Fairtax4me

Not necessary to remove the engine, but some shops do it for better access. Did you try to turn the cams with a wrench? You only get about 1/3 turn by hand then the pressure from the valve springs will prevent you from turning it any further. Doing it with a wrench gives you better leverage.

Did you remove the engine with the torque converter still bolted to the flex plate? Or did you leave it engaged in the transmission? (the torque converter)

A thunk and then no more go, makes me think of blown out valve body seals. But the only way to find out would be to take it apart and look or have a transmission shop diagnose. Either way that's a pretty expensive job. It could be a $100 fix, or it might need a complete rebuild. Hard to say without taking it apart. Good used transmission time for sure.

Interesting observation. This may be true for some vehicles but it all depends on the market conditions where you live. Scrap value for American cars hasn't changed much over the past few years, but wholesale values have sure dropped like a rock. European cars on the other hand are a whole other story. I've got a 2002 Lincoln LS with 75k on the ticker. Beautiful car, over 40K sticker when new, clean Carfax, but I'd be hard pressed to get $4,500 for it at auction right now. (auction prices generally determine trade values) We have a 2000 Mercedes Benz C230 on the lot at work, with 76k on the odo, in similar shape to my Lincoln. Clean carfax, no accidents, was around $34k new. Other cars like it easily bring $6,000+ at auction. Older car, same mileage (which does help but not as much as people think), lower original MSRP, still worth more money than my American car. The market determines depreciation, and it can change at any moment. Eight months to a year ago a 2006 - 2007 Mercedes E350 in average shape with sellable mileage (between 30k and 60K) would sell at auction for between $19k and $24k. Now the same car is selling for 22k - 27k. An average of $3,000 more for older cars with slightly higher average mileage. Those cars have actually appreciated.

As stated before, the Short dipstick is for the differential gear oil, which is separate from the transmission fluid. You need to drain the front diff and refill with fresh 80w90 gear oil. Takes about a quart IIRC. The long dipstick is where ATF goes. Sounds like you need a couple quarts in there, though I'm not sure why it would be low unless you drained the fluid or have a leak that hasn't been addressed.

If you got the car from a dealer, did you buy it with any kind of warranty coverage or "As Is"? Most dealers will include a 2 months/2000 mile powertrain warranty on cars sold at retail. Of course if you got it from a private seller then You just get to eat the cost. But I second finding a Subaru repair shop in the vicinity of Boston. Bent valves aren't that bad to get fixed. And you might spend $1200 to get it back on the road with new timing parts and head gaskets (Rather than $2000+ on an engine in unknown shape), and have a car that's ready to go another 100k miles.

Exedy/Daikin (same company) clutches are OE parts for Subaru. Valeo supplies Subaru OE clutches as well. Sachs clutch kits I've always had good luck with. They make OE parts for many European cars (Saab, Volvo, and BMW I know for a fact). I just ordered a Valeo kit on thE Bay for my 96 legacy for $109 shipped. I cheaped out on it for money reasons. (might bite me in the rump roast, I'll know in a few weeks) I was going to order a Sachs performance clutch, but this came up suddenly, and right after Christmas... I didn't have $260 to spare on the clutch kit by itself. You can get Exedy clutches the Bay for under 150 + shipping in most cases. A non-performance Sachs kit can be had from Rockauto for about $160 + shipping.

You shouldn't let any kind of sealer set on aluminum parts before tightening. Always tighten as soon as applied with any sealer on aluminum or you'll run the risk of cracking. Aluminum doesn't flex the same way steel can. While it is stronger pound for pound, it's more brittle and prone to cracking if specific tightening sequences are not followed, and the surface being sealed is not completely uniform with the surface of the part. To err on the side of caution I would remove the pump, clean the sealer off and re apply. Then tighten the bolts in order to the specified torque right after it's put on. I try to wait at least an hour after applying sealer before adding fluid. Twelve to twenty four hours is usually the preferred cure time.

If it gets thin enough you can end up with this... But that's an EXTREME case of worn out. That was caused by the rotors and pads getting too thin causing the caliper pistons to jam. Rather than retracting back into the caliper they dragged on the rotor, causing uneven wear and eventually wearing it so thin the braking surface of the rotor was severed from the hub. From what you've described I think you'll be OK to let it slide a few months as long as you're not driving the car long distances.

I'd opt for the EJ22. But that's just me. Any 2.5 of the same year range as yours is gonna have head gasket trouble and may end up doing the exact same thing yours has done.

Probably cheaper to replace it. I had a copper radiator flushed at a local radiator shop a couple years back. They charged me $120 to flush it and patch a small hole, and it wasn't even in the car! A brand new one was $120 at the parts store! Check out Rockauto.com. They have great deals on stuff like that. You'll have to pay shipping, but it's usually not much.

Looks about right to me.

Did you see what they broke before they replaced it? I can't picture which bolt it is that they were trying to "adjust". The one that holds the ball joint in has to be removed to get the ball joint out. The two bolts that hold the strut are easily removable. And if you can manage to break one of those...

I think I'd use Carb cleaner, but either should work fine.

Oh, well if it's not going back in strap a chain to that bad boy and drag it right out of there!

I would imagine that to be correct. Clearances don't often get changed. But I thought 97 has HLAs which can't be adjusted?

If they feel "loose" its probably because the O ring seals are dried out. They should not be extremely difficult to turn though.

Try using 5w 30 oil. Might help to use a high mileage mix to clean out any varnish or sludge that may be in there.

I thought about that, but it seemed like they should have had plenty of time to bleed and re-fill since he said he'd driven the car over 100 miles with no problems since doing the work before the problem started. Usually compressed air is best for clearing oil passages. If you don't have that use a spray cleaner. Wear eye protection.

The "slop" is commonly known as "lash" in auto terminology. The lifters or lash adjusters are hydraulic and use oil pressure to keep the lifters pumped up, and lash at the recommended spec. Lack of oil will cause the HLAs to bleed down which creates a gap between the rocker arm and valve. Makes noise and prevents the valve from opening all the way which could lead to rough running/low power. You'll want to remove the rocker shaft and find/remove the obstruction in the oil passage. Do you have a service manual for the car?

That O ring is only a seal for the bearing retainer. The bearing doesn't touch the axle stub so replacing that will have no effect. The bearing is pressed onto the differential carrier as seen in this pic: http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb29/Gloyale/DSCF0039.jpg not very clear but its the best I could come up with right away. The stub sticks through the differential carrier but the carrier is between the stub and the bearing. If there were anything that could be replaced to help "cure" the problem it would be the stub itself and the shim washer behind the side gear. But even then it may not fix the problem entirely because the carrier itself will also be worn where the stub makes contact. There is play in that stub because of the design. It may be less when the differential is brand new, but there is still play. So I suppose if you really wanted to "fix it" or make the play as little as possible, the easiest (and probably cheapest unless you have the proper tools) way would be to buy a new transmission.

Grade 5 is good enough. I usually buy grade 8 stuff for important things on the car (such as the starter, suspension parts, etc.). Tractor supply sells it by the pound. Something like $2.99 here, and they have nifty tags on the bins that say how many of each bolt/nut are in a pound.

Backlash is not your issue, and adjusting it will not help. "Backlash" refers to the amount of play in a gear set. It is the amount of space between the teeth on the ring gear and pinion gear. It has to be set at a very specific margin for proper wear, heat production/dissipation, and overall longevity of the gears. Trying to correct the "wiggle" of the stub by adjusting the bearing retainer has no effect on the stub and will do nothing but cause damage to the differential. There is no adjustment for the axle stub. All it does is slide into the side gear and is then held in the differential by a snap ring. If the stub is loose, you deal with it. Replacement means you have to split the case and remove the differential. More of a PITA than it's worth. Here's an exploded view of the front diff so you can see what I'm talking about. http://opposedforces.com/parts/legacy/us_b11/type_5/train/differential_transmission/illustration_1/

The converter needs to stay attached and fully seated to the trans because if the dog ears for the fluid pump come out of the notches in the converter shaft and it gets put back together and attached to the engine that way it will eat the pump to pieces. It can also damage the thrust bearing in the engine. But the transmission pump is the first to go.

Any parts store should have some. But if all others fail go to Napa. Permatex or Loctite will probably be the most common. Three Bond makes great stuff if you can find it.