tnt

If he doesn't bring his checkbook, offering to help pay for this, he isn't really a friend.

Since the thermostat on the OB is at the bottom of the engine and heat rises, how does the thermostat find out the water heating up around the cylinders needs it to open up to let the water flow? This made sense to me on all other engines I have seen because the thermostat is on top of the engine where the heat buildup can cause the thermostat to open, allowing flow, which allows constant 'feedback' on the coolant temperature.

Hi mysterious And good to know you are close to Greensboro.

Hi mtskibum16 I can't answer about the intake cover, but I just did a swap from a 97 OB to a 98 OB. I did have to move one small vacuum hose hookup over to the 98. And it was a manual to automatic shift also. My suggestions for the swap (some are only to help me, as I was not familiar with Subarus, forgive anything that is to elementary): Buy the Haynes (or similar) book unless you have swapped a lot of engines. When the book says disconnect the torque converter (if Automatic), do it or ask here if you don't understand the need. It isn't easy, but the trouble if you don't can be much worse. Take a lot of pictures, and use a marker on sandwich bags to label and hold bolts for things like exhaust, timing cover, torque converter--or find some way to keep track of what the bolts go to. I jsut put them back in the hole when I could. Give yourself more time than you think you will need. Have a way to get to the parts store. I would have liked to have a heated garage, not an open barn in NY state. But the roof, three walls, and smooth concrete floor were blessings. No matter how careful you are, there will probably be fluid spills, be prepared to contain and clean them up. The lower bolts for engine to transaxle are tough to get at. There is limited room before the wrench hits the axle and the angle is difficult. I found a 1/2 inch bar and socket (14 mm) worked. Others suggest a flex ratchet. Replace all the seals, etc. you can on the donor: front and rear crank (some do say if it doesn't leak don't change it), camshaft, change to a metal separator plate on the back if it is plastic, valve cover gasket (with bolt grommets), oil pump seal, spark plugs, timing belt, clutch (if manual), anything that is easier with the engine out. And the main thing I didn't know about was USMB. Ask here if you are unsure about anything, there are people here who will help who have much more experience than I do.

Update The oil pump is off. No signs of an obvious leaky place. The local Subaru dealer says the o ring will not get here until next Tuesday. That sounded slack to me, but thanks to my volvo I can get around until then. Just for the information: The parts guy asked a tech about sealant for me. I was trying to decide between the Subaru recommended one and permatex 51813, ala beer garage. The tech recommended Permatex Ultra Grey. I'm planning to go with 51813.

Yep, I will.

> It was losing 1 qt per 90-100 miles on a 700 mile trip from NY to NC. The entire trip was 700 miles, the oil loss was a quart every 90-100 miles, not a quart in 700 miles. I don't think I nicked the crank shaft when installing the new seal. That would be a pretty deep gouge to let out a quart in 100 miles and I expect it would have to driip out the bottom of the timing belt covers, not off the oil pan lip. Btw, the dripping was observed after getting home, pressure spraying the front of the car underneath, letting it dry, and watching for leaks while the engine idled. It isn't blowback from in front of the oil pan. I'm going to dig into it now, so I shoudl know more soon.

> The oil is leaking from the downward turning lip of the front driver's side corner of the oil pan. I should have mentioned that the drip there is a little more than one drop a second once the oil is warm. Does anyone know how high in the crankcase the oil is when it is full? If it isn't above the pan to block line, it couldn't be the pan gasket. If it is higher, how many quarts low would the oil need to be before it should stop leaking? I'm not thinking of running low oil to stop the leak , just trying to understand the system better. Does the rate of a drop in about a second seem right for a non-pressurized leak ( yes, size of the leak would matter)? It was losing 1 qt per 90-100 miles on a 700 mile trip from NY to NC. That was about 1.5 hours of driving at 60-65. It was all highway miles except for pit stops for the car, humans, and dog.

Let me explain my statement "I have a leak at the front of my oil pan." in my original post. The oil is leaking from the downward turning lip of the front driver's side corner of the oil pan. This is about 3/4 inch back from the back side of the timing belt cover. I don't see how oil from the front crank seal or cam seals or the oil pump could be leaking there. There is no trail of oil from the back of the timing cover across 3/4 inch of block to the front of the oil pan. I'm pretty sure it must be a "rare" oil pan leak. I do need to tuck in a piece of rubber gasket on the bottom of the timing cover, so I'll do that first to check on the crank and cam seals. I was going to let that wait until warmer weather. When I had the engine out for swapping to the 98, I changed the front crank seal, though if I had read some posts here I might not have done it, since it wasn't leaking. I didn't change the cam or oil pump seals, but they were not leaking. I didn't know about the oil separator cover on the back either, so I didn't change that. I did change the rear crank seal. The valve cover gaskets were the only thing leaking so I did change those and they are tight now. In retrospect, I wish I had found this group before I started the project. I'll know better next time. Thanks for all the posts, results of my endeavors will come later.

I have a leak at the front of my oil pan. The engine was just moved from a 97 legacy to a 98 legacy. The problem wasn't there in the 97. It's 1 qt per 100 miles. I know because I just drove it from NY to NC. from what I gather from other posts here, I can lift up the engine about 2 inches and get to the rear bolts on the oil pan. I'll use Permatex Ultra Grey (or Grey Ultra) sealant. I'll be careful to tilt the pan forward to avoid damaging the oil pump suction tube. Anything else I should know or be careful about? Thanks

Hi all, I got my first Subaru from my broter in law in August of '08. The 97 Outback Legacy was about to die of rust in Rochester NY and I brought it to NC to live longer. In August of '09 the '98 Outback Legacy his wife had blew a head gasket. Since the '97 had a newer engine and the '98 had a 6 month old rebuilt tranny, I got the '98 and swapped engines last week. I've been mostly fixing my own cars since 1972. I had settled on Volvos until my relatives started giveing me their hand me down Subarus. I've decided since I'm not likely to wear them out, I might as well get used to them. So far I'm pretty impressed with the engineering and reliability. I'm happy to be on this forum. I've looked up a few things and find it to be the kind of helpful community I have experienced in other topic areas. Thanks for being here. BTW, if you know how to get an oil pan off a Legacy, see my post in the Legacy to Current (?) forum.