Hondasucks

Have you tried a 6 point socket with an impact wrench? Suspension bolts are usually a pain in the rump roast no matter what... I've never actually had to remove an entire knuckle before, at least not on an SVX.

I'm going to suggest the reflash as well, your vehicle is under the mileage for the emissions system warranty, so they should be able to do it for free. (I know we would at my dealership...) Even if it's not, it should only be a half hour (it takes about 20 minutes at most) so it'd cost ya ~$50 depending on what your local dealer's shop rate is. I try to reflash any car that comes in that has one available, if it's under warranty. (Warranty pays .6!) I had one guy come in with a V6 Camry that had a hesitation under moderate throttle, he had been to an aftermarket shop and had dropped quite a bit of money replacing plugs, having the injectors cleaned, etc.. All to no avail. Brought it to us, I plugged the laptop in, saw there was a reflash available that covered his exact condition, and it was still under the emissions warranty, so it didn't cost him anything. He totally wished he had come to us first!

P0420 is catalyst efficiency below threshold. Sometimes if the rear o2 sensor is weak and is not responding as quickly as it should, it will throw this code. Have you been regular on your maintenance? Not changing plugs, oil, filters, etc.. will cause the engine not to run as efficiently, causing the catalyst to have to work harder to clean up the exhaust, which eventually causes it to not work as well. What type of fuel are you running? I would suggest Chevron if you don't already run it, I've seen this code go away by switching to a good quality gas. You can also try a bottle of Techron, sometimes that helps. You won't notice any performance difference with a bad cat, unless it's plugged. I'd start with switching brands of gasoline for a few tanks and see if the code goes away. If that doesn't help, you can take it to the dealer and have them plug the laptop in and drive it and that will tell you whether it's the cat or the sensors. Be advised, catalytic converters are NOT CHEAP however if your state has smog testing, you might have to just bite the bullet and replace it.

You could make one if you had some fiberglass skillz yo... I know Russ had one but I think it was for an EA71... Let me know if you want my lights!

I have a set of tail lights for one of those, make me an offer! I also have some misc. EA81 parts floating around... I used to have an 83 GL-10 and I liked the look of the GLF tail lights better, so I bought them with the intention of converting it over, and I never did. They are in very good condition, pretty sure they aren't cracked or anything, I will check next time I'm at my parents' house.

The 5VZ is pretty easy, I've done a couple. The tensioner is kind of a pain in the rump roast to compress, but you don't even have to take the radiator out. You do have to drain it though since the upper hose is in the way, and the service manual says you have to unbolt the AC compressor and power steering pump, but I didn't have to touch the AC compressor on the one I did, and I was able to remove the tensioner for the power steering without actually taking the pump out. I do agree, the 3VZ timing belts are a pain in the arse! (3VZ = 3 liter, 5VZ = 3.4 liter) the 5VZ is the better of the two, 3VZs are known for blowing head gaskets, but apperently there was a recall on them, and in most cases if you have one that's never had the modifications performed and it blows a head gasket, Toyota will replace it.

I don't know if I would quite classify that as "rice".. It's all the same color and doesn't have a huge Erector Set wing and 6" fart pipe, and a bunch of stickers for parts it doesn't have. You should have seen the Civic I saw the other day in Winston, was like an 88 hatchback Civic DX, rattlecan white with 17" wheels, fart muffler, and "V TEC Turbo Racing Tecnology" stickers on the side:grin:

I'd love to have a 360, for the same reason I have the SVX: The "WTF is that?" looks I get:lol: (although with the 360 it'd be for the economy as well)

Does this 2.2 look like a 2.5? (Spark plugs tubes through the cam covers) if so, it's intereference, and chances are you bent valves. However, if you used the incorrect timing mark when you put the new belt on, it would also sound like this. If the engine does not look like a 2.5 (Spark plugs above the cam covers) is is a NON interference motor, and you likely just have the belt on wrong. I would double check the timing and make sure you have everything right before you tear the motor apart. See the below picture: The screwdriver on the right is pointing towards the timing mark. Down at the bottom you will see a pointer on another mark on the pulley, this is NOT the timing mark, but it is commonly confused for it.

The camshaft sets what stroke the crank is on. As long as the mark on the tooth on the rear of the crank sprocket is pointing at the crank position sensor and is lined up with the center mark on the timing belt, the timing belt is on with the words facing you, and the cam sprockets have their marks lined up with the marks on the belt, it should run. Here is the proper mark on the crank sprocket, it is the one that the screwdriver is pointing to. (just in case you didn't see my other post)

Yeah, I just worked on an 08 Impreza today that was undercharged, couldn't find any signs of leaking, even went around with the freon sniffer... I worked on a Tundra once that never had the refrigerant put in at the factory! Had a vacuum in the system when I hooked the machine up.

I know some of them also like to puke the ignitor module, it's inside the distributor. I've heard the brown colored ones are the ones that go out... I had a 87 Civic Si that had a no start condition, turned out the timing belt had jumped a few teeth. (Yes, Hondasucks drove a Honda... It was a free car, and it was either drive it, or drive my diesel truck that got 12mpg in Wyoming.... Once gas went down I sold the Honda for $300 and bought a rusty F100 with a big block that got 8mpg )

There is a check connector under the dash for reading the ABS codes, I have a PDF detailing it but I can't attach it here, email me (bigbadsubaru@gmail.com) and I will send it to you.

http://www.autobarn.net/lisleshaftpuller.html

The timing belt on the Legacy will be pretty easy, they are a non-interference engine, meaning that when the belt breaks it doesn't hurt anything in the engine. If you want to fix it, I could give you advice, although if you are interested in selling it, I have a friend who needs a car... As for the power windows, if they both don't work, it's most likely the fuse or the power window relay.

3M Roloc Zip Discs work great, they are what we use at work, you should be able to get one and an arbor from an auto parts store, an air die grinder works best, but if you don't have air, you can chuck the arbor into a drill and use that. You will need the yellow disc. This is what they look like (The price shown is for a pack of 10, you should be able to buy just one from a parts store though) http://www.shop3m.com/61500132180.html?WT.z_xsell=1&WT.z_refSKU=61500129822 You can also use a regular razor blade, hold the razor blade perpendicular to the block surface and scrape back and forth, that works pretty well. Don't use sandpaper as you might scratch the block to where it won't seal properly. You will also need to get the cam tower O rings from your local Subaru dealership, if you haven't already.

Pretty sure you are the one that needed/wanted to see this, but if not hopefully the right person sees it. The below picture is of a crank sprocket. The screwdriver on the right is pointing to the timing mark that needs to be lined up with the center line on the timing belt, the black pointy thing at the bottom of the picture is pointing to a triangular mark that is on the face of the pulley, which is easily mistaken for a timing mark, but as you can see it is NOT the mark you need to line up with the belt! (I'm not sure what it is for , and my master tech didn't know either, our theory is it's there to confuse non Subaru technicians )

I have a tool that hooks in behind the seal and out it comes! I got it off the tool truck, it's made by Lisle corporation, might be available at Sears, and is referred to as a "Shaft-in seal remover" Works great! And yeah, I learned that one the hard way too, except with me it didn't leak right away.. Didn't leak when I fired it up after I got the belt on to make sure it would start, wasn't leaking after the test drive either, nooo it had to start leaking AFTER the customer had picked up the car

There is a bulletin on these, more of an online training module, that we all had to do, mainly for warranty stuff, but it covered plugging in the laptop, driving the car over 50MPH for two minutes and then backing out of the throttle and watching what the AFR and O2S (Air-Fuel Ratio [front sensor] and Oxygen Sensor [rear sensor]) are doing, since a faulty sensor CAN trigger a P0420, although more often than not if you have a P0420, you've got a cat on it's way out. Also, don't be tempted to get an aftermarket cat, my dad's Outback has an aftermarket cat on it (previous owner) and when I did the head gaskets on it, it had a P0420

You can use a chain wrench to hold the crank pulley to tighten it, and to loosen it you can wedge a breaker bar against the frame and bump the starter to break the bolt free. If it's a manual, you can put it in gear and have someone step on the brake, that usually works too. The cam seals are behind the cam sprockets, you might be able to use a pin wrench to hold them in place to break the bolts free (they are pretty tight), the crank seal is pretty easy, it's behind the crank sprocket which you can remove by hand, and you really don't have to remove the oil pump unless it's leaking. If you don't feel like tackling this job, it's roughly 3 hours labor to do the belt, an hour for both cam seals, and an hour for the crank seal and oil pump. It's not exactly cheap, but the rest of the service that goes along with the timing belt (fluids and spark plugs) are pretty simple things that you could easily do yourself. You might also try getting a Haynes manual, as they are pretty good about showing you what improvised methods you can use when the factory tools are unavailable.

The picture of me and Scooter didn't work, so here is one of Scooter Me at WCSS8 after playing in the mud with the Legacy Me and my wife Jessica with Darryl Worley at the Benton County Fair

I once bought a 86 2WD XT that had a "bad motor" for $200 from a local dealer. Discovered someone had done a timing belt, and stripped the tensioner bolt holes in the block, so the belt was loose and making the distributor clack. Heli-coiled the bolts, installed new OEM belts, and sold the car to a guy my Dad used to work with for $650. A few months later, I got a free 85 GL 2WD wagon for free, rebuilt the carburetor, and traded that to him for the XT + $250, cuz he wanted something that was easier to get a car seat in and out of. 4-5 months later, his son needed a car, so he bought it back for $500, and his son drove it for a while until he toasted the transmission, so he gave it back to me. Turned out it was just a hub, so I replaced the hub and sold the car + a turbo XT with no engine to another friend for $850, and he drove it for almost a year until he got another Neon, and now his plan is to convert it to electric. A close second is my 92 SVX which I bought for $800 off craigslist with a bad tranny, I then paid $300 for a Subaru remanufactured tranny with 20,000 miles on it

Those lights are pretty slick but they aren't very bright. The JDM and some EDM SVXes had an infrared keyless entry, was a similar setup, and you had to hold the key like 2" from the driver's door handle to get it to work (might as well just use the key!)

I agree with Ken, about the only way you are going to bend valves on an EJ25 is if you break a belt at high RPM and the valves happen to stick wide open. The four cam engines are a different story, as the valves can and will contact each other if the belt breaks. The last four cam I saw with bent valves was one that had an aftermarket water pump come apart.

That's the shift interlock. You are supposed to have to press the brake pedal in order to shift from Park, however if that mechanism malfunctions, you will have to press the button to over-ride the interlock. You should here a click sound coming from the shifter lever when pressing the brake pedal with the ignition switch on, if not, either the interlock solenoid is bad, the switch on the brake pedal is bad, or the wiring between the two is boogered up.