idosubaru

in my experience it doesn't matter. i run 87 with ethanol gas (that's all you can get where i live) in all of mine, it's not a big deal. premium is suggested, not required on the H6's. probably depends on year - but mine are 02 and 03. 212,000 miles and 175,000 miles. i've run mine (multiple different vehicles) with premium and non-ethanol blends when traveling and noticed zero difference and i calculate gas mileage at every fill up. but i also live in the mountains and travel loaded a lot - with a full family/people. your gas bill may take a hit simply due to size of vehicle, weight, and an engine that already gets less gas mileage to begin with.

***** Way too many words and replies here, there's one simple answer: Tires. All ABS systems do this, exactly as you described. Tread depth is pointless if they're cheap, old, weathered, poor compounds or otherwise compromised, the ABS will do exactly what you describe. If you live in a mountainous area - the car won't even come to a stop, it'll gain enough speed to make up for the freaking out/pulsing ABS. I've seen it before. New tires, and car stops beautifully. If snow driving is a serious issue - get dedicated set of wheels and high quality snow tires.

probably fine. if you notice any torque bind (braking feeling when turning at full lock in a dry pavement/parking lot) - then your 4WD clutches are binding. the first thing to do is change the fluid - that usually solves the initial onset of it and prevents it from getting worse. so it all comes down to symptoms: 1. is it still having torque bind? 2. if yes - then have the transmission fluid changed (if the tires are all matching in size) 3. continuing to run it with torque bind isn't great for the 4WD components and will cause i to get worse. 4. there's a FWD switch in the engine pay passengers side strut tower, you can install that and drive it as long as you want like that once the weather warms up and no need for 4WD. 5. let us know if hte FWD switch gets rid of the torque bind. i'd have a tire shop remove, clean, and reseat the tires if you continue to drive the car. there's corrossion on the rims causing the leak, they're just dirty and need cleaned. who knows, probably just lost in translation and doesn't matter since none of us did it - but in general there's no ignition/wiring work to do. you simply install the EJ22 *as-is* and use the ignition wires and coil pack that are on it, that they come with...there's no reason to swap or mix and match ends or anything. but again, lots of ambiguity if we weren't there or know exactly what he's talking about. he may not have known the easiest way to swap and swapped the wiring harness or something from the EJ25 to the EJ22 intake manifold - which was unecessary and a lot of work. again, just a guess, it doesn't make sense.

can you edit that ***incorrect*** - 1995 automatic EJ22 only have EGR. 1995 manuals do not have EGR. later years are hit or miss and have to be visually inspected, though later automatics appear to often have EGR, i've seen some that don't.

i'd ditch the EJ25 and install a complete EJ22, ready to go. you can get an entire EJ22 for $300 or less. www.car-part.com or a bunch on ebay for $300. sell your EJ25 block for that or more and you've got zero dollars into the repair and end up with a more reliable engine with less work to do to. ***CORRECTIONS: 1. 1999 EJ22 wont' work - it's Phase II (well, not without a lot of work) 2. 1996-1998 EJ22's will work but also require you getting a single port EJ22 exhaust manifold (easy to swap in place as it has to be unbolted anyway, just make sure you can get one, some yards won't sell them). Ignore SOHC and DOHC for this discussion, it doesn't matter. EJ22's are SOHC and EJ25's are DOHC but they're completely plug and play interchangeable, it's benign. Any 1995-1998 EJ22 intake will all bolt up to EJ22 heads. preferably with EGR as ivans said as all EJ25's have EGR but not all EJ22's do. just have to look and see. Simplest approach, plug and play into your EJ25: 1995 automatic (they all have EGR) heads 1995-1998 intake manifold Another option: 1996-1998 with EGR ( you have to look, no way to tell otherwise). 1996-1998 single port exhaust manifold 1995-1998 EGR intake manifold Alternate option if you don't care about the check engine light/EGR situation: 1995-1998 any EJ22 heads and intake manifold Single port exhaust for 96-98 heads The car runs and drives fine if you install heads/engine without EGR, you'll just have a check engine light. It doesn't matter in my state so i prefer them without EGR so it's a cleaner install, less parts.

great! - you now have one of the best engines Subaru ever made. it's likely to last another inexpensive 100,000 miles without anything but oil changes and spark plugs/wires. there should be no reason to swap ignition components - normally you just use whatever ignition wires are on the engine: 2.2 ignition wires 2.2 coil pack 2.2 spark plugs no need to swap anything from the 2.5 on it. but maybe the engine came without the coil pack or wires so they made do with 2.5 parts rather than charge you for new parts. if you were keeping the car you'd want to make sure you know exactly what ignition wires were used so you can get the right ones in the future. but since you're not this wont' be a concern for you. you have torque bind, regarding the limited slip additive: 1. tires should all match in size and close in tread depth 2. it could have been caused by the towing incident if they didn't tow it properly - it's a 4WD vehicle and can't be towed improperly with two wheels off the ground. 3. the transmission fluid should be flushed or changed a few times to get rid of initial onset of torque bind.

the keyway isn't need - torque that mojo down and the pulley will not back off. it's iron crank so it's not aluminum and not prone to strip like much of the motor. i've got a one piece on as well. no big deal, just bolt on and go. i noticed zero difference in performance with it.

it will always be slow and give meager 0-60 times and quarter mile times. to that end it's not worth modifying except as a learning experience or to play with. if you're in it for the experience or novelty then by all means, tear it up but if you actually want a fast car then i would learn to enjoy this one for what it is - a high mileage reliable mongrel. if you bought a $400 car because money is tight i wouldn't put a dime into performance. use this car to make good financial decisions and get a lot of cheap, reliable miles (which it's easily capable of) - then save and set yourself up for making a different purchase in the future that's maybe more to your liking. but - i'm an oddball when it comes to finances so please ignore this suggestion. most of it's ability to be reliable will depend on prior ownership/maintenance - assuming it's in good shape it could easily go a lot more miles if fluids are properly maintained and it's never run hot.

how about both? my insurance went down when i had one Subaru and then added the truck - so it was cheaper to own both for me anyway. i got a significant discount for having an additional vehicle.

i've owned like 30 Subaru's and have an F150. should be pretty easy to tell what you want as they are in NO way comparable. i hate driving my F150 and basically use it only for towing...and yet i think i'd still recommend an F150 for you. more ground clearance, hauling capacity, more weight for safety, and it seems like you prefer american cars anyway. the chances of you liking the Subaru seem low - but go test drive a few? Get an F150 with a straight 6, excellent motors, you can't hardly find anything better at high mileage reliability and inexpensiveness. they're a little underpowered for a full sized truck but you're comparing it to a forester so towing capacity can't be on the radar screen. you're in flat land too, mine is only limited up steep mountain grades and towing large loads - cars or huge boats. i hate to say it and may be banned for it but that straight 6 is a better motor than a forester is going to get you. depends what kind of "offroading" you're doing but ground clearance makes a huge difference in getting high centered in mud and snow. i don't like roll over risk and prefer more control which i feel cars give you, and i don't like being that high off the ground. but i can't downplay the important of mass. there's no way to guess what kind of dangerous situation you will be in for the future and thereby dictate which advantage would be more desirable.

i've seen the ebrake mechanisms stick - i see you said it's not the cable - are you sure it's not the mechanism on the caliper itself? i had one stick one time - worked it loose with a wrench back and forth and it never did it again.

use Subaru thermostat and water pump gasket. Gates kits are widely used. rockauto and amazon for $130 or find a kit with water pump 2 cam and 1 crank seal are a good idea while you're in there particularly if yo'ure paying someone to do it since it would take the same labor to remove the timing belt if the $5 seal leaks in 2 years. get them from Subaru or make sure they're the higher quality "brown" material and not black. Subaru if you're wanting top notch and want to spend for it. online retailers are about 20% less than local Subaru dealers. but you gotta pay shipping. don't ask "which one is cheaper" - as it all depends what you're looking for. Shawn from here can hook you up via retroroo with a genuine Subaru kit at a reasonable cost: http://retroroo.com/

your first descripion of metal and the pic didn't look to me like what i was seeing, but sounds now like that's what it is.

still no reason to steer away from the better Subaru OEM axles, but i would do the new cardone over that no name chinese any day.

if it's a two piece shaft - the rear sections are often the same auto or manual. it's the front half that's different lengths. that's true of older geneartion stuff and it hink newer gen too...maybe someone can confirm. if you just need the rear half then you may have more options. www.car-part.com there's also a replacement for the staked in ujoint if you dont' mind cutting out the old one and working this one in place or having a shop do it: http://www.ebay.com/itm/SUBARU-FORESTER-LEGACY-OUTBACK-BAJA-SVX-LOYALE-U-JOINT-DRIVE-SHAFT-U-JOINT-3-/271305510733?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&fits=Year%3A1997|Make%3ASubaru&hash=item3f2b118f4d&vxp=mtr there are cheaper ones out there - someone posted a link to like a $25 variant last year. legacy/outback transmissions and rear diffs are interchangeable with impreza's - wonder how/why driveshafts differ - probably chassis length and mounting i guess? in which case are the front halves or rear halves different or both?

check the drivers side timing belt. no spark if it breaks. get a used coil, or two if you want a spare. they don't fail that often and new and aftermarket are pricey or problematic. i've driven around in multiple Subaru's from the 80's, 90's, and 2000's without an instrument cluster, that's not likely needed for the car to run and drive. so don't spend any more time searching there.

used oil analysis. from pan or oil filter. oil pressure, i guess once it's first installed to verify initial condition. it's not impossible to get the engine to rotate out of the vehicle, but few are likely to try rigging up a starter to generate the RPM's necessary to turn it over. i've seen one shop in OH have the capacity to do that, mount, rotate, and even run a Subaru engine outside of the vehicle.

ironically i have a new aftermarket EJ25 SOHC belt sitting next to me in the office. it doesn't have a mark like that. it does have one "seam" on the inside tooth where the two sides come together and are attached. This one appears to have some kind of material woven across the belt tooth in a spiraling pattern, yours might have that, but hard to tell from the picture. It is 7 teeth away from one of the cam sprocket marks - I think the drivers side one.

i'm confused. the cams just have a notch and the pulleys have the key. the cam should have nothing to do with it. did they send the wrong cams back? keys are in the cams and i've never heard of them coming out or being removed: http://trdsupra.com/library/subaru/EJ25-vs-EJ22_cam_gears_1.jpg

stop in and compare it to other belts on the shelf? is it around the area where the two ends of the belt come together?

Autos far outpace manuals in terms of sales/ownership so even if the manuals have a higher rate of repair/maintenance, one could still easily see more automatics in the bays.

good idea on the alignment, try to find a place that's good and not just paying someone $8 an hour that just learned to use the machine in January. they'll have better feedback on which parts to replace. those rear end bits aren't that hard to replace either. a bent strut or control arm or sway bar is all a drop in the bucket and easily repairable. nothing back there is hard or expensive. and there's no concern for "frame" damage or anything spectucular. easy fix.

nay. chinese. probably a new name for an old, cheap product that's got bad reviews. purely conjecture on my part but i'm not sure what the allure is for using no-name, aftermarket axles when they are rife with issues. over and over and over again people keep returning to the vomit, very strange. why not reboot yours or just get an OEM used axle from www.car-part.com? cheaper, 100% repeatable solution, it will last longer. seems odd to even consider anything else.

That's what i'd do (and actually what i did just a couple months ago) - pocket the cash and fix it yourself to your own standards. Body shop standards and showroom paint/finish/clear is not necessary on a 15 year old car that's going to blow it's headgasket sometime soon. that's a joke, sort of. Swap body panels - just get one that matches already painted - www.car-part.com Properly address exposed areas so they don't rust (if rust is a possibility in the PNW anyway).

yes too much grease will cause more expansion than normal. but a little more won't be a big deal obviously. some aftermarket boots don't last as long as Subaru boots so be wary of cheaper unless you don't mind replacing them every couple years.