idosubaru

I got Amsoil for mine. What I’m unsure of is can the first Amsoil fill be a partial drain fill or does it need to be a full evacuation? I want to know what happens if you just drain and fill and drive without following those specific directions? What symptoms result? For all the specificity I’ve never heard one person say they had issues. Anything that requires something slecofic like that always has people posting online or calling me when they do it mistakenly. But not this time. After 10 years of silence on that this suggests it’s a nonissue or overkill for very rare conditions or CYA for not having a dipstick?

Yes look at the bolts - are they rusty? Because there’s a good chance they strip even if they aren’t rusty. Impact screw drivers are great but can’t use those insitu. Come up with a stellar method of removing them. EZ Outs are not the way. There’s like 60 of them so 3 minutes per rusty bolt is 3 hours just to remove bolts. I would not replace the chains. On a 300k H6 the exhaust valves may be tight, carbon build up in the heads, head gaskets may go soon, water pump may leak, and I’m sure it’s using at least some oil? The timing chains are far enough down the priority list they’re not a big deal. I know it happens but ive never seen a broken H6 Subaru chain. I’d consider the water pump more than the chains. At which point maybe you do chains and pump since they have to come off to replace it and you’ll have nice clean visible timing marker colored links on a new chain to work with rather than trying to eyeball which one it is on a 300k chain.

The units themselves are prone to fail. A 99 Outback is going to be like 95-98 legacy outback’s and there’s a metal rod connecting the control unit to the blend door. I’ve seen them simply get disconnected down above the passengers side feet. It’s been a few years since I did one so I don’t recall specifics but look up there and it should be obvious if it’s connecting and working properly. I’d look there first then assume the control unit is bad. Not sure what the vacuum contraption would be on a 1999, was that 99 Outback info you saw on rhay?

If you’re handy reseal the cover in the car and call it a day. You don’t have to pull the engine.

Friends have bought used Land Rovers for pocket change, had numerous maintenance issues and joked that it's cheaper to buy another used one for parts than constantly order parts. But on the other hand they have somewhat of an air of reliability because 'what else would you drive across Africa in?" Is it excessive parts and familiarity in Africa? Is it just South Africa? Maybe there was a particularly older model that was more reliable than modern mass produced models? Or maybe they're more reliable than I think?

Only other thing id check is timing tensioner but you have fairly classic piston slap by the current description.

Which one? I saw a “European” and Diesel formulation, and maybe theres others?

* edit my bad I didn’t see that he had replied. I’m almost positives he said he uses it. I bought Amsoil cvt for my 2013 and nearly positive I saw him talking about it. I’ll be doing a 2016 i just picked up shortly and will use it again. You could search his user name and Amsoil or maybe CVT to find his comments here.

It wasn’t resolved. Maybe less common than older models, but it still happens on newer ones. Yes there’s lot of piston slap diversity - some have piston slap, some don’t, some worse than others, some were repaired under warranty, some have had engines or pistons replaced since new, some shops install updated pistons, coated pistons or knurl the pistons when doing a headgasket job, at least two shop owners on here do it and others do as well…etc.

It’s piston slap. It’s benign and unfortunately no easy solution. headgaskets or major work, is a good time to consider having the pistons knurled or new Subaru block installed to address it

It’ll still be there when you and I are gone too. His are out of earths orbit or old ones in orbit gradually descend and fall to earth in 200 or 2000 years, they don’t get deorbited like modern satellites!

Best oil decision is to check it often. An average daily driver will have oil related issues due to low oil, not brand. If you really want to know send samples to oil labs and get it checked they’ll tell you how long your interval should be for that vehicle and if there’s anything problematic with your oil choice Run oil not additives. Use Amsoil Or anything else - there is zero data that lightly used vehicles are dropping dead because one ran Castol instead of valvoline. synthetic is superior but if you’re going to change it often anyway or it’s an older vehicle that uses some oil then it’s pointless or not a good fit.

225/60/16's run perfectly fine on my 2009 legacy with no rubbing. But they are very very tight with small wheel well margins. Snow will pack and freeze in the wheel well and rub and is harder to get off with such small clearances. Those are the same width and 2.5mm shorter than the tires you want to install. But you're installing them on an Outback so you should have plenty of room for that extra 2.5mm. (0.1") Use the following and click "comparison" to see dimensional comparisons of two different tires: https://tiresize.com/calculator/

Good job narrowing it down to #2 cylinder. Coil seems likely candidate to check and it failed right? Failed injector or ECU seem unlikely given those symptoms.

What’s this data and due diligence? You’re supposed to say “my car shifted funny should I replace the coil? Youre sure it’s a phase II 99 EJ22 and the proper FSM numbers? 99 is an odd year for EJ engines. They have both earlier EJ and later EJ characteristics Did you have a code or codes? Is there a reason you’re not confident the failed test means it’s bad?

You probably already do this but - use excellent quality 6 point sockets. No 12's. Use the combination of socket/adapter/reducers necessary to get a 100% perpendicular seat on the bolt and torque on the socket handle. It's fairly easy to get "close" on these, when actually it's at a slight angle because the socket or extension is too thick and doesn't have clearance in those pass through ports. Such a silly design. But I've done it before - had them rock/wobble/slide off because they're not perfectly seated. I hate them too but haven't had any 05-09 rear caliper bracket bolts not come out yet. A little valve compound in your socket adds grip and can mitigate small clearance issues due to rust/wear between the socket and bolt head. Unlikely to help in this case but if you've already got some laying around....?

Ha! I thought so. That’s great. That was me, though I changed my username since then so it may be less recognizable. Some auto parts stores will rent for free or loan tools out and may have it if you want to DIY. That kit is too awkward and heavy to pack and ship and then ship back for a one time use or Id suggest you borrow mine.

A new cam, new cam seal, and it still leaks from the ID of the seal? Wow. I'd wonder if the cam carrier is allowing the cam to walk or is otherwise distorted? Cam carrier/head may need replaced?

Good job catching that pan/solenoid, I've seen a few of those solenoid connectors broken before for the same reason.

EA82, RX, XT6 - all of them will work, they all interchange the same as far as bolting to an EJ22. So you're good to go.

looks like a good try, looks like standard aquarium hose available at wal mart or other places so when it dries out/cracks should be easy to swap out. Proprietary hoses are annoying. If it's relatively easy I'd clean it afterwards and store it out of sunlight and wrapped up to prevent UV/O2 exposure, I wouldn't expect great longevity from that. I've been around a reasonable amount of fluid pumps and small cheap hobbyist ones are prone to fail. A local large land scaping company quotes new pumps for many jobs and throws them away. It's not worth their time to maintain/expect them to work because they have so many issues with them. harbor freight has a few options but none look compelling over that one you posted.

It sounds hosed. But I agree that is interesting for it to go downhill the way you described. I assume the pan isn't damaged/dented right? The ATF pick up is insanely close to the pan, denting in the wrong spot can inhibit fluid uptake. Ideally this would have been attempted when it was still drivable but disconnect the TCU entirely - does it drive then? It'll run in purely mechanical mode - no torque converter lock up, no shiftings, 4WD is "locked", permanent 3rd gear no matter what gear the shifter is placed in. But it'll run and drive fine as a test. If some symptoms go away or get worse it might tell you something. And it renders the vehicle usable/movable which is helpful. I drove an unwworthy to repair rust bucket subaru 4EAT many years ago for a year like that. Do you mean ATF and do you mean this vehicle? If not: I'm assuming you meant you've changed the ATF in this car but just in case - a wild theory would be - Maybe the fluid you drained was loaded with trans x and it needs to drink more of it to function?

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Have you tried lessening it to like 40? Can you experiment until you find the maximum pressure they'll take without tripping the light? I'd just guess it's around 40 psi. When you find that maximum it will probably also give you nearly identical gas mileage as 50 psi...all things being equal (which they won't be with changing seasons. 50 is probably "maximum", not a recommended pressure. Tire manufacturers don't give recommended pressures because they don't know the final application/vehicle it'll be installed on.

Yes need a hub tamer. Oddly - didn’t I buy a hub tamer from you like 5-10 years ago?! I thought you used to have one? You can use a press but carefully. Id get Subaru bearings and wheel seals or score a used knuckle. Order a nice clean rust free used one from south or west.