idosubaru

i think it's more driving and vehicle dependent than motor dependent. if he's doing most driving in flat land i say the EJ18 is fine. if he's got steep grades, mountains, and hills to deal with then might want to reconsider. my EJ18 swapped legacy does fine in flatland, unfortunately i don't live where it's flat but i've driven all over the country with it, including the south and midwest where it is. the EJ18's *can* get well into the 30's easier than an EJ22. with EJ18 though you're also limited to a smaller car, fewer options, etc. has to be an impreza unless you swap like i did. i swapped an EJ18 in my legacy and in flat land it does fine - i can get 32 mpg and that's with an automatic. it's not bad to drive either, i don't mind it one bit. i've put 60,000+ miles on it now with multiple thousands of mile road trips. it does fine when it's flat. i've never seen 30 in an auto EJ22 before. but - in the mountains where i live it gets killed and it's more like 25 on the freeway and downshifts all the time on the steep grades, it's not enough power. though it does a lot better if it's just me and not a couple people in the car. that was a legacy LSi too - it's a heavy car. so might depend what car (how much it weighs) and what kind of driving he's doing - lots of mountain grades?

you could tow with a dolly. i don't recommend it but it could happen, those steep interstate passes will be the tricky part, you'll probably be pulling 3rd gear. i've done it before and many others have as well. i would never consider this is a good idea but a one time thing and slow speeds done right it can be done. just realize it's very dangerous and margins are much tighter. i towed a large trailer across colorado (and all the way out there and back east again for like two or three thousand miles) fully loaded with gear, 4 wheeler, a tent that ways a few hundred pounds, etc - so i was probably about the weight of another car. flat is easy, the grades are the hard part. as to flat towing, i suppose you could do a tow bar....not sure how/if an automatic can be towed that way. maybe if you keep the car running and in park the whole time to keep fluids moving. i wouldn't do that, but i have done it for short trips....as to hours, doesn't sound like a good idea. if it's an EJ25 that you're getting cheap make sure it's not overheating as they commonly do.

knowing what year EJ22 would be helpful as there are differences. EJ22 - don't run it out of oil or overheat and the block is probably going to last as long as you care to maintain it. fantastic motors when properly taken care of with no real issues. replace the rear separator plate with a metal one. replace all the timing components - ebay kits are $80 - $200 with all new pulleys and tensioner and belt. like miles said, reseal the oil pump and tighten the backing plate screws. replace the cam seals, cam orings, and crank seal (part of the oil pump). basic, easy stuff that's generally apart of a timing belt job on older subarus just to keep the leaks down which it sounds like this thing had. adjust the valves if it has adjustable valves. they do best with the stock NGK plugs and Subaru ignition wires but that's easy stuff.

is the car drivable? sometimes they just have a poor shift point, other times they are nearly undrivable. just drive it if it's operating fine. if the transmission is bad, replacing the trans with a used one isn't that bad of a choice. they don't fail that often so used is a good option and they're usually reasonably priced because demand is low. http://www.car-parts.com your area looks expensive, $450 cheapest. i can get one for $200. with the prevalence of subarus in your area you can probably find one on the board here or locally for sale. post in the parts wanted section of this forum.

i have a non-EGR ECU, engine, and intake manifold installed in my legacy and still get the codes. seems convoluted that the issue lies in the body side wiring harness, but that's all that's left on mine? get an intake manifold with EGR and have the EGR pipe tapped into the exhaust. that would be the easiest/cheapest solution.

i do that, but i asked earlier in this thread with no response yet - would a welded on nut hold this much force? it seems like it should theoretically work but i feel like it would break (i had a 2.5 foot pipe on the socket and it wouldn't budge - it was really tight). my sloppy cheap, wire feed mig welder might not be up to the task? the slag doesn't lend itself to filling in a nice puddle in the nut. i could practice next time.

+1 on both points - the cam seal sets have the seal and oring and they're just standard orings, the V shape is due to usage.

that's exactly what i did, i got it off no problem. but - i'd like to get left handed drill bits capable of doing this quicker. grinding isn't the fastest thing in the world and being in the rust i see this kind of stuff sometimes (though never on flex plate bolts?). seems like there has to be good bits that can drill them? i've seen those CNC machines in engineering facilities that can drill anything and immense quantities...aren't there bits out there that will tackle this?

that's just the thing i asked and looked online and went with Cobalt bits and they wouldn't touch it either. all properly oiled and everything.

why are they going through so many engines? headgaskets? broken timing belts? running low on oil? overheating? if the headgaskets are failing - have it properly repaired. if it's valve damage also have it properly repaired.

check fuel pressure. before i had a fuel pressure gauge i would pull the fuel line in the engine bay and crank the car. if the pump is dead then sometimes it's really obvious if you don't have a fuel pressure gauge to work with. a gauge would be nice though, quickly verify if that's the issue. of course you always have the possibility that it's flowing but not enough...if that's possible with a carb?

awesome, hopefully that gasket or the turbo can work on previous generations.

don't do this: that can burn time and frustrate you. do this: is it wet under the valve cover gaskets or grommets? if there's oil there then that is likely the culprit. start looking from the passengers side of the engine underneath. where is it first wet with oil as you start from the outside passengers edge of the motor (valve covers) and work your way in towards the center of the motor? the valve cover gaskets are easy. have a 10mm ratcheting wrench handy. makes the job take 20 minutes instead of an hour. it's rather simple though - just remove like one hose and 6 10mm bolts, that's it. the grommets will be in terrible condition, good to replace those while the cover is off. Fel Pro kits sometimes include the gasket and grommets. the grommets are really expensive from Subaru (for what they are, not like they actually cost much).

from previous attempts do you know for sure it's leaking at the ID or is it the OD? probably ID around the shaft? might want to measure or gauge the crank for wear and make the sleeve decision based on that? i have never used a sleeve but i've seen other folks on the boards do it. i've seen variances in size of the same brand and seal - Fel Pro EA82 crankshaft seal is one. I've used tons of them in the past but had one that would not seat normally as if the OD was too large. i took my time and eventually got it to seat and wedged in there - notably tighter than normal. as you can guess, it ended up leaking. next seal went in just fine. i've used Fel Pro's numerous times in the past without issue though? since then i've used almost exclusively Subaru seals, though i've used Fel Pro's on occasion and still have some in my garage. one bad seal? quality control?

crank shaft bolts, not the torque converter bolts. the TC bolts are easy to drill, because we had to drill one of those too on the same engine. oddly enough my buddy drilled it out using a right handed bit with the drill set on left hand, which i didn't know was possible. a couple bolts were inordinately tight and the engine had been replaced before - i suppose the previous install was to blame as i've never had trouble with any of those bolts before, they're never rusty or corroded. maybe that's also why the "new" engine went kaboom!? i doubt i'll use an EZ out again, i'm not sure what word to use to describe the task at hand when one of those shear off, which they easily do. a 2 and a half foot pipe on my socket wasn't moving it and a 900 ft/lb impact rounded it off, i think it rounded off because it was inordinately tight. *** given that it had that much force on it - would a welded nut hold? i've done that before but couldn't picture it holding that kind of force. theoretically it should hold if a good weld but practically i don't know that it would. my sloppy mig wire feed might not be up to that task?

rounded off flex plate bolt, needed to drill it out. none of my bits would touch it to drill it out. i ordered some expensive cobalt bits as recommended by a machinist....they wouldn't much touch it either - had it soaking in oil to keep it cool and cutting. ended up needing to grind it off with my grinder. why are these things so hard to drill? what kind of bits do i buy that can eat through those things next time?

awesome, sounds like it's not too bad? clean it up once a year? there's mention on subaruoutback.org of a headgasket change in 2010 or 2011, the thread was fairly informative and i would find it again if i were currently diving into this question (and maybe now if i wasn't on dial up ). this issue has gone through some revisions over the years (or decades ) and you see where we still are. i've seen a few 08's and an 09, so if there was a change in 07 it seems like it is not a total relief. what is odd is that the turbo motors don't have HG issues, weird considering they have more heat and stress? next time i do a newer engine i might look into the efficacy of using a 2.5 turbo headgasket on a non-turbo block? unless it's head differences causing the issue? that's news to me and i've never seen it. i wouldn't expect cat issues from externally seeping headgaskets? maybe folks abusing a car that's overheating due to HG failure...thereby leading to overheating that causes other issues that damage the cat? but just from the HG leaking sounds suspect to me. that's no good. fooey!!!!

what they said - this is too easy to try to work around. simplest solution is to just get a used pump, should only run $20-$40. car-parts.com will give you the cheapest listed one in the country - probably $10 plus shipping unless you're lucky to find one close. there is also an oring under the reservoir that often leaks and is really easy to fix, don't even have to remove the pump - just the reservoir via a two bolts or something - remove it and replace the 50 cent oring. that fixes a lot of them. the complete rebuild kits aren't that expensive either to reseal the rear and front of the pump - that's the 100% solution that will last the life of the car. i would add fluid first and make sure the pump isn't currently shot though from being run too low for too long on fluid. but the reseal kits are a little extra work too. but all in all this is a common issue with lots of information online and an easy fix. subaru power steering pumps rarely fail - they leak - but rarely fail and when they do they're easy to replace.

describe "change"? was it just drained once, multiple times, or flushed? draining the fluid once only gets about 33% of the fluid out. if that doesn't work then the clutches are shot and there are grooves that likely need to be checked/filed down.

i've used this to add an AUX line to an existing radio: http://www.ebay.com/itm/STEREO-RADIO-RCA-AUX-INPUT-ADAPTER-WIRED-FM-MODULATOR-/390320627678?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&fits=Make%3ASubaru&vxp=mtr&hash=item5ae0ec1fde others have tapped into existing Subaru radios and soldered in their own AUX in - i've seen threads about it. i dislike electrical work so i avoid it although i have a drooling ambition for AUX in as well. http://hackaday.com/2011/05/18/aux-in-hacking-an-04-subaru-radio/ there are aftermarket devices that are plug and play and thus could be portable if your stereo ever fails: http://www.jazzyengineering.com/product_info.php?products_id=45&osCsid=b4bp6rod3mnjue7go1h9brv4r1 apparently there's a guy adding AUX inputs and selling them on ebay: http://www.ebay.com/itm/99-Legacy-SUBARU-CD-Tape-Radio-WB-Mp3-Ipod-Aux-SAT-external-input-86201-AC430-/190591701541?pt=Car_Audio_Video&vxp=mtr&hash=item2c60269225

with 5,000 miles it's not going to matter. i would just get a new tire and be done with it. the sure thing to do is measure them and check tread depth and see any difference. the rears should wear less if they haven't been rotated yet - so if one of the rears got slashed the new one would probably be more likely to match that tread depth than the fronts. but either way, 5,000 is nothing. bordertire.com was an awesome used tire distributor online i bought tires from but i believe they were going out of business last i checked. tires with 50% tread and such are much easier to find though when going used. 99% tread tires are not the most common used tires. a new tire is probably just as close or closer than a used tire to the current 5,000 mile rubber on there (if that number is accurate). craigslist, ebay, local bulletin board style ads, etc there's lots of options to find used tires.

right - subaru's have headgasket issues, that's well known and those years are not a surprise to most, did you have a question? that particular comment is truth surrounded by inflammatory rhetoric, it's not necessary to replace them immediately (if you can stand dripping oil and pour oil into the engine) and oil/coolant mixing is rare.

if you did everything properly and the heads/block were good it'll be fine. Quite a few of us have done countless headgaskets, GD comes to mind, and have never had a repeat failure that we know of.

what he said. the 99+ EJ22 is the Phase II - much different than 98 and earlier stuff. the 99+ are hard to find so it's a good motor to snag if you can find one and have on hand. i'm swapping two 99 EJ22's right now. one lost a belt, bent valves, another ran out of oil.

you would want to try and stick with the XT6 radiator. if you can't then you have to retrofit - which means you need to make sure there's height and width clearance, the lower mounts probably won't be the same, and the fan mounting holes will be different. of course XT6 radiators aren't cheap so that's probably why you're asking? they are only available from Subaru.