a97obw

Ok, if you can dip a paper towel onto the top of the engine where the "oil" is pooling and determine that the color of the "oil" is a shade of red, then more than certain it is your power steering pump assembly that is leaking. You could check the fluid level first off, in case you've been to a jiffy lube kind of joint that "tops off" the fluids, and if thats the case, and the guys at the jiffy lube joint actually managed to pay enough attention to put the cap back on the fluid reservoir, well then, you've got a better jiffy lube joint than any around here. Otherwise, chances are that it is leaking between the reservoir atop the pump and/or the rear gasket of the pump. Call a Subaru OEM parts dealer and get the power steering pump gasket kit that has all the O rings,rear gasket,front seal etc.---less expensive at probably $25 or so than getting the parts a-la-carte. You'll need a turkey baster. NOT the one from your Moms' kitchen. "Borrowing" that one tends to piss Mom off. And it IS Mothers Day weekend, ya dig? So use the turkey baster to suck the ATF fluid from the reservoir. You'll eventually find the lowest point and get it all out. After you've got all the fluid out of the reservoir, there will be one bolt on the back of the pump and one bolt inside the reservoir that hold the reservoir to the top of the pump. For the one on the inside you'll need a longish socket extension...and probably one of those magnetic looks like an antenna extended doo-dads to put the bolt back in when you put it back together. Anyway, there is going to be at least one O ring between the pump reservoir and the pump, and as for that bolt inside the reservoir, it uses a special washer that is metal with a rubber kind of sealing compound around it that seals up the connection with the bolt that you'll need the magnetic doo-dad to put back in. The hose to the reservoir with the clamp is easy enough to remove from the reservoir. The hose to the pump with the metal banjo bolt fitting is torqued to infinitum. You'd probably screw it up before you get it loose! I think you can figure the rest out, fill the reservoir back up when you're done and then you'll need to "bleed" the system...of which procedure I'll let somebody else elaborate upon.... Good Luck!

The O rings at the junction between the oil filler pipe and the cylinder head do go bad after a while and can cause a leak. But I'm thinking the original poster is meaning "left side" as he is standing in front of the car looking at the engine, and has possibly mistaken oil for power steering fluid, 'cause when the pump reservoir O ring or the rear seal on the power steering pump go bad you will have a pool of (ATF) fluid atop the engine case and the head....and it will run down onto and behind the plastic timing belt cover.

The only thing I see "bad" in the picture is that the rubber dust boot has split. No biggie there. The rust on the inside of the piston isn't a real concern either. Rust on the outside of the piston or pits in the piston bore ARE a concern. So lets think about this. What caused the caliper to get "stuck"? You've ruled out the sliding mechanism of the pins. That leads me to think about the hydraulic system since the operation is for the fluid to extend and retract the piston.....and it won't be able to do it if you have air in the system. And since you check your brake fluid routinely, you are sure that the fluid reservoir never got low enough to let air in the system. So what gives?? Ahhhh....there IS one more component that would cause a brake caliper to "stick". And it's probably the LAST component you would think about! When the flexible brake lines get old, they tend to collapse. Fluid pressure will allow the piston to extend, but the flexible line will not allow the fluid to retract the piston. Kind of like an artery if you eat a lot of fried chicken. So go ahead and replace the flexible brake line on that corner as well.

The upper strut mount contains a ball bearing where the strut goes through it. When you turn the steering wheel, the struts turn as well. The spacer is needed as a "bearing" between the upper spring seat and the upper strut mount. As far as which way the taper goes, I can't say that I remember when I replaced mine on my 97 OBW. You might be able to tell by wear marks on the parts. But I would definitely get it reassembled according to the diagram. NOTE: It is also a good practice to extend and compress the strut with your hand a few times before you assemble it.

DANGER Will Robinson! Personally, I don't know why the Haynes manual attempts to freak you out when it comes to the camshafts turning....IF you lined up the crank mark and the cam marks to their respective locations before you remove the timing belt. Ok, here is a picture of where the pistons are located with the crankshaft mark lined up in the correct position. This is the passengers side. Drivers side is same. The valve train can not possibly crash into a piston! And you are correct, the drivers side upper cam (the intake cam) will definitely spin abrubtly on its own. Lucky for you, you didn't have your hand on the cam pulley because it will remove several layers of skin from your hand when it does spin. Yeouch!! The bolts that hold the front camshaft caps that hold the seals are definitely smaller than the other camshaft cap bolts, at least on a 97 2.5----and I don't see why they would have changed that from the 96 models. IIRC they both use a 10mm ATF (across the flats) wrench to remove/install, but the shoulder of the bolts is much larger in diameter for the middle and rear camshaft caps than the front. Should you attempt to tighten the front ones to 14 ft. lbs. rest assured you will shear the bolts and then you are in search for bolt extractor tool.....that is if it doesn't strip the aluminum threads in the cylinder head before it shears! Cleaning the old seal material that has formed a ring of crud on the camshafts right where the new seals are going to "ride"--- I'd forego the sandpaper. Instead, find some of the red Scotchbright pads at the auto parts store...maybe even a body shop supply store. Use the red Scotchbright after moistoning it with a bit of spray carb cleaner to easily and lightly remove the crud. Somebody above mentioned using the sandpaper to clean a machine surfaced by going around it as if you hold the paper and rotate the shaft. Thats good advice....and I'd suggest you follow it with one added modification....hold the scotchbright pad, rotate the cam in the pad and go backwards and forwards with the cam or the pad while you rotate it. Now you've got more of a "honed" surface as the result. You'll need the pads and the carb cleaner to clean the sealing surface of the engine case where the head gasket fits anyway. I think the photo above is after cleaning with the Scotchbright and carb cleaner.

A heavy keyring due to lots of keys will trash your ignition switch in any car.

Some very useful info with regard to the stamping on your camshaft caps can be found in this archived thread: http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=54665 The half moons can be reinstalled with a dab of permatex Ultra-gray, same for the dab on the cylinder head at the front camshaft cap where the valve cover gasket fits. I'd use the permatex anaerobic sealant (small blue tube that looks like loctite) very diligently on the front camshaft cap where it bolts to the head. And IIRC is "If I Remember Correctly" 14 ft. lbs on the middle and rear camshaft caps, 7 ft. lbs on the 2 smaller bolts that hold the front camshaft cap to the head. Any more than about 9 or 10 on those and they WILL shear.....bummer!

I looked at the photos above in this thread, and if yours is like that one and mine being a burnt orange/red color then I'd suggest you grasp the male end of the connector (the end with the wires) between your thumb and forefinger and squeeze.....the $%$#^ thing has a "rocker" kind of operation that lifts the latch of the male end of the plug over the "barb" (note first photo above) on the female end and then pull the connector loose. Sometimes I think that just figuring out how to undo the electrical connectors on a Subaru is the hardest part of any job! And for the temp sensor, you might want to drain a bit of coolant from the system before you remove the sensor or from what I've heard you'll make a mess. (I haven't replaced mine, but I did disconnect it to remove the intake to do a head gasket job on my 2.5)

Wow! Somebody actually dug up one of my posts and brought it back to life! Ok, this is where a digital camera is worth its weight in gold to take pictures of things before you take them apart. Note the placement of the original factory installed rear main seal of my 97 Outback 2.5 engine (5 speed manual transmission, if that matters): Ohh....thats pretty bad. How about this one: The seal was coated lightly with engine oil around the outer perimeter and then driven to a depth of having the outer edge of the seal coincide with the inner edge of the chamfer on the case. I don't think that mine was leaking at 91k miles and 9+ years. All the (minimal) leakage I'm sure was from the plastic oil seperator plate that I replaced with the aluminum one. The car has been driven about 4k miles since the repairs and I'm happy to report hasn't leaked a drop of oil from anywhere!

Good Luck. Had the local Aamco rebuild the 5 speed gearbox in my 74 Fiat 124 spyder back in the mid 80's. They must have put the gearbox in and out at least 4 times. Finally wound up just installing a complete used gearbox. The bill was in excess of 6 or $700, and they attempted, again, I say attempted to make ME feel bad for THEM for all the work they did for such "little" money. I wouldn't send my worst enemy to Aamco. Just my experience, hope yours is much better.

well, the suby hit a ditch smashed in the light pushing and breaking into the timming belt and broke passenger side cam sprocket gear's top and bottom......car was not moving when it hit and broke. Wasn't it Newtons Third Law that states "any reaction will have an equal and opposite reaction"? The dog almost ate my homework, once! My friend, IF the engine were running when all this quantum physics stuff happened to your Subaru, unless your subaru was traveling at the speed of light and time had stopped, you gots bigger mechanical problems than just replacing the camshaft sprockets and putting the belt back on.....

Thanks for the assurance Blitz! I didn't want to deal with customer service for the return anyway! I've always used valvoline 10-30 in my Subarus, I dumped about 6 ounces or so of Seafoam in the crankcase this afternoon, and figured I'd change the oil this evening. Odd how there is no mention of "how long" to leave the Seafoam stuff in the crankcase to do its thing. Not on the can, nor the Seafoam website. Only thing it mentions is that it is "instantaneous"......so do you drive around for XXX miles with the stuff in the engine, or just run it for a few minutes then flush with an oil change? I couldn't find any agreement about it in the "seafoam" thread that is very active in this forum either.

Aw nuts.:-\ I just went to Wally World and got the Delvac diesel engine oil. It's a 15-40, and it aint no synthetic. Bought 2 gallon bottles of the stuff because they didn't stock it in quarts. It was the ONLY thing I saw that was "Delvac". Now I'm pondering the lesser of the two evils......dealing with Wally World customer service for a return or dumping the stuff in my Outback.:cool:

I'd put a dab of grease on the inside of the pilot bearing, and lightly--I mean lightly grease the splines on the input shaft of the transmission. Maybe even just a dab on the locating dowel pins as well. If you get it closed up to about 1/4 inch all the way around, I don't think you'll do much harm to the components by installing the engine to transmission bolts and tightening them up to the point of putting just a little tension in them. Then you can wrestle it that last 1/4 inch and when it finally fits you can exclaim HOME! just like the guys that lay drainage pipe on the construction site. It's definitely not an easy job by yourself. IF you've removed the pitching stopper (the dog bone on the rear of the engine that mounts to the firewall) I'd reinstall it but don't tighten it. Let it help to stabilize the transmission, otherwise the transmission is going to want to lay over and flop about side to side. Cussing gets you nowhere. Trust me on that one! Too bad Subaru didn't design the cars with the thought of installing the engine from beneath like the VWs and Porsches.

Alignment of "tilt" of the engine to match the "tilt" of the transmission is key here. When you put the floor jack on the transmission and raise it up, it tilts the transmission so that the top of it is further back than the bottom. To add to the problem, the engine is going to balance on the chain hoist with a slightly crank pulley down position....which makes the bottom of the engine further back than the top. Try this: Find a long bolt with a couple big washers and a nut to fit the bolt, and put the bolt with the washers through the chain on the hoist to form a small "loop" in the chain that you can hook up to the hook, and when you lift the engine it will balance in a plane parallel to the transmission. It's going to be a trial and error deal finding the spot in the chain to put the bolt to form the loop to get it right, but you'll get it.

The 2 major rules of using POR 15: 1) Put a piece of saran wrap between the lid of the can and the lid when you are done and sealing it back up. Otherwise, you won't get the lid back off. 2) ABSOLUTELY wear a pair of heavy gloves you can throw away when you are done with them. Should you get POR 15 on your skin, it's damn near a tattoo. The stuff has to wear off.

Wow. And I've been looking at ordering that same "direct fit" replacement from one of the net vendors to replace the OEM stuff on my 97 outback. Thanks for the heads up. Let us know what the Walker stuff cost you and where/if you bought it at Pep Boys (not around here in MS). Interesting enough, I had "searched" this message board using a query of "Eastern Catalytic" and found no threads. Just searched again and this thread is the only one that shows up?

My windshield wiper squirters quit working a long time ago. Both the front and rear. Seem to remember checking for power at the front pump/bottle connections and no current there. Looked at fuses, didn't see a problem there either. Perhaps it is in the stalk? Any tips (NO pun intended!)?:cool:

Ha! On the early 2.2 engines the meeces will hang out on top of the engine case and pee on the $358 crank angle sensor so that when you remove it you wind up with shards of metal and 6,000 feet of thread since it has corroded to the engine! I've driven a Karmann Ghia 80 miles only to have my buddy say "MAN! that is one HOT engine!".......15 minutes later with the engine out and the fan shroud off some squirrel lost his mother load cache of acorns!

I fully agree that Jason at Auburn Subaru is a good Dude. Having purchased about $800 worth of parts for my 97 Outback head gasket(s) and clutch replacement project, he sent as per my request a snipit from the factory manual on the head gasket replacement to supplement my Haynes manual. Then several weeks later, I was going to replace the seals in the power steering pump when the whole thing fell apart in my parts pan after removing the rear cover. I started looking for wear mark patterns on the components to try and put them back together correctly, when I realized the receipt from Auburn Subaru was handy and wound up giving Jason a shout on the cell phone.....he emailed me the power steering pump docs! Again, Jason and Auburn Subaru are "Good Folks" (and being in The South, I can say that!)

1) Consult the new Haynes manual you just bought to do this job. You did buy the manual, correct? 2) Use a chain wrench to hold the front crankshaft pulley and a socket with long extension to break the pulley loose. Remove pulley so you can remove the front center plastic timing belt cover. After removing the cover, put the pulley back on, and just snug the bolt so you can turn the engine over clockwise in order to line up all the timing marks. 3)Remove valve covers and using a very large crescent wrench find the spot on the camshafts that has a hex figure cast into it. Hold the camshaft with the crescent wrench on the hex in order to break the camshaft pulleys loose. 4) Don't worry about a camshaft "holding tool". Just don't turn anything after taking the belt off. You can figure the rest out........

With regard to the discussion, we were focusing on the cylinder head bolts that hold the cylinder heads to the engine case, particularly on the 4 cam 2.5 engines. 6 on each side, the heads of which are apparently "painted" at some point by the factory. Now, if the paint represents a "torque to yield" situation or in my opinion, merely an assembly mark for quality control that the bolts have been installed to specifications is another question. The yellow and red marks you see on the bolts where from my own "quality control" process of replacing the head gaskets using the factory torque procedure. Otherwise, the heads of the bolts have a translucent blueish/green marking.

Yep, I know very well about the Tacoma Narrows bridge. Well, Dad has had only one bridge fall apart in his long history. You've probably seen it in the media in the past several months. It's the long bridge between Biloxi and Ocean Springs on the MS Gulf Coast---the one where you see all the piling and a few of the spans in the water. He shakes his head when he thinks what was built for less than $5 million dollars in 1954 is going to cost in the neighborhood of $280 million today. Here's another on the Northeast corner of the Bay of St. Louis about 7 miles inland of the MS Gulf Coast. Can you spot the problem? Can you say "storm surge"? Fixed in a couple of days!

Ok, since the 2.5 engine head gasket replacement is a usual topic around here, and it did happen to me as well on my 97, every now and then the topic of re-using the head bolts comes up. So, with 2 camps of thought being either re-use them or never re-use them with regard to the "Torque to Yield" argument, I figured I'd run it past an 86 year old still practicing consulting structural Civil Engineer, who just happens to be my Pop. I described the procedure of the tightening sequence to him according to the factory manual. So here we go. "Concerning the "Torque to Yield" for Subaru engine head bolts--- The bolts are tightened by turn of the head. Therefore, in addition to the induced tension due to the elongation produced by turning into the threads, there is also a torsional load on the bolt due to resistance to turning by thread friction. This torsional load is equal to the specified torque required. Torsional yield will result in a permanent "twist" in the bolt which remains after the bolt has been loosened. The bolt may be re-used and will not sustain additional "twist" until the original torsional load has been exceeded. For tension, the bolt will elongate under load in the elastic range of the steel or aluminum and will return to original length when the load is removed. If, however, the bolt is loaded beyond the elastic limit to the point of yield into the plastic range, elongation after yield will not return. The bolt may be removed and re-used and will sustain the same load as before to the point of yield. Additional load will cause additional elongation in the plastic range." Comments?

Weed eater line to run through the drain tubes! That is an EXCELLENT suggestion for something to clean them with! Whodathunkit!?