idosubaru

"says" i presume you're reading the rear differential case sticker - which means the rear diff is 3.9, that's what the car came with and what we would expect. if the transmission has a 3.7 final drive front differential then you have a mismatch and that's what's causing your binding. since the transmission has been replaced, that possibility is very high.

Just ignore the part about special tools and following the order of assembly. Post a pic or screen shot and tell us exactly what step youbsont understand. When reading an FSM you routinely skip steps about mic'ing and testing parts and special tools....etc.

Just ignore the part about special tools and following the order of assembly. Post a pic or screen shot and tell us exactly what step youbsont understand. When reading an FSM you routinely skip steps about mic'ing and testing parts and special tools....etc.

No, parts warranties only cover the cost of the part. They usually explicitly disclaim any further costs - parts or labor. They'd be replacing a lot of engines and expensive repair bills and parts would be much more expensive otherwise.

P0420 is benign you can drive the car 200,000 more miles and ignore that code. The ECU doesn't use the rear O2 sensor for any driving. It's simply there to trigger the check engine light. Otherwise: 1. Make sure you have no exhaust leaks 2. Tune up items - plugs, PCV valve, favorite fuel cleaner. 3. Replace catalytic converter. Which is sad because chances are the converters that throw P0420s would pass actual emissions exhaust testing.

Shifting fwd to 4WD while driving is no nig deal.

Rear diff may be a different final drive ratio than the transmission. It would do exactly as you're describing. Fine in 2WD and then crazy binding in 4WD. If the trans or rear differential are known to have been replaced then that's likely.

Are there any custom installs or electrical work done? Phone charges, 12 volt recepticles, stereo, remote start, car alarm, DVD, lighting, custom HIDs, etc. Or any components not working correctly or intermittently? Any recent repairs before this stated? Those are common areas with issues.

pulling the battery cable fully discharges all systems. Reconnecting via a multimeter causes a large ramp up draw for computers and electronics right? So maybe you're just seeing that initiliazation draw rather than nominal draw?

Read threads (google search) about sea foam in the intake. Replace PCV valve. It's Cheap and easy.

Have codes read and post them here. Many auto parts stores in the US do it for free or buy a cheap scanner off eBay. I've gotten them for $25-$35, great deal. I'll buy cheap ones just to leave in a car, let someone borrow, keep in my laptop case....they're so cheap I don't worry about loosing or breaking them and am very flexible.

To your questions. 1. 2011 doesn't have cam seals. But for cars that do yes you generally are best replacing both cam seals and resealing the oil pump. Same labor for all of those so cost difference is negligible (or should be for an honest shop). The seals are only $7 each. It doesn't make any sense to not replace them. 2. 2011 doesn't have a timing belt. Subaru Timing chains are pointless to replace. They simply never fail. I mean never is a strong word but it's such an outlier and low percentage chance faikure that doing the repair has probably higher quantifiable risk. Your tires probabiy have higher probability of a rare blowing out after 1 year than a chain failing but you'd never replace tires ever year. It's not a statistic anyone lives by. 3. Newer engines don't have cam seals so they can't leak. Even still - prior Subaru cam seals aren't high failure rate items.

Take pictures or video of the underside of the engine, passengers side and post them or links to them. Passengers side oil leak is usually just the oil cooler gasket or valve cover gasket. Cheap and easy repairs. You would hope shops are diligent and honest but they're often not. It's best to be a little proactive. Which is easy with forums like this. A $2,500 repair on that car is usually an over zealous prognosis. Or hire me to come do better work than the dealer 2011 forester has the FB engine which doesn't have cam seals nor does it have a timing belt. So most of your information makes no sense. You either misquoted something or they fabricated something. We need to know if it's an: EJ25 engine (2010 and earlier forester) or FB25 engine (2011 and up) Again take a picture of the top of your engine and we can tell. Or google image search and compare. EJ25 has a huge front cover that's BLACK PLASTIC FB engine has a huge front cover that's SiLVER ALUMINUM

great, those are good signs. i'd replace the thermostat with OEM (the difference is visually astounding). I'd just assume the shop misdiagnosed it, pretty common on older subaru's. once you hit 10+ years it's fairly common to be given ominous reports and diagnosis without compelling reason and often ends up not being the case. Not because they're ill intended but largely just how the market is driven right now. my friend was told she needed a new car and had major engine issues a few months ago. she drove 6 hours so i could fix it for $80. that's not at all uncommon.

have at it, it won't freak out. kevin dyno'ed some XT6 tweaking with ignition timing and intake modifications years ago at subaruxt.com. i think he got the most gains from advancing timing and running higher octane. i think he recorded a net loss or no gains with the intake, so he was trying to isolate it so it wasn't drawing in hot engine air? that's 10 year old memory, i assume his posts are still somewhere?

The only thing I can imagine that would cause overheating and timing belt breaking is if the water pump was compromised during install and couldn't rotate - the engine would overheat due to lack of coolant flow and the belt would slide over the water pump pulley and burn up and break. Otherwise, more normal issues would be: Overheating - the coolant wasn't properly burped Timing belt - pulley bolt broke, tensioner failed, or a bolt wasn't tightened enough. They usually bend valves - get a set of used heads and resurface them: www.car-part.com

I would get a used caliper if you have a lot of rust in your area. www.car-part.com You can also rebuild the caliper if the piston/bore isn't too damaged. I've rebuilt every subaru caliper i've attempted. Push out piston, clean up bore, clean up piston and just reinstall the piston with a new oring. The single piston caliper rebuild kits were like $3 a few years ago, the doubles not much more. really cheap and easy. As to calipers being dangerous - Yes and no. They can be very dangerous if the caliper itself is actually failing - meaning leaking fluid past the piston seal, essentially the only failure mode of a caliper. Basically the only failure mode is fluid leaking past the cylinder seal. If the piston frozen/stuck then presumably there is rust/corrossion there and leaking at some point is inevitable once that seal is compromised. It's just entirely unknown when that would be - tomorrow or 100 years. If you loose fluid there is air and you'll have essentially no braking which on these rear-brake emergency brake equipped vehicles is very dangerous. Driving with the ebrake on EJ vehicles is not safe. I generally do it in the middle of the night with no traffic and would not recommend it for anyone. But often "failed" calipers are mis-diagnosed, they're replaced by shops due to stuck pins which can be replaced without replacing the calipers.

I would think no noise suggests they were not interfering, wouldn't rotational interference compromising enough to break something that fast be audible? impreza and legacy axles and transmissions are interchangeable so if it's an axle issue I would think it's due to it being aftermarket, in addition to the length, check your part number too. newer 2001 legacy/outback axles will bolt right into your 1997 and are probably "too long".

Install used heads to repair the broken valves, have them resurfaced, Subaru headgaskets, and coolant conditioner and you're good for another 100,000 miles (any outlier rare issues notwithstanding like you just had). www.car-part.com It's rare but those new style tensioners do fail ocassionally. It's not common but anyone around Subaru's enough has seen it. If the tensioner was incorrectly compressed during installation it's possible the tensioner was compromised by the installion process. It's common to need to recompress and try again for a variety of reasons, namely the alignment marks being off one or two teeth. Did you ask the shop who installed it how long their warranty is? If you installed it, then in the warranty is for the part only - they strictly and positively avoid covering any costs above the purchase price of the product you're attempting to have warranteed. They have to. People would install new components on a questionable car and then blame the company to "abuse" the warranty. Sure that's not most people, but that's how big corporate one-size-fits-all policies work, they're effective but inefficient. Unfortunately the Beck rep is correct. very few components, or really any products, have warranties for their anticipated life times or intervals. it's one of those simple ideas that makes sense and sounds great but has limited practical application. In the US most shops warranty their service for 12 months, 12,000 miles even if the service their performing has intervals longer than that. as a simple example: The *timing belt* itself, H6 spark plugs (another 100,000 mile replacement item) aren't warrantied when new by Subaru for that long. Insert many other maintenance items, intervals, and manufacturers here.

Google Amazon eBay parts stores online will show those part numbers and what they contain The FSM is available at subaruxt.com for free download if you don't already have it. I highly recommend having that for now and later.

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If it overheated due to a coolant leak and then blew the headgasket - that seems more causative and maybe a better fit for rebuild. Resurface the heads. If it blew a headgasket for no reason, id have more questions. Why did it blow? Why was the engine rebuilt the first time 2 years ago (overheating, oil starvation?). It was possibly poorly maintained or in poor condition to require a rebuild and then that repair didn't work. Not quite warm fuzzies for a rebuild. still a good chance of success it's just not anywhere near 100%. What caused the overheating, what kind of headgasket failure was it and what brand headgaskets were used the first time ?

When you go to drive does it make any noise at all? Describe. How many miles driven before it did this? Both side retainers are shattering? That's crazy. Id guess they have to be too tight? Maybe just installing them how they were still doesn't load the bearings Evenly. Maybe they need each turned one turn at a time back and forth while trying to coax the bearings so things seat smoothly and evenly? This:

They drive funny like that only in 3rd gear - slow to accelerate and different feel. So some of that is normal. Does it feel like it's slipping exactly the same as before or less or different or more? Those aren't good codes, doesn't look like something as simple as a solenoid. I'm not well versed in transmissions but I'd be thinking mechanical failure, a used transmission would be one easy and least expensive option: www.car-part.com if you wanted to diagnose I think you'd check solenoid resistance and maybe pull the pan/check the internal filter/magnet for debris or metal. You could replace the screw on external filter as well - although they're pricey and not likely to be the cause. But I have no idea - maybe it's something else or maybe they can run indefinitely like this if the thing is at all driveable.

Why not diagnose it first? thermostat, radiator, coolant leak, intake gasket leaks? maybe the headgaskets are fine?