idosubaru

i had one that had the typical groaning but no other symptoms at all - no vibrations, felt perfectly smooth rotating the hub...then when the axle was removed it felt like totaly slop and was notably noisy. i was surprised how smooth it felt before the axle was removed. 97 Legacy

sounds like a wheel bearing to me. i've seen wheel bearings pass that test and i have a mechanics stethoscope. i can't even recall if i've ever been able to diagnose a bad wheel bearing that way, if so it's been only one time. i don't really put much stock in that method from the few experiences i've seen so i wouldn't worry about it too much that you're not hearing it. i like using a temperature gun and comparing sides. a bad wheel bearing will cause more heat generation. it takes 10 or so different readings across the hubs because the temp gradients can be so large over small distances but it doesn't take long to see a pattern so to speak.

no, they're just not as common. all the SOHC EJ25's are basically the same motor IMO. easily interchangeable. EJ25's have more headgasket, piston slap, and rod bearing issues than EJ22's. the headgaskets can be preemptively repaired and there are upgrades to the OEM gasket that should provide better reliability with them. the rod bearings as GD suggested are likely heating/oiling/maintenance related and with some luck and inspection may be mitigated. i rarely see EJ22's with rod bearing issues. which is odd considering how old those motors are getting and no doubt have been overheated due to coolant loss, clogged radiators, inop fans, etc. but maybe they're just all rusting away here.

if you have a used manual trans radiator: A.) if it's original OEM (most likely) then it won't have the transmission cooler lines in it. you can still use it if you install an aftermarket transmission cooler for $30, still cheaper than another radiator. i think this is the one i usually use: http://www.etrailer.com/Transmission-Coolers/Derale/D13311.html Subarus only need the smallest cooler you can find. wouldn't surprise me if those ones i've used are actually too big for the daily drivers i've used them on. but so far, so good. B.) if it's an aftermarket radiator it will have the transmission cooler lines on it - just look and see, we can't tell you that without looking at the radiator. just look - does it have tubes coming out of it or not?

hmmm, that sucks. throw down some carpet or plywood sheets? i have 20 pizza box heading to recycle - want me to mail them to you!?!? LOL it does sound like the clutch is the problem and those are maintenance items so it's sort of adding up? hopefully it is definitely bled, those things are annoying to get all the air out of.

ignore the white marks on the belt. *** it is the cam shaft and crank marks that matter. it's an engine - an engine needs the cam and crank lined up. the engine does not have some magical eye that looks at white marks on the belt. if the PROPER crank mark is lined up and both cams are lined up - then it's right. they are only supposed to be an aid, if they don't help then ignore them. you should not have any problems with the wrong belt, the DOHC belt is so long that you can't really get the wrong belt as a wrong belt won't even come close to fitting. it's hard to understand you: that entire sentence is hard...actually impossible to follow...i can interpret it a few different ways.

+1. always the slave, never the master is my experience as well. the hose is often replaced and considered a weak link by some accounts so I replace that as well. I haven't officially seen one "fail" but i've never diagnosed them - i just replace both and it fixed them every time. Good luck will, they can be a pain to bleed - follow GD's directions I know he's gotten good at bleeding them quickly. i'm usually not on any time line and will bleed...let set over night...and let the bubbles come to the "top" so to speak, bleed again, good to go.

you got it - bottoms are exhaust - close to exhaust headers/manifold. and top are intakes - closest to intake manifold. right - the valves get tighter with age. i think 150,000+ miles is where clearances get too tight and burn exhaust valves - that's the biggest problem with these motors the exhaust valves.

some of those will be tire kickers, spammers, won't actually come through with the money, have no way to pick it up, stall, low ball you, etc. that is quite a few emails though. $1,000 is exactly what I would recommend listing it for. around here if you got lucky you might get $1,500 for it. i buy stuff like this all the time and i would give $500 - $1,000 for it mostly because of the mileage. i wouldn't give more than $1,000 unless it was lower miles or it would have to be nearly perfect condition, few owners, zero rust, new tires, etc.

reading near zero on the gauge is not uncommon or immediate cause for alarm by itself. i believe some of the EA82/ER27 owners manuals even talk about it. like he said - an aftermarket gauge will tell what is actually going on. or as you guessed the sender could have a bad connection or be failing. the sender wire isn't always in the greatest condition either, check it and the connection.

right on. installing the fuse for FWD is no big deal - it doesn't hurt anything. but "why" someone did this is usually the looming question. it's usually done because something is wrong (torque bind being the most common issue). simply pulling the fuse out and driving it in All Wheel Drive will show what/if any symptoms it has. with fuse removed drive in tight circles in a dry parking lot. any feeling of braking indicates torque bind. not necessarily a big deal....but definitely something to ask about and look into. sometimes it's a simple fix - just change the trans fluid. sometimes it's more ominous and requires replacing a solenoid and/or clutch packs in the trans....a much bigger job though not terribly difficult actually.

the FWD fuse is for emergency use only. if someone puts it in - it *usually* indicates that there is a problem - possibly with the transmission.. if they were putting it in to use the car as FWD or for gas mileage then that's just silly and there's really no way we can determine why or why they would do something that's not normal or shouldn't be done. you should run the car without the fuse in AWD - there are no gas mileage benefits to using the fuse because the vehicle is designed as a 4WD vehicle and carries all the hundreds of pounds of weight of the 4WD components and rotating mass of the driveshaft, diff gears, axles, 4WD bearings, etc. interference engine - the timing belt and all the pulleys should absolutely be replaced. at 10+ years old they need replaced by age even if the car has 100 miles on it. if the belt breaks then valve damage will occur - bent valves. the belt, pulleys, and tensioner need replaced. get the ebay timing belt kits they are inexpensive and include the timing belt, all the pulleys, and a new tensioner. they're actually easy to do timing belt jobs on.

it's cheap and easy. if you think a headgasket job is easy you can't, with the same logic, talk as if having a head resurfaced is hard or problematic. there's even a DIY thread here on how to do it yourself in 5-10 minutes. you mention high prices - resurfacing is cheap, so whatever the "machine" costs were must have been a valve job or something else, because resurfacing is cheap. headgaskets are much harder to do on a car so a little preventative has higher value. you also see more headgasket talk because there are ongoing headgasket issues for 10+ years on one particular Subaru motor - the EJ25. it's *more* recommended on engines prone to headgasket issues. i wouldn't worry about not resurfacing an EA82 or ER27 depending on the circumstances, because they aren't prone to headgasket failures. cars are typically acquiring more miles on them then MC's. i doubt wanting another 100,000 or 200,000 miles out of bike is anywhere near common practice. vehicles are doing more work - heavier weights, climbs, off road, winter driving and more severe temperature fluctuations, towing....bikes get revved and that's it, they're limited, can't do much, and don't see what cars, trucks, off road vehicles are subjected to.

The fuel pump assembly comes out of the tank. It's a huge convoluted contraption and the pump makes up a portion of the entire assembly. Next to the fuel pump on the assembly is a round (2 1/8" round) upside down reservoir. it has a metal cap on it (the cap faces down into the tank since this reservoir is upside down). this cap simply twists off like a soda cap. a cursory glance suggests the pump fills this reservoir which then pushes fluid up into the fuel lines that attach directly above it. the metal cap has three metal tabs/fingers on it that grab plastic rectangular holds on the plastic cup. it's REALLY obvious when you see it so if all these words are confusing just ignore them. between this metal cap and the plastic reservoir is an oring - it's 2 1/8" ID x 2 5/16" OD....i think that's what it is anyway. When I removed my pump the oring was "pushed out of the cap", with like a half inch or inch of it just hanging out of the cap. When removed the oring was notably too large to fit, it had expanded with age/gas contact I suppose. Some folks even suggest the expanding orings crack the metal caps...not sure which comes first...This is not a rare issue on H4 and H6's so I plan on doing it to my other 2002 OBW H6 as well since it's so easy. i'll likely do my 2003 OB again as well since one of the tabs was broken and i'd like to make sure of the oring material. So since my oring was pushed out - fuel pressure was simply bleeding out the cap back into the fuel tank without ever making it through to the lines....or very little into the lines. One 99 cent oring later i was back on the road. The fuel pump is super easy to remove: it can literally be pulled in 5 or 10 minutes and there's nothing tricky about it. (2) 12mm bolts holding the lower seat cushion and pull the cushion out. (4) phillips head screws hold the cover plate on. (8) or so 8mm bolts holding the fuel pump into the tank.

yeah funny you say that - i "always" have my tools and OBDII scanner....and just got dumb for a second and didn't put them in the car this time. ***yes*** the car primes just like older subarus. turns out it was that goofy fuel pump oring - the oring under cap gets squished out and causes it to bleed pressure off. replaced that oring for 99 cents and it's good to go. it's really easy to fix and i'd recommend doing it if you have an H4 or H6 which share this same oring. the cap tabs can crack too but that cap is the same between H4 and H6 engines. i'm doing it immediately when i get home to my other 2002 OBW as well.

replace the bent valves and call it good. install a complete timing belt kit - belt, idlers, tensioner.

2003 Outback H6 - do the fuel pumps operate for a second when the key is turned "ON" but the engine isn't started (like older Subaru's)? My daily driver quit while driving down the road and when i turn the key to "ON" (before turning it to start) - the fuel pump doesn't "prime" like it does on most older Subaru's i've tried this step on? So i'm assuming it's the fuel pump but i want to make sure? When i try cranking the motor it does move some gas, so I'm not positive. Traveling out of state so i don't have all my tools, pressure gauges, etc. GD says it should "prime" like older Subaru's.....

replacing the O2 sensors and making sure you don't have any exhaust leaks can make the codes go away. i don't know if that's a %1 success rate or %95 success rate though. i think for 0420 code you would replace the rear ones first...but that's just a guess.

JPX RULES!!!! thanks a bunch for a write up, this is fantastic! I want to start doing bearings but haven't had the time to look into which tools and extra washers, etc are needed for the job. Now my wife's daily driver is down with a bad front wheel bearing so I need to figure this out, great timing!

to the far right end of that bar you're asking about is a large bolt holding the metal bar in place. remove that bolt and it's actually a banjo bolt with a spring inside of it. that's the spring he's talking about.

if the driveshaft ujoint is that bad it should be obvious - grab it and shake it at each ujoint - if it's loose it should show movement. in rare cases the ujoint is hosed but you can't tell by sharking - the ujoint can "seize" and doesn't move at all, so that's the problem. a close visual inspection of the joint should still show some wear without removing it first though, at least the ones i've seen do. if the CV axle has ever been replaced with an aftermarket (any brand) then that's a high probability place to look too. aftermarket CV axles have a high rate of issues. there are no issues running with the FWD fuse for any length of time you need.

i don't think oil type or viscosity makes any difference. i've seen it "change" with lower and heavier weight oil - probably incidental. "correlation does not mean causation"....lifter tick is so volatile that if it goes away after putting something in it - doesn't really mean it helped or made it worse. probably just the come-and-go factor of the ticking more often than not. a reseal is definitely worth it - it's actually not hard at all, the timing covers are sometimes the biggest pain. after that it's really not hard and can be rather quick. might want to have cam and crank seals on hand and check to see if yours are wet and possibly replace the timing belts while they're off. they can be had cheap from someone on the board or ebay or rockauto, etc. i have had Fel-Pro crank seals not seat properly on EA/ER engines so i would probably stick with Subaru for the engine seals.

progress as follows for ticking HLA's: 1. change oil 2. reseal the oil pump 3. replace the oil pump 4. have HLA's rebuilt (mizpah like $3 each) and reseal the cam carrier with a new metal reinforced oring from Subaru (or thepartsbin.com) I have personally never had to go to step 4. Steps 2 and 3 have worked numerous times for me. I sometimes simply skip step 3 so as not to do the work twice (steps 3 then 4). ATF can help as well, I've done that before but don't any more. Change the oil often.

Crack, that sounds annoying to work around, but we'll see. Thanks Gloyale. Best way to "T" those two at the top? I'll try and find a 4 cylinder radiator to compare fitment - height/width. I don't see any all aluminum radiators available for H6's.

what's the difference between the 2.5 and 3.0 radiators? i have two H6 Outbacks and was wondering if the all aluminum two row radiators that are readily available would fit in the 3.0? i assume the fitment of the radiator into the radiator supports is probably identical since the wagon bodies are the same - but not sure about hose sizes...anything else?