98sub2500leg

I also agree, classic alternator symptoms. Most auto parts stores can quickly test it to be sure. It is rare for a alternator winding to go bad unless it has been subjected to unusually high heat for several years. Some alternator manufacturers use a single layer of magnet wire insulation. Lifetime warrantee types use a much higher temperature or heavy insulation on the magnet wire to wind the stator. You can usually save many $$ by keeping the core(alternator housing & winding) and changing out just the rectifier(diode) pack and voltage regulator if available and brushes. If you do decide to do it, you will need a simple multimeter, possibly a soldering iron depending on the type of alternator, some use terminals and others you have to desolder. If it is the solder type, you will need a small piece of solder to re-tin the leads with flux for re-assembly. You will also need some small metric sockets (at least an 8mm), and a very small amount of bearing grease. If you haven't dome it before, document the disassembly well and or take pictures. PM me if you decide to go this route, I can walk you through it.

98 EJ25, DOHC Before I removed my TB, I had spent plenty of time making sure everything was lined up(TB marks, cam sprocket-sprocket marks, sprocket-rear cover marks, sprocket arrows). The Left intake and exhaust double marks were off by approx 1/4 of one timing tooth. In other words, they didn't quite line up perfectly, but all other marks did. It does re-align to the same positions and all TB teeth references count out perfectly. It seems though after pondering, that maybe the lifters need to be re-shimmed on one side. This to me seems to be the only way it can be off. I didn't measure the clearance with the plasti gauges before re-installing the cams as the engine ran great before disassembly. I believe those double ticks should line up perfectly at upper 6:00 and lower 12:00 and they don't (close but not perfect). Just would like to know before dropping the engine back in. just getting done with HG job.

I installed the new flywheel, the paint mark is on 3 of the teeth. The Haynes says the flywheel can only be installed in one direction or bolt pattern, but this is not true here. The bolts seem to be equally positioned, not offset. I mounted the flywheel to the shaft so the teeth are at 11:00. It was either that position or the next rotated position was around 1:00 or 2:00. It wouldn't align to the position of the last flywheel, nor would the white paint marks align to 12:00 or 6:00. I then mounted the disc, and then pressure plate. I tried to use the mark on the pressure plate as described in a past post to be 120 deg from the flywheel mark, but it won't align to 120 deg. due to the pressure plate bolt marks(son't have the PP bolts tightened yet). I believe these are balance marks, still not sure how to align.

98 Sub 2.5L DOHC, MT I just need some clarification on this issue. I made marks on the old flywheel before removal. The new flywheel has a white paint mark. All ref marks on old does not line up with new. I am not sure if the old flywheel is an aftermarket, but the new flywheel, pressure plate, disc & bearing are all OEM. Does the paint mark on the new flywheel tooth line up in any particular direction when reinstalling it? Past posts show to align the balance marks on flywheel & pressure plate 120 deg apart, is this accurate?

I have a EJ25, the crank pulley was a really tight fit as were all the cam pulleys. I found they all came off pretty easily by grasping the pulley with 2 fingers on back of the pulley and thumb on the front. Use both hands placed 180 deg apart on the pulley, then pull forward while using a rocking motion at the same time. They were all solidly on there but all came off using the same method quite easily.

Has anyone used any other product or material to replace this with? The foam material disintegrated when I removed the rear covers. I special ordered new replacement material, but didn't get enough. I don't want to wait another several days to get it in.

Yes, I started out about 4 years ago using the bait and I would find it stored under the hood on top of the engine. Also yes to the traps, I have had the best success with them. Problem is your always having to check them. It is really annoying to have to always be on gaurd checking the traps. I also heard about the dryer sheets maybe from another post.

Problem is here, we live in a forest, there is much in the way of wildlife. No need for birdseed here. Heck, too many species to count. When standing outside sounds like a bird sanctuary. I would figure the eagles alone would eat them as prey, but the mice re-generate really fast and in multiples every few days. I have been recommended to get outdoor cats, but around here, we have black bear, coyotes, eagles, bobcat. They wouldn't last long. Kind of a dilemma.

We also have a breezeway, and the chipmuncks too, but never seen them invade the engine. Man, our van has a worse problem than the Subaru, and the 4x4 truck doesn't seem to have a problem. I have seen many of them in the snow and they can jump really high, like at least 3', I absolutely couldn't believe it when I saw it the 1st time. I believe they must jump up into the area above the splashshields, then they are in. I have used traps in the car & in the engine compartment with good success, but I want something to keep them out entirely. I have tried putting traps under the car and I have caught them that way as well, but they usually quickly get forgotten & ran over. I also thought of trying out one of the electronic devices.

Well now that you asked, I have plenty of garage space, but actually end up leaving the cars parked outside to deter break in's. I am not sure exactly when the mice do their business because it's not something that is easily noticed. The problem is worse in the winter, but that doesn't mean they don't enter in other times of the year. If it's in the garage, I thought of using those electronic frequency devices, but not sure if they actually work. Someone before mentioned they come in the air intake vents near the wipers. He said to remove them and add fine mesh. That's great if it's the only area they actually enter, but there is still the engine area which is a problem.

Anyone have any experience using electrical or mechanical repellants (not poisons) to keep the mice away. There is no food in the car, they are usually attracted in the winter to the warm engine, which is where they usually nest. Sometimes I am able to bait & trap them, but it is a pain when there are multiples of them to catch. They seem to get in the glove box & chew away the registration. They are a real nuisance as they chew on the plug wires and chew away the registration in the glove box. A cat wouldn't survive around this area too long with the coyotes. Snakes are not a good option either in past post. Poisons are also a bad solution. They eat them & die in a corner. I usually end up finding them literally months later. If it dies in the vent, I really don't want to breathe a rotting mouse carcass when I turn on the fan. I have had this happen several times in the past-nasty deal. I live in a forrested area.

I agree with Dave, if your coolant is overflowing,most likely to be HG failure. Your mileage is right in the curve which from my research is roughly between 50k miles-135k miles on the upper end. Mine started failing at 60k miles. You might want to have some diagnostics done to feel better 1st, but you will find this info to be pretty accurate. Diagnotics: 1. Warm up car, feel lower rad. hose, if upper is hot to touch(or normal) and the lower isn't, don't assume it is the thermostat. 2. Test the thermostat. Remove the lower rad. hose, pull out t-stat, put in a clean jar or similar add boiling hot water. It should typically open between 169-176 degF and fully open at 196 deg F. If your going to replace, use OEM, which has a ball & chain to weep coolant in the event the t-stat is stuck closed preventing block warpage or cracking. 3. Run a compression check each cylinder. This may or may not indicate a leak at cold though. 4. Run a vacuum check, although again this may or may not indicate a leak. 5. Have hydrocarbons(exhaust gases) tested in the coolant. 6. Test your pressure of your radiator. 7. Test or replace rad. cap. I am in the process of changing out mine. I decided to go all OEM parts and since I have 107k miles, I decided to change everything, all seals, gaskets, compression check & machine heads, new hoses, clutch, plugs, wires...$$$$$ By the way, the engine ran as good as when I bought it when the HG's failed. I got an additional 48K miles after the original leak was detected 5 years ago, although I wouldn't recommend doing what I did. It only intermittently overheated until basically the HG's failed on all four cylinders. Another big indication is sludge buildup on the inside wall of the coolant resevoir. It starts out with a trace, then over time the sludge buildup gets heavier. Some say you will see bubbles come up with either the rad cap off or in the coolant resevoir, but I didn't experience that. For me the problem was always intermittent, usually stated on only some steep hills. temp gauge would go to 3/4 of full scale. I would immediately turn off the engine and the problem would reset to normal temp. I later found that the lower rad hose was cold after driving many miles on it daily which means the t-stat was stuck closed but the temp gauge showed normal. This was after I had already installed a new one and I also tested the old one which was still good). If it wasn't for the weep hole design in the t-stat I most likely would have a cracked head or block. Really, you can do the diag. to feel better, but sounds like you have the HG problem. One way or another if will eventually fail at some point. I wish you the best of luck.

Yeah, I prefer OEM in most cases, this part is a deal breaker though. Send me a PM on what your asking for the part. Is it compatible to fit a May-98 Legacy Outback? Thanks Bro.

Cool, thanks for the sources.

My cargo cover right side pin that snaps into the groove broke about 4 years ago. I have not been able to use it since. I found out you can get these replacement parts from the dealer for something like $5. Of course it is just a small plastic replacement piece, but I would have figured I would have had to buy a whole new replacement cover. Anyone know of a good source for new or replacement tailight parts? The dealer price is for the reflector is $135. I would rather buy new instead of a used one. Any reliable, cost effective sources would be appreciated. I bought a brand new one for my Dodge Ram for only $50 (after market).

Sorry I didn't re-post on this earlier. On the half moon seals I used high temp ultragrey since that is similar to what the factory used. I noticed they over globbed a lot of their RTV on during assembly and had a lot of squeeze out in both internal & external areas. I never noticed a problem as far as any broken off or stuck pieces in any oil ports. I take Dave's approach, squeeze it on & thin it by hand. After application and in areas where I still have internal access I clean up any residual squeeze out. I was hesitant to touch those 1/2 moon plugs, because the RTV seals around them still looked, but since I already bought new ones I decided to change them and glad I did. They looked sealed but pulled right out. Usually with RTV you can tell how good the seal still is when pulling off the part and what type of RTV was used. These pulled right out and I believe the RTV was delaminated after the machine shop cleaning of the heads. They never did leak. There was more than average weeping of most seals & O rings. I decided to change all of them so far since the engine has over 100k miles on it. Most would probably consider this overkill. Still haven't touched the rear main. I am fairly confident this should make it to at least 200k miles or more, especially since the material is Viton, although it may leak after I put it back together, who knows(it's like going to Vegas). If I do decide to do it, I have it done at the dealer. they have a tool to properly remove it and reseat the new one. The tool seats it to make sure it is concentric and eccentric to surrounding surfaces.

Does anyone have a recommendation for sealants on these?

The only problem is if you have one under the warranty period of 1 year and need it, they may void it when they open it. If it's beyond the one year warranty I would do it. I believe at least on a new tool you shouldn't have to. At least when you pay $100+ for one, it should come calibrated. I actually didn't know they had a green version. I have always used Purple for (min strength), Blue for (mid strength), and Red (permanemt). I have never used a red that I couldn't still get out though when I use it. Where does it on the purple, blue, red scale?

Thanks, and believe me, so am I. Actually, I used a paint marker on nearly every bolt I removed, and assigned each one with a # on the adjoining surface. I make a paint reference mark on the bolt and adjoining surface. So I re-install the same bolt in the same hole and match to the same threads. So far on re-installation, the marks line up exactly they used to be and also correspond to the correct torque values. I still check it with the torque wrench to be safe.

Thanks for those, I used them. I was elaborating on another post asking why the difference in torque on front bearing cap bolts vs the other 4 bolts pertaining to the mid & rear bearing caps. The given torque specs is what I would refer to like others as basically being a snug fit. I couldn't ever imagine those bolts snapping unless they were really overtorqued or unless the temper changed drastically from overheating. I probably should have changed mine since they had coolant corrosion on the 6mm's to be safe, but they held up.

Well, I figured it out. When you place the cams with the single dash on the sprockets facing in at 12:00 before disassembly of the TB. The double marks will then also be facing each other. The upper cam sprockets (double marks) will be facing the 6:00 position, and the lower cam sprocket double marks will be facing 12:00 and all the upper cam and lower cam double marks will also then be facing each other. There is another ref arrow mark which will be facing at the 2:00 position when the marks are all lined up as stated above. The Arrow is a ref to the keyway on the cam itself, which also will be lined up at 2:00 in the above referenced position. This makes it a no brainer when re-installing the cams. Each cam is labeled to its corresponding position on the cylinder head and the cam lobes will also be oriented correctly (example, rt-in, rt-ex). I used general purpose assembly grease on the bearing surfaces, which is pretty much the same thing as Lubriplate, seal lube in the inner portion of the seal and a finger (very) thin coat Permatex Ultragrey on the bearing caps (specified areas). I trial fit each bearing cap and made sure there was no contamination when they mated (before applying the Ultragrey). I used ultragrey because that is what the factory originally used. The Permatex ultragrey is rated for 650 deg F. The blue Permatex anerobic sealant is rated for 350 deg (personal choice).

The front bearing caps with the seal use a #6mm x1.0 and the 2 other bearing caps use a #8mm x 1.25 (big difference). Also, the bolts on the front #6 bolts look possibly compromised from what appears to be coolant corrosion. They look similar in appearance to the water pump bolts (also coolant corrosion). I bought new water pump bolts to be safe. I forgot to re-order new bolts for these and they will take too long to get in so I chased those threads with a bottoming tap and cleaned up the bolts. I'm feeling confident enough to reuse them as long as I torque them to the proper specs. which should be somewhere close to snug or just past it. They certainly didn't take much effort to remove. I used seal grease on and around the seals and assembly grease around the bearings, journals, lobes & lifters. I applied the ultragrey around in the appropriate spots on the bearing caps.

I bolted a 3/4" bolt & nut to a 12awg Unistrut bracket and clamped the bracket into a vise. Since I didn't have a scale, this was the closest method I could conger up. I knew I had used more than both wrenches showed on the wrench setting. In fact, well beyond that and they never ratcheted out. I wasn't going to compromise the HG's so I decided to buy the snap on to be safe. I rechecked the Craftsman 1/2" Digitorq wrench against the Snap On wrench. The Snap On showed the bolt was torqued to 51 ft lbs when I had it dialed in at 25 on both the Craftsman and the 3/8" Duralast torque wrenches. Neither one of the two worked. The Snap On was also calibrated so I knew it was a good reading. The dealer did the same test in his truck. After buying the Craftsman I went online and checked several reviews before using it. The average ratings were pretty low. A few rated it 5 of 5, but the majority rated it a 1 of 1 on several websites, the total average ratings that I saw were 1 of 1. There is also a lot of misinformation out there on the Craftsman warranty regarding torque wrenches. The digitork type has a 90 day satisfaction return only. The wrench has a 1 year warranty. After the 90 day-1 year period they will repair or re-calibrate it, but it usually takes up to 2 months on average before you get the wrench back. Since there was so much conflicting info out there I called & some associates there believed it the warranty was a lifetime, but it was clearly stated on the package it was 90 days and I confirmed that with the dept. manager. I was told that the beam types are all lifetime warrenty though. I personally would beware of what they tell you over the phone or ask for a manager. However, people have had good success with Harbor Freight types as well. Heck I have used them many times at work. My experience has usually been (but not always) you get what you pay for. **Not to be taken literally.

Thanks Dave I received the same info, and wanted to verify.