hmmmf. I'm still confused. it does seem to be running a bit smoother now (400 miles later and fill ups at different gas stations)
I took the engine up to 6K repeatedly going to and back from truckee since then, no CEL. I'll make sure to get my 30K service early , chalk it up to bad gas , unless there are other recomendations someone may have ???
Oh and lucky me ! I ran over a nail or something on my way down , or while in carson. when i left the subaru dealership my back end got very fishy on me so i stopped to check tire pressure. Driver side Rear was flat

i pumped it up to 38 , drove across town and it was down to 32. drove up to tahoe and it was still at 28 at my house. i tried some fix a flat stuff, and refilled it to 36. but the leak got worse and it went all the way flat. So i'm back on my snow tires for a week or two (had to pick a friend up @ truckee that day)
hopefully i can stop wrecking my subaru for a week or two here.
[as per suggestions i'm off the k&N too]