WJM

Due to abuse. I witnessed first hand the kinds of things the dealer-idiots did to the cars when they first showed up and what kinds of things the first test driving idiots did. JAPAN didnt expect the USA to abuse the car like that. All the WRX's elsewhere in the world had the same gears with no failures because elsewhere in the world PEOPLE ARE MORE RESPONSIBLE FOR THEIR ACTIONS. Nothing is shot peened from the factory inside that transmission. Just like the 2009 WRX having a 'strengthened' mainshaft over the 08. BULLCRAP. Same part number. And honestly, excluding abuse, the failure rate inside any of the 5MT transmissions, is pretty much nil. Again, due to driving habits. I cant tell you about how many people I know making nearly over 300hp/350tq at the wheels on a stock 5MT that they daily drive and have no issues. Meanwhile, we still get idiots with bone stock cars come in with stripped gears (02~11) and claim it broke while backing out of the driveway or "I dont know, it just broke!" or some other lame excuse. Had there been a 100% failure rate, then SOA/FUJI would have stepped in and started replacing ASSEMBLIES w/out question like they have been doing on the 2008~2009 WRX/STi/Forester turbo engines and the 2010 CVTs in the Legacy and Outback. But, its abuse, plain and simple. However, the absolute most TQ you can put to an N/A gearset (including the 2002~2003.0 WRX) w/out shock or abuse is right at 450 wheel TQ. Then it shreds. The RA and 2003.5+ gears will typically take around 500~550 TQ before shreding. Then you need PPG's which will still break in the 550~650 range. At that point, you should have invested in a real 6MT a LONG time ago.

5% is a LOT when considering how many new cars are sold, overall not just any one make.

Nope. The 2002MY and 2003.0MY had the standard N/A gears in it. In 2003.5MY they "upgraded" to the STi thickness gears which are somewhat stronger. The Forester XT, Legacy GT, Outback XT, 06+ WRX and so on use the same type gear. They've all broken in the same manner. I've seen it all.

Not designed to be a race car. Its a point A to point B car. Any vehicle has a glass transmission if you put it under conditions that it was not designed for. Either way, perfectly good working non-broken WRX's are still that cheap. 4EAT ones are even cheaper.

no S H I T Sherlock. The problem lies with ultimate reliability. If it does last longer, FINE. If not, I'm going to have issues with that and so is SUBARU as it will drive customers away. Already we've lot a lot of original customers to the EJ25 DOHC and SOHC headgasket issues, the 2008~2009 random brand new engine explosions and other stuff and those customers will not be back. Sure they've attracted more mainstream customers to replace those, but the mainstream doesnt come back to the dealer for service and parts and that hurts dealers more than they realize eventho they are selling more new cars. Service makes all the money for the dealer and keeps the doors open. Parts is fixed based on service numbers, its just there for the ride. Sales barely breaks even and typically COSTS the dealer money to be there. So just think if service goes down, parts goes down...where is the dealer going to get money to keep the doors open? Sure, more cars on the road means more accidents and more wholesale parts out the door, markup at wholesale is really low % of profit. While service parts go down, wholesale goes up, new car sales are up, its not enough to offset the loss in service and next thing you know the bank comes and picks up the floor plan and the dealer is closed. A dealer closed is a dealer that cant sell new cars. Not to mention I'm already feeling those effects now....afterall, I'm standing here posting instead of WORKING. Standing here staring at $50k worth of tools and equipment of my own that I cant use because there are no cars to work on. Few years ago, I was turning 80~90 hrs a week no problem. Where I'm at the who economic meltdown didnt affect the area much and especially the niche that our customer base is in. However, the mainstream customers are taking their cars to $19.95 jiffy lube instead of our $32.95 oil change. Our original customers still come in, but the numbers dwindle every year due to the changes that subaru is making that are pushing them out and attracting more mainstreamers. So, I stand here and every once in a while get an original customer and make some money. And dont get me started on "LOW YOUR PRICES!!! YOU ARE A STEALERSHIP!!" No. We do not matrix price or over charge. We price match when we can afford to. The MATERIALS (parts) alone cost $23.and some change. Then you gotta pay the tech. Jiffylube and the like use far inferior materials and pay minimum wage for monkeys to get the job done. Dealerships cannot afford that liability. We are here to do it RIGHT and RIGHT the FIRST TIME.

Negative. The EZ30D did not get AVCS until 2005. At that time, it also received VVL.

Been around in SUBARU since 2004 for the USA. Its nothing new. JAPAN land got it in 2001.

You can buy a complete, running and driving, high mileage WRX with a clean title for under $5k. I've seen lots of them listed for sale in the last few months. The WRX did NOT hold its value at all.

WAY more than that many made. 86~86 were not "real" RX's so to speak. Model year 87 and 88 had sedans and coupes. 89 was Coupe only. Early 90's saw a loyale RS that was N/A or turbo and single range FT4WD, otherwise similar to the RX of 87~89. Do a *SEARCH* and you'll find a lot more info than the bickering found in this thread about how you should go buy a WRX and stop wasting time on the POS everyone calls an EA82T. The EA82T: There's nothing wrong with it except the end user. It has quirks, just like any other engine that SUBARU made. Deal with it or get something else. Search my username for posts and threads. You'll find all the info you need. and NO, I do not have 99% of the pics I once had posted up and are now gone. Maybe if I get more time and plans work out and I have an RX again I might re-host the metric crap ton of information and pics that may be missing. Also, and I've already tried this, no sanctioned racing organization or drifting organization is going to let you run the RX competitively. Its not "cool" or "new" enough. I've already tried to get the RX classed into most of the major and minor sanctioning bodies: FAIL. They've got pages of excuses and rules and other BS that'll keep the RX out of it. SCCA and NASA autox and High Performance Driving Experience track days/open track days are about as close as you'll get. So, go find the search feature and get to reading. It'll be a lot more productive than this thread.

Thats the most disappointing part to me. What bothers me the most is the belt driving the water pump now. At about 60k~80k miles, customers will stop coming to the dealer and start doing things themselves, overlook the belt, the belt breaks and they smoke the engine that I can promise is a lot more expensive than the previous ones. So, more engine jobs to do in ~4 years. I've never seen a waterpump failure in any of the chain driven H6's. Why change it?

The white subaru ones are made by puroilator and leak at the seams. Otherwise, they filter decent. Same as the standard purolator filters.

Use the 15208AA031, 15208AA100 or a Purolator PureOne. The 15208AA100 changes to the 15208AA12A (blue) filter and its JUNK. Made by Honeywell/Fram in CANADA. We've had lots of problems at the dealer with those filter between leaks and them coming apart. SOA will not do anything about it, which is a bunch of BS. If you can find the 15208AA100 filter, GET IT. The 15208AA031 fits all the H6 cars, and will fit ALL the EJ engines unless its a 2004~2007 Turbo Forester, 2004~2006 Turbo Baja or a 2006~2007 WRX. The oil cooler and header/crossover pipe design limits space in the area and you need to get a PureOne filter. DO NOT use the 15208AA12A at all costs.

well, when you are done with it, it should go another 180,000 or more. My Legacy has 306,7xx miles on it right now. Never had the engine apart on it besides head gaskets at 200,2xx.

Correct. Yeah, this one was a new one for me. Yep, typical EJ/EG/EZ headgasket failure there. It will pass all leakdown, compression and chemical tests. The only time you get the chemical one to turn is with something noticeable and even then the leakdown will show something like 1/2 psi drop overnight. Compression will not suffer until there's an actual hole in the gasket. None of those 'new' engines blow like an EA82. When one blows on an EA82, its obvious and its done right then and there.

No. Not in 9 out of 10 cases that I've seen. The only times I see a break or obvious spot on the gasket/head/block that indicated a leak was if it was REALLY bad. So bad that you couldnt drive the car. I've got a 2004 Forester turbo here that's blown really bad. I'll probably see the blown area on that one. It shoots geysers out of the radiator its blown so bad.

Typical story line for blown headgaskets on the EJ25D. You have a rare EZ30D that blew its HG's. I've only seen one other blow and the head was machined incorrectly from the factory.

Not to forget the TRB on your transmission. Your parts are here, come and get them.

Mid engine, RWD: 427 Cammer. Anything less is for little school girls.

Bring it up here. Diagnosing things over the phone is a PITA.

http://www.easier.com/view/News/Motoring/Subaru/article-191897.html

All that matters is when I get around to it...ITBs and two VF7s.

umm...the Miata spec ones worked great for me. I happened to get the celica ones for the STi struts on the outback, they worked great. The miata ones would have resulted in FAIL on those.

i was using them on stock struts w/coilover conversion kits from ebay. with the stock upper string perch, you will have a little less room at the extreme ends of the plates.

In theory I would say there are no *major* issues....and the #3 AF Correction is working well.

Fouler would be better. I've not seen any problems from those used on older and new cars.