idosubaru

nice hit russ, maybe i should check the gear oil. it would still do it while sitting at idle though?

FT4WD XT6 manual. clutch and all components were replaced by previous owner. sometimes makes a growling noise even just sitting still while idling. noise goes away if i press the clutch pedal down every time. there's also a similar (i think it's the same) noise while driving in gear, a growling noise. grrrr.... i would think this could be adjustment related - like the throw out bearing is spinning when it's at idle......but that wouldn't explain a growl while driving at speed would it? so if it *could* be clutch should i loosen the adjustment nut or tighten it? seems like loosen?

early gen EJ22's have EGR right? if so it won't have a code. if you remove EGR it runs fine, i've done it both ways. no, just swap the harness like you said. i've never noticed a difference between swapping EJ22 and EJ25 ECU's, but like you said just makes sense to match it as close as possible.

2000-2004

right, you need a compatible wiring harness on the E22. i'm lazy and want charity work to be quick so i use a plug and play EJ22 intake manifold to bolt to the top of it, but with your extensive wiring experience..... not sure about them all, but the OBDI EJ18 didn't have a knock sensor, but the hole was already there and tapped, so it was really hard . crank and cam sensors are probably the same and if not easily interchangeable.

the engine series is stamped onto the heads, EA stuff can be plain, underlined or have a box around it indicating what gen heads they are. giving us year and model should tell us what it is too. the EA82Turbo isn't terrible necessarily - just at 20 years old everything needs replaced for it to be reliable at all. hoses, seals, turbo needs to be in good condition, etc. avoid leaks and overheating and they can run quite a long time. and they start at 115hp. i believe some folks were getting some decent track times out of them.....matty something or another (username) comes to mind. if you start cranking the boost, working it, don't maintain it well, etc - it blows head gaskets, cracks heads, and worse with relative ease. the EJ22 is 140 hp and one of the most reliable engines subaru has ever made. down here they're really cheap and easy to find. so if you're up for the wiring and such you get a modern engine, far more advanced technology, performance, 4 valves per cylinder, better ECU's, etc. but it's also not a turbo so it's not really a modifiable engine in terms of huge gains. you only get that easy power increase with forced induction. but there are futher EJ options just depends how high you want to go.

top strut mounts, steering rack bushings, tie rod. focus on the drivers side obviously. i'd grab the inner tie rod and move it around - if the tie rod has play then it's bad. if the entire rack has play then the rack bushings are probably shot. a bad rack bushing on a car so new would be odd unless it's oil soaked from oil or some other fluid.

okay scratch the welder part then, i didn't know all that. i already have a MIG welder and rarely use it, so not necessary. perfect info, thanks. i'll get to searching. i won't use it much at all....but i'm very far from anywhere to refill it too, so we'll see about sizes.

could i get a torch set up for $200? not at all? used? new? i don't really know anything about them. i'd like to just be able to cut metal, cut off rusted bolts, exhaust bolts, etc. basic outfit is hardware, two tanks, and a cart i believe. what makes the difference between a torch and a welder (since you can have a set up that does both right?)?

i'd get a used speed sensor, swap it in place. if that doesn't fix it then get a used instrument cluster and swap it in place. those two items rarely fail, not worth paying new prices, are easy to replace, and due to no demand shouldn't cost much from a yard. $25 probably, hardly worth wasting you're time testing probably. you can post in the parts wanted forum here, someone will have a parts transmission or those used parts lying around. if you look at the lower left of the screen right now you'll seen threads similar to yours - might want to skim those and you'll probably find folks with the same issues and see what their causes were.

we've already cleared the air on the headgaskets/intake gaskets stuff in some earlier posts. intake gasket was replaced - but only one - the other was goo-ed because they only had one to work with. actually if you bet enough money i could remove the heads from the engine block without removing the intake, you'd loose. of course we know they didn't pull off both heads still attached to the intake because it would be one step short of a magic trick (and a total waste of time) getting the heads past the dowels the thought makes me want to do it just to be funny....just saying that this comment may not be entirely worthy of caps and periods and the thought really is kind of humorous.

measured out it's probably over the Subaru limits. i'd probably risk it too...but i don't mind repairing it if something does happen and would probably rotate tires in such a way that the new one stays up front for awhile. put less air in it than the other side. considering how often tires loose air, i'm sure there's enormous amounts of "mismatched" tires out there for long periods of time, so doesn't scare me too much.

It's worked for others, one of them will likely post to this thread because he's a regular contributor. Newer stuff is rather benign being just the external seeping, it's definitely worth a try. Subaru headgaskets are not a one-size-fits all topic.

rear struts are on the easy side. the one hard part is that you need a special tool to compress the springs (although i've heard of folks doing rears without one since they have far less force but that doesn't sound like a good plan for a first timer). you can buy loaded struts - try rockauto.com or thepartsbin.com. loaded struts are the complete assembly - strut, spring, top mount - you just unbolt your old entire strut/spring assembly and install the new and you're done. no need to compress springs, get the tool, spend the time, etc. i bought one for a friend earlier this year on the rear of her 1997 legacy - I want to say it was $184 off the top of my head. that's another option that saves you quite a bit of time and sourcing a special tool. if you're not the anal believe all the anecdote type then you can entertain just doing the failed strut, rather than both. i've replaced singular struts my entire life and never noticed a difference. i can't imagine how i'd notice a difference if the thing hasn't actually failed....and if i did, then i'd replace the other one but i lean towards functional/practical/prove it to me/i'm an engineer and will make my own calls more than anal believe everyone's one-size-fits all recommendations.

barter? cleaning, painting, moving, cooking...anything you can do.... good luck moving forward. being without help, community, support is tough, maybe evaluating that would point to constructive things you can do to not be in this kind of place in the future. keep that head up.

sounds like you've definitely narrowed it down to the intake manifold gaskets. that's amazing it lasted 2 years like that. your best bet...unless you can find a perfect buyer willing to pay a high price for a broken car (hard to find)...is to fix it so you have something, or at least get a better price on it. hate to see you shoot yourself in the foot. finances are tough - but they only get harder if you piss away what you have and can't make the best decision possible for the future. you don't know one person who could help you fix this? there are dozens of friends and family (and even members here) that would help me if i needed it. it's under $10 in parts and the tools required aren't very many. not much more than 12mm bolts.

they need to find out where the coolant is going. radiator cap, hose, leak somewhere else, etc? if a gallon of antifreeze is gone, it won't take a wizard to figure out where it's going. the headgaskets on these leak externally at the rear head to engine block mating surface, like if you could see through the cabin from the drivers seat - that area. ask them (or someone they know) to look and check the drivers and passengers side in those areas. if it's loosing this much it should be obvious. tell them to keep adding coolant. this engine, unlike your EJ25, will run just fine indefinitely (well for a long time) as long as you keep it full of coolant. this engine REQUIRES subaru coolant conditioner. buy two bottles and use it. add it to the radiator cap, not the coolant reservoir. yes. there are other 05 owners that have had issues or had the headgaskets replaced. but there are 10 other possibilities too. Definitely not the Bars, just get the Subaru stuff and use two bottles of it. I believe holt makes the Subaru stuff but I would just use what they recommend and use from the factory.

highly recommended not to use that stuff for engines. hard to guess on an oil leak, needs to be visually inspected. can you take and attach some pix. you said "oil doesn't appear to be coming from there" - so you looked? what did you see? central leak, passengers side, drivers side, front of engine, back? oil leaks tend to spread from front to back and outside of engine to inside - meaning a valve cover gasket will start to get everything from it toward the center of the engine dirty over time. so track leaks as far forward and "out" as you can if it's covered. are you SURE it's oil leaking? grease flinging from an axle boot hits the exhaust and burns too. as for oil leaks did you replace the cam cap oring and valve cover grommets as well? what about the crank seal? the cam carriers could also be leaking, particularly by the corner with the metal reinforced oring.

you still want help on trying to repair this? maybe it's not the headgasket? like GD said, the intake manifold is bolted to each head with like 10 bolts, so if you did the headgaskets it came off. if we clarify some things maybe we can help you?

just get another early EJ22 - 1990-1994, they're a dime a dozen usually. you can even use an EJ18 too. i believe you can use a 1995 as well if you swap the intake manifold from yours onto it. the newer motor won't work for all sorts of reasons, unless you're up for a huge project. it'll bolt up fine but that's about it, the electronics are all wrong.

turbo is going to be a ton of work for little gain. you'd be better off swapping in an EJ22 - far more power, more reliable, not much difference in work really. i would think the best bang for your buck, with better performance and reliability is probably going to be going with SPFI and junking the carb stuff altogether. there are write ups on here about that swap, i'd read through that and see what you think.

offer still stands, just remind me come spring when it thaws out.

i've put 50,000 miles on torn boot clicking CV's - 15 miles is a drop in the bucket. it would probably last a couple years if you kept it out of sand and grit.

in some cars you can swap auto and manual ECU's, i've done it with older subarus, but i doubt one this new. you could always try it, they're easy enough to swap out. your ECU is not bad. it's almost silly to think it was running fine....motor blew...and then the ECU is bad....how would it fail after the motor blew if it's got no motor to run? the ECU was running fine...right up until the motor blew up...then the ECU failed the second it blew. or it failed in *all that use* the car got after the motor blew up? i don't know that i can overestimate how unlikely this all sounds. i'd get on with your motor swap then trouble shoot whatever comes your way after that. if your CEL is not coming on then check the light bulb or fuses first. you can PM/email me if you want to mail me your ECU to test in my 2003 auto.

Are you loosing coolant? A little milkshake look in certain places is actually normal if you're doing like a lot of short driving. So you might not even have a problem. If EA81's are like EA82's then yeah coolant can leak into the combustion chamber through the intake manifold gasket. If it turns out to be intake manifold or headgasket, then the problem is not subaru or the engine. You need a mechanic who knows what they're doing - that's true whether you have a 20 year old or 2 year old car. If you're current mechanic can't properly install headgaskets....or intake manifold gaskets...you need a new mechanic. The intake manifold gaskets had to be removed and replaced with the headgasket job and done properly these do not leak and should have lasted you the life of the car. Something wasn't done right and I wouldn't want that person doing anything on my old toy or new daily driver.