idosubaru

i thought he was talking about EJ25's only and i was speaking to Phase I and Phase II EJ25's. i know you can swap SOHC and DOHC Ej22/EJ25 stuff. But GD do you mean to say you think you can also swap Phase I (DOHC) and II (SOHC) EJ25 blocks?

wow, are you saying that it's clicking without the boot even being torn? classic aftermarket garbage. that sucks. if you got grease in there it very well could help. i've had clicking/vibrating axles shut right up after stuffing them full of grease. problem is it just flings out immediately if the boots are broken (typical cause of clicking). my boots tore last year in colorado up a mountain access road. they vibrated the entire 1,500 miles back home towing a huge trailer/4 wheeler, etc. i stuffed grease in at every gas stop on the way home and they'd be quiet for a few miles. let off the gas to stop when the vibrating got really bad. i ended up repacking and rebooting those axles and they're as smooth and quiet as could be for the past year now? i have tons of XT6's, XT6 axles, and boot kits so i didn't care, it was worth a shot. so yeah - grease might be a big help. if the boot is still good you could even try unclamping, greasing, and reclamping the boot. all it would cost is a clamp. CV clamps are just annoying though. but you could just use a hose clamp.

+1 PT's are great for EA/ER engines, but NOT EJ's. just a wag but if you didn't experience classic EJ25 overheating symptoms i wouldn't be surprised if they were replaced years ago with some aftermarket gaskets.

thank you. if by "weston" in your location that means Weston, WV I was just there Friday and bought 2 subaru wheels.

of course i recommend repair. but if you're asking about limits - roll on man, you're golden. my personal rule of thumb was (back in poor college days) start thinking about it when they start clicking while driving straight. it'll happen...a long time from now. i have hundreds of thousands of miles of CV clicking and broken boot experience. back in college (8 years of it) i'd run them until they got so bad they were vibrating or clicking while going straight. these were original subaru axles though (most likely) which are very robust compared to aftermarket. you can get 50,000 miles out of fronts and basically the life of the car on the rears. if they're original subaru. if they're aftermarkets then who knows but i'd bet you have a very long time. stay out of sand and coal dust (or whatever that black coarse stuff is they throw in the mountains of WV on the snow). that stuff will eat joints quick, i have personal experience with both. plain old road salt on snow was never an issue. as a temporary remedy you can even stuff grease in there by hand but it won't stay in very long obviously, but the noise will go away or reduce. then you can saran wrap the boot to keep it in like my roommate used to do.

Years ago I recall folks talking about "retorquing" or tightening EA82/ER27 heads and cam towers to snug up the bolts and slow down external leaks. I was never bold enough to try it, seemed like a bad idea. You ready to try it? :lol: That's a joke. I use anything but Fram or a relabeled fram. Usually Purolator Pure One or WIX, but I'm not that concerned. While I'm not a fan, one fram isn't going to blow your engine up, i've installed one before for various reasons. The local auto parts store here had a display case with a Fram cut in half showing the lower quality build and cardboard (which fram says is a good material choice) compared to a Purolator.

All sorts of vehicles - Sables, Taurus, Caravans, Ford trucks etc, can have difficulty bleeding. Subaru's are not like those statistically speaking though, bleeding issues are rare. Of course he should check and be sure but I wouldn't spend too much time worrying about it on a Subaru.

gas mileage conscious folks around me are not buying subaru's and 1 mpg is not going to draw them in. folks that aren't thinking about gas mileage....which is increasing as prices aren't at $4 any more....buy whatever they want. if folks are going to change buying characteristics and not buy what they want aesthetically speaking, image, features, etc, they're going to lean towards big improvements. most don't give up personal choice for small change. doesn't seem like much change to me at all, they tweaked the EZ, okay. for a company constantly absorbed in the industry, working on engine designs, testing, marketing, branding, analysis etc, this seems logical and expected. they have no doubt already talked about when to introduce the next series and the logistics of that process. organizations, particularly well run organizations, think way ahead. not just one year - but 3, 5, 10 years.

yeah cover that up. when you have time check those alt connections and make sure the plastic plug into the alt isn't brittle, falling apart, corroded. haven't seen it much on EJ's yet, mostly older stuff, as they're not reaching that age yet but give it a check along with that copper cable. crank pulleys are known to separate too. they are made of two completely separate pieces of metal with a very thin rubber ring between them, you can see if you look closely. if the pulley slips, the inner ring turns with the engine but the slipping will make the outer ring not turn as fast...reducing alternator output. draw a line across the face of the pulley. if the line gets "broken" later after some driving, you'll know your pulley is separating. fix it before it falls apart.

i've seen them get really bad but they don't "blow" and leave you stranded. the really bad ones i've seen all had 200,000+ miles on them. one guy i know has been driving his for a long time - he was at 280,000 last i saw it and it's leaking a lot of oil but he's still driving it. the smoking at a stop is what's bothering him due to the oil dripping onto the exhaust. so the good news is you're not going to get stranded. just check the oil level. i'd lean heavily on doing them now, but that's easy for me to type. either way you should be fine to 200,000 is my guess. if you wait to 200,000 you can just do your next timing belt change then too. save up for a timing kit - all pulleys and belt.

all DOHC blocks are interchangeable. all SOHC blocks are interchangeable. i don't believe you can swap DOHC and SOHC blocks though, but wait for clarification.

great, that might be the problem. i saw another thread that i thought someone said removing the glove box didn't help. so nevermind that, i'll take it out tomorrow. thanks.

subaru front struts pretty much interchange from 1990 until well into the 2000's, not much has changed over a long time. legacy, impreza, OBW, forester, all interchange. there were some changes to the rears in the 2000's, but pretty sure the WRX rears are interchangeable as a complete assembly. the setup is a little different and you can't interchange parts between them, but the entire assemblies are interchangeable. some 2000 rear set ups differ though, not sure which ones or years.

subarus don't have bleeding issues so that's not likely your problem. other vehicles do, but not subarus. every one i've ever done just takes a couple turns of the wheel and it's done. i'd guess the pump is failing or air is getting into the system. if you turn the wheel a bunch and then check the fluid immediately do you see air bubbles mixed in the fluid? ATF retains bubbles well if it gets aerated and often shows. that's a good question about leaking or air getting sucked in. all the leaky pumps i've seen are due to the oring at the base of the reservoir of the pump and did not cause any noises or issues so i would guess air doesn't get sucked in there. but maybe if it's a worse leak it would, i don't know. is yours leaking somewhere else? like the back plate of the pump?

you access it all from underneath - like right by the blower motor? do you remove anything else? i removed the bolt on the side of the dash but that doesn't allow it to move at all. removed two screws underneath and the dash isn't budging, not sure where all the dash attaching points are. the FSM is worthless it shows an ambiguous picture with no surrounding clues/orientation. doesn't even show what side or where it is in the car.

i've spent a gob of time upside down with my head in the footwell area looking for this timer. the pictures are great that 1-3-2-4 posted but i can't tell what angle those are relative too. the yellow air bag line is the most telling but i still can't seem to see where this thing is. almost positive it's on the passengers side like 1-3-2-4's since i hear it clicking when i work the locks. internet connection where the car is won't work with video so i can't use that link he posted.

the 32mm nut can be a BEAST. often they just come off just fine, but a wrestling match isn't rare either. i've broken socket wrenches and breaker bars and finally upgraded to a 1,000 ft-lb or so air gun and sometimes i just have to use a 4 foot pipe over a 3/4" socket wrench handle. yours might come right off, but might not too. if it's a tough one a quick blast of heat only on the nut and immediately trying to remove it sometimes helps.

i think you mean the axle nut, the really big one - that's a 32 mm. as far as removing rusted bolts it's just plain and simple annoying. repeated application of penetrant like pb blaster over the course of a long period of time, not just right before you do it is a good thing. hard to say without knowing exactly which bolts will be an issue but i assume the lower rear lateral link bolt will be more problem area. soak the entire length that's visible through the notch in the hub housing. you'll see when you look. still a good chance of it being seized in there though and not wanting to come out of the housing. those are notorious. the only way to gaurantee a quick job is to order a complete hub assembly from the west or south that is rust free. find a place that will mail you the entire hub assembly with the lateral link attached to it then you can just remove your old rusted one from the vehicle without messing with that lateral link bolt on the hub assembly. heat will be your friend, sometimes this is a job for a mechanic who has the tools (heat) to get it out.

use what you want or pick and choose who ever's opinion seems best to you, it doesn't matter. follow the owners manual oil weight recommendations, if you're within those spec's you're golden. you can google oil questions, tons of information out there to digest for those that want it.

the EJ22 doesn't have enough power? that sounds strange, the EJ swapped guys love the EJ22 for offroad?

yeah follow online instructions, it's easy. just line up three marks, install belt, very simple.

copy that. thought i had seen 98's with the spin on's, like the last 98 OBW i had, thanks john.

so all the ones you've seen were the exact same valve, not just the same cylinder, check. these are all solid lifter engines? this would be less likely on HLA equipped engines then?

JCE is the auto trans guy, you hit the jackpot! if the front diff in your current trans is good you have the option of swapping front diffs if your mechanic is up to the task. in 98 an external filter was added and the bell housing bolt pattern changed. neither of those negate the swap though, i just mention them because they're so obvious visually speaking. those don't really matter at all and can be ignored if everything else is up to snuff.

when converting a legacy of that vintage, in the US anyway, you have to swap the cruise control modules as they are auto/manual specific. slave cylinder and hose failure is frequent enough on hydraulic clutches i'd install new ones. not familiar with STI or your version but i've always seen manuals/auto crossmembers being different. in general Subaru axles interchange between auto's and manuals, they're the same. i've used 2002 WRX front axles in other subaru's before...though they weren't STi so maybe that means nothing. some newer rear diffs have inner style axle attachments instead of the stubs. not sure, but i'd like to know when that change happened.