idosubaru

Breaking a tab isn’t the end of the world, I’ve broken them before, just be mindful and adjust as you go.

Yes, no warranty. As someone who has rebuilt totaled subarus and seen plenty of others It wouldn’t make any sense to warranty totaled vehicles, take on that liability, and make others pay for the damages and inspections and repair ability of others. The manufacturer would essentially be subsidizing the person that caused the accident, owned the car, towed the car, repaired the car, inspected the car and bought the car. That’s crazy. Consumers would also get stuck between dealers and rebuilders claiming it was the others responsibility to cover a given repair. If it was totaled I’d want to know where/how for future notes.

Tribeca had early years issues making this more of a problem people wanted to address and a few have done it. I think I’ve seen it on an outback before as well. Here’s a quote from one guy who relaced his without removing the dash: “Back inside, I used an air powered 4" cutoff disc to cut both pipes. Slide the heater core out. Cut and debur the new heater core to match the old one. Be careful to keep aluminum chips from getting into the core. Debur the new new pipes and replace the old ones still in the car. There is one screw that secures the clamp. Slide the new core in. Connect the pipes using new heater hose. I got the hose and clamps at NAPA.”

In other subarus you can replace it without touching the dash, Id consider that first as well. Look it up but the basic idea is cut the metal inlets and outlets of the heater core and then use generic runner hose to extend the heater cores reach through the firewall instead of a Long metal inlet/outlet that creates the clearance problem. I’m not sure which models you can do this on but it’s been done in subarus before and what I’d try do too if I could avoid possibly cracking scraping and breaking old brittle trim and plastic fasteners.

“Boat”: an enormous ocean going vessel. Also a small flat bottom aluminum boat. A small lightweight boat would easily work on top of a Subaru if properly mounted.

There’s a special tool to remove that plate. Fabricate one that’s close, I think there’s a pin socket that can be made to work or use a hammer and appropriate “punch”, preferably not too narrow or pointy or too big to sit flush or you’ll crack the tabs off. Some tap off okay and others are beastly to get going.

From the outside. No messing with the diff. You have to carefully mark the exact location of the outer seal plate. Count the number of turns to remove it and swap seals. Then reinstall the plate the exact same number of turns and original location to retain the pinion backlash and bearing preload. Otherwise you’ll need another trans if you screw that up. Those seals are directional so there’s a right and a left. all the 04 and earlier are like that and I’m almost positive 05+ is as well but it’s lost in my mind. If it’s different it’ll just pull out and pop the new one in. Still easy.

True. EJ25 failure modes lend themselves to significant and repeated overheats and more lower end failures than most. A $500 blown headgasket EJ25 has a good chance of being one of these. Signs of severe overheating: Look for deformed plastic like the timing covers. Lots of coolant markings around the overflow tank in the engine bay. Block sealer Discolored drivers side headlight lens or surrounding paint from overheated coolant spewing on it No one that’s worked on a lot of EJ25s would be surprised if you replaced thegaskets and then the lower end pukes itself out. It happens. But it stinks to consider each one junk without knowing so for some people it’s worth the gamble. I would just recommend not putting insane amounts of money in it. I’d install an EJ22, the last one I bought one was $350 - it would be way cheaper than the work you’re considering on a questionable engine. And more reliable and cheaper to maintain. I have a complete write up on the EJ22 swap it’s plug and play and way easier than a headgasket job.

the 1997 EJ25 doesn't have a small pump, you don't need to upgrade it. if choosing i wouldn't go with 11mm unless someone really versed and experienced told me too, there is too much of a good thing. yeah it's pointless to go through those engines if you mean bearings and rings. it's prohibitive for quite a few reasons including high cost and high risk.

what he just said. Retroroo

i agree, no way i'd blame the shop. popular is often wrong and people need to hear from shop owners on stuff like this. if he influenced taking the car because he didn't want to pay more - then yeah he owes. you can't "only pay labor if it ends up being cheap" - that's not how it works. if the shop waved the white flag and put their hands up and didn't want to fix it then labor costs seems a little murkier. the unwritten expectations of cheap easy labor/job are confusing and we have no idea what actually transpired verbally, parts wise, or work wise.

+1 i missed the parts side of the equation. pay for parts, no way i'd let a shop eat parts in a situation like this.

Again we didn’t hear the agreement or know the contact at all but from what you’ve said so far you don’t owe them anything. That said, I will pay someone more than they charge or eat costs if I respect them, do business with them before and will later. If it’s a good relationship who cares about a few bucks here and there?

Oh dang that’s terrible. I’m sorry you did that particularly since we don’t know for sure it works. The upside is they’re expensive because there’s such low demand and they’re a high quality part. They never fail so people never need one. I would measure them at the dealer or test fit there so you can just return them if it doesn’t work.

No. That’s why there are torque values. Wheels, axle nuts, crank shaft bolts are frequently known to loosen and come off. What are you looking for - a study that says loose bolts can make things fall off? That’s foggy and unclear what and why you’re asking. in some sense there is no answer or it depends on what, why, how much, etc

They didn’t do anything, you don’t owe anything. At least from what little we know - we didn’t see or hear the agreement or job being done. Did they charge you? What shop let’s you leave and not pay? It is possible to get away with one bolt but I don’t recommend it for all but emergency situations and I can’t say anything about *that* exact bolt or pin or caliper since I haven’t seen it and it’s clearly been abused. Moving forward - use high quality caliper pin grease like Sil Glyde and not that generic permatex you’re probably using, that stuff is really low grade, in the northeast anyway., replace any pin boots and check them every time you rotate tires. If the clips are bent or corroded or have dust build up, replace them. You’ll never have this happen again and never need to work on brakes again except pads and fluid. The rotors will last the life of he vehicle unless you drive it in saltwater and let it sit 8 months. There is no answer to your question about what could or should have been with the mechanic. it’s hypothetical and Rusted to $&*^’!&%^! fasteners fail all the time. Could it have been removed - probably. Is anyone in rust states shocked if it sheared off - not at all. 1. Its a 2 decade old northeast rust bucket. 2. this vehicle hasn’t seen impeccable maintainenance - crap brake pin grease and/or maintenance, crap brake pad and rotor attention. Whoever did previous jobs or rotated tires doesn’t pay attention. Change your mechanic or whoever rotates/does your tires. It takes 30 seconds to check pins. I do it every time I pull the tires just about. 3. You presumably took it to a cheap shop - “You get what you pay for”. Go somewhere that knows what they’re doing or DIY. I only work on cars for free - that’s my rule - so if that saying is true a lot of people are getting questionable work. Sure - maybe the mechanic screwed up. But - I’m going to be hard pressed to blame a mechanic (or anyone) on rusty, terrible condition, poorly maintained brakes that I’ve never seen, that would be delusional. And who knows - maybe someone previously mangled the rust pins before.

Struts commonly are damaged like this. That’s definiteky the starting point.

I would get seals from Subaru for the reasons GD just mentioned. They are excellent materials and some aftermarket seals may use old school materials more prone to leak. .

It’s been such a classic sign of EJ25Ds for 20+ years. I’ve never considered why the lower hose stays cool when the headgaskets fail. Generally the exhaust gases are screwing with coolant flow. I would guess the water pump can’t work right with all that air in there or the Tstat only works when submerged in fluid, not when surround by air. I’m starting to also wonder if there even is any actual overheating. The temp gauge is acting normal, not like it’s broken. I’d start trying to get some temp readings of the engine and find out why your gauge isn’t working, who cares what you replaced if you still think it’s not working....if you really think it’s not. Then maybe you’ll also verify the engine is actually fine as well.

correct. just a junction box. i just bypass them. proportioning valve i think is up in the engine bay.

nah, just tap it in. i use a hammer and a piece of wood...or just a hammer if 'im feeling crazy. haha i'll be at lake lanier in a month if you don't have one by then i'll bring you one. har har!

hahaha. good job, totally takes a couple times sometimes to nail it. been there before.

i would reseal it and tighten the backing plate screws, one or a bunch are always loose. it's really easy, nothing to it. tighten the backing plate screws with locktite, one oil pump oring, RTV and the crank seal. GD suggests upgrading to a larger 9mm pump if yours has a 7mm pump. some 2000+ EJ25's have a 7mm pump, all 90's stuff had 9mm.

Yeah they just pop right out. post in the parts wanted forum or ebay or something. i've had numerous ones available at times, but not now. Same part since the 1980's used in a zillion Subarus so should be readily available. https://parts.subaru.com/p/Subaru__/SHAFT-AXLE-DRIVE-------------------------2WD-TURBO--4WDEXC/49248096/38415AA100.html $45 from discounted subaru suppliers. Subaru part number: 38415AA100

That's not what I said - reread what I wrote. install the 2001 stubby shaft into the 2001 axle and then slide the 2001 axle into the 2006 transmission. check ID of seal and OD of shaft where it rides on the seal. I explained it all above in the parts information. The 2001 axle+2001 stubby shaft may be identical to the 2006 axle with stubby shaft already installed.