mnwolftrack

well look at that, you beat me to it! Thanks!

Something else to ponder.... Is your transmission in gear? Mine is in neutral and spins freely in both directions without any noise. I don't know what would happen if it were in gear or in park. Perhaps it would make some noise and/or not want to rotate in one direction. I will check it when I get home from work.

Thanks! I was pondering seeing if I could make that into a sticky or having it posted in the DIY section of this site. Many people are warned about the installation of torque converters, and it would nice nice to show them photos at the same time. I know I would have appreciated seeing these kinds of photos when I did this for the first time almost a year ago.

Having spun the torque converter many many times in both directions to take the above photos, it made no ticking noises before it was fully seated, or after fully seated, in either direction. But I was doing the spinning with no engine anywhere near the transmission. So, I would be inclined to say yours would not make any ticking noises if it was not fully seated. Or, at least the ticking noises would not be coming from inside the transmission. The simple fact that you can rotate the torque converter independently of the flex plate before putting the 4 bolts in tells me it must be seated correctly. If it wasn't seated properly, the torque converter would have hit the flex plate before the engine and transmission were fully mated together (about 1/4" to 1/2" before they were together), jambing against each other as you bolted the engine and transmission together fully, and you wouldn't be able to spin the torque converter with your finger because it's jammed against the flex plate. I'm not sure what to tell you since I'm not there to witness it. My suspicions tell me that the torque converter flanges are "ticking" against the flex plate as you spin it. When the torque converter is fully seated into the transmission, it is technically too far backwards and doesn't even touch the flex plate initially. The only thing I could think of that would be touching at this point would be the back of the crank and the front stub on the torque converter. The flex plate and torque converter wouldn't be touching until the installation of the four 12mm torque converter-to-flexplate bolts pull the torque converter forward and out of the transmission ever so slightly. As the torque converter gets closer and closer to the flex plate, the gap between the two is obviously going to narrow and eventually the two are going to touch. There could be a chance your torque converter got pulled out ever-so-slightly that there isn't much of a gap anymore and the torque converter and flex plate lightly touch each other while spinning the torque converter. If you are unable to figure it out, I would recommend the worst case scenario and pull the engine back out and take another look at things, particularly if that little voice in the back of your head is going to haunt you with "what if" after you've gotten everything reinstalled and are driving it. Regarding your question if the torque converter needs to be spun in order to re-seat it. Yes and no. If the torque converter was completely removed and a person is installing it from scratch, then yes, it would need to be spun to get it to seat. If the torque converter was not properly seated, and the engine and transmission were fully bolted together, I cannot see how you could spin the torque converter with one finger at all. If you compare photo 2 and 3 above, that's how much the torque converter needs to move the last little bit to be fully seated. However, the gap that I am talking about that occurs between flex plate and torque converter when fully seated (before the four 12mm bolts pull the torque converter forward) is much less than that distance in shown between of photo 2 vs. photo 3. I didn't measure the gap when fully seated because it's too hard to see in there with, but I would guesstimate a 1/16 to 1/8" gap at most. If you installed the engine and the torque converter wasn't fully seated, the torque converter would be 1/4" to 1/2" too far forward, and I don't think there would be a gap at all. There is a bit of leeway with the torque converter in terms of if it has to be re-spun to re-seat it depending on how far out it was pulled. Because the torque converter, when fully seated before reinstalling the engine, is a wee bit too far back into the transmission before the four 12mm bolts are installed--then yes, the torque converter has to be able to come out a little bit and still be ok. In my opinion, the torque converter would have to be pulled out more than the 1/4" to 1/2" that I called the "second stopping point" in photo 2. If the torque converter were pulled out more than 1/4" to 1/2" inch, then there is the possibility that it needs to be re-seated from photo 2 to photo 3 above and it may have to be spun to reseat it. If the transmission and engine are fully bolted together, I don't see how there is any way to pull the torque converter out too far because it will hit the flex plate, which is what it needs to touch anyway. It can't be pulled out further than this. The torque converter would have had to have been pulled out too far before the engine and transmission were fully bolted together. If the torque converter had already been properly seated but then was pulled out a bit too far, such as the lower engine studs catching on it (perhaps bit further than the 1/4" to 1/2" second stopping point), but the torque converter was not rotated, then yes, the torque converter ought to be able to be pushed straight back with a little pressure and no spinning because it's already aligned. It might be painful on one finger, but the kind of pressure I'm talking about would be "doable" with a few fingers or perhaps a screw driver lightly prying it. In fact, you should be able to "pull" the torque converter forwards with one of those 12mm bolts, then remove the bolt and push the torque converter back again. If the torque converter was pulled out too far and spun, then it probably needs to be re-spun to get back into place (and I can't imagine re-spinning with the engine fully mounted to the transmission. It would be too difficult). The reason the torque converter needs to be spun while seating is because a person just randomly slides the torque converter onto the transmission's input shaft and they have no idea if the slots are lining up with the tabs. I don't know if you pulled the torque converter all the way out, but the shaft on the torque converter itself is basically like a 1 3/4" straight exhaust pipe with two roughly 1/4" deep slots cut into the end of it that must match up with two 1/4" tabs inside the transmission. This is how the torque converter shaft "locks" to the transmission input shaft. These 1/4" slots are probably that second stopping point that must be overcome to get the torque converter to fully seat. I'm not sure what causes the first stopping point (perhaps the graphite torque converter shaft seal bumping against things as it goes in). You can technically take a light and peer inside the front of the transmission (engine removed of course) and see those tabs. You can theoretically position the torque converter in the proper fashion so that it slides in with the slots in the right place to meet the tabs. It's very precise though, and I quite frankly had less luck with this. I had better luck just putting the torque converter in blindly and spinning like I was on the Price is Right. I'm not sure if this part makes sense, but if you didn't sea the torque converter properly, and you didn't have the torque converter bolt holes lined up just perfectly with the flex plate bolt holes (for the four 12mm bolts), then you wouldn't be able to line them up because the torque converter is jammed against the flex plate. I don't think you could spin the torque converter independently of the flex plate. Even if you rotated the flex plate by spinning the engine (I put a socket wrench on the front crank bolt), the torque converter ought to just spin with the flex plate because they are jammed together. The whole concern about seating the torque converter properly is because the transmission will get damaged. I believe it comes down to whether the torque converter shaft's slots are lined up with the transmission's tabs. This is what I think is the last 1/4 to 1/2" that people mention you need to make sure you get fully seated. If not, the tabs are not lined up with the slots, and something must give. According to the unfortunate souls who've experienced this, the thing that gives is the transmission front pump because it gets crunched by the torque converter shaft pushing the tabs into the pump. I really don't think you crunched anything, but worst case scenario I advise pulling the engine back out and double check things. If you do this, I strongly advise that you pull the torque converter all the way out and just play with it. It will also give you a chance to inspect the slots and see if there's any sign that the tabs were munched. Practice installing the torque converter several times, and you will quickly learn how it looks and feels as it gets installed, how easy it is to spin, and what kinds of noises it makes or doesn't make when spinning. If you haven't tried separating the transmission and engine ever-so-slightly yet as previously mentioned, you may want to try that too. To do that, first make sure you've pried or pushed the torque converter back away from the flex plate (to get that approximate 1/16 to 1/8" gap), then undo the transmission-to-engine bolts a 1/4 to 1/2 inch, then pry the engine away from the transmission a 1/4 to 1/2 inch (while making sure the torque converter doesn't come forward with it which is easy to prevent from happening as described in one of my previous posts). Then, try spinning the torque converter again. It should now be another 1/4 to 1/2" away from the flex plate in addition to the "normal gap" 1/16 to 1/8 inch gap they would have had, and they shouldn't be touching at all. The torque converter input shaft might be touching the crankshaft, but I don't see how those can tick. I don't even think there's a pilot bearing on the crankshaft. Don't quote me on this because I haven't dealt with a manual transmission on a Subaru before, but I would think only the manual transmissions would need a pilot bearing on the crankshaft. To keep the torque converter in place, I bolt a scrap piece of flat bar approximately 5-6" long (with a slight bend in the middle) in that top passenger transmission bolt hole, and I position the flat bar over the torque converter. As I tighten the bolt, the bar tightens against the torque converter and prevents it from coming out. When reinstalling the engine, I am able to get the two bottom engine block studs into the transmission, then I remove the "bar" while there's just barely enough room to get it out, and I finish bolting the engine to the transmission. With the two lower engine studs in place, I am only pushing the engine together at this point and am not pulling anything back apart, so there's no chance for the torque converter to get pulled out. Perhaps someone could chime in that has had the unfortunate experience of not getting the torque converter seated all the way.

First Photo: Here's a picture of the first stopping point when sliding the torque converter into the transmission (assuming it had been completely removed). The first stopping point can vary a little bit, so don't be too concerned if yours stops in a slightly different spot. Note that I drew a black marker line on the torque converter flange where the mounting bolts go. This line represents what would be the "fully seated" position of the flange when comparing the flange to the front mounting surface of the transmission when looking square at the side of the transmission (e.g. front mounting surface of transmission is perfectly in line with your line of site). As this picture shows, the torque converter is not fully seated yet, as shown by the black line (straight up and down) on the flange which is roughly an inch away from the front mounting surface of the transmission: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Second Photo: From here, I make a "fishhook" with my pointer finger on one hand and suspend the tip of the torque converter in the "hook" to hold it's weight as if it were fully seated. This helps prevent the torque converter from binding when trying to seat it (makes seating easier). Then, I spin the torque converter clockwise a few times and then counter clock wise a few times to see if it will catch to get to the second stopping point (if a few spins don't do it, I do a few more. If it's still a no go, I pull the torque converter back out and put it back in in a different position). Here's a picture of the second stopping point (easiliy confused for fully seated), in which the black marker line is still about 1/4-1/2 inch away from being flush with mounting flange: If you think the torque converter is fully seated (above photo) at the second stopping point, it's NOT! It needs to go another 1/4 to 1/2 inch. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Third Photo: To get the torque converter to fully seat, I spin in the opposite direction that just did that got it to seat in the 2nd stopping point. Then, when fully seated, it will look like this: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Forth Photo: Another angle of it fully seated, line of site no longer flush with transmission mounting surface, and you can see the black marker line a little better: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Fifth Photo: Yet another angle, fully seated:

From my experience, when the transmission and engine are fully mated/bolted together (meaning no gaps around the seam), and the torque converter is properly seated and NOT bolted to the flex plate yet, you should be able to rotate the torque converter with your finger. Meaning, there should be a very slight gap between the torque converter and flex plate. When you get the bolt holes lined up and start tightening the 4 little 12mm bolts, the torque converter will be pulled forward. I don't know how much it gets pulled forward, but it isn't much. It could be that if the gap is really small on yours, that the two are just hitting each other at a certain point and making a noise. If you are overly concerned about it, you can try a few things that basically involve moving the t/c and flex plate further apart or closer together and see if the noise changes. One, loosen the engine-to-transmission bolts, but don't remove all the way. Pry the engine away from the transmission a quarter inch to half inch or so. While doing so, make sure the torque converter stays put. I do this by prying with a screw driver in one hand, and pressing with something in the inspection hole with the other hand to keep the torque converter in place. Then, spin and see if the noise occurs. If you can't reach the torque converter anymore, put a socket and wrench on the crank shaft bolt and spin that instead. Second, with everything back in place where you had it and things were making the noise, try threading one of the 12mm bolts in and start pulling the t/c forward just a titch. Remove the bolt, and spin and see if the noise gets worse. If yes, it's probably just the two hitting each other, and rubbing more because they are getting closer. Third, with everything in place as you had it, push the torque converter back with your finger or a pry bar. If it goes back even a little bit and the noise goes away, then again, you have confirmation it was just the flex plate and t/c rubbing. Fourth, and worst case scenario, is to remove the engine and inspect. I don't know what kind of a setup you have, but if you have a cherry picker, this would be very easy just to pull the engine back out again and take a quick look. If you do this, make sure to watch the t/c like a hawk so that the lower two engine-to-transmission studs do not catch the t/c and pull it out. I'm not sure what you mean by going through the timing cover. I'm assuming you mean the inspection hole on top? I will try to get a picture of a spare transmission I have sitting in the garage. I'll go put the t/c in and take a picture (this is a '98 OBW auto that was mated to an EJ25).

I would think if someone were to replace the cam seals, they would have pulled the cams out. The seals can get stuck in there pretty well, and even just removing the front bearing cap may not help. It's still possible someone retorqued the cam bolts too much. We obviously don't know for sure, but it's a good excuse! Regarding the rear main seal, someone had a nice photo of how far they seated it. Some people have referred to using a piece of PVC plumbing. I used the old seal to drive in the new seal. But regardless, I couldn't get the seal to go in perfectly straight with each tap, so I had to tap around in a circle and tapping where needed. I tapped VERY lightly and took my time (on the second seal), because I did not want to be doing this again. If you look at your crank shaft, you will probably notice where your old seal was riding, and that there is a diameter change (decrease) or two the further into the gap that you look. Thus, if you drive the seal too far, it will try to seal on the smaller diameter section of the crank. I didn't use the "screw" method to remove the old seal. I bought a $10 seal puller at the parts store. Another excuse to aquire another tool. The seal puller worked well. At first, I tried to use a flat head screwdriver with the end slightly bent, but this got me no where (and this was for trying to remove the first new seal).

I'm not sure what the laws state in NY, but I'd like to say you are required to swap in an engine of the same year or newer than the VIN of your car. You are not allowed to swap an older engine in. That being said, a lot of people do it anyway. I don't know how strict your emissions tests are, but it's something to think about. I do know the 2.2 was offered in '98 becuase when doing searches for parts at the dealer or local parts stores, I was always asked if it was a 2.2 or 2.5. You may find that 2.2's are hard to... find. They are a common replacment as you already know, and they are becoming increasingly rare. A http://www.car-part.com search is invaluable, but you will probably see that these engines are either becoming rare and/or are rediculously priced.

One word of caution, if you have or are replacing the main seal, don't drive it in too far! Perhaps I already mentioned it to you (this thread is 6 pages now), but just in case I didn't.... I got my newly reassembled engine fired up on the first try, only to see it pee a cup of oil of oil after about 20 minutes. I had to pull the engine back out and replace the rear main seal a second time.... I have another thread on here about that....

From my experience, a light coat of oil is normally recommended in order to get the proper torque. I did it when installing the cam bolts. I didn't have any problem during removal. Perhaps your engine has been apart before and someone over-torqued them?

which ones are breaking? If you end up saying the forward bearing cap bolts, you'll want to do another search, particulary if using the Haynes manual. The consensus is that the Haynes manual is wrong, and the forward two bolts of each bearing cap needs to be less than the middle and rear bearing caps for each camshaft. There are lots of posts of cam cap bolts snapping. The Haynes manual says all 6 cam cap bolts for each camshaft are the same torque, but they aren't! Also, make sure you are torquing in the proper sequence. I also recommend putting a very light coat of clean oil on the bolt threads, underside of the bolt heads, and the washers (make sure to clean all old oil and crud off the bolts first, carb cleaner works great). If you do a search, you will find the proper torque value for the front bearing caps. I don't recall the torque sequence being wrong. It's just the torque value of the front (larger) caps.

Talk to your machine shop and see what they recommend. They are going to be the experts. I bought a 3M "scrubber" wheel attachment for a drill. It's made of plastic and has a bunch of bristles on it. I used that to clean all the crud off, then I sanded with WD-40 soaked 600 grit just as you did. These blocks are aluminum, so you want to be gentle. Even the plastic scrubber wheel will leave very faint "marks" on the surface, but a few swipes of sand paper remove it. I used just enough pressure with the scrubber pad needed to remove the crud. Too much pressure starts bending and warping the bristles on the disk, and then it doesn't work so well.

I'd like to say the Hayne's manual said it could be done together, but the Hayne's isn't exactly helpful either. In fact, it says right in the engine removal procedures that they are more like guidelines than an actual procedure. Having removed both items in '98 Outbacks seperately, I'd just assume remove them seperately. I'm not super keen on swinging that much mass around as one unit. It's one thing if if were a small 2wd front wheel drive sidemount transmission and engine, but that subi transmission is heavy! My Toyota 4x4 transmissions are a LOT lighter than this! Plus, it's a long setup and risky to avoid bumping things around. I couldn't get my cherry picker and load leveler to balance the engine (by itself) very well, and I would assume it would be a lot harder with a few hundred more pounds hanging off the back of the engine. It seems like it would be a lot of stress on the hoist points on the engine (but what do I know). Considering you are basically 4 bolts away from seperating them (and supporting the component you aren't removing first), you might as well pull seperately.

I was wondering why they gave me a couple o-rings.... I didn't use them because I didn't remove the coolant cross-over pipe (no need to remove it).

Our '98 OBW has cloth heated seats, so I can vouch for their existence. And in my opinion, cloth heated seats are superior to leather, particularly if you live somewhere like me where it gets -30F! Frozen leather is the opposite of fun.

It might just be my screen, but I can't really tell from the photos. The typical place that the headgaskets fail is on the lowest point of the cylinders into the two small water ports. These water ports would make the "smile" of a smiley face if they connected, and the two lowest valves would make the "eyes" of the smiley face (if that makes any sense). On mine, the failure was on the passenger rear cylinder, and a little bit on the front cylinder. The driver side was fine. There was black carbon on both the head and the block going through the area of the metal fire ring and extending all the way to the 2 water ports. If you leave your cylinder heads intact as-is and bring the old gaskets in, the machine shop can probably point you to the failure point(s).

If you don't want or need a 1/2" drive ratchet, just get a 3/8" breaker bar (such as from Sears). This should suffice, or, get a 1/2" breaker bar with a 1/2"-to-3/8" reducer. However, I always like an excuse to buy more tools! As the years go on, I'm always glad I bought stuff even if I really didn't want to at the time. While I can't see breaking the socket, I can see possibly breaking the 3/8" ratchet if using a cheater bar. Regarding torque wrenches, the torque procedure is very specific and I had to use 2 different torque wrenches. My 1/2" drive wrench only reads ft-lbs, and about the 3rd step of the Subaru torque procedure (out of like 6 steps) calls for inch-lbs. So, I had to go out and get an inch-lbs torque wrench which happened to come from Sears and was a 3/8" size. I don't remember the specific inch-lbs torque requirement, but it isn't very much and my 1/2" drive wrench wouldn't go down that far assuming I even converted ft-lbs to inch-lbs. My 1/2" wrench only went down to like 25ft-lbs, and I'd like to say the subi procedure called for quite a bit less than this (in inch-pounds). One ft-lb equals 12 inch-lbs, and vice-versa. I couldn't find anyone else that carried an inch-pounds wrench and Sears didn't even realize they had it! It shouldn't be an impossible find though. I think I spent $80 on the inch-lbs wrench at Sears. It is not the dial indicator type (I don't like those).

The shop will be able to tell you if any other work needs to be done. You can tell them before-hand that you just want to do the minimum amount of work, the full works, or anything inbetween. But the first priority is for them to check for warpage, cracks, etc... and if the heads have been shaved before. They can only be shaved so many times. You should also ask them if if they found any heat tags on the heads, and if the heat tags were melted or not. If you have the dual overhead cam version of the 2.5L, watch it when you pull the lower cams. The lifters will likely want to fall out on their own. I recommend labeling ALL of them before you even pull the cams, so that if any fall out, you'll be ok. And Put something under the heads so that if the lifters fall, they will not get banged up. I rubbed a clean dry spot on each lifter, and labelled them with a black marker. Then, I put them in a container and drew a picture of the installation order on my notebook (I wrote myself my own instructions and steps). My car had 136k on it when the gaskets blew, and all I needed as far as machine shop work was a cleaning, pressure test, and resurfacing. Two exhaust valves needed to be removed and manually cleaned because they weren't closing all the way, but nothing needed replacing. Oh, and I used another one of my plastic clamps to hold the driver side cam gears in position while putting the belt on. This spring clamp looked more like a c-clamp. I rotated the gears into position and lightly clamped them together (clamp jaws covered up the double slashes). The clamps I used cannot put any amount of real force on anything, and the jaws were rubber. I think these clamps came from the $1 bin at a local tool store. Perfect for this job though! All in all it was pretty easy. I've had Toyota V6 jobs that were much harder to do timing belts, particularly because the timing slashes were very vague and you could have both cams off a tooth in either direction and it still could be considered "aligned" with the vague marks. The Subaru 2.5L is nice. Each cam has a slash to match to a notch on the timing cover, a double slash to align each cam gear to each other, and another alignment mark on the crank. I did not rotate the crank after removing the belt, so I didn't have to worry about realigning it. I've seen some people on this board mention the crank gear looks like it has 2 alignment marks on it, and one of them is definitely not right. Make sure you're using the right mark. Lastly, it's probably too late, but I drew marks on my original timing belt before removal (silver sharpie pens are great!) and drew exactly where all the alignment marks were on everything. Then I wrote descriptions on the belt for each mark I made. I was going to transfer these marks to the new belt (taping the new and old belts together side-by-side), but I realized the new belt already had white alignment marks on it. I taped the new belt to the old one just in case, and my marks aligned perfectly with the new belt marks. Regarding the idlers, mine looked and sounded ok and I didn't replace any, however, if you plan on owning it a long time and don't' want to worry about it every time you start the engine, you may want to replace them. They are rather expensive though. I replaced the belt and the tensioner, water pump, and bought individual gaskets to make up the equivalent of a "valve grind" gasket set (e.g. all gaskets necessary for a head gasket/valve job). I got my OEM parts through 1stsubaruparts.com. They are a dealer on the West coast and offer a nice discount.

Thanks for the info! The Forester reportedly has an external leak of fluid, but I'm assuming the seal you are talking about is internal? I wonder if anyone has tried transmission honey and/or synthetic lube? --Nevermind, just read the 3 page post in your link. Someone does mentione trying the Lucas tranny honey and said it worked, so this might be a possibility. Worst case scenario I guess I just swap another transmission. First, I need to take it for a drive and see how bad it actually is or isn't (it's reportedly not that bad).

This is regarding a car I haven't bought yet but am seriously considering.... It's a 1999 Forester with a 2.5L and Auto. The transmission has a transmission fluid leak and reportedly leaks slowly but is otherwise plenty driveable. It shifts fine and drives fine unless the fluid is low, in which case it will hesitate shifting into D. Is this slow shifting "the common issue in 1999" regardless (or was the common issue for 1999's a speedo issue)? I can't remember, and I haven't owned a 1999. I tried a search but couldn't find my answer. I'm not afraid to replace the whole transmission if need be. I've already done it on a previous '98 OBW with a noisy front pump, but want to see what I might be getting into here. If the slow-shifting is a common issue anyway, I'd likely just replace the seals and leave it as-is. I'd be really happy if this was just a matter of replacing the transmission front input shaft seal and graphite c-clip seal on the torque converter shaft. At the same time, I'd check the engine rear main seal and seperator plate. The last 2.5L I pulled (about a month ago) took only 1 hour 50 minutes to remove, so it's not a lot of time involved (with the right tools, of course).

to add to grossgary's comments regarding seating of the torque converter, here are my own observations: 1. The torque converter on two 1998 OBW's I've worked on is seated properly when the four outer-most metal flanges of the TC are about half way recessed into the transmission. These flanges are where the four small 12mm torque converter-to-flex plate bolts go. There's a somewhat thick metal flange that faces outwards (or towards the outside of an imaginary circle). I stood at the passenger side of the car looking at the TC so that my line of site was looking directly at the side of the forward mating surface of the transmission so that it was flush with my line of site and I compared it to these 4 flange surfaces. Then, I drew a permanent marker line on these 4 flanges so I new what position was flush. I made these marks as I pulled the engines out for the first time, pulling a little at a time, and making sure the TC wasn't coming out with the engines. Each time, i stuck a screw driver in the inspection hole on top the engine and pushed the TC back as far as it would go, then once I had the clearance, I ran a bolt through the upper passenger side transmission-to-engine bolt hole (where the wire harness bracket goes) with a flat piece of scrap metal bent in a slight "V" shape to keep the TC in place during the remainder of my work. I should further explain that when I stuck the screwdriver in the inspection hole to push the TC back, it only moved back about 1/8" on the first try only on each car I worked on. The TC did not get pulled out at all. This 1/8" inch is explained in more detail below. 2. When the TC is properly seated and you've just finished mating the engine back up to the transmission during reinstallation, the installation of the 4 TC/flex plate bolts will pull the TC forward about 1/8" inch. Meaning, when you mate the engine up to the transmission, the TC and flex plate should not be touching or even rubbing yet. They will not touch until you put the 4 bolts in, in which case the TC gets pulled forward. The distance it gets pulled forward is NOT very much. The 4 bolts are very short, yet their short length is just long enough for them to reach the TC even though it's not pulled up to the flex plate yet. 3. During reinstallation, the engine does not seem to like to balance perfectly (at least not on my hoist and load balancer). The two large studs sticking out of of the back of the block that go into the transmission like to try and poke at the TC and if you are pulling and pushing the engine back and forth, you might accidentally pull the TC out if these studs grab it just right (I did this once). I had to lift the engine back out and reseat the TC. This happened on my first engine reinstallation. I learned from it, and I used that "V" shaped retainer piece I mentioned earlier, for the second engine reinstallation. I left the bracket in place until I had the two lower studs in place. With the studs in place in the transmission, I still had enough clearance to undo my bolt and remove the "V" bracket. I've heard some people use zip ties through this bolt hole and through one of the TC bolt holes and they cut the zip tie at the last moment. Again, these are my observations for two 1998 OBW's. Perhaps someone else can chime in if these observations are valid for your year (I would think so, which is why I mention it). Regarding reinstallation of the timing belt, I agree, it is easy. I did not use any special tools. I just used some cheap plastic spring "clamps" to hold the belt in place on the pulleys. Some people have used clothes pins. The belt doesn't need much pressure to hold it in place on the cams. Just enough to keep the belt from sliding off or jumping teeth. I set my last belt install up first on the two passenger cams. They rotate freely into position. Then I started weaving the belt through all the pulleys (the tensioner was not installed yet, and I removed the lower passenger side-most idler pulley to free up some slack). Then, I rotated the driver pulleys into position. I followed the Haynes manual for this part (skipped it for the rest of the job!). The Haynes manual mentions that you should rotate one cam clockwise, and rotate the other cam counter clockwise, and it's very specific. I forget which one is which, but it basically came down to rotating both cams in the shortest direction (clockwise vs. counterclockwise) to get them to the proper alignment. THey didn't need to be rotated very far passed where I could no longer rotate freely by hand. And correct me if I'm wrong, but you can rotate one cam around and around all you like without worrying about valves hitting each other as long as the other cam on the same head is in the "freely-spinning-by-hand" position. When the cam can be rotated freely by hand, it means all of the valves are closed and out of harm's way. If you are the least bit worried about it, just rotate the cams slowly. I would think you'd be able to feel if you were starting to hit valves against each other or the pistons. And I would think it would take a lot of arm strength to actually start bending things. It's one thing for the engine to bend valves when it was running and snapped a belt, but I think it's a different matter if you are concerned about bending valves by arm power. And for what it's worth, I was able to rotate the cams quite easily with a 1/2" drive ratchet or breaker bar attached to the cam sprocket nuts (make sure they have already been torqued down sufficiently first though). Then after the belt is on all 4 cam gears, I installed the idler pulley. After this, I installed the tensioner and pulled the pin. Then, I rotated the crank back and forth a few times to make sure things stayed in position. Note that it can take a few minutes for the tensioner to fully extend itself, so I wouldn't start rotating thing right after pulling the pin.

If you can wait, I would recommend getting the new seal. It shouldn't be popping out of place, and that may mean your current one is about to crack. I bought one about 4 months ago and it was under $10. The last thing you probably want is to have this seal leaking and have to pull everything apart again.

Yes, definitely go with OEM for plugs and wires. It will be a bit pricey, so you may want to shop around (I recommend http://www.1stsubaruparts.com). In the meantime, you can try swapping a couple of these items around and see if the problem follows. E.G. take one spark plug wire and swap it for the other one, and swap the spark plug too. If the problem moves, you can be pretty darn sure it was one of those two items. To further diagnose, just move one of them or the other. What you don't want to do is just start throwing a bunch of parts at it because it can get (needlessly) expensive. Lots of things can cause misfires, but you want to start with the cheap/easy things first. A good example of mine diagnosing a misfire code ended up being on a Land Rover Discovery Series II, but the concept is still the same. I had a consistent PO305 that would come and go. I tried the wires, plugs, and new coil packs to no avail. I was told it was sticky valves, so I tried the seafoam clensing technique, and that didn't help. I was then told some other valve issue, a dropped cylinder sleeve, or a piston or headgasket problem, so I pulled the heads. Upon removing the head in question, the rocker bolt holding the valvetrain on for this particular cylinder wasn't even tight! I pulled the heads for nothing, but I had no way of knowing what was going on until I got that far into it. I threw a bunch of parts at it before hand without any luck, and ended up finding the real problem (though it was a rather unusual problem).

I'd also like to know where these can be found in good running condition for only $3500. Around here in snow country, they go for 5-7k. $4500 would be the low end for something, and that would mean a rough body, torque bind, bald tires, etc... Around here, dealers go by KBB.com values. For retail for a '99, I think the value will be somewhere in the mid 7500. That being said, things typically don't sell for book value around here, so 5-7k is more realistic.

Yes, you will want new intake manifold gaskets and exhaust gaskets. They are considered a one-time-use gasket. And if you already have an exhaust leak, all the more reason. While my 2.5L '98 is a bit different, I paid about $200 for all my gaskets from 1stsubaruparts.com (plus another approximate $200 for water pump and t-belt tensioner but you don't need those). My $200 included the headgaskets, valve cover gaskets, spark plug gaskets, cam seals (4 on the 2.5L), valve cover bolt gaskets, water pump gasket, intake and exhaust gaskets. If you don't want to pull the heads yourself and are concerned about additional problems, just pull the motor yourself and bring it in to a machine shop and let them look it over for you. If you don't have a cherry picker or floor jack, now is a good time to get them or rent them. I got a real nice cherry picker from Northern Tool about 7 years ago for $160 and it was one of the best tool purchases I ever did. I see places like Checker Auto and Advance Auto selling the same one from time to time for $125 including the load leveler!