idosubaru

did the trans come out or stay put? meaning, did you disconnect any of that linkage at all? sounds like you didn't properly seat the torque converter. are you familiar with how to seat the torque converter properly? if not, and you just bolted the engine and trans together then you probably hosed your transmission. doing that can crack the pump inside the transmission. so bheinen - you think he can just put it back together right and it'll be fine? i've only seen a couple cases, which resulted in oil pump failure inside the trans.

Yes, this has a good chance of not being rod knock. This car has a timing belt. The timing belt tensioners can fail and do exactly what you're saying. They don't typically fail enough (at first) to slip time and will run fine. Probably by design since this is an interference motor - if the belt slips you are hosed and will need a head rebuild or motor replacement. Have the timing tensioner fixed now if that's what it is. Might as well just have a new timing belt installed while you're at it. Subaru charges $699 for a timing belt job around my parts....add another $150 for the tensioner. A mechanic will be much cheaper probably. Very odd at such low mileage and age. Although these newer tensioners are notorious for being less reliable than older ones, weird considering the interference nature.

This has been asked over and over before. There's no quantitative answer. Subaru discontinued their extended headgasket warranty campaign around 2002/2003 and started requiring their "conditioner" with the coolant, so i believe that's their "fix". whether any updates happened later than that i have no idea. It's important to note the headgasket issue is not nearly as prevalent as it was in the past.

Most likely it exhibited external signs at first which were ignored and developed into an internal leak. Or lots of the Subaru goob was added - but too little too late. Or it was repaired previously and exhibited a different failure mode the second time around. No way to tell, but doesn't really matter much in the end.

This has been asked before and a few of us have done it, like myself.

Amsoil is a great product and high quality. It's not a magic elixir. And I also agree with GD.

lifetime warranty often means low quality. they only replace what is absolutely necessary for it to work. they figure on maybe a couple replacements but on older used car odds are good the person won't have it long so "lifetime" won't really be that long. my guess is that it was very reasonably priced.

Screw them back in. It might just "seem" like they're not going back in, they're rather fine threads and require quite a bit of turning. I would pull the master cylinder cap off at least or open the bleeder screw, it will make it much simpler to seat it and get it started if it really is all the way off the spindle/threads. If they actually went past the seals and fluid leaked into the rubber boots I'd just rebuild them. They're already apart, rebuild kits are cheap (just picked up a legacy set for $3 per piston). No point in reseating the piston to a 20+ year old seal and boot. Of course you can always just do this later only if you have problems too.

Yeah it's actually really easy. I started fixing air bag blown vehicles a couple years ago and it's not hard at all. At most you should only need to replace both bags, clock spring, and the computer. On older ones sometimes you can get away with just replacing the air bags. Being a 96 outback i'd just go ahead and plan on replacing both bags and the computer if i were you. Make sure it's from a Legacy Outback and not an Impreza Outback, they're different and sometimes yards confuse them. If you order them from a yard they often charge a "Hazardous Materials Surcharge" but it's not really much. It's worth it to find a reasonable price as sometimes yards want insane amounts for these. $50 for each bag is a decent price, much more and they're likely trying to make a killing on them. I just got done repairing a newer OBW with air bags, side impact air bags in the seats and the exploding/locking/have to replace them seat belts - same thing - fairly simple. The most annoying part of the whole deal is the yellow air bag connectors, they are amazingly frustrating.

Similar to what GD said - the rears have far fewer failures as well. I've never actually seen a failed rear axle - fronts fail all the time.

you can add a turbo the EJ22 as well. it handles light boost really well and reliably.

yes he replaced both. like lots of other people have, but i've never heard of anyone testing one. i think most folks figure that at 10+ years old and if they're expecting more miles out of the car, having a new front O2 sensor doesn't hurt and probably pays for itself. my rationale is i'm keeping my 02 OBW for another 100,000 miles, it's going to need new front sensors at some point so i just replaced them now and maximize my return for the investment. the 0420 code is just about the most annoying code you can get from a diagnostic stand point. a bit of effort and mind juices reveals these: here's the subaruoutback.org thread metioning Subaru's 1 hour test: http://www.subaruoutback.org/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=16769&perpage=20&highlight=0420&pagenumber=2 here's some good info on quantifying 0420 codes: http://www.troublecodes.net/articles/catfailure/

this can be done really cheap. reusing headgaskets is not something that's ever done or recommended. i bought an EJ18 in perfectly running condition from a junk yard for $150. even had a 3 or 6 month warranty (didn't need it really). doesn't look like many subaru's around you, here's the only cheap one i could find $300 for an EJ18: 866-410-6173

subaru has a very detailed process for doing what you're saying but it involves interfacing with the electronics - someone has detailed that in depth and quantitative process here or on subaruoutback.org, i'm not sure which but i've read it.. i've never heard of someone doing it themselves. the more information you can give the better or we have to assume things and start from the beginning. this board is comprised of all sorts of individuals, we have no idea of knowing what you've done, know, or don't know. might save your anger, blood pressure, and need to validate yourself over the interweb by "telling people off".

pretty sure yes the exhaust needs to come down. a 2004 leaking p/s rack - that's odd.

the attitude isn't helping you. no wonder your wife lectures you! you might like NASIOC better than here. do you know for sure this is a bad converter? the P0420 code can be caused by other things and a lot of folks don't know that or look into it. so that's why we were trying to help by pointing you elsewhere. there's also a way to fix this for $10 almost regardless of what the cause is as well. JCE referenced it above. i *believe* that it's typical for the rear converter to cause more issues than the front, but my experience is limited so whether it's anecdotal or not i don't know.

yes, but "c'mon - you didn't search?":lol: lots of P0420 threads here and on subaruoutback.org.

like they said - don't touch the intake, no need too. and be careful listening to advice from whoever told you that in the future, you can't swap all intake manifolds.

sometimes buying a used entire rear hub assembly can be cheaper and simpler.

yes, they've been used by members here and on the subaruxt forum. they're rather simple so i wouln't worry about it too much. you can disassemble and clean them yourself too, but it's a really annoying job. fun to do like one time, maybe!

No, it won't bolt up. You need an adapter plate. Since EA82 engines/trans are all interchangeable and identical from a "bolt up" stand point, then what you're asking has been done countless times for a long time and well documented using adapter plates. try searching for "adapter plate" if that's what you're after.

yes - this has been covered a good bit here already with recommendations on cheaper units and the really expensive ones.

Front seals that should at the very least be checked and replaced if wet or as PM with any timing ble change: Crank pulley, oil pump oring, oil pump backing plate screws. Cam seals Timing pulleys - nice to replace them all since yours are 10 years old, but that's cost prevenatitive like $500 from Subaru. Ebay sells kits with everything or you can just replace the ones that need it. Replace any that are noisy or spin too freely and the tensioner if the seal is wet. Oil pan gaskets aren't typically replaced unless they are definitely leaking. There's no advantage cost wise to doing the oil pan "with anything" else you're mentioning, so I'd wait on that. It's expensive too since it requires a bit of effort actually.

that's not right, so dont' go by that. Go by johnceggleston's post. SVX EG33 is "technically" interference but it's not in reality.

that's news to me - i thought all FWD trans were 5 speeds? can you move the shifter mechanism through the gears?