Numbchux

Prices are crazy this year. Shop around, that's a premium price, but might not be completely out of line. Inspect it, thoroughly. Low miles on an old car means it's been sitting a lot. If it was in a garage and only driven on nice days, it's probably in fantastic shape, if it was in a field in the summer and driven hard in the winter, it'll be nothing but problems. I have an '01 Forester with 97k on it that I'm rehabilitating, and the rear suspension was rusty like a 200k mile car. I had to replace all the brake lines in the rear, etc. As mentioned, make sure the timing belt has been done, and done correctly. Take a look at the tag on the LH strut tower in the engine bay, it will have the complete engine code. California emissions cars in 2004 had a unique version of the 2.5 that is a bit more trouble to find parts for (especially if you need a complete engine). The California code will start with EJ259, where the others will be EJ251.

01 Forester. Originally a 2.5, replaced with a JDM SOHC 2.0. Install went smoothly (reused many of the 2.5 parts, as per usual), engine runs great, car drives very nicely. Throws a P0170 (fuel mixture rich). Live data reads LTFT -20% or so, which makes sense as I've reduced engine capacity by 20%. I've seen dozens of posts about doing this swap. The dealership I worked at did it many times. I don't recall hearing about a code like this. However, quick google search does turn up a few mentions. I see some using smaller injectors, I might try the ones from the 2.0. Any experiences/insight/recommendations?

Yea, I don't think you can access any dealer settings with anything that cheap. Any ELM bluetooth dongle (I've bought a couple for ~$15) and an android app can do a lot of diagnostics. ActiveOBD is a subaru-specific app that can read transmission temperature, AWD %, and more on the newer models (was invaluable when diagnosing a torque converter solenoid on my mom's 2012 CVT Impreza).

Yes. I can't agree with these 2 sentences enough.

Your profile says you live in Wisconsin, but then you mention lifting by the rocker panel. I'm guessing your cars are less than....8 years old? Even on our '04, which I removed the rocker molding at 130k miles, the rockers are not safe to support the weight of the car. My 350k mile 2000 doesn't have rockers at all.... Yea, those are nice on a solid car, but if you live in the rust belt, be very careful!

AFAIK it varies depending on model and emissions equipment (California cars got it first). It was about 2002, or so. Looks like some models switched over as early as 1999, but I know my 01 Forester has the older 6-tooth sprocket. https://parts.subaru.com/p/Subaru_2008_Legacy-25L-TURBO-5AT-4WD-GT-Limited-Sedan/Engine-Timing-Crankshaft-Sprocket-U1/49224693/13021AA141.html vs the 6 tooth: https://parts.subaru.com/p/Subaru_2001_Forester-25L-AT-L/Engine-Timing-Crankshaft-Sprocket-1X--C0-U0-UT-EGM-G-EGM-P-U0-C0/49224691/13021AA091.html FYI, EJ25D was '96-'99 and all had the 6 tooth. That LGT has an EJ255, SOHC 2.5s were EJ251s and 253s (and, occasionally, 259s).

If there's any metal there. The rear jacking points are the first place to get soft, especially if the car has rocker mouldings.

No surprise. But it doesn't need a complete valve body at $800. It just needs one solenoid. I know, I'm a cheapass..... The A and B shift, and torque converter solenoids are all identical should all read between 10-13 ohms. The OEM one that failed read 3 ohms. This aftermarket one..... 0.2 Ohms.... From my research. The torque converter solenoid is by far the most common to fail, despite the fact that the 2 main shift solenoids are identical. So I got a used valve body with less than 100k miles on it that had a failed AWD solenoid. I grabbed one of the shift solenoids, and swapped it for the converter solenoid in my mom's car last night. Code cleared, test drove great. The car has about 190k on it, now. If it lasts another 50k, I'll be happy. If not, I have 2 more used OEM solenoids on that valve body that test good....

I picked up a used valve body just in case the cheap solenoid failed. Well....it threw a P2764 again yesterday. Barely more than 2 months. I wasn't expecting to get another 185k miles like the stock one....but, that was disappointing. I plan to swap in a used solenoid from the other valve body tonight.

Take some advice, man. In the 30 years that these EA82s have existed, you're not the first one to want 30-75% more power out of it. Do you know how many times we've seen people on here spending huge amounts of time and money on EA82ts, trying to do it right? Do you know how many of those got replaced with an EJ? I just spent a minute with a boost pressure calculator. If 5psi nets 115hp, 200hp would require ~22 psi! Yes, everything is fixable. With the proper application of time, money and knowledge, anything is theoretically possible. We're telling you that better results are attainable with far less of all 3 by swapping to an EJ. I don't think anyone has used a Power Commander, but similar builds have been done DOZENS of times, I can't think of anyone that's had much success. There were a couple in Australia ~20 years ago that spent huge money on the engine hard parts to get power out of them, but I don't recall even those being terribly successful. And, how do you think it executes those features? By manipulating sensor signals to fool the ECU into doing something it wasn't supposed to do? Yea...almost certainly.

Generally, those have external oil leaks. I have seen internal failures, usually aftermarket gaskets, insufficient cleaning, and/or improper torque sequence on a previous repair is blamed.

I can't tell where you've got it in the front, but that's pretty easy, big ol' frame rail behind the rear control arm mount. That works in the rear, although might bend that stamped steel arm, and the jack stand is kind of in the way. On my rusty 2000, I usually put them on the trailing arm right up against the bushing where it meets the body. On the later ones (I'm not sure the exact cutoff, but our '04 Outbacks definitely have them), there's a brace on the bottom of that going forward to the diff mount bracket (?) that's fabulous for jack stands.

Very cool!! Not compatible with '04-'05 transmissions?

Wow. The ECU monitors so many different sensors, it should throw a code if one of them doesn't make sense. Use your scan tool to monitor live data while cranking. If you have rpms, your crank/cam sensors are likely fine. I would definitely be trying starting fluid, next.

Check the codes again. I just don't believe that it cranks without firing and doesn't throw any codes. But yea, a shot of starting fluid will tell you if it's got spark, compression and correct timing, and you can start tracing a fuel issue.

Well done! https://www.thedrive.com/news/42017/homebuilt-subaru-outback-survives-500-mile-rally-that-killed-trophy-trucks

Meh, car-part shows 4 pages of results in the US. None close enough to me to drive to, but they can be shipped and they're cheap enough.

Take it easy guys. The question was clear, and relevant. And there are a lot more ratios available on the newer cars than that. Legacies and Outbacks with a turbo and a 5EAT have very tall diff ratios. Looks like 07-09 LGT 5EAT cars use that one in particular. Car-part.com lists that option for a Legacy 3.0 5EAT, but I couldn't reproduce it in Subaru's catalog.

Depends what you're smelling. Could be anything. My guess is something more potent, like antifreeze, gasoline, or something dripping onto the exhaust.

All the Orings are in the engine bay. The only place the refrigerant would be leaking that's inside the cabin is a hole in the evaporator itself. Also, there isn't a lot of refrigerant in the system. A volume that you would be able to smell would only last a few minutes. I doubt that's your issue.

The stuff specific to the XTs (body and interior) are some of the rarest parts in the Subaru world, just the wrong combination of uncommon and undesirable. The classifieds here, and the various old school and/or XT Facebook groups are probably your best bet.

'96-'98 EJ22 would be my preference, but almost any EJ22 would be a great option. The factory fuel injection won't run anything other than a stock engine very well. So any engine swap involves wiring in a new ECU, and making that happy. There are hundreds and hundreds of details on different options and methods. Basically any Subaru engine is mechanically possible without too much trouble. And anything else is possible with enough time, money and knowledge (a good friend of mine put a turbo 6.0l GM V8 and 4L80 in his Legacy). That said, I think the early OBD II EJ22s are just the right combination of simple reliability, with a dab of modern technology ($15 dongle with allow you to view trouble codes and engine parameters on your smart phone). The Earlier EJ22s are simpler, but OBD I leaves a lot to be desired when it comes to diagnostics.

I just put a newer JDM 2.0 into an '01 Forester. It was similar to a 253, but no variable valve timing.... Anyway, yes. Best practice when swapping Subaru engines is to swap the intake manifold and wiring harness from the old motor. Obviously the EGR valve itself is mounted to the intake, so that takes care of that end. My '01 Forester engine had a plug where the EGR pipe goes into the head, so I was able to just zip that out of the old engine (14mm allen, IIRC), and plug the hole in the new engine. Moosens just had a thread on here with a Legacy with the opposite situation (non EGR engine in place of an EGR one), and he had to drill and tap the head for the port, so some engines do not have the plug there. In that thread I believe GD said it was an M20x1.5 thread, in which case an aftermarket drain plug would probably be easy enough to get.

The important part, is that the outer diameter (technically, circumference) of all 4 tires match. Changing wheel size is no big deal. For anyone's future reference. Tire sizes can vary from one manufacturer to another, so it's very difficult to match the circumference from one to another. It would be possible to measure the circumference (not the diameter, 3/32 difference in tread depth can translate to ~1/2" circumference). BUT, to be accurate it should be mounted on the same-width wheel and inflated when measuring. By the time you mount and measure enough tires to find a good match, you could have just bought the right one (or a new set).

Yep. AFAIK, the only pairing process that can be done yourself is for the keyless entry. But it sounds like you have an immobilizer issue. If a previous owner added a key (either of your working keys), but didn't bring in that second master, it would be cleared from the immobilizer memory. Or maybe they had one cut and never bothered to have it programmed.... But yea, you could try calling local locksmiths and see if they can work with that system, but likely dealer only.