idosubaru

keep running MMO or ATF, something to clean it out. if one particular area sounds bad (the right rear cylinder or whatever you said), then i'd suspect one HLA is dirty or sticky. i would not suspect the oil pump just yet...although the seals probably do need replaced, but i think your immediate problem is probably not oil supply related.

if you can't pinpoint a side, it may be differential noise. (front or rear) try checking the differential fluids or changing them for good measure. use a quality synthetic gear lubricant within the specifications of your diff. your tires that you replaced, were they old, worn in bad shape? were they a matching set of tires or all different? check wheel bearings for play/noise/etc. jack up car and turn wheels by hand. remove wheels and turn the rotors/hub by hand and listen for noise or feel for roughness. pay attention to rotors, brakes pads, wheel bearing and cv noise. grab your cv axles and make sure they feel solid. sounds to me like it has to be a moving part.

anything happen before these problems? someone tried to wire something or install something? what wiring did you play with or "rewire" and why? the door ajar and interior light sounds like the switch at the door jamb is fouled up. could be rusted out, disconnected, shorted, bad switch. normally you just pull the rubber cover and there's one screw to remove the switch. they typically rust bad. by the floorboard on some soobs are some wire connectors that typically get shorted out (a white connector in XT's and XT6's), causing intermittent and random problems...usually with headlights and tail lights in my experience. if you have a manual trans i'd pay particular attention to this, but auto's are fair game as well. manuals seem prone to this problem since snow sticks to shoes and gets on anything you may accidentally nudge down there. then ice melts and gets into the wiring connector. inspect them closely, sometimes it's obvious because your white connector is now brown and brittle to the touch, other times the wires are shorted out in the connector but the connector appears okay.

can you determine left/right or front/rear? any vibrations? how are your brake pads? how are your cv axles? (age, boots torn...etc) does it do it whether the car is in gear or not? does it all the time? any speed?

i know a guy with an XT6, he pulled his alternator apart and found an old and poor looking solder connection inside the alternator. he cleaned it up and resoldered it and this fixed his electrical issues...similar to yours i believe but i don't recall the specifics. you can look it up at the Yahoo XT6 group site...his name is Wayne, he may have even posted pictures in the pictures section (he has some great fixes in there, very resourceful fellow) it was just this summer that he did this. .....i forget all the terminology because i just get mine rebuilt...but he said the bad solder was causing the voltage regulator to dump inconsistent current back to the alternator creating voltage spikes and terrible output from his alternator. again, forgive me if my explanation or semantics aren't 100 percent, i've never opened one of these things up. but the solder connection was his only problem. other than that, make sure all battery and alternator connections are solid, clean and tight. even if the alternator is shot, make sure these connections are golden so your next battery and alternator are problem free.

is the tapping from ONE SIDE or ONE CYLINDER or all over the place? best thing to do is visually inspect the oil. if it's noticeably dirty or low, good idea to change it if you have loud HLA's (tapping). if it's not dirty, you can still change it or let the MMO keep chugging away. MMO is good, but it's not all that potent, one bottle is trivial so i wouldn't expect a miracle in a bottle (though it has cured noisey valve trains on many occassions quite quickly). if you have the time and money, change the oil again for kicks and add MMO again. if you'd rather wait, then give it some more time and leave it in there. if you continue having problems, you can add 2 bottles of MMO or one quart of ATF at your next oil change. or add one bottle of ATF just prior to your next oil change. add one quart 100 miles before your next change then drain it all out and refill with oil or oil+MMO. if your oil pump seals are jacked up, all the tricks in the world won't work or are temporary. good luck and have fun,

i wasn't able to locate a replacement draincock at the standard auto parts retailers for the XT6. if you experience the same problem i'd just get someone to send you a used one. check with local radiator shops, seems they'd have these things lying around or deal with this. there should be plenty of old rusty radiators out there with perfectly good draincocks that someone would part with. it looks like the old drain cock is sheared off in the picture, is that the case? i temporarily used what was left of my old drain cock with some sealant all around the threads and it worked fine until someone mailed me one. as mentioned, it's threaded. if you can take the threaded part in, match the threads with something and use some sealant around the threads and you should be good to go. i'd make sure you get whatever you put in there to seat securely if it's not the standard drain cock, to prevent it from vibrating out. it will back out if it's not secure.

forgot to mention - one of my XT6's currently has 9 of one style and 3 of another. i was worried at first they were different, but they appear identical in every way....except the cap.

i've seen 2 different styles of caps from OEM subaru motors, so for whatever reason maybe they made a change one year or used different caps? not sure, but i've seen 2 kinds on original HLA's from subaru blocks.

nice hit hot dog, good work!

how did you know the cams weren't properly ground? can you give us more details, i don't know jack about cams so i'd like to know how you know they were'nt done properly. kevin, nice try, i'll stick to NA if i get an XT or some other EA82 for gas mileage and ease of maintenance.

awesome. i dont drink, you can have a beer for me too. i'd check with some others and see if that bad ground/bad running could degrade the coil at all. i don't know how they work so i have no idea. but be nice to know if that could ruin the coil prematurely. i still have the original coil on my 205,000 mile XT6...i really should replace that sometime soon. i'd pull the spark plugs. clean them and check the gap. with the coil having output problems that may have fouled the plugs up a little.

you didn't really mention anything about the fronts, are they working okay now? "they are working a bit better", what does that mean? give us some specifics, noisey, vibrating, not braking, slow braking, mushy pedal..... what do the fronts do now when you brake? how do they work if you just use the emergency brake? i'm going to be gone for a few days so i'll probably never see this thread again. that being said, you might want to ask someone what happens when a brake booster goes bad. i've never had to replace one or know anyone else that has either, but if you can't track this problem down you may want to look there. this is the part that connects to your master cylinder and bolts to the firewall in the motor. it's essentially most of the linkage from the brake pedal to the master cylinder. i wouldn't get too frustrated, brakes are really simple to work on. calipers, hoses, master cylinder. buy another master cylinder if you have to and swap it in (bleed it properly). get a used one if you cant' afford a new one, should be easy enough to find. the master cylider might even be rebuildable but i've never looked into it. i got a new, rebuilt one for a friends volvo for like 10 or 15 bucks from Discount Auto Parts. calipers can be rebuilt yourself for a couple dollars. front caliper rebuild - remove caliper from rotor (leave the hoses attached!). wrap caliper in towel. keep a good eye on how the boot and seal are installed so you can reinstall them properly. keep pressing the brake pedal until the caliper piston comes out. (have bucket underneath to catch all the fluid). now clean everything up really good. install the new seal inside the caliper, be sure to grease the seal. intsall the piston and new boot and you're done. the piston is difficult to turn, be sure to have good tools and be patient. dont' think anything is wrong, it's just difficult because it's a tight seal, it needs to be or it'll leak. bleed the brakes. i think you can get the kits for under 10 dollars (this includes enough seals for BOTH sides!). try www.thepartsbin.com or www.rockauto.com. good luck,

how about bad gas or water getting into your tank? i doubt it, but something to eliminate at least. how old is your ignition coil? the engine code connectors aren't connected are they? like the "diagnosis connector" or the "read from memory" connector? sorry i'm not familiar with your model soob, but some have these connectors at the ECU. normally one is green and the other black by the ECU. are you SURE your ignition system is good. electrical stuff is funny, plugs, wires, rotor, cap, ignition coil. when it's running crappy, try this. carry an extra spark plug with you, or go out right now if you're confident it will run bad. pull one spark plug wire at a time and attach it to your *extra* spark plug (holding it with insulated channel locks or gloves) and ground it to something like the motor (away from the fuel lines/filter) and see if you have good spark at each and every cylinder. i did this to a friends honda and the spark was there, but VERY weak and very small. his car barely ran, wouldn't get up to speed....turned out the ignition wires were installed wrong. anyway, that's not your problem but the ignition system has GOT to be good. just to make this longer....here's another story i was trouble shooting starting, idling and running problems with an XT6 last summer. very random in nature, getting warmed up made it worse. i replaced all sorts of stuff, fuel pump, filter, PCV, cleaned my connections, water temp sensor, fuel injector cleaner...no engine codes...probably some other things i've since forgotten. i finally replaced the plugs eventhough they were only a year old. thing ran perfect after that. ignition issues cause more problems than anything else in all the cars i work on....maybe with the exception of battery terminal problems, dirty, corroded and loose.

leave it in and keep adding it. it's not very much, so it's no surprise it will take awhile to do anything sometimes, if it does. i've used 2 quarts before and even 2 quarts of ATF in my current 205,000 original miles XT6 with no problems. absolutely no tapping from this thing, not even a little in cold weather or idle or whatever. i run Mobil 10w30 all year. original oil pump and everything else. machine shop that rebuilds alot of motors and heads in my area said that even regular oil with frequent enough oil changes will gradually *clean* your motor...but i bet that takes a long freaking time so i wouldn't count on that getting you anywhere. but once you get rid of the tick, keep changing your oil frequently for that reason and you should be good to go. you changed the oil pump seals already? is the tick coming from all around or one particular side or one particular cylinder? have you already diagnosed all of this?

there's nothing you need to change to the fuel system. the things i would say you really should replace: there's a reinforced o-ring that i've only seen supplied from Subaru and www.thepartsbin.com that you will want to replace between the cam and the head at the lower corner. get new cam seals as well. optional things to replace: there are also metal clip on orings that attach to the cam carrier that you can replace if you'd like. OEM Subaru parts. there are two on each cam i believe (one is circular, the other is round, you'll need 2 of each - one for each side). not a bad idea to get some engine assembly lube for the cams and followers as you install them. of course timing belts, water pump and oil pump seals while you're in there. while you're that far, it's not a bad idea to replace the head gaskets especially considering you're going to be messing with the boost. or you can worry about replacing the head gaskets later once you're done *tweaking*. i personally wouldn't replace the cam followers, but i've never had problems with them. good luck, these EA82's are awesome to work on, as i say all the time. i'd like to pick up a 4 cylinder XT so i have something simple with good gas mileage around.

depends on time/money. i think pulling the motor offers little in rewards to effort ratio. i have an engine lift and do it without a problem, but in general i wouldn't say pulling the motor offers anything worthy of the extra time and effort. these 4 cylinders are awesome to work on, you can do the heads in the car and be done with it in no time. the only advantage you have is to replace the rear main oil seal and gasket on the oil separator....along with the transmission stuff if you want. but the oil separator is a very minor issue (though it's dirty and the stock one is basically heavy paper) and the rear main seal rarely has problems (not nearly as much as the front crank seal in my experience). i've pulled a couple 200,000 mile blocks and haven't seen a seep around the rear crank seal. one guy on the xt6 site says they never leak and he never replaces them. that being said, having the motor out is nice, easy access and definetly don't touch the block. pulling the motor and transmission out together is always a nice option, it's very clean and easy to do that way. if you have an auto, it's much easier to seat the torque converter properly with the both out of the car. all you have to do is loosen a couple tranny mount bolts, pull the axles (no bolt) and drop the rear drive shaft if it's AWD (very easy to do). if you wanted to save money and just replace the gaskets then i'd recommend replacing both head gaskets even if only one appears to be leaking. a friend blew a head gasket, i replaced one side because that was the only side gushing coolant. after reassembling after replacing one gasket, turned out the other side was leaking as well...i guess due to overheating. both heads were fine. valve job, valve seals, test and mill head, replace gaskets and you'll be driving a long time. make sure the heads and block surfaces are CLEAN. and the head bolt holes as well.

mine have 205,000 miles on them and work great. i do have a rebuild kit ready for whenever i get around to it or they fail. i just did a set for myphalyx and it was straight forward to rebuild them. i had never done it before and bought the kit and completed the job with no problems. can't beat it for 7 dollars or whatever the kit costs. much better than 150 dollars for new calipers. it is very typical for the piston to be tight to push (turn) back in. even after the rebuild it was grueling to get the piston to move in and out by hand. i would suspect the brake master cylinder or fluid first. did you bleed in the correct order? did you make sure that while bleeding the master cylinder the reservoir didn't get to low and suck air into the lines? seems odd to me that you don't have any braking in the front? if both front brakes are sketchy it would be coincidental that both calipers are sticking unless something out of the ordinary happened to them....they both sat on a shelf for 10 years for instance. does your emergency brake work? that is connected to the fronts...at least on the XT6 it is. it will help seat the pistons and pads.

if it were anything internal i'd suspect the valve train before the rings. the valve issues are easy to address if you or someone you know can do the work. all you have to do is pull the heads and take them to a machine shop. reinstall your heads and new gaskets and let me know when you see 350,000 miles. not sure what motor you have, but the EA82's are super easy to work on in my oppinion. if you straight up pay a shop to do it, it will be very expensive and very few will do it right (for a reasonable cost). check your spark plugs and see which get dirty or fouled up, you might see a particular cylinder causing problems. a compression test might tell you more.

cam and crank seals are good to replace or at least check. in tearing down kevins motor, his crank seal would wobble just by touching it, it was crooked and could have easily come out at some point. all are easy to do with engine in car.

the resulting time, damage and annoyance may or may not be worth it to you. i've never done it so i shouldn't say much, but it can definetly be done. not knowing anything specific about your vehicle, but some of these 4WD soobs have clips and such that need to come out first, be sure they are removed before pounding. or you end up with dented hubs and pride like me. i started the process then dropped the hubs and bearings off to a machine shop.

make sure the main wiring harnesses are plugged in. for the XT's there are two main wiring harnesses. they can be very tricky to push ALL THE WAY in. looks very simple, but sometimes they aren't seated all the way and maybe you could have an inoperable trans if it's not plugged in. on the XT6 these two connectors are on the passengers side of the engine. check these. they are very large and it's like they are sealed or something, making them very hard to press together sometimes. you could pull the ATF hoses off and see if any fluid is being pumped through them. if no fluid comes out, then that's likely a sure sign you'll have to pull something (trans or motor). is it possible you disconnected or contacted the shifter linkage for any reason, maybe thought about pulling the trans...etc? i'm only familiar with the XT6 auto trans, but the TC is slightly tricky to install. the FSM explains it well. it will seem seated, but still has like 1/4 " to go or something like that. sounds like it might be the same for this motor. that being said, i know someone installed an XT6 without lining the TC up properly and the transmission was indeed trashed....i think it destroys the pump somehow. AGAIN - this is XT6 specific so i don't know how much of this pertains to you. if you really think you need to pull....checked wiring harnesses....then i'd consider pulling the motor and trans at the same time. makes installing the TC much easier. and then if you do have to intsall a new tranny, it's already out. with the motor out, the trans is literally only like a couple more bolts and just pull it out attached to the motor as an assembly. and reinstall the same way. very easy and clean.

the least expensive way to do it would be to replace everything on one side and see if it fixes that side. if you chose to replace the hub, control arm, axle, ball joint...whatever. trans and diff every made any noise or do anything funky?

first - i really have no idea. big questin - has he ever replaced a front axle? being that it's BOTH front axles i would start considering what in the transmission or differential (i'm not familiar with FWD vehicles) could cause this. maybe there is some kind of binding or compromising situation in the trans or diff causing this. seems strange and i can't think of what exactly that could be, but the only common link between both front axles is the transmission. if it were one hub doing this i'd say replace the axle, hub and ball bearing at the same time just in case. but having the problem on both sides seems to eliminate the parts independent to *one side*, which is why i'm questioning the diff/trans. maybe someone here can suggest something further. if you still suspect something *at the corner*, i'd replace the hub and axles and ball joints. is it possible it has the wrong axles, control arm, ball joints or the axles have been warn in some way that makes them not fit tightly and wear the hubs down? can you check the spline count on the axles? i've found transmissions for 200 - 300 before....i mean this is a last resort and i'm by no means saying this even could be the problem, just giving you information up front. either way, replacing a trans isn't that hard and doesn't have to be nearly as expensive as most people think. no way i'd trash a good running subaru for this problem unless you're in a good position to get another suba....(edit politically correct)...another car.

bought a house this week with a barn that will turn into my garage very shortly. let me know what you need/want done (I've already got some projects lined up). my other XT6 isn't driveable yet and my truck doesn't have a spare and has expired tags (i just got it), otherwise i'd start the project on my daily driver XT6. i almost laughed when i saw your signature posted to this thread, i thought for sure you were going to comment on the oil leaks.....us XT6er's have plenty of experience with them! that's alot of working hot dog!! make sure you're having some fun.