idosubaru

The timing belt was old, high miles, and/or not a Subaru/AISIN brand belt. That's why it broke. It had nothing to do with the transmission.

Use synthetic, brand doesn't matter. Any off the shelf filters are all going to be relatively similar and serviceable, Fram premiums aren't anything spectacular. WIX filters. The super tech or valvoline will be fine if you have light duty driving, don't drive aggressive, aren't towing excesive loads, don't ever let the car overheat or run low on oil, change it frequently, etc. So for one time it's fine to leave it in their for a short interval. But go back to synthetic immediately.

Okay I wonder if you should look for disconnected sensor or damage. Broken/exposed wire, connections wet, check continuity/resistance.

awesome - good plan. let us know. was any work done in the last year or so that may have rendered an ABS plug not fully seated? or any work that may have damaged an ABS sensor or ABS wiring? suspension, brakes? are there any other running or driving issues? it's not impossible for other issues to confuse the ABS. sensors are the only ABS failures to trigger the light that i've run across. one with 1/2" of build up or grit stuck to it - blew it off with compressed air and was good to go.

Use synthetic. The end. Lol. If cost is a concern extend your oil change intervals as synthetic allows. But check oil level often. Brand and weight don’t matter if you want top shelf get amsoil and read GDs data driven commentary on past threads. You have a 2007, those blow the short block all the time due to oil loss/low oil, 10,000 times before they do due to weight or brand. Use synthetic. The end. Most info is short sighted, anecdotal and/or impractical and useless. Practically speaking it doesn’t matter, except use full synthetic for your control rings. Follow the owners manual for weight of that year 5W and 10w are both fine. Varying weights isn’t necessary but not a terrible idea either. Most responsible car owners with average daily driver commuters change their oil well before the oil is problematic. so it’s not like they’re being pushed to the limits where one brand will perform better than another Subarus are making 200,000+ miles all day long on whatever oil is on sale. And there’s people promoting every brand as awesome because some oil wizard told them about it and they’ve never had issues. Well join the club buffoons, that’s everyone, no matter the brand. Lol. And that’s why no one can resist talking about it - theyre guaranteed to be right, or partially right....because most of what people talk about doesn’t matter empirically or practically. I’ve never blown an engine and have driven a ton of Subarus past 200,000. Is it because of my meticulous attention and robust knowledge of oil? Good grief, no. They fail due to oil loss, low oil and neglect. Use synthetic to keep those control rings clean. your year is prone to low oil. Your best protection is synthetic, frequently checking the oil level and not brand or weight, beyond obvious guidelines. Those engines are routinely found with blown short blocks due to oil starvation not weight and brand. There is a small range where better oils will protect in adverse conditions like low oil where the temps and over cycling degrade the oil properties. But the range where that happens before it hits low enough oil to destroy and engine no matter what oil is pretty narrow relatively speaking. But still amsoil would offer some additional protection there.

good point - these staked in ujoints aren't Subaru specific so i bet someone's done it wether Subaru or not...any staked in video should give you a really good overview.

You need to decide - that's way too many open ended questions. We can't see condition, needs, your decision making rubric, finances...etc. 1 dealers choice 2 it'll depend on your driving style (weight, grade, speed, acceleration, highway/city, etc). but more than likely this question interacts with question 7. will need premium/higher octane fuel to see the most benefits, and probably mileage gains, on a high compression engine. i've seen that reported before. they "run" on low octane but not very well. i live in the mountains and assume you're close - does mileage really matter to us? lol 3 yes 4 yes. you can rebuild driveshafts with Rockford, and other, ujoints but it's a somewhat challenging job to DIY 5 dealers choice - do you want two vehicles or to keep a running vehicle running? I don't know your needs, modus operandi, financial constraints, relatives, work, past/current/future plans... 6 If I had faith in the heads - knowing much of their history and recent performance and they weren't overheated and run hard and poor oil change history - I'd probably leave the valves and adjusters alone. of all the things that go wrong on 20+ year old subarus it's never been valves that i'm contending with. 7 see #2. "need" - probably not but you won't get the full benefits of doing a frankenmotor i don't believe.

What do you mean - all 1996-1999 Outback EJ25 engines are the same electronically and swap - bolt in and plug and play. Only thing that changes is bellhousing bolt count in 99. Are you saying 96-99 Outbacks aren't interchangeable? If they are then the EJ22 swaps in the same as well.

Replace it, it's leaking probably from a puncture. They are highly exposed up front and get punctured in prior accidents or run ins with tool, bikes, downed trees, wrecks - it probably was poked at some point in it's earlier career before you had it. Used is fine it's a big chunk of metal with zero failure points - but for most Subaru models there are online suppliers with very inexpensive new ones.

Pointless product for them to carry in the first place. Would a high end restaurant carry the same product they serve but cooked somewhere else by someone else, a little cheaper, to appease some lower cost customers? LMAO. They have new axles, reman didn't fill any non existent inventory. Probably had inconsistent volume, or possibly inconsistent margins, quality control, supply, and the price point was somewhat in no-mans land - lower than new but not competitive with other options available to DIY folks. Except for a very small number of DIY folks and shops doing high volume, it was a useless part to offer. It had zero alignment with the overall business model of dealerships and dealership trends over the past 20 years+. Every auto manufacturer has been moving away from "rebuilding" for decades. It's not part of the business model driving the automotive market at all. They don't rebuild anything - calipers (which are easy as pie), resurface rotors, power steering pumps (also EASY), power steering racks, no electrical components which are easy to rebuild - starters, starter solenoids (which only ever need $13 contacts/plunger), alternators. It's more surprising if a reman offering shows up than disappears. Makes total sense to me. Do I wish they still carried it - yes. Would I buy some in the future - likely. But from a business, and automotive history/trends, sense it's more surprising they offered them in the first place than that they quit offering them.

1. Regrease and reboot yourself. I’ve got a 100% success rate rebooting noisy axles. I do some calculus to determine whether I think they’re worth it, it’s not a one size fits all solution. usually just need fresh grease like a noisy door hinge or trailer bearings. I trashed a pair of fronts off-road in CO - drove thousands of miles home with wild clicking and vibrating so bad I had to keep changing speeds to get home, rear view mirror vibrating so bad it was unusable - i couldn’t see out of it. Rebooted and good to go 10 years later still. if it saw sand like beaches or significant aggregate - then I don’t do it. 2. Replace with Subaru new. 3. Used Subaru axles are everywhere. This is what I typically do, so this should be #1 on the list. Yours is so new that there’s simply no better option. Easy to find OEM used (look at the color and design). I have 2014 Forster axles but they’re so cheap and available everywhere it’s not worth the time to remove and ship it. I’ve bought dozens for $35 give or take $10 and the OEMs should last the life of the vehicle. Reboot it before install with Subaru boots and fresh grease. You have a 10x better chance of a used Subaru OEM axle lasting 100k over any aftermarket garbage aftermarket axles are trash. Reviews are anecdotal so that’s why you see some people claiming an axle is good. Resist that newb urge to feel like you found the good axle! There’s a load of reasons that’s anecdotal I can’t begin to explain it all. I’ve seen them click, vibrate, blow up catastrophically, they’re trash. They have such a low success rate - even if you get a good one out of the box how long will it last? They’re low grade for daily drivers and a complete waste of time for lifted or off road Subarus. They can’t handle it. I’ve seen good aftermarkets that “worked” on one car get installed on a lifted Subaru and vibrate and click and blow to crap when an OEm axle installed and worked just fine. If you still want to try one - reboot that trash right out of the box with the right amount quality grease and that can. Maybe it’s northeast winter chemicals and wouldn’t matter elsewhere (I don’t know) but aftermarket boots don’t last as long as Subaru around here.

Nuts. How did you notice that? I feel like I’d just install it like any other clutch and move on. What was your first suspicion to check it out?

You can install the engine without EGR, it doesn’t matter, it runs and drives fine but has a check engine light. if you want the check engine light out, run an EGR vacuum line to an alternate source and you won’t get a check engine light. Or install EGR as GD said via drilling or swapping intake/drivers side head from an EJ22 with EGR.

don’t know. Subaru compressors don’t fail often enough for me (or nearly anyone) to have statistically meaningful data. that’s a good plan you’ve got. I like to see less than 150k, try to find out if it was working before pulled, and stored properly. If the last two check out that’s usually good enough for me Ive installed 2 new and 5-7 used, all with 100% success rates. Given the lower quality of steering pumps, fuel pumps, starters and alternators from aftermarket sources, I don’t consider them significantly better just for being “new”. They might be more desirable if I can’t verify anything about a used one (miles and how it was stored). If it’s relatively low miles and was removed in working conditions and stored properly - I’d easily go for used. Additionally OEM units usually quit working with no catastrophic fanfare. I’ve seen enough aftermarket parts fail in odd ways that having one vomit metal through the entire system wouldn’t surprise me, though I’ve never seen that happen I’ll continue to do used and new on old gen 80s Subarus due to age and Availability. So I’m not allergic to new I just compare my options and go from there.

me too! I was concerned before too Good grief sorry if you read all that. My goodness that’s long. But that’s sort of a condensed version of what happened for me to get over my own uncertainty and what I was hearing from many others including professionals. 20 years ago most of what I heard locally or online was dire warnings about high pressures and death and AC systems getting filled with debris from failures caused by AC DIY attempts like I was trying to do..... I was concerned too the first time or three replacing AC stuff. So I think I know what you mean. eventually I did a bunch of them, let my engineering mind wander into what was actually going on inside: amounts, surface area, recommendations, etc, and it simplified things.

Or, now is your chance to convert that trashy high maintenance hydraulic clutch to cable.... No failed master, slave cylinder, leakage, or annoying fluid changes and bleeding debacles. I've heard various reports on swapping between the two and the pivot ball locations like GD mentioned but haven't seen or tried enough of both to say for sure either what you'll encounter...

Yes. It's easy. I've done it tons of times. Oil - doesn't matter. Let me explain... If you unbolted A/C lines on a brand new Subaru, removed the compressor, then reinstalled it again 4 minutes later - would you be worried about "oil" in the compressor? Of course not - it's got whatever oil in it that is distributed throughout the system and will retain that when removed from the vehicle. Just like a part at a local yard. A reasonable mechanic or yard knows not to dump the oil out or expose the orifices to debris...they're often stuffed with plastic caps or something to prevent debris/humidity/oil escape when I get one if it's not removed directly from the car. I'm somewhat overstating the illustration...but not by much - maybe time and conditions warrant adding some oil, and it is a good idea. Sure go ahead and do that - no it's not precise. You'd have to try really hard to get it wrong, you don't sound like that type. Imagine adding up all the internal surface area of the compressor guts, air lines, evaporator, drier, etc.....there's gobs of square inches of surface area. Get it close. If you think you should add 1 unit of oil....and you add 2....it won't matter - it'll be distributed over such a large surface area that the small amounts we are talking about are inconsequential. If you didn't add any then all of the cumulative oil in the system will over time just redistribute itself into a slightly thinner layer covering the innards of your compressor (which has it's own residual oil already in it - they didn't dump cleaner down the thing!). You can never known how much oil to add so it's always somewhat of guess. How many times has your A/C been worked on from brand new, how much oil has been lost due to depressing the valve for charging or testing over the years, has any of the oil "degraded", how many parts have been replaced...same goes with the "new" compressor -you can't cut it open and see how much residual oil and film is extant in the compressor. so it's one big huge guess. Also there's no need to pull a vaccuum. Remove your compressor, bolt the new one in place. Very little air got into the system and what little humidity was in the "new" compressor will get absorbed by the drier. There's basically zero chance of all the cataclysmic nonsense people like to rave about online...it's crazy talk and practically speaking never happens to subarus unless you're a hack. Add 18-22 ounces - whatever yours calls for and you're done. If you live around exceptional humidity/heat or are transporting frozen goods in the cabin then pull that vacuum and get it perfect. Yes - lots of shops//mechanics/DIY/HVAC people would not say anything close to what I just said....but practically and physically thats' what's happening. Sure - don't be dumb. Don't buy an unknown cheap compressor from some guy who had to unburry from the back yard garden pile and clean the bugs out of the holes - and dont' randomly guess on how much oil to add. Looks it up and make a very rough educated guess - you'll be right. By your sense of talking about this and detail and interest in diagnosing this - you sound like you know what you're doing and not about to just guess/hack/and roll dice here. So yeah - it's easy. I've done it a ton of times. I've bolted on ancient Subaru compressors older than yours, some I've added oil, some I haven't....same result every time. They work and never need replaced again. But compressors here are cheap and easy to come by and I often have them on hand...so I get you that you might want to diagnose it more first and make sure it's the compressor if they're harder to come by there.

Install one of those with an aftermarket transmission cooler for the ATF. If your car is handling this that bad then your ATF may be getting deliciously hot too. I've always disliked the shared radiator/ATF - I'd like a dedicated controlled cooler and ATF temp gauge. Let me translate that: "There's a ton of Subaru's in Colorado". lol That's a tiny, localized, 'seasonal' market relative to car part production.

yes swap the brackets they bolt too Look closely it’s easy to overlook and think it’s part of the engine. Compare the hydraulic seal - use the one that’s the most dry. That indicates the seal is leaking. I’d use the older two piece style one if the hydraulic seal is dry. They’re more reliable, the pulleys can be easily bought to get a new one.’although they are generally older. I’d get like an NSK or OEM brand if you do replace any pulleys. 97 are both interference engines - I’d use the old style tensioner, get a new Subaru belt and new lower clogged (toothed) pulley from Subaru or OEM brand. Those are by far the most likely parts to fail. Although most 97s come with new style tensioners so the tensioner or engine may not be original to the legacy they came out of. may not be a 97 engine that you got out of that legacy. It may have been swapped for a 96 at some point which is more likely to have an old style tensioner. In which case it may not be an interference engine. Almost all EJ22s (in stock form) with the older style two piece tensioner are non interference.

Strange. If you take the belt off does the pulley spin freely? Can you turn the compressor itself over and see if it feels suspicious? Manually engage the clutch or grab the inner part of the compressor If you have a other Subaru available compare it to that. They all feel the same in terms of order of magnitude. If it’s impacting your engine that bad then it doesn’t seem like you’re chasing a minor issue . There’s internal compressor components, a bearing, and clutch. And the refrigerant pressures. Hate to guess but what else besides the compressor could it even be?

18 years later HOLY caterpillar liver Batman!! Good work, those long years ago and sharing the specs here. Thanks. I’m dying to know what happened to the car?! Did it treat you well as how did you end up here 18 years later?

do the headgaskets. pulling the engine is the biggest part of the job which has to be done either way (well technically HGs can be done in the engine bay). It’s a lot of effort to save nothing and face a bunch of work arounds. The easy way would be to bolt the EJ25 heads to the EJ22 so you can keep the EJ25 intake and wiring all the same. Easy peasy. I think that’s possible and I’ve done it but it’s been years ago - I think I used a thick “custom” gasket from like cosmetic or something. I believe you end up with very low compression. But they’re drivable. But here’s your original question - to use the EJ22 complete and avoid head work which appears to be your goal.... You’d have to install the 99 intake manifold wiring harness onto the 1990 intake manifold and then work around every issue you encounter. On 95-98 EJ22s it’s possible to install them in. 1999 For but it results in check engine lights and won’t idle right. people prop the throttle open as a ghetto work around for the idle. It drove one former member mad and he ended up getting another EJ25 in the end Since 1990s EJ22 long blocks are very similar to 95-98 EJ22s - nearly identical and mostly swappable with some effort - it should be possible. I’ve done tons of 95+ stuff but havent worked on many 90-94 EJs. Your 99 exhaust manifold will at least bolt up to the 1990 unlike 96-98 EJ22s. So that part is taken care of.

If it runs then $2,000-$3,500. Anything rust free, runs, and not some freak spectacle paint scheme will go over $2,000. The custom work will keep it from the high dollar niche collector/old school subaru crowds. Although this year anything is possible, who knows what any house or car will sell for. Someone desperate preparing for the next EMP will sign over their retirement and some toilet paper tossed in to sweeten the deal for that EA81. Lol

How sure are you the charge volume is correct? A little low or high will cause poor output at specific conditions. When it’s running at idle how much is the ac compressor cycling on and off?

I doubt it’s flywheel as well. I’ve repaired and charged dozens of no working unknown Subaru AC systems. They seem simple and robust with few issues and very forgiving. I don’t pull vacuums and haven’t dusted off my professional grade gauges or remember where my vacuum puller is in over a decade because Subarus are so simple and easy and don’t need them. Compressor may need replaced? If it’s turning on but not cooling it seems like it almost has to be wrong charge or bad ac unit. What else could it be? Compressor is only failure I’ve seen...though I’m sure there are others. Ive always just installed used Subaru compressors and never had an issue doing that. And they’re usually like $30-$50, cheap and easy to replace. Subaru only take roughly a little over 20 ounces. Like 21 or 22. I don’t even pull a vacuum and it works fine in our miserable 90 degree 90% humidity summers