el_freddo

link to GD's write up is broken or missing Bennie

Bubbles in the coolant means a weeping/blown head gasket if the cooling system was properly bleed to begin with. I'll have a play with my ej22 and see if a disconnected temp sensor will trigger the Thermo fans. It's the brown plug on your driver's side of the coolant crossover pipe. A real PITA to get to. We need those actual temp readings to properly know what's going on. What was the reading of the mechanic's IR thermometer? Even at normal operating temp you shouldn't be able to touch the upper radiator pipe or any other part of the engine for that matter... Cheers Bennie

Ea82 in a brumby/MY is a step backwards. You're "upgrading" to more oil leaks and less reliability with the rubber band cam belts. If you want to make the ea81 "as good as" the EA82, put the EA82 intake manifold on the EA81 long block. Bigger carb will almost always help with performance... Cheers Bennie

When the pedal is on the floor has the clutch fork actually moved? Have you checked the cable at the top of the pedal to ensure it's still hooked up properly? I hope it's an easy fix! Cheers Bennie

Oil or some form of grease etc on the cat that's burning off. Check your cv boot above the cat to ensure there's not a little pin hole in it - although this should be obvious as you'll have cv grease splatter in every direction in line with the hole. Cheers Bennie

You should also decide on what your upgrade choice is so the shop can give you an accurate quote. Rebuild the ea81 with a mid cam etc OR Convert to an EJ engine of some description (pick one). If going the EJ route it's best to do some research and if possible get a list of required parts from the shop for you to collect prior to conversion beginning Cheers Bennie

I still can't get over how much of a problem this is in the states. In a Australia we simply don't hear about these dead EJ25Ds! I believe Subaru Australia did a factory recall for the head gaskets and replaced rings at the same time. Good luck with your ride L5wolvesf. I'm also wondering why the later ej251 from the Gen3 isn't an option. It's a good engine if looked after. We've got one in the family with 370k km on it and still going strong. HGs done 50k km ago, don't know if they were done before this. Cheers Bennie

Make up a new piece of tin to replace it. The heat shield isn't made of special material, some light sheet metal or even some corrugated roof iron would do the job. Cheers Bennie

Hmmm... Dizzys right?? I've not done the ea82 to ea81 swap but have seen it done. I have never heard of the ea81 dizzy being used in the ea82. IIRC, the ea82 has an extended shaft beyond the drive gear where as ea81 does not. I don't know if this little shaft is part of the drive gear or the dizzy's shaft protruding beyond the drive gear. Have a go, document what you find whether it works or not Cheers Bennie

Fuel cut module kicking in until you're cranking/engine is running. Short the fuel pump to make it run to ensure it's primed the fuel system good and proper. Cheers Bennie

If resealing the oil pump ensure you do the shaft seal. Also a good idea to inspect the shaft to ensure there's not a groove worn into it. A small 2-3mm spacer behind the oil pressure release spring can help with lifter tick/upping oil pressure a bit if needed. We did this to several of our EA82s with good results. On one it stopped the engine dying from a dying big end bearing for another two months. Before this mod it would knock at idle once warmed up. After the mod the knock wasn't there at warm idle - but it did eventually die which at that point was always on the cards :/ Seat: If you're not happy with it, swap it. RX turbo driver's seat gives great comfort and support (Unless the GL10 already has this seat). Cheers Bennie

G'day mate, Best thing you can do for your turbo is exactly what you've done for it. I would've mounted this behind the thermo fans so you're not adding hot air in front of the radiator. Another thing to look into for both your vehicles is a copper radiator. A good unit will cost you money but will get the job done well. I'm now running a Nissan Pulsar N13 radiator with my EJ22 in the L series (new mount holes at the bottom drilled in the rad support panel and the upper panel folded up a little to slip the radiator under). Works well but I'm still looking for a bit more cooling in the summer offroading similar to what you are. On road and around town I have no issues. Lower rad hose would be the bit to work out on the EA82 setup as it only points straight out at the engine rather than up on a 45* angle. Years ago I fitted a brumby radiator as a temp setup. It didn't fit well and wasn't a pretty install at all. Creating a larger bash plate, or air dam under the car between the rad support panel and the engine crossmember can increase the negative air pressure in the engine bay which will naturally help with pulling air through the radiator. On our last trip across the Nullarbor in the middel of summer we resorted to using a grill from a truck that we happened to find on the side of the road to create this air dam. Was awesome, but did look a little bit odd if you noticed it: ^ That was loads better than my mad max setup on the trip over... Also, what thermostat are you running? If a generic after market there's a "high flow" option. I'd recommend using this unit if not using a genuine thermostat. The MPFI shouldn't be overheating with the AC on unless there's some other issue lurking/waiting to rear its ugly head. Cheers Bennie

This bearing, is it a common issue for the Gen3 manuals as well? Cheers Bennie

How do you know that the thermostat isn't opening? As stated, the heater circuit is what's used to open the thermostat/regulate engine temp. I've had my engine block frozen, including the radiator and heater core. Long story short, even with the heater circuit frozen the engine managed its temp just fine and managed to thaw out the radiator without damaging the block. HGs held on for another 3 or 4 years after this! One way to gently test things is to go for a drive to warm the car up, then leave it idling in the driveway with the heater OFF. Monitor the temp gauge when doing this (it should take 5 - 10 mins depending on weather), Idle engine and allow it to trigger the thermo fans. IF the temp gauge climbs to 3/4 and there's no fan action you need to look into why. The fans should kick in without ANY change to the temp gauge on the dash. You need to allow time for ALL the coolant in the radiator to heat up for the thermo fans to be triggered. If the radiator is new it may give off a funky smell as it heats up, my all copper heater core did the same thing for ages. And as mentioned, there could be an oil leak that's causing the smell that seems to have raised the alarm for you. I also recommend getting a mechanical aftermarket temp gauge - and tap it into the heater hose - I believe it's the upper one that is the heater IN line. This is the one to tap into so that the use of the heater doesn't interfere with your readings. You will need to knock up a block to fit this. I used some plumbing items, threads were close and I've not had any problems with leaks for many years: Going by my mechanical temp gauge, thermo fans kick in at about 93*C, off at about 87*C, normal operating temp in cold weather is 82*C solid - it won't move! Do you know if the ECU has ever been changed in this car, or whether there's been any wiring mods for whatever reason done under the dash? Long shot here - the wire to trigger the thermo fans from the ECU may be damaged and not allowing the signal to get through. To test this wire you'll have to work out a way to test it's continuity with a multimeter. Or get an infra red temp sensor to do some quick easy testing of temps. Cheers Bennie

Hang on, so is it a WRX gearbox or the NA Impreza box? In my L series I'm running the phase two box (8 bolt) with the factory L series pull clutch setup mated to an EJ22E. I'm pretty sure I'm using a Gen1/2 clutch fork. Find out exactly what the gearbox is for the most accurate help you can possibly get from other forum members. If you don't know what a term means, please ask! There's a HUGE difference between the push and pull clutch setups! Cheers Bennie

Subaru = Lego. Pick one We have a gen3 liberty (legacy) that's running a gen2 solid flywheel with the gen3 clutch pressure plate no worries. This was done to remove the squeaky dual mass flywheel. Cheers Bennie

How did you check the head gaskets? When mine went, there was no mixing of coolant or oil in either systems. EJ HGs can weep lightly for a period of time before they let to and become an issue. I believe mine were doing this for some time before running the engine hot but not straight to the red unless I was in really slow traffic on a warming/hot day. I drove it for two days like this before the engine was stripped down. If you suspect the HGs, just do them, especially if they've not been done before Cheers Bennie

It'll swap in. Just make sure the front and rear diff ratios are matched. Also if able to reference factory workshop manual I'd be checking the speedo drive gear tooth count to ensure they match. Cheers Bennie

Is the thermostat being installed correctly? The spring section should be on the engine side of where the thermostat is mounted. You have to actually mount the thermostat upside down in its position in Subaru EJ engines Cheers Bennie

New waterpump or old pump? This information is critical to be able to help - you haven't said it specifically so we can only assume given you say about the paper gasket that comes with it. If it's te old pump I'd suggest getting a new one. Cheers Bennie

Also on the sump gasket - you'll probably find that it's actually the oil pump leaking and the oil moving over the sump gasket area of the engine at speed. A couple of spray paint cans (rattle cans over your way I believe) to do a wicked street art/street graffiti paint job Cheers Bennie

I've got a nissan pulsar N13 radiator cooling my EJ22 powered L series. You will need to roll the upper rad support panel up for the rad to fit. I drilled new mounting holes to fit with the nissan rad mounts. Rad hoses may need a solution for your application. A guy I know runs a small motorbike radiator BEHIND your passenger's side thermo fan - this rad is hooked up to the turbo coolant return line to help waste some heat from the turbo before it enters back into the engine. It seems to work well in Australian conditions and helps take some pressure off the cooling system. A good bash plate come air dam under the engine can also do wonders for airflow being drawn through the radiator Rear springs swapped with the front springs from a late 80's honda will increase ride height/firmness/load carrying ability if you need those things. Cheers Bennie

I got all my info from here. Thanks to Jeszek! The civic springs I used raised the rear by about 1.5 inches - which the weight of the rear bar, spare wheel and jerry can (both on rear bar) settled it back down to a bit higher than with the old springs. These springs gave me better load carrying capacity over the stock units by a long shot. When the original oil filled KYBs died I replaced them with aftermarket KYBs - simply for cost reasons. These units are gas filled and initially raised the rear end about an inch again. They've since settled. I'm now looking into the toyota IFS front strut assembly swap to see if this helps with extra height when loaded, even if I need to swap them on when headed out bush loaded for an offroad touring trip. My L runs a 3 inch lift except under the gearbox xmem where it's 2 inch Nicky, for the front springs you could possibly run a set of EJ front springs as these will be sprung heavier for the extra weight of the EJ vehicles. Outer coil diametre and overall height is what you'll need to investigate. I'm running some sort of L series aftermarket King Spring that I got second hand - I can't recall if they're raised or not. Cheers Bennie

Slapping tensioner's can cause the belt to jump teeth on the crank or cam wheels. Jump enough = trouble. To the OP: once you've pulled the pin on the tensioner, rotate the crank a few times, realign the crank marks and check the cam wheel marks to see if everything is within spec. Cheers Bennie