idosubaru

have you replaced your headgasket today?

you could try buying a used shaft from someone as well, or a used oil pump if you want to run the motor a bit and see how it responds before dumping $ into it. but even if you didn't like the motor, you could get another motor and swap the new oil pump into any new/used motor you get. i bought a new oil pump this summer and the motor i just finished...grrr...was toasted, locked up after hitting some firewood left in the road. i'm putting together another motor now and will swap the new oil pump off the bad motor before installing the new one.

i would not suspect foul play of any kind. the axle failed most likely because it was improperly rebuilt or assembled. i pulled over to help a guy earlier this summer in a nissan (i think, i don't remember exactly) stuck in the median. his axle did the same thing (but at 60ish mph). i have subaru's with 200,000+ miles and have never had old, clicking, greasless cv joints break. the only one that ever broke, broke the same day i installed it, blew in pieces just like you mentioned. it was a remanufactured unit. there's a company mentioned on here quite a bit....MWE or something that rebuilds axles and has a good reputation. probably better going with them than random off the shelf cheap parts. some companies actually replace all the internals, other companies only replace something that's broke...there are different standards on rebuilding. i've found the original axles (nearly 20 years old) to be nearly indestructible. haven't had one fail yet, and driven them 50,000 miles + on broken boots (just talked about that in another thread). my rears have broken boots and they've been on the car the 115,000 miles that i've been driving it (220,000 total).

friend of mine's dad used to be a mechanic and he said his dad would drain the oil, fill with kerosene and run it for a few minutes, then drain and refill with oil. i never believed him....but after reading this maybe he really did, and maybe that's why he "used" to be a mechanic? lots of seafoam info on the boards...use the search button to get as much info about it as you care to read.

here's a picture of the piece of sealant caught in the cam housing....

i recall a guy pulling his cam towers for some reason and the car running terribly, but he had mad lifter noise. turned out a piece of sealant got caught in the oil supply line at the bottom corner of the cam carrier where it meets the head. it got sucked into the port and restricted oil flow. anaerobic sealant avoids that issue. he even posted pictures of it that i think are still on the Yahoo! XT6 group.... you're not having lifter noise though right?

very subjective topic, here's stricktly my oppinion and experiences... there really isn't any replacement interval on these. in my experience approaching 200,000 miles is a good time to consider replacing on NA cars. maybe a little sooner for turbo. the clearances and pump performance have always remained excellent on mine with no wearing/pumping issues. but i have had two fail in other manners (still have those pumps)...the ball/spring combo internal to the pump broke on one...not sure what causes this, but that's the only failure mode i've experienced. it's like the ball busted past the casing of the pump....hard to explain, but look closely and maybe you'll see this ball/spring that i speak of. if you do a rebuild, i'd definitely replace. no point in having a perfectly good block and put a questionable oil supply on it. if you're planning on keeping the car for another 100,000 miles or more then i'd install a new one as well. i figure using an old one for 100,000 miles is a risk. but a new one should have no problems going 100,000+ miles, so replace it now as it's highly unlikely you'll ever have to replace it again, but likely that you should at some point if you're planning on lots of miles. i drive 30,000 or more miles a year so i can rack them up quick. someone who drives much less might not care too much about total miles. with low mileage....maybe around 100,000 roughly on the motor/pump (again these are just random numbers that everyone will have different oppinions on).....i think you would likely be fine to wait until the next timing belt change at 160,000 to do it. then again....you could likely install the old one and have it last a long time, there's just no way to tell. if it's really low miles or you don't plan on having the car long or putting many miles on it, or don't have the money that's the only way i wouldn't replace it if you've got it apart at this point.

do not spray anything anywhere near that joint. that is not a good idea at all. i've said this over and over on this board, i've driven 50,000 miles on broken front boots before. i do it all the time on broken, clicking boots. it is highly unlikely that it will fail...possible yes but not likely. your tie rod ends can fail and leave you spinning out of control and rolling but i doubt you'll replace them soon. clicking is really no indication that the joint is "ready to blow" so to speak. the only axle i've ever had fail was brand new, out of the box and never made a noise, just blew up after a few miles....poor assembly i'm sure. here's how i do it.....when one starts clicking i make a mental note of it and forget about it, i don't have time for pointless repairs there are plenty of other things i'd rather do and im' sure you as well! if another job comes up...brakes or something else where i have to get in there anyway, then i replace the axle. if not, i just keep driving it. if it starts clicking while driving straight...that's when i make it a priority to replace it soon. rear joints are an entirely different animal......I NEVER replace these. they're all broke on my XT6's i think....might have one good boot on all 4 or 5 XT6's i have. do i care? nope. my 220,000 mile daily driver has the original rear shafts that have had broken boots for 100,000 miles.....i don't plan on replacing them any time soon because i know they won't fail. if the noise got substantially worse quickly, sounds different than "normal" cv clicking or for some other reason sounds like it's not an ordinary CV issue then i'd look to replace soon.....this is highly unlikely in my oppinion. but i've only owned like 15 subarus. the reason i say all this is because when i was in college and didn't know jack about cars i thought CV clicking was a terriblly dangerous thing and put money i didn't have at the time into replacing them immediately because no mechanic would be straight with me about it....then the more i learned the more i realized it is not. the only issue really is in your head (the noise - pun intended). relax and plan this out, you have plenty of time to locate parts, find space and information to get this job done. and you can make it EASILY through 2005 without worrying about this and keep your streak alive....i would make it through 2006 or 2007 as well!

i'd consider doing a complete reseal of the motor. replace every seal and gasket without touching the block if it's running okay now and the cylinder walls look good when the heads are pulled. otherwise pull the block, plasti-gauge the bearing clearances, replace the bearings and put it back together.

i asked awhile back if turbo and non-turbo cams were different and don't recall getting a solid answer either. might be tricky. try calling the dealer and seeing if it's a different part number? or looking it up on one of hte online OEM suppliers and seeing if the part numbers differ?

the two non-starts i couldnt' figure out both ended up being distributors that tested fine (the crank angle sensor resides inside of the disty). both times was immediately following an engine install as well....i don't know for sure, but assume that corrosion builds in the disty's crank angle sensor while not in use during the down time for the engine install. happened twice in 3 years. i would try anothe disty...but i've had bad luck with them.

num

no kidding, just the notched design is called "hall effect" (nipper, PM me if you got that Duty Solenoid C modification to work on a newer subaru, i want to install it on my impreza OBS) free bump i guess....

interesting, there are hall effect sensors on the satellite i work with.

assuming i looked this up correctly this is what i got for that code: Catalyst System Efficiency Below Threshold (Bank 1)

sorry, i should have said we need to know what the code means, not the exact number.

ABS hubs have sensors associated with them, so mud/snow could interfere with their function. i would not consider this an issue.

double check everything is installed properly, tensioner is working properly and that the belt is the same length as the one your removed. did you replace any pulleys? make sure they are the same size as well. there is a tooth count method for verify the belt is dead on installed right, this is a good check. do a search here on timing belts to find more info, i did earlier this summer and found everything i needed.

if the car is running fine i wouldn't panic, this is usually something simple like a sensor issue. did they give you an exact code? like P204 or something? that sounds like they gave you possible fixes, it's better to know the exact code/item that is causing the CE light to come on. one sensor is triggering this code, we need to know which one. if it's O2 sensor related, i'd look to replace the O2 sensor, not a big deal. replacing the catalytic converter doesn't have to be costly. it can be, but doesn't have to be either. but i highly doubt that is your problem. a "clogged converter" is something i always hear people that dont work on cars say to check when in reality i work on alot of cars and have never seen one fail personally. i know they do, but other things have much higher failure rates in my experience (even with 200,000 miles soobs....) the cold shouldnt cause the CE light, nor should the 60,000 miles.

the lights coming on are a typical subaru sign of a failing alternator. i've ran for a couple months like this before....the lights come on, but everything else works fine, alternator, battery always charged, voltages good. it will gradually get to the point where loads make it worse (headlights, radio...etc), then eventually it will just go berserk with voltage spikes or fail. i put a new alternator in my car when my lights came on like this. few months later it failed and i had another one in the car to swap in. that's a terrible idea as with alternator failure you risk damaging at the least fusible links and possibly more. i was curious how long it would last (it was a few months, i was surprised), but best to replace it. your other used unit should work fine, i've had decent results with used units in the past.

on the XT6 one heater hose goes to a metal line that runs under the intake and to the water pump. i removed the metal line and hose at the water pump and ran one piece hose from the pump to the heater core, reducing the number of hose clamps by two for whatever that is worth. general hose worked fine for me in the past on XT6's. take the old hose into the parts store and they'll match it up. be sure to check it, easy for them to assume the wrong ID.

you said you swapped cam carrier before because of a broke bolt....so you're familiar with the process right? i would pull the valve cover and make sure one of the cam followers (rocker arms) didn't fall off or is sitting crooked. by the way - passengers side is much easier than drivers side.

it's not bad at all. the cam tower does need to come off. remove cam carrier, install new cam and reinstall cam carrier. annoying parts are removing all the old gasket and installing the drivers side cam carrier. have to hang the cam followers ("rocker arms") from the HLA's with some thick grease. be sure to order new cam carrier reinforced o-rings if you have to go in that far. only $2.13 from subaru and well worth it to have new ones in place.

4 cylinder EA82's are non-interference. all 1980's subaru motors are non-interference. the block is fine.

i'm guessing this alternator related. first make sure the belt is tight and not loose. make sure your crank pulley isn't separated. if you look carefully the crank pulley is an outer and inner metal ring separated by a thin rubber ring. if the metal separates from the rubber the inner metal part of the pulley will rotate and slip in relation to the outer ring. the outer ring won't spin nearly as fast and will cause charging issues which may start out as only lights on the dash going crazy. put a mark across the face of the pulley, run the motor awhile and then check it. if it's slipping the marks will no longer line up. fix temporarily with sheet metal screws or similar. battery terminals must be clean and tight. check the alternator connections - the connetors there need to be clean and tight. they typically degrade and need replaced/cleaned. if this all checks out, replace the alternator. autozone, advanced and others test alternators for free. grounds have to be good as well.