[socal1200r]

Well, apparently it was like has been suggested, one of the front drive axles became "unseated" from the differential. The trans shop tried explaining it to me, but I got the general idea. They think when my springs were installed, the shop that did it pulled or yanked on the strut or surrounding area, and loosened the drive shaft without knowing it.

They replaced the axle seal, cleaned up the bearing area and spline, put everything back together, drained/filled the differential. They also bled the brakes properly, so now it brakes like it has s/s lines.

I told the trans shop guy now that it's running right, I might drive it down to NC next week to close on a house I bought. He strongly suggested that I do a drain/fill on the rear differential, so that way I know both diffs were done at the same time, and to make sure the rear diff doesn't foam away on the 5-hour drive round-trip. Got that done today, so it's good to go.

Also had the "check engine" light come on for no reason, car seems to run just fine, no obvious reason why it should come on. The code reader at the shop that did the rear diff fluid change couldn't read the code. So I drove back to my storage, disconnected the battery for a few minutes, reconnected it, and the light's off now. If it comes on again over the next few days, guess I'll pay a visit to the local Subaru dealer and see if they can read the code and tell me exactly why the CEL is coming on.