idosubaru

Oddly I didn't get one tiny particle to come out by doing that. Interesting suggestion, doesn't seem like enough power but I'll be taking it apart again - ordered a $80 ebay exhaust manifold (if you've seen the 05+ manifold pretzels that's a crazy cheap price) to have some options. I'm wondering if the clog is in the header (i think it houses the catalysts), the mid pipe, or the mufflers or more than one. Hesitates around 5,000+ RPM's/flooring it (which is sometimes helpful on a steep mountain grade but others unecessary - but makes me thinking something is still clogged. Otherwise it drives totally normal. I wore ear protection but should call and apologize to the neighbor - her horses went tearing off towards her house.

Converter ended up being the problem - just took a minute to warm up and relearn I guess, Runs perfect without the exhaust connected

You were right! Thanks man! Now...this newer 05-09 stuff has the curved catalytic converters right by the engine, they're going to be much harder to gut....

Cat converter - seems fine, disconnected exhaust and still runs just as bad. Fuel filter is in the tank, can't replace - i'll have to pressure test or pull the fuel line and see how well is sprays out Ill get a new oxygen sensor later.

2005-2009 doesn't have a fuel filter, or it's "in the fuel tank".

What year/model engine and did you have check engine lights in those cases? Max 4,000 RPM with no power for hills but otherwise drives without hiccup or stalling is oddly specific, I doubt your symptoms were identical. It would be drivable on flat land, but can't get up hills.

Doesn't seem to be the oxygen sensor. I'll try disconnecting the exhaust in the morning.

Oh wow my good sir, wasn't considering the exhaust at all. That would be awesome. Aye aye captain - I rammed one out of an XT6 20+ years ago. It's not drivable enough to accrue miles and calculate gas mileage. Yeah this is a new sensor but it's the style that comes with bare leads you splice the old connector onto - and I do'nt trust that it's wired properly. I'll check those.

Engine starts and idles fine, can't tell anything is wrong until you go to drive it. It's severely underpowered. Floor it and it very slowly accelerates, sometimes can get up to 40 mph on flat or downhill. It won't even make it up a steep mountain, so it's undrivable around here. New headgaskets, timing belt, and compression tested fine so I assume the timing marks are still good, but Ill check them tomorrow. Drove fine for 3-4 months after the HG then gradually got worse over a week before it became undrivable. The oil had significant coolant/water mixed in with the oil before I did the HG's - could the valve control solenoids be damaged by that? P0038 front O2 sensor code - car does the same thing with the sensor plugged in or unplugged. Will these run without a front O2 plugged in? Maybe the 02 sensor is bad. It has a 4 wire Bosch O2 sensor with the old plug spliced on - does anyone know how to verify the wires are correct? It had a cylinder 3 and multiple cylinder misfires - I replaced the plugs and wires with subaru issued goods, and the codes for those went away - but the CEL did flash last night on a test drive then quit...so maybe it's still doing it intermittently. Any suggestions.....

The stubby shaft out of the 00-04 trans pops right out, it's only held in by a circlip and readily pops out. Put the axle on it with roll pin and yank or use suitable tool to pull it out. Put the 00-04 stubby shaft into the 00-04 axle and you then have an axle with a stubby inner shaft. I'm not positive it fits into the later 05+ trans but I think they do and it should be really easy to check.

Make sure the pan isn't dented underneath and ATF filter isn't nearly 20 years old and stuffed? Do a drain and fill and see what comes out of the pan? Was it a 1710 code or 0710 code? 0710 isn't showing in the 06 Tribeca FSM I have, they go from 0705 to 0712, maybe 2008 is different. Here's what the FSM has for P1710: P1710 TORQUE CONVERTER TURBINE 2 SPEED SIGNAL CIRCUIT 2 MALFUNCTION

That's wild. Glad you figured it out.

Thanks, yes these are just simple straight through side feed. Maybe comments people made about turbos had me confused, it didn't look like these could leak. Thanks

Most are non turbo. How many miles on the block? Leak down and compression tests? Check the PCV valve system for blockage? Seems like a long shot but if you're confident the valves and rings aren't it.... Was it burning oil before you replaced the rings? After you replaced the rings did it burn less, more, the same, or can't tell? When rings were replaced were there any signs suggesting which cylinder was the culprit? Did you replace all the rings? There's only two ways for oil to enter the cylinder: valves and rings. Rings are most common

Great choice, the turbo's with age are highly problematic. Gas turbo's in general are be design more complex and don't age well. The turbo's fail, replacement turbo's often aren't good quality, any overheating or low oil situation quickly plants the seeds for catastrophic block failure. And by this age it's not uncommon for one to see oil or overheating issues at somepoint in the past.