idosubaru

these motors don't leak externally when the head gaskets fail. these motors don't fail that way. i can tell you with 100% certainty that you won't find any coolant in the oil so don't worry about it. waste of a good oil change, go ahead and change it after you fix the head gaskets. you probably have a bad headgasket, quite common on these engines. in this motor that means you'll pass all the conventional head gasket tests - no leaks, no oil/coolant mixing, and often in the early stages they don't even fail the "combustion in the coolant" tests. all of your symptoms are pointing to headgasket.

doesn't matter, but that's not true. i've already explained it a few posts back for anyone that needs the truth on the matter. there's plenty of manual trans cars with EGR. "most", or "most in your area", or something like that might not have them, but i've seen MT EJ22's that do have EGR. i picked up a 97 legacy L EJ22 less than a year ago with EGR and I know others on this board have some as well.

thanks Gloyale, that's a nice clarification.

Might be simpler to just swap the entire 95 trans in place? If the 99 has a hydraulic clutch you would just have to retrofit that and speed sensors (i believe the newer electric ones just thread right in place of the older cable driven jokers.

sweet, so the other stuff is just to lessen the axle angles and increase their life? if they don't rub i'm golden short term? thanks!!

For a 2" XT6 lift can I install my front and rear strut extensions and then install the diff, mustache blocks later? I want to drive the car around while I build a 3.9 LSD with new bushings to install all at the same time.

not true. some auto's were non-EGR. very few, but it's not 100%. and almost all manuals 1996+ have EGR where 1995 manuals do not. EJ25's and EJ18's are also an easy swap if you're interested in options.

an extra 40 hp is a big step for NA. seems like a lot of work for little gain. have you looked around NASIOC at all? you'll definitely need some serious intake, head, cam, and probably piston work to make that happen. folks talk about hybrid motors, combining EJ22 heads on EJ25 blocks or the other way around, not sure the advantage of that, but maybe worth looking into. i wonder if Deltacams has dyno'ed any of their stuff? i know you said no turbo, but the EJ22 easily handles boost. requires no swap and it's been done before so the info and parts are out there. just checking to make sure you know there's a really easy, inexpensive, and reliable way to get what you're after. 3.0 or 3.3 motors interest you at all?

that "definition" you posted is just a general note about the 4EAT transmission, which has gone through numerous changes. the 93 legacy trans will bolt up and is identical in shape/form. the 93 legacy will be the wrong final drive for your 98 OBW - it'll be a 4.11 where yours is a 4.44. that being said, if you can use it if you grab a 4.11 rear differential to match. those are two different generations, so i'm not positive but i'm pretty sure it will swap. i know someone has done this before, hopefully they post. or you can search for some threads here, i've seen it before regarding this exact swap.

if you have torque bind (sounds like you do), another free option is to install a switch to control the trans. flip the switch for FWD, then flip it the other way for 4WD. use 4WD only in the snow/offroad. i've done it before, works fin and costs nothing.

So you're definitely loosing fluid? Wouldn't be a big surprise if it's head gaskets again, but don't overlook simple things. If it's leaking fluid, look under the car and around the engine for obvious leaks. Aftermarket thermostats are really weak indeed. Make sure it's operating properly or replace it. Make sure the radiator cap is in good condition and the radiator as well.

1996-1998 EJ22's from any impreza or legacy. Make sure if yours has EGR (it should), the replacement does as well. There are very rare cases of Ej22's not having EGR's, but there's no way to tell without looking as i've seen the exact same car (color even) have both. 99% of them have EGR so it's not a very big deal. Simplest way is to just swap the long blocks, keep your intake manifold. Not for any complicated reason, just keeps things simple, like vacuum hoses and charcoal canister hoses. And there were two cruise control set ups - again not a big deal, very simple stuff, but simpler to bolt your intake on an engine than swap an intake.

Reseal the oil pump. Pay attention to the gasket (oring material), if one port looks sucked in (very common issue), that's probably your ticking problem. Replace the oil pump if the oil pump reseal doesn't help it. Change your oil often, these are hydraulic valve lash adjusters, they are great in that they never need adjusted but dirty oil does them wrong.

I'd price it out too. Not normal, but I scored a good EJ transmission for $150 with only 100,000 miles on it. Still driving it today. Trans replacements are actually much less troublesome than engines. Do huh!? The XT6 trans is exactly the same transmission - 4WD and all. The XT6 automatic is 4EAT and most of them were 4 wheel drive. They are actually nearly identical to the Legacy transmissions and are actually interchangeable with not much effort.

you never answered - how far did you tow it? we can't really tell you anything for certain, unless i'm missing something. hate to throw away a perfectly good car though. i can tell you with 100% certainty - i would be able to keep that transmission running for a long time. it might have a switch or only be FWD.

I'm not sure JCE. So you're saying you can tow an automatic 4WD on a dolly? To "lock" the rear transfer clutches, like when I install the switches that I do, you "cut power" to the Duty C - which locks the clutch pack. So without power it's "locked". Not sure what happens beyond that.

Either way, you didn't toast it. There's really no way to tell though, but how far did you tow it and what kind of towing? It might be fine. Worst case scenario you replace the rear extension housing with a used one, which isn't hard to find or you get new clutches. Or, the cheap solution which is actually beneficial (I used to do it to mine): you can wire in a single wire switch to control the clutch packs and essentially run it FWD or locked 4WD whenever you want. I used to install that switch on my 4EAT's (i drive manuals now) because it gives you better traction in the winter - "locked 4WD". So essentially you can do a work around for free if you're up to it. It's really easy compared to an engine swap and you actually get better 4WD - it's completely locked.

without power you were essentially towing it in "locked" 4WD which is the worst thing you can do. might get lucky. worst case it's fixable without dropping the trans and you can even do a free "work around" often times if you're up to installing a single wire switch. sometimes the cheapest engines can be found in buying a wrecked vehicle, keep your eyes open in any classified listings locally.

If you towed it with a tow dolly you may have trashed your transmission. That's a 4WD vehicle, you can't just tow it on 4 wheels. You need to either disconnect the driveshaft or in an automatic you can place the FWD fuse in place and turn the car "on", though I normally leave it running just in case, I'm not sure how it works being on without the engine on as the rear clutch packs don't receive any fluid pressure. Anyway - the EJ22 swap is the cheapest reliable option. They are extremely easy to swap into 1998 OBW's. Search the board here for information on that, it's been discussed a zillion times. There's nothing to it, it's a plug and play swap. Zero electrical, just swap your EJ25 brackets (power steering/a/c) onto the EJ22 engine, very easy. I would avoid the JDM engines and any EJ25 unless it's had the headgaskets already replaced. Keep in mind any engine you get is going to need complete timing belt overhaul - all new pulleys and tensioner to avoid what you're going through now happening again. There's just no point in trusting countless miles and 10+ year old pulleys. If you get a 95 or 96 EJ22 they are non-interference so a broken timing belt does zero damage to your engine, that's a nice feature.

being a 95, i'm thinking it will have the smaller single piston calipers. prior to 1996 only the turbo's got the dual pistons i thought. some of the 96 and up models (GT's, LSi, OBW's) got dual piston calipers which won't clear with 14" wheels. when putting 14" wheels on the larger dual piston calipers, the calipers just hit the inside of the rim, they don't even come close to fitting. i've been tempted to see if there's a way to grind the calipers and shave the inside of the wheels to see if there's a way to do it. but in my case it might be simpler to see if i can reduce the overall diamter an inch via tire size. but the 15"ers i'm about to put on mine have new tires, so it'll be awhile.

Looks like the clunking is still there actually. Ocassional clunks on left hand turns. Not nearly as bad as when the coil spring was shattered to pieces, but it's making a noise. Could this be the strut or probalby something else? Everything else appears tight and looks good. It's been a couple years but when I drove the car these new struts came off of i don't recall any issues.

My front 2 piston calipers and rotors are too big or i'd go down to 14" rims, i even have two sets with great tires on them.

ha, ha, there's no missing facts, that was a typo on my part. i was trying to put too many negatives in one sentence - "not non-interference". i edited my post.

The front coil on my 96 legacy strut broke (strut seemed fine, coil broke in half), so I replaced it with a strut assembly off a parts car. This parts car had been wrecked and the struts were replaced with new and sold to me before it was ever finished and driven so the struts don't have many miles on them. When I first pulled away there were a few thunking sounds, do struts typically need to "settle"? Or was that my tools falling out i left under that lol!! The car pulls a bit to the right but I'm positive the camber bolt is installed exactly as it was before. Is this a function of the new strut? The tire on that side is warn more on the inside and this car was aligned less than a year ago. The coil spring is either broke or not broke, so it probably didn't "cause" that uneven wear did it?

That 99 EJ22 is interference. The EJ22 has a good bit more power than the EJ18. I'm not sure what you're trying to do but the non interference EJ22's (up to 1996) are awesome for reliability. The later inteference EJ22's are great too..it's just that they're interference. I have an EJ18 in a legacy. The heavier car and mountain driving doesn't suit it well. I can't go over 15" rims without a serious hit to highway performance. With 16" rims mine could only maintain 50-60 mph up steep mountain grades. Does fine on flat land. It's easy enough to see for yourself though, you can go drive a couple and get a feel for them.