idosubaru

another possibility is to clean out the heater core. pull both hoses and run water through it.

myself, and probably others, are tracking along and learning from the debate, thanks for wading through it.

what he said - still have hundreds of pounds of extension housing, additional fluid, driveshaft, rear diff, axles and the rotational drag off all those items as well. average daily drivers you won't notice a difference with FWD mpg. if you have a consistent commute and can drive light on the throttle and brake, coast a lot, and maintain a fairly consistent 55mph you might notice, but that's hard to accomplish for the majority of commutes. just like the AWD/4WD/diff stuff this is another topic that's been covered extensively over the decades.

Nope, just flick away. I agree personally. But - do you expect people to think about a button when they already have the weight of texting, holding a Starbucks Organically Sustainably produced Mocha Latte in their hand while they're listening to their GPS directions too? That's just too much to ask. Subaru was way ahead of the curve in 1996! For real - the masses aren't versed, interested, or care about actual mechanical principles, they want it distilled - in the same way many of us want information in others areas simplified and distilled when we really haven't put in the work, research, experiences to understand it. in general - most people want information and options distilled for them. We might not be like that with Subaru's but we probably are in other areas. In any event there has been and will be a huge upside for touchless 4WD.

I’d guess it’s circumstantial as well - snow weather driving patterns, etc. You can check brakes. They may be working fine but dragging because pins are corroded. Usually they make noise or have some other symptom but I’ve seen them be asymptomatic before as well.

Yes if wired correctly, that’s what you’ll get.

Thanks. 90s EJ it is then. my other two daily’s are newer H6s so using one of those styles for simplicity, I’ll look at them but I’m weak in electrical.

Great. Thanks for following up.

I Doubt a Honda or Toyota dealer can do it but you’ll verify that soon enough.

1995 is OBDII - use OBDII reader and done. Check build date, is it the newer body style or old school 90-94 legacy body?

H6’s have occassional headgasket issues. They overheat randomly and sporadically at first making them nearly impossible to diagnose or test at initial onset and a dangerous unknown used car lot purchase. I prefer buying them private party or wrecked where you get a read on why it’s being sold. I’ve seen two develop headgasket issues after purchase and both came off of car lots and I’ve seen two for sale on lots with extant issues I passed on when helping friends. The 5 or so private party sales I’ve helped with didn’t have that. That said they’re great candidates for reliable high mileage daily drivers. At $4000 price range forget the dealers and look for a private party or lightly wrecked cheap one to fix is what I’d do. Put the savings into a new OEM alternator, starter contacts, battery and pulleys bearings (mentioned later) and fuel pump cap/oring and you just got a very reliable 100,000 miles. Serpentine pulley bearings both need replaced every 60,000 miles. They’re only $10 and takes 30 minutes. Super easy. Fuel pump caps crack at the tab.

Far as I know, EJ18, EJ25, and 1990-1995 EJ22s are all dual port and swap.

Probably low on coolant Check coolant level in radiator (not overflow tank)

Yes. Only if it’s an RS every other 98 imp is single port EJ22. All of this is answered directly in my swap thread including 98 RS reference

Well the design of the EJ25D causes massive headgasket issues - but like you said yes, the oil and ultimately rods and subsequent issues are infuriated by the repeated overheating. As for engine watch dog - might need something like that on the newer subarus that’s don’t even have a temp gauge.....whaaaattttt???!!! Who’s idea was that? are they trying to make these disposable like appliances haha.

Yes the 95 is a dual port exhaust so you’ll need any dual port manifold. 95s can have EGR or not and 98s can have it or not as well, I feel like they usually do have EGR in 98. Any combination can easily be made to work.

itll so as good as the tires you give it if you see nasty roads. Tires make the difference. Even brand of snow tires and age make a difference. The snow tires I’ve used, even highly touted blizzacks, (though they do really well) don’t perform at age three like they do the first year. I’m trying micxhellin snows now to see how they age, on my second year with them I think.

Nope. Simply speaking: FWD is 1 wheel drive 4WD/AWD is 2 wheel drive. AWD/4WD with locked rear diff = 3 wheel drive AWD4WD with locked front and rear diff = 4WD (front lockers are very rare in Subarus). There are three differential mechanisms involved. Power isn’t sent to wheels but ather to input shafts axles and through these diffs. Only one wheel at a time is driven by the front and rear diff. Google differentials for all the guts and detail. nearly every car made for decades uses a differential, you’ll find it easily. Have you ever seen a typical FWD or RWD car stuck? One wheel spins. And a 4WD/AWD without traction control of some sort will functionally spin two wheels when stuck. Anyone playing in real mud and snow enough has seen this countless times. Easy way to see this yourself - put your FWD fuse in and go floor it on a wet road pointing up hill while turning the steering wheel almost fully left or right. You’ll do a mad FWD burn out - one wheel is getting all the power. The center diff mechanism (clutch pack in an AT) “sends” power to the front diff and rear diff. this center diff is where the “locking” (or not) that you’re talking about happens. Then the front and rear diff will (simply speaking) drive one wheel.

i agree with you and i also run locked rear diffs as well for even better traction. i like that they don't have that momentary "sliiiiip" from a start when you're sitting in mud, nasty snow, off road and you know it's locked when you're coasting down a steep, slick, snow covered grade. it also depends what kind of snow and how much ground clearance the vehicle has. if you're pushing a vehiclein snow and mud they're easy to high center in which case drivetrain is meaningless. still haven't heard anything about tires. i love 4WD but the indisputable facts are that tires can be far more important than 4WD.

I am electrically average and unsure, so if anyone could hold my hand for a minute: 1. the yellow wire is the "added", additional 3rd wire that the EJ has that the EA does not, right? 2. the yellow wire needs to be 12 volts any time the car is "on", does not matter where it comes from as long as it's always 12 volts when the car is on and off when the car is off - is that right? 3. can this be done with any EJ alternators or just 90-99's? what about later 2000+ stuff or the H6 alternators that may interact with the ECU differently? 4. What does he mean by "EA Black/white (Ig. +).....where is that wire?

i agree. i like selectable 4WD better as well. since you have an automatic you can install a switch and have selectable 4WD with the push of a button. done deal - you can have exactly what you want. that being said, if it's dramatically lesser in traction - it's still the tires or a mechanical issue with the 4WD. what is the date stamp and brand of the tires? we could all learn something here if we get some data on the table. they're externally controlled so you can play with those controls - vacuum, mechanical, electronics. totally different system. with EJ vehicles it's an internal limited slip device with no external controls, so you literally have no access to it.

i doubt it's the same for the US. it's state registration, ownership, titling and taxes - not federal, so I'd guess it varies by state. i would call the tax and vehicle departments or whoever (each state is different) and ask them how long you need to keep the records. make multiple calls without telling them the whole story. just try to get a feel for how it works and see what they say. keep the question simple and avoid your whole story, that will only confuse them.

Rim doesn't have anything to do with it. You drove 8,000 miles so far, as far as the car is concerned that rim isn't that bent. Is the car otherwise shifting and driving normal? Read the transmission codes. There's a secret handshake you can do to get it to flash the codes for you. look that up. With the light coming on on it's own I'd guess the Duty C is failing. But best to diagnose. Does the FWD fuse work and alleviate the symptoms? If it doesn't work then the Duty C is failing - the flashing AT light likely suggests it's the Duty solenoid. If it does work then the Duty C is good and I'd definitely want to read those codes before proceeding. Otherwise Normally torque bind when the FWD fuse works means the clutches are sticking. Change the fluid more than once. One drain and refill only gets about 1/3 of the fluid out of an automatic transmission. This won't help a failing Duty C though, so ideally you read the code first. All the tire sizes, tread depth, and pressure match/are correct? make sure there's no funny wiring, dented transmission pan. The bent wheel suggests something may have happened and torque bind showing up a little while after driving at the same time as the AT light flashing isn't the most typical presentation of torque bind. Otherwise yes replace the clutches or Duty C, or both.

tires. snow traction is heavily correlated to tires. first bias is often towards blaming car, 4WD, and ABS. What brand tires and tell us the 4 digit date stamp on the side wall of all 4. it'll be in a small box/oval outline and just have 4 numbers 0916 or something like that. first two digits are the week (out of 52) in which is what made in a given year, and the last 2 digits are the year (so 16 would be 2016) of manufacturer. if you're ever buying used tires/cars in snow areas you should be good at doing this. i prefer old gen style too like my daily driver XT6 i just rolled into the office with. you could have multiple vehicles too - just get an old EA82 to bang around for the winters. that's what i've done for many years but now i'm headed towards using my XT6 less in the winter to fend off rust. Yes you can add a switch to "lock" an automatic trans just like the old gen stuff, but if you have an MT there's nothing you can do. it's not electronically controlled so it's impossible. in an AT you can install a switch in line with the Duty C wiring. it's just one wire and you're disconnecting/connecting that wire. with the switch completing the circuit you'll have stock AWD. with the switch disconnecting the circuit you'll have "locked" 4WD just like your old gen push buttons you're talking about. find the duty C wiring by downloading the FSM which are free online. find the wire from the TCU (it's right above your gas pedal) for the Duty C solenoid. Cut that wire and put a switch in line with it. that's it. Typically you extended the wires so you can install the switch somewhere convenient.

there is nothing significant you can do to mitigate headgasket issues on that engine so i doubt idling matters.