idosubaru

how many digits is the subaru key code for late 80's subarus? i have no key for an XT6 i just bought. the dealer can't trace the key code from the VIN because the original dealer never entered it in the computer. i found a 5 digit number on the backing plate to the passengers side lock cylinder. is that it? i thought the key code was 4 digits.

are you talking about the Check Engine light? i'd like to see a picture of an XT6 with a "Service Engine Soon Light". i've owned 10 Xt6's and seen many others, none have had that.

you should be fine to mount another O2 sensor in your exhaust.

i think you can leave the cap off the p/s and turn the steering wheel back and forth and the lines will eventually purge. but i've never done it before myself. if it were an XT6 4EAT auto transmission, and it's your first time then i'd pull the trans as well. anything else i'd probably leave the trans in the car. i know a couple people that have broken their trans oil pump shaft because the torque converter is tricky to seat on the 4EAT. it seems like it's in place but really it has just a *little* more to go. people don't realize it has just a little more to go, or they think it will *pull* in place when they tighten the bolts. but it's really not seated properly and you'll crack something inside the trans.

if you have electric fans they should be kicking on when it starts getting hot. if not, then that's your problem. replace thermostat. fix this immediately, you're not helping your seals and gaskets.

you're taking something personal that wasn't personal. no finger pointing has taken place. comments like "backoff" are useless, discussion boards are built on opinions not commands. i'm suggesting to be objective and logical about the problem. i'm not interested in debating our oppinions. this is a big concern for Hank and it will only help him to be rational about the problem. i saw no confirmation other than "the mechanic said". he didn't offer any info on this mechanic, random shop or someone he's known for 23 years. he can pick and choose from the oppinions posted. i'm only trying to be objective.

hate to hear this. CCR posts here as well and so we may hear from them. they have been very helpful to me in the past and i have never had problems contacting them. everyone and anyone makes mistakes. if something isn't talked about much it could be because it doesn't happen much. i've definitely heard of issues with JDM engines and transmissions, so i wouldn't consider them the holy grail of mail order. if you didn't place the order, it is speculation that it is CCR's mistake. if that happened to me (which it wouldnt because i'd do the install myself), but if it did i'd suspect the mechanic first and i wouldn't believe him if he told me he ordered the right one!!! sort of a joke, since we know how mechanics are, but you get the point. i think 99 percent of board members would agree that we see more problems with mechanics than any other part of the supply/repair chain. again, sorry to hear of your bad timing. protect yourself in the future - if timing is an issue and this was known about in advance then it may have served you better to allow more time for such a big repair. you can generally get parts quicker locally. you can also get parts cheaper and better quality if you source and know what you're doing, but that also takes time for research, contacting and shipping. when i want cheap or quality parts i order exactly what i want and expect more time. if i'm in a crunch for a part i get it locally, paying more but i get it within my time constraints. good luck and i hope this works out for you

there is a gasket - the mickey mouse gasket that is between the oil pump and engine block. that should DEFINITELY be replaced. and there is also an oil pump shaft seal that costs a couple dollars, it's behind the oil pump sprocket and is a definite to replace as well. i just picked up a really nice XT6 that had a major oil leak yet the oil pump gasket was replaced. i looked at it last week and it was leaking at the oil pump shaft seal, it was not replaced. pointless to go in there and not replace a 6 dollar seal (cheaper after market). there are TWO replacement items for the oil pump. gasket between pump and block and a seal on the shaft. replace them both. http://www.thepartsbin.com is where i always get them. cheap and always the right parts (can't say that about some places with the XT6).

my favorite trick that has worked on a number of occassions. (easiest with two people but not bad by yourself). get a long prybar (with the V on the end is what i use). if you can get the bolt out just enough to get the prybar on it (typically my stuck bolts at least come out a bit). pry UP from underneath the head of the bolt while simultaneously backing the bolt out with your socket wrench. might not want to reuse this bolt once you're through, might be bent. something else that has worked for me before is to screw it back down tight and then try to loosen it again. as always, large doses of Liqued Wrench (or the aforementioned PB Blaster) work wonders. don't substitute WD-40, use the real stuff. i had to cut one once, ended up ending my problem very quickly though i hate taking a sawzall that close to the head! but it sure works nice and takes less than a minute! you'll just need a new bolt, well worth the savings in time.

sweet, XT6 should be the same then. thanks, i'll check it tonight.

anyone know if the key code on the door lock cylinders are visible without removing them? any hints are appreciated. (the dealer never recorded the key code in the computer system for one of my XT6's and i lost the only key when we were loading it on the tow dolly when i bought it, and the previous owner has no other keys). and none of my other subaru keys work in it (that's worked before, twice!). thanks.

someone else had this exact problem on an XT or XT6, saw it either here or at http://www.xt6.net. they found and fixed the problem but i don't recall the cause.

definitely get that car, i'd pick it up if i were you. likely an easy fix. even if you spent 500 putting in another motor or trans you'd have a great, reliable car for under 1,000 that's a smoking deal (but you shouldn't have to spend that). VERY possible it's something simple - one common mistake of mechanics is they install the timing belts wrong and the car turns over but wont' start. they assume it's a *bent valve* or something and quote large repair costs and the owner decides to junk it. pull the timing covers (You'll only need a 10mm wrench and maybe a screw drive to help pry the covers off to have a look). only need to remove the left and right timing covers, the come right off without removing anything else. look at the cam sprockets (the large notched pulleys on the far left and right), you'll see them right under the timing covesr. they have a small mark on the face of them, sometimes hard to see in poor light or if they're dirty - a small half inch square sort of on the outer perimeter of the face. the marks should be 180 DEGREES OUT OF PHASE - in other words if one side is at noon - the other side should be at 6 oclock. if one side is at 3 oclock the other should be at 9oclock. mechanics sometimes install them THE SAME WAY because they don't know - in other words the timing belts are both at the same spot on the cams - the notch on each cam with be at 3 oclock. if that's the case you only have to reinstall the passenger side belt and drive off a great vehicle. (installing t-belt wrong won't damage an XT6 motor). you can also pull the distributor cap and see if the rotor turns when the engine turns - if not the timing belt is broke on that side. but that won't tell you if the other timing belt (passengers side is broke), though it's normally the drivers side that breaks first. could be a bad ground - attach wire or jumper cables from negative terminal of battery to ground wire on the engine - there's one by the oil cap that i tyipcally use. a bad ground will allow the engine to turn over but not enough to start, seen that happen. the bad ground wire will get really hot, but since there are multiple wires that's hard to find, best to just give it good ground and try. also - see if the ECU in the trunk is flashing any codes. if it's flashing anthing other than 3 quick flashes then it has a code that could be preventing it from starting - like water temp sensor (a 21). pop the trunk and look up top under where the speakers are. . you'll see a flashing light (with the key in the ON position). after trying to start see if it gives any codes.

i do the same as mentioned by everyone else. no worries.

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don't know, never tested one. i replace them every so often and have never had one go bad.

does this thing have the center bearing support on the rear driveshaft? could the bearings in that support make all that noise? never seen it happen before but they are a big set of bearings and i've heard other bearings makes plenty of noise. does the sound increase with RPM or speed?

you can rotate the input shaft and count how many times one of the outputs (shaft or axle stub) rotates. or backwards, rotate the axle stub or output shaft and see how many times the input shaft rotates. rotate 10 times - a 3.7 will rotate 37 times and a 3.9 will rotate 39.

you said it was checked, did you verify it doesn't have too much refrigerant in the lines? this can cause your problems as well.

they are cheap and easy to replace so you could install a new one. and yes your t-stat could be causing this problem. not an issue now but if it is indeed your tstat then it could eventually end up in the closed position instead of open (causing no heat) and this would overheat your motor. not worth the risk in my oppinion. if you want to test it, pull it out (with the engine cold!). with the engine cold the t-stat should be closed, so all you have to do to test it is look at it. if it's open at all then it is not working properly as it should be closed at room temperature. the tstat remains closed until the engine warms to whatever temperature the t-stat is rated for, then the t-stat opens to cool the motor. if it's constantly open (or you don't have a tstat at all) then the coolant keeps flowing and the engine never really gets hot, neither does the coolant, neither does the heat and neither do you. so if you take it out and it's open, it's causing your no heat problem. you can also plop it in a pot of water on the stove and heat it up to see if it opens all the way up at it's rated temp. but if yours is stuck open then you don't need to do that. if the t-stat appears fine then youll want to pull both heater core hoses and run a garden hose through one side to blow out any trash accumulated in the lines to/through the heater core.

i've run multiple XT6's without O2 sensors and the CEL light does not come on and the car drives very well. gas mileage will dip some, but otherwise they run well without it. i don't see an issue here. if you suspect the water temp sensor (and it can cause an issue without the CEL coming on, though it typically will). it is highly unlikey the water temp sensor itself is the cause. more than likely it's the connection, dirty wires, corroded harness, etc. the sensors rarely go bad. replacing it with a new one will likely fix the connections temporarily as the contacts on the sensor will be clean but those in the harness will still be dirty and the problem usually returns in a couple months. very annoying. check this thread, i came up with a permanent fix for the water temperature sensor problem, one of the best MODs i've done. excellent pain in the rump roast relief to ease of mod ratio. http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=27923

(hey john, didn't know you thumbed around here) is it the head or exhaust manifold that is cracked? i guess the head since yo'ure suggesting the head may need replaced. if you could take a picture of it, i would bet it's fixable. even if you had to have a shop (a machine shop for instance) weld the head and retap it for a bolt that would only cost 200 dollars or something. i wouldn't believe someone if they told me it wasn't fixable, i'd have to see it myself to believe that. particularly if the car is running fine right now, no way. look up "machine shop" on yahoo yellow pages in your area and call around. find one willing to look and they'll fix it for cheap (relatively cheap that is). if he suggests you need a new head i'd keep him away from my car, he's probably already tanked something on it. sorry, i've been cheated myself back in the day. i trust few mechanics. if you get a picture of it, email or PM me as i'll probalby miss your replies.

i actually duplicated each gasket after i trimmed them up so i have exact matching gaskets for the future, just in case. i did cut some of my own gsakets for the water coolant passages.

i always do this since i only know one thing really well and not much about others - but in the XT6 FSM - the TPS testing procedures are dead wrong, not even close. no XT6 TPS will ever test within the specs of the factory service manual. if they do, then it's not working right!! so if they share TPS or are similar in that regards you may run into issues trying to match the FSM specs. again, XT6 related so it may not help you at all.

it's also possible that one of your radiator caps is bad, but it sounds like you've tracked the problem down a bit so that's not likely. also - when it starts getting hot, are the fans turning on?