idosubaru

typically the front diff oil is added through the dipstick hole on manual trans vehicles.

i'd plan on getting another transmission. start looking around, asking for a used one and you can get a decent price on one. rebuilds or new they can be very expensive. but used ones run 1,000 - 2,000 easy as well from a yard. you can get better prices. i think you can even get other transmissions (more available subaru transmissions....= cheaper) but i'm not sure of the details on which models will work. install a transmission cooler when you get another trans so you can hopefully avoid this in the future. heat kills these transmissions, very common. ATF cooler helps tons and costs 29.99 or less and super simple to install.

the lock cylinder comes out very easy, i was very surprised as well. once the door panel is off i found mine came out without really removing anything else, easy access and all. this is a good tip, title should make it easy to find for the next person that does this. door better than the ignition...then you can't go!

there's room to weld in there, lucky it looks fairly accessible by someone who's good. probably best to let an actual welder do it who has alot of aluminum experience. a good machine shop can do wonders with making an insert to accomplish the job as well. been there, done that. either way, sounds like you got it good. locktite would definitely keep it from backing out. nice seeing a successful, difficult problem fixed, thanks for the updates.

i'd begin by asking nicely knowing that they definitley removed and disconnected this joker, it's impossible not to when working on cars. but realize that mechanics aren't necessarily responsible for old-warn out parts even if they damage them upon removal. if they broke a rusted bolt or part when removing then it's partially the condition of the bolt and not so much their part. so in that sense the O2 sensor could have been more sensitive than a new one and gotten damaged during normal repairs which i wouldn't necessarily call their fault. a nice move on their part would be to inspect it for you for free. should only take them a minute to determine if it's wiring, harness or sensor related. check the O2 sensor wiring from the sensor all the way up as far as you can follow it. since it is located so low and runs up the motor it is possible for the insulation to be exposed and shorting against something metal as it snakes up the back of the motor. seen this once. who knows maybe they just forgot to plug the wiring harness back in? i know for a fact that older subaru's run just fine without any O2 sensor connected all. when dropping the exhaust it's common to forget about the O2 sensor and have it rip the wiring out when you pull the exhaust out. so i'd check that too. let us know how they respond, situations like this let you know what kind of people you're dealing with.

what kind of gas mileage can i expect from one of these trans? 1989 XT. i have been looking for a FWD for better mileage, but if the pushbutton 4WD is close i might consider.

i was under the impression that the lower compression pistons are easier to get more power from. not necessarily that the pistons add power, but that they do allow for more power with the right setup? either way, believe calebz more than me i'm still learning the turbo stuff.

anyone know why i can't get this write up to load?

the EA82 and EA82T have different compression ratio pistons. best to use the EA82T pistons for a turbo application. you can use the NA block but the turbo block will give you more power and be be more reliable.

are these chain wrenches fairly standard or could you post a picture? just don't want to make more than one trip for this thing if i don't have to.

i'm not a manual trans expert but pretty sure that's either going to be the throw out bearing or pilot bearing. either one requires pulling the trans or engine to get to the clutch assembly. hopefully it's something else, but if not i'd start thinking about doing a complete clutch job - new throw out bearing, pilot bearing and clutch. if the clutch has been done recently they may have reused the original bearing...that's a no-no in my book.

new struts/springs and you're done.

sometimes rust is an issue on older cars. bolts stick, things get dirty and ard harder to come apart. other than that general rotor and pads are fairly straight forward and shouldn't differ too much. some people feel like complaining about how hard something is will make you feel better when you see the big bill.

forgot to mention - check those valve gaskets very well as they often fail and leak alot. and they are very cheap and easy to fix. most other oil leaks are quite labor intensive or expensive (if you pay someone else to do it) compared to the valve cover gaskets.

you need to start from the outside of the motor (valve covers and work inward. oil leaks from valve covers, cam carriers and head gaskets can all end up on the exhaust and burn off. oil leaks tend to flow from the "outside" to the inside of these motors. if it's leaking at the heads...the valve covers won't be oily. but if it's leaking at the valve covers the underside of the motor from the valve to the heads could have oil on it. so that's why you work you're way in. if the valve covers are clean then they are not leaking.... nice to clean the motor underneath good to get the old oil, grease and dirt out of your way. start first on the far passengers and drivers side of the motor (the "outside"). you'll see a valve cover on each end, check that juncture for leakage. if it drips on the crossmember, at the rear corner of the gasket it can leak on the cross member and run down towards the exhaust (but so can other leaks). or pull the covers and inspect or replace the valve covers. a really bad leak at the valve covers will often be cause by an actual crack in the gasket which you can see if you pull the valve cover. if this all checks out then move to the next mating surface going towards the inner part of the motor. this will be the cam carrier and you should find some indications of a sealant application. all the other gaskets/ seals are formed, this one is a sealant application and made by gasket sealer. if there's a leak here then it's the cam carrier that's leaking. if it's leaking at the next mating surface past the cam carrier then the head gasket is the next thing to check. these can and do leak oil without leaking any coolant. seen it myself and drove one for like 30 - 50,000 miles like that and it never failed. after that you have oil pan and rear main oil seal to check. rear main seal is covered and requires engine or transmission removal to replace or even see it.

sounds to me like one of the front axles is blown out. check your cv axles/joints then report back. i know a few people that have taken apart xt and xt6 manual transmissions with no problems though i haven't attempted it myself.

and where's the best place to get this chain wrench...the short easy to use version for these cam bolts? THESE BOLTS SUCK!!!!!!

i posted about this a few weeks ago and talked with someone who had one installed and ended up selling it to get a regular size lightweight aluminum crank pulley because it was causing charging issues. (i think that's why they are cheaper because the demand for them isn't there). i'm going with a full size lightweight crank pulley to avoid any issues. it will still be light weight so you'll get almost the same gains as you would with an underdrive pulley. fullsize pulleys still weigh like a few pounds less than stock and barely anything more than an underdrive. another reason i like aluminum pulleys - ONE PIECE. these subaru pulleys with the harmonic damper on them piss me off as it's a failure point, the very fine rubber ring can detach from the metal. the stock pulley is really two seperate pieces of metal seperated by a very thin ring of rubber. that rubber goes and either your pulley falls apart or you'll have a mysterious charging problem where the inner part of the pulley connected to the crank turns faster than the outside part of the pulley...it slips. very annoying and a failure point that i have no need for.

on a manual you have to be able to lock the center diff (with a button or diff lock turn on some how). if you can't then like he said it will transfer all the power to the rear and just spin the rear output shaft.

it is nice that they have been replaced as the newer gaskets are different and updated to prevent this from happening again. head gaskets should not need to be replaced again if...... they were done properly the first time. on newer cars it's less of an issue because the bolts tend to come out nice and clean where older cars have more dirty holes and bolts that should not be used unless they are cleaned. the parts should have been properly checked before reinstalling the head gaskets - heads checked for warp or milled, bolts cleaned, block cleaned. on some vehicles the bolts are not supposed to be reused, those that do see early HG failure. i'm not familiar with these motors or if bolts should be reused or not, each motor is different. the car isn't overheated. heat destroys headgaskets. they ran it hot after installing the new gaskets. could the new gaskets be damaged? don't know how long they ran it hot or how hot it got.

good job getting it running again. sounds like it's over and tackled but i've had a number of instances like this with stripped blocks and missing chunks out of blocks. it's more common than you might imagine. i've seen it a few times. that engine block is definitely not scrap. a good machine or head shop like mentioned earlier would have been my choice. there are any number of ways to attack this from welding to making an appropriate insert. been there, done that. JB Weld and similar compounds are not as good. they will work but the lifetime of that kind of repair is unknown. a properly made insert or weld will not fail. I consider JB Weld a temporary solution. I've used it exactly like this before in timing belt bolt situations and it will last 10's of thousands of miles. but it also gets very brittle and falls apart if you ever touch it again or over a period of time/miles. i feel time and vibration do not treat this stuff very well. but when i fix something i want 100,000 miles of reliability so my requirements may be higher than yours. that being said i'd want some locktite on any bolt with less than nominal threading to keep it from backing out or working loose. many timing belt holes are deeper than the bolts that in them. so when i encounter stripped bolt holes, most of the time the easy solution is to just get or make a slightly longer bolt to reach more good threads at the bottom. congrats on the fix, looks great!

i see, no money. the rear output shaft of the trans will still rotate, it just won't be turning anything, so you're not going to hurt anything buy removing the driveshaft. let me know what kid of trans it is - manual or auto and if it has locking or FWD buttons, etc. if it's a manual trans you'll have to lock the differential (if it has that option?). if it's an auto trans you may have a FWD option like the older models? if it's an automatic you'll want to permanently *lock* duty solenoid C which will lock the transfer clutches. this will turn the rear driveshaft similar to a locked differential, but it will only spin the output shaft since without the driveshaft it won't be connected to anything. some models have a FWD Fuse but i'm not sure what that does and wouldn't really want to drive the car very far like that. the biggest thing is that you want to leave something in the output shaft of the trans (definitetly if it's an automatic) or you won't be able to keep fluid in the tranny. driveshaft may have two pieces - just remove the rear half connected to the rear diff.

your center diff will not be damaged by removing the driveshaft. you can pick up rear differentials fairly cheap. source a used unit and swap it out. it's an easy swap and they don't fail very often so a used unit should be golden. definitely remove the driveshaft to protect your trans and center diff, but the rear differential will still be turning even if you remove the driveshaft so you'll still hear noises and reach failure at some point.

*** bump *** anyone know if compressors are the same between models?

is this the 2.2 motor? i just did one, very easy as far as timing belts go. the cam bolts can be a seriously annoying part too. the cam just keeps turning as opposed to the bolts coming loose. research the crank and cam bolts and good ways to get them off and you're golden. i've always found the crank bolts easy. lock the flexplate with a large strong metal object and crank off the bolt. don't forget to remove object from flexplate. if you have a manual transmission then it's really easy, just put it in 5th gear and crank the bolt off. a last resort method is to put a socket on the crank and turn the motor over with the start, very quickly. don't do this unless you're creative enough to understand how it's going to work. the socket will swing around with the motor, hit the motor mount and back the bolt loose. works like a charm if you know what yo'ure doing. on the cam bolts, i don't know what to tell you i found them annoying and just made some adequate use of tools in my barn. the 2.2 was much easier than my two timing belt XT6 motor (with the exception of the cam bolts), so go for it. just make sure everything is perfectly lined up, both cams and crank. don't want to put it all back together and find out you did it wrong.