rolerick

I was having a similar problem. Turned out to be the timing was 1 tooth off. Threw it out a lot more than I thought it would.

Forgot to mention it's an ej22 in a 1990 Legacy. Thanks for the tip, I'll see what I can do with it. I didn't see any places for it before, but I guess it wouldn't hurt to look a 30th time.

Just a quick question- what is this?

So I got everything put back together, fired the thing up. it ran for about 10 seconds (a bit roughly) and then got REALLY rough and jerky and died. i try starting it back up and something is definitely wrong. Jerky as heck, smells strongly of gas, and there is exhaust everywhere. Did I do something wrong with the timing belt? Any tips on doing the timing belt correctly? Also, the timing belt tensioner is a big pain in the behind. Is there an easy way to take that on and off? EDIT: Also, what is this?

Status Update: My heads have been milled due to warpage. My new gaskets are here, and I bought a new torque wrench. So now I'm ready to start putting everything back together. I would welcome any tips or advice. I do have one question. Do I need to do anything to the new headgaskets before installing them?

Can I reuse my head bolts?

So will Outback struts fit into a FWD vehicle? Sorry, that's probably a dumb question.

I, in fact, was looking at the arrow. Thanks for the tip! I wouldn't have thought of that. :-\ Time to get back to work!

So, I'm looking at the timing, right, and when I line up the cam sprockets, the mark on the crank sprocket is in the 3 o'clock position. I'm a little hesitant to continue and take the TB off. Any ideas?

What is the swappability (new word?) when it comes to transmissions? Would I have to use a specific one?

Hey, I really appreciate the info. Sounds like it would be a heck of a project.

Are there any 5 speed 4WD trannies that will go into a 1990 legacy without too much difficulty? I did a lot of searching around, and didn't find a whole lot about legacies. I'm wondering how difficult it would be to make my FWD manual leggie into a 4WD.

Haven't pulled it yet. Thanks for the info though. That's actually really nice to know. And that sucks about that tranny.

UPDATE: Upon close inspection, it is doing exactly what subyfreak described. Since I have nothing but time on my hands, I've decided to pull the engine and at least do a valve job and repair the heads. I'm going to look at the water pump first though and make sure that isn't the problem. If it's not, I'll continue to work my way down. I'll probably start a new thread to show my progress. I'll be taking pics. Wish me luck!

There is some residue coating the inside of the the overflow bottle. I don't know about bubbles, but the overflow has burst open before- spraying coolant all over the inside of my hood. I could buy a new engine, but I've never taken an engine out/put one in. I have some friend who have done it though. I couldn't afford to have a mechanic do it. I usually just try and figure it out on my own.

When I am low on coolant, my heater will blast cold air and my temp gauge will fluctuate. And it pukes into the overflow. The difference with mine though is that it seems to be getting pretty hot while idling. I refilled it with coolant today and let it idle for about ten minutes, then I started taking the radiator cap off and it was boiling over. I haven't noticed any external leaks... though it could be coming out of the tailpipe.

Hey everyone! New to the forum. I've been reading through some of it today, and love it here. There is a lot of helpful information. Let's get down to the nitty gritty. I need some advice. I have a 1990 Legacy FWD with the EJ22 engine. I've been having an off and on overheating problems for a long time now. Let's rewind to a year or two ago- I replaced the thermostat, and it still would get hot. So I removed the thermostat altogether, and that seemed to reduce the problem. Fast forward to now- It has a been overheating quite a lot lately. Just a few weeks ago I discovered I had air pockets in the coolant system. I burped all of the air out, and fill it up with coolant. Four days later, it was again running too hot for comfort, and discovered to my amazement that it was extremely low on coolant. Filled it back up. The next day, it was overheating again. I might note that the high around here right now is 40-45 degrees. It also idles VERY roughly immediately after I start it, sometimes dying on the first start. It sometimes sounds like it's only firing on two cylinders. I have to hold the throttle to keep the thing running. After it warms up it seems to fire fine. All of the plugs and wires were replaced last summer. Does anyone have any idea what's going on? I'm afraid I might have a blown head gasket, but I am not much of a mechanic. Any help would be much appreciated. Oh, one last note- it has over 205,000 miles.