idosubaru

are you sure it's not leaking somewhere? has it always been like this or started recently? some leaks won't show themselves right away. oil is coagulating behind timing belt covers or in cracks and crevices before it makes it's way down to the cross member and drips. if it's not leaking i'm with him and wouldn't worry about it. a quart every 2,000 miles is annoying but at the same time if you keep oil in it it'll run another 100,000 miles without getting worse probably.

Subaru alloy wheels typically sell for around $300, but that's if you can find them. Sometimes it's just hard to come across a set for sale. So $200 is a fine deal, i'd buy them if i could for a friend. if you needed tires that's a great deal. at $60 each plus installation even a set of cheap tires will cost more. if you have steel wheels then it's a no brainer to upgrade. some of the OBW alloy wheels arent' really all that nice looking in my opinion so that comes into play as well since some are really nice. but either way, the tires alone and upgrade from steel to alloy are worth it. just make sure the rubber isn't old and dry rotted, that's the only bad thing about unknown tires. even with full tread they can have horrible performance in the rain and snow if the rubber is old. i believe there's a way to identify the manufacturing date of a tire by reading something off the side wall, but i've never done it.

so with the transmission in gear it never makes the noise?

phil, kingbobdole, has one in his XT6 you might want to check his thread out over on the XT6 forums. Huck also has an EG33 in his XT6. Both of those might give you some mental capital. So this wrecked OBW - are you getting the entire car or is it in a yard? Any chance of getting a part off of it for me for my 02 OBW? Let me know.

the heat shields probably are heat shields and not something more ominous. they're almost impossible to track down until you just rip them all off. one of the more annoying issues of older cars...heck i see 2000+'s with heat shield problems. the EA82T can be a good car (as you've experienced) if it's never allowed to overheat, the turbo stays in good shape, lots of hoses are replaced and a nose job - timing belt, pulleys, and seals.

hey nip, i noticed today the same issue on my 98 OBW. a small bubble on the passengers side, same area. i'll be tackling this some time soon as well i guess. since it's under the sticker, can't you just treat the rust, prime it and put a sticker on top? it's under the sticker so it's not going to make much difference right? i'm more terrified of getting the sticker properly placed, i'm pretty sure i could totally hose that rather easily! nipper sounds hauntingly familiar - body work = bad mojo. if anyone gets the prices for those stickers, do post here, thanks for the part numbers.

i'd retire the GL. the fact that it still runs probably means you can get $500 out of it, you'll probably reach a point very soon when it won't be worth any more than scrap value. take your money and run. EA82T's are a bear to keep reliable that you still have yours is amazing, seriously. and kudo's to GD's description of the clutch change should decide to go insane and actually keep the poor thing. i already commented on impreza's verses legacy's of that era you're talking about. "more reliable" in small ways than the legacy's actually and in my opinion they look gobs better than those first generation leg's. the impreza and legacy wagons are awesome vehicles. i buy them all the time for friends, relatives and college folks that need a cheap reliable vehicle. the price to reliability ratio is just nuts on those things. it's about the easiest and cheapest almost positive 100,000 miles you can buy. of course...to be reliable in my opinion (i drive and travel a lot with zero desire to break down) they need proper maintenance - timing belt kit, water pump, seals, tune up, and fluid changes. basic stuff, all you can do yourself, and all we can help you with. for a little coin you'll have an extremely reliable machine. expand your search area as much as possible and keep looking. the easiest way to get a good deal is to not need one immediately. i've gotten a ton of great deal, scour craigslist, Ebay, and local classifieds and expand that search area as much as you can.

yeah these cars aren't insanely desirable...i don't think subaru's are all that popular in your area are they, so you should be able to talk them down a bit.

describe your problems, we can probably help you a lot here. first thing to be aware of - EJ engines (you never mention your car, but that's probably what you have) are notorious for getting air bubbles. happens all the time. air needs to be bled through the bleeder screw on the top passengers side or radiator. loosen screw, add coolant until it comes out, tighten screw, then continue filling. best for the nose of the car to as high as possible. check and refill coolant in radiator cap after driving (and letting cool down) a couple times. that will get rid of your air bubbles.

:lol: that's awesome. it's been done before. in an XT6 it wasn't all that bad, so it's definitely doable in an XT which is an EA82. so it's "possible".

Let us know how you make out. I have an 02 OBW with the same Front O2 sensor Bank 1 Code that didn't go away with 2 new O2 sensors (H6 with two sensors).

Main thing you'll want to check for on a used subaru is torque bind (for AWD models). In terms of reliability the impreza's are actually "better" by a small margin. they got the same engines and transmissions, although impreza's also got the EJ18 which is the same motor as the EJ22 but smaller pistons. it's a beast and will basically outlast the rest of the car if you maintain it properly. great car, hard to beat for cheap reliability. you could always hold out for a manual trans. a manual trans is certainly more reliable than a 15+ year old automatic. but the auto trans in that car is actually very reliable for an automatic transmission. if you like something extremely reliable, here's the maintenance you'd want to do: entire timing kit. all the pulleys are devoid of grease and not all that great by now. ebay kits are only $90 for everything. replace water pump, reseal the oil pump and the cam seals/orings as well. flush coolant/ATF and change gear oils. and of course general tune up stuff - air filter, PCV valve, plugs and wires. (stay OEM Subaru with the PCV, plugs, and wires)

best bet for electrical stuff like starters and alternators is to have a local automotive electrical rebuilder rebuild them for you. but yeah, to keep this one working you'll likely only need to clean the insides up really good and replace the brushes. really easy to do.

surely you can find a distributor for next to nothing, used disty's aren't worth much. can you fix the disty itself? not sure what yours is like, but the later model distributors sometimes can be fixed by cleaning the sensor or wheel or by replacing the bushing/bearing.

Drain the fluid out of your old trans and use it :lol: Yes, all of those fluids are fine. In my experience with the manual trans you're not going to have any problems running anything in it. If anything the lower end stuff might show you warn synchro's that the others cover up. I'd go with the regular weight oil (non synthetic) shown in the manual.

Since you said one front O2 sensor this must be an EJ25 and not an H6. Someone on here recently posted that a pinched wire caused an O2 sensor code. It was recently after a headgasket job and the mechanics fixed it for free. Leaks are said to be a cause (never seen it happen myself). If the rear sensor can cause this I think i'd have a mind to replace it. If he's invested this much, sounds like he'd like to have it quite a bit more, I would just assume the rear O2 is eventually going to need replacing and do it now with everything else (front and cat already done).

Disconnect the battery (though I've done it without, but that's quite stupid on a system that has explosive charges associated with it). Torx bits vary by vehicle, so there's no "one size fits all here", though T-30's and T40's seem to be the rule for air bags controllers I've done. Last one I did (97 impreza was a T30). On some legacy's (late model im' referring too) there's two sets to remove - a large set holding the bracket and unit and a smaller set holding just the unit to the bracket. If yours is like this, remove the unit, not the bracket, those larger ones are REALLY tight and will break bits. The connectors are INSANE. They require about 14 years of higher education, 34 text books, and a shrink to figure out. So good luck with that. On late model stuff there's a small tab to lift up while pressing the rest down...all while pulling OUT...in a very tight space. FIguring out what to lift and what to press and when to pull is annoying. What made it easier for me is I have parts cars to hack up, and it was still pain. From what I've seen their idea to make this hard to remove has actually been counter intuitive and makes the units MORE dangerous because the connectors are usually damaged due to being so difficult to remove.

used is fine. they fail so incredibly infrequently on Subaru's it's just not worth it sometimes. i bet close to %95 of all subaru's on the road (even 20 year old ones) are still running the originals. all of the ones i've ever come across are fine. the only bad ones i have are from two "new" struts that sat out in the rain without a hood. rusted the bearings - so be careful and inspect them closely at a yard. don't assume their good. if you can get the struts cheap and they're not leaking you'd save yourself some hassle by just swapping the entire strut assemblies. then you have your old ones to swap back in if the struts ever go bad.

ride bike more and car less on those roads :lol:. tire pressure will help, only have to release it when you get there. can have a tank of compressed air to air back up when you leave...or use your bike pump unless you have those new goofy valves...then get an adapter. probably not hurting much other than the struts. bushings may wear over time, but based on the older gen stuff i've seen bushings stand up to wear fairly well unless they're getting oil/grease/fluids soaked. keep em dry and you'll probably only really be stressing struts.

he's wanting air struts, do you mean like air bag suspension? i got nothing on the gabriel site with a search or that part number that was subaru related and an air bag. i already outlined your best option if you really want "air shocks" in terms of air bag suspension.

what vehicle & engine? did you check to see if it's wet under the passengers side carpeting in the footwell area? any recent work or issues with the car other than radiator? intake manifold gaskets are common issues with EA82's.

the easiest solution is to use Subaru EA82 or XT6 air struts. since EA82's and XT6's came with air suspension stock, whatever it takes to convert to EA82 (or 5 lug) will give you air suspension options. might as well do a 5 lug conversion while you're at it. in which case you could also use legacy's up front.

*** disclaimer, I am not an EA82T fan. in their defense, not that they deserve any, i'd bet my bank account the car was previously run hot or low on oil. these engines have seen 20 years of abuse and frankly any EA82 vehicle is almost worthless in reality. when they start overheating many folks just keep adding water or drive it until it doesn't move any more. they're usually just buying something they can hardly afford much less actually repair anything - not a good fit for 20 year old car, more so for 20 year old turbo's.

nice car, i think i saw that one for sale last week, CL maybe? should be good for another 100,000 miles easily if you want to maintain it. i'd have the transmission fluid flushed or changed a few times, a lot of older cars have never had this done. folks change the oil every 3,000 but never the trans fluid !(#)$$####!!! what? anyway, i'd be more concerned with having the ATF flushed than the poor mpg right now. that may be a base model with drum brakes. the drums have two threaded holes for M8x1.25 threaded metric bolts. thread the bolts in and turn them. actually rotors usually have the same holes. be warned, it almost always ruins the bolts due to rust inside the holes, so trash them when you're done so you don't try and reuse them in a place that will damage the hole threads later. being drum brakes they're likely in great shape...all depends how it was driven of course. i pulled the drums off my 1997 OBS with the intention of replacing them since i've never checked them and i've put 70,000+ miles on the car since buying it. the shoes were hardly any different than new ones (took them with me to the store). so i just turned the drums and didn't bother replacing them. a front brake job might help improve your mpg. not the pads or rotors, but properly greasing the calipers helps them pull off and not ride the rotors so much. most 10+ year old cars have poorly lubed caliper slides because mechanics don't grease them, they get paid for brake jobs and being fast. of course there's a ton of things that might improve mpg....in general city driving isn't good for mpg. i used to drive from Westminster to Greenbelt every day, i know what traffic around there is like!!!

the rear quarter panels are welded in, you'll be hard pressed to find those. i had two 97 OBS parts cars up until a couple years ago, but even still cutting them out and shipping them would not likely have happened. i've done it once before and it was a nightmare - took forever to sawzall the thing out and the "deal" didn't work out - waste of time, a lot of time. i'd find a junk yard with one or start finding some sheet metal to repair it with. i'd be careful putting all this effort into the car as well if the rust is bad it's likely it's bad and worse in some critical areas underneath. you could easily put a lot of time and money into somethign that may have significant problems in the short term. just make sure you inspect it and check thigns out.