 XT SG model and make effort find proper tidy example with impeccable servicing . Plenty about and normaly easier find the XT clean and tidy over naturally asperated models that get used like baby landrovers . I can normally find tidy XT in 2 or 3 months while a SG could be half a year for proper nice one . Reason going 2005 or early 2006 is purely road tax class ...

The egr has inbuilt position reference that part of the logic of how ecu knows it failed, unless parts guy examined a egr or read the fault logic criteria he ain't going know that, pinout and code criteria data will show you exactly how it controlled and monitored by ecu .

2003 to 2007 be donors will find same pump on legacy outback etc . I would want be fairly sure it is pump not just winging part at it on a hunch . check belt tension and check fluid and check rack movement with front end lifted Pumps do go on these so not uncommon one . You'll find a pump easy enough either eBay or contacting couple breakers .

^ you can send a damages claim into your local council . i've supplied paper work for couple customers over the years, if do your homework and got the time it gives the useless councils some agro and some of you money back 😄

force the wheels out and cut/bend anything needed to get glass up and out . Have wasted fair bit of time on window mechanisms either due to corrosion or damage, can be a ballache due to restricted access .

you going swap over the mechanism . worth the hassle if door straight and clean . used part assemblies always tend have some hangups, even more so if had courier handling as well .

the rear windows meant tilt to some extent near end of travel as do it due to door shape for arch .

Rear right on a SG is probably blue and blue with red trace for the window motor . polarity reversed for up/down Any doubts and simply pull door card and power it right at short 2 pin pigtail connector from the motor ...

Would be better pulling door card and visual inspection on window mechanism and check voltage supply to motor right at the motor pig tail connector if you think it not getting power, a headlight bulb would be a 5amp load and makes a good circuit integrity test light . Sometimes tapping the motor gets them working if got a dead spot on commutator .

Get them from ICP yourself and give parts to garage . whether get pump is entirely up to you, for standard road car waste of money if oem pump in perfect order, We normally like doing tensioner but give owners choice on that if passes inspection and they wanting keep cost sensible . using anything other than japan mainland oem manufacturer bearing parts on important job like this makes the service pointless imo, quality issues in after market parts currently is appalling and half the struggle of doing a good job without hassles is from experience of parts/brands .

The warm up diesel knock is another issue with them unfortunately ... Can't recommend early diesels, we won't even sell any as too much of a reputation risk . For large diesel powered awd estate I would recommend Volvo .

Water pump just needs inspection really and if was needing replacing be sure it either oem or top quality japan parts like aisin . The standard original pumps are that high quality that even at 100K perfect order and better than standard quality pattern parts (we see oem pump at 150K and fine but this sort of mileage best replacing) All idlers best replaced (normally all less than perfect) but again oem japan sourced ONLY (cheap from ICP) tensioner needs inspection/replacing, if not oem to start with it best replaced, I like the dayco or blueprint belts. No need cam lock tool, 2 bull dog clips is all that needed and dayco belt has oem style alignment lines on belt making super simple install ... Hard say price good or bad as depends on parts used, I will not use any kits as most do not have mainland japan oem bearings or decent water pumps (gates bad one for this) We charge 395 for belt, all idlers, tensioners oem japan, aisin/blueprint pump, coolant and dayco belt .

they better but not cured ... If you not doing massive miles annually then any dpf diesel best avoided .

Yes ... potentially scrap on wheels when goes unless willing spend out serious money . We could pick up tidy good history 09,10 subarus with dead diesel engines for 400-800 on a monthly basis all pretty local but they not worth repairing really as market value pretty low and most times engines not really good enough rebuild and even with newest revision crank it not cured and other revisions to block etc plays a role ...

economy remap might be okay, wouldn't want do anything drastic to it or sink to much money into one, 09.10 worst of the bunch but even later years while got better still have potential crank failure and it a spendy mess when happens .

Keep the dmf, crank got enough issues as is without removing the damping the dmf provides . Only aftermarket kits we will use is LUK .