bluedotsnow

400 miles later, up and down mountain passes still running strong!

miles would this cause torque steer? even slightly just curious

GOOD NEWS! Sutible headgasket bandaid? was prestone the problem? I was getting bubbles in my coolant slight smell of exhaust had prestone with nanotech sealant.... emptied entire cooling system flushed with bluedevil radiator flush ran for 10 min drove around the block varified thermostat opened. drained entire system filled with distilled water ran for 10 min drained entire system filled with zerex "asian" coolent and added blue devil pour and go head gasket sealant. idled 50 min shut off and let cool I have only drivin the car 70 or so miles but it was up and down carson pass which is nothing to sneeze at. I have checked and don't see coolant loss I had been having to add several oz or more every 30 miles so to prevent overheating from to much air space in the system. will update at 100 500 1k miles I do plan on repairing the head gasket properly but for now this worked for me.

safely 50k-400k miles <DEPENDING ON HOW ITS DRIVEN AND MAINTENANCE if you have excessive lag in shift or the trans shifts up and down alot going up steep hills you might want to replace the trans in my experience the other solenoids don't get as much individual use/abuse as the duty c but I have herd of others going out which when you drop the main pan are easy to get to. unless you have WAY to much play or ware of friction material in your clutch packs you don't need to replace them. case and point if you have wheel hop from torque bind when turning in tight circles you don't need to replace the clutch pack because its locking up enough to cause the torque bind. typically the valve body never fails but you can't buy just the solenoid.... SO my best solution is to go to a junk yard and grab several out of matching transmissions maybe forget some are in your pocket... bring an ohm tester so you can verify they are in spec.... these aren't guaranteed to work but if you have more time than money this is a good way to do it on the cheap... worked for me a few months ago first one I installed from the junk yard worked... then my atf pump died.... so essentially you can do the job for around $50 using a used solenoid.

I have always worried about my VSS getting mangled accidentally doing a trans service, but not yet... if its not the tps... if your VSS has been pulled on or strained you could have a similar fault as to one i found on a 2000 outback engine wiring harness. the owner complained of "shift shock" and could not drive the car reliably. after investigating and dissecting the old harness I found several incomplete breaks in the wiring... say any of those wires has 12 strands inside the plastic shielding. on her car the reference voltage wire supplying the TPS had 8 of those 12 strands broken in the same place, when the wiring during driving conditions bounced around the broken strands would seperate slightly bringing up the impedance and only allowing 2.4 volts to travel to the TPS... so the cars computer is supposed to be comparing the tps voltage to a constant 5v but if the constant 5v turns into 2.4v suddenly the car thinks 2.4 volts from the tps is full throttle and tries to shift to compensate... big bad slam screech from the trans... I'm not suggesting you have THIS problem but if the wiring to your VSS is slightly broken it could account for the intermitant code .

my money is either on a partially blown fuze or more likely it sounds like part of your ecu went bad... if you can't get one from a local junk yard I might be able to help with that, there are lots of those cars around me at picknpull. alternatively have you checked all the wiring? voltage drop, impedance?

seems like your checking the oil very soon after shutting the engine off, for my car my owners manual states I have to wait overnight to accurately check my oil level. I always wait 10-15 minutes after shutting the engine down to check my oil "on the fly" and when I check it like that I NEVER fill it past half way between the full and empty marks. when I have I get abnormal seepage as I understand it EJ engines have LOTS of oil journals and places oil likes to hang around before draining back into the pan.

sounds like something I'm going to get at the junkyard and sell on ebay! just a solder away!

did you do any lifting or does that size fit a stock base, L, brighton? what is the offset and width are your rims? I'm just curious for my own future reference. Thanks!

heartless no offense! I'm just sort of passionate about this mod. in your case yes its totally cool the amount of offroading your going to do in your car is likely fine and wont damage any parts. however if you want to blaze trails, pack the back full of fire wood, get sideways on uneven terrain, ralley use your subaru like a truck then all the "extra" oem outback bits are necessary. I have seen some very low very meen looking rally wagons but they have upgraded everything like coil overs and other suspension parts that compensate for the ridiculous torsional forces rally driving puts on cars.

have even done a teeny bit of off-roading with it. the "secret" to being able to get things connected is to drop the sway bar from the frame. ok I never said it wasn't possible! but lets think about something a legacy l and an outback are basically the same concerning the frame well exactly alike! so why they did subaru not just stuff the struts and springs in and call it a day, silly engineers compensating for things we don't know about GEEZ!!! so if you reference OWNERS manuals for any year of outback and compare it to a (same year) manual for an L,brighton.base you see that the "outback" is technically an offroad vehicle or at least it is supposed to have those capabilities ACCORDING TO THE OWNERS MANUAL! an L,base,brighton DOES NOT have that designation and IS NOT AN OFFROAD vehicle. all according to owners manuals! you say that you have done a TINY bit of off roading and everything is fine... its a subaru... so lets think more hard core offroading, its going to make your wheels travel all over the place! this puts stress on things like the control arm bushings, rear control arm mounts... and can smash a tire up into a wheel well. all things that outback/forester components compensate for. remember you CAN do it the easy way but if you truly want to do off road work with your subaru your going to HAVE to put all the outback parts on it or EVENTUALLY if DRIVEN HARD ENOUGH things will start to break/bend... BTW most subaru owners have no clue about their transverse links or control arm bushings blowing out and causing sloppy handling and vibration... if you own a subaru and still have steering wheel vibration after getting an aliment with good tires chances are this is the cause. I have replaced over 10 of these on my car because they are weak fluid filled sacks that don't like getting beaten on while off road. right after a bushing blows you can see the goo dripping out of it but if left unchecked it dries up then other than the handling symptom there is no evidence that the part is broken unless unbolted for inspection.

do the lift or buy an outback that will work did you check out that tire calc link? you can use it to determine if a wheel and tire will fit take the measurements and compare with the space you have with a wheel off compares to the strut tower I would not go any bigger than 225/55/17 on an outback! 18's are just to big you can get low profile tires but they are @#%$ money and like to run away from curbs leaving your poor rim to take impact dent and become useless. if your going to off road you want lots of rubber side wall 225/55/17's are a great compromise between street and off road IMO

yes oem tstat old however... one similarity in our cars is we used a cooling system sealant that was recommended for separate reasons mine overheating, hers was just because she saw a tone of white smoke come out of the tail pipe that was likely just condensation in her muffler it was cold and the cloud dissipated quickly. first on her car then on mine if successful we will do a cooling system flush (recommendations please) and then replace the thermostat and cap with subaru as well as use subaru coolant. I wish we had the $100 to get it flushed at a dealership with the PROPER flush machine I know does not recirculate best ever ONLY SOA approved flush... but we just don't have the money... I hate it when being poor perpetuates through inadequate maintenance I loose this beast and I'm screwed!

yes I agree 1000% MY head gasket was installed by a drunk person who I later learned only cared enough about my car to make his money.... my head gasket was compromised by mashing and dropping... so this was not a typical install or a competent one. on one of the heads the installer messed up the torque sequence (90%sure NOT MLS) after mashing that same gasket... backed off bolts and re-torqued I'm not trying to get the whole forum to speculate over my problems I really appreciate the responses and have gotten what I was looking for from the question asked. THANKS GUYS!

thanks for the info gary! I'm with you but hear me out. the head gaskets were installed in august hot it California, I then drove the car for 2 winters and 2 summers. and half way through that moved to 7800 ft elevation since then the car has experienced temps well below 0 and I know what your muttering to yourself but my thinking is that because of the temperature was generally warm when installed after the gasket "packed down" from use that the now after expanding and contracting from hard driving in 10 degree weather over a long period of time is no longer torqued adequately, ie head bolts backing off slightly or gasket shrinking... I am almost positive I do NOT have a MLS gasket there were multiple layers but not 3 riveted together... it was a composite with steel vanes on one side. I have read alot about gaskets and understand that ishino stone are generally made by the same people as subaru dealership gaskets but the quality could be different and or less desirable from ishino stone because of manufacturer quality control and sending the dealer the best quality parts.

My girlfriends 95 lagacy wagon started overheating she was driving gently and not getting on it... going up a slight hill at 2500 rps gets to top of icon downshift engine goes to 3k rpm temp guage dropsto normal.

can someone verify this is the BEST subaru head gasket I can use on my car? subaru part number 11044AA114 I noticed that this gasket is not used for 96 legacy only 96 impreza. my production date is 10/95 and was sold as a 96

today my girlfriends car started acting up! (95 legacy 2.2 MT)after driving all day and 200+ miles 5 miles from home the car's temp gauge rose about 4 marks above center almost above the icon. it settled down 2 minutes later and fluctuated a bit before leveling off once again to be fine. I did notice that the upper radiator hose was hot and had a small amount of air that I filled with about an ounce of coolant. when we pulled up to the house the radiator fans were on and stayed on engine off key on accessory for about 10 minutes before turning off. the over flow tank was fine and its tube open. does this sound like a lazy/clogged thermostat? I have noticed cooling system issues with both of out cars as the temperatures drop... we live around snow level and have to drive to work at a resort... could the cold temps have shrunk the gasket or effectively reduce the tension held by the head bolts? I'm going to look over my car again and then see about adding a foot lb or two

WAY BETTER RIM/TIRE CALCULATOR!!!! http://www.rimsntires.com/specspro.jsp I had to google the url to get it to come up but this has an "et" field for offset and is ridiculously more detailed EVERYONE should check it out and bookmark it!!!!!! first off have you ever done the job without lift blocks/other spacers? I tried and literally using jacks and pipes could not get the struts bolted up! plus I notice that geometry on cars that only have the struts is not right. not only are you straining parts at angles they are not designed for but you end up putting the wheels and tires closer to the center of the car. doing this will cause rubbing and not allow for AS big of a tire! the transverse links (control arm bushings) allow for more articulation as well as the rear control arms long story short IF YOU DON'T WANT IT TO BREAK DO IT RIGHT!!!! there are very expensive parts like adjustable rear control arms for super duper high lifts, if those are required for 6"+ lifts then the stock outback forester goodies are necessary IMO of the top of my head here is my list of full outback lift parts steering linkage longer for spacer blocks front control arm bushings front sway bar and mounts bolts and lift blocks front trans mount cross member drive shaft (carrier bearing mount different) rear diff spacers rubber rear control arm mounts rear lift blocks and bolts rear cross member <longer welded sway bar mounts legoback badge cuz you now have more "steez" now you really should do something about those tinny breaks! you can't use 14" rims upgrading to ob or forester caliper, rotter and bracket are all that are required but if they will come off you should swap the guards in back too the smaller ones need to be bent back a little as not to scrape the larger rotter and rocks can get stuck in there. your going to need an open box end wrench for the break lines so you wont damage the fitting. all in all a very worth while mod! you can even do it in two steps I lifted my rear end first and it raked the car up nicely! I got several rat rod comments... with small tires it helps with heavy loads I did it because I was recycling metal at the time and needed 800 lbs of load capacity. needless to say it helped a ton.

well yes I know where the torque procedure but was hoping for a (different) re-torquing procedure.... I don't want to back the bolts off so much that the head has play to completely unseat from the gasket< spilling coolant and oil mixing ... bad.... me thinks I know I can use the procedure again but it states nothing about how much I should loosen it and I do know about the different removal pattern I'm thinking I will try to add 5-10 degrees or 1-2 ftlbs of torque to each bolt in sequence ( if I need to) I'm going to get a new subaru cap and thermo before doing anything else. for the record its MSA5TCD96L5969.pdf < I rename files when I find info so this one in my rar archive is MSA5TCD96L5969headgs.pdf this helps for quick reference when browsing. 1) Install cylinder head and gaskets on cylinder block. CAUTION: Use new cylinder head gaskets. 2) Tighten cylinder head bolts. (1) Apply a coat of engine oil to washers and bolt threads. (2) Tighten all bolts to 29 N⋅m (3.0 kg-m, 22 ft-lb) in numerical sequence. Then tighten all bolts to 69 N⋅m (7.0 kg-m, 51 ft-lb) in numerical sequence. (3) Back off all bolts by 180° first; back them off by 180° again. (4) Tighten bolts 1 and 2 to 34 N⋅m (3.5 kg-m, 25 ftlb). (5) Tighten bolts 3 , 4 , 5 and 6 to 15 N⋅m (1.5 kg-m, 11 ft-lb). (6) Tighten all bolts by 80 to 90° in numerical sequence. CAUTION: Do not tighten bolts more than 90°. (7) Further tighten all bolts by 80 to 90° in numerical sequence. CAUTION: Ensure that the total “re-tightening angle” [steps (6) and (7) above] do not exceed 180°.

as stated tstat is oem 65k old I was thinking today its funny that one other friend of mine developed the same problem as I am having within a month of when my cooling problems started... we made some enemy in employee housing because some $@#$% don't know how to be respectful of others.. I'm wondering if someone could have backed a bolt off a little to codswallop with us... oh well on with resolving thanks for all the help guys and galls

could a lazy tstat cause this? last time I tested mine (one month ago) I remember it opening after the water boiled. I know the cars are supposed to run around 190F so if its not opening until 211ish.... when I have money for more coolant I will test it again with my IR thermometer. fsm says d. Leakage around cylinder head gasket Retighten cylinder head bolts or replace gasket. no reference to a retorque procedure how much would I back them off before starting the procedure?

anyone know the recommended change interval on subaru thermostats? I have been rocking mine for 65k and am wondering if part of my problem is a lazy tstat, it opens only a few minutes after water is boiling!

go get the suspension and lift accessories from an outback or forester! I did this mod and LOVE IT!!!!! for your generation I think you have to swap strut top hats but you can still use 95-05 suspension parts. I prefer to find a junk yard car that has had its struts replaced with kyb's just remember EVERYWHERE that the drive train touches the body you have to add spacers the same hight as your lift blocks ie if you drop a 1 inch spacer between the body and front cross member you have to do the same for the rear and driveshaft! most of these parts are direct bolt on from the outback/forester not positive about your generation though I know plenty have done it. on my 96 legoback limit I can fit 225/55/17's with 05 outback rims.

Thanks so much for the responses! NOT IT on the break fluid!!!!! will fork out for a new radiator cap... will quadruple check all hoses... Mr. Fox can you please point me in the direction of that re-torque procedure? the head gaskets in my car now are ishino stone (world pac) and I believe they are a multi layer steel... 65k since installed. when installed the driver side gasket was mashed with a head then dropped on the ground... possibly compromising it.... but its lasted this long...