Fairtax4me

Most of the trunk mount racks are adjustable to compensate for different body styles. Those should work fine. The tow hitch mount racks are nice, but you need a hitch first. And they're not cheap either.

You could grab a used one from a picknpull. Or it might be enough to unplug the wire and remove the sensor to make sure the ground surface and wire connection are clean.

When you get the flex plate to converter bolts loose pry the converter towards the transmission with a screw driver or pry bar. It will slide back a good 1/4" - 3/8" away from the flex plate and the pilot in the center should separate so the converter stays right where you leave it. Be sure to put a jack under the trans to hold it up at a slight angle. This will make re joining the two easier when you put it back in, and will help prevent the TC from sliding forward. You can also bolt an angled box end wrench to the bellhousing with the opposite end somewhere near the center of the TC to hold it.

Suppose this "valve problem" isn't a valve inside the engine? Might it be an EGR or BPT valve issue? IAC valve problem? Or it might not be a valve issue at all. Might be that he's referring to the P0420 problem, which affects nearly every Subaru. That's about the only one I know of that you can replace the everything perceivably related to the problem and not get it right. All I can really say though, is my 96 is running just fine with ~175,000 miles on it.

They can and do tick when the lifters bleed down. I had one start making noise on my 96. I changed the oil with Valvoline Maxlife and it went away for about 2000 miles, but I thought I heard it again about a week ago. Hasn't done it since so it might have been my imagination. I'm keeping an ear out for it. If it does come back I may end up removing all the lifters and checking them over to see if any need replacement.

I'm not sure if we have a regular Snap-On rep anymore. We've had a few and they always have offered to take payments (most of the our techs take advantage of this). The most recent one was around for about 2 years but just sold all his inventory about 3 months ago and moved on to another company. He was selling it all off at or very near cost to pay off his account. We do have a regular Matco rep now, which we haven't had in about a year. I'll see what he has to offer next time he's around. The tool box will probably be a simple 4 or 5 drawer, like $250 from Lowes or the local hardware store. As long as it has a lock and key, doesn't need to be real fancy beyond that right now. Something that's not too big to take home when I decide it's too small for the shop. Work space is like prime real estate in this shop, there's not much of it, so the more I can keep the better. It's kinda sounding like, stay away from store brands. I'm gonna have to pass on the Harbor Freight stuff, but thanks for the suggestions. IR seems to have better specs and reviews on their impacts than similar tools by other brands for not much more coin. I've read a lot about the 231, and besides the weight of the gun and it's consumption of air, it seems to have praise all around. We have a 200ish gallon tank with twin compressors (not sure on their ratings but they're huge) so air flow is not a big concern, but the weight might be. At 6 lbs, that is pretty heavy for something I'll likely be picking up all day long. Not real sure that I want to spend the money on a Snap-On or Matco right away, but I'll see what they have in the next week or so and try to make a decision. Most of the basics that I'll probably need I already have, so it's not like I'm buying a whole new arsenal of tools right away. But there are a few things I think I'll need. I will eventually have a dedicated set of tools for work so I can use my old tools at home.

I may be starting as a technician at the dealership where I have been employed for the past five years, possibly by the end of this month. So this has thrown into light a search for a decent set of air tools. Impact wrenches, air ratchets, air hammers, die grinders... and on and on. Now I know I don't need a bunch of fancy three, and four hundred dollar a piece tools, I don't want tools that expensive yet. I'm just trying to find opinions on a good brand(s) of moderately inexpensive tools to get me started. I've looked at Craftsman, Kobalt, IR, SK(expensive), and some others, and honestly I just have no idea what to get. On the one hand I don't want to cheap out, but I kinda need to keep this inside my budget. I'm looking to stay around $700 - 800 for all the tools I'll be buying, not just the air tools. Now after a tool box and an assortment of sockets, wrenches, drivers, and pliers, that won't leave much room for air tools. So I'm trying to make those my priority. I'm just trying to get a feeler for who here has used what and how long has it lasted? Any opinions and advice will be GREATLY appreciated!

A fluctuating vacuum gauge or low reading would indicate an improper valve seal, incorrect valve timing causing compression to bleed out of a valve that isn't closing as soon as it should, or a vacuum leak. Just hook it up to intake manifold vacuum. There is usually a perfect port for it sticking straight up (towards the hood) about an inch in front of the throttle body. Disconnect the evap hose and hook up your gauge there.

Warranty won't do anything for you. Map data is constantly changing so there is no way to warrant it's accuracy. You pay for the disc with the knowledge that it may no longer be accurate, even at the time of it's release. It's all in the fine print. I'm sure you'll find that a buying new disc once a year, rather than every 2 or 3 months when they release a new version, will suffice. If there are new roads in your area, chances are you'll know where they go. New roads in another area won't be included on the disc you may have, so Nav directions will take you on the old roads. In the event the old road is no longer present, because a new road was built over it... I think you can figure it out. It may be inconvenient, but is it really worth $1000+ per year to have the latest version of the data?

Some makers call that an intermediate pipe or resonator pipe if it has a resonator built in.

Back Pressure Transducer. It's the valve that controls operation of the EGR valve. But if you have a manual trans you probably don't have that. Does the knocking noise go away if you depress the clutch?

I don't recall which year they switched from hydraulic to solid lifters, but they did. For some odd reason. But they can get out of adjustment, and often do, creating quite a bit of noise. Could you remove the spark plug from number one and run it (with fuel injector unplugged) to see if that makes any difference?

What transmission? Check around for vacuum leaks. One of those would cause your hesitation and rough idle symptoms. As for the noise... BPT sticking? I dunno. Hard to say without hearing it.

If it's not making noise yet you might be able to repack it and reboot it cheaper than replacing it.

Try Rockauto.com.

Lucky for you these are incredibly easy to get to being located right on the rocker arm. Remove the valve cover, remove the rocker shaft (slowly), and then you can remove the lifters from the arms. There is a sequence for removing the bolts, I don't remember what it is off hand.

Popping out of gear because it's either damaged or it isn't being fully engaged. Worn shift bushings might cause this. It could also be caused by worn a transmission mount and pitch stopper (dogbone) mount causing the trans to flop all over the place when you try to accelerate. Get new linkage bushings first, and inspect the trans mount bushings. If the problem persists you need a rebuild.

A little duct tape should hold it. If you want something more aesthetically appealing, a small bead of this between the glass and the trim should do the trick: http://www.shop3m.com/70070385854.html That or some Window-Weld ribbon sealer. Window weld is much more expensive though and you'll probably end up with about 25 feet extra that you don't need.

EJ22 from 90 or whenever they started using it to 95 is bullet proof. They can throw timing belts all day long and you slap a new belt on, re-time and go. Also practically never have trouble with head gaskets or bottom end like the early Ej25. In 96 some of them are bullet proof some aren't. It's one of those mid year changes apparently. What they had left got used up then they start putting the new engines in that were interference valve design. So timing belt breaks, valves get bent. All Ej25 are interference. All have head gasket problems. A lot end up with bad bearings or rods through the block due to overheating caused by the bad head gaskets.

X2 on fuel pressure test.

Good ol' quality control!

I'm gonna guess that it's wind noise from the gusset seal on the passenger side window.

Of the cars I've done, everything from chevy to ford to subaru and volvo, they'are all around 65 - 70 ft lbs for the flywheel to crank bolts. And 10 - 15 ft lbs for the pressure plate to flywheel. This car has the 2.5 right? Should be the same as any other soob with the 2.5. If you search I'm sure you can find the FSM for an 01 model something or other with a 2.5 floating around here somewhere.

Double check your cam timing. I'd be willing to bet one is off by a tooth.

I'd still pull the head first. You never know it might be a burnt valve. I somehow got "oily black gunk" stuck in my head. After re-reading, I just see "nasty black gunk", nothing about oil. No oil in the cylinder is more indicative of a burnt valve than a cracked or melted piston. Though the latter is still possible.