idosubaru

Bearing debris. If this is a good engine maybe a bearing/chunks were wedged in/under oil pan baffles and not noticed during a previous pan swap. Or just sitting there and the pan was quickly swapped.

The rear bushings are cracked - 3 of the 4 support areas have cracks all the way through and the last one is very close to being all the way through. But the bushings are all intact, all rubber is still there, All the cracks are gapless and tight. 250,000 mile Tribeca but the diff/bushings are exactly like EJ/EZ and even EA even. I'm going to clean the bushings out and fill all of the areas around the bushing material with 3M window weld and see how it goes. Clean with brake cleaner or something else? Brake cleaner is said to be safe for rubber/bushings. Has anyone done this? I've seen posts about making bushings or filling in good bushings to stiffen them up. But not much of anything on just filling in existing bushings with this stuff.

Totally get it weve all been there. For certainty measure it like I described. Then it’s real easy to visually see/check/confirm that bell housing difference.

Starter can be an indicator if it’s working properly and you’re testing when extended as if starting and not just statically putting jt there. The solenoid pushes it out further. When the engine and trans are bolted together the flex plate and fully seated converter ***will not touch***. There’s a gap and the TC bolts draw the TC and flex plate together. Measure the TC distance to trans bell housing and flex plate distance to engine side bell housing. it’ll be obvious the engine side measurements can’t show interference with the trans side measurements. If the flex plate is recessed inside the engine bellhousing 1/2” then the TC can’t protrude more than 1/2” out of the trans bellhousing. If the mating surface on the TC sticks out 3/4” past the trans bell housing then you know it’ll interfere with the engine. Those are made up numbers for reference.

Wow. I’ve got no cable or internet and limited cell service via a self installed Singapore repeater antenna in the mountains. Hundreds of miles wow. So what year rust-free Subaru would be tradable up there for a camping spot, cabin or place to salmon fish or moose hunt?!

It's a been awhile but I'm fairly certain those are identical.

OKC, Oklahoma shows on the desktop site.

10mm ratcheting wrench for those lower rear bolts. Game changer for those two bolts. A short enough height ratchet and socket can work but much more annoying.

Oil is normal in an engine. It’s spraying everywhere and coating interior copiously and sitting in locally low spots in the engine. Milky, probably short trips. or initial headgasket you don’t know about yet. Use standard issue OEM plugs. No need for platinum or specialty

"scan", for 3D printing? Yes it can be done for hundreds of dollars. Not all XT(6) steering column covers are interchangeble. Total tire diameter depends what struts you have. 225/60/16 tires on mine now would allow for 19" if they're low profile. But again itll depend what struts you have. Most are converted to something else by now, if you have impreza struts up front you'll be more limited.

Those only came on very early 90's Legacy's. None after 1994.

Good thinking. Then you'll never have to think about special tools, not engaging, mangled fittings.

Are you sure you need all fluids drained, maybe that's a CYA list that they only loosely follow when someone is being asinine? I've seen "gas tanks drained, hole punched in tank, and title necessary" and scrapped cars for full price with neither of those "requirements" being met. 15 miles I'd pull it in the middle of the night with a long chain/tow strap. Emergency brakes are mechanical so no brake fluid needed at all, just make sure they're working well and practice first, they do not work to stop QUICKLY so if you're being towed go slow, slow starts, slow deceleration, consistent, with someone who's done that before and coast down steep mountains and reattach at the bottom. If you still want to go the original plan - I would drain the ATF/diff/engine 100 yards from the place, tow it into the parking lot, or push it with another vehicle or if there's any grade - use those to coast into the parking lot. Removing all the fluid is impossible since the rack, torque converter, valve body and more all have fluid that can't come out with a typical drain. Even changing the fluid will still leave all those significant amounts of fluid in it. So their "requirement" to drain all fluids is a bit suspicious.

Doesn't matter now but I've cut them off my personal cars and installed regular fuel hose.

This might be a good tutorial on reading OBDI codes but it's a legacy not forester and USDM: https://www.surrealmirage.com/subaru/engine.html

Try to read those codes. That's the best starting point. Oh you're probably OBDI? Quick google suggests AUS didn't have any Subaru OBDII in the 90's so yours probably is OBDI. Have you see that process for getting the car to flash the codes for you? Maybe you don't need a scanner? I think you just plug in the connectors and the check engine light flashes the code to you, not sure where you'll find these in a RHD 98 For but the connectors may look like this: It got down to about -10 Celsius where I used to live and did TB coolant bypass without issues.

Do you think it slid through the covid cracks? Our inspections were all screwed up due to COVID. Offices closed, no inspections of reconstructed vehicles for a year. They allowed local title companies to provide more services than normal and delayed/weren't enforcing any state inspections at all. My inspection is 3 years expired and they aren't pulling me over with my ancient peeling off sticker. I have inspection scheduled Thursday this week. Also I've seen a number of times where the insurance/payout/titling/totaling process doesn't happen like normal. "Totaling" a car means the insurance company buys the car from you. They pay you and take the car and title. The title then gets branded however your particular state brands wrecked cars. If you do a buyback they give you the title back branded and you keep or get the car back. Often times they don't acquire your car/title and just hand you a check, so no documentation happens besides just paying you. I find they'll act VERY QUICKLY (and thus skip those steps) if concise and I make it known I'd prefer to avoid lawyers if the situation is addressed reasonably. I've avoided them every time for myself and friends I've helped through wrecks with good results. Or take the car, but not the title, then you do a buyback and they never follow through with title. Whatever the case - the totaling/wrecked/title/branding/registering of wrecked cars through insurance often doesn't go the same way every time. I've found the insurance process is surprisingly not as regimented as other parts of the legal/DMV process.

Can you post all the codes you’re getting? You’re positive it’s all cylinder misfire codes? I think that’s the idel controller. The three wire part? Look it up and see if it looks the same as what you’re looking at I’ve removed them on older fuel injected non turbo subarus down to temps well below zero without issue. If the idle controller is expecting coolant maybe it’s freaking out? Don’t know. Higher octane alone shouldn’t matter.

Can you map fuel trims while it drives normal and through one of it's episodes and compare?

No non turbo US EJ25's had that unless they slapped it on some late EJ25 nonturbo's that snuck past me. I'd guess that's a turbo only part in the US. 99 EJ25 isn't turbo, there are no turbo EJ25's in the 90's in the US.

What is TSV? I’ve never heard that term. Googling Subaru TSV didn’t help.

I've bought from them before too. Nice too they know Subarus when other places fumble and waffle around with what fits what or have interchange issues.

Do you have any non-ethanol gas close by? Non-ethanol is the gold standard. Landscaping equipment managers and boat owners go that route and have no love for additives. More anecdotally, I've used Stabil and my outdoor equipment never worked any better over doing nothing. I may be mis remembering but I thought GD mentioned years ago treatments aren't nearly as good as their reputation. I remember someone talking about it because it was when it wasn't doing my property equipment any good.

Radiator isn’t blocked? How many miles has it driven since the work? Did the symptoms start immediately or after a month? How often does it do this - once a day or week? Look for a pattern when it overheats. Coming off a long sustained drive (like exiting an interstate or driving back roads and stopping more in city)? Going up hills or coasting or night and day or ambient temps.

Those connectors are used for memory and clearing functions. The test connectors should be disconnected for normal driving. Connecting one connector will flash the codes in memory. Connecting the other connector will erase the ECU memory. Or maybe connecting both connectors does one of thsoe functions. It's been awhile since i've done it. You should also be able to just disconnect the ECU entirely either the plugs to it or pull the fuse if it has one or disconnect the battery overnight.