idosubaru

yep, it'll work. the only possible hang ups are if one doesn't have EGR (most likely they both should, but Subaru was a bit random so there's no way to verify without looking at it). the only other minor issue is the charcoal canister lines. some had it in the engine bay, some did not. i think that throws a code or two depending how you mix-n-match those. i currently drive a car that has both of these "hang ups", the check engine light is on but i don't care and the car drives perfectly fine.

i would let them do the alignment and then center the steering wheel yourself. once the alignment is set, the rack and wheels should be doing what they're supposed to do, then you'll set the steering wheel to match.

some late models (96+ like GT's for instance) will have hydraulic clutch instead of cable clutch like yours has. i believe they could be interchanged, but haven't heard of anyone actually doing it yet. i contemplated and have the parts, including both style trans, but never got around to it.

if it's from the front of the pan, it could easily by the oil pump gasket, seal, or crank seal. do you know the condition of those, if the timing belt or those items have ever been replaced? if it is the oil pan, then leave lots of time. the old gasket is a pain to get off and try to make sure the oil pan bolt holes are all flush on the top. if they are indented "UP", they cut into the new gasket and don't seal well. it's quite often a newly replaced oil or trans pan gasket will leak because of this.

first, make sure it's the oil pan. usually it's something else if you have a significant leak. cam seals, cam orings, crank seal, oil pump seals/gasket, valve cover gaskets. all of those things are much more likely to cause problems than the oil pan gasket. the problem is, they all drip oil which eventually ends up at the back of the motor and around the oil pan lip, making it look like an oil pan problem even if it isn't. check it out carefully. if you do need to replace the pan gasket, they're a pain. have to jack the engine up like they said to get clearance for the bolts and clearance for the sump and baffles in the oil pan. well, i'm assuming the EA82 has baffles like the XT6. if so, you need a lot more clearance to get it off than it looks like because you can't see the sump/baffle clearance inside the pan.

nah, don't think it's a belt. EA81 doesn't have timing belts and the accessory belts shouldn't keep it from starting. next time it doesn't start smack the starter a couple solid times with a hammer, wrench or something heavy. starter might be near the end. try a jump?

i've gotten the bolts before as well, they're unnecessary, ignore them.

carb, spark, fuel? if you rely on this car i'd recommend a complete tune up. plugs, wires, distributor cap, rotor, PCV, clean/rebuild the carb. or SPFI swap the thing since carbs suck.

check your manual, Subaru's use ATF i think for power steering fluid. I would assume that is what was in both of your systems. The old rack probably had that. Drain as much fluid out before install and refill with the proper fluid listed in your owners manual.

i would'nt write off the R134a that quick on one or a couple experiences. i've done a bunch of conversions and hit them with actual temp gauges afterwards and they do a great job. yes there are "technical" reductions with R134a but you'll find the functional losses negligible. i think older cars tend to have other things compounding a/c inadequacies. get everything working well and charged properly and they do great. for instance you didn't mention flushing and replacing all sorts of parts before charging with R134a - had you did that there's a good chance you would now be a believer. i don't even really pull a proper vacuum all the time (shhhh!!!) and they still do great.

working with A/C isn't all that hard. there's TONS of information on the internet about working on A/C systems. read up and do it yourself. more than likely you just need some more refrigerant. save yourself some cash and buy one of those cans with the integrated gauges for $20 from the autoparts stores and follow the directions. sounds like you're low on refrigerant. if you're lucky the guy before you just used one can, which isn't enough for an empty system. if yo'ure not lucky you have a leak. but even those can be easy to fix. a common item needing replacement are the orings and schrader valves. they cost about 50 cents each but you'll end up paying $400 to have a shop work on it. you have the option of just replacing the couple orings that are easy to get to now (the ones on the compressor are more likely to leak) and the two schrader valves as well. replace those then recharge. if you're getting some cold air now there's a really good chance that your system is working fine and you don't have any substantial leaks except those minor parts i just mentioned. a major leak or faulty component and you'd have no cold air.

WOW, i totally forgot that! i'm off Thursday to TN to go fix this thing and bring it back. trying to decide now whether to risk fixing the bearing or just swapping the entire spindle/hub assembly as a unit. since it was just off a few months ago it should be easy to remove and reinstall!?!?

oh right, separating the ball joint from the control arm...i think that nut is already off and sweet momma with my pickle fork that should come right out? thanks JCE!!!! as a last resort i have an enormous digging bar that weighs like 2 tons, that should at least be fun. maybe i'll start without just to exert some energy. BWB - just my luck the control are is actually pristine, it's the bolts that are horrid. so no luck with cutting through easily rusted control arm. but that's what i was wondering - which would be easier, arm or ball joint, arm it is if it comes to that. if yours looks suspicious connie, i hit mine with penetrant a few minutes before trying, if you have time and think about it i'd hit it a few days in a row up to a week or so before tackling the job. torch the area if you got one. then work the head bolt back and forth just a few degrees before actually trying to remove it.

oh right, good call BWB - i don't think those bolts are coming out. they look like they been marinated in rust for quite some time! so you've cut a ball joint before? sawzall and some fresh blades? 2 minutes or 30 (it's about to start snowing, this should be fun!).

I was pulling the front hub off of a parts car for a friend that lost a front wheel bearing. the pinch bolt for the ball joint sheared off instantly, never moved. This being a parts car I can mangle the control arm or ball joint all I want. I'd like to get it out of the car to have that bolt extracted. Will I be able to cut the control arm (sawzall) or smash/cut the ball joint?

i really like ours, it has a lot of refinements that finish it out well. since i do all of our auto work i'm liking the timing chain as well, we'll see how it goes. there are a couple great H6 reads on the site here, one was already mentioned about the easy fix idler bearings and importance of proper oil change procedures for timing chain equipped H6's. i would read through those. one members outlines having his timing chain tensioner replaced. he provided details of that in a thread here. to date they have been great motors with few issues.

this guy has a rolled (wrecked) 1997 Legacy Outback. entire car for $600, might be able to get the trans cheap in Knoxville, TN. 423-562-9185 just saw it for sale, don't know anything about it. it will be the wrong final drive a 4.44 so you'd have to swap your front diff or the easier solution would be to swap in the rear diff to match. otherwise it's a plug and play operation.

awesome, thanks GL. other than final drive, do you know if they'd work? for an easy swap you'd want any impreza or legacy 1995-1997 that is 4.11 final drive. which should be any EJ22 (or EJ18) auto trans. the EJ25's will be 4.44's. actually if he's willing he can essentially use ANY transmission if he's willing to swap his own front diff onto it. you could get any EJ trans and swap your front differential on it, which guarantees it to match your rear diff. i believe GLoyale even posted a great write up for swapping front diffs? i'll be driving through knoxville Thursday if you wanted that trans i mentioned earlier.

might want to explain exactly what you're trying to do. i've interchanged auto/manual ECU's before but i'm not sure how to answer without knowing what you're doing and that's going to make a difference.

pretty much any EJ trans should work from any EJ22 engine. the EJ25's often (always?) came with the 4.44 final drive. all EJ18's and EJ22's came with 4.11 didn't they? i'm just not sure if the 90-94 EJ stuff was different, i know the engines are OBDI, not sure if the trans are any different, but i thought they were easily interchangeable as well?

you are correct, this is not a direct swap. and the intake manifolds are not interchangeable. the one way you could get it to work would be to swap the intake wiring harness from the 1998 onto the 2004 engine intake manifold. that's not terribly difficult, i'm just talking about the intake stuff, that's all. the sucky part is that i think the cam triggers are different. there's a chance it'll work but the differences aren't clear to me so i can't speak to exactly how it would be done or if it would work for you. but i'm pretty sure this i the only hang up to the whole deal. for instance i think the cams triggers are positioned differently (but i could be wrong). there's a possibility they aren't different and this is all a wash. or there's a possibility that you can just swap the necessary cams (the ones with triggers since your 1998 will have 4 cam sprockets and the 2004 will only have 2). then there's the possibility that it won't work at all. that will be your only hang up if you can handle the engine harness swap. the other option would be to bolt the 1998 heads and intake onto the 2004 block. but that would suck disassembling a perfectly good 2004 block.

definitely replace the toothed idler and the other noisy pulley. you have an interference motor, if they fail, they take out the timing belt which will cause pistons and valves to collide (that's very bad!). i find myself replacing the toothed idler %80 of the time if not more any time i take a belt off. there are a number of online subaru parts dealers - look them up here and order from them. or ask your local dealer to match their prices. on these 100,000 mile interval motors I always replace all of the pulleys, the tensioner and the water pump. otherwise you're asking all of that to make it to 200,000 miles (100k + 100k til next change). they can make it, but there's a small chance they won't. just depends how you view maintenance, reliability, etc. the newer Subaru EJ water pumps are fairly robust though so i won't say it's "necessary" for everyone. i do it and think it's a good idea but realize that's not a great fit for everyone. the essentials are to replace the belt and any noisy pulley. but it sure would suck for 50,000 miles from now the water pump fails and takes out your timing belt and valves/pistons with it. the ebay kits make this easy, because they are reasonable. for the price of one pulley from Subaru you can buy an entire kit with all the pulleys and tensioner. it's not a bad idea to use a Subaru belt though, they're only $59 or $69. good luck!

someone from USMB broke a belt and contacted me about fixing it. i refered them to a friend of mine that is a mechanic in Maryland. he was able to fix it by replacing the bent valves, i think it was only 2 of them were bent. he said it was easy and there wasn't much damage. i will agree making it out only needing a belt is rare. but it doesn't destroy the engine. there are many cases of only bent valves. if that's the case replace the bent valves, valve stem seals, have a valve job done and you're good. the reason it's labeled as an "engine destroyer", which even i have done before, is that fixing this isn't a good fit for a lot of folks. if you're paying someone to look into it you're out a lot of money without knowing how bad the damage is. if you're capable of doing some of the work yourself that helps a lot. or if it's a newer car/excellent condition, that makes it "more worth it".

there are a few auto trans things that are easy to dig into yourself but unfortunately this isn't one of them. i would highly recommend against it for quite a few reasons. the last person on the board that tried to rebuild himself ended up with lots of problems, you can look up his recent AT rebuild thread, he couldn't figure out what went wrong. subaru automatic transmissions are fairly robust though, so it's usually a good option to just get a used one and go at it. much quicker than a rebuild! since they don't fail very often, the demand is low and prices are low as well so it's not hard to get one at a very reasonable price. i'd want a known good one (try the parts wanted and for sale forum here) or one from a yard that is known to have come from a wreck or low mileage. wrecked cars pretty much tell you the trans was good and the wreck is why the car is in the yard. i have a 96 Legacy auto trans with a blown front diff, you can have the remains of the trans if you want to use it for parts and try this yourself. it ran and shifted fine before i pulled it out of the car with 120,000 miles on it. it had front diff noise. ***edit*** oddly enough I'm supposed to be driving through Knoxville this coming week, so i could conceivably drop the trans off on the way. as for interchange, the only definitive way to tell is to get the exact same car/engine/trans/trim model as yours (small market), or match the final drive ratio. Subaru is a bit ambiguous on auto trans and final drive ratios, makes it hard to swap auto trans. They EASILY interchange, they'll bolt right up, plug right in, just need to make sure the final drive is the same as yours. an AT you're talking about will almost positively be a 4.11 final drive. another option is to get ANY auto trans and just get the rear diff to match the final drive. they're easy to swap out. getting a 1995-1997 would be easiest as the bell housing did change in 1998. they can still be made to work rather easily, particularly considering you're not too scared of mechanical work, but the 97 and earlier do save you a step.

might not matter, but i couldn't figure this out: in general you can try to clean out an EGR and make sure it's not sticking. make sure it seems to operate properly and any solenoid associated with it does as wel (clicking). having it and all the other lines/hoses hooked up in the rights spots would be a good thing to check as well. do you have an FSM? it would have a good run down of what steps to go through with that code. can you remove and forget about it?