idosubaru

i'm not aware of any definitive test. usually if it's really bad there's just one or two that are noticeably loud from either side or front/back. get a mechanics stethoscope and try to narrow it down that way. how long has it been doing this? was it fine for 20 years then one day started being really loud (probably not?)? have the headgaskets ever failed or has the engine ever been overheated? there's all sorts of possibilities with HLA's. resealing or replacing oil pumps can quiet noisy HLA's. resealing the cam carrier can quiet things down. replacing the HLA's can quiet them down. doing all of the above would certainly solve the issue. given the age i wouldn't worry about which ones are good or bad as there's a company Mizpah Engineering that rebuilds them for like $5. given the extensive job involved in replacing it would be silly not to just replace them all.

i'd invest some time in an FSM - they should be fairly explicit about what to do if you have limp mode and stuck in first gear. if the transmission light is ever blinking or the check engine light then you need those codes. have you ever seen any lights at all on the dash? if not, make sure they work. TPS is used in the shifting algorithm, not sure if that would cause your symptoms but the contacts in them do fail and get less responsive with age. this sounds fairly repeatable, something is sticking or something.

the EJ25's do it all the time when their head gaskets blow. that's classic EJ25 headgasket sign - bubbles after the car is shut off, seen it tons of times and folks on here see it all the time. but yours might just be superheating and boiling or something locally in spots due to a bad radiator too?

tone rings changed around 2000 or 2002. before that time (whatever it is) the tone ring was part of the hub. after that the tone ring was pressed onto the axle. i use 2002+ axles all the time on older stuff, the axles aren't any longer. i guess i'm missing something but doesn't seem like there's any width to gain. otherwise, to your ABS question, it doesn't matter, swap them all day long. just make sure the axle matches the hub.

the bubbles are not encouraging - that is typical EJ exhaust signs. but, of course we don't want to jump to conclusions. does the a/c work - if it does and it overheats quicker with the a/c on or it doesn't overheat when it's cold outside (like drive it at night), then that's probably a good sign the radiator is the cause. still doesn't explain the bubbles.

Sounds normal to me. Reboot them, the inners fails due to heat from the exhaust i believe. Wish they'd come up with better boots. I rebooted newish axles last year (split due to a lift), they had been vibrating terribly and i destroyed them for 4,000 miles - rebooted and they've been smooth as silk since! Good axles are quite robust.

oh you can't install a new engine that way, so you'll have to sell it to me - i'll give you $350. :lol: the older ones you could prime the pump, the newer ones you can't quite do it the same as the oil pump is connected to the crank so the engine has to turn over to move oil. and not sure how to lube the cylinder walls since being horizontal you can't add oil to the cylinder...well you can but it would only lube the bottom half. i'd probably start a separate thread for that given that the engine has sat for a very long time and it's going for a first start up. i'd crank the engine over by hand a bit then crank i over the the starter with the fuel lines disconnected so as to get oil circulating first. but might be another step to do before that on an engine with unknown cylinder wall/oil conditions.

remove motor mount bolts. hook the chain to whatever you want. wrap it under the intake, passengers side rear of motor usually has a hook on it for pulling. wrap it around a/c or p/s brackets. it's all just metal, make a good judgement call and hook it up. remove the bolts around the bellhousing. the two lower ones by the axle are the most annoying, they're nuts actually. remove starter. torque converter bolts are accessed through the tiny window under the throttle body. remove the rubber plug (if it's still there) and keep rotating the engine to remove the torque conveter bolts one at a time).

if the temps are coming back down quickly then i'd suspect your radiator. IR temp guns don't test radiators very well. they probably do if it's really bad, but probably hard to detect minor internal issues which is what it sounds like you have. but of course who wants to "guess" with a $100 radiator. radiatorbarn.com, the partsbin.com should give a good price for one.

subaruoutback.org has a great thread about it, i'd find that if you're not comfortable just yet. it's a REALLY easy job. it sounds hard since most folks don't "press bearings", but it was about as easy as peeling an apple. get a socket about the same size and the old bearing tapped out really easy with a hammer.

that's a great car and it sounds like a fair price...given i can't see the thing. one owner vehicle is a very good thing. multiple owners not as good. might want to read cars101.com about 2002 changes, i think there's a few upgrades to the 02+ models. i made a spread sheet when i was looking for one and thought i remembered wanting an 02+ for some reason but can't recall why. the H6 engine is awesome. no need to worry about the timing chain, they're intended to last the life of the vehicle and so far they're doing an outstanding job. you are highly unlikely to need any TPS work, those are infrequent. and if you do it's no big deal. what i would worry about is the tensioner pulley bearings - i can nearly promise you they will fail. but they're super simple and i fixed mine in 15 minutes. they are a maintenance item on this car. based on that same recommendation when i bought my H6, i removed my perfectly fine working tensioner and idler pulleys....and it was not in good shape. would have never known if i didn't read about it on a subaru forum. removed them and replaced the two $3 bearings with new ones. subaru won't replace just the bearings, they probably only replace the entire pulleys. either way i'd request them to replace both of those - printing out the documented online threads about them if you have too. and i'd have them fix that wind noise. Subaru has an updated Gusset for the wind noise - it's like $180 per side. known issue, subaru updated the part, this car has the issues - ask them to repair it with the known fix that Subaru created. it's really annoying on long trips. another solution, which may only be temporary, is to roll the window down and squeeze the part there that the window travels through together with your finger. roll the window back up and the noise is gone. might be for awhile, might come back tomorrow. don't do it in front of the salesmen! don't forget frequent oil changes for the timing chain components.

since i want your other car i want to help you with this one. call me if you have EJ questions. that engine can be hard to bleed the coolant in. that year/model should/might have a bleeder screw on the top left side of the radiator. large plastic screw, just unthread it until coolant starts coming out. then tighten once no more air. i would bet it's just needing a good burp. if not then a clogged radiator. or worse a cracked block. an EJ22 doesn't blow head gaskets for no reason - so we can guess with almost 100% confidence that the engine was overheated, which caused the headgaskets to blow. so that suggests there was a pre-existing condition and it was significantly overheated.

assuming my 02 H6 OBW is the same, there are two lower screws holding it in place. meaning you remove whatever you need to in order to get to those - like the ash tray or whatever it down there covering them up. once those are out the rest is clipped in on the sides and top. pry gently from the sides. **disclaimer: not responsible for broken pieces. i've removed mine 4 times already and surprised it hasn't broken yet.

hmm, grounds, in the engine bay i presume? i'm going to clear the codes and check the light as soon as it comes back to see if maybe one comes back "first" before the others. i burnt my OBDII scanner today pulling it out of the socket while the car was running. el-cheapo ebay model with no fuse. i'll buy two this time! or maybe one good one, one cheap one.

did some searching, your intake swaps so that's good news, appears no significant changes. is your 05 DBW, if so you'll have to swap to non-DBW throttle body. another guy went the opposite way and swapped an 05 engine into his 02 vehicle and it wouldn't start - through a cam position sensor code - which happens a good bit on 2000-2004 models and requires swapping the cam sprockets from the original motor onto the new. he didn't reply back to see if he worked it out, but that's probably what he did. thread here: http://www.rs25.com/forums/f128/86096-engine-replacement-w-newer-ej25-4.html

oh right, i'm sure you wouldn't notice anyway i was just mentioning that to make the point that the engine did change in 05, that's all. haven't done anything that new myself or heard much about it. did you try any searching?

car runs fine, i don't notice any issues at all. codes came back fairly quickly too. i'd rather not throw parts at it, knock sensor seems most reasonable since they're known maintenance items.

asking price will depend on your area and time of year. buying now is good in my area. prices go up...or at least turnover is faster, in winter when folks need 4WD or wreck their cars and need another vehicle immediately and have the insurance company check to make it happen quick. i wouldn't discuss finances, pointless to discuss. focus on the car you want at a reasonable price. financing comes later. cart before the horse puts the game in their ballpark and gives them an advantage. they will try to find out the monthly payment you're after, etc. ignore those requests. they want your money, you want a car. keep the focus on the vehicle and price, not payments or financing. you can use online loan calculators to get some rough payment figures and determine what price-level works for you, seems like you've already done that even. good job! subaruoutback.org is a forum with a lot of newer outback owners. they sometimes discuss pricing, recent purchases, and financing there. might see if anyone has a thread about a vehicle around your year range - i'm pretty sure there are.

2005 is a 4th generation - where 2000-2004 is 3rd. engine output increased a tiny amount. that often doesn't matter as far as engine swaps but sometimes it does. i'm not sure if it matters here or not. how many miles? are you sure it's rod knock and not piston slap, timing tensioner, or oil pump?

i would get the legacy if they're a wagon and you like utility/functional use of your vehicle. foresters are a little smaller in the back i believe. you're more likely to need more room in the future than less, so plan ahead and get the larger space vehicle. i'd get the H6 (and i I did), they are awesome engines and vehicles. there's one crucial part that should be replaced as soon as you get it. took me about 15 minutes and cost $3 for a new bearing on the tensioner pulley, not a big deal. dealer will charge probably a couple hundred for the entire tensioner. the tensioner pulley bearings are known maintenance items - have them replaced now no matter what. it's very easy and doesn't cost much. H6 is a great motor ours has 150,000 miles on it and i plan on having it another 100,000 miles at least. the one owner and lower miles is well worth the extra $1,000 in price on that one. you can get better deals and vehicles from private sales. talk to your bank or credit union about financing it for you and search autotrader, craigslist or your local newspapers and see if you have any options there. i prefer vehicles from owners, dealers don't know anything unless it's written on paper. it's easy to find good, honest sellers who want to sell their well maintained car - particularly one this new and nice.

2000 Forester automatic 148,000 miles. Cleared the codes and they came back. Has a new front Oxygen sensor, Bosch. P0463 Fuel Level Sensor Circuit High P0325 Knock Sensor P1100 MAF Sensor Intermittent P1133 HO2S insufficient Switching Sensor 1 I'm familiar with the knock sensor issues on EJ's.

EJ's can have piston slap which is a knocking sound at start up that goes away as the engine warms up. piston slap is rare in EJ22's (usually EJ25's) and i don't think i've ever heard of piston slap on the older gen models like yours, but i'm not involved in many of those older ones either. how fast does it go away at start up? even with mild rod knock i've "heard" of people driving a long time with rod knock...and i've heard of cars (wait i owned one) that lasted less than 100 miles before locking up. i'd keep driving it.

the TCU knows the circuit that is causing the issue, so read the code is your next step if you don't trust the info you're getting here. in my opinion there's no value in discussing the 0.01% other possibilities that could cause your issues. i've never heard of anything but Duty C's causing the issues you describe, though i agree it's interesting how repeatable it seems to be. but i'm not that deterred by it either, like i said electricity and temperature are highly correlated. Duty C is probably failing, not clutches. you would need to let us know what kind of work you're comfortable doing for us to offer more roughly $500 at a dealer (parts included in that price), less at an independent. i just posted a couple months ago what my friend paid, he supplied the parts to the dealer in Atlanta, find that thread for a number as i don't recall. No, you replace the solenoid. i've "fixed" other solenoids but i wouldn't do it in this case, but that's just up to you. i've never heard of anyone doing it on these. new is a much better solution for most people, the minor cost isn't worth the time and risk for most folks.

the stock Subaru OEM EJ25 exhaust manifold gaskets are great, they don't leak. if they do then something is wrong with the surfaces, exhaust, or installation. is there anything non-stock about that area of the vehicle you're talking about? most annoying thing is the studs rusting, seizing, coming out, stripping etc - same exact issues there on the EJ's as the older EA/ER stuff.

i installed a 2" lift on my XT6 and it already sits fairly high with the air suspension, with front axles at a hard angle. new aftermarket axles vibrated after i installed the lift so i installed rebuilt MWE axles I had in my garage from a previous car but didn't put many miles on them. those boots, not that old, also tore on my first road trip. after rebooting them, i think what actually happened was that those axles, while new, had sat for awhile in my garage and rubber dried out. the rubber appeared "old", not glossy and shiny like new boots. i rebooted them and they've been fine since then. might want to just try new boots. if they're close to the exhaust then the heat isn't going to help them, a heat shield might help. the funny thing is that the axles were vibrating horribly all the way back from Colorado to WV - like 1,500 or 2,000 miles or whatever it is. I had to pack grease inside the cracked boots at every gas fill up and alternately gas/brake to diminish the vibrating when it got bad. might have hosed them for the long term but they're perfectly tight and smooth now with fresh grease and a reboot. Go MWE!