idosubaru

my best advice: talk to the welder and ignore the engineer. i have a 2" lift without dropping the drivetrain on an XT6, so far so good. stick with Subaru or MWE axles. i installed the lift on the car i had just got which came with brand new CV axles on it, still had clean nice stickers on them - they clicked with the lift. installed my MWE axles and it was fine.

another option would be to tap the existing hole with the largest tap that can fit in there and then drill out the water pump hole for a larger bolt to match the new threads. i would do the easy fix - timeserts, helicoil, whatever brand who cares. fantastic and easy fix. remove the radiator/condensor if you have to get access to the bolt or rent/borrow/buy a right angle drill. you can get cheap right angle adapters, just depends how much room you got to work with. it's really easy, don't sweat it, it feel really weird the first time drilling into an engine block...seems all wrong, but it's fine. if you don't have much room, shear your drill bit in half and use a right angle drill adapter. i've had to do that before. drill bit locked TIGHT and BRACED in a vice and (with glasses on) wail it as fast as you can with a hammer to shear it. i've always had them go bouncing across the floor but find them. don't waste your time with JB weld. while there's lots of anecdotal experience that seems to encourage folks to try it, it's low percentage on stuff like this. do it right and be done with it.

we have the factory service manuals over at subaruxt.com for the 1988 EA82 which is the same for all those components. it's really easy actually. just pull everything apart, read about how to line up the cams and crank and reinstall everything. if you replace the cam seals make sure you replace the cam cap orings as well. actually i remove the cap, make removing and replacing the cam seals 100 times easier. and then you can replace the oring behind it. other than subaru i've only seen thepartsbin.com have the cam cap orings - they sell 'cam seal kits' - which just means one seal and one oring. oil pump is 3 parts for an EA82 - mickey mouse gasket, shaft seal, and oring. i use a socket on the oil pump rotor to hold it while i remove the 12mm nut on the shaft - i believe i use a 1" or 32mm. the seals are really annoying to remove, just limited access and a lot of times they're in there really tight. torque the crank pulley bolt REALLY tight when you're done, they're prone to back off when folks don't reinstall them tight enough.

can anyone tell which head this picture is of in my other thread: http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=121793&highlight=thousandth is that the passengers or drivers side head? i don't believe i have the pictures any more, just those little dinky cropped ones and i can't tell which side that appears to be?

thanks guys. i have an unused head in my garage from these guys from two years ago that, if memory serves me correctly, has the really nice finish with light swirling...like i was used to in Maryland. if i ever have time (unlikely) i might take both that old head and this junk one (if it's junk) with me and see what they say. the fact that it was below spec and the valve was nicked with the belt sander was enough for me to shake my head. but i should at least give them a chance to own up. ***is it typically the shops responsibility to mic the heads and see if they're in spec? the 3 different shops i used in Maryland always did, so i just assumed that was normal, maybe i'm wrong?

yes - it's throwing codes and running poorly. like it's got hopped up cams...lumpy, rumbles a little, car shakes, poor power...but it does run and drive around. stalls when decelerating quickly. it did take a couple of months to get around to repairing it. i have no idea how to test the injectors but it would be nice to verify that before yanking heads again. what would/could i look for?

best bet is to price out some EJ22's agaist your other options. sometimes you can find them cheaper than you'll fix or replace the EJ25. my EJ25 engine swap cost $150 with a 3 or 6 month warranty and only had 100,000 miles on it. i'm at 170k now. realistically you only need one headgasket replaced, not that expensive really. and have all the valves adjusted while the engine is out, that's probably why the compression/valves are bad. he can do a leak down test but it would be really odd for the rings to be loosing compression on a subaru engine. every one i've ever seen still has original cylinder wall crosshatching after 200,000+ miles. figure out your actual price points and options first then decide. i would not buy the high priced over seas stuff, imports, etc. they probably have original or unknown heagaskets.

CV was my first guess. axles - if you don't want any issues there's only two options: Subaru or MWE. I've done both many times, well worth the effort. don't buy Subaru axles, get used ones at a junk yard and reboot them or have a shop reboot them. I do it all the time - 100% success rate. Aftermarket axles - i've had tons of failures and issues with those, waste of time, as you're finding out.

sounds like the seal didn't take, but is the PCV valve new? it reduces pressures in the crankcase, won't hurt and for $7? some folks swear that needs to be a Subaru part. i've put hours into this forester with lots of bad luck and poor guess work, you and i should hole up in a cabin next week and just tear into them both at the same time, cussing, kicking, rocking, and high fiving each other along.

that's why i was wondering, i've never gotten that to work before either. rust here too EA/ER stuff is long gone. lots of EJ's falling apart too. that's why i bought an XT6 from Texas and California in the past year. it is really nice not dealing with rusted bolts. i replaced the headlight in one today and they have this thin metal ring with screws that I haven't seen work in many moons on the 20 or so i've had. this one, the screws came right and the headlight adjusters actually WORKED!? i didn't know that was possible. heck a lot of the 2000+ vehicles i'm coming across around here the headlight adjustment screws are shot, rusted, and the plastic bits are hosed.

timing kits all the way. belts break, your cams aren't seized. these older belts aren't that robust and it could be 10 or 20 years old. oil will degrade a new belt and cause it to snap in a matter of months if it's saturated. oil pump will not be seized. they leak so it's best to reseal it while yo'ure in there. go through all that trouble of the timing stuff and then a year later the oil pumps gushing oil and you gottta take your new belts off again, that's annoying. i'd replace any leaking seals. unfortuantely aftermarket seals are aren't as high success rate as Subaru seals, Subaru seals are much better. i've had aftermarket seals (fel-pro specifically) not fit right and leak on EA82's. if you can find a cheap water pump, like rockauto.com or thepartsbin or locally i'd replace that too. that's annoying just because scraping the gasket is hard to get to and takes awhile but just patience, not a big deal really - it's only 5 more bolts once the timing belt is off. same thing as oil pump - if it fails soon you're pulling the timing belt off again to replace it. these older style water pumps have a higher failure rate than newer EJ water pumps. i'd plan on removing the radiator, the few extra minutes and mess are worth it for access to the seals. if you're not doing any seals it's easier to get away with leaving it in, but still light. with seals, particularly the first time, pull the rad is a good idea. otherwise there's absolutely no need to pull the motor for this job, it's actually really easy....rusted timing cover insets are about the trickiest part. just rip them out and don't reinstall the timing covers, a bunch of us run naked! or rip them out and zip tie them back together. the bolts rusting in the inserts thing is annoying on these.

Got cylinder #2 and #4 misfire after a head job. Swapped coil pack, wires, and Subaru timing belt is dead on. Think it's time to swap the head but is there anything else I should check and what exactly is happening to cause this? I've seen folks mention O2 sensor and fuel? Car was severely overheated and I replaced the short block. The heads were resurfaced a bit under spec's by the machine shop - I'm guessing that caused it?

i can't make it saturday, probably monday if you're available. PM me the town you're in and i'll call tomorrow or saturday if that works for you. i need a drivers side head, i'll need to remove it from the engine and intake manifold? thanks dave.

Timing belt is dead on and I ran it with no covers and all the timing components are running smooth, tensioner and all. Another thread guy said a new front O2 fixed his cylinder 2 and 4 misfire...really? wishful thinking no doubt. So - what causes the misfire? The valves.....??? How can i test this?

oh you can definitely feel it. low on power, lumpy, stalls on deceleration up hill. fuel rail, no clue, never messed with EJ fuel rails. *** you're not allowed to ask that question Dave. (i might need a head when i come pick up that exhaust part too) @#*(!$&*&*%&(!&*( my willingness to help people out with car stuff just went WAY down.

there's no gasket on the cam carrier. but you'll wish there was as you have to clean out all the old sealant and squeeze in a new bead of sealant all the way around the cam carrier groove!

good call on the cam, i should double check it, i'd be ecstatic if that's all it was. it runs, moves and drives, hesitates alot, really lumpy, stalls on decel sometimes....not sure how good they run one tooth off but i'd expect worse? i should swap the plugs too, just hard to imagine that's the issue.

Swapped wires and coil pack. Same codes. :-\ What a ridiculous debacle this is turning out to be. once the scanner showed two codes. a P0302 and "P0302 P"? what is the P? Alternator - not sure, I just assumed it's fine. I can check. Not looking good - there's not much left is it? Plugs....and....I don't even want to ask..... Valves/heads - do I do a compression test or...?

cylinder #2 and cylinder #4 misfire. 2000 EJ25. had the engine out for a headgasket job/replaced the motor. no check engine light prior to and i used the original coil pack. wires? pack? i hosed something up....AH! i can swap plug wires.....but then how do i test the coil pack? i have a 2003 legacy - i can swap those wires and pack i think.

but what part and how do you get access to get the right punch with the hammer/ not much space/area to work with? are you talking diff side or wheel side? DUDE That's intense!!!!

post back if it doesn't hold, we'll figure something out. i've had to fix a lot of metal stuff, stripped threads, chunk of the block coming out with the timing tensioner pulley bolt (seen that twice), etc. there's usually something permanent that can be done. JB weld in my experience isn't that robust on stuff that's moving/shaking, etc.

yeah if you're okay with doing a clutch replacement, a valve replacement isn't really that big of a deal on one of these. you don't even "have" to pull the motor on this one. you could even just buy a good head from someone and swap heads. that's probably what i would do given the almost unheard of failure rates of EJ22 components in the heads. adjust the valves before you install and you're golden. i even have a 1997 EJ22 i might be convinced to pull the head off of. perfectly good motor i pulled out of a wreck that i got from someone i knew. be sure to use a Subaru head gasket on these. aftermarket gaskets have no faired well on EJ25's and since they're so similar to EJ22's i would not chance aftermarket gaskets on EJ engines. EJ25's and EJ22's have many shared components, the heads and short blocks are even interchangeable they're so similar - you bolt EJ22 heads to EJ25 block and the other way around).

flashes a single time - so that would be a code 10 right? is that a viable ABS code? *** edit, looks like that's not a viable code or is just the normal code. is the system actually powered up? the relay and fuses are in and working?

Sweetness Miles! I'm dropping my diff to install a rear LSD anyway so I could do the boots at the same time. Tips on making that happen? Would you be able to disassemble the axle with both ends still in place (probably not?)? So drop the diff and then disassemble the end closest to the wheel? Both ends are easily torn down?

if you don't need it for inspection i'd suggest not wasting your time. i've put 100,000 miles on XT6 (same exact axles) busted rear boot axles in maryland because we didn't have yearly inspections and they never fail. wasn't worth my time. get your money back and call it a day? those rears are terrible. i've got some on my XT6 that are frozen on and i've got to take care of now that i live in a state that does yearly inspections heating with a cutting torch would be best. you want the axle cub hot, not the stub. this causes expansion when the two metals are at different temps. a cutting torch allows you to heat the axle cup up faster. try light duty heating, if that doesn't work step it up a notch....you'll have to wait an hour for the heat to dissipate though as you don't want the stub heated. propane works - it just takes longer and therefore the heat starts to get to the stub by the time a large outer cup like an axle starts getting hot. but i've used it before on other things and it works.