idosubaru

i think they are grids, nice guess crazy head!

nice hit GD. are you saying that with that kit you can do a complete front or rear wheel bearing job with nothing more than regular sockets/tools? you didn't have to make/fabricate any additional pieces, plates, diameters, etc to make it work?

that's for the crank sensor. get one and see how it all lines up. not a very "structural" part so shouldn't take much to get it to stay in place. i envision just tapping for a longer bolt or something depending where/what material is left, etc.

50k, really? i am surprised at how few (one or none) strut failures i've had. i've had to replace strut mounts and broken springs, but never the struts i don't think. it's about time.

thanks SF, appreciate more feedback. ordered and hopefully it fixes it.

that's what i thought would happen. awesome, good luck, these things are typically good for quite a few cheap, low maintenance miles.

sound at start up is rather common for Subaru's - piston slap is benign and nothing to worry about if you had any inclinations to repair this engine or sell it to someone else. are you sure the headgaskets are bad? this is non-typical headgasket failure. could it be something else? soot/blackened overflow tanks aren't that big of a deal - 15 year old car parts get dirty and the headgaskets may have already been replaced..etc. never heard of the other jokers. if you were inclined to consider them i'd ask them what headgsakets are used. if it's not subaru or they don't know i'd avoid them. JDM carries little value because they still have the original headgaskets on them. a USDM motor and have the headgaskets replaced. or buy one with HG's already replaced are other options that have no less value than JDM which tends to carry a heavy price tag for little more than novelty reasons. shouldn't be hard to find a known good engine in the US. if EJ22 is an option at all you can install delta cams to bump up the performance a bit and bridge that gap.

those older legacy are actually really reliable, having fewer issues in some areas than the newer stuff. rust is a killer, the rust will get bad quickly probably...at least around here it would. mileage is huge. 200,000+ and it's not worth all that much. less than a 100,000 and it might be worth more if the rust isn't too terrible. if you want it to be reliable it needs a timing belt. ebay sells complete kits for $80 or so for new belt and all new idlers. do it. one owner vehicles are PRIMO. i've bought dozens of subaru's and i greatly prefer known vehicle history/one or few owners over other options. there's a noticeable difference usually.

right. is the head really that bad? i'd be more worried about the block, even if a head is bad are the EA81T heads that hard to come by?

good news mike, keep it up. rusty rotors/drums can lead to various rubbing points that are annoying to get rid of. happens all the time when cars sit for a while and the rust bulids up too.

thanks roost. this is my first ever new strut replacement! so really - the ride quality is noticeable for daily drivers like me?

your head is definitely cracked - you're giving a girl a car. if you don't have a motor then gasket slap it and see what happens. rod knock usually gives you a little bit of warning before it blows.

trans pump sounds buffooned. if you did the HG's - you can defintely just have another transmission put in it. 4EAT transmissions don't fail that often and are therefore cheap (because there's low demand) and reliable. at least worth a shot to look, sometimes you can get an EJ trans for $200 bucks. helps to know your vehicle, engine, trans, and location and we could help you more.

160k is low for an EA and one needing anything more than gasket at this age is due to poor maintenance/abuse. who knows what it's been through the past 2+ decades but normally you should be able to gasket slap an EA and it's good to go for another 100k rather easily. gasket slap it and see what happens if you have any inclination that the block is good...though being a turbo isn't good for the innards if it was overheated. they've all rusted out around here so i rarely mess with them any more. *edit: is there any reason "not" to swap in your known good EA81? that sounds like a good option. not that hard to gasket slap this one either. 10 years ago i'd gasket slap it and see what happens - now i'd go for a known good motor, married, kids, no time to waste.

oh yeah! thanks! your tire was cupped on the outer edge too? you posted on here, i must have missed it - i'll try to find it. $54 shipped to my door for a new KYB GR-2 makes this an easy decision, just ordered it.

use the Fel-Pro permatorque gaskets and add 5-10 ft-lbs to the final torque value (though on a non-turbo it probably doesn't matter, they don't blow gaskets unless they're run out of coolant) - they don't require a retorque and are highly utilized by many of us. i wouldn't touch fel pro's for newer stuff, but this is one engine where they shine. i actually have a set i probably won't need any time soon. i'll ship them to you for a bit less than cost.

the cracks between the valves are normal, they're just surface level, Subaru has even mentioned it in literature before, ignore those. every EA/ER head i've ever seen.....or at least 90%, has those cracks. usually on the turbo heads - those cracks "can" go deep enough to reach the exhaust ports, but yours are dinky cracks and i highly doubt that's the case. but they can pressure test or you can look into the exhaust chamber for catastrophic cracks. technically speaking the "cracks" (that aren't cracks) can be repaired with stitch pins or probably welding, i've done it before....but there's no need since there's no problem. clean them up and then see what they really look like, not sure about that crack below the valve but that would be an odd head crack in my opinion, never seen that before.

pulled the wheel - strut is dry as the desert. bounce test - push down on bumper - does the same as every other car, so it passes that test. but i've read they can fail/wear internally. i think i'm ready to guess strut....but sort of don't want to throw parts at it either, i don't have much experience with failed struts.

clean out/reseal the idle air control valve. really common on older subaru's for them to get dirty and stick. i haven't personally seen it yet on a newer subaru but quickly found this: http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=781242 that's a newer Ej engine than yours i think, but the idea will be the same. remove it, clean it out and reinstall. they rarely fail so shouldn't have to replace it.

The set on there now are directional bridgestone tires. I've had it happen to another set too, forget which. memory suggests it's not tires - cause i swap wheels/tires across multiple Subarus (i own a bunch) and it only does it on this car - but we do drive it a lot and it was most noticeable once the tires were well warn (old). It's happened with a few different tires....now you got me wondering if maybe the 2 (or more?) different times were cheap or old tires? quit confusing me!

thanks, maybe i'll try to visually inspect that strut again, got nothing the first time just looking from underneath (tire still on). struts are harder to inspect on these. a bad strut could possibly cause scalloping but no other symptoms? seems like there would be other performance related issues but i guess i could see where that's not the case too.

those things are pesky, even with the tools sometimes they aren't friendly. glad you knocked it out. so far every subaru piston i've seen goes back just about flush with the caliper bore.

if it's running 100% then it must be right. the ECU can't adjust for it being a tooth off and run 100%. the point was to help you communicate, it really doesn't matter if you car is RHD or LHD, you know the point i was trying to make...i think, if not let me know. just trying to help. left and right is always determined as if sitting in the car, not facing it.

02 OBW H6 auto 180k miles. the rear tire has scalloping/cupping on the outside edge. it has done it with different tires/wheels so i don't think those are to blame. seems to not do it in the winter (my winter tires are fine) and i drive more miles in the winter on this car (use it exclusively in the winter). but in the summer it seems to escalate quickly. is the strut the most probable cause? been reading a lot and that seems to be the most common cause, but have never seen this before myself.

always trust the cam and crank pulley timing marks over the timing belt marks. in a sense the timing belt marks are meaningless and are only an "aid". you can complete ignore them and install the belt with the marks down around the water pump/toothed idler - the marks don't matter. indeed after installation they are never "lined up again" except once every so many hundred/thousand revolutions by chance. they are helpful, but it's the actual mechanical timing of the engine that is pertinent. why it's off a tooth i have no idea. if it runs fine then it's obviously the correct belt. it should drive fairly poorly with a cam off one tooth. right and left are used as if sitting in the car, not facing it. right is passengers side and left is drivers side. sometimes passengers or drivers is easier to use...or ps or ds.