Rooster2

Good reason not to drive a VW.

Glad no one got hurt. I agree with others, do a buy back, you won't get much because of high mileage, but like others said, your rebuilt frankenmotor is of value, and you know how to drop it into another car with a bad motor. Show any recent receipts you have from recent repairs or improvements to the insurance adjuster may help you get a better $ adjustment. I have done that in the past, and it really helps. Not surprised the air bags did not blow. They are made to go off on frontal impact, not rear impact. Let us know how you come out.

Suspect you could be right about the oil pump having loose screws, and loosing prime. Since current oil is still clean looking after 3000 miles, then don't think you have an oil sludge problem. Also, don't think you have an oil filter problem.

Is it possible that you have a sludge build up in the motor? Maybe PO did not change oil & filter regularily. If so, sludge will restrict oil circulation through the motor, and would be most noticeable on start up. I'd drain the oil, put in a new filter and replace a quart of the oil with ATF, and drive for about an hour (NOT fast, NOT on a 100 degree day). Drain, replace filter again, and fill with a quart of ATF the rest oil and do it again. ATF is high in detergent and lower in viscosity than regular motor oil and sometimes cleans an engine really well. Two quarts of ATF (and two oil filters) should take care of this process. Drain and fill with synthetic or dino oil and a new filter after that.

I had a similar problem of a squeaky squeaky sound. It went away on applying the brakes, or E-brake. Turned out to be a return spring on the E-brake that was rubbing.on something.

OHHHHHH, I missed the 300K miles on the engine on the original post. Yea, now I see why a replacement engine is the best option.

Why replace the engine? Damage done when t belt breaks is bent valves. Replace the valves, resurface the heads, reassemble and your done. Or.............simply buy replacement heads from a wrecking yard, and install. No need to replace the motor.

Sounds like no big deal, then they are interchangeable.

Timely that you made this post. I just started shopping yard on car-parts.com for a steering rack for my 98 OBW. All the yards just post "Legacy" racks for sale, with no mention of any difference between Outback and non-Outbacks. I will watch with interest what others have to say, to see if they are inter-changeable.

I think I have read that the wiring harness between the two is different, and prolly not easy to switch out motors. Other people on this forum know a lot more then me. I hope they chime in with more info for you.

Well, since it passes emissions tests as is.............any chance you can go back and get approval without telling them there has been an engine switch? Unless someone knows the physical visual difference between a 2.2 and a 2.5 motor, it would be difficult to tell that the motor has been switched.

On 96-99 Legacys with 2.5 motor, it has been my experience that blown head gaskets don't result in a mix of coolant with the oil. If so, then I am learning something new. On other makes of cars that is a typical scenario. All blown head gaskets on these Legacy models I have seen, have resulted in exhaust gas entering the cooling system through a breach in the broken head gasket. That is the reason for the engine over heating. You can also go to possible dealer where car was serviced. Give them your car VIN number, and ask for a print out of previous service and repairs. I have also had an independent garage access a Subaru data base to show list of repairs, even though the repairs were done elsewhere.

Thanks, I appreciate the advise...............Rooster2..........................Larry

My 98 OBW has had blown rack boots for some time. It has finally progressed to the point that the rack leaks P/S fluid. I did research back in the archives on this forum to get some good advise. Advise was to buy a used rack from a yard, and that it is not difficult to swap in a replacement rack. I got this advise......... anyway - they're super easy to swap out. 1. remove exhaust manifold 2. disconnect 2 tie rod ends (you don't even have to remove the wheels - just loosen 19mm lock nut and unthread tie rod) 3. 4 bolts for steering rack brackets 4. 1 bolt to disconnect steering rack ujoint 5. 2 nuts for fluid lines on passengers side mark carefully u-joint placement to retain steering wheel alignment and tie rods for toe alignment That all sounds straight forward, however, I can see a lot of work in removing the exhaust manifold to be not so super easy. My 98 must have rusted bolts holding the manifold together. Is it a simple matter of zip cutting the bolts off, and replace with new bolts, or do they thread in, and have to be screwed out? If so, my luck is to break a bolt, then have to drill it out, and maybe have to tap in new threads. Any advise please?? Also, went to carparts.com to look for a used rack from a yard. Prices seemed to be in the $75 to $100 range. Anything I should be aware of before ordering a rack on line?? All posts are for Legacy, so I guess Legacy, and Legacy OBW are the same. Thanks for any advise...............Rooster2

For not much more money, Subaru or six star head gaskets are much better then Fel Pro, or anything else. I would hate to hear that you had to fix the head gasket problem again in the future, because the Fel Pro head gaskets did not last very long.

Fully agree, if tread is pretty warn, then new tires are needed before the snow flies.Nothing worse then driving in snow with bad tires.

Any chance you can ask previous owner for a car repair history? It is very helpful to know if head gaskets were replaced and how long ago. Head gaskets going bad, that cause the motor to over heat is the major fault of the engine you have. You would not disassemble the heads from the motor to discern if you have bad head gaskets. When they go bad, the temperature gauge spikes to hot in a hurry. There is no warning light on a Subie dashboard to alert you of a problem. It is a matter of keeping a pretty close eye on the temp gauge to see that it stays in the middle between cold and hot readings, when motor is warmed up. If engine starts over heating, stop the car, and turn off the engine ASAP.. Failure to do so, will severely damage the motor. Otherwise..............these are pretty darn good cars. Built well, and reliable to 300K+ miles.

Well, maybe I fixed the CEL code. I swapped gas caps with my wife's 98 OBW, and CEL light turned off. Even a relatively new gas cap may not seal that well.

IMHO, and not to be argumentative, if your sister is paying for her car repair bills, it must be very stressful to get hit with over charge bills of $1,500, and later for a $700 exhaust repair bill. Suggest in the future that either you, or your brother take full charge of any, and all repair work to be done on your sister's car. No need to continue being ripped off.

The other half is thinking about picking up a set for his Outback soon - the Michelins he has are age cracking... I have Michelins on wife's car, with some sidewall cracking. A good friend of mine, who worked years as an installer at Discount Tire, told me that all Michelins have a tendency to age crack the sidewalls over time. However, he says that is not a problem, or a safety issue with Michelins, as long as the age cracking is not in the tread area.

I am running Yokohama AVID TRZ tires. They have been on my OBW for about 4 years. I do know that model was the top of the line, when I bought them, but have since been discontinued, with another tire becoming the top of the line. My TRZ tires were highly recommended by sales guys and installers at Discount Tire Store. They were right,......... excellent tires, great traction, quiet, excellent tire wear, good in snow, and balance well with minimum weights added to road wheels. I would buy Yokohamas again.

If you buy a used 2.2 motor, I wouldn't recommend buying one with more then 150K miles on it. 2.2 motors are known to be "bullet proof," with a life span of 300+ K miles. When I did my transplant, I paid $400, and was told it had 142K miles on the engine. I gambled that previous owner changed the oil on schedule. I was fortunate to get a good motor, that doesn't burn oil, and runs great. You may want to go to the website: http://www.car-part.com/ to search for a motor. Keep us posted on your progress.

I have heard that manufacturers want the 2 new tires on the rear, as more of a safety issue. If the 2 new tires were on the front, and more worn tires on the rear, there is a stronger possibility of the car spinning out on wet or snowy roads on sharp exit ramps or sharp turns at speed. My daughter did just that with tire set up as described with her VW on interstate exit ramp on a sharp loop wrap around in heavy rain. She spun off the ramp, went down an embankment, and into a tree, within posted ramp speed. She didn't get hurt, but tore up the front of the car. So, lesson learned, front wheel drive will spin out with poor tires on the rear. Subies with AWD, not as prone to spin out, but tire installer guys don't take that into consideration.

Fully agree with fairtaxtime on dropping in a '95, 2.2 motor. That is exactly what I did on my 99 a couple of years back. Bought my motor for $400, and had it dropped in for about $1,300. Motor runs great, the 2.2 is smoother then original 2.5, just slightly less power, but not a negative. I took my broken original 2.5 motor to a wrecking yard, and sold it for $50 to the yard. If you do decide to sell it, list it on Craig's list. For sure you will be able to sell it for maybe $500-$700, without much trouble.

Take the car to Wal-Mart.They will rotate them.