idosubaru

Timing components - belt, pulleys, and tensioner need replaced. Interference engine so if it breaks they usually bend valves. Torque bind - requires replacing the center diff. And headgaskets of course. If they're the original OEM installed gaskets they almost always start by leaking externally. Subaru requires Subaru Coolant Conditioner in the coolant of that engine to mitigate external coolant leaks. Not a bad idea to change coolant and add the conditioner (it's like $2.50).

Brilliant. I would look at those tone rings for sure. What were your symptoms before the repair?

Change again. Only a small percent of fluid comes out of an AT with a drain. Is the AT pan dented or damaged? Read the AT trouble codes and engine codes. Anything? Describe the slipping. You can disconnect the TCU and run it in purely mechanical mode which is 3rd gear. If it slips then that may give suspicion that it's a mechanical failure. I'm not sure if internal solenoid failures or others could still bleed off or cause issue indknt know the fluid flow or hydraulic functioning of the trans.

Why are you preferring the wrong product? WD40 is not recommended, needed, or used on any Subaru systems. That's like using cooking oil for engine oil, mouthwash for coolant, tractor hydraulic oil for brake fluid, and elmers glue for cv joint grease. It'll all "work" somewhat. 1999 and earlier you can use the green permatex. It doesn't last as long (maybe just in the rust belt?)? but you can use it. Shop across the street from my office doesn't like it either. 2000 and up, specifically any Subarus with rubber pin bushings on the pins - those need the purple stuff or SilGlyde or equivalent. Traditional greases can swell the bushings and they hang in the bore. These greases are superior to the green stuff mentioned above, they last longer. Alternately you can throw the pin bushings away and run any grease you want. I throw the bushings away but still use the better greases as they last longer.

Rebuild the solenoid probably Test voltage at the starter and solenoid. You can remove starter and give it 12 volts or take it to an auto parts store, many test them for free. Advanced autoZone and more. If you know what you're doing you can even just give it 12 volts insitu and see what happens.

H6 water pumps very rarely leak. It's far more likely to be a misdiagnosis unless the person and shop that diagnosed it is excellent or lucky. For rust belt cars it's usually the hard metal coolant lines rusting on the drivers side which is the same side and level abs areas as the water pump. Could also be radiator, hose, thermostat housing gasket, coolant cross over lines for the oil cooler. I would want to verify with 100% certainty it's the pump before moving forward. I would only replace the pump and orings for the timing cover (I cant recall if orings are for the front and rear or just the rear cover. If front has them too then they'll need replaced for the water pump replacement. Rear cover doesn't need removed for water pump.)

In order to brake, your foot comes off the gas pedal which closes the throttle plate which is connected to the TPS which is the sensor for driving transmission performance. I'd guess the transmission should do something different when going from pressing the gas pedal to not.

The abs light not coming on is weird. I've never seen that. Fpr the connector You have to get under there with a light if necessary and look around. All the 95-04's are about the same that I've done so they shouldn't be much different. If you need an abs controller just get a used one. They rarely fail so they're not really worth much. Www.car-part.com I know something like 1996 legacys had an overactive abs pump or relay. My memory tells me that was 1996 and only when the car was off but you might want to find the Years/models/symptoms to make sure.

it is confusing because it's titled "1990's" but it's meant as "1990's Legacy's..." rather than *any* 1990's Subarus. the EA/ER vehicles (Loyale, XT, GL's) of the 1990's are wwaaaaaaay different than the 1990+ Legacy and impreza vehicles. So yeah those EA/ER vehicles like yours are under the "older generation" forum here.

way better than OEM costs for sure. Considering how rare Subaru driveshaft failure is i would have thought you could land a good used one. weird My 200,000, 210,000, and 264,000 mile Subarus all have original driveshafts - and that's normal, i've had many other Subarus with the same results. I've replaced one driveshaft in 20 years of Subarus and that was on a well used 1980's Subaru.

wow that's a horror story make no mistake.

That guy in the link above had a dealer reprogram his used ECU to his vehicle. So presumably it's possible. On older Subaru's (before they used immobilizers) if the anti-theft system gets triggered you have to insert the key into the ignition and turn the key 3 times from OFF to ON in succession to get the car to start again. Otherwise it does nothing. I'm not sure how newer ones with the immobilizers work though - cars101.com probably details that? or someone here surely knows?

Can he replace just the regulator part? probably not - they're all assemblies now right? I'm not a big fan of aftermarket pumps so I'd look at repairing this one, getting a Subaru OEM unit (probably $$$), or even a used lower mileage Subaru pump. Seems weird to put a used pump in such a new car but I'm not at all convinced new aftermarket pumps are more reliable than a low mileage Subaru OEM used pump on something this new. www.car-part.com

Great, glad they finally made that move, it's always seemed silly to have a fuel return line snaking back the length of the car again! Fewer rusty lines to repair in the future...though I generally avoid rust anyway, lol. How often do you see *subaru non-turbo* regulator failures - have you seen one this new? I've never seen a regulator failure even on gobs of miles 1980's Subaru's. I was mistaken by the movement of the regulator to the tank, but I never compared Subarus to any other makes. besides rust, occasional fuel pump, and a few platform specific issues - turbo's, 00-04 caps/orings, H6 intake hose tightening...etc), most 200,000 mile Subaru's have their original injectors and FPR's, so I caution people to jump to those right away. I've never seen one fail, all my 200,000+ mile Subaru's have original regulators, and there's no confirmed fuel pressure regulator failures on the first page of a google search I just did. Something not "robust" like headgaskets, aftermarket axles, wheel bearings, delayed engagement into drive, torque bind.... - and you're flooded with nearly unlimited reading. That's all I meant by "robust".

Fel Pro What I would do is the following: Fel Pro headgaskets, valve cover gaskets, and valve cover grommets Intake manifold gasket, exhaust manifold gasket, water pump gasket, and cam carrier orings should be from Subaru. (though i have rarely seen the cam carrier oring through online suppliers) Crank seal, cam seal, cam carrier orings, and oil pump reseal bits I'd also get from Subaru but that's more out of preference than physical limitations. Although I have seen new aftermarket seals leak before on EA82's/ER27's, and they've been notably off in size and i think someone even posted a thread with pictures i mic'ed them before. That leaves out upper manifold gaskets, throttle body gaskets, fuel injector seals - things that don't really ever leak. And maybe EGR - would want to replace those if applicable.

check, clean, replace the IAC gasket, it has a coolant passage associated with it: http://s9.photobucket.com/user/scooterforever/media/IACVGasketOld.jpg.html just to be clear, by "hole" you mean here?: http://www.subaruforester.org/vbulletin/attachments/f88/7887d1188673993-whats-sensor-sensor-4.jpg I've bypassed coolant hoses from throttle body before without issues, so unless you're driving to the arctic circle you can completely bypass them for testing or repair if that's helpful. Remove inlet and outlet and just run the two lines as one. Less fastened end joints = more reliable statistically speaking.

Good job tracking it down, now you know! and thanks for following up. Was it a Subaru or aftermarket radiator cap? Was it the original radiator cap?

For an external coolant leak - the Subaru Coolant conditioner works nearly 100% of the time on initial leaks of OEM installed headgaskets. change the coolant and add a bottle of conditioner. otherwise - with good history there's an excellent chance of making 100,000 miles trouble free with a quality repair - resurface the heads and use only Subaru or highly touted headgaskets for that application.

You're right - ECU failure is very rare, i've never seen it even in totaled Subaru's I've rebuilt. Yours doesn't even look that bad, I can't imagine it's the ECU. I would look at the immobilizer - was it triggered in the accident somehow? Blown main engine fuse? Are you using the correct key? What happens when you insert the key and turn it? Nothing, is there any power, lights on dash? I would start looking for power - does EVERYTHING in the car have power? Does the ECU have power - check whatever wire(s) supply power to the ECU - does it get 12 volts? Check ground for continuity. Wouldn't surprise me if it's simply not getting voltage or ground. Check fuse blocks/boxes. ECU's can not simply be swapped, since 2005 in the US market - they are married to the keys and immobilizer. In slightly older models people have gotten a set of keys, immobilizer and the VIN from a donor vehicle and transplanted the entire set up into another vehicle since they're all married together. Multiple part numbers are completely meaningless - this was true even of ECU's for decades, even back when they were easily plug-and-play interchangeable - they'd all have different part numbers but still swap without any issues. Can't swap ECU's like that any more due to what i said above but the part number itself is meaningless.

+1 to LT. Check the engine bay, that's the most common area for leaks of non-rusty vehicles (yours is too new to have any rust related fuel line issues). Fuel line comes in from the back/top drivers side of the engine bay under the drivers side windshield wiper so to speak, and snakes over to the engine. look and smell for signs. it's hard for gasoline to hide being so pungent. Easiest next step I can think of is to pull the spark plugs, one at a time preferably, and see if any of them or their corresponding cylinders smell like gas. This will tell you if gas is leaking past the injectors into the cylinders. In general the pressurized fuel system is bleeding off pressure over night which means fuel is leaking, and not just "back into the gas tank", it has to be: 1. back into the fuel tank 2. into the engine cylinders 3. externally. 2 & 3 are really bad, but extremely rare on Subarus which typically have robust fuel systems. Check the engine bay area. Fuel line comes in from the back/top drivers side of the engine bay under the drivers side windshield wiper so to speak, and snakes over to the engine. look and smell for signs. it's hard for gasoline to hide being so pungent.

In the US people routinely clear the code before those inspections. if you don't pass, you have to fix it and come back, no big deal. sometimes you can just go to work, clear the code again, drive back tomorrow and pass again. P0420 code is the most common. Shops will quote rather large repair bills for catalytic converter. Make sure you have no exhaust leaks, plugs, wires, air filter, PCV valve are up to date or not problematic (they usually aren't). Some people try seafoam treatments, etc before going with a catalytic converter replacement.

Check engine light coming on is entirely normal and common. It's normal for the engine to run perfect with the cel lit. Have the code read. In the us many auto parts chains readncodes for free. You can get a cheap OBD11 scanner on eBay as well and do it yourself for.

What he says is entirely repeatable. I don't even know how many I've done like that with no key.

Yes, that can happen. They don't always show all the time. It's usually engine specific though and I've never seen those old-style headgaskets like the EJ22 has do it, but it does happen so I wouldn't be surprised for other engines to be able to have that failure mode, but it's very rare if it happens on EJ22's. The EJ25D and EZ30 engines with failing headgaskets can have come-and-go symptoms, sometimes going months between symptomatic events. i've also seen them be directly related to ambient temperature and vehicle demands (idling, A/C on), etc. the EJ25D's (1996-1999) would have randomly have overheating events - separated by months sometimes. two H6's i've seen would only exhibit symptoms in the summer, and during high load times - hot, A/C on, mountain driving. which doesn't make sense in some ways - with internal combustion pressures and temps being so much higher than ambient, as well as a "controlled" engine temperature via the thermostat - it's hard to imagine ambient temperatures and loads affecting that, but i've seen it so it is what it is. Keep in mind this is all just an answer to that one specific question you asked, I'm not suggesting this is the case for your exact issue.

HA!! That crossed my mind - the one is already broken and i have two extra ones, so I've got test mules. If no one replies I'll just destroy the unusable one and see if I can learn anything. Be nice to keep it as intact as possible in case I break something during the job.