idosubaru

Might want to try it again with jumper cables from another battery to give it some more juice and prop.....hmm, i'm not familiar with carbs, but prop the throttle plate open (would be throttle plate in an FI car) so it has unrestricted air flow. GD (or others) is there any chance that since this motor was swapped it's actually a turbo block, I know EA81T's are rare but what would the compression be on those? Valve job isn't that big of a deal, but not knowing anything about the car/engine you really don't know if it's the rings rather than the heads, even though heads are most likely. A leak down test can show where the loss is happening. If you only needed headgaskets then you wouldn't necessarily need a full on valve job, but it's a pretty smart thing to do while yo'ure in there, I almost always do. To mill both heads and do a valve job and basic parts (head gaskets, valve stem seals, intake/exhaust manifold) you're talking roughly $200 (more if you're in a high dollar urban area which may have high machine shop prices). DC market = very expensive. Rural WV = insanely cheap. Personally if it runs and you want a cheap DD without dumping tons of money into it I recommend driving it for a while before deciding. It's no fun doing a head gasket job only to find out it has transmission issues or all sorts of other problems you don't want to/can't afford to contend with. After a month you'll have a better clue what kind of money you want to put into this particular job. If it's in great shape you might decide to go all out, if not you might cut some corners.

what in the world, i'm totally confused? Might need a full sentence to see what you're getting at. I will guess - Yes 5 speeds and auto's can have different final drive ratios - easy enough just get a matching rear diff, done deal. Yes driveshafts are different lengths between auto to manuals. Driveshafts are two pieces - the rear half is identical and interchangeable between them all - it's the front half that varies in length based on auto/manual. If you're talking cross EA/EJ questions then there's even more caveats to all this, but I can't tell what you're asking.

John - if you're the type that thinks extractors are a good way to remove a sheared bolt - then do not touch this motor. If you're smart (which I know you are!), then fix it. Do yourself a favor and buy some high quality (for hard metals) left handed drill bits to get this thing out. I've had to order them as local places don't carry them, but they are worth it. Get a right angle attachment so you can do it in the car. Use oil and drill it out. The drilling and heating/expanding/contracting due to drilling will eventually pull it out (remember to drill in reverse with LH bits!). You have a chance at pulling it out without needing to helicoil but like already mentioned sounds like the threads are borked. Extractors absolutely suck. Anything an extractor can remove, is removable by numerous other methods that aren't nearly as dangerous. Snap off an extractor and you're definitely in for a nightmare. Depending on centering you can start with a big bit or start with a small pilot hole then work you're way up. I mean heck - replacing the engine requires pulling it - so at the very least pull this one to fix it. Even if you're not comfortable doing it, this is like eating cake to a machine shop, take them the block and they'll have it out in 20 minutes and you're out 1 our labor costs, no big deal.

seems well covered, but TOD is just ticking. it can sound awful. most of the time it's noisy HLA's, Hydraulic Valve Lash Adjusters. like GD said if it's due to HLA's you can run the car indefinitely like that, it's benign minus the fact that it's annoying. fix depends on the cause - either the HLA's themselves are dirty (in which case MMO may work/help) or more often the oil pump needs resealed or replaced because it won't hold the engine to block gasket properly in place and it sucks air. air is compressible and HLA's aren't meant to work with that.

mostly body style stuff as the suspension, steering, drivetrain, axles, struts, hubs, all that stuff is completely interchangeable from 1990-1999 on Legacy's. Went from OBD1 - OBD2 in 1995 so the electronics changed a bit but the motors are still the same and interchangeable, just the stuff bolted to them got tweaked. Minor changes through the years: 1990-96 non interference 97+ interference 96+ = single exhaust port so the manifold is different (though the manifolds easily interchange so you can still swap engines easily. Mostly minor stuff, but good to ask specifics once you know what you're after. As for EJ compared to older stuff: EJ22's are excellent in terms of reliability and power and still can get decent gas mileage. You also have ABS, Air bags, and tons of upgrade options like struts, brakes, wheels, etc. EJ22 vehicles are now getting very easy to find cheap.

right on, it's all straightened out now. it's easy enough to swap intake manifolds or the wiring harness from all sorts of EJ22's OBDI, OBDII, Phase I, Phase II, etc so you can do whatever you end up deciding as far as wiring goes.

No, not all, he's right it just doesn't apply to your engine. What you need to do is clarify details. In the future, mention that this is a JDM EJ20 motor. That's not a USDM motor, so it leads to confusion, this being a US based board and all. JDM EJ20 - carry on. and good luck.

yep. the impulse will be there, you'll think just a few taps to see. DON'T do it!! doesn't take much at all to mangle the threads.

3 things: Crank seal - oil pump to block oring - and sealant between the pump and block Also check all the backing plate screws when you pull the pump. Any that are loose, put locktite on them and reinstall. That's just leaking oil running down the face of the pump, not any additional oring or anything unless someone previously goofed with it or something. If the timing belt has oil on it, replace it. Oil degrades belts and causes them to break. In my case it didn't even last a few months/10,000 miles when a friends car leaked at the crank seal and got the belt wet.

right on, i knew all of that, i've done EJ engine and trans swaps before too - i was confused by this comment: by "do nothing" you meant just to the cam gears. gotcha.

Phase II EJ25 in a 1990? it's a SOHC EJ25? i don't think the wiring plugs are the same - you can't interchange Phase I and II EJ25's? I'm confused. I mean, I can see how it could be done, but not "drop in" with no extra work at all.

cool, i've always wondered how this works so i'm going to ask. when welding something like this - cutting the steel - how does the "inner" part of the metal get welded? not knowing anything about welding I always envision a "circle" bead around the outside exposed portion, does that mean none of the inner portion is bonded? it's done all the time so i'm wondering where the integrity comes from - that inner portion can be worked with or the outer is that strong?

EJ22 - Ej25 Phase II swaps need the gears swapped. You sure EJ25 - EJ25 does as well?

I've alwasy wanted to know for sure and have speculated they are interchangeable since i'm almost positive they bolt up. didn't know the inner tie rods were different though, that's interesting. post a pic of the differences?

agreed Q - disclaimers important, that's funny you said you're not above some type of mods.

Yep, you got lucky - they're both SOHC EJ25's PHase II's and swap like a gem. Legacy's got the other DOHC EJ25 in 99 which wouldn't work, but being a forester you're golden. You won't have the "tooth" problem he mentioned with cam/crank stuff.

they're still great vehicles. stuff that is more problematic on EJ's than EA's: rotors, struts, wheel bearings, warped rotors, O2 sensors, EJ25 headgaskets and torque bind. Still lots to gain though too, just have to get to know those quirks (just like EA stuff!) They're bigger, safer, and more powerful vehicles too, so while we're used to EA stuff you can't expect upsizing without more strain on components.

1990 Legacy is an EJ22. Good luck!

With the exception of CA () there might be some areas where folks don't know that "laws" are ambiguous, guess they need to know that. If I lived in a different state l wouldn't worry about it, back in MD they would just say "go fix that, then come back". It's not like they'd call the police, you just don't get passed. This idea has been discussed before here and elsewhere, different folks have different modis operandi. It's also illegal to sell used converters but that's done on every automotive forum I've ever been on. Nice one GD, that was funny.

A confusing part of this dilemna is the folks, like over on the outback boards (and probably here) that have replaced the cats and O2 sensors and still have the check engine light on. that has to be terribly frustrating to hand a dealer or mechanic that kind of loot and still not have the problem fixed. some folks can't afford that, particularly considering some of these cars are getting old and not worth much, so a $10 fix seems like a really good fit for some people. I had the O2 sensor code a while back, replaced them with Subaru units in my 02 OBW and still have the O2 sensor code even after clearing a few times. I guess it's the cats but I've seen a few threads where folks have replaced those too with no results so I'm wondering if it will fix mine. O2's I didn't mind since they were likely old, but the cat gains me nothing over the long term and all my 20 year old Subaru's have the originals so it seems funny to replace the O2 with lower miles! I'll likely try this fix before swapping cats unless I can find some quantifiable information on this whole deal. Endwrench have any info on this?

Is there any evidence or information on this? I was reading about this on another forum earlier today and was wondering since it seems to be fairly successful.

There you go RP - we need to do this. And still change the fluid as soon as possible too...who knows it might be 13 year old 150,000 mile fluid in there still?

Did some searching and found this from Will: Will knows his stuff, has split a transmission and replaced bearings before? So maybe it is clutch related instead? Wow thanks GD, gah that's more time than I had hoped for.

when i said i'd "help" that means he's doing all the hard lifting and aligning, so who needs a trans jack?! once the trans is out how long would it take to replace that input shaft bearing only? front diff has to come off first right? hour, 5, 10? RP - check the gear oil and let me know what it looks like on the dipstick at least.

Don't know the conclusion GD, but on the ones I've seen they'll continue to that for a long time and not "get worse" so to speak. Wonder what cleaning up the hub and wheels would do - get rid of corrosion and spots?