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Hi everyone. After some deliberation and a fair few banged up old cars I finally settled on a 2004 Outback. It is the 3L model but not the premium so gets the leather but no sunroof.

Delivered options include mudflaps, boot mat, rubber floor mats, roof racks, tint, headlight covers, towbar/trans-cooler package and bonnet stone protector. Aftermarket it got a nudgebar and IPF spotties.

150,000km with all services by the book and by subaru dealers. It was a newcastle car that went to mudgee after 50,000km and now it has come to me.

I will do oil, coolant and brake fluids over the next week. I have ordered 2 tensioner/idler pulley bearings and a new belt and will change them pre-emptively when they arrive.

Questions:

The onboard computer reads average 9.9km/L and I wanted to know if this is consistent with other peoples H6 economy? Car had a bunch of receipts for recent purchases of 98 octane so I assume the previous owner was using this.

Subaru reckons the transmission should have a fluid change at 150,000km. What do people reckon about fluids? The Subaru ATF-HP or Castrol transmax-J are recommended fluids and I can do it at home, how much is likely to be needed? Can you access a torque converter drain plug at the same time?

Finally, the front brake calipers make a little rattle when traversing the goat tracks (sorry meant to say NSW road system) but pad thickness is about 5mm on each side. The bolts are tight but the caliper does move a little on the mount. It looks like changing for thicker pads would fix this but is it worth it yet considering there is still plenty of life left in the pads?

Very big congrats and that's a very very pretty vehicle.

Glad to see what it is after the teasing post in the last thread.

Gonna need to change your signature now.

Yep, that is very pretty

Very nice, bet you're happy

There is a procedure for flushing the oil that involves disconnecting the pipes to the oil cooler and sticking the suction pipe into the new drum of oil and letting the discharge pipe into a large container where you watch the colour of the oil and switch off the engine when it changes colour. I recall you need about 10l of new oil to do this.

Sent from my new touchy phone thingy

Thanks Gannon.

Yeah, I read that the other day. I wish I had a hard copy of the FSM as it makes great light toilet reading!

I have done plenty of research on the American sites in particular about transmission fluid. The owners manual recommends Genuine ATF-HP, Idemitsu HP, or Castrol Transmax J.
The parts guy at the local dealer said that Transmax E is the replacement for the discontinued Transmax J and that it is now a fully synthetic blend.

The schedule says it is time for a fluid change but I am stumped about what fluid I can use. It is a pale yellowy colour and doesn't smell burnt at all, just like ATF should. Is it worth dumping the pan and refilling?

Julian

I used Penrite MHP for mine, but it is just a standard 4sp. Later 5sp tiptronics may have a higher spec. If the fluid is pale yellow it would seem like its not worth changing at this stage.