idosubaru

if you're talking about noises related to seals, gaskets and actual oil supply issues, look through the thousands of existing threads on the subject. if you're speaking of the pump itself making external noises, the oil pump has a very thin metal backing plate. this plate can come off and make a loud whirring noise about as good as i can explain it. timing belt can grab that metal plate and get torn to shreads. (i had an extra belt in the trunk and bent the plate out of the way with some channel locks to get me home then removed the plate entirely later)

remove the bumper and drill holes in it to remove material.

should have the heads checked and machined and a valve job done as well and a good machine shop will pressure check the heads as well. have the oil pump seal/gasket, cam seals, rear main seal and crank seal replaced while it's all apart. all these seals and gaskets are inexpensive so there's no reason to leave the old ones in when the engine is torn down and they are right in front of you. with that amount of investment into the car, i'd replace the timing belt pullies and tensioners to prevent premature timing belt failure and engine damage. this is very wise if it's an interference engine (which it is if it's 97 or greater 2.2 liter motor). with all that work you might also consider having the fuel injectors professionally cleaned by some place like RC Engineering (cost about 100 bucks). (there are cheaper options than them though). not likely but injectors with severe leakage into the cylinder can wash oil off the walls causing premature wear. sounds like a good $100 preventative maintenance item to me for major engine work. they include all the before and after flow testing of the injectors and new orings for installation. make sure the coolant and radiator, hoses and clamps are in excellent condition. overheating will quickly destroy a motor, no need in taking that chance when doing a thorough rebuild. head gaskets at 117 and 130??? is this the 2.5 liter motor? i have an OBS with 65,000 miles and hate to see such major problems with low miles. i've had a couple XT6's with the original gaskets at 200,000+.

anyone verify if ER27 (XT6) and Turbo EA82 injectors are the same? how about EA82 and EA82T? how about EA82 and ER27?

depends when you last cleared them. they could be residual codes from weeks, months or years ago that really don't mean anything now. or they could be valid. it's best to clear them and check regularly if you suspect problems or want useful information.

just like miles said: 2 axles 2 outer seals 2 inner seals 2 wheel bearings wheel bearing grease you might need an axle nut and cotter pin. axle should come with new ones, but i have seen them without new hardware before. plenty of people have reused the axle nuts and pins before, but warnings abound on using new hardware. i've reused axle nuts before, but normally i do not. i've never been able to find them at an autoparts store and i've seen subaru want like 13 dollars each for them! on a side note, it's a big help to make sure you have a really good socket for removing the axle nut, it is on there very tight. 3/4 inch wratchet should be used, avoid 1/2 inch if you can. (i've broken 2 1/2 inch socket wrenches and one 1/2 inch breaker bar on axle nuts). finally got a 3/4 inch, great move.

hard to say just reading about it, but i'd guess the valve stem seals as well. piston rings or stem seals the good news is this isn't that big of a deal...if you don't mind adding oil every now and again. oil leaks don't really mean anything, just keep oil in it. with new headgaskets, timing belts and water pump this motor could last a really long time. might go through more oil than the average car, but who cares oil is inexpensive. you're going to go through more gas than a hybrid car, who cares if you go through more oil than other cars? on older cars people routinely need to add a couple quarts of oil between oil changes, no big deal just slightly annoying. the great news is that it's not leaking, that's really annoying. although leaks are typically easier to repair than burning oil but clouds of smoke choking you out as the oil drips on your exhaust at a redlight....boo for that. i wouldn't bother taking it to a dealer. they'll charge an rump roast load of money to diagnose it properly or just give you a really high number to fix it since they'll guess it's the valve stem seals or piston rings so they'll likely give you the higher of the two numbers. (which will be really big). how many miles? i say the valve stem seals should have been replaced when the head gaskets were done but i bet they were not. if you're really interested in fixing it get a leak down test done (i wouldn't go to a dealer, i wouldn't trust them to do it right. they'll assume it's something and just tell you that and say they did the leak down test...unless you really trust your dealer). after the leak down test you'll either need the valve stems replaced or a new block (if it's the piston rings...which i would doubt). new block would be much more expensive obviously. i'd fix this myself eventually (i would wait awhile and woudlnt be in any rush since the motor will be fine) but if i had to pay someone to do it, i'd forget all of this and keep adding oil myself.

fan speed controls and air control buttons can cause these problems sometimes. but i'm not familiar with brats or EA81's.

WOO HOO!! XT6 questions. has your check engine light ever come on? a couple things could be your problems: do a complete tune up. particularly the spark plugs (use the stock NGK, they are great plugs), distributor cap, rotor and wires. you can try neglecting the wires if you need to save cash, otherwise i say replace them and i highly recommend magnecor wires if you plan on keeping the car for awhile. now that your ignition is golden - clean your IAC valve. Idle Air Control Valve. two 10 mm bolts and a bracket hold it to the intake manifold with a hose going in both sides of it. don't bother replacing it. remove it and keep spraying electrical contact cleaner or brake cleaner (any cleaner that doesn't leave a residue), keep cleaning until no more black dust comes out. now the water temperature sensor. i would suspect this is the cause of your irratic idle problems. but your check engine light should come on (but not necessarily - have seen coolant temp sensors cause problems without triggering the CE light, but no usually). next to your thermostat and the second coolant cap (not the one on the radiator) is an electrical sensor, that's your water temp sensor that will cause problems. these little annoyances cause problems ALL THE TIME. i've owned 7 XT6's and of the ones that i've driven for any length of time i've had numerous run ins with this coolant sensor. don't replace the sensor. the electrical contacts will be the problem. if you wiggle this connector while the car is idling you might hear the engine jump all over the place, stall or smooth out to a perfect idle as you wiggle the connector around. this is one way to verify this thing is causing you problems. even if you don't experience this, check the connectors. remove the harness and typically you'll see green corossion. i actually did a permanent fix to this reoccuring issue. i finally cut the wiring harness off and cracked one side of the plastic on top the sensor (just for added room/space) then soldered the wires directly to the sensor contacts and used some shrink wrap to cover them up. then i spliced in connectors a few inches away on the wires so i can remove the water temp sensor if i need to. i posted a picture of this mod here: http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=27923 if you plan on keeping the car this is a great mod to do, it's very easy and saves you lots of headaches and annoying surges and inconsitent performance in the future. another option for your idling is the MAF sensor. i would expect some noticeable drivability problems though, not just at idle. an easy way to inspect the MAF is to remove it and look internally under good light. you'll see very very fine wire (hot wire anemometer type device) inside the MAF sensor. these wires can snap/break. they are extremely thin so have good light around to inspect them. a broken wire will cause terrible driving and gas mileage. this does not gaurantee your MAF is good, but may show if it is bad. swapping in a known good unit is a great option. if you did everything above i would be very surprised if the car didn't run much better. but if not we'll explore other options. compression test all cylinders, bad gas, bad air filter...could also be problems. but i would do a tune up as suggested above, clean the IAC and then check the MAF and water temp sensor. this can all be done yourself easily and doesn't take that long and doesn't cost much and makes me write run on sentences. good luck.

i wish i could say i haven't seen one without power locks. is swapping parts from an impreza an option or not really? i'd rather use stock parts if possible. any other models swap to the OBS doors?

that would be awesome if you could post. so a generic aftermarket kit will work? i saw one at JC Whitney for 69 dollars. pic's would be awesome as i am going to do this to my OBS. were the directions with the kit adequate? thanks!

tranny could be fine. the noise may just be the pilot or throw out bearings which can typically make noise. replace them both when you put in a new motor. they are typical replacement parts for a clutch job anyway. i agree, get another subaru (turbo) unless you're ready to spend serious loot in the interest of higher horsepower.

bad headgaskets will loose coolant. once the coolant loss is enough to prevent sufficient flow to your heater core you will indeed loose any heat eventhough the engine temps keep climbing. this is typical of head gasket failure. other things can cause lack of heat from the heater as well, but i think you know that. 2,400 sounds high. you can find another 2.2 liter impreza outback motor for less than a thousand. if you drove the car for any length of time with bad headgaskets that's not good for the rod bearings and other internals. water mixes with oil and continuous driving like that is not good for motor.

i have manual locks on my 97 OBS. any ideas on converting to electric locks? surprised i didn't see anything on this in a search. can i buy two electric doors and use the parts inside? is the car be pre-wired to accept the electric door lock connections?

so you can remove the canister. and you can plug two of the lines in the engine bay that run to the canister. but one needs to be left open to vent the gas tank? is that right. damn, i leaveing for wedding/honeymoon right now and probably will miss the rest of this discussion.

i'm still confused. why don't the manufacturers just *plug the lines* from the dealer? no gases will escape right? i've never understood that freaking thing. is this system how air gets into the gas tank as fuel is pumped out? with fuel pumping out of a completely closed systeme, that would create a vacuum in the gas tank. i'm really wanting a good explanation of why this canister has to be there. why were fuel systems *vented* to the atmosphere to begin with?

can you remove the canister without significant gas mileage or motor running issues? i'd like to pull the entire canister out and plug up all 3 lines going to the canister or just remove them if i can. is that what you're talking about? what does that thing do anyway? will it still pass emissions?

this is funny, sort of ironic. i sold a manual XT6 transmission to a guy in either Michigan or Minnesota (i think it was michigan, one of those "M" states out there), when i was living in georgia. shipping was 86.00 via UPS. it was *just* under their 140 pound weight limit back then. of course they had to take my word for it since they couldn't get it on the scale. the lady was laughing at us. i strapped it to some 2x4's, wrapped in plastic and drove it to the atlanta airport where the UPS drop is. they took it and it got there. that was probably 5 years ago, shipping regulations and prices have changed since then, but might want to check. it was a slight pain in the rump roast, but doable for what it is and i couldn't believe it was only 86.00. but it was.

avoid JB weld if you plan on keeping the car for an extended period.

definitely best to pull the pan and weld it. or just install one from a yard or someone parting one out for a couple bucks. make sure the pan isn't dented such that it restricts the flow of oil to the sump. more likely on an auto transmission pan than oil pan, but best to check just to be sure that clearance isn't reduced. i'd attempt to drill and tap the pan and install a bolt in the hole. or drill and insert a self tapping screw it was too thin to tap. if the pan was too thin then i'd go back to welding it. pulling the pan requires unbolting motor and trans mounts and raising/tilting the motor to get the sump to clear the baffles in the pan. pulling the pan is annoying and getting a good seal with the new gasket is equally annoying, if the current pan gasket doesn't leak i'd try this method first to see how it goes. ill go ahead and tell you others on the board will think this is a stupid idea.

on the cylinder walls, if you open up a 200,000 miles subaru that's been well maintained the cross hatching will look new in the cylinders as well. i haven't seen one yet that didn't have excellent cylinder walls and cross hatching at 200,000 miles. seen one block that had some tiny divots along the lip of the cylinder from driving on a blown head gasket but otherwise the cylinder walls have always looked perfect at the ones i've looked into.

the bearings can be replaced. you'll need a local bearing supplier (unless you can find them online, i have not found them on line for my subaru XT6's). but i did find suppliers that sell the bearings. you'd need a press to remove the old and install the new bearings. the part number is right across the face of the bearings. take them to a bearing supply place and they can either get the exact same one or cross reference the part number to other brands.

i run without them. before i ran without them i had 3 failed bearings and a broken oil pump pulley (which snapped the timing belt) WITH timing covers, so i wouldn't blame any failure of that sort to running without covers. that's with alot of miles of driving on a couple XT6's. i think it's most beneficial if you're doing the work to your own car, makes timing belt replacement super quick and super easy. if you don't, i wouldn't worry about it unless they're in the way somehow. i've seen them rubbing belts before if they are contorted or deformed enough.

may want to check http://www.xt6.net as well, there are a few XT Turbo owners there that may be able to help.

you probably didn't do any damage unless you were covering a significant number of miles like this. i know two people that had their manual XT6's towed on two wheels and never had any problems. if you want to pull this move consistently you could remove the rear drive shaft. assuming it's all snow and frozen ground you shouldn't get stuck if you're accustomed to driving in snow/offroad. keep driveshaft in car just in case! changing your fluids is a nice things to do for your trans, particularly with any abnormal driving conditions such as this.