jfacker

Actually there were some CEL instances indicating misfires before the EJ25 was removed. So I guess it's possible it spewed out a bunch of junk into the cat. I drove the car for quite a while with the blown gaskets (and suspected this probably wasn't a good idea, but hey, I needed to get around). As long as it didn't approach the redline, it just produced bubbles through the coolant. If you pushed the engine too hard, though, it would blow out the coolant and overheat. Ah, those were the days. At least I was getting better gas mileage.

Hola USMB-ers, Last year my 1998 Outback got a nice new CCR 2.2L engine to replace the 2.5L with blown head gaskets (gasp! yes, it's true). The fuel efficiency started out OK but has gone badly downhill over the last year. I'm getting about 15MPG in town and 20 on the highway. Not good. Plus, I've had a gas-like smell on startup (like gas, but not gas from the pump, maybe gas mixed with something else) you can smell inside and outside the car for a few minutes after starting the engine. AND the car has thrown the CEL with the 420 code quite a few times now. I don't remember for sure, but I think it may have been throwing that code BEFORE the engine replacement. Help! Is my cat clogged? The car idles unevenly and feels like it wants to take off at stop lights (putting the car in neutral helps). And the performance is awful, as in, mash the pedal, and nothing happens. It's hard to get the car to downshift if you need speed in a pinch. A local mechanic suggests doing both O2 sensors before doing the cat, but I don't want to waste time if the cat's clogged anyway (would bad sensors explain the smell?) Any thoughts you guys have would be GREATLY appreciated. For reference, this is a AT, not a manual, with about 180K miles total (only 8K on the new engine). Thanks, Jeff

Hi everybody, I'm new to this forum but I've found some helpful info about doing the 2.2 to 2.5 swap in my Outback, which I'm having my mechanic do as a solution to the infamous 2.5 head gasket failure. I'm trying to track down a '95 2.2 engine and I've been doing BBB searches on businesses that have them in stock. It's tedious and I'm wondering, are there any large parts resellers that people on this board would recommend; companies that you've had GOOD experiences with? A friend recommended Midwest Engine Sales, but I googled them and found a horror story on nasioc, the impreza board. They seem to do a lot of business so maybe it should be taken with a grain of salt, but it's a pretty ugly story. Any advice you guys have to offer would be greatly appreciated. I'm in Santa Fe, NM and obviously, the closer, the better, but I'm willing to cough up some freight fees to get a good engine. Thanks, Jeff