WAWalker

The speed sensors in that vintage were just simple reed switches. ECU supplies volatge signal to one side of the switch, the speedo turns opening and closeing switch, providing and ON/OFF voltage signal to the ECU. Sorry, I don't have any pin out pics on my computer for your car.

What are the fuel trim numbers doing now?

The external head gasket leak into the '04 MY is not unheard of, and is becoming more common on the '03 MY. (The same problem that Subaru said was fixed for the '03 MY cars) So I'm not surprised. I've said it before and will say it again. Until there are enough EJ25's on the road with considerable mileage and no head gasket leaks.........................you can't assume that the problem was fixed, just because Subaru said it was fixed. No, you can't assume that every coolant leak on a Phase II EJ25, is a head gasket.......................neither can you assume it is not. Personally, I have no problem showing my customers the leak, if they are skeptical. No diagnostic numbers needed. If coolant is leaking externally from the head gaskets, seeing is believing. My only concern with your car is, sounds like you only had the one gasket replaced? That would make me nervous.

Good plan.

There was a recall on the front A/F Ratio (O2 Sensors) installed on your car. No surprise it failed @ ~40k.

Take a look at the fuel trims when problem is occurring.

I think there was some confusion from the get go. Seems the excess vibration (due to faulty axle) was perceived to be a low, rough idle, (thought to be related to work performed during timing belt replacement. Thus adjustments being made to try and raise idle speed). Excess vibration at idle being perceived as rough engine running is a fairly common misconception. Anyway, glad it is fixed.

I should have said: "when in gear, weather moving or not" In case he decides to come over here to learn:)

Funny. He must have been sick on the day they went over "theory and operation of automatic transmissions". There is still torque being applied to the axles on a car with an auto trans, weather moving or not.

Lay the head upside down, fill combustion chamber with gas. Gas should leak out quickly around a valve that is not sealing.

Air intake noise maybe?

You can get new OEM lines. But as said, PITA to replace. Always use a double flair on brake lines, when repairing old or making custom fit new one.

Are the roads wet, snowy, slushy? Could just be steam rising from water on exhaust. Snow, slush, water on radiator. Any traped air after last radiator replacement should be out of the cooling system by now. In my experiance it takes way more than a couple of miles of driving before the t-stat opens. In the mean time the coolant is getting up to temp. and building pressure. If there is no air in the system this could explain the rise in coolant recovery bottle level. Maybe? Was the recovery bottle level back to "normal" as soon as you got home, or was there time for the engine to cool and draw the coolant back out?

It WAS a GT = 2.5 DOHC = 105k mile timing belt replacement interval. Full tune-up should = air and fuel filter also. He said that the radiator was replaced. And buy the way $2900 total bill - $700 labor doesn't = $2100 in parts:) Profitable shops do NOT give parts away @ cost. Parts sales is a retail business. Just with the parts I see listed, I can easily come up with well over $500, not including the engine. $700 Labor may be a little low. Mark up on the 100k + mileage engine my have been a little high. So it is a wash. $2900 IMO is right is the ball park, when you are paying a repair shop to do the work. Enjoy your car mrCharlie:burnout:

Glad to hear you have your car back on the road.

Not sure what you mean buy "Not many, maybe one". Radiators? Per car? Sure. Out of all the 2.5 engines in the country that over heat do to bad head gaskets, and are miss diagnoised................I personaly have seen more than one 2.5 with a new radiator and/or (thermostat, W/P, rad. cap, ect.) still over heating due to head gaskets leaking. Anyhoo.............Yes, radiators do plug up. And as nipper pointed out, not always internaly. I have hosed mud, dirt, and bugs out of the cooling fins of many a radiator and or condesor, to fix "running hot" problems.

First off you are talking about a 2.2L. They don't have the head gasket problems of the 2.5L DOHC engine. So in my mind, head gaskets are usually one of the last things on the list of things to check, when diagnoising 2.2L over heating problems. EJ22 vs. EJ25 = Different animals. Diagnoisis can / should be approced differently. How many radiators do you think have been replaced trying to fix over heating problems with 2.5L DOHC engines that had bad head gaskets. You have to consider: Engine type. All symptoms. When / under what circmustances they occur. With everything in mind, you can start with most likly cause first. Pattern failures are real.

Can't say that I have been that far into the dash trim on that vintage of Subaru. Looking at a '01 that I have in the shop....................I would pull the lower trim panel (below the steering column) as it is easy to remove. Then I think you could reach up to the switches and push them out from behind. Should be enough slack in wires to get the switches out then unplug them. As with any trim R&R, I am always very careful. So much of it does "snap" apart an back together, and sometimes things are easly broken if you don't apply the proper force in the proper direction.

The switches do just snap in and out. I don't know that you can snap them out without removing the trim panel though.

Thats what the dealers can buy it for. The rest of us..................$3553:mad:

Could be a bad DOJ (inboard CV joint). They will make noise under accel, with wheels straight.

My .02 Warped brake rotors should not cause the steering wheel to move back and forth while driving slow not using the brakes. A bad cv joint will. When brakeing, yes the shake is most likely warped rotors. You have more than one problem here. IMO You had this steering wheel movement before your axle broke? This is an automatic with torque bind. Torque bind will kill axles. I'm sure that is what killed the first one. The other one is very possibly on the way out.

OE NGK plugs are FR5AP-11 Platinum, for the 4 cylinder engine. Subaru does recommened replacing at 30k miles. Do they need to be? Probably not till 60k. As nipper said, if it runs good, fuel milage is good, and passes emissions..............they don't have to be replaced.

No thing.

WRX is coil on plug ignition. No wires. The problem with the OEM wires being a little on the short side is standard on the '97's. Magnacore are the other wires that are recommended here.