weddes05

pull the plastic cowl which i am sure you did, make sure the wiper motor is in place and bolted. try to catch a spot to pry against to pop the end back onto the motor. normally the others arent bad....the motor end can be a pita

my hollander interchange states it should be a 3.90. most of the early legs tell you right on the rear diff tag

i always just come in from the pass strut tower area from the top with a combo wrench and you can sneak under the axle

I have never once seen a 2.5 sohc in a 99. some people maybe getting confused because there is a 2.2 phase 2 motor that looks just like that the 2.5 sohc. i have read some threads where people try to say it is a phase 2 block with phase 1 pistons but that is only because they switched to a 8 bolt bell in 99. if it is deffinately a 2.5 than it is a dohc for 99. i deal with them all day mon-fri and sell prob 3-5 engines a week.

Alot of times it is just a case of subaru O2 sensors being toooo sensitive.

i would go the rebuild route, especially the 95 trans from my experiences they have alot of issues with slow reverse (does not want to engage right away) which is normally an internal seal issue. you could wind up with one of them used and have to tear it back out. i dont know if i would just jump to having it done by a dealer, just find a trans shop with a good reputation.

it is just a vent tube. nothing major at all

sounds like a knock sensor. i have had them a bunch of times where they won't throw a code for awhile. the problems i expereienced were the car would feel like it would get little bursts of power

if possible i would shoot for a 2.2. much more reliable overall. i deal with the 2.5 issues every week. bad head gaskets...and now the new trend of problems that seem to be popping up more and more, bad bottom ends (wiping out rod bearings) and cams locking in place due to insufficent oil and size of the cam journal as a daily i have a 2.2 98 impreza obs with 263,xxx that finally got its first motor