idosubaru

sweet...that's what i was hoping your response would be. glad to hear it michael. hope it's fun.

i drive an XT6, and i would not reseal an oil pump (i've done 6 or more) without using sealant. DO NOT put it on the mickey mouse o-ring. that's not the point, and i believe that's what everyone else is saying, don't put it on the o-ring. we are in agreement. there's more to the story than the o-ring. the two halves of the engine block come together behind the oil pump. look very closely (at different angles with different light) and you'll notice a faint..or not so faint, vertical zig-zag pattern where the two halves of the block come together above and below the rotor housing of the oil pump. the sealant should be pressed into this zig zag pattern. run your finger over the zig zag, often it doesn't feel perfectly flush, this is why it is recommended to put sealant there. go light, just enough to fill and smooth any gap created by the mating of the two blocks. and don't get it on the oil pump-to-block o-ring like everyone is telling you not to. someone can correct me if i'm wrong, but i always do this on my XT6 and it has 200,500 miles with no oil supply issues at all.

im not sure about the TPS on the EA82's....but for the ER27 the FSM IS WRONG. i'm 100 percent certain of this - the XT6 ER27 motor TPS will NOT test within factory specifications listed in the Subaru Factory Service Manual. if the EA82 uses the same TPS, this may also be true. they share some parts, this may be one of them. i'd check into this before swapping your TPS. also - a few years ago my TPS was causing drivability problems. i swapped out the TPS....still wasn't working right. i noticed that if i flexed the wires prior to the TPS, the motor would stall, rev up, idle crazy, idle correctly....it was all over the place as i flexed the wires. i spliced in a new wiring harness with as much new wire as i could get and it fixed it. good luck and hopefully someone know if the TPS on the EA82 is the same as the XT6.

subyluvr, earlier in the thread they mention using this on a NA car may not offer any value since the oil isn't heated up by the turbo. do you feel it's worth it for a NA vehicle or did you get a turbo?

have you addressed the intake ports? opening them up, matching them to the gasket and intake runners? i think more gains can be had there, but i'll admit i don't know a ton about the EA82. i resealed an EA82 this summer and had the cams done (delta cams) and the heads ported and polished and the thing ran awesome. it was in an XT. i've owned one XT and 5 XT6's and i was really impressed how this thing drove. i actually told the guy to NOT spend all that money on cams and head work, but it turned out much better than i thought. then it had a coolant leak - tiny hose under the power steering pump that i fixed in a few minutes. then it had another minor leak and he sold the car for like 300 bucks on ebay before i had a chance to look at it.....someone got a nice deal, if they knew what was in it.

exactly what he just said....pull panel, remove some screws/bolts and it comes right out. clean and you're done.

yeah, start cheap and easy - fuel filter. how's the air filter?

ignition components. plugs, wires, distributor cap and rotor. good, cheap maintenance that solves many driveability issues and helps performance/gas mileage. i'd start there and get back to us after that. check for spark - if it's weak you can usually tell with a visual spark check. check each wire. or pull the plugs and see how they look. personally i replace the all the ignition components quite often. sometimes this problem could be timing belt related too. under load the timing tensioner could not be holding properly and artificially *changing* your timing when under higher loaded. this probably isn't the case, i'd start with easier things first. but if you pull the timing covers you might be able to check the tensioners and belt condition.

i'm thinking there may be compatability issues as the 4EAT tranny uses the stock TPS to some degree. if we can retain the stock TPS, then the tranny should be fine, meaning "it should work". really i need to finish my motor before i get into this, i just had some time today to plug around and was concerned this won't work on the auto tranny, because i'm not a fan of manuals. i have one of each, but hope to get rid of the manual. i read over oddcomps pages of logging his project, very interesting. i wish i wouldn't though. i would have never considered EDIS before seeing his results. as many Ford's as i have to fix with retarded problems, i think it will be tough to convince me to degrade my reliability with Ford parts. (no offense, i do own a Ford truck). driving 40,000 miles a year, i need more reliability than my friends seem to get from there fords.

why won't megasquirt work with the auto tranny? what are the limitations?

kevin, can you swap your OBS or XT6 horns in it (and leave the original in the trunk so he can see that you swapped) and see if it helps. don't worry about mounting it all professional, just get it *to work* and then swap them back when you get home...unless your horn does seem really low, then replace the joker. you can splice in any horn, shouldn't take but a couple minutes. maybe the fuel cap can cause the fuel tank problem. i've seen fuel pumps leak (the actual pump itself, not the hoses). minor enough leaks that the car ran fine (not counting the gas mileage). check all your fuel lines i guess, looking for wetness or cuts around the metal clamps. lame excuses to fail.

i'd guess a bad u joint on the drive shaft if you have 4WD/AWD for a vibration that occurs at a certain speed while driving straight. if you drop the drive shaft (easy to do), you can inspect the u joints. a bad u joint will be very obvious - the joint won't move or it will be very tight and *lumpy* feeling. sometimes you can even tell just by looking at the u joints. could also be a wheel bearing or tire (don't let tires fool you, they can cause strange symptoms). sometimes rotating the tires will show you it's the tires because the vibration will change or *move* for the lack of a better word. you can try removing your tires and spinning the hubs by hand, you may be able to feel a bad wheel bearing (then again, maybe not). also look for play and noise in the bearings if you take a closer look by pulling the tire. if it only vibrates around a turn, at a certain angle and speed then i'd guess a ball joint first, but may be your problem regardless.

WJM, i figure you saw this - but to keep relevant information together someone else posted in another thread: "Misfire at high RPM was due to a badly clogged air filter."

ignition is a good place to start - plugs, wires, cap, rotor. pull plugs and check them. not familiar with turbo's but with your mods do you think you need a non-stock temperature range plug? could your air-fuel ratios lean out too much at that high RPM? kevin had mad problems with his XT6 running really lean in the high RPM range. you might pull your plugs and have a look. if one plug looks different than the rest you can isolate it to a single strung problem (that plug, that wire, that cylinder). if they all appear the same then who knows - cap/rotor, timing or fuel (injector, pump, FPR, filter). doubtful it's fuel, but maybe it's not getting enough at high RPM.

anyone installed one or have pictures yet? for stock motors and daily driving is it better to not have one? should the oil temperature reach a certain temperature to meet it's designed operational temps or is it always better to stay as low as possible? does it affect oil flow at all?

NGK's are excellent plugs, though i'm not familiar with turbo motors. for the non-turbo's, there's no added value in using anything other than NGK's. best bet it to change them frequently...frequent is relative - i drive 40,000 miles a year. with lots of mods and playing with the turbo, going with a different temperature might be advisable, but only with major mods. on a side note i have had very good results with torquemaster plugs, check out their website. mostly due to the high mileage i drive each year. they are expensive, 12.50 a piece last time i purchased a set, and will last the life of the car. i like to run those with magnecor spark plug wires and never think about them again.

AH! always assume it's overheating unless you're positive that gauge is inaccurate. heat is too damaging to mess with. these guys got you on the trail, replace that thermostat. have you drained any coolant lately? it's doubtful, but you could have some air pockets in your cooling system. questions: any coolant loss? any coolant leaks? is your radiator old (possibly clogged)? has it ever been flushed? this should not cause overheating but can easily cause no heat, so i doubt it's your problem but if you're looking for something to tackel - pull your heater hoses out (should have hoses going to your firewall for heat), pull one out and blow it out with a water hose.

i'm tired. straight to the point and to bed: the side tanks are plastic, making them difficult to repair. although they can be replaced (with used ones, can't buy them new of course), i mailed one to a guy in New Zealand. plugging, brazing, soldering, welding....etc is low percentage. someone this summer had a leaky radiator and kept trying to fix it....he blew his head gaskets. once they get green, corroded and old, repairing them becomes marginal at best. don't take your radiator seriously and your head gaskets won't take you seriously. i hated it when i was in college, trying to replace a radiator was not convenient. i went the used route back then, not any more. you will not fit any air suspension to the XT6 without major modifications. if you do, you are either very experienced with custom fabrication and welding, know someone else who is or are willing to put alot of money into the suspension. if you're not concerned about ground clearance, go the coil over route. FWD XT6 and even certain front legacy struts (withe one minor mod) are bolt on replacements. hope you get it, i like 'em. the 4WD rules.

150,000 isn't abnormal, probably about average. but making it 200,000 on a head gasket isn't all that surprising either.

that strut you posted is not for a 4WD - that site is absolutely incorrect. it WILL fit, but it's really for a FWD XT6. if you use FWD XT6 coil overs in the front and back your car will look more like a wedge than it already does...it will *lean* forward because the spring rates aren't made for the 4WD weight, it's made for the FWD. you can cut a coil and a half off the back springs to level it out, but it will set very low. I DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS because it's a possible safety problem if you don't know what you're doing. the air suspension for the Xt6 is an OEM subaru only product. gee whiz i have about 100 times more things to say that i have time to do it. new struts (AIR STRUTS - those you posted are just plain struts) run about 400 each (or 250 if you look around). get decent used ones and you can do things to them to make them last forever but i'm not about to type it all out. it's really simple, just wordy. generally the air suspension isn't that bad if you just maintain it like anything else. get new o-rings EVERYWHERE (that's like 2 dollars worth of parts) and RECONDITION your air struts and they'll last forever (cleaner, sand paper, paint). or convert to coil overs. the struts you show don't have the tops, bump stops...blah blah blah, they aren't complete, they'll need additional items to work, some of which may come off your existing rear air strut. i like the air suspension personally. i converted once to springs and have another XT6 with springs and i'm getting ready to sell it (because it's a manual) but i'm glad i'm keeping the one with air suspension. but i use the 4WD for off road driving so i want the ground clearance of the air suspension. tires should match - if they are all completely different tread depths that's not a great sign. these transmissions are tough, but mismatching tires can wear the internals down. smell the transmission fluid (particularly for an automatic). see what shape it's in. make sure the diff lock works correctly for a manual transmission. for an auto, have it stopped and pointing up hill with the wheels turned and floor it - see if you can feel the transfer clutch work properly for the 4WD. your tires should slip for just a split second and then the transfer clutch engages and shoots the car forward. engine - as old as it is - expect timing belts, water pump, oil pump resealing i guess unless the dude tells you it's been done recently. look for leaks. particularly the oil pump, head gasket, crank/rear main seals. they require the most work. drive the car a bit and bring it back and park it, leaving it idle for a few minutes.....look under it for oil leaks or coolant leaks. listen for valve tapping (very loud, you can't miss it) or watch the temp gauge. run the a/c on high while yo'ure driving and see how the temp gauge reacts. if it creeps up with the a/c on, might have coolant loss or pressure loss somewhere in the system. be prepared to change your oil OFTEN. these motors do not act as well with infrequent oil changes as other makes. the hydraulic valve last adjusters (HLA's) don't function properly if they get dirty. dirty oil means dirty HLA's. change your oil regularly and you won't have a problem with them (until your oil pump needs resealed, but that's another story). the benefit is that the valves never need (and actually can't be) adjusted. the downfall is the system is more susceptible to poor maintenance. be ready to change oil frequently when you get it, just expect that one of the previous 4 owners didnt' change the oil enough. it'll pay off in the long run. radiator needs to be good. head gasket is old, who knows how well the previous owner(s) took care of this thing....any extra heat on an old headgasket is a bad thing. subaru radiators - look to spend 300-400. DO NOT LOOK FOR AFTERMARKET RADIATORS. please don't waste time on this, i've owned 5 of these things over the past 10 years. i don't feel like replying to a post that someone found some, which i always do - they don't exist. when you find one, it will be 150 dollars, but it's really the 4 cylinder radiator and they don't know what they're talking about. it WILL fit with some minor modifications, but it's smaller. don't waste your time, get either the original subaru XT6 radiator for 300-400 or get a company to make you one for quite a bit more than that. power steering - no big deal. they fail - they just need cleaned internally. most people tell you it needs brushes which are only 15 dollars. really they normally just need cleaned internally, get's dusty in there. if you have close to 200,000 miles, then it will probably need brushes. i've had 3 XT6's with 200,000 miles and only one required new brushes (my current one), the others were fine, just cleaned them once each with electrical contact cleaner. if your pump broke entirely you cna always buy one for 50 bucks, but i see you're pulling it off anyway. good for building your forearms. cv axles, usually a boot or so is torn. i drove 50,000 miles on my last torn FRONT cv boot and my back one has been torn for like 70,000 miles, doesnt' really bother me that much. i drive off road and it doesn't affect them, just stay out of the sand. that's eats they alive. they aren't a big deal though, basically maintenance items. buy a new axle for 65 bucks or just put a used on it or leave it like i do until you're doing something else. brakes are about as problem free as you can get on these things. i've driven 100's of thousands of miles on my Xt6's and i've never replaced anything but brake pads and fluid, that's it. i did just buy new rotors this summer, but that's just because i'm rebuilding much of the car, the old rotors were fine. use 1999 chevy cavalier rotors - they are like 10 bucks instead of 70 dollars and work fine. they are like 1/16th inch thinner and don't have the retainer screws, that aren't needed anyway (they are actually a pain the a!!). check compression - that will give you an indication of the motor internals. the freaking blocks on these subaru motors are rediculous, they will last a very long time. i almost don't want to rebuild mine (for performance) just to see how many miles this mofo will go. compression check only requires removing the spark plugs, that's it. XT6's rule pardon the length, i hope you get this thing.... have fun,

a bad headgasket can still show decent compression readings under certain conditions. the water in the cylinder/around the rings can actually make up for the loss in a minor head gasket leak. seems like the leak down would have showed it though. depends what you want to do with your "extra" motor. if you'd like to keep an extra motor for later or to sell...keep the good one and just replace the head gasket(s) on yours. better to have a good motor than a bad one sitting around. that will also allow you to pull the heads while the motor is in the car. i did EA82 heads this summer, there is ample room in the 4 cylinder motors to do those head gaskets easily and quickly. i'm used to XT6's, the 4 cylinder was awesome, very easy to do. if you swap motors - i'm guessing your motor has similar HLA's for the valves that my XT6 has - i'd assume one of those is frozen or sticky. i just wrote a really long post about addressing them a couple days ago or yesterday or something. maybe you can find it under "lifter noise", "tapping"...or just search my posts, you should be able to find it.

i'd clean up all connections you came close to touching. it could be the bolt you removed, or maybe you bumped something else in there that caused it to start. for instance - my XT6 didn't start. new alternator, battery and wires and terminals. starter was the only thing not new, i assumed that was the problem. so i got out and hit the starter with some random tool, cranked right up. time to rebuild my starter. did that 2 or 3 more times through the week....then it wouldn't start at all and i hadn't rebuilt the starter yet but had an extra in the trunk. i decided to check my grounds and connected my negative terminal of battery to ground before swapping starter parts....car started right up. i ran a heavy gauge wire from negative terminal to ground when i got home and it's been fine since then and i haven't touched the starter yet. i really need to rebuild that freaking thing.

84gl, it's a good idea to use a more descriptive title for many reasons. like "EA82 trouble codes" or "code-alicious".... okay for real, easier for others to sift through and also makes it easier next time you or others want to find it using a search. enjoy

just read that last post - i'd check into the ignition itself, the thing your key goes into. could you have a bad contact in there? i've never really had a problem with those so i'm not sure how to trouble shoot. i think i'd start by giving the starter 12 volts directly. make sure it does indeed turn over. then check battery and connections/ground. that's the order i would go in i think. it would be nice to get it started to narrow it down.

check your grounds. first thing i woud do is attach one end of jumper cable to the NEGATIVE battery terminal and then clamp the other end to a very good ground. on the XT6 there is a ground wire that bolts close to the oil filler cap. i'd try that. you see what i'm saying right? don't actually try to jump the car, just attach one clamp of the jumper cable to the negative terminal and the other end of the clamp to a ground on the motor. you won't use both sides of the jumper cable. of if you have some good electrical wire lying around, just attach it to the negative terminal and a ground. best to have good thick, heavy gauge wire. i've seen this cause the exact problem you're encountering. with a bad ground wire, jumping with a good battery won't start the car. and of course have the battery professionally tested, sounds like one cell could be bad. autozone/advanced and others test batteries for free. check your alternator connections. car should start, but if they are bad that may cause some problems.