themoneypit

k thanks guys, im gonna go give it a shot now. ill climb in the hole and try popping it open with that lever. if i dont post back by tomorrow, then im stuck in there, so send help!!! j/k ill be fine, and have someone else there just incase LOL

i would personally 2.2 swap it. i just did a 2.2 swap on an 00 outback (phase II) in 8hrs start to finish. that included swapping intake, left cam, and crank sprockets, y-pipe, and timing belt. for a phase I, if you do a 95-98 ej22 its even more direct and less parts to change over. a 95 ej22 with egr will bolt right in and plug and play with no modifications at all. if you use 96-98, you will need the front y-pipe as they are single port exhaust. most important thing to do if you go this route, is see if your outback has an egr, if it does, make sure the 2.2 does also, and you wont have any problems. its very simple to seat the torque converter back into the trans. actually on my swap it didnt move at all, and i didnt have to re-seat it. if i did, you simply rotate it clockwise while pushing on it until it seats itself, and is almost touching the trans bell housing. subaru engines are simple to remove/reinstall. i would NEVER consider doing hgs in the car, to me its easier to remove it. from the first bolt loosened, till its on the engine stand is about 2-2.5 hours.

ill see what i can do this weekend. i looked for an inside pull, but dont see one. those only became mandatory in the last few years. maybe i will take the seat out, so i dont get stuck in there. its a tight fit climbing thru the little access hole.

gotcha.. so if i climb in there, i can flip that switch with it closed, and have someone hit the lever and get me out? the key goes in and turns, but it doesnt pop?

2000 outback sedan. the key wont open the trunk. i saw the tab and switched it over to see if that was the problem, and now it wont open from the lever, or with the key DOH. so i see the "trunk access" hole in the seat, and im gonna try and squeeze my fat arse in there and get it open again, but i dont know how... ill flip the switch back and just use the lever from now on. help please b4 i climb in there and cant get out lmao. thanks

mines done and runs GREAT! about 8hrs start to finish. wouldve been 7, but after i put the motor in, got a few of the bolts started to pull it together, i realized the flex plate from the 2.2 wasnt going to work with the outback trans. so pulled it out, swapped the drive plates (torque to 53ft lbs), and dropped it back in. so my input for this swap on an automatic, use the outback starter, flex/drive plate, and your good to go!! GD, this motor has new headgaskets, so i guess your right theyre prone also... appears to be oem subaru s/s hgs. 115k on the odo, so i wonder if they were done under that 100k warranty?? were the 2.2s involved in that? anyways, it runs great, noticed a rip in a cv axle, ill do those tomorrow. couldnt be happier. im 2500 flat into this car with buying it plus motor, and its mint. thanks again everyone!! on a side note thou, i have a new reman OEM subaru impreza 2.2 automatic STARTER for sale. ill post in the for sale section.

doors literally just bolt on, and plug in. simple to replace. a body shop would pull the pillar, if its bent, pretty cheap. the key would be to have the insurance company NOT total it. cant hurt to ask... if you get them to not total it, you can prob have a body shop fix it fairly cheap. buy two good doors for it, and have them install them and paint it them. you could prob pay for your road trip with the extra cash leftover.

the b pillar is prob bent a little bit, but yeah, could def pull it and put 2 doors on it. it is pretty clean. its up to you i guess. salvage titles suck, and makes the value about 1/2 of what its worth regardless of condition. find out if you have to have it inspected, after being fixed, by the DMV. i know here in CT you need pictures of before, and after, and they do a COMPLETE inspection of the whole car and EVERYTHING has to be perfect or they wont pass it. its a real PITA. talk to the insurance adjuster and ask them how much they would give you without branding it a total loss/salvage. if they will give you say 4grand, and not brand it totalled, id go that route and fix it for less than a grand and pocket the rest.

take the 5300 and run. go buy another one. you can prob find one with half the miles for that kind of money. how much did you buy this one for??

nice. yeah the manual trans starters are the same, but it listed different part numbers for an automatic (2.5 vs 2.2), so i grabbed the starter for the 2.2 as well. i pulled the timing cover off of the o/b today and have the same pulley on my 00 as your 02 did. im going to swap them over to the 2.2 with the intake and install it. hoping to get it done this weekend if all works out good. ill post back once shes running. i hit the stealership today for intake gaskets, exhaust gaskets, t-stat/seal, antifreeze, and the coolant conditioner. once i pick the motor up from the junkyard, ill assess if it needs t-belt components or not. if so ill grab those as well. seeing it was dealer maintained im hoping everythings new when i pull the covers off... yeah i got the y-pipe with it as well

my friend just bought an awd toyota matrix and loves it. however imprezas are good too. i wouldnt rule out one or the other, just find the best deal on either one.

hmmm, did not know that... my phase II 2.5 has the fire-ring failure, not the external leak... they do go bad that way, just not as common as the phase I did.

make sure when you burp it to have the heater on high, with the lever in the hot position.

yeah i grabbed it! he charged me 30 bux for it.. i wasnt sure if my starter was going to work with the motor or not, so i was planning on getting one. then when i saw the subaru sticker and part number on it i was syked. its all shiney and theres no dust on the sticker at all, like they just picked it up from the dealer and got rear ended... i also got the y-pipe for it as well. it was def a score.

did you burp the system real good and use an OEM t-stat? stant makes an oem replacement (48457?) which works good as well, but the el-cheapo t-stats SUCK on these cars.

i hit the junkyard today and scored a 115k 2.2 from an 00 impreza. had fresh subaru oil filter on it, and brand new subaru starter, so it looks like it was a dealer maintained car. im pretty syked. cant wait to get it installed and get this car up n running.. i bought it last week with known bad hgs, but its real a real clean outback sedan limited, so it was worth saving it:clap: with the miles, im hoping when i pull the timing cover it has a new t-belt and waterpump as well. if it was dealer maintained, it shoudlve been done 10k miles ago. if thats the case, ill just swap the two sprockets, and put it back together. if it looks old ill replace everything.

what about the starter? which did you use? from the 2.2, or the original 2.5? is your car stick or automatic? looking up online, the starter for a manual trans 2.5 is the same as a manual trans 2.2. but the automatics list different part numbers for both engines. my o/b 2.5 is automatic, im guessing i have to get the starter for the automatic 2.2 as well?

yeah ill do mine while its on the stand now that we confirmed this (though i guess you already knew that LOL). i plan on seals, idlers, belt, w/p and a tune up as well. cant wait to get going on this. hitting the j/y tomorrow!

AWESOME NEWS! Will be tackling this on mine within the next couple weeks. I'll prob go grab the 2.2 I found tomorrow.. Thanks for all the info!

your best bet would be to buy a turbo 2.5 car then. the turbo motors arent prone to HG failure, have much more pep, and reliability than the non-turbos. my 05 baja is turbo and i love it. this 00 outback i just bought for my dad, so im going to put a 2.2 in it and save the future headaches.

i dont know what they did for sure, but i believe they had redesigned the gaskets. obviously that didnt work LOL. im actually going thru the same problem with my 00 ob sedan, but im thinking ill 2.2 swap it for the same price (maybe cheaper) than doing HGs on the 2.5. by the time you have the heads done, buy all new gaskets, t-belts, etc. im pretty sure itd be cheaper to swap in a 2.2 that should last forever. i found a low mileage 00 2.2 for mine, and a 2.5 with similar low mileage for about the same price at the junkyards. once i know for sure if the 2.2 works, ill jump on it. if not, ill gamble with a used 2.5. i bought it with bad HGs, and dont know how bad it was overheated before i got it. just picked it up yesterday.

if you need to drive the car until the mechanic can do the HGs, get a stant LEV-R rad cap and install it with the lever up. this allows the exhaust gas to burp out, and the car will still run fine and not overheat. ive used this method twice and leave one of those rad caps in the glove compartment of any phase I DOHC 2.5. it will keep you from being stranded. when you put one of those lever caps on, be sure the lever aims towards the battery when tight and you wont have any problem with closing the hood with the lever up. hope that helps.

cant wait to see how this works out. not bad if all you have to do is swap intake, and couple sprockets. def worth the better 2.2 in the long run. wonder why you only have to swap the left cam sprocket, and not both?? just wondering. keep us posted on how this goes. thx

so... howd it go? she run?

oh man, with 91k miles, subaru had a "warranty" on those motors up to 100k for the head gaskets. i dont know if that had an expiration date or not, but i know for a fact they warrantied them up to 100k miles because of all the issues with the HGs