idosubaru

What a mess. Your initial thoughts to put money into the car were valid. A properly done timing belt job and reseal (valve covers, cam, oil pump, crank, etc) is easily done for $1,500 and would have gained you another 100,000 miles. The engine DOES NOT ever get removed for a timing belt or valve cover job on these, right there tells you they don't know what they're doing. This engine needs properly bled, any air in the system will cause it to overheat. Make sure there's no leaks at all and no air in the coolant before assuming the headgaskets are toast. A lot went wrong here and it's hard to follow that long story, but there's no way all of that stuff went wrong at the same time/after. Someone didnt' know what they were doing or hosed the engine.

i'd go with Subaru on the oil pump seal/gasket. could be wrong as i haven't done any EA81's but on later models the subaru gaskets/seals are of a higher quality and the oil pump is kind of annoying to go back in and reseal later. maybe others will comment if this holds any water for the EA81. as to what is causing it, hard to say for sure but subaru rear mains are rare to leak. oil doesn't usually go "up", so the highest place you find oil should speak to it's source usually.

have really good equipment and/or materials for cleaning the block. the right angle access is annoying to get them clean but otherwise the saved effort and time is well worth it in my opinion. i use a right angle drill with one of those abrasive attachments for aluminum, NAPA carries them, they're yellow discs.

best follow up i've heard in a long time. apologies for it not being the timer, spilled hangover remedies never crossed my mind, i'll add that to my diagnostic tool kit. high sight being what it is - how could one have reduced that laundry list of items sharing that fuse?

Yes, you can. I don't have experience with this but I've heard others say that the rear viscous units can have a limited life span and "wear out" turning into little more than an open diff. If that's true a low mileage unit might be preferable. I dont' want to pay top dollar for little or no gain.

$1,800 isn't scary high depending on what they're quoting with it. you said that includes valve job, timing belt, water pump, etc. subaru prices are high for parts, so it adds up quick. a detailed list of everything included would be appropriate for comparison. local dealer here charges $1,500 for headgaskets alone....so another $300 sounds about right compared to this dealer (in a subaru saturated market). if it's $1,800 for just the head gaskets then that's way overpriced, but that's not the case here. all a mute point, this motor isn't known to fail or leave you stranded. here's how i'd get as much bang for your buck as possible: dealer charges $700 for a timing belt job.....give this motor a couple more years and then do it all at once. i'd suggest getting an ebay timing belt kit so as to replace all the pulleys and tensioner - getting those individually from subaru is insanely expensive, like over $500 for parts alone. probably have to use a non-dealer (or ask first) to install aftermarket pulleys. no way i'd leave those high mileage and older pulleys on there. they do fail. *** that is, if you're not extending the service interval of the current belt. you might even find after a year or two that coolant usage has not increased or decreased and you'll leave it alone. i would add another bottle of conditioner and plan on driving it 2 years as-is, then do all that maintenance. do that and you might have a fair priced 150,000 reliable miles to go.

When I was wondering the same thing it seemed like the H6 was highly touted as a great motor. I'm glad I got one. Not a very good chance of having a bad experience with any of them though. I would opt for as new of an EJ25 as you can get.

are you sure both headgaskets were replaced the last time? it's rare but sometimes someone will only replace the leaking one. actually i've heard of dealers telling folks that they will only replace the leaking one under warranty. good point that didn't make much sense. my bad, that is why i said FYI, i had something ping-ponging in my head that thought it might be helpful for him to know that.

Hold it and take it apart? What's preventing that from happening? I've only ever disassembled them off the vehicle...as is probably the case with most. I can't ever recall doing anything special.

the good news, if it's good at all, is that these headgaskets won't leave you stranded. they just gradually get worse, but not very fast. i'd get at least a year or two out of it. most blown subaru headgaskets leave you hosed, but not this one with the external leaks. the only odd part is that it's leaking after it was already repaired once? how bizarre, they shouldn't leak once properly repaired. wonder if they used aftermarket gaskets or didn't add the conditioner? FYI - subaru had a 100,000 mile extended headgasket warranty for your engine between 2000-2002. add another bottle of the coolant conditioner.

You're likely missing an $8 bottle of coolant conditioner. Go to Subaru and buy two bottles of their coolant conditioner. Shake well and dump them in the radiator. There's a chance that will fix your seeping headgaskets. The previous shop probably didn't know that this engine requires, per Subaru, a coolant additive. Better late than never, sometimes it helps, so go do this immediately. Start there and you might feel a lot better about keeping it. Also - you can drive a very, very long time with seeping gaskets on this car. Just keep adding coolant and don't let it get low and it won't overheat or cause any issues. Also - you probably should have stopped by here to ask about the exhaust stuff, there's a chance there's an easy fix for that rather than replace. But too late now.

oh sorry, they have two of the FWD EJ axles for $19.95. sell the other axles that don't work and you're hardly out any cash at all....and there's cost for the couple gaskets, sealants, and seals you'll need to swap the front stubs too. seems like 15 hours of work to save $16. in the time it takes to do what you're doing you could buy another subaru that needs work and flip it for enough cash to buy 50 axles.

2005+ headgasket failures are very rare and not seen very often. That doesn't mean much though. It either means they actually are rare or we're just not seeing the trend yet. Trends won't bear themselves out until these newer vehicles become less valuable and get into the hands of folks that are members of forums like this. For instance someone with a $10,000 vehicle is likely to have it repaired under warranty or pay to have it fixed and never ask about it here, toss the car up on craigslist for cheap, etc. This is probably one of the most practical and mechanically experienced forum for Subarus, that's why it's my favorite. But there are others that probably have more newer vehicle owners - like subaruoutback.org. I don't spend much time over there but I don't recall many HG posts.

unless i'm forgetting something it is possible but it's essentially a front diff swap. you'd have to drop both trans and separate the front diff...and put it all back together again. i'm pretty sure you know but a front diff swap is pretty fun. just kidding. it's only the auto trans where the front stubs pull out. these guys have two for $19.95 each. 1-813-689-8131

you probably know but the loyale is an EA82 fuel injected (SPFI) motor and the brat will be an EA81 carb. i'll let others comment on swapping that know more. folks do SPFI conversions into EA81's so i don't see any reason you can't do the opposite - create the same SPFI EA81 and put it into your loyale. there's a really good write up on the SPFI EA81 swap, might want to browse that. if you really are going to yank the EA81 for some swap on the brat then why not put the effort into dropping the EA81 into the loyale. won't have any timing belts to mess with. the EA82 is not worth rebuilding except as a fun/learning exercise. I'd get, or price around for at least, another EA82 and drop it in. throw valve cover gaskets, cam seal, cam cap oring, crank seal, reseal the oil pump, and install one of those cheap ebay timing belt kits and you'll have a reliable vehicle capable of a lot of miles. Use subaru seals. That entire list is all accessible behind the timing belts so makes sense to do it while it's out of the vehicle and be done with it, it's all pretty simple really. If you're really amped up, reseal the whole thing with new headgaskets too while it's out of the car (use Fel Pro Perma Torques if you do).

a picture might help us comment if you can visually see the damage. i've fixed a few wrecks and bumps and bruises. best bet is to replace everything you can.

subaru has a website called opposedforces with lots of good parts diagrams, teminology and part numbers. i'd start there. good luck.

where did the axles come from? aftermarket axles are notorious for causing issues. i'd suspect bad DOJ on one of the axles if they were aftermarket axles (new or rebuilt, doesn't matter) here's an example just in the past week: http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=118721&highlight=axle happens all the time. driveshaft can cause knocking too if the ujoints or carrier bearing and going bad.

i've never done it but you could try to fabricate a larger tank to hold more air and keep your volumes up for extended periods. the harbor freight stuff is a great deal usually for folks that don't require this stuff for a living. it's cheap and usually lasts and the stuff that doesn't pan out is worth the ones that do. for you, being as talented as you are, would probably be good and even cheaper in the long run to get a compressor/tank typically used for automotive stuff. unless you're 90 years old, plan for bigger rather than bare minimum. if you want something to last 10 years, let it have some growth room as you expand it's abilities, experience, and save more by using it more. if you want cheap i would look at used compressors off craigslist or other local used venues. i have no allegiance to brand, i think i had a gift card to sears and that's why i ended up there. i paid like $250 or $300 for my large craftsmen compressor like 7 years ago new. i would imagine it would go for $100 used at this point and i forget the spec's but it's pretty big, 5 feet tall, and too large/heavy to move out of my garage without a serious effort. i'd be perfectly fine buying 2 or 3 compressors for less than the cost of new, it's not that critical to me that i can't stand time without one.

98 and 2000 will be nearly identical. Subaru stereos, including the big double in-dash changers easily interchange between 95 and 2004 legacy's, impreza, forester, OBW (and probably more years than that).

interesting. time to start checking for a drain. the radio light should not stay on, i'd just unplug the radio and fuse and see if that does it. technically you should probably test for a drain from the radio by checking the draw with it unplugged and plugged in. the ghetto method would be to disconnect the stereo or it's fuse and see if the battery stays charged. it's not impossible to get a bad batt or alt too, but unlikely given the same exact symptoms before and after.

rear hub or one of the three things that attaches it to the body of the vehicle is probably bent. strut, transverse link, lateral link. sounds like something is bent and the rear wheel is "pushing" or "pulling". probably an easy fix, just get all that stuff used and swap it out. i just bought a complete set of that stuff for $120 from a board member here parting a car out. FYI - once the insurance settles on a final offer for totaling the car, they'll let you buy it back for a couple hundred dollars.

i'd reuse the strut mounts. for me, they don't fail often enough to warrant replacing as PM.

going used is a great option. you can try to avoid the ones with rear issues - i forget which models/years it was though but it is certain foresters. get a legacy rear, i believe those never had the issues? i've replaced a bunch with used units. fronts are a bit less difficult than rears in terms of rust/corossion. actually if you want to spend another $20 or so to make it really simple just buy a new ball joint. then you don't have to worry about the ball joint pinch bolt which is prone to shearing. chances are you're not going to get the hub off without ripping the boot on the ball joint anyway. a pickle fork makes removing the ball joint from the control arm a 30 second job instead of a 2 hour debacle. subaru has a special tool - the hub tamer - for doing bearings without warping the hubs. but it may have already been damaged prior to the one you have on record - if it had also been replaced previously?

HG issues *seem* lesser in later models. this question is asked all the time . there's no quantifiable proof, date, or information. most folks with newer cars are going to have the work done under warranty or pay a mechanic to do it. it usually takes awhile for patterns to bear themselves out as vehicles go through phases of payment, warranties, value, and types of owners...and eventually patterns are seen (in places like this). it's more dynamic....it's gray, not black and white so you're asking a question that can't be answered minus trying to extrapolate from a few anecdotal reports.