Mr B

Yes Any breakdown recovery guy should be to speed on manual release for automatics. Dragging it onto a flatbed is barbaric :-O Sudden notice of drive issue in cornering & wheelspin would suggest LSD issues .

I would also look at the xt2.5 ppp. Not much to look for really, good service history, clean oil, no piston slap, no signs of coolant loss or overheating & no body repair. sti tend be overpriced or less than perfect, xt2.5 ppp tend to be a steal & tend to be low mileage & unabused. Forester is more versitile over gtb, better resale market & far far better parts & service support options. A bike will go in back if wheel off but not the best for that, rear seats are split so can still seat people in back & a bike.

You have a shifter release on those under the cover to get out of park. Think your recovery crew need sending a repair bill & need go back to school ... Rough handing of the job could indeed of damaged LSD's

Yep always complain with motorfactors on price & if you sound knowledable ask why not trade rate. I pay around £50 for decent batteries with no quible warranty & never go budget brands as do't want hassle from !Removed! batts or warranty coming out of my pocket.

Yeh probably, not a brand I tried but price reasonable. Would try your local motorfactors too as they would be easier in terms of warranty returns 3 or 4 yrs & batteries not being used much tend die quick so you may find that useful for a free fresh one in few years ;-)

I would upgrade SWMBO to a lower emissions model :-D Not seen any common brands cover the frameless version. What make are yours stants ?

Think dealer only real option on frameless window foresters. front & rear kit is heading towards £200 I think, they are very good fit & quality though. Try more than one dealer as some will be cheaper ecspecially if got some stuck in stock & want clear them. I have some on my old SF & they not bad . Don't see many SF or SG's with them though .

I would of gone with quality camber bolts on strut/hub mount. Those camber bushes are a PITA in fitting & adjusting.

Knocking !? Do you here or feel the knocking or both ? How much steering lock is needed to cause it ? Does it happen left & right lock ? Do you here any noises when turn steering while stationary with engine running ?

Best bet if removing the standard unit & throwing it in the bin & getting after market unit custom fitted Doubt ashburton MW will be any real help on the sat nav long term.

Those diesels have been known have a few clutch issues although your dealer won't confirm that fact. You should get it checked & if no improvement through adjustment or repairs to the pedal & clutch release system it may need new clutch & dual mass flywheel & that big money so best get them sort it under warranty & don't fall for any dealer fluff on it as expect you paid decent price from the dealer & to be honest the should be doing all this prior to sale.

Funny thing is you can have almost 100k for belt & pulleys in some countries. I would not recommend to a customer on fitting a new water pump on a 50k-60k run of the mill subaru if it checks out ok & is original subaru pump as throwing quality parts away that would easily be serviceable till next belt service. I tend to always do pulleys on stuff unknown but cars we serviced for long time service record with us we run on alternating change & never had a failure. We also do all pulleys every change on all high performance models or extreme/special use.

Changing pulleys & pump every belt change interval is a bit un-needed, ideally can be done every other change for all but extreme use such as heavy track car application. You also need to remember the UK belt service points are very very low compared to other country service spec from subaru.

Should be right, check it is a 4 wire sensor & if so I suspect that correct. P013 codes always relate to first sensor. Could try ICP (import car parts) if get stuck on your current supplier.

short trip driving is about the worse you can have for an engine. Oil never reaches full temp for long enough periods to remove moisture & fuel from oil. Best thing you can do is use a decent synthetic, ester based if can afford it & change perhaps at 3000 mile intervals or 2 years which ever comes first. You can never change your oil too much but then you also don't want to be wasting the oil from extreme over service.

Yeh they basically same in principal as both types are hydraulic. Your type has the hydraulic over spring assembly in the separate alloy cylinder that then pushes the piston onto a tab on the pulley. Later type has the pulley & hydraulic over spring assembly all in one working as a pivoting arm. I like the earlier one too as hydraulic unit stronger & the pulley is stronger in mounting too. Got that type on my old 95 Legacy ... Not everything new is better, bit like front wishbone bushing idea on the 05 onward foresters went a bit junk ...

Yeh the original pumps can go for years as superb quality, i've seen a few original pumps at close to 20years & almost 200k. I tend to advise on pump around 100k but if pump seem good when inspected it can be chanced, once over 140k I don't give them choice on pump. On performance subarus I would insist on new quality pump at 100k, just don't like chancing it on well wazzed motors ... Main thing is replace with top quality jap pump from ICP or BluePrint. Only around £50 Meyle pumps ok for run of the mill cheap subaru budget option (£31) but likes of Circoli should be avoided at all costs. A 150k mile original subaru pump would still be better than a tat Euro Circoli pump.

I would of personally bought the kit off of ICP as only like maybe £60 more for idler/pulleys to be included. You can get away without replacing them but that depends on car mileage & known history. Same goes with water pump over 100K I tend to be inclined to do it for extra £55 for quality Jap pump. waterpump acts as idler on back of cambelt so some pump failures can fubar your cambelt. Subaru pumps are damn good though so not something that should be done on engines first belt change but on 2nd or 3rd it getting good idea. Tensioners are all hydraulic driven by spring & oneway restriction valve mainly due to the boxer belt run length.

Yes you got that right. diagnostic code will highlight particular sensor. With no other running faults it is likely a Lambda & the work in harsh conditions so never surprising after 13yrs use.

OBD2 dongles are cheap I bought 2 before xmas on auction from HongKong at £3.08 each. couple of links below but not as cheap as fixed price. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ELM327-Car-OBD-OBD2-OBDII-Wireless-Bluetooth-Diagnostic-code-reader-Scanner-Tool-/261565896842?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item3ce68ad88a http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ELM-327-Bluetooth-BT-OBD2-OBDII-Car-Diagnostic-Scanner-Code-Reader-/221678007212?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item339d09f3ac If you don't have an android phone I can link you to a PC diagnosyic sofware for a notebook. Other option is using cable & the FreeSSM software which gives you close to main dealer diagnostics. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/400786919123 You could also buy a autel reader which has handheld unit with lcd but they not so versitile. Besides the CEL do you have any running symptoms ? O2 sensor is quite easy remove but best do codes first as decent sensor not cheap. Main thing with fitting is to not handle the sensor nose or use sealants on thread as these things could poison a sensor easliy. Could even be broken sensor cable so check that should diagnostics be pointing to Lambda Sensor.

With your mileage & the vehicle age/mileage I wouldn't bother. Just sensible maintenance with attention paid to using top quality engine oil should keep you going for quite some time. Looking at a very decent independent subaru specialist would be good too.

Belt a bit loose, tightens via alternator adjustment ... belt works hard when cold as pump harder drive so normally squeals more at this point & when apply large amount of lock. Do check belt condition closely as if heavily cracked on inside ribs it may be wise buy a new one (not expensive) Belt link below > http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Subaru-Forester-97-08-2-0-2-5-Petrol-Alternator-Fan-Belt-5PK880-/251912379770? * do also check power steering fluid level * Glad 2 here MOT jobbed :-) Don't buy a newer car they not as good :-P (seriously)

Well they are coilovers but they not high performance or great performance. Spring rates are ridiculous & on public highways they are dangerous. Subaru 4wd like good travel in struts which makes most of grip & chassis design. Spring rates on these kits would require a super smooth race track to be usable. All the low cost ones are basically same design & taiwan made junk. decent coilovers will cost more than twice this price. Look at options from Bilstien, lowering springs for current struts or cross fitting better inverted struts to your model perhaps.

probably best idea. I would look at sti inverted struts & wagon springs then get springcoil make custom springs using wagon springs as reference for changes (height/spring rate) I get few cars in with cheap coilovers & most owners end up changing as the cheap coilover range is all same junk with different branding. Bilstien, Ohlins, Proflex is the real stuff with one strut about same price as whole set of the taiwan tat ... I have done Bilstien inverted inserts in nissan struts & with good springs & setup they make your normal low cost coilovers look like the junk they are on road or track.

so the strut rod only has 3" of travel from full droop to full compression :-O With struts like that it next to impossible to set rod to a central point of travel & ride hight as want as both adjustment come from spring perch. set central they only have 1.5" of bump compression, dumped low the rod could be 1/4 to 1/2" off bottoming out of travel. From my experience of coilovers, types with 3" travel & single adjustment are next to useless for proper setup . problem you have with softer longer springs is they will like a strut with more stroke range & also want bottom platform adjustable to set height while spring platform used for setting rod position/pre-load & corner weights. Going be big gamble playing with springs I think ...