idosubaru

you're right - bolt right up, tons of wiring work, and roll like normal, nothing particular different installing the first gen EZ30 H6 behind an MT.

Pull the fuse and check/reseat it. Next time it cuts off check the voltage across the fuse for the radio/clock. Subarus rarely have electrical issues. 1. Any aftermarket components at all - stereo, remote starter, lights...? 2. Any dealer add ons over stock? 3. Have you had any rodent issues - mice or chipmunks or a food source in the vehicle (kids, pets...) Is there anything the keyless and center console have in common? Do they share the same fuse - check your owners manual or fuse panel lid.

service dept support staff (the ones you run into while walking/sitting around) are salesmen/women. "Service Advisors" or "Service Managers" are salespeople. They "sell you services" and are trained in the arts, not sciences. some service dept staff/managers are sharp and used to be mechanics - but that's not the current norm. some service dept support staff aren't mechanically familiar. they can be really good dealers and staff, but the business/local/current/volume climate is such that they need people to fill that role of communicating, booking, navigating, and assisting customers in the service department. but they should ask/check/google/say they don't know rather than guess.

Idle Air Control Valve - easiest test is to just swap in another used one for cheap if you have them readily available. Alternately here are your options: 1. make sure it's properly hooked up 2. clean it insitu (some styles don't really have this option) 3. remove it and clean it 4. replace with a used one 5. replace with a new one

you can have it changed anywhere but you should favor a shop that does great work. i'd pay more for a good shop than just bargain hop. it's a cheap way to maintain a good relationship. i get tires from a place because they're a good business. it costs me more but i've got a relationship with a long term, well run establishment where i know most of the staff. it's worth the additional cost and it's worth considering that option for oil changes as well. i've seen aftermarkets leak before the first oil change, but I routinely put 50,000 and 100,000 miles on the same *OEM Subaru* crush washer and never replace them. but that's not the topic here, there's no reason not too and you should always replace it for sure.

Buy a used one and swap it out. All ER27s and EA82 MTs are the same and all the ATs are the same. Www.car-part.com A machine shop or driveline shop could probably rebuild it. If you can access the bearings you could try to use a needle fitting to inject the bearings with grease. That’s all that happens - the quarter century old grease is gone and degraded to clumpy clay. I’ve done it with quite a few other bearings but haven’t tried the carrier bearings yet. They go from nasty to feeling like new instantly.

two prior owners and a decade, thats a lot of room for miscommunication, questionable data, and loss of, or lack of, paper trail - which is very common. Replaced headgaskets have multiple failure modes the originals don’t have, or have at much lower rates. That being said - initial external coolant leaks of OEM installed headgaskets respond with nearly 100% success rate to the Subaru coolant conditioner. So change your coolant and add the conditioner and you’ll no longer have a leak. If you still have a leak then misdiagnosis or prior headgasket replacement is likely.

Was the tps used or new? Check TPS installation and alignment. Some have a specific procedure to align them properly. It’s simole but checking is a good idea. Keep checking your codes to see if any pop up. Post the oxygen sensor code you’re getting. Check timing belt alignment marks and tensioner though that should result in noise. Knock sensors most common sensor failure on that engine. $8 ebay specials work great. Should give a check engine light but I’ve seen stranger things. Coolant temp sensor - the one for the ECU. Plugs, wires should be NGK and quality and have less than 300,000 miles on them. Check condition of plugs and see if one looks different than the others or they have oil on any of the plugs valve clearance and compression or leak down test once you’re running out of options.

05+ EJ25 factory headgaskets always leak oil as opposed to coolant. Reread that and let it sink in - that's what the last 14 years and millions of miles have shown. Any more than that gets subjective. If you're still under warranty then follow the owners manual, after that do whatever you want. This is so simple and almost zero cost that it doesn't make much difference otherwise, but it shouldn't encourage neglectful maintenance or give warm fuzzies either.

Scott did you see this picture of your rear diff hanger?!?!

Absolutely not. Probably need to replace the crank pulley. But It could need either tightened in place or replaced or the crank sprocket needs replaced depending on what you mean by “moves out”. Why are you looking in the first place? Most people don’t stare at their crank pulley for no reason. Noise, charging issues....? By “Moves out” do you mean the entire pulley, it’s out of round, or the outer part the belt is on?

Heat shield vibrating, brakes dragging, valve clatter.... Narrow it down more. Does it do it if you coast downhill in neutral at the same speed it would normally make it? Does it change when you lightly touch the brake pedal or gas pedal or steering wheel leftnor right while making the noise? What about inclination:grade - does that make a difference? Left/right/center? Stand outside on the left and right of it while someone drives past you at 10mph. Front center or rear?

Headgasket. All EJ25s have headgasket issues, the specific failure modes differ slightly by year/type but failed headgaskets nonetheless. It could be valve covers as they’re guaranteed to leak over time/mileage as well, but if headgaskets have already been diagnosed then there’s not much reason to do more than a cursory check to verify.

Knocking could be timing belt tensioner slapping. Inspect that.

I generally keep an eye on all highway mileage on trips I’ve done a bunch of times and a tank of gas is userd in one day, then I’m generally not affected by weather, traffic, being late to something, etc. I just drive 55 or 75 the whole time on a similar trip I’ve done many times.

I’ve seen a couple non/symptomatic subarus jump a few mpg after a brake job though I doubt it’s the case here, it’s not very common. Moving, changing jobs, changing shifts, visiting someone, a hobby, home repair, side business, carrying more dead weight - there’s infinite ways driving habits may have changed requiring different traffic, roads, mountains, speeds, idling, etc which impact mileage.

What he said. It’s just fittings. install the right fittings in the air tank and you’re done. They’re so antiquated with decades old orings and Parts, are slow and hard to find parts for, not adjustable in stock form, the compressors have 6 hard to mitigate leak/failure points. that time is probably better spent on a dedicated solution over a conversion. But I understand the novelty and pragmatism too...you have me revisiting the idea again for my xt6 air tank hahaa

will do. Got it, I’ve bought a bunch of those inexpensive late 90s OEM EJ alts.

How long are you going to keep it? You may get that money back if you buy a good vehicle that’s easy to resell and holds value like mad later. I’m those terms sometimes the more expensive up front car can be the same or cheaper in the long run. Compare insurance costs for giggles?

Nah it doesn’t matter, you can run in FWd all day long on a properly working system. I’ve driven many 10’s of thousands of miles with the FWD fuse installed on many different cars and others have as well. No big deal. If you had clunking then something was wrong.

Headgasket? Can turbos leak internally and consume coolant, I don’t do turbos so I don’t know.

Not much specific. Rust, bushings, exhaust struts but that’s all ordinary stuff an expected in an older higher mileage vehicle. Were heads resurfaced and what brand of head gaskets were used? I wouldn’t rule out one that wasn’t resurfaced if everything else sounds like it was well done. But a cheap flipped blown headgasket car can easiky be either extreme. Headgasjets blew - look for signs or ask leading questions to gauge how badly it was overheated. Signs of spray around battery or that cover. Deformed/wavy (think - melted) timing covers or compromised paint and headlight (from repeated hot coolant I presume) around the overflow tank are two that I’ve seen. Rare but I’ve seen a couple like that. One of those I recommended a friend not considering and it was literally knocking right after he bought it and the engine was quickly junk. Torque bind - although for that price torque bind is an easy fix anyway and not a big deal.

did you check the tensioner pulley for the A/C belt, they're very prone to failure as well.

Flush heater core

what he said - should be #17, all the ones i've ever seen are accessed in the lower passengers footwell, other than a cover or something i think it's easily accessible. i feel like one model i've done i had to remove the blower motor to get to it. other than XT6's i've only done like 1 of each model i've encountered so they all kind of run together. but none have ever been hard or more than just cover or something to get to.