hooziewhatsit

Hmm, I guess I need a breaker bar to get them off... further searching shows that they should be 'really tight', so apparently the 58 is correct. Thanks.

Awesome. That makes it easier. I've found conflicting information for the torque needed for the cam sprocket bolts. One page says 58 ft/lbs (sounds WAY too high). Another says 28ft/lbs, which sounds more reasonable. I'm going to assume it's the lower value unless corrected.

Ok, hopefully one last :derp: question. Where are the shims I'm supposed to be checking? I took the cams out, and now have 16 'buckets' that were between each cam and the valve (I kept them in order), but I don't see anything that resembles a shim? No flat discs like I was expecting?

thanks. Now what's the trick to getting to the lower engine - transmission bolt on the drivers side Can you tell this is my first time fighting with working on a 2.5?

Ok, I'm finally up here working on this thing and have a couple :derp: questions: 1. What's the trick (or is there one) to aligning the flex plate and TC with the intake still in place? It would be easier to do with the intake off, but doesn't make sense to have to install the intake only after the engine is back in. There's barely enough room to see in there, let alone get proper torque on the bolts. 2. Is there a factory lift point on the front left of the engine?

He has driven it for just over 1000 miles since he got it, and had not experienced any overheating. Hopefully it was a new thing. The main problem with troubleshooting is that the car is 4 hours from me, and he's not too mechanically inclined. The suction cup is just to hold the glass while working on the block surface. Ok, I'll definitely get the 610 gaskets. Do the timing cover gaskets really need replaced? They seem pretty spendy by themselves.

A friend bought a 96 Outback a couple months ago that only has 134k on it. Surprise surprise, a couple weeks ago on his way home from xmas, it overheated, blew coolant out the reservoir, and filled the rad hoses with air. He had it towed home and it has been parked since. Head gasket(s), right? Hopefully since it was only overheated once, it should still be in pretty good condition internally? So, now I get to fix it, but I have a few questions first. 1stsubaru has a gasket set for $300. He emailed me a list of included part numbers, and it says it includes HGs #11044aa112. Punch that number into their site, and it comes up with 11044aa114. Then I read here about the 610/633 gaskets. Which ones are the latest & greatest for a Phase 1 DOHC? edit: did he send me the gasket list for an EJ22? I'm planning to use GDs head resurfacing technique. Is there anything special needed to prep the deck surface on the block? Suction cup with the glass/sandpaper used to do the heads? Head gaskets go on dry, right? No copper spray? Was thinking about this timing belt/tensioner set: http://www.ebay.com/itm/96-97-SUBARU-LEGACY-2-5L-DOHC-EJ25-HP-TIMING-BELT-KIT-/300682808894?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&fits=Make%3ASubaru&hash=item4602178e3e Thought for discussion: I recently read on a different forum an old trick for hotrodding V8s. They would chamfer the edges of the headbolt holes, both in the head, and in the block. The idea being it would help spread the pressure farther out on the gasket. Kinda similar to how skis are built with a bow so that when you stand on them, your weight is distributed over the entire ski, and not just under your boots. Would that provide any benefit here? Thoughts?

Thanks for the replies. I'll have him bring it over sooner rather than later, and probably end up replacing the hub and the bearing. Local place has everything in stock, which is nice. I found a guide on nabisco to building a bearing puller to avoid using a press. I'll probably try that route. I'll post again with what I find.

This is my BILs '98 Outback Sport. 200k-ish miles. Jacking up the front end, we have too much play in the drivers side tire by putting our hands at 12 & 6. On the inside, I can see the axle joint moving with the wheel. The wierd thing is, he doesn't have any of the typical bad wheel bearing noises - no howling or growling, and nothing that changes during turns. Could the bearing still be bad, or is this more like a bad hub and/or knuckle? He's a couple hours from me, so I can't exactly take stuff apart and go from there. I'd like to have at least some idea before I tear into it so we know which parts to have on hand. Thanks

When it doesn't want to idle, thump the IAC with the butt end of a screwdriver. See if that changes anything. Just because the IAC works fine when you apply 12v to it, doesn't mean it won't stick when it's hit with the fast PWM to control the idle speed. BTDT. Took a while to find one that actually worked.

Turns out the clunking was bad sway bar bushings.

This is my brothers car. ~170k miles on it. He says it just started clunking from the front when he goes over bumps, especially when turning. I was thinking this would be the strut bushings, but then he started poking around, and made this video of the freeplay in the axles. It seems to me like there's too much play in the axle stub? None of the axle boots are torn, and it got new tie rod ends in 2011. It did just go through it's first Alaskan winter though. So I guess I now have two questions: Is that amount of play bad, and is the most likely cause of the clunk the strut bushings?

Haven't checked it out yet. He's gone for a month, and I might have a few days with it at the end of August. Basically trying to see if it's worth tackling at all, so if it is, I have all my ducks in a row. Is there a way to see if the seals are bad before taking everything apart? Although now that I think about it, I did see some oil drips coming from the HG seam, so they may as well come off. Then there's just the shortblock left, so I may as well pull everything and make it easy on myself But that's only if the leakdown test shows the shortblock as being in any kind of good shape. I love old cars

Is this possible/recommended? I know the cam towers have to come off. Then it's finding a way to keep the valves in place. Probably threading rope into the cylinder and bringing the piston up against it would be easiest. Then using a tool to compress the springs and knock the retainers out. And finally I presume the old seals slip off, and the new ones slip on. Unless of course the ends of the valves have mushroomed just a little Or is it one of those things that's easier with the head on the bench? I'm not really interested in doing a complete valve job. I just want the car to stop drinking so much oil (1 quart ~300 miles). The car is going to get replaced in a couple years anyways.

I was actually going to ask about that for another one of my cars... How hard is to do the valve seals without pulling the engine? I know the cam towers would have to come off, and enough compressed air in the cylinders *should* hold the valves in place. Otherwise it's just compressing the springs, removing the retainers, the replacing the seals. Or is it easier to just swap it for another engine

Well, I've been looking for a reason to get a leakdown tester If I find anything I'll report back. Thanks.

Any other ideas how this thing could be going through this much oil?

I'm about to go through this with my wifes car. Get the pressure test kit from autozone, and don't forget the 'Import car adapter'. I plan to pull the spark plugs, make sure the radiator is full, then pressurize the system and come back in an hour. In theory it should be pretty easy to see where the leak is after it's been leaking for an hour. If I don't see any big puddles, I'll crank it over and see which plug shoots water out :-\

Yep. $17(!) from the local dealer.

Yep, I know how to check the oil, lol. This has been a constant issue for a couple years now. He hasn't kept real good track of usage other than 'it uses a lot'. But I know it was full a couple hundred miles ago, and now it's down 3/4 of a quart. Rear main was replaced when I pulled the engine last summer. Doesn't mean it isn't bad though. Timing covers are off, and the front of the engine is dry. A little seepage around the oil pump, but not enough to drip. PCV system is otherwise set up correctly.

'94 loyale, 220k+ miles. Just went through 3/4 of a quart in 221 miles. Last summer I pulled the engine and resealed everything but the HGs. Last week I put a new (SOA) PCV valve in. The old one still moved, but didn't have a good clunk to it. The above oil usage is after the new PCV was installed. It does drip a little, but not enough to lose a quart in a few hundred miles. It does smoke off the cat converter pretty good though (sometimes). The front of the engine is actually pretty dry. It has the blue PCV bypass update thing done. The old PCV hoses were brittle and cracked so I replaced them with 5/8" heater hose + hose clamps. As a test, I disconnected the passenger side PCV hose and hooked up a vacuum gauge to it. I plugged the hole in the intake, and plugged the hose from the intake to the drivers side. With the engine running, after a few minutes it built up almost 1"hg. Everything I've seen online says this should build up to 3-5" pretty quickly. I can squeeze the hose coming from the driver side valve cover shut and the section of hose to the PCV valve sucks shut pretty quickly. That vacuum just doesn't transfer to the other side of the engine. Oil cap and dipstick are pretty tight. Any idea why it's using this much oil?

Are you sure there's a check valve in the hose? I sure don't see one. In other news, I really need to get a mityVac one of these days

This is my BILs '94 Loyale. I haven't noticed this on any other cars I've driven, which makes me think his brake booster may be bad. Whenever you turn the engine off, the brake pedal comes up pretty hard under your foot. It comes up enough that you'll start to roll unless you really push it back down. Before turning the engine on, pumping the pedal brings it up pretty hard, then after turning the engine on the pedal goes down a bit, like it should. Otherwise the brakes are a bit spongy, but that's probably because they need bled (yet) again. He has to add 1/2" of fluid every few months I just replaced the rear wheel cylinders, which had seen better days, so that should help I hope.

Feed some non-fibrous rope into one of the cylinders, then slowly crank it by hand until it binds up. Then you can lean your ratchet to tighten the crank bolt. Then crank it backwards by hand just a little to loosen the rope and be able to pull it back out.

If you do use a come-along to the rafters, put a 2x6 perpendicular to the rafters and loop over that as well. Spread some weight to the nearby rafters. (wow, this was a necro-bump )