idosubaru

you would remove the fan for timing belts, which is routine for a car with 100,000+ miles. the timing belts must have been done once and the fan would have to come out. but i'm not sure how it was mounted in reverse, don't think that could happen either. i would guess the owner probably doesn't really remember the exact reason or explained it perfect, just that there was an error involving the fan. that's why they paid someone else to do it, because they don't know much or don't want to worry about it themself. it's all subjective guesswork and speculation for us, if you know the mechanic or garage that worked on it...which it appears you have that information then you could ask them. i wouldn't personally rely too much on an independent mechanic. they can be mildly helpful but if you're getting a good deal on a good car i don't think an *inspection* will tell you much unless they are going to do a compression check or oil analysis or something that's very critical and beneficial. but if you pay some shop you don't know well to *inspect* a car i don't think you get very much really. but i can inspect cars myself so if you know very little about cars then it may be a better option for you. that explanation by the owner does make more sense. a improperly installed fan will cause varying degrees of overheating. most cars have 2 fans...so it would depend which one. often, one is mostly a/c dependent. also depends what kind of driving and how the car is used. if you're driving highway speeds alot and the fans don't work you could easily not notice anything abnormal and not know the fan isn't working right. if you're idling in rush hour traffic with the a/c on you'll definitely notice something. but even still these motors are quite resilient at running hot if you're not paying attention to the gauge. in other words it will keep running even if you don't notice how hot it's getting. check to see the color of the ATF as well, it needs to be nice and pink in color. if not you need it changed and it should have been changed at least once by now.

i dont know anyone that would spend 1,000 dollars on something that has no sign of failure???? i'm not very trusting of people i don't know, so i find that hard to believe. working on "a fan" has nothing to do with headgaskets, another reason i'm skeptical. i'd ask to see receipts of that work and then call the mechanic myself and ask him why (and if) they were replaced. not that they have alot to gain by lying about something like that, but still sounds weird to me. sounds like they know something as there were different "updated" head gaskets, though that isn't all that uncommon (can you say dodge neon...iron block, aluminum heads?). $5,500 doesn't sound bad. they go for 3,000....4,000 max on ebay. i'd rather get one for 3,000 and put a new motor in it or get a rebuilt motor from ccr than go all the way up to $5,500 on one unless it was really nice and i was very confident of the maintenance/condition (particularly those dang gaskets). i got my 97 outback for $3,500 with 67,000 miles, but it needs paint and has a rebuilt title. i'd start pricing a timing belt change and add that to your planned costs immediately, you don't want a t-belt failure on one of these motors.

i routinely pad-slap my subaru's with no affect on braking. i've never turned my rotors. i have put over 150,000 miles on front rotors before....that's more than a couple sets of front pads. if you change your pads early enough i haven't had any problems retaining the original rotors. if the rotors worked fine the 5,000 miles before your changed pads why bother changing them just because you get new pads? i realize that years ago it was standard practice to turn rotors, i believe that idea could easily be tested and done away with for certain makes/models vehicles with newer materials and technologies and average to below average driving conditions. i've taken my XT6 off road for all of the 220,000 miles it's been in my posession. i'm not saying this is best across the board, but i've had excellent luck with subaru brake rotors lasting a ton of miles. just did the front pads on my '97 OBS a couple weeks ago and did the same thing. they feel great. nice and stout, just like they were when i got the car. pad-slapping is awesome, quick and easy.

this will be very general since i don't know those models at all. FWD and AWD will both have a TCU. you would need the wiring harness with the AWD trans as it has additional solenoids the FWD doesn't have and i doubt they are hanging there loose. you will need the driveshaft, rear axles and complete hub assemblies. the cv axles goes through the hub in the AWD. there's a rear crossmember to support the rear differential. you'll need that as well.

i'm looking for a compressor for a 97 impreza outback sport (OBS). guy has one from a 96 Legacy wagon. parts sites show different part numbers but will they work? sometimes i know you can just swap the sensor or pulley and be good to go.

they are speaking of the gas mileages listed on the stickers. being 4 cylinders, they don't get outstanding gas mileage. but there are reasons for that. well buillt, safe and AWD will effect gas mileage. the subaru belt is much easier to deal with than most cars because it's right on the front of the motor. but a timing belt is almost always "burried" by most definitions because it's not something a typical person replaces. i have done lots of timing belt jobs but this is not maintenance normally done at home. it's not the belt you can see, it's under the timing covers and probably burried by your definition. i wouldn't consider it burried unless it's internal to the motor block, but i work on lots of stuff. the chevy could very well have a timing belt as well.....if so, the timing belt on the impala would be much harder to replace than the subaru. front wheel drive non-subaru timing belts suck to replace. subaru's have a flat-4 layout which few other companies have, and they are much easier to work on than most cars of similar year and complexity. but don't expect any savings in labor costs, the shops are still going to make their loot. i can change my timing belts in two hours or less. my friends honda's and fords...HA!!! no way, i like helping my friends but HATE working on their timing belts.

if you want to be very technial on the issue look it up on the internet, tons of R134a and r12 charging information all over the place, very easy to find. draining and filling with the same amount will work just fine. get some in the compressor and turn the pulley plenty of times by hand just to work everything around internally. i slapped a compressor on a friends honda over a year ago without adding any oil to it....i didn't recommend doing it that way but he was impatient and insisted on not adding any oil and wouldn't let me pull a vacuum. i don't recommend skipping either of those steps, but his a/c is still blowing arctic air. if the R134a you're recharging with already has oil in it then this really becomes a dead horse. i'd be more concerned about installing new schrader valves on your high and low sides than anything else. they cost like 50 cents and are easy to replace (don't require a special tool) with the system open. they have a small o-ring at the base that is the cause of most a/c problems i've encountered.....although bad compressors are probably equal on that list. i've yet to hear of someone i know only spending 50 dollars on having their a/c fixed..it's always in the hundreds....but i know for a fact that some of those repairs had to be only 50 cent schrader valve failures. i wonder how many 50 cent schrader valves are replaced for hundreds of dollars? with the right tool you can even keep the system closed while replacing and not loose any refrigerant, so no need to pull a vacuum typically.

i would be concerned about these older model 2.5 headgaskets. i'd take your time making this decisions. if this was the 2.2 liter i'd say jump all over it, but it's not. the early 2.5 liter motors had serious head gasket issues for some people. i would want lots of information on the head gasket maintenance and documents showing it was done to that car. this problem can be very tricky to see or pinpoint when it first starts. i've seen cases where at the beginning of the problem it would be very easy to sell it without any easily detectable signs of failure. search for "head gasket" on this forum and you'll get plenty of instances of what i'm referring too. the newer ones are much better, i guess they upgraded the gasket or made changes. others that know more can inform you of phases, engines and which years are better than others. otherwise like mentioned earlier they are great cars and it's nice to know timing belts, water pump, oil pump conditions.

well it's a subaru board but i vote for the subaru all the way. if you want alot of miles out of the car then go with the subaru. if you want good resale/trade in then go with subaru. the AWD is awesome and i haven't bought anything but AWD since i got my first one over 10 years ago. i had FWD always before that. subaru's are high priced but will last to make up the difference. just in case you're not familiar with subaru's at all here are two issues that incur some cost but are worth it. be sure to replace the timing belt whenever it's supposed to be replaced, 60,000 - 100,000 miles (if not sooner than recommended). the chevy may have a timing chain which for most purposes never need to be replaces, but it might have a belt as well i'm not sure. belts are quieter, smoother and offer better gas mileage thats why they are common. you will also want to maintain the tires. rotate them and keep the treads/wear similar between all four. mismatching tires is bad for almost all AWD drive or full-time 4WD transmissions and you don't want to be replacing one of those.

on the broken one, assemble it and make sure everything is in place and moving/working properly. the cap that holds it together has crimps in it, i would suspect that cap cracked when it popped off. if not reuse it, but otherwise you'll want to replace it. you can get rebuilt HLA's (lifters) from mitzpah engineering, look them up on yahoo or do a search here. they are only like 5 or 6 bucks each, not worth installing a questionable old one for that cheap. i don't bother installing them all pumped up, they have always been difficult to install all pumped up in my experience. maybe at first, but by the time they are lying sideways like they get when installed in the engine bay they always seem to have play. doesn't matter, if your oil system is working properly (which should be the case 99 percent of the time) they tap for awhile at first start up but then smooths out quickly. i never have any tapping issues after the first start up gets them pumped up. on removing, they can be really annoying. i just leave the ones that are really stuck in when i take them to a machine shop and they always seem to get them out.

AWD trans don't fair well without proper ATF management, tire rotation, and replacement. i think failure of AWD car trannys are more of a function of maintenance than anything else. we dont' see too many issues with AWD trans on xt6.net so i wouldn't suspect anything more than lack of maintenance over the years. i see plenty of old AWD cars for sale with non-matching tires. ATF flushes and coolers are more prevalent these days as well, which helps tremendously. people are becoming more and more concerned with preventative maintenance. don't know about where you live but back in the 80's/early 90's people in my parts spent WAY less on cars and maintenance than they do now. with higher mileage expectations and better economy i think people are putting more money into vehicles these days.

if the rear diff is going out it depends on what exactly is failing but if you want to keep the car driveable for sure then you'll want to remove the rear cv axles as well. otherwise the wheels will still turn the diff via the axles meaning it will still make noise and fail which could eventually mean your rear wheel won't turn. so in short, remove all three items that turn with the diff...driveshaft and two axles. if it's an automatic you'll want to remove just the rear half of the driveshaft, hopefully it's in two pieces. if you pull the end of the driveshaft out of the rear of the transmission it won't be driveable as it will spill ATF all over the ground. so you only remove the rear half of the driveshaft, many soobs have two piece driveshafts. so remove the last half (connected to the diff) and leave the front half connected to the trans so it doesn't blow ATF all over the ground.

one of mine ripped in half, leaving half the boot down the hole. big fun getting out.

anything possible for the XT6?

if youre just removing the engine you could drop the entire suspension/crossmember with the motor attached...even the trans with a jack or two under neath to gently lower it. then you'll have to slide it out from underneath. if you have to pull it by hand, keep disassembling until you and whoever you got to help can pull it out.

what's the difference between EJ18 and EA82? does the EJ get similar gas mileage with a manual trans? looking for good mileage soobs like an EA82 manual. i know they are good, but don't know what the EJ18 gets. are the EJ18's good for reliability? wonder why they didn't last long? thanks for the info.

what's the differences between these motors? does the 1.8 liter get decent gas mileage? i know the EA82 got good gas mileage, is the EJ18 similar to the EA82 or get bad mileage in like the EJ22....which i have one of. looking for something with good mileage, currently have all 6 cylinders and the EJ22 OBS, looking for an EA82 or EJ18.

looking at an impreza outback sport, it's a 93 and it says it has a 1.8 liter. is that the EA82? what's the last year they used the EA82?

looking at some outback sports and noticed some of the 93's had the 1.8 liter motor? is that the EA82? what year did they change motors and what year was the first for the Outback Sport?

i changed my 2.2 timing belt with no problem. my cousin has a few year old 2.5 liter wagon that's over due for a belt change. are the procedures similar at all?

i'd change the oil and filter and go from there. motor probably got hot as the motor heated up from the coolant loss. probably compromised the characteristics of the oil. you should be good to go assuming it wasn't overheated too bad. was there any mention of the temperature gauge getting higher than normal?

88 XT got upper 30's mpg highway, best was a 40 mpg straight highway trip. i got 500 miles per tank highway driving, that was super nice. i got it in 91 so it ran quite nice for a 4 cyilnder NA. that was a manual trans, i'm seeing the auto's don't get as good mileage since i've been looking up mileages using the search function. looking to pick another one up as a highway driver.

i wouldn't bother looking for an ABS XT6, never heard of one. there are 500 members on the XT6 boards so either noone has ABS or they all work flawlessly! i've had about 10 of these things and worked on/looked at others and none have ever had ABS. if they did offer it, good luck finding one as i've looked at dozens and know for sure none have ever had ABS.

all XT6's have them.

the best thing to put in your oil pan is oil. nothing else should be added. that being said, MMO and ATF can be added to help alleviate noisey HLA's, if it is the HLA's causing the problems and you don't or can't pull the HLA's and clean them yourself or replace them. if the oil pump seal or gasket is causing the problem then MMO or ATF won't do anything for your problem. the bottom line is that an engine needs oil and nothing else. fancy additives are a waste of time. MMO and ATF are quick fix alternatives for pulling the cam towers and cleaning the HLA's by hand. otherwise putting anything other than oil in your engine is good for the pockets of the additive manufacturers and not what your engine was designed for. as far as clogged oil passages, i've never had that problem. out of like 10 XT6's that i've owned it has always been the oil pump gasket (every time but one) or a frozen HLA (the other time - two were frozen actually) that has caused any noise.