idosubaru

a manual trans in general is a better bet for reliability assuming the clutch and associated throw out bearing, pilot bearing and pressure plate are in good condition. and they have the added bonus of being "startable" if the battery ever fails. the older AWD trans are fine for reliability. change the ATF and install an aftermarket trans cooler and you're golden. i see more problems with the newer trans, the clutchpacks - search on torque bind and you'll see what i mean, than the older 4EAT's that don't typically have that issue. the auto's are sensitive to proper maintenance, overheating and tire sizes so they are more prone to being in worse shape due to poor maintenance of previous owner than a manual trans. check the fluid (smell it, look at it), check the tires, check the radiator (since the ATF coolant lines run through it), look for leakage and install an aftermarket cooler. i've seen more auto trans fail than manual trans that's for sure. but in that time a manual trans will need a clutch job anyway, so for someone like me that does their own labor and has extra parts it doesn't make much difference. but i would consider the 4EAT to have significant failure rates. i abused mine and had to replace the trans at 156,000 miles. i'm guessing my tire choices probably did it in as in college i would buy used tires on a regular basis.

describe the noise. swapping a used unit is very easy and very cheap and a great option as diff's rarely fail under normal use. like he said, they can go a long time without failing, giving you time to source a used one for $100 or less.

the ECU is small and lightweight, just carry an extra one somewhere. great insurance if you're worried about it, takes about 3 minutes to swap. extra alt, ECU, coil, starter, ignitor, fusible links, full size spare and you're golden (assuming your t-belts and ignition are good, which i assume would be on a long trip).

EA82 headgaskets are easy to do. i'd replace the head gaskets depending on mileage and how bad it overheated before you finally quit driving it. they aren't hard to do in my oppinion but i'm familiar with cars. no special tools required. you can usually score EA82 engines for $200 or less, so if you can swap an engine out yourself (easy if you have a lift) then at least look for an EA82. then you'd be done for $200 or less. fix your other and hold it, sell it or sell the parts off of it. swap an EJ22 is probably not what you want to do. requires wiring, ECU and custom work that will cost $. if you can do it all yourself that's great, but locating one cheap and doing it yourself aren't what i would call 'easy', but yes it is possible.

use "D". 2.5's have headgasket issues, the "search" function is your friend. practice with it and it'll give you lots of help. you'll see lots of headgasket issues with the 2.5 liter of that vintage. of course hoses, leaks, radiator caps should be checked first. does the temp gauge hold steady or move around? have you popped the hood and checked for coolant loss or to see where the smell/fluid is coming from? first thing you should do is put a couple gallons of antifree in the car, just in case. best to have some for back up than blow the motor if it starts to overheat.

fuel injectors tick, be sure it's not an extra noisey injector. reseal the oil pump. if it's an EA82 engine, new oil pump to engine block, oring and front seal are in order. (if it's an EA81 then i'm not sure.) do a search for "tick" or "ticking" or "tick of death" or "TOD", you'll see tons of information about this. it could be a hydraulic valve lash adjuster sticking. if it's an EA82 the valves are not adjustable, it uses the HLA's i just mentioned. if that's the case then MMO, seafoam or ATF added to the oil may help. sometimes works immediately, sometimes over a few months of frequent oil changes it'll clear up. frequent oil changes are a must on these motors, the HLA's don't like to be dirty.

did you paint it between those two shots or just clean it? looks really nice, the work, body, all of the above. great job, thanks for showing.

agreed on the torquing aspect. i've had subaru gaskets do the same thing if the exhaust isn't bolted up tight (like on something i fabricated). but on good, tight connections i've reused the old exhaust gaskets before with no problems. i've reused the exhaust manifold gaskets before that looked terrible but didn't leak. but i've also installed new gaskets with stripped out head studs that leaked in well under a year. seems any small leakage will cause the gasket to degrade quick. heat i guess?

some combination of baking it, solvent and washing it out, drying...etc.

pull the engine and trans together at the same time. leave them bolted together and they'll come out. make sure the diff ratio of the trans you're installing matches the ratio of the rear differential. if they don't you'll have immediate issues.

i PM'ed you instructions, maybe you can copy/paste my PM here for future reference/others. basically what hocrest said...be sure you're "coming out" in a push/pull method and not just turning and pushing. turning while pushing won't do any good (normally, unless you're lucky).

heard from who/where?

some companies only replace the parts that are warn while others replace all serviceable items - bearings, brushes, voltage regulator, resolder joints, etc. that's the difference between a quality built item and taking a risk. a new part will have all new components where a poorly rebuilt item may only have new brushes (in the case of an alternator) but everything else has unknown mileage on it, but passed whatever spec's they had at the time of rebuild. benebob mentioned locally rebuilding, that's a good option because you can request they replace everything, a complete rebuild and not just the brushes. and if they only replace the brushes they'll charge you likewise - $40 or so instead of full price for a half rebuild. (disclaimer...assuming local rebuilder is honest and a nice person)

if you want to change to stick, do it. it's been done and documented. no more trans issues and you get what you want. and they're not that expensive to find a manual trans to swap in.

if the seller doesn't know much about cars, sometimes they don't relay information very well either, so it's not always the mechanic to blame...but surely can be. good luck,

good call, i recall seeing that now that you mention it.

I'm new to completely rebuilding engines so pardon my dumb questions... why can't you just pull the halves of the block apart with the pistons in the bores?

never heard of this happening before. seems to me something must be causing this and will fry the other you're about to install. why was it rebuilt in the first place, what happened to this thing before? did they reuse the torque converter? maybe replacing the torque converter would help? that's a wild stab, but i've never heard of this happening repeatedly. really bad transmission or motor mounts (doubtful though). they'd have to be horrible because i've never had bad ones cause issues like you're having.

like they said if it's an auto get an aftermarket cooler installed. they are inexpensive and well worth it (even if you don't tow).

sounds like a bearing is going bad. unfortunately the most likely source is a timing belt bearing. hard to say without being there, but that's my guess. new timing belt (the old one will be overheated and compromised) and probably at least one new timing pulley. i live close to gettysburg, PA and could do it for you but i'm doubtful you're anywhere near me.

turning rotors is an annoying process altogether. if you were short on change and it's worth the time to save a couple dollars, and you got another car to taxi your rotors around town, turning might be your ticket. but it's annoying and a waste of time in my oppinion. subaru brake systems are robust and handle most aftermarket pads very well, i wouldn't have any concern using aftermarket pads on subarus. (i've only done it for about 400,000 miles.....)

what she just said. Subaru OEM PCV valve - and no you definitely did not do any harm to your motor, it's just the PCV. NGK is usually what Subaru sells as OEM equipment (i wasn't aware they installed anything else). used to be all NGK as far as i know. Subaru doesn't make spark plugs, so whatever the dealer carries can be bought elsewhere.

i have seen pads wear out in 6 months before on more than one occassion. it's good to note which brand pads you're using. if they wear super quick then try another brand. some brands will wear quicker on some vehicles than others. i've used wearever silvers dozens of times on other cars and they perform fine except on my parents Dodge Caravan, they'll last about 6 months. other brands work find on their caravan, go figure? all the pads should be inspected and compared to one another. it only takes one pad to be worn down to make noise, not all of them. remove the wheels and make sure you can check all 4 front pads. one worn more than the others indicated caliper is sticking.

it's not a plug-and-play ordeal, so if you're looking for something simple the ER27 (XT6 engine) isn't the answer. i agree with the EJ22 comments being a better option. i disagree with reliability comments on the ER27. i've owned over 10 of them, regrease the timing pulleys, install new timing belt and water pump (all things you'd do to any engine including the EJ22) and it won't break down with proper maintenance. that being said it is more difficult to find a good condition ER27 because they are older and are more than likely to have been abused, maintained poorly, overheated, rotted out radiators that have run the motor hot, etc. if you're picking random motors, you'll have better luck finding a good EJ22 in that regard.

that's surprising, i've ordered many hudreds...probably thousands of dollars of parts from thepartsbin and never had one issue. i have an XT6 and i'm accustomed to everyone getting those parts mixed up, it's acceptable and expected for that car. but they have never sent the wrong part. how did they mess up and why won't they fix it? http://www.rockauto.com has great prices, but they always list the wrong parts for the vehicle you select so you have to read closely. for instance if i select XT6 it'll also list 4 cylinder parts with the 6 cylinder XT6 parts, kind of a confusing and less than friendly database they have, but maybe that's what keeps their prices down because they are cheap.