idosubaru

glad you made it safe out of that one, got lucky like i did (the EA82 example above was my first Subaru!). staying cool isn't the entire equation. if the gauge looks okay or are staying cool some way, the lack of circulation or poor flow can cause localized overheating. overheating damage may not show up until later, 10k, 50 k, etc. EJ25's are a great case in point, with their propensity to overheat immediately, they get overheated a lot. and they loose a lot of rod bearings later in life too. i picked up a 57,000 mile GT that had the headgaskets replaced at 20k or 30k. and that kind of scenario is very common, not just anecdotal. but like you, i've seen it as mentioned a couple posts ago, in an EA82 as well. this info is all well and good, just let it inform your current predicament, not future neglect.

steam and adding water isn't important, what's important is did the car overheat or run hot? "running out of" is ambiguous, so I wouldn't compare other experiences. there isn't much to take home from correlating those events. i've seen Subaru's quit running due to trying to run them while overheating (even an EA82 which is what you're probably talking about though you don't mention what vehicle/engine). then a refill and fix whatever caused the coolant loss and they're fine. that's anecdotal though - to expect that all the time is plain silly, it's definitely not the norm. running low (coolant or oil), to the point that the system can not operate as normal - is really bad. running low on coolant is more risky with age too - 20+ year old gaskets are not as good as 1 year old gaskets. if you're paying for maintenance yourself both will easily cause very expensive repairs that pretty much render most old gen subaru's worthless. if you can do the maintenance yourself then overheating is a little bit "better" because it's usually headgaskets that go first and that's much simpler and cheaper than engine replacement/rebuilding that oil loss will cause. sounds like you have a leak or lost enough coolant for it to boil and push out of the overflow tank. find the source of your coolant loss and fix it. 20+ year old gaskets don't hold up well to heat. if you overheated it badly i'd change the engine and transmission oil soon, heat doesn't do good things to metal or oils.

exactly what you said. i couldn't find the main cooling fan. i saw the power take off and bit of other cursory info but nothing specific. strange you saw the same, i figured i just missed it. i don't think i saw that when i was looking. i was ignoring that because i figured the sub fan (for A/C) and main would be separate. so if i wanted to wire this thing....i'm slow with electronics...could i give 12 volts to the two terminals at the CTS and see if that turns the fan on? if it does then i can power one side of the CTS, ground the other, and i've got a working system again right? guess it's not really much more work to just power the fan while i'm doing it? duh?! thanks guys.

yeah they have a tang at the end that engages with the threading tool. once the insert is in place you knock the tang out of place, it does not stay inside the insert.

you essentially "make" whatever length you want. you can "stack" them in the bolt holes. i've only had to do it once, but was successful. insert one coil then insert another one on top of it. can't recall if you cut to length before or after inserting it, it was a couple years ago. i feel like the directions in the package mentioned that process? probably google it too? if the lengths are close, i wouldn't worry too much about it, the helicoil threads are stronger than the originals anyway - it's a completely different material, and not aluminum so it's different in quite a few ways. my guess is that one helicoil insert is still more resilient and will take a higher torque than the original aluminum threads.

are you saying if you do the exact same thing pulling in straight that it never does it and sounds fine? that would seemingly rule out the brakes. no other vibrations/noises while driving ever, just slow speed parking lots? the new pads from last year could be "stuck" and dragging on the rotor. new pads can be too tight - needing to be shaved down to fit, or they can stick on the clips in the bracket. the clips are 10+ years old and prone to build up/rust/not being smooth any more.

distillers - machines that distill water - have some kind of cleaner with them you use once a month or so to remove the residual stuff left after boiling off water. it works really well actually, no scrubbing or anything. i would guess radiator cleaning products are equally equipped but i'd think there's something out there that will work. although 20 year old radiators are usually in bad shape. places like radiatorbarn.com, etc often have them really cheap. pretty sure the EA82 turbo radiator i bought years ago was only $80 shipped to my door. might be able to find a used one from a yard or board member in better shape than yours too.

i did check that but i didn't want to confuse - because i wasn't sure if it was supposed to have power. i checked the other circuits - like headlights, etc and those fuses did not have power until i turned the headlights on. so i would assume that maybe this circuit doesn't have power until the CTS completes or "turns on" the circuit? it didn't have power...but neither did the headlight fuses, which worked fine. i guess it "should" have power if i jump the CTS connector, but without the fans coming on i bet it won't...but who knows. i agree, wiring diagram is a necessity at this point.

regular tap sizes won't work - thread repair taps are never standard tap sizes so you need the actual tools that come with a kit. drill bit isn't necessary as they are nice enough to allow that to be standard and there's variability, a few sizes will work since the tap does some final cutting as well. i've got M6, M8, and M10's....no M11's otherwise i'd gladly mail it to you to borrow. someone has to have it. you could look up stripped head bolt threads and personally contact someone that's done it.

read what turbone wrote again! EA82 turbo's are much more of a gamble. more parts, more heat, headgaskets will blow quick with overheats. how often do you think cheap, worthless 80's turbo subaru's get great maintenance? rarely. and for all that downgrade in reliability and maintenance you get a pretty measily power increase, but of course you could play with that if you want and they are kind of fun to play with...but beware. they're very similar to the EA82 in a lot of ways - nearly everything is the same with a few different parts to make an EA82 a turbo (pistons & cam profile). reseal sets are essentially all the same, timing belts, etc are all the same. same basic maintenances, the turbo bolts are really annoying to get to but hey it's just a few bolts. they are far less reliable than the EA82, not even comparable actually, particularly at this age and mileage. EA82 can make a great reliable daily driver if you can put up with it's other nuances...being 80's, etc. Get a cheap ebay timing kit for $60 and you're on your way to 50,000 reliable miles. consider any early legacy's or impreza's? they're available cheap around here if you keep your eyes out, particularly if you can fix some minor things on them. be sure to keep your eye out for GD's response, he has great ways of wording answers to questions like this!!!! POPCORN!

Okay test results: when jumping the CTS sensor for the fan: it does not come on. when given 12 volts the fans come on just fine. so the fans work. all fuses are good, i swapped the 3 relays around so unless all three are bad (highly unlikely), that shouldn't be the issue - though i'm not sure the cooling fan even has a relay (i thought only the A/C fan had a relay)? anyone know what the next test would be?

you'll only be running 4WD offroad, slick conditions etc, that's fine. otherwise that year should be front wheel drive when it's not 4WD right? if so, then you're golden.

it's hard to hear - is it like a mutliple clunk when it happens - like 2, 3, 4 little clunks sort of rattling verses one loud clunk? that's sort of what i heard but it was hard to tell.

buy the large jars of it, every store sells them they're just not sitting right on the counter like the packs. you'll be surprised how quickly you go through it. doesn't seem like enough to me, i'm not surprised with those small packs that things corrode again later.

There's a lot of variability but i would plan on longer than 2 hours for your first time. If you're only doing the belt and have no rust, 30-45 minutes if you're fast. First time doubtful though. If you're replacing all the pulleys, water pump, and any wet seals, or resealing the oil pump then over 2 hours for sure. With the timing belt off you have easy access to the oil pump, water pump, cam seals, and cam orings. Good time to address those while you're in there. EJ water pumps dont' often fail but being over 10 years old and next belt coming at 200,000 I would install a new one. But yeah it's fairly straight forward. Lots of excellent information on here and endwrench. I'd jsut print out the Subaru endwrench articles for your engines timing belt. There's links on this forum to them, johnceggleson has links in his sig i believe. i could probably even burn you a CD of the FSM.

there's other threads discussing the disadvantages of synthetics or additives with subaru manual transmissions. actually while searching earlier today for something i saw threads where folks had notable increases in gear grinding and other issues with Redline or other aftermarket stuff and then folks talking about using el-cheapo stuff or dino oil and making it smooth again. just regurgitating, some of what i read today.

from the USRM section of this forum: http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=49952 EA82 5 speed into EA81: http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=54203 more 5 speed swap info but it's not 4WD and replaces 3AT: http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=69534

good call. you could probably even post in the parts wanted forum, someone will have one lying around they'll probably give you for cost of postage probably. i probably have a bunch of Xt manuals which are EA82's, but better to get something vehicle specific. we also have the Subaru factory Service manuals for free downloadable at subaruxt.com. lots of similar parts - same engine (slight intake differences), same transmission, same drivetrain, same suspension, etc. some differences but lots of similarities. fluid quantities would be the same.

i think i always have 4 quarts ready for a change. takes more than 3 but not all of the fourth.

an owners manual really helps with this and lots of other kind of stuff. 80w90 is called for in owners manual i believe. .8 quarts or so for the rear diff. it's less than a quart. trans is like 3 or 4 i think.

did we ever cover year, model, and mileage? if it's that connected to throttle i'm thinking bushings which leads to engine mounts. if those are bad the engine will "rock". will it clunk if you gas it while sitting still?

at 10+ years old i would replace, but only in part because of the belt. get an ebay timing belt kit. the concern now is not just the belt itself but the age of the tensioner and pulleys which are known to fail as they age and loose grease. most of this age/vintage need replacing for another reliable 100,000 miles. the ebay kits (most of us on here use theimportexperts) are only $80 - $200 dollars, yours will almost certainly be the higher end of that because it's the new style tensioner (also the least reliable of the two, giving more confidence that replacement is a good option). done right you got all new timing belt, all new pulleys, new tensioner and i'd throw a new water pump on there too. this is an interference engine, if the timing belt breaks it'll be very expensive to fix the bent valves that result. this is a tank of a motor, do this maintenance right and you've got another cheap 100,000 miles. i've seen it talked about a lot and i don't think a definitive conclusion has ever been reached. there's nothing that says the way one company does it has to be the way they all do it either, meaning one company could theoretically supply two different parts and another could not. unlikely, it seems cost and supply prohibitive.

rotted/warn bushings will cause clunks too, my XT6 clunks every time i use the clutch because the bushing on the top of the rear diff is shot. not sure which bushings could cause that for you though?

can you tell if it's right/left or central? does it do it at all speeds? there's still probably a lot of possibilities but i'd lean towards the CV axle. probably an aftermarket axle was used. if it was a strut i would expect noises on hard bumps, pot holes, speed bumps, etc but doesn't sound like that's it which is probably why you didn't say anything about those?

you can make one turn increment adjustments to get it back where it was. if it's just the outer tie rod it can only be off by concrete 360 degree increments right? ball joints come out every time in 1 minute or less with a pickle fork. i think i posted here or another forum awhile ago about the same issues and someone...i think johnfromky mentioned pickle fork. works every single time and is quick. the only down side is that even with greasing i can't do it without the tool ripping the boot. i don't care as time is more important than money. most of the time though i'm replacing the ball joint anyway so it doesn't matter.