canajun2eh

There's a pressure regulator in the fuel delivery line, just after the fuel pump. It's a little thing that looks like a hat, about 2 cm in diameter. You need to replace this regulator with one that can be adjusted. If your fuel pump is itself adjustable (I thought you were going to buy one that could be adjusted), just remove that regulator and use your pump's adjustment.

The air conditioning condenser (you call it a "radiator") certainly obstructs air flow through the radiator. If you're never going to use your car's air conditioning system, you should remove the condenser and also unplug the two connectors on the air conditioning compressor. However, I wouldn't try to make that thing work as an extra cooling system radiator. It's entirely normal for the car's temperature gauge to climb towards the Hot indication. Halfway between Normal and Hot is still quite OK. Just be sure that the electric cooling fan operates normally. I've heard of people replacing the viscous coupled fan on the water pump either with one that runs all the time or with another electric fan, wired in parallel with the original one. I'd go with a second electric fan. If you can't get the engine temperature under control, turn the heater control all the way up, turn the fan on full, and open the car windows. I've used this dodge to get me home when my car's cooling system packed it in. That never happened on my Subarus, but it DID happen on my Cooper "S" (the real one).

It's possible that the original fuse didn't make proper contact with the fuse holder. It's also possible that the wiring behind the fuse panel is a little flaky, and that there is a loose wire back there. My vote goes to "fuse holder". These things are simply tab connectors, and the connector may be loose in the holder, allowing itself to be pushed out of the holder when you insert the fuse. That's happened to me.

It sounds like your air conditioning system's relay. In winter, when your climate controls are set to "defrost", your air conditioning system is automatically turned on too. You have no option to disable this. The idea is that the A/C will dry the defrost air somewhat.

Those surface cracks are caused by heat and not enough metal between the intake and exhaust valve ports. There's a significant temperature difference between the two ports, so the metal will expand and contract at different rates. This causes the surface cracks you have seen.

You should be OK with those surface cracks. I've heard that these are normal and nothing to be worried about. If you see cracks extending below the valve seats, that's a different story.

I bet you were running near the red line. All of my Subarus have turned off when I hit the red line, turning on again as soon as the engine revs dropped to a more reasonable level. That's an ECU function as near as I can tell.

Carb specs are the same as SPFI, compression-wise. I don't see any reason why you couldn't use a short block from a carbed engine, mated to the MPFI/Turbo gear from your defunct engine. I agree with you, that you shouldn't run into any longevity issues if you disable the turbo. Better still: Remove the turbo completely. That would improve exhaust flow, giving you a tiny bit more power. As near as I can tell, the turbo doesn't provide any meaningful input to the ECU. The ECU would just see zero boost.

I live in a "metric" country; quantities have been "americanized" for your benefit. Around here, gas line antifreeze can be bought in bulk (1 qt, 1/2 gal, etc.) or in handy but relatively expensive single-unit (4 fl. oz.) containers. I don't know about that "HEET" stuff, but gas antifreeze is usually made of methyl alcohol. In small quantities, that shouldn't cause any problems. To keep things running, it's generally recommended that you add 4 fl. oz. of antifreeze to each fill-up of up to 15 gal. Add more antifreeze if you're filling more than 15 gal. Pour the antifreeze into the fuel filler before filling up to ensure proper mixing. To avoid condensation (the source of most problems), NEVER let the fuel level in the tank fall below half full. If your system has frozen (contaminated fuel, perhaps), adding LOTS of antifreeze and then waiting an hour or more sometimes works. Add up to 6 of those 4 oz. containers.

There could still be water in the fuel. The amount of gas line antifreeze added by the oil companies won't handle excessive condensation. I'd say you should still treat your fuel with additional gas line antifreeze, just to be sure. You could also consider using Ethanol blended fuel. My cars like this latter option very much.

Yes, it can take quite a while for the lifters to return to normal. This past fall, I helped a friend with his non-turbo XT. It took a week for things to become quiet. If you still have an oil leak near the pump: Did you change the crankshaft seal?

The only differences that I can think of have to do with the instruments being on the "wrong" side. This means that any photos or drawings that show connector positions would be wrong if you're driving a vehicle of the opposite persuasion. I've actually taken an EA82T instrument harness (loom) apart, and some of the wires in there are weird! They run from one side to the other with loop connectors at one side to accommodate the "wrong" position of the instruments. When you think about it, it really doesn't make much sense to design a vehicle specifically for the driver's position. That approach would double the development costs. I don't think the Japanese are THAT stupid! Here's a quick and dirty check: Where's the fuse panel? On LHD models, it's above the driver's left foot. If it's above the passenger's left foot on RHD models, the rest of the wiring should be pretty much the same.

CCR Engines in Colorado have an outstanding reputation. http://www.ccrengines.com/

Are you sure about that? Those holes would causes major oil leaks. The EA82/EJ27 engine has 4 plugs. At the back, they're behind the flywheel and the oil separator cover (revealed when the flywheel is removed). I see no reason why the EA81 should be different. Instead of buying an allen key, you can make do with a bolt that has the right size head. I think it's 14 mm, but don't hold me to that. If you're willing to sacrifice the bolt, just stuff its head into the recessed socket of the plug and then use visegrip pliers to turn the bolt. If you want to preserve the bolt, use a couple of nuts on the thread, tightened against each other. Turn the bolt by using an open-end wrench on the bottom locknut.

Those 2.2 litre engines can go a lot farther than 480,000 km. The only reason we retired that car was that it needed another clutch, and the steering rack as well as the exhaust system needed replacing too, not to mention tires and battery. That would have been replacement clutch #3; steering rack and exhaust were original, as were the alternator, water pump, rad, and tranny. The engine had never been completely torn down. The last time we did the timing belt (work done by yours truly and Junior), we fixed the usual oil leaks and replaced 2 lash adjusters -- one had collapsed and the other had some pitting where it met the rocker arm. Lash adjuster problems were due to abnormally infrequent oil changes. I think that engine would have been good for another 500,000 km -- it passed all emission tests just before we retired it. It used 1 litre of oil every 4,000 km. We expect our 2004 Legacy to give us similar return-on-investment, even though it DOES have that 2.5 litre engine.

I'll answer the chirping question: Our 92 Legacy wagon did that for over 100,000 km before we found it necessary to replace the clutch. The clutch lasted over 180,000 km. Therefore: don't worry about it too much. You might have to replace the clutch release fork and the pressure plate in addition to replacing the bearing "when the time comes". Your idle speed does sound a little high. However, if the idle speed drops to normal (around 800 rpm) when the engine is warm, it's probably nothing to worry about either. If, on the other hand, the idle speed doesn't drop after the engine is warm, you probably have a bad coolant temperature sensor. A poor electrical contact can send incorrect "engine cold" information to the engine control computer. I can't answer your question about potential head gasket problems. We never encountered that problem with the 2.2 litre engines in our 92 (480,000 km before it was retired) or the other Legacies we've had. I'd be inclined to keep the car.

Studs are 10 mm diameter, 1.25 pitch. Nuts are stainless steel, and take 14 mm deep socket. If you're buying new studs, try to get the ones with continuous thread, so that it won't matter which end you thread into the head. If you get the ones with an unthreaded piece, you'll need to insert the shorter threaded length into the head. I can't tell you how much these studs are from a dealer. A local fastener supply place carries them at $2.08 Canadian each, plus taxes.

Looks fishy. Odometer roll-back is illegal in most places. Why don't you contact the previous owners, and ask them what the mileage was when they traded it in? That information should be recorded on their sales contract.

Nothing unusual about that. Everything, including your own body, uses more fuel in the winter. I've seen as much as a 10 mpg drop in extreme cold, but 2-3 is more common.

I think you're on the right track. Manually persuade it, and then thoroughly lubricate it. Use the WD40 to begin with. Work the antenna up and down about a dozen times, then use a rag to wipe off all the dirty WD40 from the extended antenna. Apply fresh oil. Use some light machine oil, such as sewing machine oil. Work it up and down several more times to distribute the fresh oil.

Here's a somewhat elaborate but fool-proof method I wrote up for the XT6 board: http://www.xt6.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2131 I hope this helps.

I think you have a bad wheel bearing. That bearing needs to be replaced NOW!!!! Don't mess around with safety-related things. Let your friendly dealer handle this one.

You can save some money by taking the idler pulleys to a bearing supply place. They can press out the old bearings and install new ones for you. That would be a lot cheaper than buying completely new assemblies.

I can't answer your question about "how does it work". All I can say is that it's great!! You shouldn't have any serious problems, except when all 4 wheels are on ice. Under that condition, you need to go easy on the gas pedal. If you deliberately try to make the car slide, it will behave as if it's rear wheel drive. Thus, you correct a slide the same way you do on a rear-wheel drive car. Turn the front wheels in the same direction the rear is sliding, and apply power. I suggest that you find an empty parking lot and practice (watch out for the lamp posts). This might be hard to do in Toronto -- you don't get nearly the same bad driving conditions we do here in Ottawa.

The belt looks OK from here. That car has the 2.2 litre non-interference engine. If the timing belt breaks, no harm will be done unless the broken belt flaps around and tears off one of the idler pulleys. Usually, a broken belt will just inconvenience you. However, if you want to be absolutely sure, plan to replace the belt anyway. Replace the main crank oil seal and re-seal the oil pump, just for insurance, even if there aren't any leaks right now. Since you're in contact with the previous owner: ask him/her why the belt was changed at 90 K miles. If it was because of oil leaks, ignore the previous paragraph's recommendation -- you'll be OK now.