idosubaru

original subaru EJ engine (your engine) water pumps easily make 200,000 miles, i often don't even replace them particularly on older non interference engines, with normal use they simply dont' have any real practical failure modes. that said - i do replace them sometimes for a variety of reasons and sure anything can fail - but outside compelling reasons the data suggests the water pump wasn't the likely cause. if the impellers were damaged it's just as likely that an overheating event, low coolant, or high temp exhaust gases pushed into the coolant, or cavitation if that's possible in automotive applications.

those year EJ22's aren't hard to do in the vehicle either so no need to worry about engine lifts, etc. look at the engine and the head bolts are staring you in the face. Subaru head gaskets, intake manifold gasket, valve cover gasket and you're done. Exhaust gaskets wise too but they generally can often be reused. you don't need to replace the timing cover seals, heck many people just decide not to bother installing the covers, but let's not open that can of worms here. find a machine shop to resurface the heads. some won't warranty the heads but i just tell them i won't want or need the warranty on these heads and they'll resurface them only without charging hundreds for a complete valve job, pressure test, etc. you have to ask specifically sometimes though because they're often just churning out complete valve/pressure test jobs and charge accordingly. you don't need that.

nah, get the OEM one from subaru. they're way cheaper than all this oil the car needs to run. $12 paypal and i'll ship you one.

OEM belt and pulleys are more important than the water pump. OEM water pump and gasket AISIN is supplier and can be found outside of dealers the water pump can easily make 200,000 miles and they have essentially zero stranding failure modes so it's a shoulder shrug decision. i often replace them just to be done with it but if you're DIY it's no big deal to move on without it sometimes either if there's a compelling reason. if i was doing it for someone else i'd do it, if it was my own car i wouldn't care to just leave it and replace it if it starts weeping, which is highly unlikely.

wow, if it wasn't you i wouldn't believe that at first glance! this joker fixed it before he missed one morning oil top off before work...his odds weren't in his favor. makes me want to stuff a PCV hose shut and see what happens for a 100 miles just to see it myself. i've got a running and driving 03 going to the scrap yard, it's tempting.

Yep worth a check - Ive had one lucky one so far. Broke at idle and he tried to restart multiple times.

Blowing smoke is the outlier rather than asymptomatic oil usage. It’s easy to see - google “oil consumption issue” and see all the modern vehicles that consume a lot of oil and you won’t see any of them blowing smoke. Thousands and thousands of them, they’re common across various manufactures, aren’t billowing clouds, and ubiquitous as flies. there are various failure modes, manufacturers, materials differences, and varying ring set ups.

A PCV would cause seventeen quarts of oil between 5,000 mile oil changes?

I’d run 20w-50 in the summer. I know people will faint to read that so try 10w or 15w and see if that slows the bleeding.

Yes you’re burning oil. It’s not so much being about burning completely as it’s an insignificant amount, in those terms. Go to your kitchen and divide up an itty bitty teaspoon into 10,000 equal parts. That’s how much oil you’re burning per revolution. 1 quart per 300 miles is like 1 quart per 1 million revolutions. It’s nothing. It’s so small you can’t even do it with an eye dropper. In these terms it’s not surprising you don’t have symptoms. There are different failure modes and mechanical differences across models but doesn’t matter, unfortunately your rings are shot.

Pulley. Oil leaks like that suck, in your face everywhere and messy and noooow where did it come from? You don’t drive backwards to work right?! If its up front then pump seems likely - maybe just clean off all around the pump first and see if you can identify a leak and ignore the rest of the mess for now.

woaaah! that's ceeeerrrraaaazzzyy! that looks like a parts car at the moment, very cool!

yeah i just copied and pasted it from the site - i was mainly asking because he calls the ignition "one of the first steps" - but when it looks like it's actually one of the last steps..so i wasn't sure if that's just internet/keyboard misunderstanding or he actually didn't do them.

are you doing the 3 steps before the ignition? unlock all doors, foot on brake, all doors closed then cycling? Unlock all doors, foot on brake, all doors closed. Cycle key quickly but carefully on-off appr 10 times until the car honks one time. Do not turn the key far enough to start the car, just to the 'on' position so the dashboard lights up. When the horn honks, open and close the driver's door, press any remote button and that's it. Program another remote? Quickly open and close the driver's door again and push a button on the 2nd remote. That's it. When you're done, remove the key and the horn should honk 3 times. You're all set. Sometime it takes more than 10 on-offs to set program mode. Open/close the door, lock/unlock etc, wait 10 minutes, then try again.

don't lock it until you get a FOB cars101.com has programming instructions which is relatively easy to do at home with your 2002 buy a used FOB/remote and program it and you're done.

Wheel bearing should have a hint of front/rear left/right m, driveshft will not. Crawl under and yank on the shaft, that doesn’t catch all failure modes though.

I would guess rear driveshaft based on interior movement and vibration. But maybe wheel bearing depending on history and what is meant by rattling interior - light noises or the rear view mirror is unusable and you can’t talk on the phone? Is this a new symptom or new vehicle...?

The struts are a quarter century old and probably roasted garbage, why not get new struts and springs and call it a day?

1. 4 or 6 cylinder? 2. what does the dealer say the sound is? 3. if it's a 4 cylinder and it's louder at start up and gets a little quieter once the car is warmed up - then it's piston slap. 4. timing tensioner can slap. pull drivers side cover and inspect it while it's making the noise and see if it's moving 5. rod knock. engine run low on oil or overheated - thereby compromising the oil - will ruin the lower end bearings ,which on Subaru's means the rod bearings. eventually it'll just throw a rod through the block. this noise will not go away, should be relatively consistent, loud, and will get worse particularly right before it throws a party. the first time (or multiple times) the car was overheated, before the radiator was replaced - then future times before the headgaskets were replaced - it may have been overheated too much, compormised the oil and lower end bearings. not uncommon at all, engines simply can not tolerate overheating or oil being compromised. In terms of a sound directly related to prior overheating - that's usually #5.

Is the issue that there are no SVX struts available to buy new and no other struts are a direct swap?

Are the belts old and used? Rubber degrades and easily breaks with only a few years age depending on light, temp swings, storage, etc. How old was the last belt that broke? Brand and age of “new” belt? Remove belt and spin pulleys by hand - if there’s tightness or noise or okay that’s your issue. Is the crank pulley separated and misaligned conventrically?

Dealer Online dealers can ship them if you’re averse to local. I think it’s long time gone but thepartsbin.com was the only non-dealer place I’ve seen carry them. I used to order from them and get those orings from them.

Cars101.com H6 VDC has them.

Thanks I found three coils at home. Haven’t seen the car since first diagnosis. I’ll run into them shortly.

Install the FWD fuse, what happens? Is it still drivable, it drove home?