idosubaru

is this All Wheel Drive? also curious how many miles it has. i'd double check the fluid before assuming there's thousands of dollars worth of damage. make sure there is fluid in there and it's not all jacked up. personally, i'd find a used unit and install it WITH a transmission cooler. your transmission should last much longer with a cooler installed. well worth the tiny 30 dollars investment in a cooler. personally i'd rather buy 2 used units really cheap (actually i just get them from my parts cars or trade for them) than spend 3-4 thousand on a new one. i traded for a used 4EAT and have put 50,000 miles on it so far, runs great. free is much better than 3/4,000 dollars. when i installed my trans i was still doing physical therapy for separating my shoulder so i asked a transmission shop how much it would cost to install a transmission if i supplied the trans. they said 150-200 to install my transmission with a new filter. i ended up just doing it myself. no way i'd ever spend that much loot. much cooler things i can do with 3,000 dollars than spend it on something i can just get done for a few hundred. last time i looked for an older model 4EAT i found one for 250.00. seen them for less than that before. this is for the XT6 older model 4EAT's though so it's not a bolt up version for your car.

COMPRESSION TEST i think you'll find something.

someone definitely tried to remove that filter with a wrench, just a matter of who. there really is no way to determine if it was the last oil change guy, or the one before him though. i'd check your trans fluid level before turning the car on again. this would not cause you to need a trans fluid flush, just replace the filter.

there have been multiple requests for XT6 flywheel or flexplate stoppers, can you post those prices? i will call if i remember when i'm not at work.

if you can manage to get enough gap to put a blade in there, you can cut it out. obviously be very careful, but i've done it before. seriously annoying. not sure what it is about these intake bolts but every XT6 (and one XT) that i work on has this problem on at least one bolt. i've done 4 or 5 head gasket jobs and this can be the worst part of the whole process on some jobs. dump lots of liquid wrench down the hole as well if you want to try to work it loose. how about a punch or a long metal rod stuffed down the hole and then start pounding? nothing is connected, so eventually it would seem it would have to come out. i'm thinking a properly set up press would push it out in no time with no risk to the parts.

first - how are your tires? a wheel weight could have fallen off, have them checked. look on the outside, if it's recent sometimes you can see where the wheel weight used to be. or rotate your tires and see if the vibration *moves* or changes. this would indicate a bad tire or wheel (severly dirty or damaged). wheels bolted down tight? otherwise - driveshaft. the ujoints go bad. sometimes you can tell by looking at it if the ujoint is bad. otherwise pull it off (not hard to do at all) and it will be obvious which ujoint is bad. they feel lumpy and sometimes are even seized completey and not movable at all but yours doesnt sound this bad. they can degrade quickly, i wouldn't plan on waiting a terribly long time to fix this. doubtful it needs rebalanced, that is unlikely to be your problem. the ujoints are most likely to be your problem. get a used driveshaft. cheapest solution. on the older subaru's they can be rebuilt by a machine shop and they can install all new regreaseable u-joints. i got tired of replacing bad drive shafts with old driveshafts over and over again (but my XT6 is old) and finally got one rebuilt. st. augustine drive line shop (look them up on the internet) lists which ujoints fit your model (if there is one available for your car). or go to Rockford's website and see what they list for your application. rebuilding cost me about 190.00 for everything to have both halves of my driveshaft rebuilt with replaceable and greaseable ujoints. but if you just replace the bad ujoint you can probably get it done for 50-75 dollars. i'd recommend replacing them all if you plan on keeping the vehicle.

that's pretty sweet with the copper pipe. there's no way to jam the flexplate with a socket extension like you can on older soobs?

a good machine shop can repair the end of your crank instead of buying an entire motor. my friend had the same thing happen. any shop will tell you "new engine". but get it towed to a machine shop and they'll fix it, probably with the motor in the car. in my experience they are generally much more honest and are great resources for mechnics. a mechanic at a shop doesn't want to waste time with that though, they just want your money even if there's a cheaper way. i'm not sure if your crank pulley wasn't tight enough or if it actually failed. if you're concerned about reliability as i am because i drive way too many miles, i'd consider the following. they can be very expensive new, as they will be a dealer only part. and then you're paying alot of money for something that still has that stupid ring in it. probably won't fail if you get a new one, but it definitely won't fail if it didn't have that rubber ring in it. if it is truely a harmonic balancer and not just a crank pulley, then the option i would choose is to have a shop make you a pulley. that's what i'm doing for my XT6 (150 - 200 dollars). crank pulleys are just solid metal pulleys. harmonic balancers have a thin ring of rubber inset between two (an inner and outer with the rubber ring separating them) metal parts to make up the harmonic balancer. this rubber ring can fail and the balancer can either wobble, eat up your belt or it can even slip. slip is really fun, the inner ring turns with the crank as it's rigidly bolted to it. but the outer ring will slip on the rubber ring and cause charging and overheating problems because the belt isn't turning the pump and alternator fast enough. if you suspect this, mark the blancer with chalk and drive around some. the mark will no longer line up across the rubber ring. or a balancer can completely fail where the outer ring completely separates from the inner. for around 200...maybe less, a shop can make a solid metal pulley in place of your harmonic balancer. have them make it of aluminum and it will greatly reduce the weight and add some gas mileage and horsepower to your motor.

i've driven with expired tags a zillion times. just drove 1,500 miles from MD to GA and back a week or so ago to buy another XT6. 2004 tags on the truck. in my experience being honest has always worked. start lying and trying to pull one over and you insult their power trip mentality. i've been pulled over 4 times with expired tags, never been arrested. they could, but they aren't going to arrest some dork like me who's lazy, honest and doesn't have a record. one out of the 4 times i was pulled over they did tow the car. when i go to court (i would never pay a lawyer) i just tell the truth. i was in college, didn't have the money and was putting it off, but now i got tags. and the judge drops the charges and sends you on your way. it is annoying, i don't recommend it but it's not that big of a deal either. of course if you're in the city i bet it's much worse and more annoying. i'm in a small town, these guys aren't out to pound you, they do have that whole power/attitude thing going on that the profession attracts, but otherwise in my small town i've found them tolerable in their actions...maybe not their attitude though. but hey, i had expired tags, expired license, no insurance. that was the college days of no $$, don't do that no more. the truck was an exception. was inpsected, but no time to register before i left for the trip. don't be nervous, don't lie. they've heard it all before. don't think your excuse is particularly witty, they are used to hearing some things and used to hearing attempts to be different.

AH HAH!!!! that's what i'm looking for.

air bag light goes on and stays on, it never turns off. since many cars don't have air bags and some people disconnect them for small children or even very small people i'm hoping they don't check that. guy i use seems reasonable enough.

good point - 1997 OBS and i'm in maryland. light bulb is not easily accessible. the wiring is, anyone know which wire supplies power? i think they'll see black tape, so that probably won't cut it. i'll just have it inspected and worry about it if they fail it. they'll want to fail something to feel like they're actually being productive and make me feel like i'm getting something for my money so maybe that will give them something to write up. i tend to think it won't fail for that, but figured i'd address it if there was an easy way. thanks

anyway to get the air bag light to turn off besides fixing it? i need the light out now, will fix the air bag later. drivers side is fixed, awaiting manuals and parts to fix the passengers side. until then, i'd like the light off to pass inspection. don't even know that they care, but would rather it be off just in case. anyone ever posted how to replace passengers side air bag? thanks hot dogs,

need to determine if the oil pressure sending unit and gauge is working correclty. there may be nothing wrong at all. or it could be something very serious that could ruin your engine if you keep running it. you mentioned "high rpm's the pressure drops off", i'm wondering if maybe you should look at your timing belts or the oil pump itself. maybe under heavier loads the belt is slipping over the pump sprockets. either because the belt is old or the oil pump has a problem. i've never heard or seen that happen, but something to check as a last resort.

why did you do all that cooling system work? electric on the fans water pump hoses thermostat sounds like you may have had overheating problems prior to doing all this work. if so, the overheating or running hot may have caused some damage. hopefully not of course but running hot is not good on motors, particularly 15 year old gaskets.

fill it up, let it idle awhile (keep eye on Temps). check under car, check hoses and look underneath the car and hood for leaks. is your passengers side floorboard wet? heater core leak may not be visible, but you probably would have noticed the coolant in the cabin by now. at cold start check your tail pipe and look for coolant coming out the tailpipe. remove your oil cap, look underneath of it, see any white foamy stuff?

pull the hoses from the heater core and blow them out with compressed air/garden hose of water. you'll be amazed what comes out. if it's really bad, you'll need to do it to the lines prior to the heater core as well and flush it all out.

is the gas cap tight or leaking? start it and go stand by the exhaust pipe, is it dripping or notice a gas smell? probably won't drip as it will likely evaporate but maybe if it's enough it would. let it idle awhile and pop the hood....stand there and smell for gas and look for leaks. after letting it idle awhile crawl under the car and look at the fuel pump. they can leak but work perfectly fine.

i think that tool is really long in order to reach further into the engine. from the front and back, pistons 1, 5, 2, and 6 are accessible with short nosed tools. 3 and 4 i think need to be long and skinny to pass through the access holes to the center cylinders. i know someone in canada borrowed one from the dealer for a weekend. i'd guess most dealers probably don't even have it and wouldn't loan out tools like that.

it's not nearly as bad as it sounds...if you know what you're doing before the job is started. front motor mount, top mount (pitch rod) and rear trans mounts are only a handful of really easy to get to bolts. the oil pan not being clean and smooth is the only tricky part when you go to reinstall, everything is fairly simple really. it's like 15 degrees with 30 mph winds here today so any job sucks right now. i'd put the car up on jackstands for more room...but then you need a larger jack or 2x4 to get the front of the motor to push up. not a big deal, just verbally vomitting because i'm at work!

support the front of the motor with a jack and 2x4 or whatever you like to use. remove the front motor mount. remove the top pitching rod from the top of the motor/trans. remove the rear transmission mounting bolts. loosen the motor mount bolts. with all motor/trans mounting points loosened or removed, lift the front of the motor up. the rear of the transmission should swing down some. may want to use more than one jack for safety/more flexibility in movement. try removing the pan, if it won't come off then keep jacking the motor up until you have enough clearance to pull the pan around the sump. be very careful installing the new gasket, the pan will likely be rough and the bolt holes will most likely be rounded and bumpy, making it easy to not get a good seal. be sure to get the oil pan as flat as possible where it mates to the motor. not flat = not a good seal. you can also use an engine lift if you have one instead of the jack option. just need the motor/trans assembly to rock *back*.

i noticed light hesitation and reduced gas mileage from a local cheap gas station in my 4 cylinder XT about 10 years ago. my 4 XT6's i've owned since then have not had the same problems (that i noticed). the XT, eventhough i got it at only 3 years old would not get very good gas mileage from this gas. being only 3 years old, the car was in fabulous condition at the time. i believe us northern folks have to deal with manipulated gasoline in the winter, i believe it's chemically different in the winter to reduce emissions but also gives decreased gas mileage. i think it's mandated on a state-by-state basis. shouldn't make a huge difference though. driving style will definitely make a huge difference in gas mileage. city/highway. go easy on the accelerator and your gas milage will change as well. if i'm getting on it in my Ford Truck i get 15mpg, if i drive lightly i get 18mpg. that's a substantial difference - 20 percent. any recent tune ups? ignition components? O2 sensor? fuel/air filters? best just to replace all these low dollar items all at the same time and be done with it.

mr radon, you tired of me yet? get the oil pump shaft seal from http://www.thepartsbin.com or another online source. i like thepartsbin, they've never sent an incorrect XT6 part and their online catalog is not confusing. i would not replace the pump, but if you don't mind spending the money on a new you definitely won't hurt anything. my XT6 has 207,000 miles on the original pump (and i've had other XT6's at 198,000 and 196,000 on the original pumps) and they all had excellent oil pressure. i've never had issues with noisy lifters. someone has to have some spare lifters or even bad lifters sitting around they'd send you and you can use the caps off of them. i thought about the same thing, installing them without the caps as they seemed entirely cosmetic. i may even have some lifter parts at my parents house if i remember to check next time i'm there. there is an excellent aluminum head speciatly shop here in my town that has experience with EA82's and was very familiar with how to approach these heads. they do all of my head work. of course that's thousands of miles from you so what does it matter?

O2 sensor socket i bought does not work on my AWD XT6, not nearly enough room between the sensor and front diff. vehicle dependent.

change your PCV valve maybe? if you're not loosing any coolant then you're probably fine. i'd be sure to change your oil very frequently if there's that much water in the system. you haven't had any engine work done recently (intake or otherwise) that may have allowed coolant to mix with the oil?