mnwolftrack

Actually, it's done! It went rather well, I've driven the car a bit and the new (used) transmission works great. The things I was most worried about were the easiest, and it was the little things that were a bit of a bugger (it had nothing really to do with it being a subaru, the design, or some other inherent thing about subaru's). I was just having a bad day I think. Note to self: buy transmission jack or buy adapter plate from Northern Tool for $45 to convert my regular floor jack to a transmission jack. I can provide additional details later. I just haven't had time to post a more detailed follow up.

The fraying seatbelt seems to be a common issue. I own two '98 OBW's and both of them have it (had it--I fixed it). I bought two replacement seatbelts from a subi specialist on the east coast for $40 plus s/h. I don't think the fraying is from your clothes. There's a black metal retainer bracket behind the B pillar that I think is the cause for the wear. The black retainer rubs against the seat belt edges.

Yes, I would agree that the weight can be an indication of the quality and output. I run two seperate 30x2 Alpines in one of my vehicles, plus a 180x1, coming out of a headunit that is technically 35x4. Each 30x2 watt alpine is larger and heavier than the head unit is, and they spank the output. The 180x1 is a mono amp running a sub. The system is more than enough for me, and would still be enough even if I was still in my high school days.

Sorry I didn't respond earlier. I got a bit of a snow delay, then I couldn't get to this website (it frequently times out on me). Anyway, I am not real clear on what system you actually have, specifically, whether you already have an OEM sub or were just thinking about one. If you don't already have the OEM sub, my recommendation would be to NOT pursue getting one. It would be less hassle installing aftermarket. The sound quality should be a lot better too. There are several options in putting an aftermarket sub in the car. You can do a "bazooka" tube that can be strapped or secured in the back but becomes easily removable and unplug-able if/when you need to haul stuff. Bazooka's are nice and I ran one for several years, and they can be purchased with a built in amp and band filter so all you have to do is hook up power and audio. An alternative is to build a sub box in the back, but I'm guessing you aren't looking for window-shattering power. Other options include installing a sub in the side wall of the cargo area, in the center console, or under one of the seats (even the rear seat in some vehicles). Subs can be purchased as small as 8", and while they all require some sort of enclosure, some are designed for smaller enclosures and some for others. I completely agree about sound quality in the store vs. price vs. what it actually sounds like in the car. Price does not guarantee something will sound good in your car, nor is the sound in the store necessarily representative of what you'll hear in the car (which is when a multi-band (6 or more) equalizer is very handy because you can change the sound). Another option is 6x9 speakers. These are "normal" speakers but can actually provide some pretty good bass. 6x9 speakers can often play the full range of sound because they usually have a built in tweater and seperate woofer. Lastly, if you are thinking of installing an external amplifer to your OEM speakers, you will need to determine the wattage of the OEM's before doing so. Chances are, the OEM speakers aren't designed to handle much power. It's also possible the OEM head unit was running an OEM external amplifier (or perhaps had a more robust amplifer built in to it). I have not examined the OEM sound system though, so I can't really answer that part of it other than just suggest it. Perhaps someone else can chime in.

Though I am not totally familiar with the subaru stereo system, I can say that harness manufacturers usually do not account for OEM subwoofers since they are typically only an optional feature. Most of the time, when you swap in an aftermarket deck into a system that has an OEM sub, you are "on your own" with regards to figuring out the wiring and getting power to it and audio. OEM subs are often weak too, but they usually come with their own amp (or there is an external OEM amp buried somewhere in the car). Aftermarket head units are typically very weak, and whatever power they give (such as 45x4) is peak power and is not really representative of true power. An external amplifier (such as an alpine 4 channel 45x4) will blow a head unit rated at 45x4 out of the water. Aftermarket head units will also typically not account for the filtering capability of an OEM system that was designed with a sub, so you would either have to have a control on the deck, an equalizer, or install capacitors right at the speakers so that each speaker is only playing the frequencies it's capable of (better sound). You don't want your tweaters playing base, and you don't want your bass playing high frequency stuff. What it likely comes down to is the aftermarket head unit is not running the sub, and the bass is trying to come from your regular speakers and they are distorting because they don't have enough power (weak head unit power) and probably shouldn't be playing low bass anyway.

Oh yes, forgot to mention U-joints that could be worn, as nipper said. Nipper--is there a certain phase or alignment that the driveshaft needs to be reconnected to the rear half of the driveshaft (at the 4 center 12mm bolts near carrier bearing) and a certain way it needs to be slid back into the transmission? I can say at least on other vehicles, not installing drive shaft halfs or slip shafts back correctly can certainly cause vibrations. In the case of a transmission being replaced completely, I wouldn't think it would be possible to slide the driveshaft into a new transmission if there are no reference marks to use. On other vehicles I work with, the "phase" or alignment of the driveshaft is determined by aligning zirk fittings.

Yes, definately got lucky! Of course, they called me about 4 hours after I already picked up the other 3 seals to tell me they found it. By the time I got the voice mail, they were already closed. I just got the transmission out and am now on a pizza break, then off to get ATF, gear oil, and engine oil if I don't have enough. I'm going to reseal the oil pan, tranny pan, and flush all 3 fluids. So far this has been really "easy" compared to other things I've worked on. I've got 6 hours into the removal, but that was with going REALLY slow labelling things, staring at things, and removing crumblies that fall into my eyes. I've got the torque converter "last 1/4 inch" figured out. The salvage yard that sent me the replacment transmission had a very good idea for keeping the torque converter in place, and I took it off and put it on the old torque converter when I had enough of a gap between the engine and transmission to get it installed. It's nothing more than a bolt going through the upper passenger tranny-to-engine bolt hole, a nut, two washers, and a "lazy V-shaped" piece of flat metal that is bolted in place and presses against the TC to keep it in place. I am positive my original torque converter was and is fully seated during removal. Before I even begin pulling the transmission away, I used a pry bar in the upper inspection hole and gently pushed the TC back about 1/8" so that I could spin the TC with my fingers (someone mentioned I should be able to do this during reinstall before I put the TC bolts back in). I pulled the tranny away about 1/8" and pushed on the TC again, though I could tell in relation to the flex plate that it had moved with the tranny and did not stick to the engine. I then used the pry bar between the engine and tranny mating surfaces and continued to push the two apart until I could get the bolt, washers, nut, and bent piece of metal in place to hold down the TC. It worked very well. I didn't have any issues seperating the tranny and engine or making sure the TC stayed in place. I probably had better than average luck though. The new tranny TC is seated just as far back as the old tranny, so I am sure they are both seated right. I'm still going to pull out the new tranny TC so I can replace the front seal and that goofy graphite seal. If the subaru dealer parts dept. is still (or even) open today, I will pick up the rear output shaft seal. As long as the new tranny is out in the open, it would take a mere minute to swap seals. Thanks for everyone's help. Now I just have to hope the new tranny is actually good!

Yes, you have to remove the front axle shafts to get the transmission (and torque converter) out. I am literally replacing a transmission in my '98 OBW right now. I just came in for a pizza break after I got done removing the transmission completely about a half hour ago. If you left the axle shafts on, you've have to rip apart the front suspension (control arms, hubs, etc...) to take the axle shafts with the transmission. I've only removed one subi transmission, but I have no idea why someone would want to leave the axle shafts connected to the transmission (actually the front diff). All I did to pop the axle shafts off was (one side at a time) 1) jack vehicle up and remove the pins 2) remove the lower ball joint nuts 3) remove the center caps and remove the large nut on the end of the axle shaft) 4) pry the lower control arm down and away, then push the tire away just enough to slide the axle shaft out 5) then I put the lower ball joint stud back in the control arm 6) loosely put the nut on, then drop the vehicle back down (with no more front axle shaft). I had a little trouble with the axle shaft pins too (the hardest part of this job for me) and it took a while to find something that would go in the hole but not inside the pins themselves (and get jammed inside the pins making them tighter. The punches that I had were either too big or too small, so I ended up using an allen wrench to hammer on. I originally tried a small bolt, but it's threads would get mashed and it would slide inside the pin and get stuck. Regarding your particular problem, I am wondering if you (meaning AAMCO) didn't line the driveshaft up properly at the carrier bearing, or if the carrier bearing is worn, or if the carrier bearing mounting bracket is even tight. Whenever I've seen people complain about worn front axles on any car, it's always been related to torn boots, splattered grease everywhere, clicking noises and other strange sounds from the CV joints while turning (and as the CV's get worn, it does it while driving straight). Can you physically wiggle or shake the front axle shafts when they are fully installed? Another thought is that the transmission's rear rubber mount/pad is worn/loose.

I picked up the seals yesterday, and the torque converter seal is the goofy looking graphite "C" shaped. It's actually more of a ring with a split in it, not so much a "C". Of course, out of the 4 seals I needed, they managed to loose one of them between me calling them to make sure all seals were in before driving to pick them up, and 45 minutes later when I actually arrived. Luckily, it was just the rear output shaft seal (so I can still get the new tranny back in).

I just went through this process last week in my '98 OBW. I got a new transmission reasonably local for $575 shipped with 53k on it. I sought a transmission that had the exact same model # as my original (near the starter). As previously mentioned, try to find something closer to you. I am in the middle of the country, and shipping withini a few hundred miles was about $50-$75 (not worth me driving to pick up). Places on the coasts wanted $175+ for shipping. So, a $350 transmission would have cost me the same as a $500 transmission depending on shipping. Also, if you find a yard that is local enough that you DO want to pick it up, they seem to want your old core. The people who have to ship will probably NOT want your core (I didn't find anyone that wanted the core shipped back). I'd of bought something I could have picked up myself, but I wasn't about to drive 120 miles to pick up a "cheaper" tranny, only to have to drive there again once the old tranny was out and ready to return for the core refund. You can get just as good of a deal without having to return the core.

I haven't actually picked up the seals yet, so I can't say for sure. I just asked the parts guy on the phone to order me the torque converter shaft seal. I will know more later today when I pick it up. Looking back at the other post, it was you that mentioned replacing the c-shaped graphite seal (which is what I asked the dealer to order me). He had a little trouble finding it, and thought it was teflon, but he eventually found a torque converter shaft seal. But there is a chance this year (1998) doesn't have the graphite c-shaped seal?

Thanks--I did get the torque converter shaft seal. I'm basically replacing all the easy seals as long as the new tranny is out in the open. I want to reseal the pan on the new tranny because it looks like it was leaking anyway. It may have been engine oil blown back to the tranny, something spilled at the salvage yard, or who knows. Someone must have done a full tranny flush previously because it's got orange RTV now (and I'm assuming OEM sealant wasn't orange).

One more dumb question. Is there a pilot bearing hiding on the back of the engine?

Thanks for all the replies. I got eager so I actually started tonight. Following the Hayne's manual (found one local at the last minute--whew!), I'm on step 16 of 24 for removal. Basically what I have left is to remove the driveshaft, disconnect the axles, remove the cross member, remove the lower tranny-to-engine bolts, and drop 'er down. Everything else is done and was easy as mac and cheesy (removing intake tubing, starter, wire harnesses, exhaust, shifter linkage, torque converter bolts). The car is up on ramps in front and jackstands in the rear. Regarding the seperator plate, the original 2.5 is gone in favor of a 2.2 per previous owner. I will see what plate is in there and see if it needs to be replaced. So far, this car has been a cake walk to work on. I've spent 2 hours so far, no air tools (felt like doing it the old fashioned way tonight). Up to this point, it's definately been easier to work on than full frame trucks and SUV's. We'll see what the rest of the disassembly is like....

Greetings all, I will be starting my '98 OBW auto tranny swap this weekend. Just checking to see if I am covering my bases on stuff: I am picking up (from a dealer tomorrow) the rear main seal for the engine, front output shaft seal on the transmission, torque converter shaft seal, and rear output shaft seal, plus the obvious new ATF. I am assuming the salvage yard I bought the transmission from drained the front diff fluid too. Is that ATF or gear lube (or other)? Apparently, there's no tranny filter, and the pan just needs silicone (according to dealer). I am contemplating swapping any sensors over from the original tranny to the new tranny, simply because the old tranny wasn't throwing any codes and otherwise worked fine besides a noisy front pump (thanks for the help nipper). Finding a Haynes manual around here is proving to be impossible. I even ordered one from a local barnes and noble over a week ago and they can't even give me an ETA. I have access to a free online Chilton's through a library, but the Chilton's sinks. I'm still a little nervous about making sure the torque converter is seated properly in the transmission before mating it back up to the engine, but I think I'll be ok. The salvage yard that sent me the new tranny bolted a metal bracket in place over the torque converter so it won't come out. However, I have no idea if it already slipped out and they just slid it back on quickly, or if it's properly seated. I will have to watch closely as I take my '98's tranny out. I'm still contemplating whether I'll pull the engine/tranny together, or just the tranny. I will put it up on ramps tonight and maybe jack up the rear and see how much room that gives me. The tranny is definitely heavier than I was expecting (Toyota 4x4 pickup 5-speed transmissions are only about 100 lbs minus the transfer case). I can't wait for the weekend though. Not only will I hopefully get the tranny swapped in about 5 hours per shop book time, but we (Minnesota) are expected to get anywhere from 8 to 20+ inches of snow this weekend in a 'big storm'. We haven't had more than 22" all season, and we normally get a lot more. The east coast has been taking all our snow.

Most definately! Luckily, it's warmed up above zero this week! We're actually at 10F this morning. I have an insulated garage though, and I use a combination of an electric heater and propane force air heater to warm it up nice and cozy.

I have to admit though, I'm getting paranoid reading through older posts. I just finished reading all posts that came up in a search for "torque converter." I didin't find anything regarding my quest for info regarding this 1/4" last bit of travel, but I found info referring to bad torque converters themselves and cracked flex plates. My car shifts up/down just fine and smooth, and if the TC was bad I'd think it wouldn't. But the flex plate has me wondering.... I guess I'll find out when I pull the transmission. I'm not sure what a cracked flex plate sounds like much less have too much experience with front pump noises. I'm used to manual transmissions!

Hello, Actually, I think you answered my question. I was confused if this 1/4" of travel had to do with putting the torque converter on the input shaft of the transmission. I was not understanding why the converter was pulled out of the transmission to begin with. As I am learning, the torque converter can fall out or stick to the flex plate and come out. I was confusing all of this with some sort of a gap that may occur between the bellhousing and the engine block, as if the torque converter was preventing the engine and transmission from mounting together. In my case, it sounds like the torque converter may pull out a little bit when I remove the tranmission. And, on the transmission that is being shipped to me, the torque converter may have already been pulled or or wiggled out. Knowing that the torque converter should spin freely when the tranmission is re-attached to the motor, and before the flex plate bolts are put in, helps a lot.

If you've been following any of my threads regarding a noisy auto transmission in a '98 OBW, I'm going to replace the transmission (myself). There's one thing I'm not quite clear on. People are referring to making sure the torque converter is seated properly the last 1/4 to 1/8" otherwise if you use the bolts between the transmission and engine to pull it together, the torque converter will ruin the oil pump (aka front pump??). What I'm not understanding is, is the process of seating the torque converter done while the transmission is still out? I'm used to manual transmissions and clutch jobs, so please forgive me. For what it's worth, I've been searching for an answer here on this gap, and after a few hours of reading posts, I'm still reading through the posts that tell other people to search and read the older posts. I'm on dialup internet access and haven't gotten to those older posts yet.... Not sure how far back they are. Is the whole reason the torque converter needs to be seated properly becuase it may have slid out a bit on it's shaft when the trans was seperated from the engine (or because you pulled the TC out to replace a seal?). Otherwise, I'm thinking the 1/4 to 1/8" gap is when you try to bring the bellhousing surface to the engine block surface, and they won't quite go together (thus you incorrectly try to use the bolts to bring them together and wreck the pump). Lastly, is the oil pump in the transmission also referred to as the front pump? And, if you damage the pump by not properly seating the TC, what are the symptoms? I'm kinda wondering if the previous owner of my new car who swapped in a 2.2 in place of the original 2.5 may have made this fatal mistake thus causing the noisy front pump? background info covered in other threads (if you haven't read them): I originally bought this car thinking it had a noisy alternator or other pulley. I have plenty of auto experience on Toyotas for 15 years, but this is my first subi (obviously my experience didn't help me buy this car very wisely). I removed the belts and the noise remained. The noise only occurs while moving in gear, unless it's well below 0F air temp then it does it for a minute or two at idle in park. Then, with my foot on the brake, i can move the shifter slowly through the gears (change gear every 5 seconds) and the noise is present once the vehicle has changed gears, but goes away during the shifting of gears. The difference in noise between D and the other forward gears is minimal, but the biggest change is from R to a forward gear, or to/from neutral. When cold, the noise is most audible with a stethescope pointed on the bell housing. The noise changed a little bit and quieted down a little when I put some Lucas Oil TrannyFix in. Now it sounds like a ticked off sputtering bumble bee. The noise quiets or goes away when the tranny is upshifting, then comes back once it's done fully shifting gears. At idle (when warmed up) or coasting, the noise is absent. The tranny otherwise shifts perfectly fine.

Thanks for all the help. I bought a replacement today with only 53k on it from a '98 and identicle model #.

I ended up finding a tranny with 53k on it for a good price ($550 shipped to me). So, I couldn't go wrong with that. If you're interested in shopping for yourself, I found several in the 60k-110k for very reasonable on car-part.com. I almost bought a different one from a place called Rich Industries in MO with only 75k on it for $350 plus s/h. Shipping to me made it a bit of a wash over the one with 53k, so I went with the one with 53k. The one I bought is a lot closer to me, so shipping was considerably less. I don't know anything about Rich Industries short of calling them and visiting their website. Their website was actually REALLY nice. You could look up inventories by make, model, year, or by part, see pictures of vehicles, and remaining prices left on those vehicles. The tranny with 75k is from a car that had a light hit in the rear (per photos). There were MANY other trannys under $500 on car-part.com though too. I'm just letting you know of the one I almost bought in case it would help you.

Actually, I just pulled out about 4 dents out of my '98 OBW. I used a suction cup on a couple of them and it does a nice job, depending on the dent. If the dent is in a smooth area of the door, meaning no body lines, seams, or edges, then the cup can do a good job. The limitation is that if the dent is a "plink-plunk," meaning, you push it out and it makes the "plink" noise, then a few seconds later it goes "plunk" on it's own and re-dents itself, then you need to do something else because the metal is stretched. But, based off where your dent is, you can probably get away with pulling the door panel and pushing out from behind. I removed a dent from the front fender by peeling back the plastic inner liner and pushing it by hand. I removed a dent from the hood by removing the hood liner and hammering from underneath with a large socket on it's rounded edge (sharp edges cause more dents). Short of going all the way and grinding, filling, sanding, and painting dents, this works reasonably well. Each dent I removed is about about a 1/4 as noticable as it used to be.

"Usually" the new belts have the timing marks on them to match up to the crank/cam markers. Not always though. Even if they don't, you can make your own. What I like to do is rotate everything into position per proper procedure, then mark with a dab of paint or marker on the belt and on the gears or whereever the alignment indicators are, and remove the old belt. Then I tape the two new belts together side by side so that the teeth are aligned, then I transfer the paint markings to the new belt. Then installation is simple--just alighn the marks you just made. Make sure to make the paint marks thin enough so that it isn't possible to confuse yourself on which tooth on the gear to align the belt mark.

The Lucas Transfix did help a little, but not as much as I would have wanted. The noise changed from a constant whine during acceleration to more of a pissed off intermittant bumblebee noise. The noise goes away now as the transmission is upshifting between gears while accelerating. The bottle said it was mainly to help trans slipping, leaks, and hard shifting. It really didn't reference noise issues. I actually wasn't expecting the Lucas to make any improvement, but it did. If it only would have fixed it enough so I didn't have to get another transmission...

I also have a '98 OBW, and I changed the plugs from underneath the car. I did not have to remove anything to get to them, and access was about as good as it gets as far as I could tell. I didn't want to bother trying to take off parts in the engine bay. I don't recall my OBW having access holes, but either way, it was easy enough under the car. The tricks I used are this: I rotated the spark plug wires before trying to pull them off, then rotate and pull off in one motion. Then, push a spark plug socket into the hole. Next, put a 3 inch 3/8" drive extension into the hole and spin it until it engages with the socket. Then spin until the socket slips on to the plug. Then, hook your rachet up to the extension, and loosen the plug. Then, take the rachet off the extension, slide out the extension so you can pull it off the socket, then the socket should come out with the plug still in it. It's definately best to have a spark plug socket with the rubber grommet inside to hold on to the plug. Use antiseize on the new plug threads, check the gap before inserting, and insert the new plug into the socket, then put both into the hole. And installation is the reverse of removal when concerning the plug, socket, extension, and rachet goes. I also went with the expensive OEM double platinum laser plugs, and they were about $10 each but I figured I wouldn't have to do this again for a long time. I also went with OEM plug wires, as that seemed to be the wire of choice for people here.