idosubaru

you also have a choice - be the problem or solve the problem. the latter tend to do really well in life while the rest armchair quarter back their way to not doing anything. that's really impressive and hard to do being in charge of hiring folks in various sectors comments like that are common and never impress me. i get warm fuzzies with people that see a problem as an opportunity to make a positive difference, not point fingers and complain. those kinds of people are rare but highly valuable to any organization. to learn and live that makes it easy to be successful in nearly every aspect of life.

wow. are you trying to start "one of those threads"? there's all sorts of information on here. becoming used to the search function will reveal quite a bit of information. folks ask all the time stuff related exactly to what you're talking about..."tune ups", "timing belts". we're not talking about Dodge Neons here. there's very few folks that like to do extensive preventative maintenance that dont' know anything about cars. those kind of people typically ask questions about tune up and what to do and they are answered. might help to explain what you're looking for and maybe we can help with your inability to understand or find it. aftermarket parts are not always better, but there are tons of threads indicating where to stick with Subaru and where to go aftermarket. usually they are in the context of a particular type of job - timing components, suspension, etc. have you seen the USRM?

oh yeah, that's really annoying. wear some gloves and grab each side and keep wiggling it. it'll seem like you're not doing anything, but keep trying. rotate 90 degrees and try again. a leveraging instrument placed behind it with some careful but stiff forceful nudges from behind helps too, but i would call that a last resort. good luck, they're really annoying sometimes.

Yeah if you need the clutch anyway, pull the engine that's much easier. But this valve can be repaired without pulling the engine. Pull it out and have a valve job done, they'll test and replace any valves needed. You can probably drive awhile like that. But I suppose there's a chance of some problems doing that, I would probably avoid it. Pieces of valve in the cylinder (maybe the valves can crack on the edges) will ruin your cylinders. Or if it's bent bad enough could it damage the head? Probably not as I think the seal would get hosed first but even still could that result in excessive fuel consumption?

Stop in the library or book store and get a book written by a car salesmen. There's probably a couple, I've seen one that was really good but can't recall the name. It was really short, more of a pamphlet but very informative. Your best deal will come with negotiating and not trading in your car. But if you're like most and you don't like doing those then you're essentially paying for the "service" of not dealing with that. That's sort of what they're banking on, most folks don't know how to play that hand. I'm not up on the new car market so I'm not sure how it's been affected with the recent economic deal, but Subaru at least a couple months ago was actually beating previous year marks. Tell them as little info as possible, including where you live. Talk price, that's it and mean business. Cut them off (politely) and don't sit through their rhetoric, ignore their fake "Invoices", and babbling unless they're talking about coming down in price. Plan on stopping in more than once. Looks like you're in a city, shop two different dealers if you can, remembering not to tell them where you live. Send someone else and see what kind of deal/talk they get.

with the manual i will bet you get better over time. maybe you can adjust the hill holder somehow? might want to prepare yourself for the winter if the area gets snow. snow in flat country is rather benign. snow in steep/mountainous areas is treacherous. it's night and day. if that is a concern, consider quality snow tires before next winter. as for the automatic. nah, you shouldn't have any issues with the hill and auto trans. if you find yourself in high rpm's and hauling some kind of additional/non normal load like extra weight and trailers up mountain passes then maybe an aftermarket cooler. but a little extra work for the trans is fine, doesn't sound like you need anything except fluid changes. rotate your tires and change the fluid with some kind of regularity (read your owners manual, that's a good place to start). but if it has never been or infrequently changed you might need more changes than normal. a drain and refill of the trans only gets 30% ofthe fluid out approx.

fusible link, bad ground, bad ignition switch. check fusible link (easy). try grounding the battery directly to the battery. not sure how to do that actually, but i've done it before. car would start every time so that told me the ground wire somewhere was hosed. i found the bad wire later and fixed it. but "jumping" it via the ground on the starter and negative post verified it. not sure about EJ ignition switch stuff. hope you get it.

sounds bizarre. EA/ER engines will run LIKE CRAP if the lifters are flat and be tricky to start. but doesn't sound like that's your problem to me as they usually aren't *that* hard to start after say a rebuild. takes a bit, but they'll start and just run really rough until the HLA's even out. that's really bizarre - a gallon of fuel sitting in the engine?

i bet you got quite a bit of time yet then if it's not showing a temp difference. the temperatures will start destroying the bearing quickly and you haven't gotten there yet. you just have one bad bearing, they obviously don't have "one failure symptom" and tend to differ a bit.

you still haven't answered - is this a no crank or no start? check your fuses?

requires no special tools at all. here's a great approach: search here for the Endwrench articles (that's subaru's information available online) for your engine. Then search here or ask for specific questions/clarifications. The endwrench articles are typically superb and include pictures. Be a good idea to replace the entire set of timing components, ebay is the way to go for those, that's what just about everyone on here uses.

wow, this is rather wide open and requires a lot of decisions. if the 98 OBW is going to limit your funds then you might want to spend some time researching to make a really good choice. one of the worst things people do is to spend too much on a used car and then it needs something. a 10 year old car is likely to need maintenance. brakes, batteries, axle, timing belt, bearings, it happens. the timing belt alone is an expensive endeavor. even if you do it yourself a proper job should cost $200+ in parts alone. add to that the significant head gasket issues of the 98 OBW and you have a car with the possibility of high repair costs in the near future. that's not a good fit for folks that aren't prepared for it. that being said, the best way to score a nice 98 OBW is to get one with the headgaskets or motor blown and fix it. they have enough problems that it's not hard to find one with a blown motor (i picked up a 1998 OBW last week with a bad motor - hey you want to buy it after i fix it???) - anyway, buy one and replace the head gaskets or replace the motor. you can go original EJ25 (with new gaskets), EJ22, or brand new rebuilt from CCR. as for the EA82 - they can actually be very reliable but are going to need some help. preferrably it's in good condition. even if the timing belt was replaced i'd still pull it off and replace all the timing components, i'll bet you $1,000 the pulleys aren't up to par. they are 20 years old and all of them should be replaced. i have a 1988 XT6 in my driveway now, all the pulleys are in very poor shape. they are not going back on. tune up, all new hoses, proper timing belt job, brake job, fluid change, clean the EGR, PCV, and Idle control stuff, and stuff like that will make an EA82 reliable. i install new batteries, connectors, and alternator in mine. i used a 1989 XT6 as my daily driver when I commuted 120 miles to NASA as a necessary employee. i had to be there, hurricane, blizzard or whatever and people/satellites depended on me being there no matter what. i made it there every day for a few years. but it took lots of attention to good maintenance and repairing/addressing known XT6 issues. the XT6 is just an EA82 with two more cylinders...same pistons, valves, bearings, etc.

i've never been in one, so i have no idea. but, if it turns out it doesn't you might be able to swap the individual parts you need to make your old non-working one work again?

you do not have a mechanical problem actually you don't have any problem, this is really easy. *** to make sure you know this: MARKING THE BELTS IS NOT NECESSARY. that has nothing to do with anything. the cam and crank have markings on them to match up with markings on the engine, it's really easy. and the cam markings both point directly UP if the belt covers are not attached. hardly any of us on here mark the belts or worry about maintaining alignment when pulling an old belt. i never do, i'm always exactly where you are right now. practice some with the search function, it is very beneficial to look up stuff using that. for instance, you would have answered all of your own questions 15 minutes from the first time you posted the first thread using the search function. there are tons of past threads on timing belts. ask questions about that if you can't get it to work well, it does have some kinks that are good to know.

good call C - so do you have a "no start" or "no crank"?

the 98 EJ22 is interference, so make sure you got this exactly right. for the same reason, now is a good time to install a new belt. do not leave a used belt on there, if it breaks your "new" engine is now worthless or has significant internal damage. there are TONS of threads about timing belts and endwrench (subaru's guru site) has all sorts of nifty articles and diagrams for doing the belts. it's really easy - line up cams, line up crank and install belt. done. make sure you use the right mark on the crank sprocket since there's more than one.

at 180,000 miles you should be on your 2nd or 3rd timing belt by now. i'm on dialup so i can't read that article right now, but 97+ is well known to be interference so i'm not sure what the deal is. if you can do the work yourself, just throw a timing belt on it and see what kind of running or compression you get. they're not terribly hard to do.

cleaning the EGR valve out is always a good idea. on the passengers side strut tower there's a vacuum line going from a solenoid to the engine and close to the engine you'll see a small quarter sized filter in line with the vacuum tubing. i've seen those cause EGR lights to come on and horrible running/shifting problems. i'd go ahead and replace it, it's a $7 Subaru only part.

important info: mileage, Check engine light?, any recent work, has it ever had a tune up? quick tests that should always be done with a no start: spark - check for good spark at all 4 plugs fuel - make sure the engine is getting fuel. i just pull the fuel line and watch fuel squirt every where. the 10 seconds it takes is well worth the small mess that evaporates and is forgotten about shortly afterwards. common problems are: cam and crank sensors coil pack timing belt break? there's some others too, but let's get some more info rolling before we fill your cart with 2 dozen possibilities.

no, your 1999 is an interference engine. regardless of that note EJ22's up to 1996 are free wheeling (non interference). 1997+ they are interference. but that doesn't confirm you broke a belt, best to have a look. shavings usually means the belt or cover was rubbed. i mean it sounds like you busted the belt. how about telling us mileage and maintenance history, that might clue us in on whether this is probable or not too. that quote is fishy, Subaru hasn't made EJ18 engines since 1996 so I don't know why they refer to it in 2005, although all Ej18's are non-interference. you're in chevy chase, i guess that means maryland?

you pretty much have it covered with the trans flush. the trans is basically tired, not much else you're going to be able to do for it at this point than the flush.

yeah i knew generally but didn't know the details, thanks for filling in me fingers.

Okay, well that makes more sense. I've never seen a driveshaft make noise but not vibrate either. I would wonder if your center carrier bearing is failing. The driveshaft is a two piece unit. There is a support structure that holds the shaft and has a bearing through which the shaft turns. If this fails I would imagine you'd get noise (like any other kind of bearing) without vibration. Of the two piece driveshaft this carrier bearing is part of the first half that slides into the transmission. I've never heard or seen of those bearings being replaced though, so used would be your option. the one thing you can do - is remove the rear half of the shaft. It has two ujoints (one on each end). you can remove it and see if the noise goes away. that would leave the front half inside the trans, holding the gear oil in place. as a side note - the rear half driveshafts are identical between all auto's and manuals. it's only the front half that is different. so for the rear any driveshaft will work, for the front it has to be from auto/manual. if the noise is still there, then it could still be the front half, which you can't remove without loosing gear oil. it has one ujoint and the carrier bearing assocaited with it i mentioned earlier. either way - i would imagine you would be able to feel some place or vibrations by turning the bearing by hand. mechanics stethoscope on that bearing might be worth a shot.

that's right for the EJ22, interference 1997 and up. the EJ25 came out in 1996 and they are all interference. the earliest interference Subaru engine I believe is the EG33 in the SVX - 1992+. they are "technically" inteference but odd in that they are unlikely to sustain damage with a broken belt.

if it is the driveshaft, you should replace this immediately. if the ujoint lets loose it can wreck stuff underneath, including destroying your transmission. the shaft will cut loose and smack/crack the transmission case. like nip said, junk yard that thing or have a drive shop rebuild the failed ujoint. having a driveline shop rebuild it is a great option if you can do the pull and install yourself. probably only cost $100-$150 to replace it with a new regreaseable ujoint (Rockford - look them up online for more info and Subaru part numbers). either of those options is much cheaper than the dealer. they don't fail enough to avoid using a used one. and you can check the joints before you buy. rotate each ujoint over a few times and make sure it's smooth. any lumpy-ness and get a different one. find a nice smooth one and it's likely to last the rest of the time you own the car. the FWD fuse won't really help even if it was an auto. even in FWD the rear wheels are turning. the driveshaft still rotates because it's driven by the rear wheels. might change it a tiny bit because the load is still there, but having done it before it won't really be very efficient at confirming anything.