briankk

jeryst asked: "So I was wondering if any of you with SVX experience could share your thoughts on the car, what goes wrong, what isnt worth fixing, what to look for, etc." The engine in these cars seem to have less failures than do the 4 cylinder engines of the same period, and have a really stout bottom end. That said, under the intake manifold is stuff needs looking at. You should replace both knock sensors, and all those little rotten hoses, with blue silicone. Also, one or two plastic vacuum check valves about the size of a bean, both mine were cracked, I replaced with "real" check valves from a junkyard Ford pick-up.. This is a non-interference engine, if timing belt breaks, you get to walk home. Changing that belt, and other stuff in there, is kind of a PITA, not a lot of room to work there. I've replaced my belt with a Dayco, reasonable price, there are idlers and tensioner that want replacing, too. Beware that your belt kit doesn't have Chinese bearings, some do. Replace the water pump, make sure you have the later style pump with the impeller that looks like a 3" vented brake rotor, they are indestructible, 'till the bearing goes. While in there, replace the thermostat bypass hose with NEW hose, and install Subaru factory thermostat and rad cap. The auto trans in these cars is under qualified for the job, most dead SVXs I've see have dead 4EAT, which can sometimes be rebuilt, for about $4k now, if the shop will allow you to trade in you old box. The SVX has the oldest style 4EAT, fitted with a 3.54 R&P not used en any other Subaru. The 230 HP engine puts enough load on this that the case flexes and the R&P run out of alignment eventually, if re-builder doesn't like your old R&P he may just refuse to do business with you. You can buy an new R&P set from Subaru for about $400, I was thinking of getting a late Outback box and replacing the R&P myself.. I find the car a PITA to get in and out of, seat is low, door is awkward shape, steering is heavy and brakes are weak in my car, I've read this a a chronic SVX complaint, car is too heavy for the brakes.. However, if you don't mind getting stared at, and have a 200 mile tow membership with AAA, they can be a hoot to drive..

Heater core? Hmm.. Cars climate control system works a treat, but lately AC performance most prominent. I will check heater core 1st opportunity.. I've recently discovered that the SVX water pump came in 2 flavors, early and late. The early one was a windmill type, the later a waterwheel type. I'm thinking I've got a worn early style pump, but thats just speculation for the time being. I posted a question about Bilstein shocks for the SVX. No such animal. BUT, there are Bilsteins available for the WRX , and WRX struts can be fiddled onto an SVX, but its spendy as hell, near $500/corner for WRX Bilsteins on your SVX.. I wonder if plain ol' WRX suspension bits would be an upgrade. The SVX is quite porky, I wonder if the stock SVX springs might not be stiffer than WRX stuff. Anybody know? My thinking is that WRX struts gotta be better than 25 year old stock SVX struts.. Idosubaru has a point about Rockauto. They are box movers, very likely have no idea whats actually in the box. But by now, they have to know they are moving counterfeit parts. Buyer beware..

I bought this car in four pieces, a rolling chassis, an engine, and 2 bad transmissions. over the years, i managed to buy another 3 bad transmissions, and one that just plain didn't bolt up. About a month ago, a friend of mine bought a parts car, for the engine, drove it a couple hundred miles home, I got he trans, and it works fine so far. Before the engine was installed, I pulled the intake, replaced both knock sensors, both check valves, and all the hoses under the manifold, with blue silicon hose. Everything rubber under the hood, replaced with new, all hoses belts, etc. Did not replace timing belt, and other stuff, 'cause it looked new. Did replace thermostat, bypass hose, and rad cap with new Subaru parts, new green coolant. Coolant purged and burped. Drove about to satisfy self that engine didn't leak, replaced oil with Rotella T6 synthetic, & new oil filter. One rad fan, NG, replaces and checked function. Rockauto. I bought the expensive part, got the cheap stuff. Nevermore. Now I get Subaru stuff from Subaru. Don't much care about Rockauto excuse.. Just putting out there my personal experience, You can go watch the guy on You Tube, judge for yourself I'ts not about mistakes or mistreatment, it's about lying about the product and refusing to make good. If that suits you, good luck..

I went for a long test ride, about 50-60 miles, uphill and down. 20 or so miles into it, turned up hill on freeway, set CC to 62 mph, At turnoff up the hill, no issues. Engine like a watch, no heat, noise, leakage.. But when I got off freeway, engine immediatly started to overheat. Pulled into gas station, bought a coke, let engine cool. No visable distress under hood, all secure and dry..all visable belts brand new..20 mins, later, tried again, still pretty hot, but got to downhill portion of my loop, engine started to overheat again going down steep hill using brakes more than engine. Stopped and cooled off some more at bottom, started up other side in full cringe. Up hill under power, engine cools right down, no issues 'till top, turned off on level ground, engine overheats again... I'm thinking, probably have old style water pump, vanes so worn I have to have 2K rpm on the clock to move enough water to cool the engine, means have to replace water pump w/new style pump, change belts, idlers tentioners, blah & etc. So I try to refresh memory of what to do by looking it up on You Tube, find a rant from a fellow who bought a Gates kit, found it had Chinese bearing is some pulleys, never mind Japanese OEM parts listed on box. Guy complaint to Gates and Rockauto, both blew him off. Had a similar problem with Rockauto couple of years a go, bought a bearing from them. They list parts from multiple sources, from cheap to expensive, I selected Timken OEM bearing in Timken box. When the box got here got here, it had a Japanese bearing in a Timken box, that I could have selected instead of more expensive Timken. Complained to Timken, they suggested I was lying about that, 'cause was impossible, complained to Rockauto, got blown off. So, if you buy anything from Rockauto with a bearing in it, check for undocumented Chinese stuff inside. I'm done with Gates, they used to be a quality leader, but substituting Chinese stuff is unacceptable abandonment of quality control. Now I wonder where their belts are made. I don't buy bearings from Rockauto any more, either.

May wind up doing that, if no way to fit Bilsteins..

I don't know enough about this suspension to answer intellegently. I'm getting my iformation/impressions from driving the car imagining what I would do to change it from what it is, to what I wish it were. Aside from tire/shock wishes, I also wish it were about 1500 lbs lighter.:-)

I'd prefer not to have anything to do with Facebook. The problem I'm having with my SVX is that it handels like a pickup truck. A lot of this is due to PO' fitting it with Douglas brand Walmart tires, but I think that the whole thing iss too stiff, is why I looking for Bilsteins.. Not inclined to put $700 worth of tires on it 'till I have an idea the transmission will live to see the end of 'em.. I dont think he car needs lowering, but really does want softening up. But I will got to local junkyard and look at STI stuff. Wonder if STI seats would fit..

Posed over there a couple of days ago, got 20 or so reads, no replys.on the shock question.

Been several years, but my '94 SVX is finally up and running. So some questions... Has anybody ever found a wat to fit Bilsterin shocks to an SVX? A local Subaru guy told me that Impreza STI brakes will bolt on, and improve stopping power a lot. Anybody ever done this?

You bet it makes a hell of a noise. I suspected the problem upon first drive with "new" transmission installed. Back to shop, pulled drain plug, out came tooth and various other small metallic bits. Re-filled diff housing with clean bulk 10/40 motor oil and drive it home, a bit over two miles, it sits in my yard as we speak.. The drive between my place and the shop is reasonable flat, couple of small hill, nothing worrisome, discovered that under load, or backing off throttle, noise gets pretty severe, but at 50-60 mph, feather the throttle and coast, hardly any noise at all. For what it's worth..

In much of CA, most gasoline powered cars are required to undergo a state smog examination,every two years, without which you can't register, or re-register the car. The smog guy has a list of cars and their requirements, this list is of all the cars allowed in the state, and their OEM equipment. You present with a car not on the list.. Good-by. Caught driving a car not on the list, you get arrested and the car is confiscated and destroyed, similar to the fate of car that has been "tampered with", i.e. has equipment installed thats not on the list, or had equipment that is on the list, removed. Now the important thing to know about this smog stuff, in California, at least, is that the State doesn't care why or how the car has been "tampered with", it just fails, which is the problem with the SVX. There never was an SVX made with a manual transmission, and the state knows it. Smog check fails right there, theirs nothing you can do about it but to move to a free state. Now, it happens by chance I live in a bit of CA that does not require bi-annual smog checks, only smog on transfer. In other words, it smogs when you buy it, but never again. There some quite unusual vehicles lurking out here in the woods and that has me thinking....` My SVX runs like a watch, the engine is perfect, throws no codes, I replaced several of the engine sensors and all the vacuum hoses (blue silicone), but the trans has a broken-off ring gear tooth (came out with the oil change), but the TCU doesn't know that, theres no code thrown I wonder if I were to show up at the smog place, the car might not actually pass, the smog guy does not drive the car, he checks equipment off his list, sticks a probe up the exhaust and checks for codes.. Then, having it smogged and registered, I could stick in a 5-MT and go my way.. Just thinkin'...

Understood. Let me put it another way. A given R&P set is used for a while, or a long time, then moved to another g-box, and properly set up. The question in my mind is will the re-setup in a different g-box cause a new wear pattern to be superimposed over the old wear pattern, and if so, will it accelerate the deterioration of the tooth hardening, and eventual failure that would not have happened if the R&P set had been left alone in the old g-box?

The transmission that is in the car is a proper (3.54) 4EAT, but one of the ring gear teeth fell out with the last oil change. The trans itself seems OK, and since it seems that I may not be able use the junkyard box I bought. I've had another thought. Since I have 3-4 dead tranmissions with good R&P sets, why not just change out the busted set for another used set? Back in the day when R&P sets were face milled, this would be a big no-no, but now a-days they are hobbed. I know that Subaru will attach a variety of ring gears to a pinion of a certain tooth count, I wonder if hobbed sets don't care as much about being perfectly matched. I also wonder if the R&P sets can be moved without eventually failing.. Any working machinists out there?

I've come to know that Subaru information on the net is plentyful. Every question I've ever asked has been covered in three possibilities. (1) Yes, it will work. Everybody knows this. (2) It'll never work and if you try you'll damage the car. Everybody knows this, (3) Sometimes it may work, when the moon is in the 7th house and your mechanic is fluent in Japanese. Everybody knows this. (sigh)

How much?

Gone through 3 "genuine good used SVX" (3.54) trans that were trash for one reason or another, I went to the junkyard and bought a '98 Impreza 2.2 4EAT, which has a 4.11 rear end, so I also bought the driveshaft, differential, and axles and the TCU, hoping to swap the whole lot into my '94 SVX. Both boxes are phase one with what seems to be similar wiring, but my mechanic thinks the SVX TCU will "not work" on the Impreza box, and using the Impreza TCU may make the car refuse to run at all. I, of course, am perfectly ignorant about all this, and not sure I understand his argument. I do know that my car must have a phase 1 gearbox in it to smog in CA, which rules out the desirable 5- or 6MT swap, and phase 2 (99 and on) won't smog either. Help, I'm in over my head., thought all phase 1 boxes pretty much interchangeable, given the rear end ratio is matched..

Finally found Jamals brake thread, over on NASIOC, Its a bit vague as to specifics, i.e "some rotors/calipers may require different diameter or offset", but I understand what he means, not all wheels are compatible with all brakes, evidently too many variables to list. (sigh) Anyway, thanks for the input guys...

I'm told that to run WRX brakes on a Soob that's not an WRX, you must use 16" wheels, because of the size of the calipers. Just any old 16" Soob wheels that will bolt up, or WRX wheels in particular?

Thanks for the tip on the TCU tuner. It's my understanding that one of the problems in the phase 1 4EAT (4-speed. Electronic, Automatic Transmission) is too low pressure in hydraulic circuit that engages the torque converter lockup, which is inclined to "hunt" at less than freeway speeds, and due to low application pressure, eventually slip, causing wear. Solution would seem to be to raise pressure in that circuit, was going to see if GitHub tuner allows that without having to refer to outside tuner.. I've got a paper somewhere describing the various upgrades and continuous improvements in the 4EAT, that involve various internal mods, am trying to find which of these might be retroactively applied to the phase 1 trans, such as for instance better clutch material, etc. A lot (most?) phase 2 stuff cannot be dragged back into phase 1 boxes, but I reckon it's worth a look. Most important mod to phase 1 is external filter and ATF cooler, IMHO. Precise day and date of OBD 2 implementation is a bit slippery in Soobs, as various models changed a various times. My only interest is whether or not theres is a external oil filter, denoting a trans too new for my use, and then latest possible phase 1 box, for most upgrades in that series.

OK. Googled "What does TCU do, in 4EAT?", got a lot of info. Seems to me SSM is native built in control program, is modified by various TCUs according to various criteria in various Subarus. GitHub seems to some useful programs read and adjust these things.. WRX brakes cannot be bolted onto SVX, brackets wrong. Can be bolted onto my '96 Brighton, but would require 16" wheels to clear the caliper, then new tires to fit 16" wheels, not gonna happen anytime soon. Darn it. Abandoning OBD discussion, it's irrelevant to what I'm trying to do...

SVX has 3.54 final drive, so along w/the trans, I bought the rear end, axles and TCU all 4.11 stuff I know that Subaru improved the 4EAT as they went along, is why I bought a '98 phase one, thinking it must be the strongest possible phase 1 box. But is it? It came off an EJ22 engine, going on an EG33 that has near double the power and torque of the 2.2 engine. I fret about this some.. The thing I unplugged was the 13 pin shell connector on top if the transmission. If that didn't disconnect the TCU, I do wonder what does? OK, in post #10 Subaru Scott says TCU doesn't affect shift points, in post #12 that it does... I'm confused too..

So, you are telling me I have a phase 1 trans that talks OBD2? Seems unlikely.. Phase 2 box has more solenoids than phase 1... It may seem I don't understand the difference between OBD1 and OBD2. But I do understand. I can't legally (or mechanically) run a phase 2 trans with mt '94 SVX. I know that. It's therefore of no interest to me what phase 2 or phase 2A trans do, or when they were made, or whether they have cool tats, or anything at all about them. What I am interested in is whether anybody know of any actual internal differences between various phase 1 transmissions. Specifically, what is the difference between the stock SVX box(TZ102ZM1AA-KP), and the trans I intent to replace it with (TZ102ZA5AA-GN). Both are phase 1 boxes. So far, no joy.. OK, TCU has nothing to do with shift points. So what does it do? I already know I can unplug the thing without having a perceptible effect on the way the car drives. I reckoned that since the GN box is from a car not an SVX, its torque converter stall speed and shift points would be different from those in an SVX. Wrong? What does the TCU do? Educate me...

I am in California, so must comply w/California law, which says that I have to use a phase 1 trans in my '94 SVX. So, I'm not much interested the the dates involved, but with whether or not I have a phase 1 trans, which I have. Unimportant to me what year, can only tell you what the written documentation says, and it says the car is a '98 Impreza, not much interested in whether it's a '98 Impreza or a ball of peanut butter, so long as the phase 1 trans will bolt into and work in my SVX. This trans is a TZ102ZA5AA-GN, if you Google that trans number you will see that there seem to be a lot of folk who believe its OEM in a '98 Impreza...

Well, the junkyard paperwork listed the car this trans and TCu came out of as a '98 Impreza, and it had a phase 1 trans, early WRX brakes on all corners (black painted caliper with "Subaru" cast in in relief, and an EJ22 engine. When I saw the WRX brakes, I wanted to see the engine to see if it was a turbo 2 litre, on the remote chance junkyard didn't know the difference. They did. I know the difference between a phase 1 and phase 2 4EAT, this is a phase 1 transmission, I got the TCU thinking that this trans had used those shift points all its life, didn't want to upset its delicate innards by imposing SVX shift points. OBD2 came along at about the same time as the phase 2 trans, I think of them interchangeably, FWIW.

'98 Impreza is OBD 1. And now you mention it, I forgot to get the TCU that was supposed to come with it. I think it's an early WRX box, will want different shift points than SVX.