idosubaru

+1 (ooh, ooh, me too, me too!) Anything else is purely overkill and if you're that worried about a few drops of fuel in the engine bay you shouldn't be working on cars!:lol: Seriously, just cover it with a towel/rags, it's really simple. If you followed all the directions in the FSM/manuals you'd waste hours of your life on unnecessary procedures.

I think something is amiss in your description. You mention a loose/shaky exhaust but no leaks? How can those front exhaust pipes be so shaky but are not leaking, something isn't adding up? That's why everyone is saying this is probably heat shields. If it's the heat shields, ignore them, they're not worth messing with. Rip them off and throw them away if they're beyond repair. Either way - this is really simple - just replace it. Used ones are everywhere. Buying new y pipes is pointless, I'd never do that on this car. Sounds like Dave has you covered with that. As for part C - those can be both I think. I think some (older ones?) are one piece and newer ones are two piece - but the parts are interchangeable still if you keep the "2 piece units" together. I could be wrong on this though.

Yes that link is for EA82 - your engine is an EA82, so same thing. They are very easy. Yes it can be a 20 minute job if you leave the covers off, I always do, make future timing belt jobs very easy. Not really that big of a deal unless you put a lot of miles on cars, which I do. How many folks are really putting 120,000 miles on EA vehicles these days? The rear covers can even be left off as well, but they don't need to be removed for timing belts. They're only removed for replacing cam seals. Cam seals are easy on an EA82 - you unbolt the cam cap which holds the seal and remove the seal when the cap is out of the car. You always want to remove that cap anyway because there's an oring under it, replace those as well every time you replace a cam seal. Often, places sell "cam seal kits" like thepartsbin.com that include the seal and oring. Typically many of us do everything at one time - all the seals, reseal the oil pump, water pump, crank seal, and then you basically never have to do that stuff again, just timing belts. Ebay kits inclue all the pulleys and only run $80, that's the way to go.

8 including yourself. good job roy, glad to hear the EJ stuff is as easy as the older ones. i've had to do XT6 but never EJ. funny thing - i've never seen one sheared stud on a subaru - it's always been 2 or 3.

the Ej22 is a huge step above the EA82t in terms of reliability. as for performance, you can't really mod a non-turbo engine like a turbo. if you want to add a bunch of horsepower to non turbo engine easily you'll be terribly disappointed. you can't just bolt and add on horsepower like you can with a turbo. that being said you could add a turbo onto the non turbo engine, they can reliably handle low boost, much more reliable than an EA82.

One of the Subaru repair shops out west claims this is a factor in the Ej25 head gasket failures, so I guess your head gasket is about to blow :lol::-\

particularly with these newer cars having 3 and 4 wire sensors the few extra dollars makes it nice to make sure it's all right. that being said, it's very simple splicing that can be done in your home/garage/wherever so it's very easy and quick if you're comfortable and have the supplies to do that stuff right.

i don't think that's the MC. sounds more like pedal linkage or brake booster to me, but i've never seen that stuff have issues before so not sure what to say. i'd try greasing the pedal pivot point or checking out the rest of the linkage down there.

that's a good point, i had a roommate in college that would wrap saran wrap and tape all around his joints for awhile. speaking of all of this - I wish I could temporarily repair my rear CV for inspection. We have yearly inspections which is basically rust, tires, and CV boots. Since the rears never fail for me (i've put 100,000 miles on a broken rear cv boot) I could care less about replacing it.

major differences between this and old school EA82's: this is an interference engine. if the EA82 belt breaks, no big deal. if the belt breaks on this EJ25 you'll incur internal engine damage. that's why there's so much more talk about pulleys and tensioners on these motors than the EA stuff, though I like to do those too (but they're cheaper parts). one belt, very easy to replace actually. anyone mechinically inclined can do it and Subaru has excellent information for those wanting to do it themselves on their endwrench site - Johnceggleston (member here) has a link in his signature to the timing belt articles! clever guy he is. they're really easy, the belt can be done in an hour, but normally takes a good bit longer if you're doing other stuff while it's off - like seals, pump, etc.

Pull the code. Do some searching here, all the info and links to appropriate endwrench articles are already on this site. I pulled codes first time I needed to by doing that, no problems on a 97 legacy GT it was very easy. Turned out to be a wheel sensor in my case, it was visibly warn down and they're easy to replace - one bolt holds them to the hub. How much longer after the swap did it occur? i doubt it's swap related.

in general bad tires whack out the ABS, i know for sure on mid-late 90's Subaru's. I had a 97 OBS that had horrible ABS until I had new tires on it. I think most folks not having good ABS experience have bad tires. You can read my old threads complaining about ABS...now I realize it was tires. My tires had 75% tread at least, but the rubber was old. Okay - there is a fuse and/or relay for the ABS so disabling it should be real simple. Just tap into those. Check the fuse panel, not sure if ABS is a dedicated circuit or not, if not tap into the relay. Relay is part of the ABS unit on some models and not others, not sure. The big relay/fuse box in the engine bay may have a dedicated ABS circuit too, they're all labeled I think just pull the lid.

real simple, follow exhaust, it's the only sensor in the exhaust. right close to where the pipes split - at the "Y"

Yes there are other possibilities. Hard to say definitively, but if you have the code that's a really good place to start. And for only $25 it's worth a shot. Like I said, I was right on the money: $25 in Enumclaw: 1-360-825-1643 or 1-800-720-4599 in Shelton With all the WA members on here, I know for a fact someone has this if you want to post in parts wanted forum. Good luck. Check all your vacuum hoses too though - squirt starting fluid/carb spray around the engine bay while trying to start (when you have a no start) and if it starts you know you have a vacuum leak.

local dealer charges $699 for belt only. any leaking seals should be replaced, they at least need to be inspected, slapping a new timing belt on without checking is unacceptable. verifying they check is the hard part. same with pulleys. they are VERY expensive to replace from Subaru, you'll want an independent or someone to do it for you if you start replacing pulleys as well. the sprocketed idler is the most likely to fail. considering that she's buying this car right now, she would likely see it last another 100,000 miles - i'd suggest doing it right, replacing any pulleys that need it with the belt. check for torque bind too on any 4WD vehicle.

MAF's fail so rarely that buying a new one is pointless. Buy a used one, I wouldnt' pay more than $25 because I know yards can't sell them (no demand). Someone on here probably has one too, just post in parts wanted forum. As to whether that's your issue, i dont' know. What exactly happened - the code just appeared one day, you've always had it, you had the code but it drove fine, or it drove poorly immediately after getting the code - any major work done in the past year...details helps when we can't see the car. Yes - your automatic transmission light flashing means the computer has a stored code, in the same way your engine has a stored code (check engine light). There's a chance they are related so it would be nice to read the trans code. The process for extracting that code has been posted before here, it is goofy but you can do it yourself. In general - fix the engine first, then the trans light will likely go away if it's related to the same problem.

Confirm what? Yes there are two sensors, front and rear. You got the wrong sensor. Technically speaking I believe you can "convert" most 3 wire sensors to work with a 4 wires set up, but I've never done it.

if the cracks are in the convolutions - at the bottom of valleys - you could try this. imagine an elastic band places inside of the convolution with the crack. not sure how you get it around the axle, but it could sit down in the valley of one just starting to develop a crack and cover it up so to speak. but i recommend replacing the boot. aftermarket axles suck enough that it's worth saving the ones you got if they're good.

oh right on i didn't even see your comments on ABS. it's very simple actually, just have to find the info or have the FSM.

yep, i'm done with it. i'll ship parts in from othe parts of the country and got my XT6 from Texas earlier this year.

no, you'll see when you go to do it. i mean you could fabricate something, in that case you can do whatever you want....install a leather interior, custom dash, diesel motor....but no it's not a bolt in.

right on, nothing wrong with that. if you keep the location of the strut mount screws oriented the same, there's no need for an alignment.

i've replaced numerous a/c compressors, used every single time. 100% sucess rate so far, it's well worth it considering how easy they are to replace and how rarely they fail. i'd rather replace them twice than spend for a new one. i recharge all my own stuff too, it's very simple.

I wouldn't worry about it, there's no quantitative reason to replace in pairs, it's more of a marketing scheme than anything else. I've only ever replaced single struts and see no reason to replace them in pairs. I totally understand things wear and it's nice to replace it all but frankly on an older car it's not a sports machine and there are all sorts of parts old and out of spec. of course if you notice handling deficiencies then yes, replace, but here we're talking about replacing a strut with no known issues - if that's the case - then you better start reading your owners manual because ABS and SRS systems all should be inspected completely at 10 years, have you done that yet, it is an explosive device? surely at least one or 5 bushings are out of whack by this age, have you checked all those.....etc.

sounds to me like two different and unrelated issues. it is VERY common for O2 sensors to be problematic like that. they are just plain annoying and there's no easy way around it. Subaru even has an extensive and annoyiing flow test/monitoring set up to figure out this debacle. it's not just Subaru, a lot of newer cars have these O2 sensor issues, i think mostly due to emissions requirements and such making tight limits. i suggest reading through some existing threads about that, it's a complicated and annoying issue. the quick fix i believe is to install a spark plug non-fouler into the O2 sensor hole then thread your o2 sensor into that. but i'm sure you have no idea what that means, some reading will help. taking it into the shop will end up them replacing your converters and exhaust and other stuff without resolve, really annoying being hundreds into this issue with no result. ABS code - i'd have the codes read. it's not hard to do yourself, all the information is already on this site. i found it and did it myself the first time i had to do it based on everything i found here at USMB. get the code and let us know what it is. it could be just a dirty or corroded sensor (they are just magnets, very simple). of course there's other things it could be too, but not much point in guessing when the code might tell you exactly what's going on. the light tells you that it's got a stored code and is telling you something.