idosubaru

i don't think the XT6 has an idle adjust screw like the EA82's, but i could be wrong. i think the Idle Air Control Valve controls idle....or it's supposed to. maybe there is a manual screw somewhere though.

the air struts can last awhile if you keep the rust from the metal base from gouging them and rubbing holes in the rubber. i have a thread posted on cleaning them up and painting them to get the rust out of their way. this is XT6 specific info, but the system lay out should be very similar: give the air compressor 12 volts to make sure it comes on. in the XT6 compressor there is a valve located inside the compressor that has wires to it, check that solenoid valve, give it 12 volts and make sure it clicks. while yo'ure in messing with the compressor - replace all 5 o-rings at each air line fitting. (best bet is to make a tool to remove the airpipes without breaking the plastic tabs). any thin tubed object...think like a straw but a little thicker, the air line goes through it and it will push the tabs out of the way. replace those o-rings. the o-rings will leak (they are old you know!). there is also an oring between the drier and the compressor on the compressor assembly. i believe it's just one screw, one bolt and a clip that slides out and the drier comes off to replace that o-ring. (the drier is the part of the compressor assembly that the air line fittings are attached too. there is one solenoid at each strut, the fronts are mounted in the engine bay and the rear solenoids are bolted directly to the strut. give them 12 volts and you should hear them click. at each air line fitting at the solenoids there is an o-ring as well. (same size as the ones at the compressor air line fittings). the rear solenoid bolts to the air strut and has orings as well. the one at the air line fitting is the same as the front orings, the one "inside" the strut is different i believe. just take them in any store that has o-rings and match them up. grease any new oring and install it. there are specific test procedures in the FSM that are most helpful, i would get familiar with those as well. the computer should be under the drivers seat (it is in the XT6 anyway). good luck,

a code 23 for an XT6 is the air flow meter. check the connector and swap in a new one.

it's a good idea to leave the throttle open and all the spark plugs removed when compression testing. not necessary, but not a bad thing either. having the throttle open allows the engine easier access to air supply (not the old 80's band) and removing all the plugs frees the engine up to turn easier. if it's both cylinders then i would look for something that affects both like the cam or t-belts. particularly since yo'ure getting the same compression ratio in both...it therefore the cause must be somethign that affects both equally....like belts or cam. i don't know but random thoughts: i'd be checking the timing belt as well. i'd check the belt, the tensioner, the cam sprocket and make sure nothing is out of whack. make sure the cam sprocket is seated where it's supposed to be, can't imagine it would be off but doesn't take long to check on the passengers side either. pull a valve cover and turn the motor over by hand and see if everything appears to be opening and closing properly. with the plug hole open you can see the top of the piston and make sure both valves are closing at the right times...maybe compare to the other side and see if things look the same.

the R180 diffs you speak of are essentially the same thing nissan/subaru, that's why they swap. get a 3.7 LSD and swap the internals into a 3.9, that's the easiest way to get a 3.9 LSD. operose just started a thread about using a locking rear diff from an...audi or something...i forget but it's a 3.89 gear ratio, he's not sure if it would hurt anything being 0.01 off. i did see one ebay listing for a 3.9 rear LSD and it even included the picture of the shiny plate that said 3.9 LSD on it. i'm not saying it was legit or wasn't photo-shopped but i did see the pictures...was about 2 years ago.

http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=45009 that's the other cylinder misfire thread.

swap wires between cylinders 2 and 4 and see if the code moves to that cylinder...that would tell you the wire is causing the problem. cylinders 2 and 4 are on the drivers side of the motor, 2 is in the front, 4 is in the back like so looking from above the engine back of car 3 4 1 2 front of car

i just posted a long rump roast post about plug wires. they just tore the motor down and could have had a bad seating on one of the plug wires. they had to pull all the wires and plugs out of place, i'd still guess you have a cylinder mis-fire it just hasn't shown up on you CEL yet. i posted minutes ago on a much longer post i wrote and am not going to repeat all of it, but your best bet is to get good ignition wires (magnecor wires are awesome http://www.magnecor.com). take it into the shop you just had work done at, they could likely pick it up quicker if you don't/can't yourself. should not be a timing issue since the car is DIS (no distributor), so they shouldn't have bumped the timing accidently while pulling the cam. i would check the basic tune up stuff first...plug wires, plugs and get back to us. if you get a cylinder misfire...say cyilnder 1 misfire, you can always swap the cylinder 1 and 3 wires, clear the codes and see if the misfire moves with the spark plug. this would verify a bad wire....wires cause exactly the symptoms you are describing.

which engines are you talking about? i'm confused what two engines it could have. 2.5 liter and what else? the 2.5 is a great motor that subaru has had (and made better) for a decade now. get the motor that's been around longer, do not get a newer motor. ask all the people that bought 2.5's when they first came out....or Ford Focus's when they first came out....new versions are typically a gamble. hello...you're right close to me too. if it's sweet deal and it's YOUR car then i don't see what the issue is. you tell your dad you understand his oppinion but it's your car, thanks for the advice. tell him i know more than he does about subarus to, PM and i'll give you my phone number (that's a joke). i just did timing belts, water pump, oil pump and seals on a 2.5 liter subaru motor this past weekend, i think i'm a little familiar with these motors. if you don't care about reliability and a getting a good deal, then listen to him.

i think that can be a sign of ring wear or blow by past the valve stem seals. but i doubt that on this car unless it's been abused. a full tune up may help - i'd start at a minimum with spark plugs and a new Subaru OEM PCV valve. i'd personally get all new wires, plugs, cap, rotor, air filter....just get a complete tune up and go from there.

and what motor is this in? i talked to magnecor (www.magnecor.com) about the EJ22 (2.2 liter motor) and asked why they only sell their highest performance race wires for this engine. he said the the spark plug set up on these motors sucks and makes it very difficult to make a good aftermarket plug for. it is more likely to have a bad install and have faulty connections and arcing/grouding of the wire because....forget exactly why, the depth and tightness of the plug ports maybe. in any event, he said they decided to only off their competition series wires for this reason, to prevent less install problems. if you bought a cheap set of wires off the shelf at a generic auto parts store i would suspect that maybe this is the problem. to test....try to switch two ignition wires and see if the problem moves around or stays with that cylinder. if you swap #2 and #4 wires, clear the code and now the code is for a cyilnder 2 misfire then you can be sure it's the wire/boot causing issue. i had a heck of a time after removing my stock wires, i was waiting for my magnecor wires so when i changed spark plugs i just reinstalled the original wires. well one was seized to the plug (#1 cylinder) and required major surgery to remove piece by piece. tried taping it up just to get to the store, gave me the cyilnder misfire obviosly. so i bought a cheapo wire (single wire) they sold at the auto parts store just until i got the magnecors in the mail. had the right ends and all but it ran poorly and gave me a code as well. got the magnecor wires and it runs great now.

i'd double check that the wire is seated properly at the plug and the coil pack. look at the connections and inspect them. make sure it clicks into place when you install it. make sure the boot isn't cracked or anything.

1.25 is a common thread pitch, they should have the tooling available to make that. maybe it's not common for head studs, i don't know, but in terms of maching and tooling practices the 1.25 pitch shouldn't be the hold up. most threads on the EA82 and other motors are 1.25 pitch. i think will was saying the length was the issue, no existing studs that long. do these motors have the longest head bolts of any motor ever made? i can't imagine they're that strange.

i talked to a place in australia at least 5 years ago that said they could do it, but i'd have to mail internationally and it was 500 or so dollars.

they don't have any that long, that's surprising. studs aren't complicated. if you need 11 inch studs, then getting anything 11" or longer will work. cut them and clean the end up with a die, i've done it plenty of times. i worked at a plant that used to make studs/bolts all the time, it's really a simple process i can't believe it's this big of a deal. there has to be a shop or person out there that's willing to cut some stock the size you want..and not for the crazy prices they are asking.

it could be alot of things. bad timing belt or tensioner, throttle plate sticking, intake leak, fuel issues, spark plug wires swapped, timing off.....more info would help alot. any previous work done? any recent tune up?

don't know about the idle problem. solve your no-start problem and check into other stuff later. i would suspect spark plugs before wires...so replace them both or just the plugs if there's a reason you can't replace both. how are the battery terminals? are they corroded? you should not be able to turn the terminals around the battery post by hand. can you? if you're super unlucky i think a broken timing belt causes a no start in older soobs, i'm guessing the direct ignition soobs aren't much different. they'll just crank and crank and not do anything. only bad this is 1997 is the first year of interference motors so lets hope that's not the problem. if you here a faint slapping sound from the front of the motor while cranking then a belt is broke or off. only takes removing a couple 10mm bolts to pull the cover and have a look at the timing belt.

i would guess head gaskets as well....i'd check into this a little more. don't want to spend money on radiator, flush and all that jazz and still have issues. i've been around the old school subaru boards for about 10 years and seen plenty of dryed out, rotted, rows missing radiators that are 20 years old and i've never ever heard of one person having a situation where radiator/ATF is mixing. i highly doubt this is the case for you. if you're sure it's the radiator i would get new unless you can see the used one and it looks in good shape. used radiators are fine if they are good. but there are plenty that aren't in very good shape. look for missing rows, corrossion and green crusty flakey stuff, avoid any like that.

at first i'd guess a battery or more likely the battery terminals. are your battery terminals in good shape? if it's cranking over that good then it sounds like your battery is okay. but good contacts are very important so double check the terminals. how many miles (km's) on the car? spark plugs and wires can cause intermittent no-start problems. how long since they've been replaced? check for spark.

the tranny stubs do pull out, but typically take quite alot of force to get out. i've always thought it was weird how they just pull out, but they do and i've never heard of someone having a problem with it in the 10 years i've been on internet subaru boards.

you can try changing the transmission oil but i don't think that will help your grinding. but i guess it might. subaru XT6's often have a second gear grind (i think i've had 3 that have done that). in the case of the XT6 it is annoying, but has no affect on the transmission. i've driven them 200,000 miles no problem and the trans were still in great shape. don't know why, but i believe i recall a TSB (Technical Service Bulletin) from Subaru titled "Second Gear Grind", but i never subscribed to the service to read it.

i say look elsewhere as well, those early generation 2.5's can be bad news unless you're really comfortable around subaru's and know how or want to deal with the problem if it occurs. i think 1998 is a bad year for that motor, check into that further if you're still interested. that being said, i don't know what is meant by "rust" on the motor, but the exhaust, bolts and clamps being rusty is quite normal. the engine block/heads can't be rusty as it's aluminum.

creeks are no problem (i assume you can read the water and know something about this place). unkown water - be wary. if you know i'd worry about mud. a fews years can make a big difference in silt...farm runoff, developments and such. tearing up a stream isn't ideal in my oppinion though, so care would be nice. streams don't repair nearly as well as a field/forrest does. no salmon runs in reading...but there are salmon runs in northern PA/NY. you won't have any problems driving in a creek....i'd be more worried about a landowner than an officer. rut my land and i'll have something to say about it. but really no big deal, we go offroad all the time with no issue. if they DID get a wild hair and wanted to say something, they'd say something like "don't do that again". well...how close are you to new jersey, those city boy yanks might be more tight.

depends how bad the rust is. surface paint chip rust or underbody, stuff falling off? i'd consider depending how bad it is....but careful inspection is a must and i'd want a smoking price for it. also - price is way too high. hold out for a better deal.

i dont know, but i would guess yes. parts site idea is a good start. go to http://www.1stsubaruparts.com and check the parts for both years as well - they won't list the part numbers, but if the price is exactly the same then they should be identical. call the dealer and ask, they don't mind answering questions like this when i call. either way the parts guy is on the phone making his hourly wage...the dealer just doesn't make their riches in parts. another option - pull the part (it's bad anyway or you wouldn't be replacing it right) and compare part numbers to the other one. on older soobs these things are super duper crazy easy to remove.