First Repair - Wheel Bearing

Based on the mechanic's inspection of my Forester, the rear wheel bearing needed to be replaced.  While this was not surprising it was relatively expensive because of the labour involved.  I had read on more than a few forums that the wheel bearings in this model are subject to failure and often needed to be replaced sooner that anticipated from 'normal' wear.

This is parts break-out of the rear wheel assembly, the bearing is the round thing in #4.

The final bill from the mechanical bill was about $450.  The mechanic welded a new section in my muffler pipe where it had completely broken in two and I haven't heard it since.  The wheel bearing was cheap but is a hard job that basically requires taking the whole wheel unit and suspension apart.  They said that the rest of the car was fine and that I had got a good deal on a 'nice little car'. 
 I left thinking that I had a dependable vehicle, but there were still a few bugs that needed to be worked out lurking on the horizon.  Mainly this had to do with the check engine light and the codes that the computer were showing.  Basically they told me that MAF (Mass Airflow Sensor) was not running at full capacity and that the rear oxygen sensor was bad but that this wouldn't affect engine performance. I asked them to check the plugs and wires and they said they looked fine.  A few weeks later I would find out that the plugs and wires weren't fine and were the cause of some skipping and hesitation that I had experienced on occasion while driving to work.