idosubaru

as he said - gaskets on subaru engines always go on completely clean and dry. you'll need two cam carrier orings - they are not available anywhere except Subaru, though a few places like http://www.thepartsbin.com have them as well. they are metal reinforced orings, do not use regular orings. you need two - one per side and it is installed between the cam and the head. intake manifold gaskets are best from Subaru, others are weak and that is a fairly common failure point. i (and others) also prefer Subaru cam and crank seals and exhaust manifold gaskets. i typically just buy the parts i want, not a complete head set.

another option would be to sell the OBW struts and get a 2" lift kit. be advantageous if legacy struts are any cheaper/easier to find when replacement time comes.

sweet, that code very well may tell you what the problem is. if you have a trans issue and the code is flashing then you should have that code read. the sequence to get it to flash the code and read it yourself is a bit convoluted but it can be done. it'll flash the code for you - first flahes are "tens" digits and second set of flashes (they blink at different rates) are "ones" digits. so a set of 3 and then a set of 4 means code 34. look that code up online and that's it. or just have subaru do it for $70-ish. might be the dropping resistor if you're lucky, they're just a 10 minute job to replace, i could probably literally do it with my eyes closed. they're bolted to the passengers side strut tower in the engine bay normally i believe. i am thinking they are all there, not sure if they changed with models/years/engines/etc. if it's a dropping resistor, just get a used one, they hardly ever fail. might even want to check to make sure yours is plugged in. dirty fluid - definitely change it more than once then. may end up being a solenoid as well.

Like Dave said - these things notoriously overheat when they don't get burped or have air in the system. Classic issue. Even myself, who knows this, and knows how to bleed them has gotten bit by the "Crap it's overheating" bug after having the coolant system opened. Which they probably did to get easier access to the timing belt. If it didn't have issues prior to taking it in then it shouldn't be the headgasket - that would be bizarre coincidence. These engines are notorious for blowing headgaskets, do not drive it overheating. Also - it can't be towed by a normal tow truck, has to be a flatbed due to the 4WD. Make sure they flat bed it or it stands to damage the trans.

Fel Pro Permatorque headgaskets and add 5-10 pounds on the final torque sequence. That's a fairly common practice on EA82's. All other gaskets that I'm aware of require a retorque sequence as indicated in the Subaru Factory Service manual, so you're left disassembling the motor all over again which is annoying. Fel Pro's remove that huge step, save time, and are accepted by many as great fits for this motor. If you end up going with OEM or some other gasket that requries a retorque, then do NOT seal the cam carrier the first time reassembling the motor. Because you're just going to start the motor, shut it down, then disassemble it all over again for the retorque sequence. You can seal it the second time around and save yourself the effort of cleaning, sealing, and repeating it all over again which is annoying. Side note: Fel Pro's aren't well received for all Subaru engines, there are some that I would not use them on, but they are excellent on these motors.

automatics and manuals work completely differently so that's why you see different information, it is confusing to keep it all straight. if you are the original owner and it has been that well maintained and not towed improperly i would double check to make sure the diagnosis is correct. rear differentials can fail (it's rare but so is this for a well maintained car). particularly if it's a VLSD it could be locking up since it's the rear wheels you are hearing chirping. yours being a manual trans has a sealed viscous coupler and additives can not help because the fluid in the trans doesn't get to the unit that has failed - it's sealed and non-serviceable. odd that a dealer would put in an additive that has zero percent chance of helping. it doesn't make any sense and if they charged you for it, it was money thrown away. maybe it was miscommunicated or something so i'll apologize for cynicism but i have to wonder if the dealer attempted the "cheap" fix in the hopes that you'd bite on the high quote to fix this. "wow, that was really nice of them to try to fix it cheaply and not sell me on a huge repair - i'll now fork them $1,800 to fix it". it's actually not a hard job. it does not require removing the transmission so it's not that difficult nor does it require any special tools or a lift/jack to get it out. easily done by any competent mechanically inclined person. a couple hours labor, as the previous poster suggested is all it takes. i'd call a couple other dealers and get a quote for replacing the viscous coupler, i'd be surprised if they quote that high. any shop can do this, there's not much technically to worry about on this job so i wouldn't be that restrained to a subaru dealer only for this job. if this is west chester Ohio - i'll come do the job for $1,300 and save you $500. my brother in law lives there and i play racquetball there sometimes. post in the parts wanted forum for a used one buy a new one, with 86,000 miles new isn't a bad option for the long term.

i wouldn't pay the price for a new one. you could try to get a used one, i scrapped one recently, someone on here probably has one for you if you want to post in the parts wanted forum. that would suck to find out that many of them are out of those limits in the same way. not sure where/how it's out of spec but could a machine shop tweak that? i'd run it with a few thumbs up from folks here that know what they're talking about.

how was the fluid that you drained the first time? old, lightly used, or new? does the at light flash 16 times at start up? notably new or old fluid suggests bad things - like never been changed or recently changed possibly suggesting an attempt to fix something. Lucas is probably not a good long term solution. any aid it might provide in the short term may cause issues later. do some more drain and refills - once only gets a small percent of the fluid out, unlike engine and diff oils. i usually do 3. there is a dropping resistor i believe it's called that increases the harshness of shifts, i disconnect it intentionally on the first gen 4EAT's because they tend to have a "lag" of sort between either 2nd and 3rd or 3rd and 4th. if yours is unplugged or failed maybe it could do this?

not many folks split these blocks. it's often not cost effective for me. easier to find a known good motor or do a swap, buy a wrecked car, already have a motor, etc. but a few here have split the blocks. i don't even know what a torx plus is but i've never had a problem getting them out. the head and block bolts do seem really tight to remove when disassembling though. age, heating, expansion?

i wouldn't write it off but i'd be somewhat skeptical. if it doesn't have Subaru head gaskets or you can't confirm that it does, then i'd move on. check for signs of oil consumption to verify the motor is not using oil. you don't mention which year it is - if it's a 99 or earlier, drive it a lot and make sure it's not overheating. if it's a 2000 or later they typically leak externally and can be visually inspected. this is on factory built motors though.

what happens when you put the keys in and turn it on to drive the car? does the compressor turn on? does the HEIGHT light flash on the dash? or does it do nothing? indeed jack the car off the ground like john said, sometimes that gets things going, and the compressor coming on doesn't mean it's making pressure. the most common failure i've seen is the 5 air line fittings on the drier - the part that's connected to the compressor that the 5 air lines snap into. the base of those fittings leak - they're usually cracked if they're leaking. when they leak, no air makes it to the struts.

there's factory trained mechanics as members here and many of us are acquaintances with some. i, and others here, can list countless subaru questions a factory trained guy couldn't begin to answer off the top of his head. we know more inside and outs - they know all the stuff they're supposed to regurgitate and sell. in some ways some here are far more knowledgeable than a factory trained mechanic. factory guys are trained to do the same thing over and over and sell services, not provide information and the best fit and dig into and see failure areas, test things, try things, consider alternate repairs, etc. factory trained guys make me a lot of money - they quote $3,000 repair jobs that I buy cheap, fix for $50 and flip for a lot of money. thank you mr. know it all mechanic guy that scares people to sell their cars - i can start telling stories. GD is right the Phase II's are far simpler in a lot of ways. heads are easier to remove. less work and parts to remove and easier to do without pulling the engine (a huge plus). fewer cam sprockets to deal with, don't have to remove the caps and keep all the cam bearing surfaces in proper order, etc. also - Phase I's leave you stranded when they fail. Phase II's will run 100,000 miles once they start leaking. completely different. there's a HUGE difference. Subaru will sell the same service to a customer that comes in with those same issues on different engines - but real world experience paints a much bigger picture with far more forgiving, less costly, and more reliable options for the Phase II's. a smart consumer knows his options and make good decisions. all this coming from someone that generally considers the EJ25 Subaru's worst motor - except how easy I have made a lot of money on them over the years, that's nice. sounds like the EJ25 isn't for you though if you're this amped up about one person's anecdotal opinion. sounds like you'd be thoroughly PO'ed if your research and stuff failed and this didn't pan out how you hoped. getting one already done probably is a good idea. make sure they're repaired properly with Subaru headgaskets. If you're not sure, don't buy it. The aftermarkets on these suck. The trusty mechanic wont' know this but there are some subaru engines where aftermarket headgaskets are better - but this is not one of them. i'd also recommend looking into H6 engines, those are fantastic engines. the one major concern with them takes 30 minutes and costs $10 to repair yourself or $200 at a mechanic.

if you're broke don't bother with the STP, you're not gaining anything by using it. i also wouldn't change the oil just because it's overfilled. just drain it partially to get it where it needs to be. it's easy to do, i do it all the time to get transmission fluid levels right. just hold the oil plug up there and loosen it, once it's off keep pressure upwards and just tilt it a little to let oil slowly drain out. screw it back in and check the level. or drain it into a clean container and refill as necessary. 2 year old oil - no big deal.

+1, don't use a screw driver. get a chisel in it. i've pounded the snot out of them before but they can break too. get penetrant in there - YIELD, PB Blaster, Liquid Wrench, good stuff, not WD40 that doesn't count. for future reference, don't remove the ball joint to replace the axle. i never do it that way, it's a waste of time. once the wheels are off i only remove one bolt to replace axles. the top strut mount bolt and loosen the lower one. hub rotates out away from the strut mount and you can pull the axle out that way. pull off of trans first, snake it upwards while you pull it out of the hub and you're done. that's 100% repeatable and the strut bolts are never difficult to remove or damageable like ball joints.

EGR /non-EGR doesn't matter if you don't have to worry about testing/inspection. it just causes a check engine light. they don't test in my state so the check engine light doesn't matter for me. if it does matter then the EJ22 needs to have EGR, because the EJ25 has EGR, or you need to start swapping on a drivers side head with the EGR port, drilling your own port for it, etc. there's a few ways around that but all require some mechanical work, aptitude, and possibly money. exhaust manifold isn't a big deal. EJ25's are dual port so if your EJ22 is dual port it's a non-issue. if it's a single port it's still really simple, just get a single port exhaust - they easily exchange from single to double or double to single port, they all bolt up the same. match it to the engine and install.

are buying this block for power or it's cheap? something doesn't sound right, i would never use this motor for what you're doing. it's normally a terrible idea. if you put a turbo block in a non turbo motor you'll have low compression and low power. it'll be a huge down grade and make less power than the original 165 the car had. the turbo makes the power, not the block. the block just allows more boost...but you're not boosting it so it allows for something you can't do. these motors are usually really expensive. so you're buying an expensive block for qualities you're not using. let's buy a 300 hp motor so i can only get 130 out of it...see why that sounds suspect? if the motor is cheap i'd be suspect of it, why would someone sell it cheap? if it's cheap and good - just flip it like they said and buy the block you need. you'll make money on it and get more horsepower. but yes it can be done, i'm basically doing the same thing - use the part number WJM said. they didn't hand me that gasket last week when i went in to do this and the guy didn't know what i was talking about. they eventually figured it out and had them on hand.

probably just air in the system, i'm not sure why you're not able to get it out. may need to bleed another line that's shared with that one, not sure how much air got in it, how much fluid was lost, how long it stayed open, etc. the piston has a dust seal around it that will hide leaks sometimes.

i'll try to complete this. small washers are for the oil pump bolts themselves (not shown). the large nut and washer cap the hole that the spring and cylindrical pressure mechanism thingy slide into.

those are the only ones that are plug and play. no wiring. yes, it's extra steps and multiple ways you can do it.

if the rust is bad, like we have around WV/MD the bolts get rust welded into bushings, shear off, won't turn at all, or have to be burned out. it's a nightmare. but...since, like john said it's not like a lot of the subframe bolts are hard to get too, he's brings up a great point - just go give it an hour and see how it goes for you since you seem well equipped and talentedwith this stuff. back the rear end into a swimming pool filled with YIELD and maybe they'll come out.

way too expensive, go somewhere else. replacing the boots is a fine option. subaru tie rods very rarely fail. i've replaced a bunch, it's only an hour or two labor - and it's really easy. the only thing that makes it hard is rust and shops have tools at their disposal to make that a non-issue. there's isn't much difference in labor between replacing the part and the boot - it's like one extra step since the tie rod has to be half remvoed (the hard part) anyway. so to that end - the shop was right - part price is the only thing additional. have someone that knows how to do it right and there's no need for an alignment either like JCE mentioned.

read code. does the car have a knock sensor? it should and it should be plug and play, and work fine with no codes, issues, etc.

sounds like they'll turn fine to me, the shop will check them for you. i have them turned all the time now that there's a cheap place right across the street from where i work. there's a good chance the original subaru's are higher quality steel than the generic auto store stuff.

there's a couple threads here detailing how to know which you need, i recall milesfox laying it out nicely. search button will nail it for you.

RAM performance (google them) sells them. I know some people running their pistons in an XT6. I've met the owner and he gave me a tour of the place, he knows his stuff on...well, lots of stuff.