idosubaru

it's more than likely too far gone but diff oil is easy enough that it might be worth a shot for some. you're a mechanic so i'll state the obvious for anyone else following, once a diff starts making noise you're probably hosed. i'd probably throw oil in and see what it sounds like. if the leak is from the side shaft seals (most likely) then you'll have to remove the retainer holding them in place - be sure to mark and reinstall it exactly the same number of turns and position, they set the backlash on the front diff...but i don't know maybe getting them wrong will quiet it down since it's flakey good luck with it.

then that answers the question to this thread, it's torque bind related. people do all sorts of crazy stuff, a simple switch equipped from the factory has definitely been used. that's been done like a million times. it won't hurt anything. no. theoretically you'll get like a 0.0001% increase. weight and mechanisms are still turning, the only difference is the clutch pack isn't engaged. but both "sides" are still turning and creating drag - the driveshaft, rear differential, axles, and hubs are still bolted together to the rear wheels and creating drag as well as a couple/few hundred pounds.

i'd determine how easy/hard it is to do with the valve covers off and go from there. if it looks like a job you want to tackle then definitely tear it up while those painful covers are off. unfortunately i have no idea what that entails. i can't find my H6 FSM right now?

i've seen quite a few alternator replacements within a year of battery replacements and the other way around too. which implies that when the old one started to fail it caused excessive "wear" on the other. so yeah, replace sooner than later keeps all charging components lasting longer. you've gotten nearly 5 years out of that battery, that's pretty good so i'm not surprised at all it's time to move on. subaru has a recall special from around 97 legacy's i believe so you can buy brand new alternators for like $60 or $70 from Subaru. mine isn't even failing in my legacy but since i want to keep it for awhile and it's so cheap i bought one this summer, though i've yet to install it.

how about fix the leak and see how it does, work it until it gives? damage is done but the leak is probably not hard to fix. there really aren't any books. chilton's, haynes, and the Subaru FSM is about it. best resource is probably here. there's quite a few threads about engine pulling, trans pulling, trans swaps, etc. start a thread with specific quesitons you might have as you go or before you start. if you can do a trans swap then you can probably land yourself in a nicer/newer vehicle too.

has the fluid ever been changed? it's like 25 years old, it's probably due. this trans is completely different but there's a classic delayed engagement issue on newer gen vehicles that responds really well, like almost every time, to the Auto Trans X stuff available at wal-mart, etc. maybe that's a last resort if nothing else gives. in the future clarify whether it's 4EAT or 3AT, not everyone will know.

my experience with quite a few cars sitting at any given time seems to suggest that cheaper batteries don't age as well as better ones. might just need a new battery, but a better one might hold up to the sitting better. if it's getting driven every week i would think that should be sufficient for anything though. i have nothing to offer with oil changes except i don't think it's that big of a deal, but i'd err on the side of caution and aim for every six months. obviously everyone knows that short trips aren't good for oil and EJ25 blocks are no strangers to loosing bearings. many of us have bought and seen quite a few.

torque bind sounds like a reasonable possibility. if you put the fuse in the FWD holder on the passengers side strut tower and the issue goes away then it's definitely torque bind. if the issue doesn't go away with the fuse, it still could be torque bind though as there are essentially two failure modes.

11 bolts on each side. spark plugs and O2 sensor bits need to be removed and it's REALLY tight on the H6 engines. time consuming due to clearance. i'm going to bet it's one of those jobs that's 6 hours the first time you do it, then 2 or 3 the next. subaru might also be charging for lots of parts - the valve cover gaskets and the grommets are like $4 or $5 each, and there's like 22 total - so you could be paying $100 just for new grommets. plug valve cover gaskets, plus spark plug gaskets, plus labor. not sure, i haven't checked, but often the complete valve cover sets with gaskets and all grommets are only $30 or so at an auto parts store. if you do it yourself you'll want a 10mm ratcheting box end wrench, that's a very wise tool to have to work on subaru's and the valve cover bolts are usually where it's worth it's weight in potassium.

head gaskets are the main concern. some foresters had rear wheel bearing issues too - i've replaced them in 2000 Foresters, not sure exactly what years that refers too but that's not that difficult of a repair and will never strand you (unless you're that out of touch with maintenance). there's probably a site where you can research all the recalls as well if you're interested in those.

tim is subyrally or something like that on the board, i've seen him some and he visited me when i lived in westminster where i'm originally from. you looking for EA82 or EA81? you looking for a mother load or just one or a couple? Crazy Ray's - there's a couple in and around the columbia area. down side is you never have a clue what they have, you just pay a $1 and see what's in there. Subaru's are all the way to the back, across the bridge and often on the last row at the one on Route 1. The handful of times I've been there they had an EA82 or three, if I've seen an EA81 it's only been one. The good thing is they're dirt cheap if you can find what you want, just annoying to go look. what are you looking for?

wow, and to think i've done some friends honda's before having no idea. glad i didn't remove two at once, that would have sucked to learn that the hard way.

i took mine apart last night: the outer LATCH pieces are part of the upper rear seat bracket for the 2002 era OBW's. the center LATCH mechanisms are welded to the body. that makes a retrofit to earlier models interesting but i think i can come up with something.

awesome, glad it worked. if one bottle helped, don't use two. the best thing for your trans is ATF so i wouldn't dilute it any more than you have to. that's a very generic recommendation and has little bearing on specific applications. generally don't use additives unless there's a large database of support for it like here. so yeah no-no on the lucas but yeah, yeah on the trans x.

pat yourself on the back for not proceeding with the ezout. success with those is anecdotal when you see what happens when they're used for real work. GLoyale got it - chase the threads, my bet is you'll be fine. if there are any crank bolts that are longer than others i would get one. there are likely to be deeper threads than what the original bolt uses. i've done that multiple times too in blocks and such - longer bolts will reach unused and clean threads, giving you more margin. not sure you have any choices though with the crank bolt but thought i'd check. like GD said, in the rust belt thread repair is just what you do when you really get into car work. i repaired no less than 4 different sets of threads yesterday on a friends truck. called in the morning.....somethings not right....then later again that day again. awesome. and it's a like a 2002. anyway - throw your ezouts away. they will seem to tempting one day and they're totally worthless for automotive stuff. bottom line is this - anything that comes out with an EZout will come out with some other method that's far less problematic or disastrous. if they come out with an ezout - then it wasn't a very difficult removal to begin with. left handed bits are my favorite. they're just hard to find good quality ones as no one stocks them. the cheap chinese harbor freight specials dont' hold up to hardened metals well. best to order ahead and have them handy but most folks need them *now* when they need them.

i would get a new radiator from radiatorbarn.com. i ordered one for a 2000 earlier this year and it was like $90. it'll last another 150,000 miles...probably more if you change the coolant regularly, so that's a great value. by aluminum are you looking for a custom aftermarket? there's really no gain in those for most applications unless you're doing something crazy.

install the MC and don't hook up the hill holder bits and remove what seems reasonable to remove. should be obvious what you can do while you're doing it, not much to the system. a master cylinder from an automatic should not have any hill holder bits on it and would do what you want.

the early impreza FWD's have a different spline count than others, so that's why it's limited when you're looking for suitable replacements. but you can use other transmissions if you swap axles as well to match the spline count on the axle shafts. so yes, you can use a legacy trans or later impreza trans, you'll just have to swap both front axles as well to match the trans. or i guess you could disassemble the transmissions and swap the front diffs, but that's an insane amount of work to avoid swapping two axles that are already partially removed.

pardon the analogy, just supposed to a humorous way to make a point.

question is a little confusing. you're saying EJ22's are swapped into EJ25's (which is true) and run off the Ej25 harness (also true). and you're wondering if you can run an EJ22 on an EJ25 harness...which is what you just said? clarifying in case i missed something but i think you answered your own question - yes, should be able to do exactly that if you choose the right motors and all. the DOHC part is confusing you? DOHC/SOHC (comparing EJ25 and EJ22) is meaningless in terms of the electronic compatibility of the swap. still the same crank sensor and cam sensor on one cam. only needs one input regardless if it has 2, 4, 8 or 23 cams. later 99+ EJ's start having different rules of engagement, but i'm assuming this pertains to all 98 and earlier stuff.

sweet, we should never work on cars together then i have that same problem sometimes.

a misfiring EJ engine always lends me to believe the spark plugs or wires are to blame. or are you saying new plugs are carbon fouled right away? are you getting an actual check engine light or just not running well? if the latter then describe - drivable or barely starts and runs? if you don't want new plugs/wires anyway then swap sides and see if the CEL "moves". in other words if it's a "misfire on Cylinder #2" and then it's on cylinder #1 after swapping plugs....or wires.....then you know the plugs or wires are causing the misfire. to me if you're going to run the car awhile then just get new plugs and wires. how confident are you they were adjusted properly?

mizpah engineering rebuilds HLA's for like $5-$7 or something like that, that's another option should you want to just fix what you have.

i just took one off a 2000 forester earlier this summer, i believe there are clips and holes to hold the clips that hold the molding so you probably want to leave it. it just clips in place, very easy to remove and see if you want to mess with it. how about painting it but leaving the molding unpainted? paint is more difficult to adhere to the plastic isn't it? i'm a total rookie when it comes to paint.

yes - that's what i do on cars that won't start. i first verify spark. pull 4 cylinder plug wires and check for spark from each. pull the hose at the fuel filter and crank the car, let gas pour out, it's not going to hurt anything. that verifies fuel. these 2 tests will likely tell you something. gas deteriorates quickly, common rule is to treat any fuel that's going to sit for like 6 months, a lot of folks treat their fuel if it sets for the summer (snow blower) or winter (tractor, etc). so that yours sat for 7 years, that's some really old gas. granted FI isn't as problematic but still not good -