porcupine73

If Subaru themselves had so much trouble coming up with reliable headgaskets for these designs, I can't really see how a typical aftermarket parts maker could possibly do any better. Maybe some performance types such as cometic but that is kind of a special application that might be torn down regularly for isnpection.

Or you can try to cut the nut off with a nut splitter or dremel or something. Yes in all applications where a 6pt socket will fit, use a 6pt socket. Esp in a high torque application like this. 12pt sockets can be helpful for certain tasks or obviously on 12pt fasteners but are much more likely to round off a t6pt fastener. If you damage the bolt I would just replace with a new Subaru bolt. Some of the metric JIS fasteners are stronger than grade 8 so replacing with grade 8 might actually be a step down. The strut mount studs will snap pretty easily. Torque wrench is a safe way to go, going by feel have seen some threads where people snapped them.

What year and model vehicle is this? The combination of the high idle and no injection pulses on cylinder #1 is a known issue for some certain soobs, something about if the ECU believes it can no longer control the engine idle RPM it will cut fuel injection to cylinder #1.

If you overfill too much it can cause a lot of churning and air entrainment in the oil, and possibly cause pressure on seals that wouldn't normally see pressure.

You can probably go newer for the front, but for the rear I don't think anything newer than model year 98 will fit as in '99 I believe the rear went to mulitlink suspension which is completely different from the mcpherson setup.

Right on, you shouldn't tow the auto trans with any wheels on the ground. I wouldn't do it for more than a few hundred feet. There is no ATF circulating with the engine off, yet you are turning parts in the transmission and hence can damage it. Disconnecting drive shaft and towing with front wheels off the ground is an option. Or tow with all wheels off the ground.

Hm...do you have an ripped cv joint boots? Brakes sticking at all or something? Might need to be run on a lift or something to try to isolate source of noise. For hard starting in cold weather, what temperatures are we talking about? Does your country/area switch to a 'winter blend' fuel for easier starting? Otherwise the fuel may not have enough vapor pressure or not be volatile enough to permit easy starting in cold temps.

hm...would need more details like when it shuts off, do the dash warning lights come on, or is it like a complete loss of electrical power. When going to restart will it crank crank crank but not start or will not even crank? Maybe something with crank and/or cam position sensors?

Hi, I too have an '00 2.5L. The a/c compressor has it's own drive belt, and the power steering and alternator share a separate drive belt. Both these accessory drive belts are run off the crank pulley. (The timing belt is something different). For plugs, the platinum, iridium, etc can give you a longer interval between plug changes. However for performance in that engine even the normal NGK v-power copper plugs do just fine.

Wow this thread has been on the waiting list for a long time! I believe they are for emissions purposes only. The ECU wants the fuel temp to be in a certain range along with some other parameters before doing the fuel system integrity test (which it then uses the pressure sensor in the performance of). There's a good emissions article on endwrench that probably has more info.

I believe so. The inexpensive 'dry gas' is typically methanol, and the 'high end' dry gas is isopropyl alcohol. Ethanol obviously mixes with water, i.e. liquors.

1. Best bet is to get out as much as possible, drain plug, pump and dump method, or if you are replacing the internal screen filter, see 2. below 2. Yes you have in internal suction screen filter. These don't really get dirty much since I think they are just filtering the suction to the ATF pump to keep chunks from getting in there. More like a pump suction strainer sort of thing than a 'filter'. But if you remove it (not hard to do, just like a lot of bolts on the pan and a few to remove after that to get the filter out. YOu have to remove a cooler pipe line in the process of getting the filter (easy, like 2 bolts), but the bonus is then a ton more fluid will come out, probably from the torque converter I guess. I think you can get all but maybe 1-2 quarts out this way. (She holds pret nar 10qts). If the Trans-x is helping, it is because of its seal swell properties, probably makes that leaky ring on the drum swell enough to prevent the leaking it does at first preventing rapid buildup of pressure.

Good pics! Wow it's amazing how little rust there is in those pics, you're definitely now in the salt belt hehe! Some previous poster said something about Subaru 'failing to stand by their product'. Not sure what that's supposed to mean?

I'd stick with NGK plugs as that's what soobs seem to like. V-power's work great. Bosch had some issues for a while with cracking I think. To get the plugs out on the 2.5L phase I dohc is a little tricky because of reduced clearance. There is an article on endwrench.com that shows what sockets and extension lengths, flex pieces etc to do it more easily.

Hm.....can you provide more info? It seems like the cast would be the choice for the turbo, and if stamped were to be used it would be for the n/a?

H H Hiii HIiiii Ma Ma MAxxxxx headro rooo roromm haha sorry. Should hold about 10 quarts total, but only at most about 1/2 that comes out via the drain plug.

Yes, they both have the same number of idler pulleys. The geared/toothed near the water pump, and the two other smooth idlers. (Plus the tensioner idler of course).

Yes it's nice to have all the pages. I don't know if anyone reads those forms you can fill out on endwrench. I wrote them a long e-mail thanking them for all the great information on that site etc., and never got any response.

Did you get a check engine light at any time during this? Could be a lot of things to cuase this sort of thing and not even set off CEL such as maf and knock snensor.

Hm....I did this service on my 2000 Outback a couple years ago, but I had the printed service manuals....or I used alldatadiy but I don't remember for sure. http://www.endwrench.com might have the procedure, it's actaully pretty straightfoward on the sohc with the setscrew type adjustment.

Hi. The troubleshooting chart is pretty straightforward.

Yes that pic is from the a front. I think there's circlips or something that hold those in place and if too much force is applied the clip can pop off and let the stub come out? So you'd probably want to make sure to get the old clip out when draining the gear oil and if it doesn't come out maybe use on of those little flexible retrievers with the magnet on it to try to get it out.

I don't know; it's just something I was thinking of that has a possibility of allowing timing to jump on a manual trans soob anyway... it say Beginning with the 1998 model year, 2.5 liter engines have this sheet metal belt guide mounted above the crankshaft sprocket. The belt guide serves to maintain belt engagement mainly during the time the vehicle is being shipped. Manual transmission vehicles are shipped in gear, which transmits the rocking action of the shipment vehicle to the cambelt tensioner, compressing the oil chamber. The tensioner begins to refill the oil chamber after the engine is started and in some cases the tension of the belt was not increased in a timely manner. This would cause the torque of the engine to slip the crankshaft sprocket ahead of the timing belt, creating a crankshaft to camshaft timing problem.

Did that guide plate thing that goes above the belt above the crank sprocket get reinstalled correctly?