idosubaru

yes. sometimes just a quick cursory glance makes it rather obvious. is the gasket new and shiny or old and rusty? does the head look like it was cleaned? the newer gaskets have a little stamp/indentation on the corner tabs.

drain the fluid and check for specks....or bits, pieces and chunks by the sounds of it?:-\ that's an interesting one. based on it being rear end - that's the rear extension housing area - maybe the viscous coupler is imploding or whatever the part is called that drive it? you could swap the viscous unit from your old trans onto this new JDM trans. it can be done with the trans in the car. waste of time if it's not the VC though, maybe someone else will chime in as i've never heard of a VC making noise.

oh my word i've never heard of an A/C issue caused by the ECU, is this for real? is this just due to the idle control - for bumping up idle when the a/c is on at idle? if that's the case can it be diagnosed by just throttling up, in which case the idle circuit shouldn't even matter? man this is weird. but yeah the cost is hideous. ECU's are really cheap (because they almost never fail) and really easy to replace. 30 minutes under the passengers side carpeting. pull back carpet, remove a couple bolts on the cover, swap ECU - it's really easy.

might want to check on specific models/years once you locate one, post back here and ask, etc.

just find the wiring/pin out for it and wire it in. but sometimes the resistor method doesn't work if the ECU is looking for changes or responses to other engine conditions. if this CEL is on because you've done some work, changed intake, removed something it may not work. i removed a bunch of stuff and the codes can not be removed simply by mimicking the resistance values of the items it's looking for. but it doesn't matter in my state, so i don't care.

that's more a figure of speech than truth. it's still a ten year old car, any 10 year old car is going to need something...particularly if it's seeing winters. but you can own this H6 for another 10 years and 150,000 miles easily with a few maintenance items here or there. 10 year old cars that won't need any maintenance, but that's more the exception than the rule. most of my subaru's have needed some attention, but i also figure the 3 daily drivers i have now will probably make 300,000 miles rather inexpensively without any major failures.

1. cylinder misfires typically mean you need new spark plugs or wires. 2. after that coil pack/igniter are most common issues. on this particular engine they *need* to be Subaru OEM NGK plugs and Subaru wires. if they have non-subaru wires or plugs then that could easily be the issue. sounds like a really bad diagnosis but something could be missed in translation. the valves should be adusted or clearances checked. interference motor so timing belt needs to be replaced at some point. if it breaks you'll have bent valves. other things can cause cylinder misfires, so that they're jumping straight to this sounds like you need to take it elsewhere. i fixed a multiple cylinder misfire 3 weeks ago by swapping injectors.

yes, most 4EAT's are interchangeable, it's the final drive ratio that matters. you can even swap different final drive ratio trans if you get the rear differential to "match". swap trans and rear diff and you're done. yes you can swap legacy and impreza trans, they're the same, just need to match final drive. i would personally stick to 1998 and earlier trans.

1997 is interference. what symptoms are you having? are you positive you used the correct alignment marks? some folks use the wrong crank marks. if you install the belt and all the marks are lined up, then it should be fine. if you turn the motor over once - the marks on the *belt* will no longer line up, they don't "stay" in alignment, they're only references for installing the belt and mean nothing after that - because each revolution the belt marks "move" in relation to the crank and cam marks. just saying - don't get confused if the belt marks don't stay in alignment.

and if it was $500 at the dealer, big deal, these things don't fail enough to warrant that cost, used is just fine and inexpensive.

no, rear O2 has nothing to do with gas mileage. disconnect it completely and you'll notice no difference. it's only the fronts that actually are used by the ECU for air fuel ratio monitoring. mine broke as well recently in my 96 LSi. i pulled it off and welded new pipe to the flange after cutting off all the old pipe and welded that to the converter. the rest of my pipe looks decent so it was worth it (hopefully). i replaced a friends about a year and a half ago and it quickly rusted terribly. a friend has his Audi similarly welded up (since parts cost as much as a house on those things) and it didn't even last a year. so - i painted mine up fairly well with high temperature automotive paint hopeing that might stave off the rust. might want to have a look at yours in a year and see if that cheap metal sleeve they installed holds up to the elements. i just used generic pipe fromt he store so i'll be checking mine as well.

frankly if you're not replacing any/many parts it's not a big deal. there's a lot of oil in the systems if you've ever opened one up. doesn't matter where you put it in really, it quickly spreads through the system. push the valves open by hand when it's charged and see how much oil comes out to verify the previous sentences - you will get wet! replacing orings is all you'll need to do to get it to work just fine. subaru a/c systems don't have a lot of issues. most 80's cars are still running with original parts, compressors being the obvious wear item. the sticker under the hood will tell you how many ounces of freon to use, don't know pressures off top of my head.

i think EJ22 prices might be higher than they were 5 or so years ago when far more were being retired. here's a bunch for $400: 1-800-370-6002 aliquippa 1-724-834-6670 greensburg 1-888-771-4646 smock $325: 1-724-239-2601 ellsworth

if you can take a cursory glance and compare the new one to the one on the car if you're driving that car there. turn the wheel all the way left or right and peer behind the tire to make sure the hose looks the same. last set of hoses i got worked but we had to fabricate a bracket because the one was not right. i i was kidding by the way, not meant to annoy.

oh no! save those comments for when it's finally fixed! good luck to you and tom.

Bleed all 4 as normal, i've never had to do any extra steps on ABS models.

like they said,the torque converter wasn't properly seated and now the oil pump isn't moving any ATF. it's not too hard to find a junk trans and yank the oil pump bits you need for it if you or a shop repair it. you could post on here for the oil pump parts in the parts wanted forum. 252-977-3710 has one in North Carolina for $500. looks like that area is the high end of the spectrum, there's a bunch around me for $250 and $300.

that's not intended for this engine. your DOHC EJ25D has completely different head gasket failure modes than the later SOHC EJ25's this stuff was intended for. i would focus on properly diagnosing and fixing the problem at hand rather than putting energy, time, and money in something that is guaranteed 100% for sure not to fix the problem nor likely to help anything.

sweet nice hit. subaru's a/c's are at least really easy to work on and replace stuff. no special tools, etc. the a/c compressors fail so rarely that used ones are cheap (because there's no demand) and unlikely to fail, and very easy to replace - like 4 bolts hold it to the car once the belt is off and 2 bolts for the hoses. but of course new is a good choice too if that's your style.

+1 any swap can be done with enough time and money. what you're asking is rather simple though. easiest with a complete donor car to make sure get all the cables, bolts, brackets, linkages, solenoids and bits. piecing together gets annoying, wastes time, and can be expensive by the time you're done. the one...88 i think...swap i saw did not have some bolt holes drilled for all the 4WD components to bolt on (like the carrier bearing support bracket) - but the bosses were there ready to be drilled and tapped.

a couple of pointers to quickly diagnose bad brake hose: get it to the point that it's dragging and you can feel it. jack it up quickly and get the wheel off - if it's hard to turn it should be obvious the brake is sticking. that's a good sign already. if you can get it to "stick" - then briefly bleed that caliper (thereby releasing pressure the hose isn't able too) and then try to turn it - if it frees up or gets easier - you just diagnosed a bad brake hose. i'm sure they can collapse internally to varying degrees so it could be tricky - the ones i've seen though were obvious. when removed you can't blow through the hose - so only compressed fluid (with all the extra forces of the hydraulics behind the braking system) will go through, but the non existent force mutliplication going the other way doesn't allow it to "return". i could envision a scenario where some pressure can bleed back, so be attentive, but again the tests above help me confirm them easily. they typically fail at the metal "clamps" or where a bracket attaches to the hose.

my pressure washer didn't touch an engine i tried to power wash last summer. GD said using hotwater (he built his own hot water tank/pressure wash supplier set up) is the key. how do you buy gaskets without knowing what's leaking? i would diagnose and then proceed. beyond the waste of cash and time there are certain gaskets/seals that are much better to use subaru on and in some rare cases there are better aftermarket alternatives. for instance, i'm not sure if the EA71 is the same way but i'd entertain using the permatorque headgaskets over the subaru headgaskets - that's what many of us do for the later EA variants.

it's not the calipers. your brake hose is failing (i mean, i think it is and it's getting too ignored in this post). a cursory glance shows the 2.5 liter and 3.0 liter outbacks of the same year have the same hoses. so the 2000 OBW hose should fit your 2001 3.0 hose, front. or, they're only $14 at the auto parts store new. subaru calipers are CRAZY nuts. they are almost ALWAYS interchangeable, particularly the fronts, if you swap the brackets with them. in this case they are definitely interchangeable if you swap brackets....and sometimes you can even swap calipers even if the brackets are different - if you can exchange pins for bolts, etc so to speak. 2001 did see a large contingent of models going to a larger rotor so it might have a larger rotor, i'm not sure about though, but there are essentially two possible rotor sizes. so if you had to swap brackets you'd essentially be dropping the rotor size. but i don't think caliper replacement is the concern here.

aerodynamics - remove your side view mirror, in most states you can legally remove one side - i forget which one it is. here's another subaru owners quest for 40mpg, you might have fun with this: http://www.subaruoutback.org/forums/61-general-discussions/13562-why-wait-diesel-my-quest-40-mpg.html remove all excess weight - rear seats, carpeting, dash, heck....an XT6 will even drive without the instrument cluster in place - i've done that before it's really funny to drive around like that. you can remove bumpers and drill out the bumpers beams to remove weight, remove all excess bolt-age - there are always more bolts than needed. get lightweight pulleys, under driven pulleys, remove your a/c, remove your power steering, convert to XT6 electric power steering. cone filter intake or K&N filter. lower the car - cut a coil spring off of each strut. XT6's do a little better with a straight through muffler, the stock muffler sucks. that's a 6 cylinder with a craptastic stock muffler though, not sure about your carbed 4 banger. switch to synthetic oils all the way around. regrease all your wheel bearings with synthetic grease. there's a million things you can do, the problem is the law of diminishing returns is going to set in. the more you do, the less return you get. drive really slow. between 40-60 mph you'll see your best mileage. FWD manual XT used to be able to get 40-42 mpg on all highway driving. given it's aerodynamic superiority (lighter weight?), and multipoint fuel injection spider manifold set up, and FI instead of Carb you're not likely to get that high without driving like grandma - 50 mph tops. 35 is probably about maxed out...you're hitting diminishing returns. the thought that "every improvement gains you 1 mpg so 10 more improvements will net me another 10mpg" is way off base and not even close to reality. it's a curve and once you've done the major things and have a great running car everything else starts producing smaller results.

you can drain the radiator and put a hose in it - if it doesn't flow the full volume of the hose then it's clogged. i just did this on a forester last summer and that's what happened. if it is temperature related, that's a pretty good sign it's just not flowing enough to dissipate heat. radiatorbarn has great deals on radiators, last forester radiator i bought was $88 shipped to my door. i hope you know this car has very significant head gasket issues. they eat them like candy. you best bet is to not drive this car at all if it's overheating. that's only going to increase the possibility of it blowing the headgaskets. they very well could last the life of the car though, i wouldn't say it's a matter of "when". they are pretty bad, but plenty never need replacing and after 15+ years yours is doing fairly well!