DupermanDave

Well, it's already half apart, but I'm going to put it all back together so it's driveable again and drive it to the shop in a few weeks (when we have the money)

So if a shop does it it's basically a 3-5 hour job? (if they're honest about it) I'm mostly a DIY guy, and i'd love to do it myself. But living in an apartment and having to drive to my parent's to work on it is hard. Plus, I have to wake up to take the fiance' to work. It's stressful.

Anyone in trhe northern colorado area know of a reliable shop that deals with subarus? I'm needing the oil separator plate changed. I have all the parts, tried to tackle it myself and failed at the 50% mark (separating engine from transmission.) I'm just going to take it to a shop. What would one charge for such a job?

yeah, I think I'm just going to take it to a shop. It's a real blow to me ego knowing I got so far, only to be stopped by the fact that the transmission refuses to separate from the engine. I've done headgasket changes before, valve jobs, clutches, but never something on an automatic transmission with AWD.

Dont you have to disconnect a lot of hoses? And also drain the radiator? There's also lots of hoses going to the firewall that will have to be disconnected or cut.

Well, I ran out of time and patience to work on this project. I've started to put everything back togther. Got only as far as putting the bell housing bolts back in. I got to the point of removing the transmission. We couldnt break the bell housing free of the engine. Before I got too deep in this and mess it up to the point of no return, I decided to give up. What did I do wrong? How hard is it to pry the engine from the bell housing?

Yes. Right now my goal is to break it free so it can spin. Once that's accomplished, I usually hold the nut with an open ended wrench and then use a socket for the other side. I had to take a break. I'm getting a migraine and getting really fatigued. These bolts are draining my energy.

If I bought new tools, they would be the same quality as these. These are great tools. They've done many headgaskets and clutch replacements, and an engine rebuilt.

Im not going to remove the giant nut on the end of the CV. I'm just getting the suspension down so I can free the CV from the transmission. THe passenger side was fine, but the drivers side is giving me hell. I'm going to wait until I'm not alone, that way if I slip and bust my teeth out and become unconscious, I'll have someone to drive me to the hospital. I've also been trying to pipes and cheater bars. Been trying everything, really. Theyare stuck and may have to be cut off.

That's exactly what I did. I used a screwdriver, though. Just made a mark in place. I'm working on the driver side CV. These bolts are hard to get off. The passenger side was bad, but this is worse. Been working on just the driver's side for 2 hours. On and off I've been hitting it with a propane torch and PB blaster and liquid wrench. Trying a combo of the 3 to get them loose. I'm gonna have to go to the zoo in a bit to pick up a gorilla. Maybe he can get it off. Any tips for getting them off? We have an air compressor and a chisel for it. Will that work for wedging my way under the bolts?

I was debating if I should remove the engine or not. I have an engine hoist I can borrow. But I'm already more than halfway there through the underside. I got the starter out, so that big bolt is one of the bell housing bolts? I see one more on the passenger side, so that's -1 of the 4. The 2 underside shouldnt be an issue.

Yup, it's an automatic. The torque converter should be no problem, as I've found a few writeups on reinstalling that. I just need to re search that, but I see there's lot of help for installing that. Does the starter have to come out to get to the bolt, or is that just for manuals?

I marked it. Definitely did that. So I should be fine, I'm just a bit paranoid that I didnt mark it well enough or the mark will wear away..

got the CV separated from the transmission. I know there was mentioning of the top strut bolt affecting the alignment, but If i don't remove the entire wheel and CV joint, do I have to worry about that?

Boulder's car population is about 60% subaru (that is, Boulder, Colorado) lol. So I'm sure someone from boulder could do a great job. If anyone is wondering what the other 40% is, 35% of it is Jeep, the other 5% is toyota :-(

Okay, so I'm doing the oil separator plate project. Here's what I have done so far: removed exhaust, driveshaft, and both CV joints. I've drained the oil and transmission fluid and I have the transmission partially unbolted from the bottom of the car. I cannot seem to find all the bolts that keep the transmission on the engine. Do I need to remove something else to gain access to them? -edit- by the way, yes I did a search. Couldnt find any writeups or anything with pictures. Haynes manual won't arrive until monday :-(

I'd order a haynes manual, but the 3 auto stores I checked didn't have them for our model and to have it ordered would take longer than the time I have off to get this project done. But it is on order, because it's always good to have. I just won't count on having it during this project. I've been searching for a transmission removal thread (always quicker/easier to find a thread already started than start my own and wait for answers). But my searches have yielded no good results. Does anyone have a direct link to the write ups?

Sorry, Im following like 3 different guides, so Im getting them all confused. So Im back from the store and I'm trying to remove the break calipers. Any advice on that while I'm trying to get all the bolts off?

sooooooo close to having full access to the transmission. anyone know what size that giant nut is on the end of the joint is?

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR. Just bought a 36mm (actually, 1 1/2" since they were sold out of 36mm) deep socket and it doesnt got the nut on the end of the wheel. What size is it? yeah, maybe it is the way to go. I've been spending the past hour trying to get the strut bolts off. Even been using an impact wrench. Only King Kong will be able to get these bolts off. I need to head to wal-mart and get a 4-way tire iron. The subaru didn't have a tire iron when we bought it (had the jack and spare tire, though).

After 2 trips to the hardware store, I got a steel welding rod that got the passenger side pin out. Now where's this lower strut bolt? I'm looking at the strut as it comed down to the wheel, and there's 2 bolts. Got the lower one I THINK is the lower strut bolt soaking in liquid wrench so I'll be easier to get off. -edit- bleh. Went back and re-read this post. Instructions were to remove BOTH lower strut bolts. Soaking bolts now with liquid wrench and will work on the drivers side pin now.

Wow. That was a fast reply. How do you guys know the sizes? Is it in the manual? I went to autozone yesterday for a manual and browsed through it. It didnt have anything for removing the transmission or CV joints. It was simply a maintenance manual.

found them! Had to rotate the wheel (duh!) Now what size shaft do you guys recommend I use to get it out? Hardware store here has various sizes, and I dont have anything to gauge the size with.

vehicle is a 96 legacy outback (ej22) It's the passenger side AND driver side where I cant see the pins. But I'll tripple check tomorrow.

yup. The axle pin is in this pixture: But the thing is, I don't see that section of the joint. That section looks like it's going into the transmission. I'll try and get pics tomorrow.