idosubaru

my guess is bulbs. how many miles and was it ever wrecked? the light sockets are pretty weak on newer subarus, i've seen those get corroded, brittle, and short out. even on really new ones. any auto parts store carries one that can be spliced in place.

+1 no aligning issues on the block and heads. orientation matters for the distributor, tbelt, and torque converter (if auto). the cams will naturally turn some as you bolt the cam towers in place and the lobes seat themselves on the rocker arms.

guess you found an excuse for that torch you've always wanted. no exhaust leaks at all right? there's a few real haywire issues and this is one of them, hope something works for you. are you in WV?

the seafoam/gas test or attempt seems well worth it here. wonder if there's a 1 and a half length fouler adapter that would work better? long enough to work, but not so long that it's tripping the other code? i've bought mine on ebay already drilled out and ready to install. if the anti-fouler isn't fixing it then i would not replace the converter yet. folks have replaced converters only to have that code come back again. aftermarket stuff is a gamble, price and warranty seems to suggest it's good, but i've seen aftermarket stuff completely covered in rust in under a year.

no one is knocking it, just that it's less likely to fail than other components statistically speaking. yours being a 97 was nearly 10 years older as well, i would be more inclined to replace it just due to age.

+1 to what miles said. EJ water pumps rarely fail, while replacing them isn't a bad idea for 105,000 reliability, they wouldn't top other things like the timing idlers/tensioners. the new style tensioners fail, that's top of the list for preventative maintenance in my experience. the idlers should be inspected and replaced as needed - the lower cogged idler is most likely to need replaced. i'd also reseal the oil pump while they're in there, it's right in front of you once the t-belt is off. doesn't require much extra work, though i'm not sure how they'd bill it. if it leaks later it's $600 timing belt labor all over again for a $5 seal, so kind of makes sense to do it now. it should be removed, rear backing plate screws tightened with lock-tite (usually one or more are loose) and then resealed for install. it's a $5 seal and $3 oring and gasket material to reseal it and 5 bolts to remove/replace. the ebay kits are nice as you get all new pulleys instead of needing to pick and choose which to replace. at your age/mileage it's really random, some sound questionable for another 105k, some are really good, doesn't seem that consistent to me. for under $200 you can get all of them replaced via ebay. if it's a "pretty cool dealer" as you say, ask them if they'll match the pricing of the online dealers. they've always done it for me for years and think nothing of it since that's what they do with other accounts, shops, and other subaru related locals. never even blinked an eye, they just click and give me the discount every time....even if it's some guy i haven't seen before and i don't have an account or anything with them, i just say every time "y'all always give me the discount"...and i get it. if you're in Weston, WV i could entertain doing the work if you want. cheaper than dealer, whatever parts you want and i can do the oil pump reseal for basically nothing.

friend of mine changed fluid and his quieted down or went away completely for now or some of the time. he's put a ton of miles on his in one or two years since it started making noise. he also put quite a few miles...maybe roughly a year (he drives a lot too) while it was making the noise before ever changing the fluid. of course it could grenade tomorrow as well but i'd guess 10k easily. lostinthe202 (will) drove his for awhile that way as well...he mentioned the mileage in one of his threads somewhere.

memory tells me that my 96 EJ18 harness was different and wouldn't plug into my EJ25 vehicle i was installing the motor into. maybe i'm forgetting something, i had already planned to use an EJ22 manifold since it was much cleaner looking with fewer gadgets/EGR. my EJ18 looked a bit different with an extra canister/piping and seemingly different idle/TPS controllers, but that might not mean anything electronically. did the EJ18 block have a sensor or just the harness had a connector for it? the EJ18 block i used in my swap had a bored and tapped hole for the knock sensor, it was prepped for one, but was not in use in the vehicle. so all i had to do was screw one in. doesn't much matter i don't think, just plug the knock senosr in and go like i did.

the sensors themselves can wear down too and cause the ABS light to come on. replace sensor, that's the only failure i've seen so far on an ABS personally. you can read the codes, the procedures to do that are on here. just ground a wire above your gas pedal and the ABS light will flash a certain number of times telling you the code - and allowing you to track down the issue. first time i ever had to do it i found everything i needed on this site with some searching.

systems are swapped all the time, so yeah just google it and roll with what folks are doing. i've done it before and while details are scarce in my head i'm sure i could figure it out in about a minute on google or here (if i wasnt' on dial up right now ). i just did what you said - added compatible oil and all was well.

when i wanted to figure this out i just called/stopped at a tire store, find an old one the size you want that's junk and if they charge anything it won't be much more that just the cost to mount it for a junk tire. i did that and ended up the size i was trying wouldn't fit up front, it hit the bottom of the struts. not much money out and i knew for sure what didn't fit and it was so close i knew one size lower would be golden. like someone else said, just underestimate, 1/2" or other minor reductions aren't going to affect anything.

i wouldn't write off timing belt failure too quickly. they are robust for sure but i've seen a few 100k belts not make it and i wouldn't chalk them all up to neglect. there are incidents documented here and other forums too. they do *say* to inspect i believe prior to 100k but i doubt anyone is doing that. probably not a bad idea at some point though. the new style tensioners are lame too, i've seen them fail a lot - though not enough yet to loose the belt, but others have. but it's easy enough to remedy, just replace the stuff when you get one which i think is probably more your point.

$1,400 is top dollar and very high, that's not a bargain. Local Morgantown, WV dealer charges $1,500 for headgaskets and they are known to be very high. Granted if you really honestly trust and admire these folks, it's worth a few hundred more but otherwise you're way overpaying for the job. Parts are under $100, so they're charging $1,000 or more in labor. Consider GD or others and you'd find better rates, like under $1,000. With GD or someone very familiar with this engine you'd get more for your money too. Better end result, cheaper price, win-win. At the very least be sure to follow recommendations from here as we have more EJ25 specific experience than those at the shop.

no: all EJ25's are interference. EJ22's are non interference through 1996. 1997+ are interference.

mileage means little. they don't all fail and age/mileage has been rather meaningless. an engine with a propensity to fail at 30,000 miles is surely not any better designed to last 100k after the 185k this one already has on it. it's not a deal breaker for sure, still a good car and motor, just one small added risk. a small risk that I wouldn't assume "goes away" with age or mileage. mathematically speaking i would suggest it works like this - a certain percentage of 185,000 mile original gasket EJ25's will loose headgaskets at some point....and that percentage will be higher than all other newer subaru motors falling in the same category. small percentage though, so small risk. i have no idea how many blown EJ25's i've bought (Davebugs is another good source with lots of experience) and I see them for sale on a weekly basis. I've seen 190k, 200k, 250k, 220k fairly regularly, i usually pass on them because lower mileage sells better, higher margins. but, my experience tells me i see a lot more EJ25's at those mileages than any other subaru motor *** it's easy to prove to, you can ignore my experience and come to your own conclusions. autotrader, ebay, craigslists, local papers, all have this stuff and Ej25's are a weekly occurence (at least in subaru rich areas). i've yet to see any others subaru motors for sale with blown headgaskets where i look except for really old ones like 80's and early 90's - most assuredly poor maintenance related (radiator, hoses, turbo, etc). i just found one locally in about 1.5 minutes that's for sale - blown headgaskets at 183,000 miles.....you can repeat this sort of thing nearly every week for EJ25's....so i would not assume 185k means anything...either that it's "fine"...nor either that it's a deal breaker.

Do the job right and you've got quite a few more reliable miles out of it. Use subaru only headgaskets. I'd get an ebay timing belt kit, at that mileage I wouldn't expect the timing belt pulleys to be in great shape. Being an interference engine, if the timing belt breaks it'll cost $1,500+ to repair it. Replace the belt and all the pulleys. Timing belt has to come off for a headgasket job so no extra work to install a new one (though by itself the job is $700 alone at a dealer - belt costs $59 so you do the math!) Reseal the oil pump and tighten the backing plate screws on it as well. Replace the crank seal and cam seals. All of this stuff is really cheap, like $3 per seal and you have easy access to it all (zero labor aside from just doing the seals) when doing a headgasket job. Good luck!

not easily. you can install a V8 in it, so "yes" is almost always the answer to a motor swap. the 99's are a Phase II EJ22 and will complicate things. verify that it's a phase II with the spark plugs going through the valve cover gaskets. those have a MAP verses MAF set up so i believe if you get it to work it'll have a check engine light and not idle well. not practical if you have inspections/emissions that look at that. or you have to do some custom fabricating to get it to work. one person that i can think of that did it needed to do some welding for that MAP/MAF issue....hopefully i'm missing something and there's an easier way though? the engine changed in 99 so the intake manifold won't bolt to any earlier EJ22's, but you'll need the engine harness for it to plug and play. so you'd have to remove the intake harness off the 99 and install it on an earlier intake manifold that will bolt to your existing engines. but then you run into the MAP/MAF changes I believe....and maybe more. or you can try an actual engine swap - entire EJ22 engine, intake manifold, wiring harness, and ECU - that will definitely work. the good news is the motor will bolt right into the car.

+100 to that. i'd focus on the CV doing the thumping and the guy is giving a wrongful guess (for a tough situation) on the mount/xmember idea. if it was bad enough to require the hub, bearings, strut to be replaced - that's a pretty good hit. i'd suspect the axle and check the control arm mounting points to see if they got moved - measurements would need to be taken.

He worked with me to make sure I got the right parts for an ER27 XT6 2" lift. Answered questions for install, great parts, etc. Drove it from the east coast to Colorado mountains at 10,000+ feet for a back country elk hunting trip with a huge trailer (way too big), and put some good mileage on it as a daily driver. All is well, getting ready to move it to my new daily driver XT6.

the ATF fluid flows through this area as it makes it's way to the drivers side of the radiator. check for possible fluid loss or restricted ATF line or let us know if you already did. does the AT light flash 16 times when the car is first started? does it accelerate smooth and drive fine other than this binding/thumping? how bad was the suspension damaged - control arm, hub, axle, etc? got a pic of the damage or a list of what was replaced? it does sound like torque bind but hard to guess on such a strange incident.

make sure that's where it's coming from. no torn axle boots in that time that could have left some residual grease there to burn off? sounds like you got it narrowed to the heads but valve covers do tend to drift "inward" towards the center of the motor, it's not that is it? how much oil are you using per 1,000 miles? safe to say it's out of warranty. do you know if subaru gaskets were used?

You can visually inspect the block to head mating surface (i guess once it's clean!) to see if you have the new updated Subaru gaskets or some aftermarket stuff. the new subaru gaskets are a notable multi-layered metal variety.

oh wow, so you don't even have one like an OBW that has lift blocks on it! nice hit. i think my 2" lifted XT6 has sharper angles than most EJ's (i should measure some time) so i'm not surprised the EJ's can handle more than 2.

doubt that's the problem here. to coincidental for the original 20 year old starter and the new rebuilt to have the exact same symptoms, they'd have to vary a little. i've never seen one fail like this, too odd of a failure to happen twice i'd think. hopefully i'm wrong, i hate wiring!

i'm confused what happened - "t-bone" - so it was hit in the side? or it was pushing up against a wall? (or both?) body damage was fixed - what was that? is this a L, GT, or OBW model? what does it do when going around a turn - any binding or slipping of tires? a heavy thump, thump, thump while accelerating straight does not sound like the rear transfer clutch (VC is manual trans as already cleared up) stuff to me. that's not typically now it happens...yet this doesn't appear like a typical failure either. i'd get a second opinion and make sure they're not guessing or wrong.