idosubaru

at 114,000 it should also have a new timing belt on it - and probably at least one pulley (usually the sprocketed one is in the worst shape). with proper maintenance you have another 100,000 miles easily out of this car, so while some of these things are annoyances and might be ill timed it's not that bad of a deal for a pretty easy 100,000 miles. hang in there and hopefully all of this is taken care of and you can forget about it and get back to thoughtless commuting!

right on with that goofy weather, i've enjoyed the Colorado weather patterns (was just in Meeker for a week actually a couple weeks ago).

I bet it happened once to the previous owners and they immediately decided to sell (probably knowing EJ25 head gasket symptoms). Just a guess but very odd that just a bit later....... Anyway - probably more of an issue of being deceived than the motors fault IMO. As for fixing - do not drive this engine. It's futile on the Phase I EJ25's you have. Some engines you can manage, not on this one. Due to the nature of the problem it will overheat at any time, not just when it's low on coolant. These do not "run hot", they just overheat almost instantly. if yours is not doing that, it will soon. If you haven't run it hot then the engine is good and worth saving. With new gaskets and a thorough timing belt job you got another 100,000 miles ahead of you, it's worth it in the long run. I would plan on an entire timing belt kit - the pulleys and tensioners are all 10+ years old and not up to par for another 100,000 miles. And this is an interference engine - if the belt brakes or a pulley fails you have worse than head gaskets i$$ue$. As for the EJ22 swap, it's probably only worth it if you can save some money as your engine is probably in good condition. You would want to price it out and compare I guess. The 95 and 96 EJ22's are nice because they're non-interference engines, meaning you can be cheap on maintenance and still get by. And the timing belt kits (belts and ALL pulleys) are only $89 vereses $200-$300 for the newer engines (they changed tensioner design). Depending on prices sometimes you can get a cheap EJ22 for as much as you can sell your EJ25 for (even needing head gaskets). Do that and you're olnly paying install prices and for timing belt kit (which is really cheap on the earlier EJ22's). Don't let the mechanic keep your EJ25, it's still worth money even needing head gaskets.

verify the leak before proceeding. rear separator (what he just referred too) plate is a leakage source too. although i dont' think that will leak profusely. either way you want to make sure you don't do the wrong job and still end up with a leak. good news is those exhaust gaskets are extremely robust and one of the few gaskets you can reuse, i've reused even old ones numerous time. the Subaru exhaust manifold gaskets are typically much better than aftermarkets too, if you used Subaru you're golden. aftermarkets should still be fine too though being this new.

have you read the appropriate Factory Service Manual spec's and operational details from Subaru? I'd start there I suppose. i didn't check all your links, did you find the other guy talking about building a programmer for this same purpose? that's the only thread i can ever think of that was mildly tech savy about this. no one on here has quantifiable information on this that i know of. i don't know of any auto trans designers on the board, i wouldn't give a rip what they have to say anyway personally! i work with half a billion dollar toys (NASA birds), these little Subaru's really don't bother me. trans blows up...put another one in there...but i haven't had any trans blow up yet.

ticking is piston slap and is benign, just ignore it. no easy fix. Subaru does not use TTY head bolts - so reuse them all day long, buying new bolts is completely unnecessary. folks that say otherwise are ignorant of how head bolts work and the differences between TTY and non TTY head bolts usage.

i don't know about your problem, but XT rear diffs are the same as all other EA/ER series rear diffs. there are a number of LSD conversion threads with pictures of the guts and such, search for those if a pic might help.

i'm sure it'll be fine, it's very rare to see repeat head failures, like never. most of us have never had one, so to have two in a row would be odd indeed. the goob that told you not to reuse them is wrong:lol:. a source for reliable information is important, what happens with the next question? i'd save yourself the trouble and cash and not bother asking "person X" subaru specific info, he obviously is clueless and even worse he "thinks" he knows.

1. yes seals are all readily available. be sure to replace the seal and the oring on the cam cap. same as EA82. an extremely frontal valve cover leak might look like a cam leak too - inspect closely. if the t belt has oil on it - replace it. i installed a new belt on a friends EA82, the Fel Pro seal puked oil all over the brand new timing belt. i figured it was new so reinstalled the original belt after wiping the oil off. it broke a couple months later. XT6 bellhousing is identical to EA82 - any transmissions are interchangeable between them as far as fitment and bolting goes. your dual range will bolt right up. if it hasn't been abused and you don't overheat it/run it out of ATF, mismatched tires, etc the 4EAT's are indeed bulllet proof. they're actually more reliable than EJ 4EAT's. XT6 4EAT's never have torque bind and front differential failures are less likely too in my opinion though that's hard to quantify. just change the fluid and 20 year old hoses and you're golden.

i have only guesses. mostly that folks never think about ATF changes. if you buy a used car, chances are good the fluid has rarely, if ever, been changed. many on here probably don't even change it that often. ATF has a long to-do list: it's a coolant, hydraulic fluid, and lubricant. most machinery get separate fluids for all of that...not the transmission. one fluid does it all. granted it doesn't have combustion to deal with so it doesn't need changed like oil but it's still getting used and abused and degrades over time. makes complete sense to me that fresh fluid can do the guts some good, including the rear transfer clutches. but more importantly than guesses, ignore all of that, I have actually done it and so have others. We're not just making this up, I mean I'm extremely unbelievably busy, my time is valuable, i'm highly productive and do not need to waste time. Not all of us sit around sipping Rooibis Chai Tea from our Lazy Boy making random suggestions based on academia....some of us have actually have experience too! :lol: this is really simple, if your duty c is working (FWD fuse works) properly: 1. fluid changes and at least 30 miles of driving with lots of turning to free it up (i fixed one this summer - took about 30 miles and countless circles on dry pavement - if you're worried someone might call the cops on you, then you're doing it right!!!!!). if that doesn't work: 2. the GM LSD additive will fix it (fixed one like that this summer too) Done deal, no need to open the trans.

I already mentioned the head bolts, not TTY, completely reusable. I would take a mental note of whoever told you not to reuse them and make sure not to listen to them again for Subaru related information because they are 100% incorrect.

if it's that obvious it seems to me it needs to be looked at physically/on sight. hard for us not being able to see/touch it. you could do the same thing yo'ure doing to this side, to the other side front wheel just to make sure it is indeed different. i think you'll find htis quickly with a helper. wheel bearing? has the car ever been in an accident or something? all of these strut issues and now this...this sounds like more than nominal wear. yes the rack has bushings on each side - two. very easy to replace. if they were bad you would notice it in the steering, like a slight delay or wandering more than noise (unless the bushings were completely gone but then you'd notice that). very unlikely on such a new car.

can't see the sprocket too well but i'd just replace it and see what happens. i'd be sure to reseal that cam cap too. there's an oring and a seal there, replace them both. thepartsbin.com and rockauto.com both sell cam seal "kits" which have both seal and oring good luck.

if it's torque bind - change the fluid a couple of times. torque bind is covered in depth here. since yours goes away with the FWD fuse that tells us that the Duty C solenoid is working which means this will likely be fixed easily. there's a bottle of limited slip fluid that will fix this issue if the fluid change doesn't. search for the right fluid - it's a GM product i believe. that works almost every time. the other option is replacing the rear clutch packs. just use the ones off your old transmission. i would ask the mechanic to keep that entire rear trans clutch section with Duty C solenoid if he hasn't thrown it away yet. even if you fix this those are good parts to have if your 4WD worked fine before.

i would guess you're not needing something spectacular, a set of Blizzacs will do you well and can be had reasonably priced. from what i've heard/seen the cheaper snow tires are going to last 2-3 winters and the really nice ones (Nokian) are going to hold excellent snow traction for 4-5. the Blizzacs are fantastic but they even have a noticeable reduction in snow traction after 2 or 3 seasons. i can't quantify that...but they are stellar brand new. being in a not so snowy/cold climate might make any snow tire not keep top notch rubber, i don't know.

i guess give them credit for not billing as much as they could have. no - Subaru does not use TTY (torque to yield) bolts, subaru head bolts are reusable. if it's a bad leak i've seen coolant lying in cylinders before. in the older EA/ER motors you can peak down the holes with some superb lighting, not sure about EJ's as i've never had to try that.

follow the proper torque directions exactly, if it doesn't indicate a value then it's not needed.

no way, that's nuts, that's it? i might have to be a dork and go test this too!

relax. why complain or pop an attitude because of some questioning? particularly after something wasn't done right the first time. your ego doesn't really need to be dependent on this thread. if you suspect (or want to find) a leakage in the combustion chamber a leak down test might point in the right direction (i chose ambiguous words on purpose). it's not meant for exactly what you're after but depending on what you're looking for you might find it. i don't think you'll find EJ engines to have invisible cracks, so if you don't see it you're probably golden. a visual inspection should easily determine if there are cracks in the heads. there should not be any cracks in an EJ engine (unlike older Subaru engines where cracks are considered nominal).

intersting oddball scenario. i bet just the sprocket got damaged. replace it and i'll bet you're golden.

awesome. once it was "locked" do you feel like it stayed that way the whole time, how long was the drive up? if you're driving in that much snow and like the LSD you'd be floored by quality snow tires. they make all seasons look like ice skates. the difference between snow tires and non is huge.

this has all been talked about before including complicated cycle switches and variable controllers, etc. that's all discussed here. good job on some research an such, nice job, seems like you got a good grasp on it. there's no damage to be done for nominal driving situations. it's not going to hurt anything if you don't abuse it - like forget it's on, etc. any amount of work you put into varying the duty cycle is over kill - so essentially do whatever you want - whatever puts your mind at ease or makes you feel good. once you get to that level, you're golden. or if you really do need it, it's going to depend on your usage i guess if you're really tearing it up with your car. for general daily driver useages, including rough, mountain, unmaintained roads i drive on a basic switch is all that is needed.

the VLSD may not have done anything. it doesn't do anything until slippage (viscosity = viscous) causes the fluid to lock up the guts in the diff. without slipping a VLSD is an open diff, exactly like your old one. you would have needed to be dancing around a bit to get any kind of additional traction from it. that you crawled right up probably says more about the tires. if you have a treacherous driveway and snow to contend with then snow tires are more important than anything else. i run them out here and they are well worth it. tires > 4WD any day of the week.

no one can help you until you determine with absolute certainty your front and rear diff ratios match. if they do match then read up on "torque bind" which will come up here with a search. everything you need to fix your car is already here. noise could be anything - bad front diff, exhaust heat shields. i'd concern myself with the torque bind first. has the fluid been changed since you installed it? hope it was installed correctly, it's easy to hose the internal oil pump if the torque converter isn't seated properly. hope that's not your grinding.

yeah it's hard to get a good gauge on exact oil level, particularly if you're adding fairly often. how much are we talking here? i'd just keep an eye on it.