idosubaru

awesome! thanks for sharing!

have the tires checked, you may have lost some wheel weights and your balancing is off. after that i'd check the ujoints on the driveshaft if it's AWD. best way is to drop the shaft to inspect. sometimes you can tell a bad ujoint with the shaft on the car, but if it's not really bad it can be hard to check without actually pulling it off (or at least one end so you can work the ujoint by hand).

"harmonic balancer" refers to the crank pulley. a pulley is a round piece of metal. a harmonic balancer is the same round piece of metal with some kind of damping mechanism designed in it. subaru pulleys (maybe not all of them, but most that i've seen) are metal with a very thin rubber ring about midway across the radius. this gives it the name "harmonic balancer". harmonic balancer and crank pulley are very often interchanged in conversation. a subaru motor will run fine on a one piece "non harmonic balancing" type of pulley and plenty of people here are running with them in place. but stock they do come with a "harmonic balancer" type of pulley so call it either one.

yeah that thing is annoying. did you have the fortunate job of pulling it out too? they are crazy hard to get out, i think i'll leave it next time.

in gear (i think 5th??). loosen the bolt first while the car is on the ground so you have the weight on the wheel. just loosen it, then jack it up and take it off completely. block the car somehow so it won't "roll" as you're cranking on it. if it can't go anywhere, the nut has to back off. holding brakes on can help.

like he just said (he knows his junk!), make sure the coolant level is full with no air bubbles (sometimes hard to get all the air out of those coolant systems). also make sure the thermostat isn't stuck (they cost about 5 bucks, so worth replacing to make sure). unfortunately it probably is a headgasket. installing another motor is a bad option unless it's been rebuilt (see CCR for one of those), otherwise you're installing another old motor with a possible bad headgasket. the new headgaskets are not prone to issues that's why a rebuilt motor is a good option. headgaskets can be replaced for about $1,000 - $1,200 is the going rate at a dealer, a little cheaper if you can find an independent to do it. another option is to find a 2.2 liter motor and swap that in place. you can find those for a couple hundred (i have one for sale for instance, shouldn't be hard to find one locally) and be done with it for well under $1,000. then no worries about cracked block, warped heads, etc. the 2.2's are known as great motors and have few issues. TONS OF INFORMATION on this board about headgasket issues, replacement and swapping in the 2.2 liter motor. sorry to hear about your car, but with the new headgasket in the 2.5 or a 2.2 you've got a great car that will last a long time. good luck

i've broken 3 sockets and breaker bars. got a 3/4" drive finally and put a huge pipe on it, works like a charm. 1/2" just won't stand up to some axle nuts (alot of them in my experience). spring for the 3/4" if you can, i finally did at the advice of others and i'm glad i bought that thing when i did, should have done it early. and saftey note - that's why you wear goggles when doing this stuff...or should, most of us forget on something like that or don't think about it. we have a member at xt6.net that got hit in the eye, not a good thing he made out okay considering what could have happened, but still not good.

you'll get a wiiiiiide range of oppinions since everyone has different needs/wants/desires/etc. i haven't heard/seen much info on newer NA soobs, so it would be cool to see your results. the 2.2 is popular enough that you should be able to research some exhaust/intake mods here on this site by doing a search. yours is a 99 i believe, which is the year the 2.2 changed significantly according to ccr (and they know their junk), so it could differ some, but i wouldn't expect too much. short oppinion: bottom line, exhaust/intake helps a little but i wouldn't expect much. long oppinion: NA motors are not worth the time/money on improvements in mine (oppinino). turbo motors can experience significant gains easily, NA motors can not. i've had redesigned headers, high flow cat, high flow muffler, all new exhaust, upgraded cams and intake modifications and it all really amounts to....not much, but that's relative of course. i can do all the work myself, so i don't mind playing. i get better highway gas mileage with a better exhaust so i do it to my XT6's, but that's vehicle specific and won't necessarily help other models. problem with NA is exhaust intake give you so little increase in performance that it really just starts a downward spiral in terms of wanting more power, for me it's better to be happy with my NA the way it is or look for a turbo. myphalx (on the board) has extensive dyno testing of intakes, exhaust, cams, timing etc. not much gains to speak of, but he did get like 7hp by just advancing the timing and i think he had to run higher octane with that.

rear strut could easily be bent, that's my first guess. if not, i'd get an entire rear hub assembly and swap it in, not that big of a job and someone on the board probably has one they can send you for not much $.

it's worth fixing unless there is major damage and should be much cheaper. $850 definitely isn't worth it as you can buy a motor for $200-300 or less. i just sold a motor with new head gaskets, timing belts, water pump, and pulleys for $250 so paying $850 for just that work is too high. the harmonic balancer is the crankshaft pulley. get a used one from the yard or a board member for $25 and that's solved. if you're really cheap, just weld it together if it's not damaged. the main crank pulley is really two pieces of metal with a very thin rubber ring between them. this ring seperates from the metal causing issues. if the pulley is damaged then no need to repair it, just install a used one. you can also temporarily get by with wedging self-tapping screws into the old pulley between the inner and outer metal, this will hold it together until you find a used one or get one mailed to you. if the pulley came completely loose and was damaged though, you'll need another. by bearings he is speaking of the timing belt pulley bearings. buy them new from http://www.thepartsbin.com for about $25 each or just repack the bearings with grease. i did a write up on how to do it here: http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=50430 and it costs zero dollars....okay, about 53 cents for the grease. takes about 2 minutes to do each bearing, well worth it and it works great. it's also possible to just reinstall the old ones, but that's not a great idea if they are noisey or they could even be sticking/frozen if they are bad. bearings - repack with grease (no cost), used crank pulley for well under 50 bucks and cost of new timing belts (25-50 bucks) and labor and you're done. replace the water pump while the timing belts are off as it's behind them and you can get them cheap from rockauto.com or http://www.thepartsbin.com. $15-$30 for a new (rebuilt) water pump. good luck and if the car is in decent shape, it'll keep plugging along no problems. try to find someone that will install a used crank pulley and buy those parts from the online discount sites. maybe your mechanic is willing if you give him the parts? if he quoted $850 i'd be scared to trust him unless he's just not familiar with subaru's.

pedals come out as an assembly (PITA to remove on XT6's). in my oppinion anyway. get steering column and anything else out of the way if possible. sounds cool!

what vehicle, engine, transmission, year,

post in the "Older Generation Forums" youll get alot more response there then in this forum "Subaru Retrofitting". test the battery, try another battery. check battery terminals connections - good, tight and clean are a must.

what?? no dodge neons on the list? they blow almost at a predicatble rate! i'm not even a mechanic and i've replaced them (don't make friends with neon owners)

it's not "common" on these engines so much as it is common "here" because people come here with problems. few people have a couple year old car and think "hey let's find an internet forum to post how we've driven the car without any problems". people come looking for answers/solutions when things go bad. high percentage of problems here doesn't mean high percentage of problems with the engine. the 2.5 (certain early years) does have more issue than other subaru motors, but still not a high percentage of overall motors. the new headgasket is not prone to the same leakages and will fix the problem for good given proper installation. i can't recall anyone blowing a replaced headgasket, though im' sure it's happened once. the turbo guys probably blow them all the time, but you're not looking to race.

bump anyone know the 2.2 liter differences from 98 to 99? blocks are swappable? EGR on 98 but not in 99? other than EGR it seems the blocks should swap just fine right? (minus the possible bellhousing bolt differences 4 to 8 bolt change)

someone on another thread just posted that they swapped a 1997 2.2 (single port) into a 1997 2.5 (double port). he exchanged exhaust manifolds and it bolted right up. so you should be golden. *******EDIT****** here's the link to that thread http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=40563&page=3&pp=10

do a search on "headgasket" in this new generation forum and you'll see this is a very common problem for 2.5's on the boards (i think i've replied to two or three posts about it already this morning). still a small percentage of vehicles, but those problems often end up visiting this board for help so there's a high number on here. that being said, the "new" head gaskets solve the issue and are not known to have issue and make a great motor if the heads and block were'nt damaged when it was first overheated. i would thoroughly test it out and test drive it as much as possible and keep your eye on the temperature gauge, looking for any fluctuations and pop the hood after the car is warmed up and hot. look for any air bubbles in the overflow tank. also look for coolant coming out the exhaust at start up. if done properly, you've got yourself a great car. if i were looking for a 2.5 i would certainly be most interested in one with the newer headgaskets as they are great motors. i personally say much much better to have had the head gaskets replaced if it's a 2.5 then buying one sight unseen. i like the sounds of it personally.

i think after 2001 the headgasket issues were corrected from the factory so if you're looking at 2.5's look for later models. it's 2001 or 2002, i'm not sure the date. later is better. it's not a catastrophic failure and certainly only a small percentage. it'll very slowly creep up on you, so i'd say keep driving the car until you experience issues as you'll still have time to look for another car if issues ever come to pass.

probably best to test drive a few to see what you like and don't like. i personally wouldn't buy any 2.5 liter motors unless they are newer (2001 and up i believe) as the old ones are prone to head gasket failure. not a huge percentage but search for "headgasket" here on this newer generation forum and you'll see what i mean, plenty of posts on the subject. otherwise the 2.5 is a great motor. i'd rather have the 2.2 (and i do own one) than the 2.5. the 2.2 is a great motor and they run forever, but you might not like the lower power of the 2.2. the H6 is a very new motor and not much is known about it in terms of reliability and such. i wouldn't get it, but that's because i put 200,000+ miles on cars and do all the work myself, i want more info on reliability and maintenance. if you don't keep cars that long, drive that many miles or do your own maintenance then my mental hang ups mean nothing to you. some years auto trans have Torque Bind (do a search here on the forums for what years/makes as i do not know). it's not a huge deal, but be a good thing to look out for while test driving. it's fixable and won't leave you sitting, just something easy to pay attention to while looking around.

will they at least help you find the part number for it? are you talking about "bushings"? the rubber bushings on the rear cross bar? can you post a picture? there are a couple Subaru dealership parts department people on this board that might be willing to ship you the parts if you can figure out the part number. part number would be best as cars in other countries can have different parts/options on the same models.

thanks a ton nate, that's a big help! i was wondering if the y pipe would mate up, figured it won't take much exhaust work if it didn't. awesome, been dying to find that out. now anyone know the diferrences in connectors - 97,98,99 2.2 liters? maybe i should start another thread.

this has nothing to do with understanding. this is about making money. the less they pay out, the more they stall, the more they burden you, the more money they make. here's an analogy of sorts. at this point there is no benefit to paying you, no benefit to the company. the only recourse you have might be to say it's a law they have to give you fair market value. you've already told them (through action) you don't want to involve lawyers and the court. the only way to enforce this law is to take them to court which brings you right back to where we started. the very thing you're trying to avoid (the system of law) is also the thing you're trying to use to sway them in your favor. that being said.....friday's rental deadline might be a good leverage point for you in terms of forcing them to make a final offer or decision on fair market value or.....whatever it is you plan to do if they don't cooperate. good luck man and we all look forward to seeing you come out on top of these pigs.

it is good for you to work this out yourself if you can, the benefit is that you'll get $$ much quicker if you can solve it on your own. do not trust anything the insurance company says, they are trained in this where you are not. you are their little pawn at this point. anything they say likely has ulterior motives. i would suggest you need to creatively word some statements about hiring a lawyer and taking this to court. no threats, no emotion, but put it on the table that it is still an option if they won't cooperate. be advised too if they do offer more money, they may want you to sign papers that absolve them of any further responsibility. that being said, make sure your medical bills are still covered or they are still liable for any future medical bills you may have. another good reason to have an attorney, they are familiar with that. in cases like this, attorneys do not charge fees in the typical sense, they take a percentage. you will get alot more $ if you have an attorney, but it will take longer in some cases (depends on the attorney/accident). in my oppinion it's best to let the snakes of the world duke it out (lawyers and insurance companies) and just give me the $ when they're done. you're looking for what, a grand or two? an attorney will leave you with $5,000-$15,000. they'll get about 20,000 and take roughly %50, but you're still left with alot more than you'll get on your own. they don't charge $10,000, they charge a percentage of the total...IF THEY WIN. (which they always do in easy cases like this). if they get nothing, you pay nothing. that's why i'm surprised you've alreayd payed "a small fee", most lawyers don't charge in cases like this. actually none do that i've ever heard of in accident cases. they have a quick assessment of the accident, if they think they'll win they take the case and percentage. if they think there's not a chance they won't take the case and no cost to you.