porcupine73

Surely there must be a compromise! Can't one have the Subaru and one have the Toyota? well said downbound, well said.

Harbor Freight would be the place to get a generator with the Robin Subaru engine. They also have just the engines. Who knows if the generator head itself is the same quality as the engine.

Hello, and welcome! It's not necessary to drain the differential to replace the axle half shaft (the dealy with the inner and outer cv joints). However, they may have inadvertently drained it, at least somewhat, if they purposely or inadvertently pulled the stub shaft out of the differential during the work. If the above were the case, they probably wouldn't have pulled the drain plug, so I'm not sure how the dealer is determining that the fluid was drained previously. So the half shaft just plain busted somewhere? Was that an aftermarket rebuilt half shaft that was put in when the work was done?

Wow I'm sorry to hear that. I pray you get better soon. My dad had a hip replacement; I wouldn't say it was fun for him or me, but now he can walk perfectly.

Get/borrow a code reader and find out what the code is. You can read it without being able to start the engine. Maybe if it's not any of those things the starter contacts need replacing?

Yah I think something might have gotten lost in the translation there. Maybe this pic will help:

The proper torque is 17.4+/-2.2 ft*lb(f). The only way I know of to measure that torque properly is with a torque wrench. And note that "The extraction area of the knock sensor cord must be positioned at a 45 °angle relative to the engine rear."

Nice pics. Ah yes yes I do remember hassling with those nuts now. I think what I did was get a 6pt wrench on those nuts and then loosen them with a breaker bar from the bolt end. Not ideal but it worked.

Can you maybe use a deep well or socket extension? Or can you post a pic of the bolts you're trying to get out? I budged the nuts I think you're talking about loose on my '96 for rear struts but maybe I am misunderstanding what you're looking at....

hohieu, may I ask where you ordered the hub tamer? Just curious who has the best price.

Here's the pic; this is the throttle body to return pipe heater hose I ordered, although it does seem to look a little different from the engine pic Skip posted. The hose is fairly flexible and I can easily move it to the needed shape without kinking. It appears to be 7.5mm hose based on the label, which would be right around 5/16"

I have that exact OE hose for a 2.5L, after I run some erands I'll find it in the garage and take a picture of it in the package with part #. If you're in Wisconsin i'd guess it'll be cold enough there to want to keep the throttle body heat.

Wow that pic of the black XT is nice! It very slightly reminds me of a scion but of course not nearly so boxy though obviously scion was looking for that big box look.

I'd imagine an exhaust shop could weld a bung on pretty fast (and hopefully even cheap since you already have the exhaust removed!). You could maybe TIG weld it back in but I don't know since I just started reading welding for dummies.

Yes, but ok, maybe it's more than somewhat dreaded. It's talked about some amount on the suby boards. For AT's, it happens when the 'transfer case' (clutch pack in rear extension housing of the AT) kind of cold weld together. There's also a solenoid in the AT (the duty c) that if it fails will cause torque bind. With torque bind the vehicle will kind of bind up when turning especially in tight turns, or it may feel like someone is stepping on the brake when turning. Sometimes a series of ATF changes corrects it; otherwise the clutch pack can be replaced. Rather than torque bind, sometimes if the clutches glaze then the AWD doesn't work very well.

Well it could have the somewhat dreaded torque bind, but it'd need to be operable to find that out.

Hello and welcome! Sounds like a pretty nice buy. Plus the dohc that should make a little better power. You could at least have them checked for warpage. If it was overheated enough they might be warped. I don't think so, unless it was severely overheated. From what I've seen the heads can be removed without pulling the engine. Unless you're pulling the engine to do other things anyway, such as rear main seal and replacing plastic oil separator plate with metal, or replacing clutch if it's an MT, etc.

dang sounds like a diesel metro bus to me. I hope my '00obw doesn't start sounding like that!

Well the Forester XT's (turbo) are pretty darn quick. I've heard some people say the Forester is as aerodynamic as a brick. But I don't know, I kind of like it, the hood scoop is cool. It's nice for a small SUV. Personally I would probably go with a turbo outback wagon since it has more cargo room. The Forester was/is based on the impreza. Hopefully the battery stays charged well!

I had this problem before. I wrapped cardboard around the very top of the shaft and squeezed on vise grips as hard as I could. Then used socket (or impact wrench would be nice) to remove nut. The very top of the strut won't ever pass through the seals anyway so I figured even if I gouged it up no biggie. If penetrating oil is needed I know of nothing better than kanolabs kroil.

I surely don't know but am envious as the hub tamer is one sweet tool. I think there was an article on endwrench with pictures about the svx tool for this job; maybe that would be helpful? And I do recall discussion about similar a Harbor Freight tool and whether it would be suitable...

Well if you're willing to spring the $160 or so, you could get a ScanGauge. They're really nice for leaving connected all the time a gauge for all kinds of parameters. Plus instant reading of MIL/CEL as soon as you notice it. It does not give the description; just the code, so you'd need a list with you. Or in my case last month my cel/mil came on, pressed the 'scan' button, it read the infamous 'P0420' code, which I knew was catalyst efficiency below threshold since it's somewhat common, poof, press the 'clear' button and the cel/mil went off, this all within about 10 seconds of the light coming on, while driving. If you want an inexpensive reader, harbor freight probably can't be beat for value, especially if you sign up on their web site and get the periodic 15% of any item in the retail store coupons combined with buying an item on sale. Many HF items look identical (and probably are!) to those sold in various retail stores for twice or more the price.

Any cheapo code reader that says it works on that model year should work. I'd guess the less expensive ones just display the code like 'P0420' or whatever. Either way it'd be best to pack a printout of the codes and their meanings in the glove box with the reader, especially for the P1/2nnn codes as those are manufacturer specific.

Yah I wouldn't worry too much. That '97 2.5 was in the range that had some number of HG failures. Maybe Subaru did a Six Sigma project on the HG issue.

Hi and welcome! Does it say on any of the underhood stickers?