shortskoolbus

Yup, top chart is for the 4EAT only Thanks for all of the advice. Just gotta wait for the diff to get in now! I'm sure i'll be back here when i get stuck taking that thing out, its never as easy at it sounds.

wow.. sorry no advice here but good luck... 5MT i assume? it's probably 150 lbs or so.. you should be able to pick it up but probably not from any awkward positions

Thanks. Well actually i thought the FSM was pretty clear the drive ratio i'm looking for is a 4.111. This is for the transmission: This is for the differential: But based on the information in this thread it made me doubt if those tables are 100% correct... such as there might possibly be some known variations not documented in the FSM.

just on the passenger side below the throttle body is a black plastic piece. It helps to take the air box off to see it. Take taht plastic piece off and you will see the drive plate. They say to stick a pry bar down into there to hold the crank while you break the bolt.

Thanks Guys. Sounds easier than i thought. The FSM had included a bunch of steps like loosing the handbrake cable clamps and the front member mounting points, etc. Actually i think it says to remove the whole rear diff with the front member still attached to the car... How do i know what the drive ratio is for my transmission? Also, is it necessary to replace the side seals before i put the new (used) diff back in?

Thanks. Actually driveshaft bolts are in great shape. I had the driveshaft off for the tranny already anyway. I'm just a little concerned because it's a lot of steps in the FSM. And now i'm also concerned whether or not i have the right ratio...

What are you striking with the mallet? Do you put something on the other end to cap off the pipe?

The tranny is original to the car, I havent recieved the rear differential yet, so I will have to check. How can i check the ratio of the tranny? I thought there was only one gear ratio for the 2.2L 4EAT which is 4.111? Unless that's not the same as the drive ratio... You guys are worrying me.

I know the rear diff is bad because i am getting a pretty bad howl and chatter from the rear. I listened to it with a stethescope and it is definitely coming from the differential. I've heard that they rarely fail, so I ruled out all options including listening to the wheel bearings with a stethescope and making sure no play in the drive shaft.

Oops, some how i thought the year and model of my car would show up from my profile. Its a 97 Legacy L Wagon 4EAT. The diff should be the right one, it was advertised as fitting 95-99 Impreza/Legacy 4EAT. I just dont know how difficult it's gonna be. My mechanic will do it for $200, but if its not a big job i'd rather just do it myself. But the last thing i did myself (rear main) i apparently screwed up pretty bad :-\

Correct me if i'm wrong, but I thought "the right stuff" was not anaerobic? There aren't many anaerobic options out there, there's a permatex gasket maker or something like that, loctite515 if i'm not mistaken. I've been using Hondabond HT

No i just plan to do a direct swap. The diff i just bought for the bad diff on my car

Did a search for this but didn’t have much luck. Is it difficult to remove and replace the rear differential? I just pulled my 4EAT a few weeks ago, so I had all the tools needed to do that, I’m assuming that should be adequate for this job. I just picked up a used rear diff off of Ebay. Looking at the FSM it looks like a lot of steps to swap the rear differential though. I have a few questions after looking at the FSM: 1) How do I get the rear drive shafts out of the diff? The FSM calls out some special tool. 2) FSM says to replace the side seals, is this pretty straight forward? Take out old seal, drive new seal in? I can do it on the new diff while it is out of the car i assume. It also has some special tools to “protect” the seals when re-installing drive shafts... will that be necessary? 3) Do i really need to remove the propeller shaft? i don't want to drop the exhaust if i don't have to... the bolts at the different sections are all rusted together so i have to drop it in two big rump roast pieces or end up breaking a bunch of bolts.. thats a real PITA. Any other tips? Thanks,

thanks. i wish i had known better when replacing my rear main...

Well i found it kind of odd that they would say to apply sealant to the seal itself

Well here are the other icons: This is the rear main, i'm pretty sure that this icon means grease - Oil filter, so this must mean oil And here's another same as the earlier one on the oil pan, which is why I think it's sealant.

Valve covers are bone dry. What is the rear cam seal? Is that the cam shaft support o-ring? It was leaking but I changed the one on the passenger side, will be changing the other side when i do the t-belt.

I'm pretty sure it means to apply sealant, but what does it mean when its on the crank seal? (and the cam seals) Am i supposed to apply sealant on the seals?

Okay here's what i would like to know. If the rear main seal is leaking, where exactly does it leak down onto? And how much of it would i see on the back of the drive plate? There's a possibility its my oil pan leaking... I cleaned it off, drove it around, and i can only see oil dripping off of my jack plate. I don't see any on the crossmember though, on the inside or outside... or on the oil pan. it just seems to be magically appearing...

I have a great shop but if i bring it there that means the subaru won... and my pocket is lighter.

I took off the hoses coming from the crankcase valve to the PCV valve, ran carb cleaner through all of them and made sure they werent clogged. There's really only a couple of really short hoses. I'll check the valve cover breather hoses tonight. Actually, if anything I think i didn't drive it in far enough because i had it flush with the top of the 45 degree chamfer, i've read it needs to be flush with the inner ring of that chamfer... Maybe because i didn't drive it in uniformly it didn't seat properly. Man i'm debating if I should do it again myself or have someone do it for me... i dont want to go through all that just to do it wrong again.

I'll never touch the rear main again... I should have just changed the oil separator. Damn me. I used OEM seals. Mileage is about 100k.

The car is a 1997 Legacy L Wagon I replaced the PCV with an OEM valve, i went back and put the old valve on anyway since I tested it and it seems to be working fine anyway and I wanted to rule out having a bad one from the factory. I realize now i should have left that rear main alone... But i don't understand why all my front seals started leaking now also. Engine is running fine, I don't get blue smoke. It's all leaks. I get like 5 drops after i park, 3-4 in the front off of the t-belt cover and then a big one from the jack plate which is coming from the rear main.

I had a small leak dripping onto the y-pipe and giving off smoke and bad smells... So a few weeks ago i replaced the rear main and oil separator plates. Now all of my front seals are leaking and the rear main is leaking again too... I didn't have any leaks in the front before! I changed out my PCV valve while i was doing the rear main as well, but i checked that the new one was fully functional before I did it. Any other ideas why my front seals would start leaking? And is there any tricks to installing the rear main properly? Since apparently I didn't... Some of the grease on the inside rubbed off on the packaging that it came in, i didn't apply any extra. When installing the rear main i took a piece of wood and worked around the seal and tapped it in with a hammer against the wood until it was flush... Did i do something wrong here?

Hmm that never occured to me, maybe i'll try filling up with the car on and see if that makes any difference.