idosubaru

:lol: i'm keeping this thing until it's ready for the junk yard, if i ever sold it i'd get more than i paid, and i also castrated it - FWD and EJ18!! resale is not a concern. this is one of our daily drivers and i plan for it to be for a long time. i'm thinking door jambs are worth the effort. i'm not looking for show quality - don't care what it looks like with the hood popped. though the hood is already replaced, so the underside is already white.

It didn't take long at all to get from that picture above to this one here, which is head light replaced and everything pulled roughly back where it needs to be to be drivable. This didn't take long at all, definitely worth getting back on the road at least. Looks terribly dirty in the picture and might not look appealing I should have washed it first. I drove it like this (after I cleaned it) until i had time/parts/recommendations to finish it.

Yes outback or GT parts will fit. I had the exact same thing happen to the same car. It wasn't that bad to fix, actually didnt' take all that long and I hate body work. I actually had it "back on the road" in no time, only took two hours maybe. At that time I just pulled everything (using a come along/another vehicle) and left the bent hood/fender in place so I could keep driving it. Got it all roughly lined up (pics in the thread below) Then I went back and replaced the hood/fenders later. I actually just started a thread today about finishing this, finally getting to painting it. I have a thread about my deer/legacy collission here: http://subaruxt.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=10303&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&hilit=deer I posted a before pic. about 70 mph hit on the interstate...maybe I slowed down to 60/65 but i doubt it, I tried to clip the deer as much as I could because I had cars beside and behind me so I didn't hit the brakes much at all. Which reminds me I never posted the after repair pic's, I used a Legacy GT hood with the scoop. I need to post an after pic. I might have a fender (depending what side you need) and bumper for you.

pull the plug on it and see what it does. if it runs better then maybe it is electrical (sensor, etc) if it still runs bad then the guts are definitely problematic. might even entertain the idea of running it like that like i did for awhile?! wiring the Duty C to control lock up of 4WD is really easy, one wire only. good luck with it.

I have a brown Legacy LSi sedan. Repaired a deer collision with parts from my white Legacy GT parts car. I'm now looking to get it all painted one color. Actually I'd like to have it painted like a white SUS but that's probably too much work. I like white much better than brown but I know folks say changing color is bad. I'm not that picky - so what are the key areas to think about? Door jambs I guess since you see them the most? I'm not that worried about the engine bay or trunk, I'm not that picky. I also have the complete Legacy GT parts car so I can swap doors and the other fender too. But even then should I paint the entire thing or just the brown parts? Hard to match 10 year old paint? What are the approximate costs of materials to paint a complete car? I'll be doing it myself with the help of a very skilled friend. $100 - $500 - $1,000?

Sure thing. If you don't have torque bind then this can not be the problem...unless they messed with the wiring of the Duty C circuit - they would have to supply 12 volts to it in order to have it "not locked" so to speak.

4EAT's will mechanically run in 3rd gear without any TCU or wiring in place. Maybe it's unplugged - either the harness (in the engine bay) or the TCU (in the cabin). It would also have torque bind like this as well though. Fluid change is nice, seeing whether it has metal in it or not is very telling. Sounds like you're going to need a new transmission though. I've driven 4EAT's compeltely disconnected (3rd gear only) as daily drivers, interstate at 70+mph. That was in an XT6, drove it like that for a long time. I had a manual switch so i could control the duty C solenoid and not have torque bind.

no, the air bag won't go off without a battery. i'm an idiot - i've replaced air bags and module without even disconnecting the battery - WOO HOO!!! Bring it on!! yes - security torx bits. the size it posted here, do a search, i've seen two different sizes for these. avaiable at Sears, cheaper if you just order online the one size you want. get a high quality, they easily shear. but in general that control module isn't worth much. $50 and that's if you can find a buyer, which is rare to find so it's just luck of the draw on timing. steering wheels are easy, but i dont' remember specifics - screws in the sides to get the center portion out then crank the big nut off i believe.

i would chalk this one up to extremely poor maintenance. it's not like all of that stuff failed at once, they were obviously just driving and driving and had no cares. i could hazard a guess they weren't "easy" on the car either during that time. good luck getting rid of that brute.

there's air in the system, very common with EJ engines. search for "burping" or "burp" to reveal all sorts of threads on how to do this right.

Slow down, you likely don't have any issues. Get an owners manual - it will tell you that what you're experiencing is NORMAL. That's from Subaru. Oil pressure near zero at operating temperature, it's in the owners manual of all XT's and XT6's, I presume it's there for the rest. An accurate gauge is nice, but in the end Subaru says near zero pressure isn't alarming. It's still getting the volume you need. As for ticking, it's benign except for the annoyance, so give it time. Change your oil frequently. Add a bottle of sea foam to the oil.

It's usually a cv boot busted or leaking grease. Easy to diagnose, takes about 34 seconds to look at them. Next most common cause would be oil dripping on the exhaust from an oil leak. Valve covers or a front seal would be the cause. Front seals should be inspected and replaced with a timing belt job...which brings up the next thing: Youre do for a timing belt change, that's a 100,000 mile belt. I usually drop the coin and replace with a timing kit - which includes the tensioner and all the pulleys. Expecting 200,000+ miles out of the original pulleys is a bit much and not worth the risk to me.

Not sure about your GL but on XT's there's a very specific connector just above the clutch pedal that causes this exact problem on XT's. I believe it's white on XT's, your EA81 would likely be completely different...though usually browned from the short. It's usually easily diagnosed by fiddling your feet amongst all the wires above the pedal assembly - if you hit a bad one it'll blow a fuse, the head lights will go out, or the tail lights will come back on, etc. Same symptoms on XT's though - rears typically lost first...then headlights start to go, wiggling and jiggling may bring them back to life but worsens over time to not working at all. Of course the bulbs and fuses are the obvious places to start though.

there are lots of details on line....even here, about folks that do their own head work. sounds rather complicated to me verses just letting a shop do it. my local shop charges $12.50 to machine a head which is bonkers cheap considering most places charge a minimum one hour labor which is $50+. Might want to call around or ask Subaru who does their heads (that's how I do it). If you're really doing an EJ swap, just stick with what you know and don't put much in it. I've gasket slapped a few cars before (no milling/checking at all) I don't recommend it and think it's a bad idea, but I have done it for various reasons before and those cars never exhibited problems...one is even still being driven by a board member and it's been 5 years or so. If you're not sure about the EJ or it's a long way off then do it right. The one with blown head gaskets is a bit suspect though since you don't know how long it was driven or overheating like that?

that's awesome!! that was not my experience. I had a broken CV as well in a 4EAT and it was not really drivable...but i didn't try to drive it much. it did a lot of lurching and it was obvious the TCU was "confused" by the loss of the front axles. it barely hobbled around the parking lot. wonder what the difference was? funny thing is that CV axle had like a couple miles on it, it was brand new one of the many reasons i'm now an MWE or Subaru only guy.

awesome, glad it worked out for you. it's a very nice fit for a lot of folks to do it this way.

Ignore the oxygen sensor, don't even think about it for right now, it's benign. It's not going to cause any problems and is cheap. Your overheating is going to cost you an engine if you don't take care of it pronto. Driving it like you did is bad for all sorts of things, the oil, internal components, sensors, gaskets, seals, etc. Change your oil soon. Thermostat - use Subaru only, the aftermarkets are visibly cheaper and can cause issues. Your radiator could be plugged or the radiator cap might just not be sealing well. Get that overheating under control then worry about the O2 sensor.

right on i've driven a few FWD "converted" transmissions before of the auto and manual variety.

what a mess of ill treated subarus, good job trying to save one! as for the AWD restoration, i wouldn't be surprised to see a mis-diagnosis here. in other words you replace the rear axles and diff and the rear transfer clutches in the trans are hosed. that's quite a common misdiagnosis. normally those can be fixed with just getting the tires properly matches, changing the fluid, adding the additive referenced in other threads or the last resort is replacing the clutches. those can be new or buy them off a borked auto trans. good news is it can easily be done without removing the trans and if you can swap in a rear diff and axle you can definitely do that too. as for compatability with the rear diff. any (and only) EJ25 automatic will be 4.44. i used to have one, not sure if i still do or sold it.

excellent, that is what i wanted to hear. it's the hair splitting i don't typically like or find valuable at all...but, if the rear "gets power" does that have to come from somewhere and would have to incur some losses to the front? though that would be a tiny percentage as opposed to the incorrect implication of "transfering" power from one to another?

at 10+ years old it's very rare to find any bearings still in "like new" condition. i almost always replace all the bearings. a recent 1998 is the first EJ i've ever worked on that really didn't need any except for the sprocketed one, which is always needed. the others were actually tight, first time for everytyhing.

yeah your rear diff is probably fine, those rarely fail. the 96 will not offer any parts to fix this vehicle. if the rear diff is bad the final drive ratio won't match. if the transfer clutches are bad the manual trans won't have the parts for it. but a 96 MT outback is a nice vehicle! sounds like you probably have torque bind, fluid changes, matching tires, or the additive will fix it - all of that is covered in immense detail here.

Next thermo lesson covers page 45-48 of your text book. Nice job GD!

that one is annoying, but it'll come out with normal tools, it is very tight but i've never had a problem getting to it without pulling the axles. just keep trying with that ujoint socket adapter, that should do it. try all combinations you can think of, i can't remember what i do to get at those but it's nothing odd.

mizpah (google it or look it up here, probably misspelled it, i always do) engineering is the cheapest. you can send your cores in for cheaper. ultrasonic cleaner is a good fit for cleaning yours. they are completely annoying to disassemble in my opinion.