idosubaru

those ebay kits are the way to go. timing belt jobs are really easy on these things, only takes a few minutes. add on a good bit of time if you start digging into oil and water pumps, seals, etc.

it's a solid platform. headgaskets are the only major issue, they easily make high miles. good luck!

use the fel pro headgaskets he mentioned in the last post and there's no need to retorque. save yourself the time.

For your EJ25 (not all Ej25's), preemptively replacing them is almost pointless for a variety of reasons: 1. they don't always leak 2. when this particular variety EJ25 starts leaking it begins really slow seeping externally, causes zero issues, no risk, and you can drive them 50,000 miles leaking...you'll have plenty of time to repair them, preemptively repairing them buys you nothing except extra work that may have never been needed. 3. they may have already been replaced - though you sound confident they're original what i would rather focus on is: 1. have they ever been replaced before? you seem convinced they're original so that's answered. 2. replace the coolant and add the coolant conditioner. they leak often but they also make 250,000+ miles without replacement 3. replace the timing belts with a complete timing belt kit - all new pulleys and tensioner, ebay has great priced kits, many here prefer theimportexperts though their prices are higher now than they used to be. with a timing belt replace the cam seals, reseal the oil pump, tigthen the rear oil pump backing plate screws, and replace the water pump. be sure to use a Subaru water pump gasket (aftermarkets are a joke) and Subaru or XACTA thermostat. if you do replace the headgaskets, resurface the heads and use the EJ25 Turbo headgaskets, otherwise you're just installing the same headgaskets prone to fail to begin with. the turbo gaskets don't fail. if it was a different EJ25 then preemptive is a great option, some have significant issues with reliability and extensive damage if they blow...not so with yours. when the clutch was done was the perfect time to do them, the engine/trans already had to come out of the vehicle, saving much of the labor. but again...not a big deal on yours so move right along. timing belts are super easy on that car, no need to time those with headgaskets.

Wow - Interesting symptoms. Video tape sounds like a good idea. Otherwise the car always shifts into gear properly, no lights on, etc? You really need to use the hand brake, that's true of most (all?) manufacturers. It's designed with that in mind, it's all over the internet, google, drivers ed, subaru calls it a parking brake, the light is a circle with a P in it. Hardly any need to fear the cables, that's simply not an issue with Subaru's. Parking brake cable failure even on 1980's Subaru's is almost unheard of. With the parking brake in the dinky rear calipers, not using the fronts at all, it's not good for much else other than parking. Stopping with them is a joke.

are you positive the snow caused it to jump? did you get pictures of that? i can't picture how that would happen. for us northeasters rusted fasteners turn into lengthy debacles and breaking the covers anyway. can use zip ties but many covers are in horrible disrepair and sourcing new ones isn't worth it or necessary. +1 to chux - there are plenty of 60,000 mile timing belt Subarus. without covers, can always see pulley/tensioner condition too. with covers you have no feedback on condition of bearings/tensioner. I've seen covers cause problems, pushed up into and rubbing the belt and pulleys and damaging the belt. presumably snow could also do that if it's so deep it causes the belt to jump time then it's not hard to imagine it packing and pushing the aged/brittle covers either. not worth my time repairing, replacing, etc. take your pick, not a big deal. all that to say - who cares, take your pick and roll. there is no right and wrong and it doesn't need to be an "argument" at all. discussion points are good to inform everyone but no need to have a one-size-fits-all approach - i try to keep the covers on some - and to that end i'd like to know more information and see a picture of exactly how the snow caused it to jump timing.

front isn't too hard and you have some options - the rear is the sticking point. you can't swap newer generation stuff (legacy, impreza) into older generation Subaru's. the suspension configuration and geometry is all completely different on newer generation stuff so you can't go 5 lug in the rear with newer gen stuff. you need to do a 5 lug conversion which requires subaru XT6 rear hubs and backing plates. with those in hand, it's easy. just a simple rear wheel bearing job and you've got 5 lug rear.

that's decent. if it's an SUS or a base L model that makes a significant difference. we can assume yours isn't a base model though. it looks like a decent deal with the excellent condition, low miles, and rebuild...probably a couple thousand less than similar condition vehicles at dealers in your area. you'll be hard pressed to get a unanimous vote for "screaming deal" on this forum though.

The issue isn't the "rolling a foot" so much as the "it rolled again in 30 seconds...that is very odd. I would verify that symptom and focus on that. The parking pawl has a range of motion before it catches - it does not have an infinite stop and movement is normal. You can search google and see lots of references to "my car moved a foot in park": When putting a vehicle in park - the brakes should hold the vehicle in place, not the parking mechanism: 1. hold foot on the brake pedal 2. put the gear selector in park 3. pull up the parking/emergency brake 4. then let off the brake pedal. This way the brakes are holding the weight of the car and not the parking pawl. You do not want to get into the habit of putting the full weight of the vehicle on the parking pawl, it's not a very robust design in any vehicle. They generally don't have issues, though most of the population doesn't park on steep inclines either, but not the best way to do it. I have seen vehicles roll a substantial amount, people get scared because they thought the car was starting to move...etc. That's fairly common. The first time someone sees this happen it may stand out and look more severe than it was. The rolling again after 30 seconds is really bizarre.

this would be easily missed - lots of people don't look at their rear diff. many times. hundreds of miles on road trips. at least you figured yours out and know to keep an eye on it. this topic will come up again some day, we'll see what happens then, no one else seems to be seeing this thread.

wow, that's some unfortunate luck. get it in good running condition and that thing is easily capable of relatively easy and cheap 100,000 miles....i know it's hard to believe that at this point....but it's worth repairing if you can get it right. if you replace the transmission - save the center diff (it just unbolts from the rear of the trans) - they're worth $100 and good to have just in case. more than likely the car had headgasket symptoms when you bought it - and that's why it was sold. so you essentially bought a huge problem, happens all the time with that motor. transmissions are relatively cheap. if you can do the headgasket repair as you suggested, you can swap a trans. while you're pulling the lump you can make some of your money back by also buying an EJ22 engine which doesn't have headgasket issues and it more reliable and cheaper to maintain than the EJ25. they can be found cheap usually. then you can sell your EJ25 which has a high demand due to headgasket and lower end bearing failures. you can make a couple hundred back that way and EJ22 timing kits are also almost $100 cheaper. i just did this for a friend - got an EJ22 for $350 and will sell his EJ25 for at least $700 - so he'll make $350 to offset his mechanics installation costs - making it almost a free repair and he gets a better motor.

i've installed the switch a bunch of times and love it, i'm a big fan - but even that doesn't help with low grade or average tires or you get high centered. if you have unmaintained roads/snow to contend with then dedicated snow tires and even studded are the key to safety and reliably and consistently getting where you need to go.

yes - they have headgasket issues. no - they were never fixed. well - by like 2010 or something...nowhere near the years you're looking at. there is no way to tell if they were fixed or not by mileage. they could leak at 50,000 miles or never. those 00-02's had quite a few failures so it wouldn't be surprising but i wouldn't bet money on it either. if you ever get them replaced, use EJ25 Turbo headgaskets, they don't fail.

i would ignore the comment you quoted since there are multiple manual transmission set ups and varieties...technicalities aside, this switch simple "locks" the auto's just like your older GL when locked. you can't drive it on normal streets like this - it'll hop and buck around turns - it's a fantastic mod. I'm unsure what it does or what would be different with newer VDC transmissions so tread carefully if you're talking about one of those - they've been available since 2001. 2001-2004 in H6 OB's only, maybe others in later years.

it's been awhile but i think it's 1 7/8"....

indeed, if that is anecdotal then a simple search of Subaru forums comprising 10's of thousands of owners, mechanics, dealer service technicians etc, shows little, or no results. and yet mismatched tires are common.

No.

tax comment makes no sense but i assume means discussion not wanted. by amibiguous i only meant there's no measuring device/dipstick and fluid level may or may not mean anything. that may have been the amount of fluid it was refilled with at the last change, those rear diffs are easily mis-filled depending who/how it was done. i'm curious because i've never heard or seen mismatched tires cause that.

06 into 05 should be good to go - what vehicles did they come out of and which one had the sensor on the head? do they both have VVT? i'd swap the 2005 intake manifold onto the 2006 and run it. if it's VVT differences, you can install a VVT engine into a non-VVT vehicle, it just won't use the VVT stuff. can't go the other way that i'm aware of though - put a non-VVT engine into a VVT vehicle. you could always swap heads too, then install the better turbo headgaskets to boot.

"down about halfway"....how did they know? the fluid level is sort of ambiguous and difficult to "check". fluid loss suggests something is wrong other than unevenly warn tires, though i see that is your suspicion. folks drive with mismatched tires and don't have this symptom. very strange. the rear tires are intended to turn at different rates - that's what allows you to go around a turn. see this video posted today with a subaru rear wheel spinning on rollers while the other is stationary demonstrating this fact (same thing thaat happens when a Subaru's gets stuck, high centered, etc): http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/topic/136943-awd-system-comparison-video/?do=findComment&comment=1153547 the AWD systems are robust and tires don't easily mess with the drivetrain. by the way some folks talk one might think stones caught in the tire tread would affect resistance so much the drivetrain will explode so beware if you live on a gravel road. LOL. take those comments with a grain of salt. you never mentioned vehicle/make or whether it's VLSD or not?

you can see the difference, Subaru tstats are notably beefier than aftermarkets...folks have posted pictures online comparing them side by side, huge difference. find a picture and if looks like the big beefy one instead of the 4 year old toy variety then you're probably good. i don't use them but it's not like they all fail, plenty of cheap aftermarket tstats work fine too, so i wouldn't obsess about it. make sure you got all the air out of the system, these engines notoriously get air bubbles that stop coolant flow and cause overheating. all that being said - this motor has headgasket issues, which you already know. unfortunately you bought Subaru's worst engine ever, a little research on any Subaru forum would have showed the extent of the headgasket issues of that motor. and you bought one that was previously overheated (HG's were already replaced)....that is a very risky purchase, there's no telling if the block was compromised at all.

wow. yeah rust does that - makes one bolt take 3 hours. so frustrating.... last ball joint i had to get out was crazy...i ended up needing to remove the hub and drill it multiple times into pieces before it would all come out. that sucked. of course hindsight says get another hub...but you just never know if it's going to take 15 minutes or 2 hours, can't just replace parts every single time!

adjusting the valves sounds like the best place to start and my initial thought. it wasn't the timing belt tensioner was it? looks like you replaced the timing belt idlers, good job, they're old and devoid of grease. did you replace the tensioner? the new style timing tensioners can fail and slap around while running (under load)...usually more of a knocking noise so probably not it. last two motors i worked on, pulled heads/valve train, were these rare 99 Phase II EJ22's, I saw nothing else notable to check.

interesting. wonder if it's because you got them from Canada, are there emissions/engines different sometimes? either way you're done, good job!

i've yet to ever use a torch for removing a bolt yet too, so i should stay away.