ron917

The '99 Legacy Outback has the Phase I DOHC 2.5. The HG leaks are internal.

There was a place in/near Easton, PA, that rented out bays with lifts. I saw the ad back in the mid '90s when I lived near there, and thought it was a cool idea. I don't know if they're still around.

I changed mine at 110K miles. The paint was starting to bubble off of it due to rust, and it looked like it might rust through soon. I noticed no difference in shifting or anything else afterward. I normally drain the pan and refill every 15,000 miles, never did a flush or dropped the pan. -Ron '99 Outback wagon

Well that stinks. I guess the only reasonable way is to have a drive shaft shop do it. I wonder, what is the point of using staked-in u-joints vs. the normal kind that are held in with clips?

Rockford Drive Line makes replacement u-joints for Subaru and others with "non-replacable" u-joints: http://www.rockforddriveline.com/replacem.htm I have zero experience with this, just something I came across one day and bookmarked it in case I needed it.

Silvarick, Sorry to here about your misfortune. I had almost exactly the same experience with my '99 Outback. The only difference was the mileage - HGs replaced at 105K miles, cam siezed at 118K miles, 8 months and 13K miles later. It was the same camshaft that siezed (right side intake). You'll find a few stories of siezed camshafts on the 2.5L DOHC engine, and the consensus is that the oil passages are too small. If anything reduces oil flow (dirt, whatever), the camshaft is going to sieze. In my case, the engine was not low on oil. Both oil and filter had been changed 2000 miles previously. I check the oil level at least once a week. It was not low after the cam siezure. See my threads at: http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=65855 http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=66978 In my case, due to the time and miles driven, I don't believe my camshaft failure was related to the headgasket work. In your case, it may be easier to make an argument that it is related. As for what to do, you have to weight the cost of the repair against the cost of replacing the car, along with how much you like your Outback. I really didn't want to buy another car, and had the time and skills to do the work myself, so the equation came out in favor of replacing the engine. I went with a rebuilt from Colorado Component Rebuilders. They have an excellent reputation, and post here on the the forum. This kind of thing really sucks, but it happens sometimes. It doesn't help that the Subaru 2.5L DOHC engine is very expensive to repair or replace. Good luck, -Ron

The 2007 Outback 2.5XT was named one of the Top 10 Tech Cars by IEEE Spectrum (April, 2007, issue). Others on the list include the Tesla Roadster (I want one!), Audi R8, BMW 5 Series, and two concept cars (one Honda, one Chevy). The Outback 2.5XT was chosen because of SI-Drive system. From the article: The complete article is at http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/apr07/5012

Get some Loctite Form-A-Thread, it's made for exactly this situation. I used it to fix stripped valve cover threads on a VW Golf, it held for 8 years until I sold the car.

Was that before or after the whistle in item #1 started?

Today must be the day for brake jobs I happened to print out the Factory Service Manual brake service pages for my '99 Outback today. I replaced front and rear pads and front rotors. Didn't need to do anything to the calipers. The FSM just says to install the boot ring after installing the boot onto the cylinder and piston. It also says be careful not to scratch the boot. This is for the 2500CC model, FSM section 4-4 [W1E2]. These are the dual piston calipers, the single piston calipers (non-2500CC model) don't show the boot ring.

Also, no IAC valve. The drive by wire throttle failed on my father in law's RAV4. On the Burlington-Bristol Bridge (near Philadelphia). In rush-hour traffic. He had to cross the bridge at idle - pissed off a lot of people! Don't know what it cost, because it was fixed under warrantee.

My '99 Outback also has heated seats - I think it's part of the cold weather package. Biggest difference between '99 and '00, in my mind, is that the '99 has the DOHC engine, and the '00 has the SOHC engine. Choosing one over the other is a question of whether you prefer an internal ('99) or external ('00) head gasket leak. Leaky head gaskets are very common on both engines (do a google search on "subaru head gasket"). If one of the cars has already had the head gaskets replaced with the latest Subaru part, that one has an advantage. I prefer the looks of the '99 Outback over the '00.

The link that nipper referred to talks about varying the timing of the intake camshaft. I thought that the newest engines had SOHC, or did Subaru go back to DOHC?

I have a tube of SIL-GLYDE Brake Lubricant that I've used for many years. It's a high temperature silicone grease.

Snow got packed in around the tone ring and/or ABS sensor. It happens often when playing in the snow. No big deal.

Yeah, this stuff is nasty. In Northwest NJ, we got 3 inches of sleet, followed by 3-4 inches of snow with some freezing rain mixed in. Fortunately, I dug out on Wednesday afternoon as soon as it stopped falling, but before it froze solid. Even so, my snow thrower struggled with it. The folks who waited until Thursday or today are having a hard time of it. Even the town crew is is having trouble clearing the park and sidewalks. One of these would help. HINT: I run my snow thrower about 30 feet down the street, in the direction the the plow comes from. I clear it to the curb. That way, there is nothing for the plow to push into my driveway. My '99 Outback with Nokian WRs had little trouble getting up my very steep driveway, BEFORE I cleared it off. The unplowed/untreated roads were no problem. I had a little sideways slippage, but steering in the direction I wanted to go and modulating the gas got me back on course. Driving sideways is fun! Subies rule!

The same thing happened to my '99 Outback, on the driver's side. New sockets are cheap at Advance Auto and Auto Zone.

I've seen several posts about the body access holes. They don't exist on my '99 OBW. Maybe they are there on the '98, but that would be very surprising since there's very little difference between the two years. Remove the airbox on the passenger side. On the driver's side, remove the battery and the winshield washer reservoir. The hardest part is figuring out what combinations of sockets, extensions, etc, that you own will do the job. Once you've found a combo that works for one plug, it may not work on the next. It's tight, but it's doable.

Do you have a reference? I am planning to buy a new car this year, and if this is true, and it applies to new Subarus, then Subaru will be eliminated from my list. I was hoping the major engine problems with my '99 Outback (headgasket failure, then siezed camshaft) were resolved by newer designs.

Shipping weight on my 2.5 DOHC was 215 lbs. That includes the pallet. My wife and I picked it up and placed it on a furniture dolly. Your 'yota will have no trouble with it.

Where in Northern NJ? Broadway Automotive, in Boadway (just west of Washington, in Warren County) did a good job on my headgaskets.

I have to agree that the GR2s are too stiff. I put them on my '99 Outback, and find them barely tolerable. My 17 year old son loves them, however - guess I'm getting old. I REALLY wish Bilstein made struts for my car - I've had Bilstein HDs on VWs and Volvos, they are excellent.

Any muffler shop or weldor should be able to do that for you. If it were me, I'd try to silver braze the bung on. It's easier to get a good seal with brazing, since the filler flows like solder. Silver brazing is compatible with stainless steal, which is what the cat is made of. I can weld (MIG and gas), but my skills aren't enough that I would be sure of a good seal. Don't try to use solder, like for plumbing or electronics. It won't stick to stainless steel (at least not easily), and it melts at too low of a temperature.

The '03s are coming off of 4 year leases. That, and people seem to like to replace cars every 4 years. Whenever I go car shopping, I find an abundance of 3 to 4 year old cars.

It looks like one of the bolts that holds the accessory brackets and/or accessories on the front of the engine (PS pump, alternator, A/C compressor). Did you remove any of those?