Fairtax4me

I see these cars in the junkyard almost every time I go. There is bound to be a pickapart somewhere near you (within an hour away) that has one of these with a good cylinder head you can use.

Glad to hear you got it running. I would suspect that one would rarely see this type of failure, glad you got to be the guinea pig instead of me. Jk, congrats on fixing a very uncommon problem.

The crank pulley you probably want to use one, though a lot of people have gotten away without one, it sometimes comes at a price. You also want to use blue threadlock on that one. A torque wrench is not necessary, but it does help to know just how much force is being applied to the crank bolt so you don't run the risk of it coming loose in 3 months. Little tip: Before you take the old timing belt off, even before you loosen the tensioner or any other pulley or idler for that matter, grab a whiteout pen or a grease pencil or something, and make your own marks on the crank sprocket, cam pulleys, and timing covers. This way you know exactly where each pulley was set before you took the belt off, and there is no guess work as to which mark to use, or how many teeth to count. You line up YOUR marks and put the belt on. Be sure to pull it tight all the way around so that all of the slack is in the area between the crank sprocket and drivers side cam sprocket where the tensioner pulley is.

When you consider that a decent inch-pound measurement torque wrench costs ~$80+ it becomes less of a necessity unless you will be doing a LOT of work on smaller bolts that need proper torque. Most things that require such little force, if you break the bolt you did too much, if it leaks then you didn't do enough. If you manage to break the part (not all that hard to do with aluminum parts actually) then you need to pay attention to the proper tightening sequence. Generally it starts towards the middle and works outward.

No sealer is needed on rubber gaskets. The rubber makes the seal, it doesn't need any help.

No, You'd be more likely to start a fire. The catalytic converter doesn't "burn" "crud". It changes the chemical composition of the exhaust gases leaving the engine, into different gases that are more pleasant for the environment. It does this through heat and a reaction with the catalyst material used in the converter (mostly platinum). A "hotter" plug won't burn more "crud" either. Hot vs cold in spark plugs is the plugs ability to transfer the heat that builds up in the plug into the cylinder head. A hot plug simply doesn't transfer heat as quickly as a cold plug. It has nothing to do with the temperature of the spark or the temperature of the combustion. With a hotter plug the engine is more likely to ping which will cause the ECU to enrich the A/F mixture, if it can't get rid of the ping through retarding the spark timing. Both of which will lose power and lower fuel efficiency, further complicating your perceived P0420 problem.

Low charge.

Take it off and blow through it? I've tested brake hoses that way before, not sure how well it would work in this case.

That's correct. The clutch safety switch prevents operation of the starter motor unless the clutch pedal is depressed. But the safety switch is not the switch Gloyale is talking about.

If they drove it for 6 months and it didn't throw a rod through the block then it's probably the lifters. A half quart of MMO or ATF in the next oil change, or switching to synthetic oil might cure it. If not they're not hard to replace. It could also be an exhaust leak up next to the heads.

I wonder if there is some obstruction in one of the lines. Maybe one of the hoses is collapsing internally?

They haven't really been out long enough for the major problems to show up. It "shifts" smoothly when in manual shift mode. If left in plain auto it doesn't actually shift. The beauty of the CVT is that it constantly changes the reduction ratio for maximum efficiency. If you floor the accelerator from a stop, the engine revs up to around where it creates its peak power (about 4200 rpm in this case), and stays there as long as you keep the accelerator down. The engine speed doesn't change, yet the car continues to accelerate. That doesn't mean the engine is going to run at 4000+ rpm every time you put your right foot on the pedal. The ECU manages throttle input and transmission ratio to make the best use of the power being created by the engine. It's "different" to drive one. They don't drive anything like a regular car as far as shifting is concerned. You give it gas, the car goes, you don't feel any change in RPM between gears because there are none. As for reliability, time will only tell.

Doesn't seem like it would make that much difference but the different fluids can react differently with the materials used in the system (hoses, metal components, bearing protection) I think I'd be looking at other sources of binding before replacing the rack. How about the U joints in the steering shaft? Are they well greased?

Different clutch switch. There are two. The one in question is at the top of the pedal and is actuated with only about 1/2" of pedal travel. Generally it's only used for the cruise control but it seems Subaru found another way to utilize it.

I always figured that clutch switch was just for the cruise control. I'm also interested to know if disconnecting that switch will adversely affect engine operation if the switch is known to be good. I'll have to try it tomorrow after work and see what I get.

If you would rather do it the transmission way it takes a few less tools, but you still need very large jack stands and a large floor jack. You need about 19" of clearance under the car to be able to slide the transmission out of the way. It also helps when you install the clutch disc and pressure plate to be able to sit under the car.

Two ways to go about it. You can pull the engine out the top with an engine crane, or drop the transmission out the bottom with a large floor jack. This guy has a writeup with pics for how to remove the engine, as well as a pictorial for replacing the clutch with the engine out. http://beergarage.com/Subaru.aspx

What's your definition of round? Besides, the brakes are probably the last thing to worry about in this situation.

Do some searching on how to change the timing belt here on the site. Tons of info here and several writeups with pics. Btw what year is the car? You have to put the crank pulley back on before starting the engine otherwise the crank sprocket will "walk" on the crankshaft and damage the new belt.

Might just be the lock is jammed. Try pulling the belt up towards the reel, and see if the lock releases. If you can't get it loose that way, pull the bottom seat cushion up and unbolt the belt from the floor pan.

Don't waste your time. You'll have electrical gremlins out the wazoo. Even if you can get the car cleaned up well enough to keep the mildew out, the wire harnesses are still full of water and they'll corrode and create more headaches than you really want to deal with. Basically, you'll have to scrap half the car and find a wrecked or rusted out donor for cheap to take all the wires and electronics out of. If you just start writing down all the parts of the car that are electronic, even if it's an older vehicle, you just don't realize how much of the car is electronic. Only to a certain degree. There is a vent in the cap that water can get in through, though there is a rubber diaphragm, there's no guarantee that water won't get past that and into the reservoir. Even if it hasn't been contaminated, probably still a good idea to flush it. But speaking of fluid contamination. Motor oil, power steering, differentials, transmission, antifreeze (yes, antifreeze can be contaminated by water getting into the overflow reservoir) gasoline, could be others depenging on the other equipment on the car. The big one here, possibly the worst, is if the car has an automatic transmission. The clutch packs in automatic transmissions DO NOT react well to water. Basically they fall apart and leave you with a dead transmission. Water has to be flushed out of the transmission ASAP in order to avoid failure.

Happens more often than you probably think. Plenty of write ups on what to do if the crank or keyway is damaged here on the site. No you don't have to drop the pan to change the oil pump. It doesn't even touch the pan. Beergarage.com has a nice writeup showing how to do that, along with info on replacing the timing belt and tensioners as well. http://beergarage.com/Subaru.aspx

It has to do with controlling flow rate of the EGR based on a handful of factors. Should be a diagram on the bottom side of the hood that shows where the all of the vacuum lines on the engine should go. You probably won't be able to move the egr valve by sucking on the hose. They do require a fair amount of vacuum to open. The other side of the valve goes to the exhaust system. If there weren't a fairly heavy spring on the valve to keep it shut the back pressure from the exhaust system would force the valve open. This can happen from time to time when the catalytic converter gets plugged up. The pressure in the system gets so high it does force the EGR vale open, it makes the car idle and run like crap, and it can literally scream at you. More of a mid pitched howl, but it's still a weird sound to hear coming from under the hood. If you really think there is a vacuum leak at the valve, which there may be, and that may have caused the CEL in the first place, then you'll need to connect a vacuum pump to it to test it. Handheld ones are perfect for this, and are fairly inexpensive. An open EGR valve actually has the opposite effect on fuel economy. It lowers it because it "dirtys" the fuel mixture, which makes it create less power. The idea is to reduce NO2 (Nitrous Oxide, aka Nawz! ) emissions by lowering combustion chamber temperature. High combustion temps are what lead to the creation of NO2 in the exhaust gases. By making the mixture "dirty" with already burned exhaust the mixture burns cooler, which keeps NO2 from forming. A cleaner mixture creates more power but also tends to lean ad create higher heat during extended drives at constant or low throttle (on the highway). Thing is, when you;re on the highway, it's the time when you need the least power, just enough to keep moving, so the difference in fuel economy with the egr valve operating properly is really minimal. When you start running into trouble is when it sticks open, or the diaphragm ruptures and creates a vacuum leak. This leans the a/f ratio, the o2 sensor reads the change in exhaust oxygen content, and tells the ecu to bump up on the fuel.

With a Noid light. http://www.amazon.com/WILMAR-W85104-FUEL-TEST-LIGHT/dp/B0002KO432/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&s=automotive&qid=1271974046&sr=1-10 You can buy a whole kit for something like $20 at most parts store or get just the one you need for around 5 bucks. Plug it into the injector harness, if it flashes it's getting signal from the ECU. You can check voltage at the harness if you have an Oscope. You might be able to do it with an analog VOM, but you need a very fast reading meter to see the correct voltage. An Oscope (oscilloscope) will show the entire wave form as the ECU pulses.