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idosubaru

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Everything posted by idosubaru

  1. idosubaru
    Good feedback. Unfortunately there’s no way to tell what caused it without definitive tangible evidence. Oil leaks are a predominant and ubiquitous cause of lower end failure exactly like you’re seeing. Oil gets low, then the oil overheats, degrades, localized overheating comprises the bearing surfaces, which take awhile to actually fail. Like days weeks or months depending how bad the initial damage was. So you’d need quantitative proof they caused this. Not just guesses. The easiest way it’s their fault is if the sump is bent or it was low on oil. But if they already drained the oil there’s no way to verify how much came out. So the sump is the item to inspect. But that requires pulling or cutting the pan off to look at. How do you know the mileage was tampered with? If you’ve been “chasing oil leaks” either this car may have been in rough shape with many leaks or the shop didn’t do a great job of diagnosing what was causing the leaks to begin with.
  2. idosubaru
    How long have you owned this car? If it’s a recent purchase number 2 is more likely. It sounds like you’re chasing oil leaks. “cam seal replaced”….not long after….”oil pan seal replaced”. This makes number 2 sound likely. Other than that missing info: 1. The pan doesn’t easily drop out like it looks like. It looks like it does but the sump won’t clear the pan baffles so the engine needs lifted. So if they’re used to some other easy cars/truck manufacturers that just unbolt and come off they could have wrestled the pan and damaged the sump. Pull the pan and check the sump. If it’s damaged then they wrestled it off. Given it a Midas that sees all makes and models it would be very easy to look at a Subaru and think it’s easy and try to rip the pan off and damage the sump. 2. If the cam seal, pan (and maybe other items) were leaking then it could have previously been run very low on oil which frequently comprises the lower end bearings. 3. They forgot to add oil. How much came out when they drained it?
  3. idosubaru
    If I had to do this I’d look into cutting the metal pipes or core access area and to avoid pulling the dash If it was a rust bucket good for two years or less I’d consider a bottle of subarus coolant conditioner but maybe a bad option if the engine heating/cooling are suspect. Maybe to help someone limp it to summer. Yes I know you said no diagnosis and this will irritate you, and yet this probably isn’t the heater core.
  4. idosubaru
    Right on beast, good luck and hope you have a garage to do this in, it was 4 degrees at my house!
  5. idosubaru
    Ask for one for a 1992 legacy or 1994 impreza - those shouldn't have any additional gaskets to confuse someone reading a computer screen. And all 1990-1998 legacy/impreza 2.2 and 1.8 valve cover gaskets are the same. The guy doesn't know anything about Subarus and is just clicking a screen and reading it to you. There's only one gasket it can be, this one, which as you can see is listed for all 1990-1998 ej22 and ej18: https://www.subaruparts.com/oem-parts/subaru-valve-cover-gasket-13294aa012
  6. idosubaru
    FWD auto, 4WD Auto, 4WD manual available here. Some of them from there were part of subaruxt forums so I know of them from there. Have you ever seen one in person or know any of the owners? I get Aus and NZ owners confused but I think Dima was in NZ. I shipped him some parts 20 years ago. Lol
  7. idosubaru
    OEM converters are worth hundreds, aftermarket $25 on a good day, happy scrapper, if he rounds up. If aftermarket converters had more value in them the market would find a way to extract it and entice people to sell them. This isn't just twice as much...no way they're comparable when there are orders of magnitude difference in value to scrap yards. More anecdotally you'll see it on forums - aftermarket converters throwing codes, being problematic. I've bought cheap aftermarket exhaust and it'll be rusty in a year. Which is fine for a car not long for this world anyway. But they're not going to use cheap materials everywhere else and top shelf precious metals for the catalysts.
  8. idosubaru
    Nah, it's a FWD.
  9. idosubaru
    Ignore shifting clunking (for now and probably for a long time). Bushings or delayed engagement which are both usually benign with no risk of breaking down yes the cooling system needs to not leak. aftermarket radiators Subaru hoses like GD said what made this car go to pasture for 2 years and not get used?
  10. idosubaru
    https://shop.advanceautoparts.com/p/prestone-all-vehicles-50-50-antifreeze-coolant-gallon-af2100/7020013-P?navigationPath=L1*14922|L2*15020|L3*15924 Ask the auto parts store. It’s the half a century old ubiquitous generic green coolant available anywhere. Prestone or other brands. but the full strength snd mix yourself 50/50 with distilled water. If you don’t have an owners manual get one - it lists all the fluids and weights. Old radiators fail, I’m not a shop/mechanic and I’ve lost count of how many radiators I’ve replaced. The area you mentioned is a frequent fail point. When it cracked is immaterial, it was bent, sat for years and old. Install a new one.
  11. idosubaru
    Oh right on. I know you get it. I was thinking about the op, didn’t want op to think the shop is completely off base or dishonest.
  12. idosubaru
    It’s worth whatever someone will pay. I chose my words appropriately and didn’t condemn the price. 99% of buyers won’t pay that. That’s the price of a near perfect 4WD low mileage one. But the 99% doesn’t matter. Seller is probably flipping it and clearly looking for those 1% of buyers with cash to burn. given the microbe sized market for XT6s that could take 10 years or 10 minutes. That’s how selling anything goes. Higher prices above average take longer average time to sell. like someone sitting on property hoping a large commercial development company buys it for well over nominal price. It happens, but not often, and most people who want it don’t get it.
  13. idosubaru
    That’s a brutal ride, every bump makes you cringe! FWD so no air suspension and makes the price more unattractive than it is.
  14. idosubaru
    It's las vegas...I guess we should expect excess. lol I agree. At the same time, many shops have to have simple one size fits all solutions that are easily repeatable for the dozens of different vehicles/years/makes/models they see monthly. Imagine doing this for every quote, phone call or question on 50 different engines in a month. One size fits all solutions are typically wasteful but they are common place in almost of business. Lots of shops do this, or use aftermarket parts, or don't replace the ideal parts (just the t belt or belt and pump, etc) That's the norm. The surprise isn't those - but the shop that can dial it in for platform specific service on each engine type. That's where manufacturer specific service can be helpful. I agree with you but I don't necessarily call them evil or cheats. Their business (and maybe reputation) is apparently good enough, or Las Vegas crazy enough, the market allows them to do it.
  15. idosubaru
    EA82s were not commonly blowing at 16,000 miles under warranty, receiving headgasket TSBs, and extended head gasket only warranties. TSB/warranties were on later EJ25s. but those are “better” and still needed legal help, TSBs,band extended warranties. The sentiment that EA82s were bad is largely a function of age or a small, skewed (more EJ25s than EA) sample size. They were already old when forums started. They were never high value cars in most areas of the US, which typically means reduced care and maintenance. Few people commenting between EA82s and EJ25s were *equally exposed* to the large number of both engines new, zero miles, under warranty. You don’t need to be but most people see best that way. Im not even against EJ25Ds. Just know what you’re getting into snd do jt right. Get a good one install new headgaskets snd resurface and they’re a reassemble engine. Just a few more issues, less forgiving, and labor intensive than others.
  16. idosubaru
    I’d look at local used engines and see if you can find one from a wreck or blown trans or rust or otherwise suggestive of running fine before the wreck, etc. and look up their warranty. if you find one like that the answer gets easier. Better to know your options before deciding. Right now we have no clue what your options are Long reasoning for that answer: Excessive would be engine running while it’s pegged or near H. They usually overheat instantly and can’t really be “cooled down…driven….cooled down” much except for really short distances once they start overheating that bad. Exhaust gases get pushed into the coolant and cavitate or otherwise prevent coolant flow (which is why the cabin looses heat). And keep in mind you don’t know what you’re comparing it too. If you can verify a used engine is coming from a wreck, that doesn’t guarantee it’s never been egregiously overheated but it’s better than not knowing anything. If you think yours was overheated a lot, a used engine from a wreck or blown trans, etc would be my preferred solution. Ive got one in my garage that’s never been overheated. I told a friend what to watch for and he called me the day he had symptoms. I built him an engine to replace it (he’s a great guy I did it for free), his mechanic installed it for him and I got the old engine. You want to find one like that (unlikely) or wrecked, etc. Anyway - check with local yards and see if any come from wrecks or blown trans where presumably the engine was running fine before it was junked.
  17. idosubaru
    The decision to swap or repair should be based on how much you trust that this engine wasn't severely overheated before and how good is the warranty on the used engine? Multiple times over a long period of time or really hot for an extended period of time are bad for the lower end bearings. I'd pay $1,000 more to repair that engine then take a gamble on a 25 year old used one that may have overheated before, been repaired (how well), and potentially deal with used engine warranties....if you know it wasn't likely overheated much in it's past. That's the worst engine Subaru ever made due to the headgaskets. The random nature of them overheating, they didn't (when they were younger) mix oil/coolant, loose coolant, or fail compression tests. So they confused people all the time who swore it wasn't headgasket, would limp it home replace radiators, or water pumps, or whatever other guess they hoped would fix it. Then since the overheating was random - they'd think it was fixed. And drive it a few more months and it overheats again and wash-rinse-repeat, replace the thermostat for annother round of overheating and limping along. That's dangerous for bearings. I'd base this on what you know about the two engines more than price. 20 hours is a lot, you don't replace Subaru head bolts, and the heads need resurfaced, not a full valve job. But I can understand it's quicker for them to charge you $100 and install clean bolts and they're probably not set up to adjust those valves like I can in my own fancy harbor freight equipped garage. LOL
  18. idosubaru
    Clear the terminals, clamps, and battery posts, and tighten them. Carrying around a new battery is a good way for it to be a total !(%)*( by the time you install it. Just install the new battery, they don't store well outside of a controlled charging environment. Alt output should be tested. CEL was caused by wheel spin or snow/mud packed up in the wheel sensor that has now fallen/dried off. You were probably high centered on the snow, it can look like it wasnt when it mostly definitely was. It takes less than you think to high center a vehicle in snow/mud. You tires may also be old - old tires are horrendous in the snow due to the way rubber materials degrade over time. Cheaper tires degrade faster. I'm surprised how little is known about this in car world. If your tires are cheap and more than 2 years old or great and 4-5+ years old, they're going to be poor performing in snow.
  19. idosubaru
    I think he operates under a new business name and works out of another shop now? Seems like Marshall said he was primarily working to supply the local Colorado market and not as much online/shippinng, or something along those lines But that's foggy memory from a few years ago. I don't have any hints or recall where they might be or what their new name might be. But I think I talked to once since that move.
  20. idosubaru
    It's not an exhaust leak or vibrating heat shields right? The way you're describing and diagnosing the bearing I highly doubt you'd conflate the diff and heat shields but it's happened before. it does seem like the diff bearing is a potential candidate.
  21. idosubaru
    drain and fill is a great suggestion check old fluid Describe the sound more. Whine, grind, thump, whirrr, buzz, ratcheting, ticking…and how it changes. does it change going up a hill? Did the noise change at al when installing new axles and wheel bearings or stayed 100% the same? Can’t replace bearing or R&P through retainer rings. Disassemble trans, reassemble to identical positions to hopefully retain preload and gear teeth clearance. It’s been done before by one person in this forum that I know of, he was successful. One of the bearings is $100.
  22. idosubaru
    Good. That changes things. Most calls for a quote are mechanically unfamiliar, neglectful, and sometimes want the cost of a spark plug change to fix their head gaskets. Customer calls are unreliable, poorly diagnosed, lack scope and human nature is such that the poor information usually favors the customer Shops have to quote high, assume the worst, and hope shady customers go elsewhere.
  23. idosubaru
    I’m all for paying a good shop. I’m the weird-o that pays contractors more than the bill they give and tire shop more than they charge. Pay them if they’re good. But also if they’re good Id expect more clarity. They should say $1,500 for an engine swap plus any additional amounts for unforeseen issues we encounter and ask you about. Or additional charges for headgaskets. Timing belt…..what brand parts, be specific, write it out. You should be installing all new Subaru or AISIn timing kits. Belt pulleys and tensioner. GD charges like $2,500-$3,000 I think for an headgasket Job. He’s quoted his prices here before. Look them up. And he’s incredibly clear abs thorough. If I were you I’d be seeing how far the drive is to Portland and see if you can make a trip to let him do it.
  24. idosubaru
    Subaru book time is 12 hours. *exactly* what they are doing the other 5-13 hours? I mean list it out for that 10 hour up charge “wiring or mechanical hiccups” is insufficient, and meaningless. There are no wiring and mechanical “hiccups”. Anything like that should be addressed as they proceed not paid for ahead of time like insurance you probably won’t need. Shops don’t upcharge your tires before they’re installed just “in case” studs break, TPMS crack, or a wheel is bent - they encounter an issue, tell you the issue, options to resolve it, and you both work it out. Same here check exhaust - note if there’s rust and potential costs if that’s problematic. If you’re ordering a JDM engine then SAY it specifically, there’s maybe 1-2 hours extra work for potential wiring or shipping damages. But you didn’t say JDM so we cant even be generous with a minuscule 1-2 hour up charge. It seems like they’re trying to make it sound like particle physics so you sign and trust their Einsteinian skills. This sounds harsh but mostly for illustration and clarity since all we have is a text screen - Why are you paying top dollar, praising their skills, and come here to ask for advice on what parts to get? That’s just bizarre. I’m not even a trained mechanic never worked in a shop and I’ve already made more sense and given more quantitative Subaru specific information than they have in 6 minutes. They should be leading that charge if they’re that good and qualified and expensive.
  25. idosubaru
    It looks like you're sourcing EJ25 engines. You can buy one of those JDM EJ25's (even the 00-05 ones) and bolt your heads and intake mainfold onto it. But don't screw it up or you'll blow headgaskets again. They are not plug and play. You'll have to call the JDM places and see if they have any older 90's stuff if you want plug and play. They're not high volume ennginnes any more, best to call and ask. If you suspect your current EJ25 is good and hasn't been severely overheated or overheated multiple times then just repair it and no worries. Many of them have been so they're not the most comforting engine to put a lot of work into. 2.2 could feel underpowered if you're trudging 10,000 feet up mountain passes carrying 500 extra pounds of people and gear. 2.2 SOHC. I already told you what engines to look for:
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