idosubaru

the early 90-94 legacy's and impreza's are tops for reliability and ease/cost of maintenance. if you don't overheat or run out of oil the EJ18 and EJ22's will likely outlast other components of the vehicle. 300,000 miles is not a big deal - of course you'll need gaskets and seals by that time, but that's generally simple stuff. i like to get an older subaru and replace all the timing pulleys and tensioner, water pump, and reseal the oil pump and cam seals. at 15 or so years old they are all needing replacement in my opinion for high mileage reliability. and of course standard tune up stuff like plugs, wires, and replace trans and diff fluids. none of the auto transmissions are problematic at all with two exceptions that won't apply to you: the SVX and 1999 vehicles, both of which are unlikely to be on your radar screen. if you fall in love with a 99 just ask about the trans issue or search for "delay engagement".

ah nip! make sure the vent tube is not restricted? make sure trans and engine connectors aren't wet internally? did you try to google water in transmission and see if there's any ingenious ways to get it all out? i'm sure folks have ran into this before? does it eventually boil off? i'd lean towards keeping the trans for the short term at least. worked fine before and i wouldn't asume that this completely toasted it - seems equally likely the trans will be fine too? FWD fuse get rid of the torque bind?

great job, thanks for sharing and the pictures, i've heard of folks doing it but hadn't seen or tried it yet. actually i have somehow avoided seeing this issue yet.

if your time is free that helps. there's a lot of work in parting a car, pictures, emails, questions, phone calls, mileage, condition, shipping quotes...then you spend a bunch of time on something that someone doesn't follow through on. 5 people ask questions, pictures, then never buy. nothing other than the engine has demand & value. engine is worth $500-$1,000, everything else will be much less, $50 here and there stuff, maybe a little more for a few items. i'll buy your brake pads, both of my OBW's need front brakes and i only have one set. lol

great, thanks. i prefer knowing mechanically what's going on, that's exactly what i wanted to know.

it's a 99 Legacy auto. i'm not clear on how the front diff/trans interaction operates so thought i'd ask.

lol nice find rob that was flat towing though, my question was not about flat towing. if they're essentially the same, then i don't mind learning that. i searched here and google and saw all the threads like that one, but none mentioned front wheels on the ground using a dolly.

right on, i'll get it turned around some way or another.

wow, nice one! you had that OBW all sighted in for elk season, good job! i got a freezer full of elk meat, you didn't keep any? was that scary when it hit?

that's a tough repair, it's possible though. a friend of mine repairs stuff like that though - he did a truck and i was amazed, cut, welded in an entire top after a tree fell on it. amazing, but he's a machinist for NIH and worked at a body shop for years. i wouldn't go through all that - i'd only repair if i could pull it out similarly to what you're saying and the windshield would install well. maybe a windshield shop/autobody place could give you some recommendations on the windshield? i know my friend i just mentioned would help me out with something like that. he's giving me an EJ25 actually next time i'm over there. the buy back price is kind of high for that kind of damage but isn't terrible for parts. if the rest in in decent shape and low mileage and depending on your area and yourself of course! if i were to buy it back it would be to use the engine or trans to repair another OBW with a toasted engine/trans (not hard to terribly hard to find), then sell the rest for close to what you already paid for it. might still consider the repair, but that would be the fall back. we just sold a 2003 Legacy wagon in terrible condition with a non running motor, wrecked/repaired, no transmission, smashed unusable hood, worthless tires, 300,000 miles with spewing oil headgaskets for $650. it was worthless to me, i couldn't believe someone paid $650 for it, not even sure what they were doing with it not having a trans or running motor.

i'm not asking about towing in general - i tow Subaru's all the time on dollys. does anyone know for certain: what about towing with a dolly with front two wheels on the ground for 7 miles? due to current location the only way to get the front on the dolly would be to pull it out - unload and reload it - sounds annoying for a 7 mile trip? 1. disconnect driveshaft like normal? 2. tow it with key on and FWD fuse in (engine doesn't run)? driveshaft is easy enough to pull i'll probably just do that, just don't want to load, unload, load, and unload all over again.

completely normal, seems funny first time you see it doesn't it? keep on plugging along, they all do that.

+1 if you have an honest shop that can properly fix it - that's a cost effective and long term solution. i haven't found one yet here though! i sent a friend to an unknown shop and they did it for $40 but it only lasted a year before it broke again. i didn't inspect what he did. that was on an audi so it was like a $2,500 exhaust. LMAO another option is to weld the existing piece back together, i've done that twice. they typically break an inch or so from the flange, see it all the time. my daily driver O3 Outback sedan wasn't rusted at all and easily welded back together in a matter of minutes. my 96 was rusted poorly but it was only the flange of the resonator so I just welded up a new flange onto the resonator. there are options if you can weld yourself or have a good shop do it. but that's often hard to come by. the aftermarkets can be cheap, i've definitely seen some cheap ones. i've seen threads suggesting some exhausts use the better metals like OEM, but i don't know how to delineate that. the OEM ones are a good fit - if you can find a known good used one, that's an option as well. if the resonator is only $180 that sounds like a good deal, the cat converters though - those things are really expensive and harder to pull the trigger on.

doubt i have any reasonable source for granite tops around here, but maybe i'll peruse the phone book right quick.

yes - 2000 and up (and some 99) SOHC EJ25's still have headgasket issues but they are different and less problematic than earlier generation EJ25's. check - many have already been replaced. in the US that vehicle was covered under a 100,000 miles extended Headgasket warranty campaign by subaru, you can read all about it online. of course that warranty does not mean it was ever done. like i said though, this generation headgasket issue is not nearly as problematic as the older ones. when they fail, they just leak externally and start as a slow drip and do not overheat. the older models would overheat instantly and many folks would drive them hot - causing other issues immediately or down the road.

the accessory belt idler pulley bearing is a more common failure item, check that first to be sure. i did the same thing but that alternator eventually failed - for that price they are probably not replacing the voltage regulator which is typically an expensive part and probably has failure modes to it as well.

okay, i didn't know if that was a quantitative measurement, seems a little more arbitrary than that. two shops i called couldn't even get 5/16 and the next size up was 3/8". i might google glass flatness when i have a better internet connection.

1/4" is $25, thicker stuff has to be ordered and is $100 for 2' x 2'. use 1/4" glass? glue two pieces of 1/4" together? 18" x 18" be large enough? don't want awkwardly small but don't need the space used up either. i'll measure some EJ heads but experience is worth more.

like they said, you never know. i've been thinking the same thing on our 182,000 mile 2002 OBW with the original alt. i have a brand new Subaru unit waiting for it. since i have two identical H6's i'll probably install the new one in one and resort to #1 suggestion below with the original for the other vehicle. if you're anal about reliability (i try hard to avoid break downs) i have two suggestions: 1. get a known good used one and put it in the spare tire compartment with the 2 or 3 wrenches needed to change it. they are so easy to change on a subaru that it's not that big of a deal to replace. literally 15 minutes. i used to do that in college and while i never actually had to do it - it was cheap piece of mind. the first brand new alternator i bought i kept it in the trunk until the original died - i forget how many miles it made it too. my wife was with me rolled her eyes when i said "15 minutes" and was laughing when it only took me 10! 2. if you plan on owning the car a long time, then buy a new one now or have yours professionally rebuilt. if you're going to own the car to 250,000 miles, then why wait until 220,000 for it to fail and buy another you'll only get 30,000 miles out of? just get one now...now if you're plannning on 400,000 miles then maybe maxing this out is more justified. i wouldn't think that over the long term an aftermarket unit is all that reliable - compared to new Subaru units anyway. who knows, but i've seen tons of aftermarket alt's fail. i'd feel better with a $35 used one in the trunk than an aftermarket any day of the week - SPF's (Single Points of Failures) are bad news to engineers - and you are correct in the thinking the alt is likely to be the main culprit at letting you sit....though they often do give "signs" first. noise, heat, voltage fluctuations, or glowing dash lights.

could think about starting with the wiring harness? strip it down so the engine doesn't sit forever or never get used. get the harness done and the engine and mechanical stuff will be the easy part. doubt you need it but i've got EJ FSM's, i'll send you whichever ones match the wiring for the diagrams. good luck drew!

wouldn't the glue add a level of un-evenness? seams minimal, but if perfectly flat glass is needed for the job? how hard (and often) to replace the sandpaper...scrap, clean, reglue some more?

great, sorry i'm still trying to picture this: table - plywood - glass.... then the sandpaper is glued to the glass?

nice hit. subaruxt.com is where many of us XT/XT6 owners hang out on a regular basis. you can check there for all sorts of XT specific stuff.

as much as you're thinking about and questioning this it's probably a good idea to just keep them, it's not that big of a deal either way. you probably don't have the rusted bolt/insert phenomenon that us snow driving rusted up subaru people deal with anyway.

I think i'm going to start doing this as well. The picture/description as I read it isn't clear: what do you mean "backed" with plywood? the head sits on the sandpaper - which is glued to plywood - which is attached to the glass? seems like the plywood would warp? the plywood is just to provide a surface for the paper to attach to since doing it with the glass initiates extra work? size recommendation for the glass? 5/16" thick - 24" x 24"? got a friends vehicle/motor/heads to work on too.