idosubaru

yes, as far as the head gaskets go. if they are pressure tested and installed properly they won't cause issues. pressure test will verify they do no leak. properly installed headgaskets will not leak. so if pressure test and installation are up to par, you're golden and that cylinder is sealed. the heads will not be cracked unless there is missing information in your description. WOW will!! i've seen oil/coolant filled intakes on turbo's but never geysers, that's awesome!

Another option is finding one with headgaskets already replaced, that's not usually too hard to find given their propensity to pop.

i can't forsee a failure that wouldn't have had other symptoms but maybe it was water pump related? i've seen EJ engines pass compression and exhaust in the coolant tests before and still have blown headgaskets. since it was loosing coolant, it may have lost enough to overheat at some point, thereby weakening the headgaskets. at 180,000 miles they've seen a lot of use and are unlikely to take running hot as well as a new engine. a 50 year old can't take what a 20 year old can kind of thing i'm sure he will or did but i'd have him closely check the timing chain tensioners and guides while it's apart. the guides are known to break occassionally.

nipper i'm getting ready to do some paint work as well. can you describe what you've done. think "8th grade" level here, (like you usually do when talking to me! ), i'm ignorant of paint. i know it's not possible but i want quick and cheap. did you use a gun and compressor or how did you apply it? how many coats?

normal. if it only creaked twice, you should have kept going, that's not tight enough! :lol: these bolts come loose frequently when not installed tight.

Correct, it's generally communicated to not reuse headgaskets. I wouldn't do it, too big of a job for that small of change. If you didn't have Subaru headgaskets, take this as a fortunate turn of events and go get some Subaru headgaskets. Aftermarkets are not really acceptable on that particular motor.

Wheel seems like a likely place to start. Steering racks are almost unheard of failures on Subaru's. He's probably used to american cars. :lol: Check that there's no dirt/mud packed up in the wheel, that will artificially imbalance it.

dave - the 99 is a specific known issue of that year only.

unlikely. probably just unfamiliar with subarus. though rear mains leaking is rare too but certainly not impossible, particularly if previously replaced.

that's okay just choose a method that sounds best to you and do it or ask specific questions about it. there's no way to ask for "one way" when there are multiple ways, just pick one and roll with it. this thread will turn out just like the others - you'll get multiple options.

ECU or TCU? thanks for the follow up, glad you got it figured out, hopefully for good this time.

not ideal but probably fine, i agree. i'd just roll with it. yours is an auto, not sure which are more forgiving.

yeah some play is completely normal. if they're all roughly the same then you can expect it to be normal. subaru axles very rarely fail and it is extremely rare for them to fail for no reason. they are very robust and stand up to a servere beating. the noise you're referring too could it be something else like brakes, bearings, strut, etc? best bet is to reboot your existing axles. aftermarket axles are inferior - noisy out of the box, vibrations, failure, don't last long, leaking grease, don't waste your time. particularly considering yours sound fine. plan on installing new boots some day as soon as they crack and call it a day.

oh yeah, the H6 is a fantastic engine. more reliable than the 4 cylinders of that vintage. the serpentine belt pulleys like he said are very common failures. the good news is that you already know and it's really cheap and easy to replace. frankly i'd replace them right now as preventative maintenance, unless they're "perfect". they take a matter of minutes to replace, it's very easy. you can either buy the entire pulley from subaru or you can buy the bearings for like $4 and tap the old out and the new in, they're really easy. takes 30 minutes tops to do the entire job. you could ask the selling party to inspect or replace them for you as a condition of sale. you could even print out this thread or the long thread on subaruoutback.org about those pulleys as indication of their susceptibility to fail. if i was selling this car i'd be more than willing to do it for the sale as it's very quick and costs only a couple dollars in bearings.

since it sounds like the engine is out, i'd pull the belt off to at least inspect the pullies and make sure they're not lousy from sitting or something. i'd run it another 25k miles before swapping parts given how new the engine is too. protect those new tensioner surfaces so they don't get surface rust. sell me the oil cooler plumbing. i need some for the same reason you mentioned - bent and mangled all that tubing under there off road so i want to replace it.

i would get the lower speed rating if you liked those tires. it's not a big deal. there was a recent thread about this subject. it's not like one step lower is going to start blowing up. as you know tire-rack and others have great reviews on their website.

i was about the same thing, i wouldn't expect blank plugs on the controller. and i didn't think side air bags were an option on any model in 2000. none in 99 and if 2000 had any it would be high end legacy's, not impreza's. i think he's got some info to check in on though if he wants to start plugging around. i'd be looking for the harnesses and the sensors associated with his vehicle. it's rare but sometimes sub-harnesses aren't installed but everything else is in place so the options are plug and play.

not sure what you got over there joost, but over here many NA heads (non-XT) are single port intakes and turbo's are dual ports. no way to bolt a dual port turbo manifold to a single port head.

15 minutes with a hair dryer. get the emblem just hot enough to melt the adhesive without too hot that it damages it. also make sure it's not fastened or bolted on, which i can't think of any bolted subaru emblems so should be clear. a google search of "how to debadge a car" will bring up a billion hits.

Nice links OBW. Section 6 looks like it is showing 3 connectors of the configuration you're picture shows. Section 6 page WI49 shows the main connector you have. page WI51 shows the other two connectors and what they go to. Page WI51 indicates those empty plugs are for side impact air bags and the ELR system (the locking front seat belts). But I don't know if they're used for other things, might want to skim that info and find out because I don't think your car has side impact air bags or ELR right? I didn't scan through it all but I guess it's possible those connectors (AB17 & AB18) are used for something else too, but I didn't find it. Really hard to imagine someone actually pulling an entire harness like that out. You obviously checked for those connectors to make sure they didn't get stuffed somewhere else right?

what he said - remove plugs and maybe even douse the insides with a penetrant, might free up the sticking rings if that's the issue and you got time to let it sit. if you're removing the heads anyway then you could go the extra mile of removing the pan and bolts to separate the block. use a chisel to break the engine apart then beat on the piston heads and it'll free it up enough to turn. you could even try that in the car then you can turn it and not have to mess with it all. you won't be able to get to the block bolts behind the torque converter but it worked when i've done it before. you'll get the block to separate a small amount - maybe a 1/2" which is enough to free it. but i also destroy the block in the process because i have no use for it anyway. that's probably what i would do on these older motors since heads are easy to do on these, particularly with air tools - zip, zip, zip and all your head bolts are all. if not you can pull the entire lump, engine and trans and separate them out of the car. then pull it straight apart to get at things. it's a high lift and angle to get it all out but it'll come. if you do it by pulling them apart then you'll need to drill the bolts out since the heads aren't accessible - well i dont' think they are, it's been awhile since i've done an EA82 but think they're about the same clearance wise. for future reference, like someone mentioned, this is an older generation vehicle for this forum based on the EA82 engine. good luck!

the 97 OBW will be a 4.44 final drive as well, that won't be an issue. in general subaru doesn't change transmissions very often and the 4EAT has remained similar in a lot of ways, but there are some hurdles for what you're talking about. wiring/sensor changes between those years. the speed sensors changed but not sure of specifics. sometimes it's as simple as just swapping the sensors onto the "new" trans, but i think they added a sensor on the later ones like you're talking about. engines are different too and the TCU does interface with the ECU. though i don't know if that's a factor or not.

retrieve the air bag codes, it's really easy to do. i forget how but search here or online and you'll find out. find out the codes and let us know. i was looking into intricate stuff once on an air bag light and finally read the codes, it gave me the drivers side air bag code and it just happened to be disconnected. light went out when i plugged it in. i've done a few, normal and with side impact air bags too, and can't recall specifics. i don't remember but could it be that your model doesn't have those plugs? like maybe those are only used in models with side impact air bags and yours are supposed to be blank? removing an entire harness seems unlikely but i guess if they really stripped it down good? those mystery plugs are not air bag related. as you know, the air bag connectors are always yellow and easily identified by also having those absolutely insanely difficult to remove clips. they require you to play twister with your fingers to remove, if you've ever done one you know what i'm talking about. they make it such that it's almost impossible to remove them without damaging one every now and again, absolutely brilliant. those mystery connectors are probably for options you didn't have that were available on other vehicles. subaru installs the same wiring harness across a wide swathe of vehicles making it easy to install options. like seat heaters, subwoofer, amp, remote CD changer, i'm making stuff up but you get the point, or if it was a legacy the climate control and VDC buttons would be there.

if you want to do the swap you need to know if their Phase I or Phase II engines. A few things changed right around 99 and both Phase I and Phase II Ej25's happened to be available that year. You would first verify what EJ22 you currently have since that's the change over year just to be sure. the swap is easy either way if you have the right Phase engine. have the wrong phase and it won't work, electronics and mechanicals being different, etc. but i'd keep the EJ22. the EJ22 is more reliable. if you need proof then type in EJ25 headgasket, EJ25 piston slap, EJ25 bearing failure in google or here and read of those issues all day long. It's not actually a bad motor - but in Subaru terms it's a downgrade in reliability and not much power gain. and those "JDM" Ej25's are more novelty than anything else, tell him to just stop drooling over it, it's just an engine. lol. Even an EJ25 is still a slow car, it's not like it's got mad power and pulls great track times, it's still slow in those terms. It is a nice bump in power if you're towing or do a lot of mountain driving though but hardly worth all the effort in my opinion. but i'm admittedly odd and abnormal in car terms.

they're so easy to remove could you just remove them as is? it takes like 5 minutes, doesn't seem worth all the fabbing for how simple it is. 4 bolts, one pin and an electrical connector, not much to it. the most annoying part will be handling them. they're very heavy unlike jeep doors. i mean not heavy like you can't move them but big and awkward. good chance of dings, scrapes, and dropping them due to the awkwardness. i think every door i've ever swapped i did by myself but a helper is far easier. playing balance beam while balancing on my leg...