99obw

I really really really wish the 3.0 didn't require premium fuel. That makes it so much less attractive to me. How many horses would be lost by changing the pistons to get a lower compression ratio? If lowering the CR brought it to the same hp/ci as the 2.5 it would have 198 hp. [confession] We are looking seriously at a Toyota Sienna AWD minivan for our next vehicle. 3.3l 230 HP on regular fuel. EPA 18/24. That should put the fuel cost really close to a 3.0 outback, in a 4,365lb vehicle that can tow 3500lb. (are you listening Subaru?) It's more expensive, but I hope the increase in reliability will make up for it. [/confession]

It does requre premium fuel. The engine appears to be more reliable than the problematic 2.5.

Thanks Don, I will keep that in mind.

I have heard the heated garage thing before. My garage is underground (basement + garage = barage), and I have never seen it colder than 40°F, usually close to 50°F without the wood stove going, or up to 90°F+ with the stove(oops, open a door or something would ya!). It does make sense that melting the salty crap every night and letting it into all of the nooks and crannies can't be a good thing. Getting into a 40°F car when it's -10°F out, not having to scrape, it's definately worth the extra rust. Not to mention how much better for the engine and other systems it is. I think washing and waxing are probably pretty important too. Two things I don't do very often. Living on a dirt road makes it all seem pointless.

That's good!

I have to say that our Subaru has been pretty good regarding rust. As much as I complain about rusted fasteners, the body panels have been very durable excluding the poorly performed collision repairs.

A leakdown test won't conclusively find most Phase I head gasket failures. Testing the coolant for combustion gasses is more conslusive. You might try the bubble test. Get the engine fully warmed up, then beat on it really hard for a few miles. Then stop the car, raise the hood, and look in the overflow bottle while revving the engine to 2k-3k rpm. If you see bubbles it is most likely a head gasket.

I have the FSM for the '99. If you are interested I could email you the related FSM pdf files. PM me if interested.

I replaced our head gaskets (and some other things) just about a year and 30k miles ago. I have really beat the snot out of the car since then (revenge) and no trouble. Commuter really lives up to his name with those kind of kilometers a year! Wow!

I think we are talking about two different scenarios here. 1. You are going to take the belt off. Haynes advises to align the engine to #1 TDC. This is good advice. Most manuals recommend the same thing when removing timing components, regardless of engine design. I do this. I use a compression tester in #1 to bring it to TDC. Doing this may be more important on interference engines where you want to be very sure of where the pistons and valves are in relation to each other. 2. The belt has been taken off and the crank and cams have been turned all willy nilly. This is what I was trying to describe in my previous posts.

Yes, that is true, until the timing belt is removed and the cams and crank are turning independently. It's only because of the 2:1 crank:cam ratio that the marks being lined up can indicate one of two possible cylinders is at TDC.

Jimmyberka is correct. My way of thinking about it is that after the timing belt is removed, every rotation of the crank is potentially the compression stroke for #1. Same with the cam. Every time the marks line up the thing is correctly timed. Just line up the marks.

Don't put it all in at first. Put 3 or so quarts in and then fill it up the rest of the way using the dipstick. It is easy to get too much in there.

I think the bendix rebuilt calipers from carparts.com for $41.70 are looking interesting. I hesitate to buy non-OEM but I have had pretty good luck with bendix. I can buy four for each OEM. I have had pretty good luck with parts store rebuilt calipers in the past. Hmmmmmm. I am not so sure about rebuilding the ones that are on there. Sounds like another never ending PITA project waiting to happen.

I drove the outback today and the rear brakes are not working very well. The pads and rotors are fine. Based on what the calipers looked like the last time I looked I am pretty sure that they either need to be rebuilt or replaced. Does anyone know what parts come in Subaru's caliper overhaul kit? $18.71 Has anyone had experience with rebuilt calipers from internet or retail sources. The calipers from 1stsubaruparts are $173.19 each.

Once upon a time I read that the reason for the 105k mile interval in the US is that California requires it, so SOA went with that for the entire US. I don't know if that is true or not. Maybe it isn't climate based.

Wow, there seems to be quite a bit of variation.

60k miles.

I first must say that I have very little experience dealing with noisy car audio, but I do have experience dealing with noisy power supplies in general. I assume your noise suppressors are chokes. A capacitor between the inductor (choke) and the load will increase the strength of the low pass effect on the power rail. You may need to experiment with different value caps, larger capacitors target lower frequencies. Beware of inrush current, an empty cap looks like a short to ground when the power is first turned on. I don't know if this will work, but sometimes a Pi filter works well for filtering both the power and ground to a piece of equipment. A Pi filter is basically a common-mode choke with a cap on either side. Make sure your battery has a relatively low series resistance. The battery is a filter for alternator noise. Series resistance in the battery will increase the system voltage swings as a function of charge/discharge current. EDIT: I must add here that excessive resistance elsewhere in the system might add to noise, so battery cables and other connections must be checked. You might try another alternator as well. Your current alternator is probably overloaded. I don't know how your grounds are laid out, you might try a star configuration. Electrical noise, audible and otherwise, is a black art. Some experimentation is always necessary.

I wonder why they don't put a time limitation on it too, something like 105k miles or 5 years. It seems to me that time would affect the rubber in the belt.

The dealer is correct, the timing belt interval for the EJ25 is 105k miles. When I did the timing belt on our '99 at about 100k miles the belt looked almost new.

IIRC the left (driver's) side only has seals at the front of the head.

Assuming you have an EJ22, on the right (passenger) side head there is a rear cam cover that is sealed with an o-ring. Two bolts hold the cover in place. Very easy to change. EDIT: I didn't explain it very well the first time.

Only SOA knows the numbers. Just about one year and 30k miles on our new head gaskets. That quote seems pretty reasonable, just make sure they do everything they should while they are in there.

I have given this some consideration myself. I think if I had the engine out for some reason, i.e. clutch, rear main seal, rear oil leak plate, I would take the heads off and have them checked for straightness and change the gaskets. I would probably also adjust the valves. Some level of valve job may not be a bad idea either. I really don't know if I would tear into a good engine without provocation. If we had good statistical data on Phase I head gasket failures a more informed decision would be possible, but we don't. If nothing else, the DOHC engine is cool, and working on it is a joy. It would be a good learning experience. If I do it again I will do things differently, that's for sure.