[naz]

you posted a while back of 'alternator whine' on your subaru right? are you absolutely sure it was the alternator? an old subaru loyale i used to have, it had bit of a 'high pitch whine' kind of sound when it first started.. i thought it was the alternator also.. i never cared to find out since it was a $200 beater, but i am almost certain it was a warning sign of rod bearing failure since i spun a rod bearing going 20mph at low rpm.. i heard that whine one more time and that then.. severe engine damage (the car made it up the flatbed truck ramp on its own power though!!!)

its probably not anything you did that was the exact point of failure, but rather the cumulative effect of many many thousands of miles of hard (abusive?) driving at the hands of many ppl.. i mean.. you dont know how many clutch dumps from redline.. how many autoX events with the engine bouncing off the rev limiter etc etc... its the risk of buying a car used, esp a car with some 'sporty' intention.. trust me i stay up quite a bit wondering about getting a used subaru myself

o well it happens.. time for a jdm wrx/sti swap :)