idosubaru

Follow the owners manual. Unless youre racing, towing huge loads frequently, forced induction. Otherwise Run whatever oil and filter you want. 170,000 is not high mileage in these terms. If it's been well maintained the bearings are in great shape an the cylinder walls show all the factory crosshatching. If the bearings or cams or rings have wear/issues, oil choice can't have any long term affect on it anyway. Maybe you'll throw a rod bearing 14 miles later if you're really hard core on oil. If those facts aren't your style and you love oil discussions id suggest bobistheoilguy.com or subaruoutback.org, they have lots of people that love this stuff. There are differences but they have no practical bearing on average daily drivers. Waxing your car daily "technically speaking" would improve reliability. Less wind resistance, less load on the engine = more better!!!! That's what all the oil discussions are like - technical differences. Whether those differences actually translate to anything practical is another matter. It's like back seat driving and arm chair quarternacking for mechanics. That's why certain sites are a good fit for some people I'm at 255,000 with the cheapest stuff on sale. Can do that with every Subaru I drive and own. Everyone is right that's why there's so many opinions, since it doesnt matter there's nothing to be wrong or right about except follow subaru engineers in the owners manual and don't be dumb. You won't find any longevity issues with choices. If the engine has issues mitigated by oil weight, brand, ETC then that's a different scenario: an engine with issues, Not strictly an oil/filter choice. Someone can still be "right" and turned off by a companies willingness to make cheap stuff previously. Is that systemic, how cost driven are they, they don't adapt new technology quickly, what's their leadership and vision to make those decisions? While you Can't quantify that, it can hold merit.

You're mistaken, P0420's routinely come and go. It's very common for them to do what you're experiencing. everything you posted sounds the same as thousands of others. You might notice more mention online, that is likely exacerbated by the fact that people can ignore them when intermittent and get inspections/emissions tested when the light is off. Once it's on and can't get inspected or emissions tested people are forced to do something about it. If engine and gas mileage are great, P0420 is benign at least so you have no worries except state rules Nazis if applicable. I've had it on for 120,000 miles now but have ignored it for years. Great gas mileage and the engine runs great at 256,000 miles and has never left us stranded.

Steering column being on the opposite side, ours have to get across the engine. The XT6 has an electric pump bolted to the firewall so that's slightly different but from there it's all the same as EA82s. I've swapped xt6 pumps and lined into ea82s before. All the same. They descend down the passengers side strut tower. Straight down from there they have a bracket bolted to the top rear of the crossmember They go forward on top of the crossmember parallel to the frame rail. There they turn 90 degrees to go across from the passengers side to the drivers side where they tuck on top of the front lower lip of the crossmember. On the drivers side They come up the front of the crossmember, wrap to the top of the crossmember And into the rack.

Odd there's no mention of this anywhere but in the event someone stumbles on this post: Clean the threads of the hard metal lines and rack , and thread them into the rack before installing it. Get them engaging nice and smoothly off the vehicle. Either under the car or just remove them, which is easy, just undo the fittings on the passengers side. That made it much easier. Install rack without bushings so there's some play for alignment. The hard part is that there are three things that need some force applied in a very confined space and as soon as the nut grabs threads it just stops because it's not perfectly in alignment so it's hard to tell if it's lined up or gonna strip or just pop out. 1. The hard line itself to stay seated in the hole 2. The threaded fitting that needs turned. This can be combined with number 1 above but it's awkward and unreliable 3. The rack with one hand to get orientation right and vary angle til threads engage. Install could go a few ways, this worked best for me: I Installed the 14mm line closest to the engine first from the engine bay. It's the hardest to get to. I reached left hand between frame rail and engine (barely fit/didn't feel good) to push metal line. Used right hand to hold/guide rack by input shaft while spinning the fitting with two fingers. 17mm i did from underneath right hand on rack line in front of cossmember, left holds rack input shaft while turning fitting.

I'll have another chance Saturday to go at it. Lifting engine is simple enough. XT6 has one additional front motor mount than the EA engines, otherwise it's the sand and easy enough.

keep monitoring oil level in the diff and engine and see which contiually decreases - sounds like the engine is obviously loosing some oil. be nice to clean that up really good and look for fresh oil - that in the picture is all saturated grime from years of use. you might be burning it or some of it.

pads match the caliper bracket as that's what actually holds the pads. as long as wheels clear and rotors have 5x100 bolt spacing you can use nearly any Subaru brake set up you want. reference jamal's brake thread on nasioc (and other forums though i'm not sure which is most updated/current). reference jamal's brake thread on nasioc (and other forums though i'm not sure which is most updated/current).

wow even the water pump is a beastly job on those, i'm surprised they did that. i can't believe how many water pumps mechanics throw at Subarus - are they common failure items in other cars, because they really don't ever fail, it's pointless to replace/guess a Subaru water pump failure. why don't trained mechanics/shops know that? Because it's common with other cars? yes if you cut the front clip/fener rails off - you can do them in the vehicle. it would be torture to try and do an EZ30 in the vehicle. the H6 is a beast of a job to repair - 100 bolts to get the timing chain covers off, it's crazy. an outer cover, inner cover and all the ancillary stuff too. and then - you have to wonder how badly was it overheated? are you doing a headgasket job on an engine that's going to throw a rod bearing in the short term? try and get a good read on the seller and see if you think they're trust worthy in describing how much/often/badly it's been overheated. resurface the heads and use Subaru gaskets if you do it.

Thanks fairtax and man sorry bout those hours ! Since this had a gouged pan and damaged solenoids I repaired 45000 miles ago I'll see if I can find out which solenoid is for TC and see if I can test it with a multimeter.

Sweet. Thanks. I think there is a clip holding the two lines together in front of the cross member. I'll see if I can detach the lines from as much as possible. Exhaust is off anyway for rack replacement so that's done but I don't want to touch the engine unless someone says "yeah it's easy if you lift the engine.

This seems impossible, bushings removed so I've got room to wiggle for position. I've spent an hour already. I've got such limited space and movement it doesn't seem possible to line them up..... Anyone?

Installing new rack in my XT6 and there's not enough room to get both hands down there and get the steering lines to screw in. Trynf with one hand for 30 minutes and it seems impossible to get those hard line flared fittings to line up with the rack. Any tricks besides removing/lifting the engine?

On xt6's I buy a generic connector to replace the alternator plug. Stock wiring isn't available. Or see if Subaru carries it but that's likely to be $$$&$$&

Most Subaru brakes are interchangeable. Larger brakes require larger wheels to clear them. Jamal has a great brake compilation thread. It won't be an upgrade unless you're towing huge amounts or racing hardcore. Properly working brakes will lock the wheels for ABS/tires to stop the car. Different brakes can't "lock the wheels more" or make tires stickier. Braking performance for a daily driver comes down to tires.

pull the radiator out and put a hose in the top and see how much fows out the bottom. i think you can get XT radiators for like $120, here's one for $160: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Radiator-APDI-8011099-fits-85-91-Subaru-XT-/371504136849?fits=Year%3A1988%7CMake%3ASubaru%7CModel%3AXT%7CSubmodel%3AGL%7CEngine+-+Liter_Display%3A1.8L&hash=item567f5f4291:g:MzIAAOSw3ydVtwuQ&vxp=mtr in general Subaru water pumps don't really fail - but after 10 years of sitting i'm not sure what that would do to the water pump vanes - deteriorated/rusted? thermostat stuck?

the "inspect" stuff is the entirely bogus material. they're always "inspecting" the boots, bushings, suspension not matter if you pay for it or not. all of us who are mechanically inclinded do that on friends cars all the time anytime we're asked to look at something. it literally takes a minute or less to "inspect" and in some ways it really takes no time at all - because it can be done while lifting the car, setting up the car, getting tools ready, unthreading the oil pan bolt...etc. so it's literally no labor to check. and they're trained to find things - because that's how they make money. example: "while we were doing your oil change we noticed a broken CV boot that needs replaced" ***That will happen regardless if you just pay for an oil change and air filter or the overinflated marketing driven "30k service package". So you're basically paying premium for nothing. It's a trick so to speak. They might add one service - like the Fuel injector cleaning" but that's not necessary and you can add MMO or Seafoam to your gas if you want for $3, but again that's not needed anyway, subaru's routinely make 250,000 miles without fueling issues. And i'd be surprised if "fuel injector cleaning" actually mitigated those miniscule outliers anyway. i would think twice about changing your own oil - gotta buy oil, filter, then capture, clean up, spill it sometimes, then take it somewhere to recycle it...it's just a lot of work/effort/cumbersome for almost no financial incentive. oil/filters can buy online and have shipped to your house for free usually, but recycling is a trip you gotta make and depending on your situation annoying - cumbersome, time consuming, dirty. if you do it - get a 5 gallon bucket (or two) (the kind tractor oil comes in for instance) for storing oil so you don't have to make a trip after every oil change. you can make sure it's done right and won't ever be over torqued - i do my own and never replace drain plug washers - because i'm not overtorquing them and have never stripped a bolt. and you can save a trip to the shop, which is advantageous sometimes. financially it's not really worth it IMO.

Head gasket. Check for wetness around overflow. Subaru water pump failure is almost unheard of and almost certainly not the issue. There's a water pump weep hole at the bottom of the timing cover, check it. You don't get much easier than a known leak. Just look for and find the leak.

That is the best approach and maybe improves efficiency in some situations, but Subaru's (i wouldn't recommend this for any other A/C systems) do great by simply fixing leaks and charging. Cheap, No tools, no vacuum, high success rate, nearly zero risk - it's a great fit for many people.

they usually bend valves. they probably bent right away - your further attempts to start shouldn't matter, they would have already come to a resting position by then. just like you said - that's what i'd do: 1. throw a belt on to check compression, or do a leak down test (no belt needed - maybe get a leak down tester istead of a cheap belt for testing, but i guess you need compressed air for that too) 2. install used heads - resurface the heads and install EJ25 Turbo headgaskets.

This place leans a bit towards the practical and technical side but this is probably the most informed, well versed automotive online forum i've seen. i'm usually surprised at how little and limited information there is out there on other vehicles that have large fan/customer bases, $$$, and history in the US.

even amongst "cheap" pads there's quite a variation, one could be way different than another, and that might change over time. that said - newer Subaru's wear pads faster in the rear in my experience - I think it's both where i live (now in the mountains/back roads) and changes in vehicle design. as i said - mine average lower than the fronts by a large margin. they're so easy to replace it doesn't really bother me. if i had to pay for it then i'd pay more attention. it's quite a common topic in newer cars - people wearing rear pads faster.

what he said. dealers dont' generally install aftermarket parts. many new cars parts are aftermarket. Subaru (as with any manufacturer) contracts out to companies to make many parts - under their auspices, design, and engineering spec's. A legacy is generally equipped with one wiring harness - so any availbable option can be bolted on and plugged into any legacy, even if it's not equipped. it's all gnerally the same stuff, just bolted on in a different zip code.

so far - every ABS issue i've seen has been an ABS sensor - if you can find the testing parameters for them - resistance? - then maybe you can at least rule those simple things out rather quicky at each corner. i'd still recommend starting with getting the code - that's going to tell you what the problem is rather than just guessing and troubleshooting in the middle so to speak.

1995 is an odd year in some ways - so i'm not surprised if the connectors are a little convoluted. search for some 1995 specific information if you can find it - i'd even get a 1995 FSM - they're generally easy to find for free online digital versions you can download. i've got like 20 of them and have never paid for one. find the needed connector in the ABS section and start there.

it's not necessary, but get it done while you're going through it all. the receiver/dryer and vacuuming aren't even necessary so you're way ahead of the game and necessary components. i'd install new orings, recharge it and run it 100,000 miles. most Subaru A/C systems are simple and robust.