idosubaru

i'd reseal the oil pump. in my experience the gasket behind the pump has far more issues than the shaft seal. i have the original pump on my 220,000 mile XT6 motor that has been thoroughly used. i resealed it at 150,000 miles and never had tapping issues. i did a complete reseal, cleaned the HLA's, replaced all cam carrier oil supply orings and resealed the oil pump. i used all aftermarket parts for oil supply seals/gaskets. if you want to buy a new one, do it as that's a fine move as well.

be careful about coolant temp sensor...there can be multiple ones (or similar devices/similar named sensors) on the car. i have some electrical connection under my intake manifold as well (XT6), it's about the only part on the entire car that i don't have a clue what it's for. anyway, the coolant temp sensor on an XT6 is up front by the thermostat on top the motor. this is the one that gives the ECU code you're seeing. i think there's also one in the radiator for the cooling fans...which is sometimes referred to as a coolant temp sensor. just be careful which one you mess with, there's only one that you're looking for.

the mechanic likely bumped or rested a wheel on the latching mechanism. it is probably slightly bent or misaligned or needs minor adjustment. i threw something on top of mine and it took a bit to figure out what the freak it was doing. finally figured it out by crawling in the trunk with a flashlight and pulling the trunk down and watching what happened.

helicoil should work fine. other options: you could try the stock thread size and try running a tap through it to see if there's enough material to use...probably not but worth a shot. try using a longer than stock stud or bolt, you can probably reach untouched threads. i'd try a stainless steel bolt first - easiest solution. after that a helicoil would be fine. or you could try tapping the hole to the next largest size and use a larger stud or bolt for that one hole. may or may not require reaming out/drilling out the flange as well if you need more clearance for a larger bolt. best case scenario you tap it to the next largest size and use a bolt and you're done. worst case you'll have to work on the hole in the flange so it fits.

thanks rob. Xt6er's are tearing this topic up.....pretty good showing for one thread.

i doubt there's any cost benefit over making spacer instead of having an existing shaft lengthened for someone paying for custom work. that being the case, there's no point in creating and adding more parts or connections, just make the existing part long enough for the application. but if you can do it yourself then tear it up. whatever it takes to get the power to the ground and you're in business.

doubt it's your converter. typically *new* to you cars need lots of tune-up items that were neglected by the previous owner and that's not going to make a nearly 20 year old car run very well. do a complete tune up and i bet it runs much better. ignition is huge - spark plugs, ignition wires, distributor cap, rotor, ignition coil. air filter, fuel filter, pcv valve. make sure all hoses and air intake hoses are tight, no leaks. check the timing. do these things (not that hard or expensive) and i think you'll be surprised how much better it runs. if you don't want to do the tune up - check for spark and compression. change the oil frequently to be sure the valve train is clean and lubricated/functioning properly. if it's fuel injected you can have the injector sent off to RC engineering or other companies for 80-100 dollars to have cleaned. i just had 6 cleaned for my XT6. most people just dump a couple bottles of fuel injector cleaner in the tank instead since that's only 5 dollars. the timing belts could be installed incorrectly (plenty of examples of mis-installed soob timing belts).

a caliper rebuild every time? that sounds like BS to me, but what do i know, i'm not an EA81 owner. i've owned all XT models, so i don't know EA81's, but i've never heard of rebuilding a caliper every time. throw on some new brake pads and you're good to go. like mentioned earlier, if the piston needs to be turned in, then be sure to have the right tool and screw the piston back instead of using a C Clamp. the piston on XT6's on the front calipers for example ride on a threaded spindle and have to be turned in ordered to retract or they won't go in. a c-clamp won't work. you've already had these rebuilt, so just slap some new pads on there and be on your way.

if the caliper isn't currently leaking or sticking you should be able to slap new pads on there and go about your business without touching the calipers. i've had a couple soobs with 200,000+ miles (my current daily driver has 220,000) on the original calipers. i've rebuilt and am about to rebuild the ones on my daily driver. rebuild kit costs like less than 10 dollars and has the seals to rebuild both calipers. doesn't require any special tools and is easy enough to do, just did a set last week for one of my XT6's. turning the piston back in is the most annoying part, just be patient and keep turning. the new seal will make it a tight fit, but just keep turning it and keep at it. not much to it really, either use the e-brake lever (if off the car) or the brake pedal (caliper still on car) and keep working them until the piston comes all the way out. or you can blow compressed air through the brake line port. push the piston all the way out. remove the rubber dust seal and clip that holds it in place. clean out the caliper bore and the piston, install the new seal and rubber boot and you're done. there's only 3 parts to each caliper - piston seal and rubber boot (with clip to hold in place), that's it. very simple set up really and not hard to do at all, just takes time like anything else. the outer rubber you see is just a dust shield really, shouldn't be holding back fluid. if there is fluid behind the dust boot then the piston or seal has been compromised in some way.

pat, cool i did send a PM a long time ago trying to finally get back to you on ER27 radiator dimensions. took me awhile. glad you found one.

phil, just turn the mount like you said. drill holes/add yellow nuts and bolts as needed. shouldn't be too hard hard to figure out as you go, not much in the way really.

anyone know how these 2 row radiators compare to an XT6 radiator? any XT6 owner knows that there are no aftermarket suppliers for an XT6. the XT radiators can be tweaked to fit but are one row. anyone know if the hose sizes on the 2 row EA82 radiators are smaller than the XT6? are they all metal or have plastic end tanks as well?

two discussions are taking place at the same time right now. the symptoms are similar but the causes and solutions are different. mmo and ATF are solutions to faulty HLA's. resealing the oil pump is a solution for corrupted oil supply (bad seals/gaskets at the oil pump). Discussion 1 - MMO and ATF are solutions to HLA's that are dirty or sticky or stuck and not functioning properly. frequent oil changes and a long time may eventually free them up. MMO and ATF will expedite the process. if the car isn't driven or run much or is opened up (rebuild/reseal) for some reason it is common for them to be very loud for quite some time. take note of the noise, if it comes from one or more cylinders and never from other cylinders then the problem is an HLA. (if the ticking is on one side of the engine it could be something else, but that's rare so i'm not going to mention it). a compression test can also help nail down a stuck HLA. a bad HLA can degrade compression readings at that cylinder. if MMO and ATF don't clear up the ticking then you need to replace the HLA's at the noisy cylinders. pull the cam tower off and carefully inspect your HLA's. you'll notice that frozen or stuck/noisy HLA will be *shorter* than the rest. for instance, lay a ruler across all your HLA's and the tops of them should all be in a straight line. any one that is not in line with the rest is the culprit of your noise. i wouldn't try this method of diagnosis on an engine that's been sitting on a motor stand or in a garage for awhile. it might work, but will work best with freshly used and lubricated HLA's. replace faulty HLA's and be on your way. you can even clean them yourself if you feel so inclined. i've done it, it's simple but time consuming. from now on i'll just buy them or have mine cleaned/rebuilt. Discussion 2 - if your ticking is all over the place (by location - not frequency) and random, then it's an oil supply problem and a new gasket/oring and seal will solve your problem. (there's a slight chance it could be something else, but highly unlikey so i won't list them). a bad seal can still give pressure readings that look good. who cares what your pressure reading is, forget about that, if your HLA's are ticking THEY are telling you there is a problem, not the pressure gauge. air bubbles are incurred somewhere in the oil supply and end up in the HLA's. air is compressible and oil is not. the HLA's do not function properly with excessive air bubbles in them, because the air inside of them compresses where oil would not. try putting air bubbles in your brake lines and see how well they work....okay don't do that....i'll just tell you, not very good! similar principle here, air is compressible and won't allow the HLA's to do their job properly. replace your oil pump shaft seal and oring. typically there are two ports on the gasket/oring behind the oil pump, the oring material gets *sucked* into one of the ports. i've seen it many times, the oring will be deformed when you remove it, verifying the cause of your problem. i JUST threw one away that was laying on my bench. i was going to take a picture of it, but just tossed it instead like 2 days ago. there is a way to permanently fix this, a guy i know actually made little tiny metal insert to slide into each port, making it impossible for the oring to get sucked into the port again. i haven't chosen to do that since replacing the gaskets/seals properly has always worked for me. do it properly, apply a very small amount of anaerobic sealant (not on the gasket) where the engine block halves meet at noon and 6 oclock on behind the oil pump housing.

timing belt or the timing belt tensioner on that side possibly. swap distributors. have you checked your timing? that shouldn't be the problem, but have you checked it and been able to properly time the distributor?

there was a kaminari kit made and people are running them. best bet is to find someone selling it and jump on it. i know someone in scranton, PA that just bought one. they are very hard to come by as you know. there was discussion on http://www.xt6.net about someone (a board member at xt6.net) making additional kits based off an original but they didn't seem to follow through with that yet. i test drove a white XT6 in atlanta, GA that had one on it. if i had bought it i'd definitely sell it to you. i'd probably pay you to get it off my car.

definitely your contacts are corroded, dirty or loose or all of the above. this is one of the most annoying problems i've had with XT/XT6's. if you clean the contacts (really annoying), it will go away...for awhile, and then come back. if you buy a new sensor, it will go away...for awhile and then come back. so, i came up with a permanent solution: http://xt6.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1767&highlight=fix doesn't take long and saves you lots of issues down the road. i highly recommend doing the permanent fix or buying a new wiring harness connector (if you can locate one). cleaning or buying a new sensor is a temporary fix, i wouldn't recommend doing that.

if you have an air compressor you can do a leak down test yourself with the right adapter. if you hook up a starter/trans to the motor and make sure it has oil you can probably attempt to test compression if you know what you're doing. just give the starter power to turn the motor over enough for a compression test. prop the throttle plate open. i wouldn't do that unless you're comfortable doing it of course. yes you can remove the pistons like you say, after you pull the heads. take note of orientation and location of each piston before removal. if you rotate the engine by hand, you can individually inspect each cylinder wall as the piston goes up and down. look for scuff marks and the condition of the cross hatching. any compromising of the cylinder wall will point to some piston and/or ring problems that you would definitely want to address.

in my experience failed HLA's "lifters" will be *stuck* in a lower position than the others and won't move. often if you try compressing them with a c clamp they won't budge. when you remove the cam tower, place a straight edge against the tops of all the HLA's, it's likely that the one or both in the noisey cylinder will be lower than the rest which should be in a straight line. as far as collapsed, that could be something different technically speaking like the internal spring or spacer could fail i suppose. i tried disassmbling the HLA's that i've had that were stuck and they won't budge. heat, ATF, many days of soaking in various penetrants and prying and pulling with channel locks and they would not free up so i could disassemble and clean them. i throw them away. really it's not even putting that much time into them, i just wanted to get them apart to see why they were so difficult. dirty oil will foul up HLA's. frequent oil changes lead to healthy HLA's.

i vote for the thermostat. possibly the radiator fans not coming on. when it starts to run hot, pop the hood or listen real good and see if the fans turn on.

cv axle failure is highly unlikely. you can drive with that broken cv boot for as long as you keep the car.....unless you keep it awhile. i routinely put 50,000 + miles on front cv joints AFTER they start clicking. they are not likely to fail anytime soon. the only cv axle failure i had was a BRAND NEW ONE. obviously not the norm and manufacturing defect of some kind. in any event, just don't want people to feel like they are in a dangerous situation just from a broken boot. i recall when i didn't know anything about cars i'd replace the axle immediately because it sounds like a sometime terrible is wrong going around a turn. now i know better. i've put 100,000 miles on broken rear cv's and they have never started clicking. if you're not keeping the car awhile, don't bother replacing it. if you're keeping it awhile, replace the axle.

get him to tell you the part number and manufacturer and call a supplier, the company or the dealer depending where the gasket originated from.

be sure the trans pan is not dented severly. this can lower the clearance between the sump on the atf filter and the bottom of the pan and screw with the available line pressure causing really weird issues that are hard to track down. not likely, but something simple to check. install an aftermarket transmission cooler.

a water filled cylinder will prevent you from turning the motor over by hand. pull spark plugs like mentioned to check. or have someone stand behind the car as you crank it. if water drips out of the exhaust (anywhere between motor and tip, not just the end of the exhaust) then you're getting water in your cylinder(s) i doubt it, but it could be a timing belt if something strange is happening. pull the left and right timing covers (just a couple 10mm bolts) to check the timing belt. i could forsee a rare case where a timing belt pulley seizes, brakes or separates and somehow causes the timing belt to turn into a tangled mess where it's still wrapped around the crank sprockets preventing it from turning. removing the covers would be really easy and tell you in a matter of minutes whether that's the case or not.

the lug stud holes will be identical, not sure about fitment though (width, size, etc). seems the wrx rotors would be larger in some way. check some online part stores like thepartsbin.com or others and see if they post sizes with the part numbers and pictures.

you're golden, no valve or piston issues to worry about on this motor. change your oil and filter and that may help. reseal your oil pump. (one gasket and one seal) that's generally the first step. if it doesn't fix it, that's okay it needs to be done anyway. if the tapping is from one cylinder, then one of the HLA's (lifters) at that cylinder has issues. if the tapping moves or changes sides of the motor it's likely oil pump related. HLA's can graduallly be cleaned over time if you're willing to add some MMO or ATF to the oil, do some oil changes and give it some time. SEAFOAM is also a highly touted product but i've never used it before so i'll let someone else talk about that. very good results have been posted using it as well. i use ATF (and MMO on ocassion) to clean out used subaru motors (HLA's particularly) when i first get them. run a quart of ATF or MMO in with your oil for awhile and gradually it may clean them and free them up. it is possible that they are seized to the point they need to be replaced. you can also pull the HLA's and disassemble them, clean them and reassemble them. i've had a couple that i couldn't pull apart to clean one time, so i replaced them.