idosubaru

i've never had a problem reusing them but i never really looked into why they were stuck there. i would just drop them off at a machine shop and they'd give them back with the HLA's removed after resurfacing the heads. have no idea how they got them out. soak them in penetrant?

the fan/relay attempt seems very strange to me, i'm with GD on that one. if it's a radiator issue then it should be really obvious and predictable - like it won't overheat at night (when it's cooler) and it does overheat during the day, or overheats much quicker...or overheats with A/C on but not with it off...etc. additional loads should have a direct relationship to whether it overheats or not. what is scary about this predicament is that you *bought* a vehicle with a known problem. the problem itself isn't a big deal but obviously someone dumped this car with overheating issues...how many times was it overheated before you bought it?

no if done properly. i guess if you dumped too much right into a cylinder you could hydrolock it and do some damage that way, but just follow directions properly. it will *look* like something is wrong as it burns off and your neighbors will think you're burning your car for insurance and call the cops...it smokes LIKE CRAZY when you start dumping that into a running engine. but it's all normal, just act real cool like "it's supposed to be doing this, i am not surprised or moved" and you'll feel like James Bond.

tons of information all over the board. if this motor has EGR then swap it into the 98 OBW with the 2.2 exhaust manifold as well. bolt in plug and play swap. there's nothing to know about it - remove engine, install engine. keep the EJ25 handy for any extra brackets, etc like for the power steering or A/C but otherwise it's really easy. you can do it even if the 97 doesn't have EGR but you'll have a check engine light for emissions stuff that you really can't get rid of. i did that swap without EGR and swapped the intake manifold, ECU, and cut all the wires for the EGR stuff and still have check engine light. but it doesn't matter in this state so i just ignore.

If you were closer I'd take it today....i'll look where you're located and see what I can't work out. Want to drive it here and fly home, LOL. my username here @yahoo.com is my email, hit me up. What part of NY are you in?

pretty much meaningless to a car. you and I think 100 is hot, but that's COLD to an engine so it really doesn't matter. that's how these motors are - they randomly overheat, it is often not at all predictable. it's is *required* by Subaru and has no ill effect. if your mechanic knows Subarus he should have installed it, just about everyone who specializes in Subaru's is. it only works on external leaks so it's not likely to work now anyway. yeah sorry to hear about that, it really is unfortunate and you likely got hosed by the previous owner who dumped at the first sign of issues, pretty common with these engines.

owners manual call the dealer google this says 1,300 kg: http://www.uktow.com/towing%20capacity1.asp#tab1 lots of information out there. having towed to the limits on Subarus the limiting factor is the cooling capacity, not the engines, trans or brakes. although i'm not sure what a 2.0 can do, i'm used to the larger engines out here and own 2 H6 vehicles. but what the car is rated for is not necessarily what it can do so the numbers aren't very helpful. we have steep mountain grades in 100 degree (38 Celsius) heat with high humidity. in those conditions, which i've towed in, you are severely limited in weight far below what Subaru's recommended maximums are. the engine and transmission hold up fine, but the cooling capacity is not close to handling it, Subarus will overheat. A/C on and they overheat instantaneously, that's not even an option to run the A/C. if you drive without A/C on and turn the heat on high (really nice when it's already 100 degrees outside), it can act as a secondary heat sink/radiator and dump more heat into the cabin and you can carefully maneuver the mountain passes and barely make it...and that's below Subaru's "maximums"...though not much below. so it depends what kind of driving you're doing more than what they say the limits are. that site above says 1,300 and Europe has higher limits than over here. but there's no way you could tow that weight over here in the conditions i outlined above - your car would overheat the first mountain pass you had to climb and blow the motor up if you blindly followed the Euro or US limits.... so take the numbers with a grain of salt. it's not like at 1,299 kgs the car drives like it's not towing anything and is perfectly safe...and then at 1,301 kgs it explodes and is undrivable. it's would be approximated as a mathematical curve....the more towing you do, the more grades you hit, the more dangerous situations you may encounter (storms, deer, elk, moose over here), the higher the heat, the higher the humidity....the more the cooling capacity is taxed and the higher the risk factor is for braking, handling, etc. it's a curve not some mystical number that changes everything.

you posted right when i did, check my last reply..... you've only had it a few months....let's hope the previous owner didn't have headgasket issues in it, that's not good.

you aren't going to have a headgasket problem, you already have one. if it's currently running fine then awesome, take some time to start planning how you want to proceed to repair it. you can replace the headgaskets or swap in an EJ22 (much better motor). plenty of information about your options all over this forum and the internet. whatever you do, don't overheat the engine or run it hot. that particular EJ25 in your vehicle can be really frustrating, once they overheat it is completely random and for no reasons at all. they can overheat at start up, any time of day, any driving conditions, doesn't matter if the coolant is full...etc. makes it a real pain to get to work, get stranded, etc. that also means there's a lot of blown blocks from people not noticing the overheating or just hoping they can make it home.

it's easier to pull than it is to push. the reverse gear ratio is a little less than 1st gear. when backing up with a trailer you are usually doing something with it...turning, lining up, etc, requiring that you feather the clutch. it's not very often when you simply fully let out the clutch and hit the gas pedal in reverse while towing - you'd jack knife the trailer. when going forward the trailer by geometry simply pulls straight behind the car...in reverse it's the opposite you're pushing the trailer and it requires work to keep it in alignment without jackknifing. if it's not slipping your clutch is fine, there is no way to test it short of pulling the engine out and measuring the thickness of the clutch disc. you no doubt lessened the life of the clutch with all that wear, i've done it before too. that's simply the cost of towing and giving it such a work out in reverse.

was the Subaru coolant conditioner added at any point? it is required on that engine, costs $2.50 at the dealer. if you're doing a coolant change anyway i would add two of those bottles. they don't have much chance of fixing exhaust gases blowing into the coolant but for $5 it's worth a shot. 130,000 miles: Bought vehicle 136,000 miles: Replaced headgaskets most likely the previous owner dumped the car with headgasket issues and may have overheated it before hand...leaving you with some unknowns. when the mechanic replaced the headgaskets did he happen to notice whether they had been replaced previously or work had been in there before? as for highway verses city, i suppose the higher rpm's of the motor and therefore the water pump may have something to do with it. they make radiator caps with a little lever on the top that will allow the exhaust gases to escape, they don't always help but sometimes they work. given that yours seems to only do this in the city i am inclined to think it may in your case. with the unknowns i doubt i'd be putting much more work/money into this motor....might be a good test candidate to try some of those crazy "block sealers" and magic in a bottle stuff that i avoid and have never used. but if i was in your shoes and knowing the engine is questionable and not worth keeping - it would be a perfect test mule before getting another motor and scrapping this one. there are a number of you-tube success stories from random jokers.

the clutch is burning up like crazy, don't try to reverse with such heavy loads. my full size truck will burn up the clutch if trying to push trailers to hard in reverse that I routinely pull.

that era forester is really good at eating up rear wheel bearings. there have been some modifications to the wheel bearing over the years, make sure you get the latest and greatest from Subaru if you get it replaced, here's more information on it: http://allwheeldriveauto.com/subaru-repair-seattle-wheel-bearings-explained-part-1/ i'll sit in the rear cargo area while someone else drives. if it's bad it'll be notably louder on one side than the other. without doing that sometimes it sounds like tire/road noise and ambiguous in direction. i've never done wheel bearings on another make of car, i work almost exclusively on Subarus, but i have never seen a bad wheel bearing have any play in it while on the vehicle. noise and heat (using a temperature gun) are the best way to diagnose a subaru wheel bearing in my experience. if the bearing is bad that hub will be hotter than the other side. some folks have used mechanics stethoscopes or rods on the strut coils to amplify any sounds, i haven't had that method work yet but i've only tried it once or twice.

Wayne's suggestions on flipping sides you found on subaruxt.com is a good one! I've known Wayne for a long time, he's been to my house before, he repaired one of my guitars, and ironically just talked to him on the phone yesterday! He's done it with %100 success so far, he swears by it. He's quite a good mechanic and has done some neat things like clean Subaru TPS sensors, repacked Subaru timing pulley bearings, reconditioned subaru air struts...he's good at figuring out stuff most mechanics don't even try. Anyway - his suggestion is definitely worth doing. I've abused Subaru axles for decades so if you want to do this on the cheap I think I can offer some helpful experience. If you don't drive in sandy or on roads where they dump really coarse stuff on the roads in the winter (in WV it's coarse coal crushings), Subaru axles can last a really long time with broken boots and even after they start clicking. i've put 50,000 miles (albeit mostly highway) on busted boot and clicking front CV's. i've put 100,000 miles on busted rear boots with no issues. When I lived in maryland I never once rebooted a rear axle, it wasn't worth it since i could run them 100,000 miles without issues. The stuff they put on the roads here in the mountains really gets up into the joints and chew them up so i have to be more careful now. I've never had an original OEM Subaru axle fail...even when I've subjected them to said nonsense. On the beginning of a 3,000 mile or whatever long journey to CO the boots busted on my new axles because I let them sit too long and they dry rotted. I packed grease ocassionally to get me out there and back and by the time i got back they were vibrating and making noise really badly...like i had to avoid certain speeds or my rearview mirror would have fallen off or i would have damaged some lining in my brain LOL. anyway - i rebooted them when i got home and they run perfectly on my daily driver XT6. quited right up, no vibrations at all. All that to say - if money is tight I would not hesitate at all to clean, grease, and reboot them and see what happens. At worst they're just going to make some noise, but in my experience actual failure is almost impossible. *** Of course look for damage to the pieces as you're cleaning. You can limp it around by stuffing grease into the joints for now, i've done that a bunch of times, but with it being summer and lots of heat and the grease does sling out really quick anyway, I'd just repair them properly and be done with it. You could even try to "test" them by stuff a ton of fresh grease in the joints and working in and through the joint...maybe even with a needle fitting if you have one. Problem is you wont' be getting to all the joint, just the externally accessible parts - so not really thorough....but - if stuffing new grease in there helps your current issues that almost ensures that a proper clean and reboot is a good option. Whatever you do - don't buy aftermarket axles, they suck. buy used Subaru axles and reboot them or go with MWE - but those are expensive. Shawn sells a really nice tool for Subaru axle pins too: http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=127308&highlight=axle+tool I bought one and it's nice. But of course for the cheap fix - a punch will do. Just dont' use one too small or it wedges into the pin inside the axle and can be unbelievably difficult to remove.

at this point the important test for your car is hydrocarbons in the coolant. auto parts stores sell block test kits like this: http://www.napaonline.com/Catalog/CatalogItemDetail.aspx?R=BK_7001006_0361139896 that is the test they should be doing, not installing a thermostat, that was a pretty lame guess. i'd be taking the car back to the dealer immediately and see what options there are for a different car or getting your money back. this car is prone to headgasket issues - very, very common. type in "EJ25 headgasket" into google and watch the thousands of threads pop up, it is a huge issue and well documented. just keep in mind that not all EJ25 headgasket issues are the same - there are 3 common variants. actually Subaru originally offered an extended 100,000 mile headgasket warranty on the vehicle you bought because the issue was so prevalent. the problem i see here is that your generation EJ25 (there are variances) engine does not overheat. they usually leak externally and won't overheat until they run low on coolant. what you're telling us is that you are having non traditional issues which suggests a few things: 1. the headgaskets were previously worked on 2. the engine has been severely overheated either way - there are strong indications here of not just headgasket issues - but something abnormal about that engine and possible prior severe overheats or an improper headgasket repair. *maybe* it is something simple but given that you just forked out an inordinate amount of money for this car off a dealer lot you should not be walking home with a basket case headgasket issue after paying dealer lot prices.

i spent too much time looking online already, i did find one place listed which i've been to before that takes antifreeze but it's not close and he's hesitant.

it's most common for the pots to simply be bad. sometimes you can get away with cleaning them, i've done it before though never to an automotive stereo but still the same thing. does the pot look accessible/cleaning?

it's only the front sensors, as in his case, that can affect running. the rear is emissions only and can be ignored entirely. good to know you can still disconnect front O2 sensors in newer stuff, i hadn't had to try that yet.

any check engine lights now or ever? i had a bad misfire once that went away when i swapped the entire intake manifold with another one. that's completely anecdotal but i had done basically everything you did and that was an easy attempt i could make, got lucky.

running without covers i have noticed that the gears and pulleys rust up particularly if they sit for any length of time, though in the northeast here everything rusts up...that certainly can't help the belts last longer.... GD does tons of EA82's in Oregon and says early failure is really common. he does not consider them capable of consistently/reliably making 60,000 miles. i'm starting to forget, it's been awhile since they've all rusted away out here, the last two XT6's I bought were shipped from Texas and California. rarely see 80's subaru's..or even early 90's stuff any more, if you do it's got big rot holes in the usual places

gear oil - can't you just dump that in your oil containers? i still haven't called the local waste water place, guess that's the next step. i'm surprised and not surprised at the same time. i hate to think what most people in this state are doing, but i highly doubt it's anything good. how about i stick a huge metal drum in the middle of my burn piles...will the antifreeze cook out when i burn? equally environmentally friendly i suppose? right on! that's me too. another advantage is no waiting. i drop off a wheel (or set) and pick it up later. a couple minutes to install myself verses waiting in a waiting room. an old Subaru XT member was a tire alignment guy and suggested never getting alignments until it was showing signs....it's probably saved me a lot of alignments over the years. i don't ever get them unless there's a compelling need and have racked up a lot of miles without them. i forgot to mark suspension orientation once and had an alignment due to scalloping rear tires...which didn't fix it, rear struts fixed it. other than that i haven't had any other alignments in like 15 years....even when i replaced a bent control arm during some snowy offroading, lucky i guess.

What brand are the belts? No misfiring or anything prior to the jumped teeth - runs fine up to that point? What are your thoughts on the high RPM's and non-typical use are likely culprits? The passengers side (right side) is looser and probably more prone to slipping? As to lower mileages with the covers off, the EA82's are prone to premature belt failure so that would be hard to correlate. While they easily surpass the 60,000 mile mark, prematurely failing EA/ER belts aren't rare. Add to that the bearings and tensioners are often aged or non-Subaru parts as well so they aren't the same as new either.

yes you can, but maybe you can't if you don't have enough posts yet? i think people actually prefer hosting elsewhere but i see so many broken links/missing images it just doesn't seem like a good long term fit.

apologies. hang in there.

Could a picture be put in this thread? It seems over time that many pictures links are lost and become dead links.