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idosubaru

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Everything posted by idosubaru

  1. yes they can. i've heard and done myself (not claiming i have any scientific proof or that i even heard this from a reliable person but i've done it) that it's best to use more than *one bottle* of the typical off the shelf products. of course my car has a huge gas tank (15.9 gallons). but even still, i've used up to 3 or 4 bottles at a time before. maybe that's a bad idea, but i've done it and my fuel injection is all stock at 207,000 miles i've never touched anything on it. ah...that's a lie my fuel pump did drip some around 190,000 miles so i replaced it. it worked fine, i assume all the rust got the worst of it. has any other work ever been done to the car? i'd think simple stuff before having the fuel injection "cleaned". how many miles do you have? what work has been done to it? O2 sensor air filter fuel filter tune up - plug wires, spark plugs, rotor, distributor cap (if you have one) if you have an Idle Air Control valve - spraying it out with a 2 dollar can of electrical contact cleaner will smooth up idles.
  2. a friend of mine had a Ford Explorer that would randomly come in and out of 4WD. i don't know much about Ford 4WD's but figured i'd look, so i crawled under it and found a wire that was mysteriously ripped up, i'm guessing something from the road hit it as he doesnt drive off road or anything. i really didn't think i'd find anything but the wires were all scraped up and shorting out against the frame rail on the drivers side. spliced in new wire and the 4WD worked great. follow all the wires you can, like the rear speed sensor wire should be near the back of the transmission by the extension housing. the actual Duty Solenoid wire may be internal more than external so i don't know that you'll get a good look at it. this is in the snow right? if this was on dry pavement i'd wonder if something is wrong with your tires. do they match? are they properly inflated? are they wearing evenly? a mismatch will cause problems with the transfer clutch locking.
  3. sounds like an alternator problem. have it and your battery tested. bad alternators aren't good for batteries and bad batteries aren't good for alternators. always make sure your connections are good and tight at the battery and the alternator. old, corroded or loose connections can cause bad battery and bad alternator symptoms. they can also make your battery or alternator go bad prematurely. my parents just replace their 10 year old battery in their van. just keep your connections clean and tight.
  4. i installed a NEW axle two summers ago and it blew up within a week. what was i doing? driving less than 15 miles per hour in my parking lot at work, driving straight. it blew to pieces. the TCU was cycling the transfer clutches for the 4WD on and off, a good thing because it allowed me to turn around and get back to the parking lot where i installed another (used) axle the next day in the parking lot which is still in the car 50,000 miles later. i was driving between baltimore and DC just a couple months ago and noticed a guy totally spun out in the median. pulled over to help pull him out. no pulling him out - his 1 or 2 year old...can't remember what it was, dodge intrepid looking car, anyhow the CV joint had totally blown to pieces spinning him out of control somehow. the joint was in a bazillion pieces. wouldn't surprise me if their paying some guy 3 dollars a day in korea to assemble cv joints for 16 hours a day.
  5. airbag light fixed for 400.00, what part costs 400 to fix that? the 4WD not engaging is unlikely to be rear diff related. if it's never been flushed, now would be a great time to flush your ATF but i wouldn't be surprised either way....if it fixed the problem or not. if you drive through snow or off road much i'd consider splicing a switch in place to manually lock your 4WD. (the technical terminology would be that you're splicing a switch in line with duty solenoid C, thereby locking your rear trasnfer clutch). then you control when lock-up occurs. then install a visible light which is connected to the same 2 pole switch so you know when it's on or off. don't want to leave it on when driving on pavement or lots of turning. this switch is nice, leaves the 4WD drive *locked* instead of the TCU cycling the DS C on and off as it detects slip. and if you're having a problem locking up, this might be a good work around and give you more capabilities. it's very easy, just a matter of splicing one wire, the one to Duty Solenoid C. unfortunately i don't have lots of OBS information so i can't tell you which wire. though i will find out soon because i am picking up a *new* 1997 OBS in a matter of minutes. i attached an under hood picture showing only the one wire you'd have to splice in a 4EAT. run this wire to the center console and simply install a switch to engage/disengage Duty Solenoid C....and even when it's *Off* or out of 4WD, it will act as normal and engage/disengage as necessary like it normally would.
  6. 60,000 seems way early. i'd double check your battery and starter connections first. make sure all are tight. autozone/advance auto parts will check starters for free. depends how much you drive, $, how long you plan on having it, reliability concerns. if you were in college i'd say get a used one for cheap. if you don't care about the loot, then get a rebuilt one for better reliability though a used one should last awhile....longer than 60,000 for sure. rebuilding the starter yourself is simple and very cheap. locating the parts is the tricky part. you need brushes and the solenoid i think, though i've never actually done an OBS. an electrical shop/distributor/supply house can give you the right parts. if you live close to a big city you should be able to find one of these (i found a huge supplier in atlanta years ago that stocked these parts, very inexpensive). if you have an electrical automotive rebuilder close by you should be able to take them the brushes and solenoid and they can hook you up with new ones and put it back together. don't forget to clean everything up real good with electrical contact cleaner (just a non-residue cleaner is all it is). spray internals down really good except greased areas (bearings). the details are making it sound more difficult than it is. my XT6 is at 207,000 miles on the original starter (unless it was replaced pre-100,000 when i got it, but i highly doubt it). owned another XT6 from 75,000 - 196,000 miles on the original starter (had all the original owners paper work - starter was never replaced). i keep meaning to rebuild this joker but never get around to it.
  7. it has the 2.2 liter motor, those have less headgasket issues than the 2.5liter motors right? that's the impression i had. thanks for the tips, i'll be doing all the services myself. i'll have the trans fluid flushed and i'll install an ATF cooler as well.
  8. Picking up a 1997 OBS AWD Automatic today with 61,000 miles on it. I plan on addressing the timing belt immediately. Then shortly afterwards i'll replace ignition wires, plugs, air filter, fuel filter, trans filter and all fluids (trans, oil, brakes, diff...etc). Any suggested replacement items or things to look for? It was recommended by a very respected subaru enthusiast to not touch the water pump or oil pump seals until the next timing belt change. How about the crank and cam seals? I've owned 6 XT6's (3 currently) so i'm very familiar with the older EA82 and ER27 motors. guess i'll be spending time in New and Old generation forums now.... thanks and have fun
  9. Fox is on it - give it time. noise will likely go away. did you change the oil or just add a little? what weight? if it doesn't clear up post back.
  10. the title of this thread says "smoking under the hood". need to know where that is coming from. seems something is dripping on something hot. need to fill in those somethings for us. if it's smoking....it's very possible it's leaking. let's assume you're not leaking under the hood...though that sounds unlikely to me if smoke is coming from under the hood. need more details. if you're seeing smoke out the tail pipe then i'm wondering if you're loosing anything? after 3,000 miles...any oil loss? any coolant loss? verify you're not loosing any coolant, transmission fluid or oil, get back to us and move on from there. do you have any busted CV boots (at the ends of the axles where they meet the wheels?) if they are cracked or busted grease can fling onto hot parts and burn off.
  11. got some rusted crank pulleys and others. what's the best way to clean the rust and prevent recurrence when i install them? anything better than just wire brushing them?
  12. oil pan gasket definitely won't keep your car from running. like they said, check things out before replacing it as it could be something else. you can also go around and tighten the bolts to the oil pan gasket. tightening the bolts can reduce clearance that develps over the years. a jack and some 2x4's are all you need to do the pan gasket. an annoying job and they like to leak soon after replacement anyway because the oil pan itself is thin and deformed at the bolt holes and generally just hard to get a good seal. i would stop thinking about the oil pan gasket at the moment. clean it all up and run it, see where the oil is coming from.
  13. i ordered XT6 coretco gasket sets for two friends in NZ and myself. the sets don't come with those clip on o-rings for the oil galleys between the cam carrier and the head. there are 3 on each side. 2 are round, 1 is oblong. (there are 4 on an EA82 4 cylinder). Dealer wants 10.00 EACH for the oblong ones and 15.00 EACH for the smaller round ones. That would be $80.00 for one motor. Subaruparts.com isn't much cheaper (11.13 and 7.38 respectively). Part Numbers: Round ones 13089AA000 Oblong ones 13090AA000 anyone have better sources or prices for these? anyone know what these cost in NZ, can you down under guys hook me up with prices there? anyone ever reuse the old ones? mine are newer because i have some from a Fel Pro kit that includes them, but i want to help my buds from NZ (they aren't on this board). thanks,
  14. price dependent of course: flywheel and/or flexplate stopper for AWD XT6 XT6 Drivers Side Timing Belt Adjuster Stopper Part# 13082AA000
  15. check codes wiggle the connector around. if you said your sensor was bad i probably wouldn't believe you...in my 11 years of driving subarus it's always the temperature sensor CONTACTS, not the sensor. replacing the sensor will often cure the problem, but it's usually temporary because the wiring harness that plugs into it will be corroded. here's a mini-write-up i did at www.xt6.net about fixing the water temp sensor: i pulled the water temperature sensor out and soldered wires directly to the terminals of the water temperature sensor (see picture). Then i put heat shrink tubing around each terminal and installed the sensor with male/female (engine side) electrical connectors so i can remove or replace th sensor. when i cut the wire on the engine side the copper wire had the typical green corrossion. i cut it back a few inches and noticed it was still green. The insulation was intact, it had the factory electrical tape all wrapped around it, but it was corroded back a few inches. i pulled the wire (along with the oil pressure sending unit wire) out the back of the motor to have a look. i cut off more and noticed it was also green. so i cut off all the way to the engine electrical harness and installed new wiring from there. car now starts, runs and idles much better than before. i guess when the harness gets old and corroded, moisture gets up into the wiring (under the insulation) from the wiring harness and begins to corrode the wire. funny thing too....the wire was very very hard where it went through the engine. i would snap as soon as i went to cut it, very brittle. but when it got to the engine harness (towards the back of the engine) it was more pliable and like normal wire. i guess heat (and moisture possibly) made it brittle over time. in any event, something to look at if you have electrical or sensor problems or keep in mind. glad to never think about that water temperature sensor again, that thing was annoying! i think every XT6 i've ever owned has had that problem.
  16. depending how large the bolt head is, you may have problems with clearance around the manifold. the nuts that come on many late 80's subaru's are awesome for the exhaust. the nuts are very small and don't have any clearance issues. try using a bolt or any other nut and they become annoying. put a request in the market place and someone probably has some to sell you for cheap. i find it hard to believe no parts store down there has 10mm 1.25 pitch exhaust studs. find someone who knows what they are doing, i think you're talking to too many people that are incompetent. im from a small town as well....we dont' even have an autozone or advanced auto parts to go to but the local shop has tons of 10mm x 1.25 pitch studs. if you're looking to do this cheap, forget all the talk about machine shops...just go to home depot or lowes and buy a bunch of the same length bolts that are 10mm and 1.25 pitch. saw the heads off if they are too big for clearance. if you buy a tap (very inexpensive) you can thread the bolts yourself. driving to a machine shop and handing them one bolt to thread sounds like way too much effort for such a simple task. any junk yards close by, these bolts should be a dime a dozen.
  17. open up your exhaust bigger turbo intercooler
  18. in my experience with soobs the auto parts store WILL have the studs you need, they just won't list the application. in other words, just take an old one with you and match it up. if they fell out, seems like the threads likely stripped. you can try just running a tap through there to clean the threads and then using a longer than stock stud to possibly reach more threads located beyond where the stock stud used to reside. i do that all the time on stripped bolts when i don't feel like using my heli coil kits or there's no room. works most of the time, though i've never done it to exhaust studs.
  19. run new speaker wire. rest should be straight forward.
  20. another thing to check, the compressor may function properly but it's possible for the air hoses to not be connected properly. the plastic fitment can crack and either come off completely or leak at the air compressor. so it will run, but it won't do anything. check all the connections at the air compressor, right where the lines meet the compressor you should see a plastic fitting sort of thing. make sure none are cracked. solenoids can all be tested - give them 12 volts and listen for them to click. do yourself a huge favor and replace ALL your orings while you're working on this thing. air tank, compressor, struts, solenoids, replace all the orings. i've never had much problem with my XT6's. i converted one years ago and will never do it again, i like the air suspension. i've had to replace one compressor in 101,000 miles on my current daily driver. other than that no problems. i think some of the other subaru air suspensions tend to be a little older than the XT6 though.
  21. post right before yours kevin says "N/A". craziness. wonder where in the power band it's making those numbers. was it dyno'ed or is that a guess? i'd like to see list of mods it takes to get there as well. RAM gets 50 percent or more increase on their EA81's but they have the ability to make the heads dual port instead of the stock single port - XT6 comes stock with one port per cylinder. they also use a custom designed intake, custom engine management, cams reground, lighter and redesigned pistons, redisigned aluminum valve rockers, recurved distributor, custom pulleys, no a/c and they bench flow test the heads.
  22. i run no timing covers without problems but the cam sprockets and idler pulley's definetly get rust on them. i drive 30,000 miles a year at least so sitting idle does not contribute to the rust. it gets plenty of use and temps to rid itself of water, but the faces of the pulleys, the cam sprockets and even the pulley surfaces a little bit get rust on them. i don't like it but i hate having all the plastic in the way even more. like miles said i can easily do my timing belts in like 30 minutes (the XT6 is harder than the 4 cylinders). when i tear the engine down i hope to paint or coat them with something to prevent the rust. doesn't really hurt anything but would be nice to keep it clean. anyone know if paint or some kind of powder coat would work on cam sprockets or the pulley faces? by pulley faces i mean the front, where the bolt slides through.
  23. go to the local tractor supply store. pick up one of those hypodermic needle adaptors. start refilling all your "sealed" bearings. The serpentine tensioner pulley, the alternator and so on. slip the hypo needle under the dust seal and work the tip gently into a space between the BB's and pump the gun till the grease (and water and crud) comes poppin out.
  24. i have *heard* that using an aftermarket coil can cause these kinds of problems. i'd like to hear some detailed information and how we can use aftermarket coils WITHOUT having this problem.
  25. there's another type of tool that i have heard about on another group that they use for the XT6 (same type of piston in the caliper). i'm not sure what it's called but it works much better...anyone know? i'm tempted to use an old piston to drill through it and see how deep it is. i'd like to drill a hole and tap it so i can just thread a bolt in there and turn it with a wrench. those cubes can be very annoying.
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