idosubaru

always had good luck with sears die hard as well. have had advanced auto parts batteries last only 2 years, not good enough for me. the optima red tops are awesome from what i hear, but i've never owned one. putting one in my XT6 once i drop the motor in...next week hopefully.

oh and can that bean counter conversation be framed and mailed to me, that was hysterical!!!!!

i've heard lots of hype over this issue over my 10 + years of owning dozens of XT6's. for the first half of those years i was in college and didn't know much about cars. i bought used tires all the time. i know for a fact i had all sorts of different tires on my AWD XT6's. i drove 30,000+ miles per year, typically well over that. never had any transmission problems then. had to replace one auto trans at 150,000 miles recently...now that i always run matching sets? go figure. i've seen 2 soobs towed hundreds of miles on a tow dolly improperly and know of one other in texas, none experienced any trans problems?? i am an engineer, but have nothing to offer because what i've seen doens't match what i hear from soob so i really don't know what to think. i just keep the tires matching and don't worry about it. in my case i have extra transmissions and can pick them up for next to nothing if need be so i don't really care, but i keep the tires matching anyway. i'm a moderator at http://www.xt6.net and i always tell people to match their tires and be careful but what i also know is that i can't really say i know of anyone who's fried a trans in the 6 or 8 years or whatever i've been in the XT6 community because of this. but as many people as i know it's hard to believe someone hasn't grossly overshot the recommendations.

did you see the tire? if the nail is in the tread it should be fixable and you should have it repaired. have them patch it instead of plug it (though i plug my own, but technically speaking a inner patch is better). then you're done. 11,000 miles is sort of arbitrary. i've seen tires shot at 11,000 miles (in which case you should replace all 4) and i've seen them look brand new at 11,000 miles (in which case you could get away with just buying one tire). in general i'd say for an average driver who isn't driving aggressive i'd agree with buying two new tires and putting them on the front until they *catch up* to the rears and then rotate as normal. i'd even go so far as saying you could probably replace just one tire with only 11,000 miles depending how your tires have worn.

how did he decipher the seperator plate as the source of the leak? it also doesn't make sense that this thing should leak enough to need replacing. can't think of any way to differentiate seperator leakage over rear main seal. the seperators that i've seen aren't under any constant oil pressure or supply either, more or less a vent/drainage back to the oil pan, i can't imagine it leaking very much. i've pulled 200,000 mile motors and the most i've seen is some wetness, no major leaks from these things. i've owned many soobs, worked on other subaru's and i'm a moderator at http://www.xt6.net and i've never seen or heard of anyone having a seperator leak fixed. i know people (myself twice) that have replaced it only because the motor was out for some other reason though. if this is even possilbe, it is very rare indeed. i would get a second oppinion. how much oil are you leaking?

thanks for the heads up, i'll check for future reference. for now, even if it is 105,000 i'm ready to change it out. i inspected it yesterday and it doesn't pass my visual inspection.

67,000 miles 2.2 1997 OBS. doing the timing belts next week. didn't see anything in the repair section of the site or doing a search, are there any good write ups/pictures of replacing the timing belts? lots of t-belt questions, but not many details. i'm definitely replacing the tensioner and cam seals as well. should i do the water pump or oil pump seals while i'm in there or let them go until the next t-belt change? how often do the water pumps fail? anything else to address while i'm in there? i've done 100 ER27 timing belts so i'm not too worried about it, but a little sketched out working on an interference motor so just trying to read up as much as i can. thanks!

timing belts are not terribly difficult. if everything goes right (cough cough), the only tricky part is the drivers side belt tensioner. easy with two people, get a chance to be a little creative by yourself. i always do it by myself with no problems. the 4 cylinder motors are definitely easier, but the XT6 isn't terrible and doesn't require any special tools - depending how you tackle that drivers side tensioner. if it hasn't been opened up any time recently the timing covers will likely be very annoying to remove. the inserts that the bolts screw into will strip and turn inside the inner belt covers and the bolts won't come out. you'll have to push/pull the actual insert out in that case. or just break your covers and run without them. how fast .....the XT6 doesn't have any problems getting over 100 very quickly. it's not a race car, but it doesn't take forever and requires a slight incline to get over 100. mods won't make much difference in top speed as the top speed isn't all that high. the automatic is geared higher and has the potential to go faster. for instance a manual AWD trans XT6 will run 60 at 3,000 rpms and the automatic AWD will run 70 at 3,000 rpms. i'm making those numbers up, but they are close since i don't really pay attention, but something like that. so at 5,000 rpms in highest gear the auto will be going faster.

this needs to be fixed now unless you want an excuse to buy another car. the motor won't last long if you don't do anything. have you checked the coolant level? is it full? when the fans come on, does it stay at normal temp? radiator could be shot as well.

there are driveline and off roading shops that can do this no problem. some machine shops will cut, weld, and balance drive shafts too, just call around and start asking. i agree with his price above. if you're really looking for high performance have a solid aluminum driveshaft made. be sure to get very good measurements or keep the old/new driveshafts as templates no matter which option you choose. i think fitting axles will be trickier than the driveline. you'll need axles for the new trans that fit into your old hubs. unless they are a direct swap, which i highly doubt.

been running no covers on 2 XT6's for over a year (and i drive 30,000 + miles per year). no issues. i drive off road all the time too, mud, water, fields, corn stalks, grass, etc. no issues yet.

my cap on the fusible link holder has the colors indicated on it.

what RPM are you at when you max out? i've had auto and manual AWD XT6's that had no problem getting to that speed. i've had the NA 4 cylinder XT up to that speed as well. tune up is in order. you need spark (tune up indicated above), good compression (compression test) and good fuel (have injectors cleaned). mom mode: i don't support triple digit speeds on public roads.

i have a high flow converter but my mods and order of doing them are too convoluted to determine any changes. if you open up the exhaust too much you may see some low end loss which is annoying if you're driving up hills and such. highway gas mileage definitely goes up on the XT6 if you open the exhaust up a little (straight through muffler like dynomax is my preference), but too much and it goes nowhere and you loose low end power which is annoying if you live in hilly areas (at least to me it is). i think kevin has some dyno plots of some before/after exhaust mods on his XT6 on http://www.xt6.net if you want to check there. he also has a high flow converter on one of his i believe.

www.ramperformance.com i recommended an XT6 owner go with pistons from these guys and he is very happy with his rebuild. has been driving it for about a month. he got forged NA pistons - not turbo. here's a link to pictures of the pistons and his rebuild/use of them as well as some specs. http://www.xt6.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3575&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=ram+pistons&start=60

EZ outs suck. they work sometimes but when they break it's not worth the trouble. i still have one under my daily driver by the fuel pump that i haven't gotten out for over a year! LH drill bits are the way to go. i removed two rusty bolts yesterday by drilling a hole through the center and spraying them with liquid wrench. after drilling the hole, they unthreaded smooth as butter with a pair of small pliers. not sure why, but apparently drilling loosened them up or something.

how about post the part number off the 2WD TCU or call subaru and ask for the part numbers of the 4WD TCU and the 2WD TCU. if they are interchangeable then i have some extra's. also - for testing you don't even need to remove the TCU. just unplug it and unplug another in it's place. no need to unbolt and rebolt just to test, just lay it on top of the other one for testing and swap if you diagnose the problem.

have some supplies ready to hold the driveshaft up and out of the way if you're only disconnecting one side. otherwise just remove the entire driveshaft. typically it's hard to remove all 4 bolts/nuts at the same time. usually have to remove 2 or 3 and then roll the car or rotate the driveshaft (by jacking up one rear wheel) so the other nut or two rotates in view.

i'd bleed all the way around but you can try bleeding just one and see how it feels. it's probably likely that the rotor on that side is fried, might want to replace that while everything is apart and off. or at least call and see how much one is. definitely no need to replace both sides, that's rediculous. although if the new caliper is loaded (has new pads) you may want to get a new set of pads so they are the same on both sides. on a side note, keep an eye on your wheel bearings on that side. all that heat can cause premature failure of the grease and wheel bearings. caliper rebuild kits can usually be had for about 10 dollars and they include seals for both sides. tricky job if you don't do this kind of stuff alot.

the TCU is located behind the drivers side rear seat side panel. swapping in another TCU is a good idea. does the POWER light blink when you first start the car? sounds like it's in "limp" mode. your POWER light should (should when something is wrong) blink like 15 or 16 times when you start the car, this indicates there's a code in the TCU that may tell you something. pull these codes. if this isn't blinking and you're having these problems then i'd again suspect something fishy with the TCU. a fluid and possibly a filter change could help. this will also allow you to inspect the trans fluid. check the fluid out and look for metallic particles or gooey stuff. sometimes a bad trans will have very fine metallic particles/shavings in the fluid. this will verify you need to replace the trans as this would indicate serious internal damage. make sure the transmission oil pan isn't dented. a dented pan will obstruct the sump to the oil pump. you can also install an aftermarket transmission cooler. you should have one anyway, good for the trans. this will also bypass the old trans cooler in the side of the radiator that could be clogged. as a VERY TEMPORARY test you can pull both trans fluid lines from the radiator and run them together, totally bypassing the terribly efficient radiator side trans cooler. if this is clogged, bypassing it may help.

there is no issue in doing that. the critical point is that it's a 12 volt power source, that's all that matters. it will only draw (V/R) amps of current where V is your 12 volt power source and R is the internal resistance of the pump. what kind of wire won't matter. may risk burning the fuel pump up in a wierd situation, like if the voltage regulator malfunctions on the alternator and it's hooked up to the same battery....and there's not relay or fuse in between to fail before the pump. if you want to get technical about current, any resistance in the line is in addition to the resistance imposed by any device on the same circuit (the fuel pump and wire have a combined resistance of the fuel pump resistance plus the resistance of the wire). wire diameter increase = resistance decreases = current increases wire length goes increase = resistance increases = current decreases using a larger diameter wire will cause a slight decrease in resistance (assuming you're comparing similar grade, material, manufacture and quality wire). but this is only a technicality, very minor and won't hurt anything. the fuel pump is designed to work on a 12 volt power source, that's the key.

Chilton's was the only aftermarket manual printed that covered the XT6 i think. i don't think you'll find a Haynes. Chilton's is limited in scope and detail. FSM is by far the best way to go. i can probably send you a beat up chiltons for a couple dollar for shipping if you want one, i think i have a couple i don't need. (the TPS testing spec's are not right in the FSM though).

all 10 of my AWD XT6's that i've owned are/were JF1 VIN numbers.

12 volts at the pump. if you run a complete circuit to the battery it should come on. if you ran 12 volts from the positive side and got nothing then it's possible that the ground side of the fuel pump circuit is where the ignition is to turn it on. (never had to mess with the fuel pump circuit myself so i haven't done it). in that case, you'll just need a good ground (ground wire to the battery would certainly do the trick) to get it to kick on. make sense? do you want it powered all the time or just for testing? because running a wire directly from the battery means it will be powered all the time, even when the car is off.

if you're loosing that much oil, make sure the block is good before spending time and $ on heads that might not fix your problem.