idosubaru

That’s too bad. unfortunately used H6s are prime candidates for dumping for sale due to the way they easily sneak through with mild and “unconventional” symptoms Burp it. New coolant and burped will take care of that. But it’s the headgaskets. Before filling radiator run a garden hose through it and make sure it can pass the water (not clogged). Sometimes that’s nicer to do off the vehicle if you don’t mind pulling the radiator. Or get a new radiator. New cap and tstat can be tried now and transferred to new engine. Exhaust gas analyzer will give you a positive result when the combustion test kit doesn’t.

That’s the way to go. New plugs and serpentine pulley bearings and 100k here you come.

Good job finding that bent arm. Not always easy. Hopefully that helps the traction and tire wear Tires. Alignment. The end. There are differences in AWD, and they can get old and lazy, but almost 100% of performance issues I see are tire related. Cheap tires, old tires, warn tires, alignment… Cheap tires degrade in performance by year two even if they have full tread. The materials degrade quicker than good tires. Some real sucky tires will show cracking at two years like an average tire will get from sitting out in full sun for 5 years. Most people know so little about tires but think they know….that they’re guesses about performance are wrong. They blame the trans, the brakes, the model, the engine, the brand….it’s the tires. They’re so confident they know tires they think it can’t be…..and it ends up being the tires. Wash rinse repeat. All the time . Even “car” people and DIY and shop owners families are wrong all the time, people who are so sure they know tires install brand new Nokians or Michellin snow tires with a good alignment and it’ll perform great. Seen it so many times id almost bet money on it. You’ve already mentioned alignment issues and lower grade tires. The transmission isn’t even a talking point with what we know so far.

Cancerous rust. That needs hospice care not repair. Plan a funeral not a fix There’s far more rust in that car even if you can’t see it. It’s there. Trying to repair it cheap just for the intent of selling it is not dignified or conscientious. Lets assume you’re okay fooling and tricking someone into buying a car they shouldn’t, or don’t, want. It’s a heinous repair. If it’s that rusted, more needs cut out to have good metal to attach a new piece to. then you’ll have to cut out a piece from a yard (hours of hellish work snd most locals might have rust too) or find one somewhere. Clean up and weld that in and hope your rear wheel alignment isn’t trash. It’s a horrible time consuming job. “Weld it in” makes it sound way too simple. I’d rather rebuild an engine than do that job. “ Easy” way is to fashion a ghetto steel channel across the back of the interior of the car -across the top of the two strut mount areas inside the vehicle and then space it down to bolt the strut too.

I have no idea. Sounds like clutch/cable/fork related to me, but this kind of stuff doesn't happen enough for me to have any statistically meaningful feedback. If it was a transmission issue I'd think you'd feel or hear noises like synchros crunching/grinding or bearings/diff whine/clunk/etc. But I've never seen what a MT Subaru trans does when it's run out of gear oil so I don't have any reference for that. I'd wonder if you can find someone who's destoryed a trans due to oil starvation and see what the symptoms were?

How do you know it's not the clutch? If clutch is fried it won't go into gear either. How "dry" was it - completely empty? It doesn't go into any gear? The cable and fork are moving in and out properly with the clutch pedal? Have you tried putting it in every gear and jamming the stick in hard? What happens if you try to turn the wheels/axle by hand (or with tools) - will they turn (ebrake off)? if both front axles turn with no play/noise, then the front diff should be fine. But there's still the gears and synchros. I'd guess maybe the synchro's are smoked due to lack of fluid. You could drain the fluid and see if you get chunks, sparklies, how much, or nothing in the fluid. Check fluid carefully in a pan/with some white cloth.

I think some folks have had their tanks reconditioned. Sounds like a PITA but maybe worth a look?

Hopefully a brake line should be straight forward and quick with no surprises.

Oh my sorry. That’s poor timing. How do you go anywhere this week? Both Subarus then appear to be down due to rust? Not helpful when you’re stuck but consider next Subaru from west or south. It’s some leg work but you’ll save yourself hours of work, parts, downtime and $ in the long run. So worth it.

Those intake manifolds have a coolant passage and weak gasket area - they can dump coolant right into the block and look like catastrophic internal coolant issues. If that's the case you just need new intake manifold gaskets. Or new headgaskets. What does "leaking from the block" mean? Diagnose it and you have options to repair. Right now you're just guessing.

Besides dust and debris falling in your ears, eyes, nose - they are easy to swap. And widely available used. Don't let a diff hinder you. Or get studded snow tires and run it FWD LOL.

I'd move on. You know more will be rusted then fuel tank. Get a rust free one from out west/south. If it still runs and drives then sell it - sadly our areas are accustomed to rust and someone will likely pay for a running and driving A to B vehicle. You already know those diffs are a dime a dozen - swap a used one in if you somehow navigate that rusty tank/straps. You could probably find some other steel straps to fish up through there to hold it.

I just got back from Colorado yesterday. Good trip. Cops consistently in small towns, particularly the small towns not by the interstate.

How much does your trailer and bike weigh? I think you’re worried about tongue weight too much unless you’re towing this thing weekly and traversing steep Colorado mountain passes in the best of summer and blizzard of winter. The tongue weight has massive safety margin built into it and so far you’re talked about very small numbers. you an also reduce tongue weight - load distribution, height of ball, etc. If, on the other hand the amount/terrain and frequency of towing and weight are such that you need to worry about those small differences the that car is a poor towing choice no matter what you do. But yes a custom co figuration with increased mounting points would be wise

There are different ends for axles but I don’t know if it always means different boots. It starts to get confusing for sure but I’d search for old threads comparing the different EA axles, that are interchangeable, but have different joints.