idosubaru

+1 doesn't sound very professional or helpful, i'd go elsewhere. i've never heard of that and i've done tons of engine work and gone to many machine shops. never heard of that before. one option is to call a Subaru dealer if any are local and ask what machine shop they use.

Probably just needs pulled apart and cleaned, it's not that hard to do, just need to find someone willing to do it for you. if it needs replaced, these things NEVER fail so a used unit would be fine and cost next to nothing (since there's zero demand for them). someone on here with a parts car would even sell you one. post in the parts wanted forum. i don't have any that would fit your vehicle at the moment.

i have never seen any complete information on this question. suggestions, ideas, and pointers, but nothing specific. i have a non-EGR swapped Ej25-Ej22 (essentially) as well. i just don't care about the light and the state doesn't either.

make sure tires match in size and tread wear. AWD Subaru's have to have matching tires and be rotated frequently to prevent damaging the AWD transmission. yes, good car. you could easily get another 100,000 miles out of the car if you keep up with proper maintenance, don't let it overheat or run out of oil. due to age and mileage both it would need a complete timing component replacement for me to consider it "reliable". timing belt, pulleys, tensioner, and water pump. kits on ebay are only $89 or so for all the pulleys, tensioner, and belt. the swaying needs to be checxked out, i would suspect the steering rack bushings. easy to replace. tie rods should be inspected as well since they are a serious safety concern and are simple to check (takes 2 minutes).

The process for retrieving codes is...there's no word adequate to describe it...convoluted is about as close as i can think of. the engineer in charge of this idea was obviously a 70's burn out. turn the key ON, shift to 3rd, turn it off, shift to reverse, scratch your arm pits, spit out the window, moon your neighbor, turn the heater on, rotate your tires, shift to 1st, then turn on Van Halen.....you may , but just wait until you try it...then try it again...then finally get it to work... but yes - that means you have a trouble code. one item to check is to make sure the pins in the trans harness are not bent or damaged. that would really only happen if the engine or trans was ever removed though, so if they haven't been it's highly unlikey.

yep - a 1989 Subaru XT6 as daily driver as a "critical" employee and a 120 mile round trip commute breaking down was not an option. it's all about preventative maintenance...oh and i had a few other Subaru's in case! this board will probably help you more than anything - knowing what to look for and when/what to do.

EJ25's (available in many legacy's in the late 90's in the US and standard in all 2000+ legacy's) was a bit of a low spot. Worst engine in terms of reliability/maintenance cost that Subaru made in a very long time due to head gasket issues. And piston slap and rod knock...all way more prevalent in this motor than any other Subaru ever made. Those things carry rather large price tags and don't make happy consumers. And you don't have to read my opinion or listen to debates from folks that don't know what they're talking about - just search google or your fav engine and you'll find all sorts of info on these problems. Or check out Subaru's own extended head gasket warranty campaign. Sometimes reviews are limited in scope since buying, purchasing, marketing, and reporting are all very dynamic processes. An entire book could be written about demographics, marketing, usage, reporting...etc. Most cars rated highly are the kind that don't get any miles put on them. A convertible mercedes high end whatever...yeah, i bet they're all seeing heavy duty useage - snow, rain, mud, gravel, hauling...not hardly. that's just the tip of the proverbial ice berg though and goes much deeper, you'll just have to read those reviews and keep them in mind as you compare all avenues. they're just one tool of many, not to be relied on 100%. Anyway - in general a 2004 legacy should be a very nice ride. Don't let it overheat, run out of oil, change your timing components on time (every 100,000 miles) and it should hold up very well with only minimal repairs. Most subarus, this one included make 200,000 miles no problem.

You are correct, it's not shifting out of 3rd into 4th. Hard to say, TCU could be fouled or the trans is on it's way out...or.... Is the AT light flashing 16 times at start up? If so, that code would be helpful.

i find the cost comparisons rather benign and not something that applies to all vehicle comparisons. i don't really see it for newer cars folks are taking to the dealers. in general an alternator, knock sensor, brake job....typical or most likely repairs are not going to be that big of a difference. my friends 2003 GM MAF sensor needed replaced to the tune of $300 for the part (replaced it himself). so yeah, i guess that's quite a big price difference since a 2003 Subaru MAF sensor would never fail in the first place :lol:! on the Ford you'll likely have more repairs, i'd rather have more reliability than less. you're not likely to "get stranded" with no one to work on the car. i mean brake, suspension, steering stuff, electrical (starter, alternator) is all similar functionally speaking. and engine wise, most common issues are going to be obvious - Knock sensor, Plugs/wires (cylinder misfire), O2 issues....you're not going to get stranded with no one that knows how to fix the car, that's a bit presumptuous i think. and now that they don't make the EA82 any more timing belts are even easy :lol:

Any used EJ25, JDM or not, is a bad choice for this motor. That's a poorly spent $900. I'll sell you an EJ25 for $1,000 that has new headgaskets on it. Otherwise this isn't even a swap, it's just an engine replacement, very simple. You'd bolt all of your existing equipment (intake manifold, power steering, brackets, etc) to the new long-block so there's really no difference at all.

since you're interested in a daily driver and it appears you live in flatland, FWD would be just fine, (this coming from a 4WD/AWD lover). technically it would be cheaper and easier to maintain. no ujoints, driveshaft, carrier bearings, rear differential, rear diff oil, rear axles, transfer clutches, duty C solenoid, (or viscous center in a manual trans), and AWD tires need to match, be properly inflated and rotated properly to prevent excessive stress on 4WD components, and never, ever improperly tow a AWD Subaru.....see what i mean? bottom line - FWD has less stuff to go wrong. search for "torque bind", AWD Subaru's experience problems that FWD does not have, FWD has far fewer components/parts to fail. if you have significant snow concerns frankly i'd rather have a dedicated set of studded snow tires than 4WD. frankly, for older subarus, tires are important for traction. most folks buying 20 year old subaru's aren't running quality or new tires (and i'm talking about myself back in the day:lol:).

given the completeness of the tune up you've done i'd install a new Subaru PCV valve while you're at it. it's not a likely culprit of your problem but good time to replace it with everything else and only costs a few dollars and is easy to replace. was this before or after the engine replacement? how soon after engine replacement was the test done?

I have a spare impreza hatch back 1997 I can pull the wiper arms off of if you want. Maybe new ones are cheap enough not to worry with used, i don't know.

Dave - he's saying the same thing you are - there are orings - just not front passengers side. they are located on the rear passengers side and front drivers side. all pre99 EJ22's are the same in this regard. pardon my mistake about this!

If that sensor is really bad I would replace it with a used one. They almost never fail, not worth "new prices" and they're easier to replace than changing oil. Super easy. That price is really high for a part that almost never fails and takes 2 minutes to replace, but the problem is they are pricing a new one. A used one would probably cost very little, there's probably tons of folks on here that have one they'd sell. I even have a few lying around.

Right on, 2 cam support o-rings on the EJ22, my bad.

you can use a porta-power or a high-lift jack or a BFH:lol: to spread the flanges as well, that would only take a couple minutes. grinding the hub down is probably the best bet though, i'd rather do it that way as it seems better.

your 2.2 will have the cam orings. 3 of them (one per side and one on the passengers rear). definitely replace them, they'll be in poor shape most likely.

the 5 lug swap can't be done with legacy stuff in the rear, completely different set up. just look at them and you'll see why.

It does sound like a relay going bonkers but for sake of clarity and because we can't actually touch the car: I realize you said it was checked but stay with me for a minute - how and under what conditions was it checked? Yours cutting off like you're explaining could mean the charges are just at the "minimum" line and might "pass" depending how the tests were done. You could just be marginally undercharged a tiny amount, making it dependant on ambient conditions, driving load, etc.

i was really confused until i saw the ":lol:" that dinky 1.8 liter behind an autotransmission means i'm going so slow i have plenty of time to work with!

Delta Cams makes cams for this engine, i think that's what Qman has? Maybe they have spec's and numbers on their website or here? I've ordered a couple sets of cams from them before. I don't recommend "high lift" cams for a daily driver, get something meant for the streets. I lost braking ability (affects vacuum) and did not drive nice around town. The mild grind street cams were fine.

"decent amount of hp" is kind of relative. if you want something that is actually fast, you can read up on wikipedia, google, etc on the limitations of an NA motor. if you're into it for the tinkering, learning, social, hobby aspect and don't mind putting a lot of time and effort into it even though it won't really be fast (like most of us have done :lol:), then tear it up, what you're talking about sounds like a good start. NASIOC is a good place to look into all sorts of EJ modifications.

is there some reason you're asking about oil? seems like there's some genesis for the question? i agree with GD, synthetic is great stuff, but it's way overkill. you will not realize any benefits to synthetic oil and your engine will last as long as you care to maintain it with conventional oil. the most important thing with EA82's and ER27's is changing the oil, very often depending on the previous owners. the HLA's don't like dirty oil.

i would try and repair the threads. have you chased them with a tap or spark plug thread cleaning tool to see if that helps? if not, go the helicoil route, there's a number of tips here and probably all over the internet on how to do it. pulling the heads requires some cash to do it right and it does take quite a long time. gotta pull the intake manifold, exhaust manifold, timing belt covers, a/c, timing belts, valve covers, cam carriers - which then means all the rockers fall out, then you can finally pull the heads. then reassembling is always fun, gotta clean up everything - that takes FOREVER cleaning all the heads, block, cam carriers....etc, then reinstall the cam carriers with tube sealant, squeezing them down in there without nudging the sealant on something or knocking the rockers off, which you have to hang in place while installing the cam carrier. not terribly difficult, but a huge job compared to repairing your threads. you'll have to buy heads, head gaskets (see note below), have the heads milled, intake manifold gaskets, and cam carrier orings. and it's sort of silly not to replace the valve cover gaskets and some other things while you're in there. if you were doing the job right and having the heads milled then it would probably actually be cheaper to pay someone $100 to repair the heads rather than all the gaskets and machine shop work. not to mention time, but i guess different folks put different values on their time. it takes a long time even if everything goes smooth. run into one seized exhaust manifold bolt or an intake manifold bolt that shears off (both very common), then you're adding difficulty and time by the truck load. if you do end up doing headgaskets save yourself some effort and use Fel-Pro permatorque headgaskets. anything else requires retorquing which is totally annoying.