98sub2500leg

Thanks, never heard of it. Since I have so much in parts I will wait at least until tomorrow for any additional post replies. I did remove all the oil from the system, removed the heads, pan, oil pump. Had the heads cleaned by the machine shop. Cleaned as many areas as I had access to. Scrubbed the carbon from piston heads, ect.. The main block was all well within specs so left it alone, but cleaned as well as I could.

I have only driven the 2.5L and test drove a WRX SXT which really moved, but too pricey and too much to insure. The one thing I like about the 2.5L is the it has decent acceleration and not too bad on gas mileage. Are all the 2.2L's SOHC's?

Sorry for not clarifying, Dave is correct, I am just wrapping up a HG job. The resevoir is actually a good progressive indicator (for me at least) of oil buildup in the coolant and probable HG failure so I want it as clean as possible. I believe I changed out every seal and gasket I had access to. Drained the coolant completely. Very last thing before final coolant fill to radiator is to clean this tank. Then fill crankcase with oil, connect battery & hopefully it will work. 14 years with no sludge isn't that unusual for a Sub. Well actually now thinking about it, I heard the problem is with mainly 96-2006 and more so the phase 1-most problematic, then phase 2's. 14 years would mean you have 94 which was before that generation of HG's. Consider yourself lucky. Thanks for the responses.

Well, the offer is still good. Just wrapping it up, filled the top radiator hose with coolant, need to fill rad, then burp then crankcase oil. I am hearing conflicting things about oil and I know there are many opinions and it is mainly personal. First, what is MMO? I bought Valveoline synthetic 5w30. I thought the dealer said for the first run do not use synthetic, although guys at the parts store said most new cars now come with synthetic.

Anyone had any success doing this and actually getting the sludge off the inside of the inside plastic.

Already finished it several days ago and just dropped in the engine(haven't run it yet). I did measure the inner, mid and outer edges all around the seal for uniformity before and after. I have not found that the plumbing fitting is at all accurate. In fact, very inaccurate. When you slowly tap against it with a block of wood & a mallet, it does drive it in and it certainly looks to the eye like it is driven in uniformly, but after measuring, I found it to be offset from one side to the other by .002". It took a lot of careful, precise tapping, and measuring to get it right, and also not to overshoot the depth, while getting it uniform. I will re post if I have problems. It may take a while as from reading past posts that they can leak at about 7k-10k miles later which sounds about right.

The last clutch had done I was referring to was by certified mechanic down the road. He also worked out of his home but had just as good a shop as any, worked on race cars for 30 years and a mechanic his whole life. After he did the job the alternator kept overheating. Finally realized he had severely overtightened the alternator belt which took the bearing. I think that just because the guy your referring to works out of his house doesn't make him any less qualified. There is a difference of philosophies and economics, and sometimes politics comes into play, but attention to detail is one of the best traits of a good mechanic. Even then, heck we are all human anyone can make a simple mistake now & then. Problem is in most cases there is no room for error. Good luck.

Finally got it, man what a pain. Never had one that bad. I made the mistake of installing the pitching stopper(dogbone) bolt. Once this was free, the engine/trans shifted too far back this time. I jacked the tranny a bit, and moved the tractor backward pulling the engine towards the front of the car slowly(a hair at a time), inspected, wasn't enough, then kept re-trying & inspecting mounting stud position. Finally lowered it and the studs seated into the holes. A sight for sore eyes.:headbang::banana: Thanks to all who replied. Dave, let me know when your ever in Seattle I owe ya a lunch.

I was told by the dealer the same thing about the flywheel. On the last clutch job which I paid to have done, it was machined and it ran great. I decided to be safe & pay for all new parts again.

Well, I may live to regret it, but since I had already purchased the seal I decided to use it. I did meticulously measured several different points around the seal before removing. I found the most accurate to be a depth gauge because you can use the flat edge as a square to make sure it is seated before making the measurement, then transferring that to the calipers for precise measurement. I am keeping my fingers crossed, I'm normally not a gambler.

Ok, I'm back on it, much thanks for the reply. I will keep you posted, heck if all goes well should be running soon.

What's gross is using the green pellet poison bate. They apparently starve for water, but they also hemmorage externally from their mouths, eyes, & ears. :slobber:Before we had our house sealed I would find half of them would die in the middle of the basement floor which is unusual as they normally travel along edges of walls. The other 1/2 would die in some hidden area where I would find it all dried out & stuck to the carpet months later.

Yeah, I have one of those winches, but haven't used it yet. I dis finally get them mated together which is great, but the mounting studs on the engine mounts are not lining up with the holes on the crossmember. They are still about 1/4-3/8" offset from each other (both studs are too far forward relative to the crossmember holes). Jacking the crossmember up or down doesn't seem to affect it. Not sure how to combat this problem. everything is in a fixed position (from forward to back ). Any other ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Not sure if you read the update, I did finally get them mated and bolted together. Had to lift up under the mid section of the tranny, then working carefully to match the mating angles of the two sides. Then pushed forward. I went back and examined the mounts to see if they could be removed, and I couldn't see that this was possible, have you actually achieved this before? I can get to the 2 mount bracket mounting bolts on the engine to remove them, but once the mount is removed and reinstalled onto the crossmemeber and the engine is lowered on the mount, there just doesn't seem to be enough clearance at all to re-bolt the two bracket bolts to the engine. If you have done this let me know the trick, although this is the reason for the extended stud design. Yes, getting as helper would greatly help. Doing it solo isn't a cakewalk. My hoist is a 40HP Kubota tractor/loader with forks. I suspended the chain to the fork, and used nylon safety straps as a backup and fine positioning. I should have used two forks though to spread out the load better. It has very fine control, but the problem is working solo moving the fork a hair, getting out & a lot of moving around. You definitely get your exercise.

Oh ok, I was sitting here trying to imagine what the part is, then "ding", they refer to that as the pivot pin in the manuals. Yes, I did reattach it and the bolt was loose removing it may be the ticket though. I will let you know. Thanks.

Finally got them mated & bolted. I re-analyzed. The upper sections were mated too closer than the bottom. The bottom studs were in about 3/4 of the way, but angled. I jacked up the tranny 1/2 way back to lower the front of it a bit, then raised the engine to clear the studs to the mounts. I then backed the top bolts out and pushed from the front of the engine with forward thrust (by hand). It slipped right into place evenly this time. Problem now is that with it all bolted together the engine mount studs don't want to seat onto the cross member, not sure why. They are off approx by about 3/8"-1/2" too far forward of the cross member. Anyone seen this before? Any ideas?

Yes, to the clutch engagement & test rotation of the crank first. I actually have the two partially mated and the shaft is engaged. I am doing this solo and have been at it for several hours (patience is running thin). Although, I have stepped back and analyzed it. The mounts do seem to be the main culprit. If I raise the engine just high enough to clear the studs relative to the mounts, the engine angle is too high. I also do have the bottom supported, there is no combination of angles between the two I have not tried yet. Those mounts have to come off. This was also a bear to get out at the beginning. Worse going back.

Sorry, manual trans. Can you re-elaborate on the dogbone, this must be the hangup. Thanks.

Having problems mating these two. Can't seem to get the correct angle. Have the two lower studs inserted into the transmission holes. Also have the 2 upper bolts threaded into the engine. Problem is there is an offset angle between the two. The tranny is angled up, the engine has to be raised high enough to clear the lower mount studs onto the crossmember and can't seem to get the right angle between the two to mate properly. Seems like a no brainer.

There is a special valve adjusting tool which compresses the springs. There is a notch in the bucket which holds each shim in. When the spring is compressed there is enough clearance to prop out of shim out of the bucket. Of course there is a detailed procedure in the Haynes manual on how to 1st measure each valve clearance. It is too lengthy to post here. If your doing this you might want to think about checking the cam seals at the same time. I have a mid year 98 and am just getting done with replacing HG's & most of all the engines seals, gaskets,ect.. I am the orig. owner and found that on those cam seals they were just starting to leak at 107k miles. The factory used a black rubber type seal (either buna or neoprene). The new replacement OEM seals are viton which last significantly longer(just a thought). Shouldn't be too difficult, except for stooping over for access. If you PM me, I can either scan & e-mail or fax you the procedure. Good luck.

There is a special valve adjusting tool which compresses the springs. There is a notch in the bucket which holds each shim in. When the spring is compressed there is enough clearance to prop out of shim out of the bucket. Of course there is a detailed procedure in the Haynes manual on how to 1st measure each valve clearance. It is too lengthy to post here. If your doing this you might want to think about checking the cam seals at the same time. I have a mid year 98 and am just getting done with replacing HG's & most of all the engines seals, gaskets,ect.. I am the orig. owner and found that on those cam seals they were just starting to leak at 107k miles. The factory used a black rubber type seal (either buna or neoprene). The new replacement OEM seals are viton which last significantly longer(just a thought). Shouldn't be too difficult, except for stooping over for access. If you PM me, I can either scan & e-mail or fax you the procedure. Good luck.

I had a similar problem with one of the 12 head bolts. The head got buggered upon removal. I ended up getting a Irwin bolt extractor kit from HD (Sears, Snap On, ect also carry them). I was impressed it actually worked with the given amount of torque that was on there. The extractor bit is now stuck to that removed bolt. I ended up also buying a Snap-On socket for that head. Fits like a glove unlike Craftsman or Stanley sockets. If I had used one from the beginning I probably wouldn't have had a problem to begin with.

I have a mid 98, Outback-original owner, just changed the WP & gasket. This is the 2nd one replaced which was a coated metallic gasket, used all OEM. The 1st one was done at the dealer, & that one was the same.

To start, make sure you have a charged battery. Measure the battery voltage when the car is off. A well charged battery should measure around 12.5-12.8vdc at room temperature (no load). When the engine is running and the alternator is charging normally it should measure 13.5-13.8vdc at the battery terminals. If it fluctuates wildly, it is more than likely the voltage regulator. If this test fails, it should only take approx. 10-15 minutes to remove it, take it to your local auto parts store to have it tested.

removed accidental double post