the mirror's auto dim feature started to slowly fade away about a year ago...and today the oil started to show up! has anyone R&R a rearview before? 02 wrx

This is pretty common with autodim mirrors. There's no fixing the mirror once it starts this phase. You can check eBay for Donnelly or GenTex autodim mirrors with Camlock type mounts as they are the brands that Subaru uses. Donnelly was the supplier for the earlier units (which tend to break more often due to the gel they use for the autodimming feature), and now Subaru has GenTex units which dim green. You can search autodim mirror and read about many other owners that have had this happen to them before. There are owners who haven't had issues with this yet - a somewhat rare bunch, however :)

One thread per topic please-
http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1102194