DaveT

As soon as you connect the battery? Or soon after running it? I don't know justys. Do you have full schematics?

Wow, that sounds stuck. I have never done only 1 side. I figure whatever stressed one likely damaged the other. I have used old shop knife blades as wedges to get hEads or whatever to separate. Use 3 or 4 of them around the perimeter, tap them into the gasket to avoid hitting the metal.

Something I discovered a while back - when you are ready to disassemble an old engine, run it to normal operating temperature. Then immediately start working the bolts and fittings loose that are likely to be stuck. Alternatively, use a heat gun and a space heater and a cooking thermometer to monitor heating the block.

I have always had good luck with Fel Pro kits for my EA82 engines. [except use only OEM for the intake gaskets]

There are a couple of different tools for different types of bands. A good parts shop should have them, just bring a band.

Ah, I'll look at that first. I can test with a loose antenna first.

My first Subie, I used to lug more than was good. Wore the silvery coating off the conn rod bearings. These engines are not big old V-8s that make power at 2000 RPM. One of my EA82 engines, I got when it was 2yrs old, 15K miles. [bought the whole car at 2YRS old] I put Amsoil synthetic in it, and their filters, and bypass filter. Never changed the oil, only added as needed. Towed 1000Lbs on a trailer, sometimes with loads of stuff in the car also. Often it saw over 5000 RPM winding up to highway speed. When I disassembled it to reseal at about 150K miles, the bearings were still in factory spec limits. Still has the factory crosshatch in the bores. Wrist pins still in spec. It is now in one of my wagons, still running strong. A different one, got with fairly high miles, used. Switched it to the Amsoil setup. It was run low on coolant, worst case I ever had. Even got run on the highway with 50 / 50 mix of water and oil in the crank case. On the highway, at 4000rpm. A number of times before I realized what was going on. Blown head gaskets. The conn rod bearings were ok, but not new spec clearances. wrist pins, a little loose. Did the reseal. It ran great, but burned oil like mad. 1qrt per tank of gas bad. Amsoil was too expensive to use at that rate. I had spare engines. I decided to use up all of my old oil with it. Used waste oil, atf, mixed 50 / 50 with whatever cheap oil I could find in it. Even most of the mixed oil & water from the blown head gaskets, a little at a time. I ran it for years, until one of the heads cracked. It even passed emissions at least twice. Similar driving style and loads. Long story short, tough little high rpm engines.

Is it just mine, or are they all nearly worthless unless you park under the transmitting tower? The stock radios in my 25 year old loyales were better. I recently upgraded them with Nakamichi radios, so I guess I'm going shopping again.

The 2.5 dohc blew headgaskets a lot. There is a lot more info and details in the newer generation sub forum. I never had one, so what I have picked up came from those threads. It's nearly unanimous to stay away from ej25s. The mod I have considered is swapping an ej 2.2 into a Loyale ea82 which is a 1.8. It's something like a 50% HP increase. It's been done. More power upgrade than that, you'll just spin tires all the time and /or blow the rest of the driveline. Somewhere I had found a list of Subaru engine models and thier HP ratings that made it easy to compare. The SPFI ea82 is noticeably more power than carbed ea82. Iirc the main difference between EA81 and ea82 is the overhead cams. Some have put the SPFI onto ea81s.

Typical indication of alternator failure.

The ej25 is notoriously unreliable.

Correction - 6500rpm redline. They just don't really want to get there.

Obviously don't go too close to that for too long.

Ah, that's different - ea82 red line is 6000.

I don't really do offroading. But my ea82 powered 4wd 3 speed automatic wagons see 5000 to 5500 rpm getting going in 2nd onto the highway. Keep the cooling system good, use good oil.

If the idlers have anywhere near 100k miles, replace them all.

I have a moderate amount of experience looking at engines. Low rpm high tourque ones have noticeably wider connecting rod and crank bearings than high rpm low torque engines. If I remember correctly, EA81 lower end is very similar to ea82. Ea82s start making power around 3500 rpm. And perfectly happy spinning 4000 on the highway.

From all the various threads I've read on here, the easiest, lowest cost, reliable, significant hp upgrade is to ej 22 it. None of the options are easy. I doubt turbo or supercharger would be cheap. Both increase stress on the stock lower bits of the engine, which are solid, but that is why they are reliable. There are a few things that can be done that are either expensive or time consuming to get small increases. Side note, these engines make power at higher rpms, so downshifting is preferable to lugging.

Under the hood does not seem like a good idea to me.

you need to connect everything engine electrical related. Except don't really need the alternator. When I did it, I had a spare transmission, so I could mount the starter also. Ran water from the garden hose through the cooling system instead of a radiator.

Verify 1,2,7. Then thermostat. Radiator -- flow and fins.

Trying to think of what might cause both supply and return to get hot.... High side seems maybe low? I'm thinking the compressor is working, since the work is showing up as heat in the lines. The A/C section of a factory service manual has a LOT of detailed troubleshooting information. IF the condenser was not getting sufficient airflow, the system would be unable to cool properly.

The thing in the picture is the fuse able link box. All of the high amp circuits go through it. You would be best served to find a factory service manual for the full schematic and all the section pieces with details. There may be a link around for an online one, or ebay. It would help to know if the engine is SPFI or carb, and year.

Usually there will be a build up of gunk where the leak is, if it is so slow there is no liquid evidence.

With a known coolant leak, I would be checking it a lot more often than that. A quart low is pretty dangerous. I have no experience with the 6s. But it is typically death to headgaskets to overheat while low on coolant.