johnceggleston

why not just install a FWD trans. some of the early ej cars had a 3.7 final drive in the FWD, i'm pretty sure. is that a "taller gearing"? when you say 2WD do you mean RWD or FWD?? i don't know if manual trans can be converted to RWD???

if this is an AWD car and the front and rear tires are different sizes you will have torque bind, kill the AWD aspect of the trans and place excessive wear on the rest of the drive train.

also see the attachment in this post from this thread: (i would be interested to know if both processes work on the 95 - 99 cars) http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showpost.php?p=729049&postcount=37 taglines: reading transcodes, flashingATTemp light, readtranscodes, flashing ATTemplight

you seem to have a good understanding of the problem. easier than installing the lock switch, unless you want it for later, is to unplug the wiring harness connector on the top of the trans at the rear of the engine, passenger side, at the fire wall. there should be several large connectors, i think the largest one goes to the trans. this will put the trans in limp mode, driving in 3rd gear only, and it should 'lock' the wheels in 4wd. you need to know. no 4wd then you go in one direction, yes to 4wd then another. you can tell by driving tight slow circles. i've never tried it in 3rd, should be interesting. also you can read the trans trouble code pretty easily. there is a black connector under the dash to the right of the steering column. ground out pin #5 and the AT Temp light will flash the code. search for a post of mine just yesterday in a thread with more info and a diagram, also with a link to an older post by porcupine73 for more info on reading the codes. EDIT: http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=115676&highlight=668867 i just posted this link yesterday: http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showpost.php?p=668867&postcount=5

yes, they moved the abs tone ring from the hub to the axle. the abs sensor is still mounted in the knuckle, but it must be "turned" the other way. i haven't played with an 00 - 04 knuckle yet.

why do it with water, couldn't you just do it with air?? rig a piece of piping form the top hose to the bottom hose and plug or cap the heater hoses, and pressurize it. how much pressure. 10 psi ? or more?

rumor has it that the blocks are the same, but if you want to put the old style tensioner on an engine that has the new style you will need the"mounting bracket" as well. so the change date and the part number are meaningless, if you have access to the brackets. i have not done this but it is likely just around the corner for me. i really don't know if the old or the new or both has a bracket, but the tensioner matches the bracket, the blocks are generic.

the 00 - 04 axles are different, but only in that the tone ring is on the axle. this is different from the 90 - 99 axles. BUT, you can knock the tone ring off of the axle and still use them. i have done it. and when buying axles from a parts yard, younger model years may be in better shape. so if you remove the tone ring you can use those forester axles on your 95 - 99 car.

i do not know all the ins and outs of the universals or the EAs, but i got mine a little bit off so i would have to say no, the outbacks are not like the EA cars in this regard.

i don't think so, ground the connector and see. the "procedure" requires the manual button be pushed, you don't have one.

http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showpost.php?p=668867&postcount=5

my guess is that these things were / are lifetime lubed at the factory and oiling it is going to have to be repeated unless it is replaced. but if you don't have to oil it very often, no big deal. the only challenge in replacing it is getting the steering wheel straight. once you remove the u joints the wheels and the steering wheel can both turn independent of each other. if one gets turned a little during the installation the steering wheel will be off , a little.

no.

if this is piston slap i'll be really surprised. i have that in my 97 obw. i have never heard of piston slap in a pre-97 ej22. i thought the lighter, shorter piston was part of the cause. the car was hit on the right front and the shaft was broken about 2" behind the cam sprocket. at one point i thought it may have been oil but there was no indication of scoring or heat on either the broken shaft or the head. could the accident cause a bad rod or other internal problems? no miles to speak of, i tested the engine without the exhaust and didn't actually drive it until i got the cat pipe welded and re-installed. so maybe 5 miles. i'm a little worried to drive it too far with the knock. i don't much want to have to tow it. what do you mean about "a bunch of crap in the exhaust"? causing smoke? will do. i can only hope. thanks for the help. it may be a few days before i get back to it.

2 things: the 16 flashes means there was a fault the LAST TIME the car was driven. if, when it's flashing, you turn off the car and start it again with out driving it you will / might clear the report. meaning, because you did not operate the trans there is no fault to report when you restart the car. and on 95 - 99 cars you can read trans codes by shorting out pin #5 on the black connector, b82, under the dash at or near or to the right of the steering column. the b82 connector is a six pin connector.

so i put the exhaust on expecting the car to run quieter than the first test last week, but nooooo. the exhaust is quieter but it still makes a racket. and it's not valve tick either, although it has that too. it's loudest on the bottom right behind the oil filter, so i think i'm screwed. it also smoked when i was driving it, white smoke. but i doubt that matters since it knocks. i tried pulling the plug wires one at a time, but all i heard was the crack of the spark jumping to the intake. maybe a stethoscope would help. history, 95 ej22 w/ 125k from a salvage yard. it came with a broken right side cam shaft, which i replaced. all new timing components and seals front and rear. i even put some marvel mystery oil in with the fresh oil. i'm not quite ready to give up on it yet, but i am not optimistic. any suggestions??

if you put on outback struts and tires, we are talking about a regular legacy aren't we, you can change the wheel revs per mile by ~8%. if this corresponds to RPMs then it would reduce them by 8% as well. about -240 at 3000, down to 2760. if you lift the car and and put on larger tires you can reduce it even more.

excelant pic, thanks. i think a good username for this site would be, "NOT the arrows". but then i would lose my post count.

they are or have some metal in them, don't worry. just install it dry and torque all the bolts to spec. you'll be good. unless it is kinked, then get a replacement.

you don't care about the rust on the outside, unless it's about to rust through. you are addressing the rust or even the lack of grease on the inside of the joints. oil it. off topic: we all use stuff in aerosol spray cans. we buy them and use them, that's just the way it is. i was on a friends dad's farm last weekend and saw him using an oil can. yep an old fashion oil can. works great on all sorts of things that need oil. not the best at penetrating rust for loosening bolts and nuts, but still a valuable tool. if only it wasn't so oily on the outside of the can.

yes, 3/16" punch needed, agreed, 1/4 is too large, it will become wedged in the hole and you might have to drill it out, not fun about removing the axle, if you loosen the strut to knuckle bolts you need to mark the top bolt position before hand so you can reset it EXACTLY as it was. that way you will avoid a front end alignment.

autozone has a tool you can "borrow" at no charge to do this, really easy.

it doesn't matter, for 100$ you can have them resurfaced and be good. the only stumbling block would be if it was cracked, but the machine shop will check that and although anything is possible cracks heads is not a common problem on these heads. at least not discussed here very much. the only risk i'm aware of in replacing head gaskets on a ej25 is if the bearings have been cooked. i would think a re-manned engine would have a lower risk of this.

there is no real reason to replace the whole rack if it is just the tie rods, as mentioned above, unless you are selling parts and labor to customers. or you happen to have one in the shed you can bolt on. or you can get one and install it for less than the cost of the new parts, tie rods only or complete rack. look here: http://www.car-part.com sort your search by distance. about 50$ in my area. if you can get the rack for a good price you can probably install it yourself in a couple of hours. the only hard part is disconnecting the tierods from the knuckle and maybe reconnecting the power steering lines. you would also need a front end alignment unless you can adjust it yourself.

i searched and found several threads from a few years ago, "gorilla snot" adhesive, by 3M?, seems to be the front runner. but the actual product seems to take a backseat to making sure the door and trim are both ABSOLUTELY clean. any one with recent experience and product / method suggestions? i really do not want this to be a recurring problem.