hohieu

1)Timing Belt 2)Check Idler Pullies (3) and t-belt tensioner for leaking grease and abnormal play -- at this mileage, usually only the toothed idler ever presents a problem. 3)Cam Seals and Front Crank Seal 4)Oil Pump o-ring (reseal w/ Permatex Ultra-Gray RTV or anaerobic selant) Reseal oil pump and make sure that screws haven't backed out -- mine were fine so I left them alone. 5)Alternator Belt 6)A/C Belt 7)Water pump 8)Thermostat 9) The lower timing belt cover gasket -- sometimes gets swelled when it comes in contact with oil and should be replaced.

I had just over 105K miles on the same car before replacing the t-belt last summer. The old one looked fine, but you usually can't tell much by looking at a t-belt. Remember to do all the other stuff while you're in there. Freewheeling bearings indicate a shortage of grease -- new idlers have a bit of drag. A these idler pulleys fail because they eventually run out of grease, but they can be regreased quite easily by prying off the seals which are rubber-coated metal seals. Be careful not to bend or deform them as you gently pry around the outer circumference with a small standard screwdriver. Apply only a light coating of Lithium or lithium complex grease to the ball bearings inside and reinstall the seal with an appropriately sized socket (overgreasing can cause the seals to rupture). If you're wearing latex gloves, you can use your thumbnail to work the lip of the inside circumference of the seal into place without risk of damaging them. It's a very simple job. And you could do all 4 idlers, including the tensioner.

I would start with the wires. You can get an OEM set at 1st.subaruparts.com for around $30 + shipping. Also try cleaning all the connection and terminals of your coil. I have instructions for checking the resistance on an ignition coil for my 99 Forester but doubt that specifications are the same for your car. Could email you the page if you want. Maybe someone else can chime in. Oil leaks around your valve cover gaskets or spark plug wells should not cause a drivability problem.

You would need new calipers as there are no vented rotors in production that would fit the Subaru rear configuration. A vented rotor in the rear is not really necessary because they contribute only 10-15% to total braking force. My mother-in-law's '97 Cherokee is fit with rear vented rotors -- it's a heavier car -- but I don't know that they're really all that necessary. The next generation of Grand Cherokees (99-04) have solid rear rotors.

Don't know the brand, but the rear rotors on my Forester are made in Japan -- it's stamped on the inside of the parking braking drum. I'm going the Brembo rotors and Akebono Pads on the Subaru, though I think Bendix rotors (made in the USA) are probably superior but more difficult to find and more expensive. With ceramic pads, Akebono has the market cornered.

I had it installed under recall at 75K miles and poured in another bottle when I did the t-belt service at 105K miles -- no problems. Just make sure you burp the cooling system. The goop is Holts Radweld of England, and I believe it's silicone in suspension. Holts is a part of the Honeywell group, which also owns Fram, Prestone, and Autolite. I think SOA chose a more "exotic" product for the recall in order to disguise the fact that they are offering their customers stopleak as remedy for a major design flaw. I think "goop" refers more to its function (glue) rather than its consistency. The only horror story I've heard is that it can plug up the weep hole on your water pump, which is supposed to warn you of impending pump bearing failure. Just keep an eye on your water pump and the temperature gauge.

I had my front inner right and left boots fail at 90K and 107K miles, respectively. If it were me, those are the things I would preememptively replace rather than waiting until they split, especially as you will be doing the struts. I did mine on car by just pulling the joint from the differential stub. The inner joint disassembles, which allows you to clean all the old gease out. I believe that Subaru uses a Hydroxy II Stearate based CV grease so mixing with other greases of the same base should not cause chemical degradation of the mixture. I was extra careful and ordered a Subaru grease (yellow) for the front outer bell joints. I cleaned some of the old grease out with a rag and repacked with the oem grease. If you wait until after the boots break, it's hard to know how much dirt and water made its way into the joint. But if you do it now, you'll know your oem joints are still good and won't have to mess with aftermarket half shafts. From what grossgary's says, it would seem that oem NKN joints are bulletproof and worth preserving.

You may just be suffering from the normal clutch judder -- my 99 does. These flat 4s have a good deal of flywheel effect. As for the rear main seal and separator plate, just wait until you replace the clutch. When replacing the coolant, make sure you burp all the air out of the cooling system , and you should be fine with the headgaskets. Wheelbearings: http://www.endwrench.com/current/Current6/03/Wheel%20Bearing%20PDFs/03-50-02.pdf 1stsubaruparts.com is a good source for oem parts.

My 1999 Forester is fitted with the 2.5L SOHC Phase II engine with EJ253 designation. 2000 Forester, as far as I know, are fitted with the same 2.5L SOHC Phase II engine but are designated as EJ251. Does anyone know what was changed besides the nomenclature?

I tightend my valve cover bolts just a tad -- 1/8 turn or so and the leaks have subsided. If you go ahead with replacing the valve cover gasket and spark plug well seals, you may want to check the valve clearance while you're in there.

Maintenance-free often times = ____ for dummies. Sometimes I marvel at how automakers can put out a sophisticated piece of equipment that the average joe or jane can use without a worry in the world. It's amazing how it all works (for the most part), but for fellas on this board, an ounce of prevention ... I would much rather pump in some grease when I have my hands dirty than than pay out the nose at a later point. Of course, I understand that the majority of owners unload their cars long before any of these parts ever pose problem.

Thanks for the advice, tcspeer. Nipper, I think new gen subie owners just don't won't to fuss with the grease because these grease fittings seem like the way to go.

Right, Gary, I'm talking about the propeller shafts, not the halfshafts. I just greased the '91 Cherokee today and it was all new to me. I just picked up this car for my wife from her mom, and this is the first car I've owned that requires this type of routine chassis maitenance. Before this, I never really knew why grease guns were so important. Those zerk fittings are pretty cool, which on this Cherokee, are also mounted on the ball joints and tie rods. You're right, ferret, this jeep has solid axles lubricated by gear oil with double cardan joints-- no cv joints.

Just curoius -- I found that my 91 Cherokee has grease fittings on the univeral joints. I assume the u-joints on newer generation Subarus are sealed? Any advantages or disadvantages?

It can be done on the car with just the inner joint pulled on the trans. stub. You'll need to hit it with plenty of brake cleaner and an air compressor. I posted a thread about replacing boots not too ago: http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=63062

Replace the wires one at a time -- to ensure that you don't cross them up. To be safe, you could squeeze a bit of dielectric grease into the the ends of your wires. You may need to remove the air cleaner box and the wiper fluid resevoir to gain access to the plugs. Washers come with the plugs -- be careful not to overtighten -- screw the plugs in by hand until the plug is seated, and turn them another 1/4-1/2 turn with a ratchet. Duct tape the plug socket and extension together to save yourself some grief. If you have oil in the spark plug wells or some seepage around your valve covers, tighten up the valve cover bolts just a tad, 1/8 of a turn or so. Click on this site for visual guides on plug condition: http://www.centuryperformance.com/spark2.asp Not sure on the gap specs for your car, on my 2.5 SOHC, it's .039-.043 in. (1.0-1.1 mm). Goold luck.

I just replaced a couple of cv boots last month. Check out the last post in this thread. AVK's method worked very well for me, but if you're planning on replacing the ball joints, it may be wise to follow Cookie's advice and have a shop loosen the bolt that secures it to the knuckle housing. I had no luck trying to get mine out. http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=63062&page=2&highlight=split+cv+boot

Sounds good -- the only items from the list to watch out for are: #5,6, & 7 It's too bad they didn't change the H20 pump while they were in there. If the water pump bearing seizes, the top end of your engine is toast. Most people replace them at 105K when they do their timing belt service, even if they're still good because they generally won't make it past 150K miles or 240,000 kms. Nontheless, pumps usually give you some warning before they fail -- just keep an ear out for odd (bearing) noises coming from the front of your engine. Water pumps also have a weep hole that will allow coolant to seep out when the bearing seals begin to fail, which also gives some warning of impending failure, but the coolant conditioner will prevent this from happening. You might consider a low/non silicate/phosphate the next time you replace the coolant, which will extend the life of bearing seals. Alternator and AC belts are easy and inexpensive to replace -- @$20 USD and 15 minutes. They should be tightened after about 500 miles or 800 kms of service. Good luck.

1)Timing Belt 2)Check Idler Pullies (3) and t-belt tensioner for leaking grease and abnormal play -- at this mileage, usually only the toothed idler ever presents a problem. 3)Cam Seals and Front Crank Seal 4)Oil Pump o-ring (reseal w/ Permatex Ultra-Gray RTV) Reseal oil pump and make sure that screws haven't backed out -- mine were fine so I left them alone. 5)Alternator Belt 6)A/C Belt 7)Water pump 8)Thermostat 9)coolant conditioner as per Subaru recommendation (Part# SOA635071 in the US but is rebadged Holt's RadWeld) 10) The lower timing belt cover gasket -- sometimes gets swelled when it comes in contact with oil and should be replaced.

And they are sometimes worthless. I gave up on trying to remove the lower ball joint -- things weren't much different this morning, even after letting the PB Blaster soak in overnight. I guess I just got too attached to my impact wrench. Those of you who don't see much salt might be okay following the FSM, but on my car, that sucka's staying put until I need to replace the ball joint. The method quoted above was much easier on my car -- thanks, avk. I had no problems tightening the bolts down with all four wheels on the ground. A Few Notes on CV Boot Replacement: Obviously, I wouldn't recommend following the FSM instructions to remove the ball joint from the knuckle. However, it is possible to change both inside and outside boots without removing the axle from the hub as stated in the FSM. I would recommend buying OEM grease for the outside joints because the BJ side does not disassemble, making it nearly impossible to get all the old grease out even if you pull the cv axle shaft out of the hub. My original outside boot was still good so I just reused the old grease and slid the new boot on for the time being. OEM front outside boots are made of plastic, which is why they must be discarded if ever removed. I used aftermarket EMPI boot kits for both joints which were neoprene rubber. The plastic ones probably withstand the radical steering angles of the BJ much better, but neoprene is much easier to seal. Plastic boots also require heavier duty clamps. Scribe all the alignment marks on the SFJ (inside -- differential side) as you disassemble things, making sure to avoid contact surfaces. My permanent marker was useless as all the marks wiped away as I cleaned the old grease off the joint and outer race. Maybe there's a better way. 3/16" punch knocked the spring pin out with no problem -- this can be done from below on the driver's side. I used zipties to secure the boots, but will attach the cv boot clamps when I have time to pick up the necessary tool. For those who care, there was quite a bit of lateral play where the axle shaft goes into the front differential (manual trans.).

I have the car on jack stands and can't really get good leverage. When I did try to get my 16" breaker bar w/ pipe extension on there, I fcould feel that something was going to give -- don't want to fuss with drilling out stuck bolts. I think the title of my post is a bit misleading -- I wish there were a way to edit titles but know that it makes searches more difficult. Just to clarify, I am intalling regular boots -- not the quick split boots. Nonetheless, your approach is quite brave. I just returned from a trip up to Brooklyn with a plastic bag duct-taped around the joint. I think your experience would indicate that OEM axles are bomb-proof. This is great to know. I'm afraid I'm past the point of no return -- I've ordered all the parts and have the car up on stands, and I'm far too anal to heed your good advice.

No triumphant CV boot service to report -- I've been having a heck of a time trying to break the bolt holding the lower ball joint to the knuckle. In the past 4 hours, I've hit with an electric impact wrench rated at 7.5 Amps and 250 ft-lb. of torque -- along with with about half of a can of PB Blaster. I 've decided to wait until tomorrow to see if the PB Blaster will do its magic. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Cool, John -- I can't imagine the rear ones fail all that often, and when they do, I imagine it's the inner ones that tend to go because the rear wheels don't steer. As for the front ones, I think it's true that the outer boots tend go faster with extreme steering angles. I live in the city, and parallel parking puts a great deal of stress on the outer boots. The passenger side inner boot tends to be the first to go because it gets cooked by the catalytic converter.

As I look at the FSM instructions for removing the lower ball joint on the transverse link from the nuckle -- will it pop right out or will I need a separator fork to wedge it out?

Thanks for the response -- I thought this thread would die so I already went ahead and ordered the boots and grease for the job. I discovered the split early -- from the grease splatter patterns, it looks like the split ocurred the last time I drove the car. In any case, it definitely hasn't been split open for more than 1K miles because I checked all the boots when I performed the t-belt service and rotated the tires last month. I'm just waiting for parts and will do a write-up on the on-car boot service. I know some Porsche guys do preemptive boot and grease changes on their axle shafts. I've had both inner front ones fail in the past year and am wondering if it's worth it to go ahead and replace all the rear boots before the split (in the middle of winter with my luck).