idosubaru

i also have the seals if you want to buy them send me a PM or email (get me over at www.xt6.net if you want them as i'm not here very often, but im a moderator over there). i bought them thinking i would replace them as preventative maintenance....until i looked at the process a little closer.

is this a 4EAT transmission? if it's the front seals on a 4EAT then i think you will want to get some detailed information before attempting this. i have 4EAT's in my XT6's...this seal is tricky to replace and the outer housing cover you remove to get to it is a critical part and requires proper installation. i can't offer more detail because i will never replace it unless it is leaking and that hasn't happened yet.

for the 4EAT forget the shift kit - disconnect the shifting resistor mechanism..forget what it's called. this will quicken your shifts and they will be much crisper. it's bolted on the passengers side strut tower on the XT6. it's a 5 inch by 1 inch long rectangular silver part. just unplug it and drive.

leave the radiator in place, this job is so easy that extra work like that is kind of pointless. by cam cover...are you referring to the actual cam carrier (cam tower) that holds the cam or just the valve cover? since you're pulling the timing belts you must be referring to the cam carrier because to replace the valve cover gasket doesn't require any timing belt removal. cam carrier - make sure you have a new o-ring for the oil passage between the cam carrier and the head. it's a reinforced oring, go get two before you start. drivers side is harder to do than the passengers side but not so bad in the 4 cylinder motors. the drivers side has the distributor connected to it. make sure all wiring and hoses are well out of the way when reinstalling, otherwise it's easy to rub up against something and you'll ruin your bead of sealant. definetly reseal the oil pump. replace the cam seals (come in a kit from thepartsbin.com with associated o-ring for the cam holder), the front crank seal and water pump. have a water pipe o-ring ready if you're doing the water pump. all of this stuff is a well spent 50 dollars. how old is your thermostat, replace that if you don't know. inspect all of your timing pulley bearings, make sure they spin smooth and aren't noisey. replace any that are bad. or if you drive alot or expect high mileage or like reliability - buy new timing belt tensioners and pulleys, they are quite inexpensive for the EA82 motors (that is not the case for the XT6 motors that i run). i've seen plenty of people have a bearing seize on these pulleys and shred the timing belts.

depends what you want to do. you can get away with replacing the head gasket with only a new head gasket and new intake manifold-to-head gasket. and a tube of sealant for the cam carriers. reuse everything else. while it's off you should have the head checked and possibly milled and repair the cracks between the valve seats (EA 82's and ER27's always have them, not sure about other motors). head shop i get my work done at has repaired them before and is familiar with it. while it's off you could rebuild the HLA's, have a valve job done, new timing belts, new water pump ( you already did), and reseal your oil pump. if you're only replacing one head gasket that can easily be done in an afternoon on an EA82...especially the passengers side, no problem.

i'd pull the wheel off. see if you can pry the caliper open, swing it open and knock the brake pads out. with the wheel off...some soob calipers have holes in the top of the caliper, you might be able to get something in there to knock the piston back or pry it back enough to swing the caliper open and pull the pads. then look for a rebuild kit. front rebuild kits are like 10 bucks and include parts for both sides. can't beat that. take it apart, clean it up and install new seals. really simple...piston comes out, install a seal and the rubber boot and put it back together.

you originally said there's water leaking externally, i'd trace that leak and find out exactly where it's coming from. if it doesnt leak while cold, it should definetly leak good when you start it or after it warms up some. the intake gaskets are easy and cheap to replace, how about replace those first and see if that fixes it if you're concerned about time/$. if not, just pull the head and have a look at it. you can do a leak down test on that cylinder. pressurize that cylidner and listen for where the air is escaping. if you see/hear bubbles in the overflow tank while the engine is running or after it reaches operating temperature (if it's even drivable that long), then i'd guess a headgasket. the EA82 is awesome, that thing is cake. PASSENGERS SIDE!!! that should be music to your ears. the passengers side is cake, you can crank that out in no time on these little motors. i've always owned XT6's....5 of them and did my first head work on an EA82 this summer for someone else....10 times easier than my XT6. more room to mess with fewer parts!

you'll need a drill to get the ignition off, so get the column.

if you see visual signs of leakage, you MUST verify where it's coming from before you assume anything. hard, visible evidence is always the best to go on before you start guessing. has this motor been worked on anytime recently? you're positive that it's coolant dripping down? are you needed to add coolant? like maybe a gallon every 100 miles or something? was this motor overheated in the past year? this summer, bad radiator, low coolant, last week....etc? look at hoses, water pump, water pipe o-ring, other gaskets, throttle...hmm this is carbed....look everywhere for leaks. if it's dripping you should be able to find it. there is also a gasket between the intake manifold and head that has a coolant passage in it. this gasket can leak and will cause coolant to enter the cylinder and come out of your exhaust and could also leak externally. if you still suspect a head gasket - try this shortly after driving the car and also after letting it set all night. i'd pull your spark plug on the cylinder reading 180 compression and turn the motor over by hand. shine a flashlight down there while someone turns it over by hand and look for coolant in the cylinder. there is a chance that the cylinder reading high compression has an internal gasket leak....of course this wouldn't explain your external leakage. but, coolant in a cylinder can cause your compression readings to be high. if you have to replace a headgasket i'd recommend replacing both of them.

it is crucial to seal the pump properly. if you install all new seals and gaskets, that might not be enough. the two halves of the block meet behind the pump. you should use a very small amount of sealant (like you use on the cam carriers) where the 2 halves of the block meet together. do not get the sealant on the mickey mouse seal. you will see one area at NOON and one at 6 O'clock. it's very faint and can be hard to see, clean the block up good behind the pump and look/feel for the zigzag pattern where the two halves of the block come together, it won't be perfectly smooth. install new seals without sealing this engine block mating junction and you could still have tapping due to an improper seal. if switching oil pumps cleared the tapping i would suspect the other pump just happened to seal better against this area more than the pump actually was the problem to begin with. i've never seen an original oil pump not work that was properly sealed. for anyone installing new seals, it's important not to miss this step. i have heard of people sealing the pump only to still have tapping. then they go back and seal this block mating area i just described and the tapping disappears.

guys that use soob motors for airplane applications do it all the time, they use filters at each valve cover. if they do it in the air, i feel pretty good about doing it on the ground.

you could have your driveshaft lengthened or shortened by a driveline shop or a good machine shop to fit the new transmission. get the desired length from a group member. could you also keep your eye out for the newer 4.11 LSD's and swap internals as well into a 3.90? i think i've heard of that being done also. or maybe i'm thinking the 4.11 can be converted to LSD with the 3.70/3.90 internals?

the stock setup (ECU, injectors...etc) should be able to handle a little more than 2-3 psi. best that your motor is in good shape, radiator and cooling in particular.

i've put 50,000 miles on front axles with broken boot(s) multiple times without any problems. and i've never had brake problems. i'm at 205,000 miles on the original calipers and i removed the original rotors at 200,000 because new ones were cheaper than having them turned. i have a broken boot now that's been like that for awhile and i have no immediate plans to replace it eventhough i have a new axle in the shed. not a big deal. if you're installing calipers you may consider rebuilding them first. caliper rebuild kit are about 10 dollars from thepartsbin.com or rockauto.com. the kit will contain parts to rebuild both calipers so you'll have rebuilt calipers for 10 dollars. it's not that bad to do and can be done without any special tools. i've described how to do it before...is the process in the "write up" section maybe? remove brake pads and caliper from rotor (leave brake line attached). place bucket under caliper to catch fluid and wrap towel around piston and caliper to keep it from falling out. top off brake fluid as it will run low as you continue to pump the brakes. now keep pressing the brake pedal until the piston pops out. now you're ready to clean it up, install the new seals and put it back together. quite simple actually. threading the piston back in place is time consuming because it takes forever and some energy to thread them back in place, but just keep turning and they'll eventually get there. take a good look at the seals and boot to see how they are placed before you take it all apart so you know how to reinstall the new ones. there is just one inner seal and the rubber boot, that's all there is to it. quite simple actually. clean everything up really good, install and bleed the crap out of it. i did it this summer for the first time for Kevin (myphalyx) without any problems. you can also blow the piston out with compressed air, but i've never done that. your calipers might be alot cheaper than those for the XT6 so maybe you'd rather just buy them as needed.

... Leave a little something for the next guy! HA HA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! excellent humor for the morning....thanks. the nut thing...while funny...is mean, hopefully a tall tale of sorts.

i've never touched a loyale, but sounds like more work than necessary. on an AWD XT6 all i do is remove the 2 bolts that connect the struts to the hub, loosen the top strut mounting bolts/nuts and the axle will come out. press down on the hub and wiggle the strut and the hub/control arm drop down with the axle. push the axle through and wiggle it out and you just pulled the axle by removing 3 bolts (axle bolt and 2 strut bolts) and looseing the top 3 strut bolts. hardest part of the process is getting the axle out and the new one in through the maze of brake hoses and parts that i didn't disconnect, but it comes out if you find the right path (but that's not very hard). i don't touch control arms, ball joints, brake calipers, rotors, tie rods, nothing. and like he said, i can be done in no time. this is all for an XT6 of though.

find the leak first. get the car up to operating temperature - hold it steady around 3,000 rpm and look for leaks. does your heat and thermostat work fine?

highly unlikely but could the previous owner have done a transmission swap?

not sure if this works on yours, but sometimes helps with sticking XT6 AWD's. have you tried driving straight at a constant speed for a couple hundred feet (i think the owners manual even recommends that)? or putting it in reverse and driving backwards for a little bit? sometimes things like this help to disengage 4WD.

i'd say it's just clogged. i would definetly blow the heater core out with water. i used a very low pressure water hose and it worked great. all sorts of junk came out of my buddies nissan. worked great, no problems. it's really simple....disconnect two hoses and butt a garden hose up to it. and run some low pressure water through there. like the other post mentions, try both ways. is your thermostat okay? is your temp gauge for your engine reading normal? is your coolant full?

sounds like different ratios. when you're in 4WD the center diff is locked, making your front and rear axles turn at the exact same rate. but the differentials will be drive the tires at different rates as indicated by the gear ratior of the diff. so one tire will keep breaking loose to make up the difference. you won't experience binding because your tires are allowed to slip on the slippery surface, but you won't experience traction either because either your fronts or backs will keep braking loose due to the binding caused by the different gear ratios. which ever tire maintains traction will want to push or pull the car in that direction.

white smoke can also mean coolant leakage somewhere. you would experience a gradual coolant loss though. is your coolant level staying constant? sometimes at the onset of minor leaks, coolant can seep into the combustion chamber after you turn the motor off, then when you start it up it will blow the coolant out the exhaust. have someone start the car while you're standing at the exhaust tip and see if any coolant blows out right after start up. then after a few strokes all the coolant is gone out the the motor. remove your oil cap and check for white film underneath. if it only happens right at start up, it shouldn't be grease, oil or ATF since the exhaust isn't hot yet. does it continue to smoke at all after warming up?

if part of the drive shaft was removed, it would just drive like it was a FWD vehicle (so long as the center diff was locked or it was in 4WD or a fuse was inserted in the FWD holster of a 4EAT, or someone tweaked something like the TCU to lock the center diff on an auto tranny). the rear output shaft would spin, but it wouldn't do anything because it's not connected to the rear diff. in that case you could get away with it. depends what transmission you're talking about. the 4EAT TCU would probably flip out, cycling the proportioning of the transfer clutch on and off as you drove. it would feel like the car is braking when you let off the gas but are not hitting the brakes. if you have a manual trans with locking center diff (like on manual trans XT6's), it would definetly experience some binding and hopping, which normally occurs on pavement while turning, but you'd experience it at all times. it would feel like a constant drag, constant braking. while driving straight you might hear your tires chirp as the binding gets too severe and one tire breaks loose to relieve the pressure.

if you're not concerned about retaining the d/r option, install a 5speed XT6 transmission. while we're on this subject, what does the d/r trans offer that makes it so desirable? ive always owned XT6's so never really gave the d/r option much thought.

according to this thread they are interchangeable: http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=22848&highlight=ER27+pistons check out like the 2nd or 3rd post, someone mentions it.