idosubaru

It’s usually not the pump but air getting into it. Have you checked the fluid level? Any leaks? It’s often an oring, if yours has an oring between the pump and reservoir. Is your reservoir on top of the pump or off to the side? Look for leaks around the hoses attached to the pump. Replace any that are wet. Some EJ engines (I forget which years have this set up) have a serpentine belt cover that needs properly installed as well or it pulls on the lines enough to cause noise. If this started after a belt change or some other front end work then check the serpentine belt cover. Though it’s been awhile so I forget which EJ engines this situation applies too.

+1 pull the rear back seat bottom and do the lines there.

thats awesome. changing with regular ATF wouldn’t improve anything? How did you change out - I figure I wouldn’t want to do multiple drain and fills with expensive product - I’d want as close to 100% as possible so to speak?

Duplicate

headgasket failures don’t all exhibit identical symptoms. We’ve seen that before too. It depends on the nature of the breech. If cooling is reduced due to low coolant levels from consuming coolant or a small air pocket then revving may push through that. Other times hot exhaust gases are pushing into the coolant too much, or cavitating at the pump and revving the engine doesn’t help, just adds more heat and exhaust to the coolant. Sure, confirm it if you want, but that line of reasoning is not accurate.

Maybe the overcharging damaged something? overcharging XT6 alternator blew light bulbs, black fusible link, igniter, flasher/blinker unit, and the TCU. I noticed symptoms for about 1 minute (bright lights and fluctuating lights).

I think it’s easy, fluid does go everywhere and you need a steep angle and vertical space to get the lump out nearly vertical. I’ve done it on old gen, new gen, 4 and 6 cylinder automatics, but I think all the new gen I’ve done were outbacks and a 99 SUS which has body spacers, although seems to me they’ve never been right or hard to get out, they pull right out. if I had a non lifted Subaru it wouldn’t have occurred to me it wasn’t possible, never seemed hard or lacking space but ive never tried it on those either. there’s no additional time constraint and you gain easier access to torque converter and bellhousing bolts and separating the engine and trans insitu which I don’t find always goes easy and smoothly. Rusty lower nuts, granted there’s only two but chiseling and/or welding those things off is an annoyance for me, I don’t have a full on professional shop with torches and welders easily accessed at all times particularly in the winter.

do you know how robust it is compared to OEM materials? And what’s the learning curve for a noob - on a scale of 1-10 how easy is it to get a good fit and alignment?

Used. Ebay. Craigslist Post in the parts wanted forum here Look for a way to make your own bushing.

Good job. I’ve never seen a Subaru with pedal height issues so I find it hard to imagine that’s significant. But maybe I just haven’t seen it.

great call on the crimp - that is the most common failure, and the oring, but that’s an easy and nearly free fix.

claims that they fail at a certain mileage are unwarranted and inaccurate. they were blowing headgaskets at insanely low mileages under warranty and they also can make 200,000 with no issues. The reasons people assume a mileage are more nuanced and involve correlations that are incorrect.....which is very common.

All 98 wagons came with the most egregious EJ25s made. It’s not a bad engine necessarily but it is subarus worst. They don’t all fail. They can make high mileages without issues. But now that they’re 20+ years old the chances are low that theyve been meticulously maintained or absent of compromised cooling systems (low coolant, never changed, poorly maintained, leak, blown hose, leaky radiator, etc). So chances are lower than average. There’s no test that can cost from the initial failure modes at all. Explanation below. First step is to make sure it hasn’t been swapped to EJ22 - does it have the 4 circles on the plastic timing covers or spark plug wires going through the valve covers? Either of those verify you have the EJ25D engine type it originally and with. Initial symptoms of the *original* factory installed EJ25D headgaskets are random overheating events followed very shortly by a loss of cabin heat and tiny bubbles in the overflow tank (although bubbles alone aren’t necessariky conclusive without additional info). Overheating events can be separated by weeks and months with zero indications of problems so it makes them really easy to sell with initial undetectable headgasket issues. While the car is asymptomatic for weeks you can’t test for it. Over time the overheating events happen more and more frequently until eventually the symptoms are obvious. Overheating boiiing loosing coolant. The good news is one of the best engines Subaru ever made is a direct plug and okay swap for that engine. I just helped a friend buy an EJ22 swapped 98 outback earlier today for that reason.

Keep bleeding it. Make sure the bleeder screw base or hose you’re using aren’t sucking air back into the caliper during you’re procedure. 1. You just need to bleed the snot out of them. Whatever you did - do it 3 more times or more. I’ve had the same thing happen on old generation subarus too. If the entire system is emptied - large amounts of line or MC ran dry or system left dripping - they can take fooorrrreeeever to bleed and you swear something is wrong but it’s not. And then sometimes they don’t. 2. Newer generation are just like older gen with very few failures. Most replacements end up being misdiagnosis. 3. ABS means nothing, they bleed just like nonABS subarus although the FSM does indicate some obtuse process for activating ABS during the bleeding procedure.

Yep just bend it back. I can’t see it but I’d pay attention to the fitting area where it attaches and make sure that’s not getting leveraged too much while you’re bending. I doubt that matters, but I can’t see it.

Yep keep Forester intake and swap legacy rear diff with trans. There are two crank/cam pulley variations on those years. If they’re different you have to use the Forester drivers side cam pulley and crank sprocket in the legacy engine (you keep those sprockets matched with the ECU is how I view it). But they’re interchangeable so just swap them out. Good time to install a complete timing kit anyway. Belt pulleys and tensioner. Gloyale may not have mentioned it because he knows they’re already the same, I’m not 100% certain which models got which style though it may be an auto-manual thing... But yeah, easy swap.

Hmm I’m unsure of wiring. Yeah if you’ve got custom/repaired wiring I’d be checking that. Can you just match the FSM wiring?

Not all the fusible links are necessary for driving I don’t think. Pretty sure you can move an unnecessary one to a necessary spot to get it running and driving. But - whatever fried the first one is also likely to fry the next one you install unless it’s been repaired. They don’t just randomly blow for no reason. If you get it started check the alternator output immediately to make sure it’s not overcharging and self destructing. I’ve repaired this exact thing about 20 times as I’m sure others have. That’s what poor connections always do, like every corroded loose Clamp ever. I would check for voltage at the starter - just follow the positive battery cable to the starter. Put negative lead on negative battery post and positive lead in the positive cable where it bolts to the starter. Make sure the starter is at least seeing 12.x volts. 90+% of the time it’s the connections at the battery. But you do have an older car with exiting electrical issues so odds increase for something else. The battery terminals and clamps need to be clean and tight. Did you pull and clean the battery terminals and the inside of the clamps? Then you need to verify however the wire is connected to the clamp.

mismatched tire diameter (low pressure Mc uneven wear, etc) or improper towing will burn up the center diff.

If you can find a blown transmission you can swap the center diff. But if parts are pricey and you’re paying labor at a shop I’d go for a new one. doubt it’s chronic, I don’t think they’re considered that big of a deal in the US anyway. It happens but not at exceptional rates I don’t think. That may vary by model or country but it’s more likely you’re mechannic doesn’t favor them or has a bias for some reason, as we all do.

Fuel lines I just hack off those stupid disconnect fittings and install a clamp like old school Subarus that have zero failure rates and more practical. AC line maybe look up pictures online.

No

Yep, my first sentence in three different posts all pointed to alternator. Do online listings say they’re the same alt? I would assume 95 and 97 the same but I think 95s do have a couple of odd differences from 96 I jus can’t recall what they are. if the plug is the same I would think the 95 and 97 would be Interchangeable. If you’ve had multiple similar failures I would be looking at wiring issues or asking fairtax and others if something can cause the diodes to fail?

rarely have issues, but expensive if it happens. Subaru generally introduces electrical systems without much glitch - engine, trans (both of which used to be computer-less), ODII, ABS, VDC, stereo's, HVAC, CANBUS, drive by wire, VVT....it's not like eyesight is different - it's just a system to implement just like they've been doing for decades. i do get it, but this isn't subaru's first time around the block and people have been mentioning similar thoughts for decades "oh those electronics aren't gonna age well...etc". I think HVAC and displays have had the most issues, if had to guess - but the sample size is relatively small for me to know. depends on your abilities and those of your mechanic/shop. by the time the warranty expires in a few years, benign parts like a display will be available used and have very little demand so they wont' be hard to find. if you've got a great mechanic that will swap a used $50 display in if yours tanks that's significantly different than someone who is swapping in an OEM one for $1,000.

verbatim here on removing the RH pulley and leaving the others loose