boon

Do you know if it was an OEM one or aftermarket? Assuming the car is an '06 Outback I'm guessing aftermarket. As a guess, the red wire will be +12V, white will be the video signal, and the shield will be the ground if there's no other conductors. I would be really surprised if it was not 12V, unless there's a module somewhere that's stepping the power down. Usually they're 12V and just take a tap off the reverse lights.

Well, there's not much you can do about it now other than hope it makes its way to your oil filter and stays there. EDIT: I guess you could get a wet vacuum with a thin tube on the end and try to slurp as much as possible out? Assuming that gallery is the one that feeds the head, the first place it goes is the camshaft caps, then there's a few different places it can end up. I suspect if it gets as far as the camshaft/rockers it will get squashed to a microscopic paste and just become part of the oil. All the kinda "sensitive" places on your motor have their own filter basket, like the AVCS solenoids. The turbo, hmm, I can't remember if there's a filter on that banjo fitting. I'd say there's like a 98% chance it just ends up in the bottom of your sump or in your oil filter and goes in the bin next time you do an oil change.

Man that TR option is about as close to an STI as you're likely to get nowadays. A shame Subaru NZ doesn't bring a few in.

The cars are pretty much identical. I think the tS gets like... heated wing mirrors, some slightly fancy dampers and an STI badge on the steering wheel. It is a little bit odd that they don't offer a manual tS but that's the reality of most car brands and their extremely limited customisation these days.

Dealer techs aren't going to be the greatest source of what is normal, usually, because as you highlighted, 99% of the cars they see are the "ordinary" ones, whereas obviously a place like ClubSub or some niche Subaru guy is going to have a concentration of "weird" Subarus. As you have clearly discovered there's a pretty enormous list of possible variations of axle+diff centre+diff housing, each possibly having a unique configuration. Don't overthink this one. If you can think of a way your rear axles could come out during normal operation without there first being a catastrophic failure of some suspension component I'm all ears.

I'm about 95% sure that when we did the diff on my STI the circlips stayed in the diff.

What model alarm do you have? Sounds a little bit like you might need to re-pair the remote(s), buggered if I know how you do it, you probably need the overrride code which is usually entered by turning the ignition on and off. Meanwhile your alarm will be freaking out and the siren will be howling, unless you've got the override key for that and can switch it off... or smash it off the firewall and drop it in a bucket.

Hmm okay maybe it is a more curly one. Is it caused by _any_ load on the engine (having the car in gear will slightly load it, viscous coupling blah blah blah) or only in gear? Try loading it up a bit (Air con, headlights + heated seats if you have them) in Park and see if it dips. How does it run with some throttle? If it was a spark/miss issue I feel like it would be more pronounced with more RPM and load, things like coils or plugs usually behave like that. It does feel a little bit like a slight air/fuel problem. Inclined to say a very small vacuum leak (more likely after the throttle body) or perhaps an issue with one of your exhaust oxygen sensors, although those usually throw a CEL.

EThrottle cars don't have a IACV. They just open the throttle a bit when they need more air. So, uh, the spark plugs. How many did you pull out? And if you pulled them out to inspect them, why didn't you just put new ones in? "Rough idle. Haven't changed my plugs. Any suggestions?" Yeah I've got one I can think of...

Brand new OEM 12mm pump is $150 on amayama btw

Q1. No, no gains, if anything you will slightly _lose_ as the aftermarket rods and pistons are potentially heavier, less well balanced, and not quite as good a fit as OEM. Assuming identical geometry, i.e. not gaining/losing compression. Stock turb and intercooler are never going to push the limits of even the stock internals if everything else is happy. Q2. I wouldn't bother just doing one. Either it's a forged build or it isn't. As to whether you would replace the pistons.... if you buy used pistons, you have no idea of their history. If you buy new pistons they're going to cost you about $500 for a set for stockies, is it worth it? I'd say probably not. Q4. The only factory internals I'd consider an "upgrade" are V7 STI EJ207 pistons and rods, and they're >$2000 for the pistons and around $800 for a set of rods, at which point you may as well just go aftermarket. Q5. Head gaskets, OEM. Rebuild kit in terms of bearings? YMMV. OEM are probably going to be the most reliable at stock power levels but might cost a metric assload. Q6. Yes, it's fine. Honestly unless #racecar where you have specific oil pressure needs, dicking about with the oil pump seems to lead to more problems than it's worth. Q7. As long as you weren't way out I'd probably nana it to the tuner, especially if you had slightly dropped compression rather than adding it. As long as you were comfortable it was driving well enough to make that trip safely. Anything turbo is kinda fundamentally variable compression anyway because the actual resultant cylinder pressure could be just about anything. With that out of the way.... I wouldn't bother with a rebuild to factory spec. A better option, IMO, is to just keep driving it on the assumption it will blow up at some stage, and in the meantime get another block and start building that one up properly (forged etc). Then when yours finally gives up the ghost, you have the option of throwing in a bigger turbo or something and making a bunch of power.

Have you checked if maybe your $5 Aliexpress "alarm" is faulty? I'd start by confirming the output from the module with a multimeter. Secondarily, have you considered that maybe trusting your car's security (and safe operation, cos when the ignition switches off at 100kph in the middle of the night, whoops) to a cobbled together collection of s*** that was probably assembled by child labour at 3am is maybe not ideal?

I'm about 90% sure this is spam. Prove me wrong.

bruh, lol I mean come on. Re. the oil drain bits, AFAIK due to the tiny inlet restrictor built into the bearing housing these don't need to drain that much? The tech manual seems to think a fitting with ~0.4" bore into a 1/2" drain line is adequate.

First issue is going to be that your BF5 probably has a cable driven speedo, and the 2001 probably has a hall-effect vehicle speed sensor. I have no idea if they are interchangeable.