idosubaru

quarter million miles isn't bad, but that's about how it goes. it's not that hard to find EJ25's with this general story line "Headgaskets replaced.......then tossed a bearing". quite common, hard to imagine they're not related, but i am sort of assuming.

i don't believe the dash bezels are available any more. a bunch of folks on the subaruxt.com forum have parts manuals if you want to check there. i had my scanned electronically but the person that did it has since been unavailable so we haven't hosted it.....yet. *i just tried to contact him again.....

i would start another thread for your issues. my guess is yours is different than his, it gets confusing tracing two different issues in one thread.

i'd go with standard OEM. the Subaru t-stats are far more beefier and of better quality than aftermarket.

i would start another thread for your issues. my guess is yours is different than his, it gets confusing tracing two different issues in one thread.

with the car cold you can start it and pass your hands around the exhaust headers and the flanges in the exhaust, each of which has a gasket. you'll feel the air puffing out usually. do it quick, it heats up fast! if it's the exhaust manifold gaskets, the subaru ones are much beefier than a lot of the aftermarket ones.

i agree with Kost - i wouldn't use the body spacers either. they really "reduce the clearance of your drivetrain by pushing it back down. so you raise the suspension with larger struts but push the engine and drivetrain back down with the spacers. i have a 2" lift as well with no body spacers. the spacers don't actually "lift" your car at all, they just reduce the angle of your axles, which isn't really necessary for 2" or less.

there's a bunch listed all over NY for $48- $200 use http://www.car-parts.com and search in NY, or PA maybe even. 1-800-395-9999 1-315-684-9212 has one in NY A condition for $120 some other places have them for $50 or so, have to call and see if that's everything or just the cross member. you'll have to call, places will sell various different things on a component like this - you'll probably want a complete subassembly and not just the rear cross member. you want someone to sell you the entire rear crossmember with everything you need bolted to it - like the control arms and such.

your intuition was right, new axles can be very tight, i've seen some be really difficult to articulate through any angle when they're new. but like you said, they worked themselves out. yours obviously had some other cracked up thing going on.

not sure dave - it seems to me like there might be different shades, so i'm trying to see what shade of grey mine is....or if there really is only one?

Is there more than one shade of gray for 95-99 Legacy's? Need a seat belt and everywhere just lists "gray" but i thought there were light gray and dark grey? Mine is a grey leather LSi.

if the drivers side looks as new as the passengers, i'd leave it for awhile as well. with the covers off it's going to be easy to change anyway. in the future get the ebay kits so you have new bearings. at this point the beings in the pulleys are just as likely to cause the belts to break as they are to break by themselves.

move on, there's nothing compelling about that deal at all. here's one in WA for $350: 800-551-4489 / 360-262-3550 and another for $275: 1-360-446-7800 and another with "oil in water" - probably headgaskets for $100: 1-800-876-4711 You'd be better off with that one than the low oil circus. just keep waiting, something good will come along. be patient.

i would wail on that old water pump with a chisel until it breaks off. who cares about the old pump, you're replacing it anyway. as for the a/c bolt - it's been awhile since i've done an EA82 but i've often left a/c bolts out because sometimes they have way too many anyway...4 or 5 bolts to hold the a/c bracket and compressor is way overkill. so if you have at least 2 or 3 other a/c bolts i'd just forget the one that sheared. if there's any stud left, weld a nut to the top of it to get it out. that works really well and is much quicker than drilling sometimes, worth a shot.

inspect the boot, unless it's really nice you'll probably want to replace that too while it's off. access is really tight but the inner rod is easy to replace once the outer is off. it just unthreads from the rack, it has a locking washer on it, just look at it and bend the tabs out of the way if necessary. i've used monkey wrenches before or just standard wrenches, but some folks have more trouble than others with space.

steering wheel connector/clock spring device is probably hosed if nothing in the steering wheel works. you can remove the steering wheels without any special tools but they are typically tight.

Very good reliability. Actually you've got the best of everything here, you lucked into the best SOHC you can get. If you buy one that has already had the headgaskets replaced you don't know if that car was overheated, etc - that's bad for the block. But you bought one, noticed the HG's before overheating, and had them replaced without any overheating. The overheats are the main (almost only) thing that reduce the reliability or mileage of this engine. You've avoided that. The SOHC's don't have near the issues of the DOHC's. The headgaskets rarely repeat fail - and having it done at the dealer should even mitigate that already low rate, since they do it right and don't use aftermarket gaskets, which are known to fail on EJ25's.

i just checked an online subaru dealer and they had front spacers for $1.90. not sure how many you'd need total but it might be worth looking into just getting a set of new ones if it's only $10 in parts. subaru has a website called opposedforces with detailed exploded diagrams. personally i'd go through there, get the parts numbers, see how many you need and price them at an online subaru vendor. or in the for sale section here's one being parted out: http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=116346 and this guy has a complete outback: http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=122653 and there's more here and at subaruoutback.org now go research, work these ends and get lifted!

oh right, i was wondering if these jokers parked it in grass or something. dirt, what does that do?

there are two tie rods per side - inner and outer. miles is referring to the outer. the inner is a little different. when miles talks about loosening that first nut and then tigthening it again - you're doing that to retain alignment. pay attention and you won't need to have your alignment adjusted, i never get alignments after replacing tie rods. one nut tightens against the tie rod to hold it tight....loosen it, but then thread it back flush against the tie rod so you can install the new one at the same exact position. if stuff is rusty - hit both nuts with penetrant a couple of times before you go to do it. and have a torch handy...but i'm guessing you don't have rust like we do out here?

there's like zero demand for those spacers so they aren't really worth much, just a matter of finding someone willing to remove them for you or finding someone to let you remove them yourself.

hard for me to tell, i often look from multiple angles, etc. but off the bat those look original, they definitely have some age to them.

i have like 4 XT's including an 87.5 turbo. apparently my mind is failing me. do you mean the timing marks molded into the timing cover or I'm forgetting something? in one way it seems like he means the timing cover....but then in another way it seems like he means the water pump is "all the other bolts are off and i can wiggle the pump"....he's talking about the pump? the pump is wiggling....but it's a bolt that holds on a timing mark?

if getting it repaired is an option, replacing the subframe isn't a big deal and since the part has almost zero demand it's not worth much. but - i'd make sure all the brake and gas lines are replaced or have no rust on them/fittings/clamps in the rear. those usually are as bad or worse than the suspension stuffs. but truthfully - i think you should just unleash your wife on them. this really shouldn't be your headache to deal with IMO. i went to look at a 2003 OBW with a friend two weeks ago and it wasn't that bad, but it had an awful lot of rust on it. terrible pitted wheels and stuff too, but low miles. my buddy didn't get it and i told him i wasn't thrilled with the rust. i suppose they just winter drove it and let it set.

what running/driving issues do you have? the EGR code isn't a big deal as long as it drives fine. they typically don't cause drivability issues. you can try cleaning the EGR and making sure there are no leaks/hoses/lines are properly hooked up.