idosubaru

AWD or FWD? if it's AWD - do all the tires match in brand, tread depth and size? if one is warn more than the others that can cause this problem. i've seen new sets of tires cause erratic shifting to go away on older 4EAT's. of course that's an expensive guess, so let us know what they look like there's other things it could be. does the Transmission (ATF, Trans, Temp) light flash 16 times on start up? If it does you need to get the code read, most likely by a shop and let us know what code you're getting. you're positive the transmission fluid was flushed or changed complete? some folks aren't very familiar with cars and mix up wording and details, they may have *thought* ATF was changed? and was it flushed or just drained and filled once? a drain and fill only gets 30% of the fluid out, which leaves mostly old stuff in there.

the good thing is you're actually hearing from a number of folks that have actually done a bunch of EJ swaps and motor work. i agree, it's risky chancing it with this motor. EJ25's loose their bottom ends more often even without head gasket problems, with them makes it even worse. i doubt the heads are cracked, that would be the least of my worries, it's not hard to find heads anyway. but of course there's a chance the engine is fine, so it all comes down to how much your/his time is worth. chances of it being bad...no matter what it's just a number - 70/30? 80/20? 10/90? who knows, it just depends how much money and time is a concern for you and your friend and the time/cost/resources for finding another engine. good luck mike.

they are easy in the car. if you have a bad back or are in bad shape then doing them in the car is annoying. otherwise pulling the engine is a complete waste of time for an EA82 anyway. i've done a bunch in the car (essentially in the middle of one right now). one thing that makes this job much quicker is air tools and a 10mm wratcheting wrench. get that 10mm wrench for the valve cover bolts. after that everything is easily accessible. air tools just make getting the bolts out quicker and can spead up cleaning the head bolt holes. there's lots of tips and tricks on here, do some reading if you don't like fumbling thhrough something your first time. use Fel-Pro Permatorque Headgaskets only for this engine. Otherwise you'll need to retorque the head bolts which is really annoying.

the valve cover and grommets are prone to leak and easy to replace. have you checked to make sure that's not what is easy. should be able to tell - valve covers on the side, cam seal is up front, but they're both by that front corner and oil tends to blow back the same way so it can be a little confusing. the cam seals arent' that hard once the timing belt is off. remove the 3 10mm bolts holding the cam sprocket on. then remove the rear timing cover behind that (3 more 10mm bolts), then remove the cam cap - which is 2 or 3 bolts. so you're talking 8 or 9 bolts and 10-15 minutes more than a timing belt job. make sure you replace the ORING as well as the seal. the cam cap has an oring behind it and they are in horrible shape by now. best bet, and what most of us here do, is to reseal the front of the engine as much as possible and be done with it for a long time. any seal that is wet or leaking should be replaced. both cam seals (and their respective orings), oil pump, and crank seal should be inspected. after that, the timing belt pulleys (ebay kits are only $70), oil pump reseal, and water pump are a good idea. very few timing pulleys are in good shape by now, they usually spin to freely and are noisy.

i would think you're fine to replace it as long as the boot is for the proper axle. some axles look a bit different, but it's only cosmetic and not functional in difference.

My McIntosh stereo is out in my 2002 as well. I installed another (non McIntosh) Subaru stereo in it's place and it works fine, so I know the stereo is toast. It also had an error notation ocassionally, I thought it said SYS ERR though, but I'm not sure. I saw a company...in Maryland i think...last year that fixes Subaru stereo's, but it wasn't cheap of course. I think they were advertised online or ebay. Never heard of taking one apart and cleaning it, but i'll be watching to see what you figure out!

that will likely fix your issue. they're probably dry and devoid of grease. they'd probably last another 50k-100k if you regreased and rebooted them, but simpler to replace the entire axle. i bought 4 axles today because i hate rebooting them!

Mike, I have an entire tranny, but the viscous units aren't that expensive I believe and this trans is good so it's not really worth it for either of us to part it out. A friend actually asked for this trans a while ago, so I'd want to check with him first.

i've had good luck with the aftermarket parts. seems like i usually get beck-arnley and they seem very good. that being said - Subaru's are awesome with ball joints and tie rods, they are amazingly robust. they almost never fail under without extenuating circumstances. i've seen other cars have these parts fail much more often than Subaru's. it could be just a geometry/design thing though, not necessarily the part - but the bottom line is you can't go wrong with a Subaru part either. ball joints and tie rods are probably some of the most important parts on the vehicle in terms of safety. they're essentially a SPF (Single Point of Failure) in terms of vehicle control.

torque bind can occur on 5 speeds. it's less common, but definitely happens. replace the viscous center unit to fix. hope you can figure out for sure what it is mike. if it's "popping" on road changes then it could be struts too. if it's doing it on every turn, then that probably rules out struts and is a CV or trans like you said. it should be obvious whether it's the trans or CV's. the trans will be a very distinct and noticeable binding/breaking/slowing down action. if yo'ure still not sure i would expect the trans to always be the same...forward backward left or right. the CV might change..like be worse turning right verses turning left, etc. have any of the boots ever been broken? that would be a good indicator of CV issues as well. do you think the entire axle/boot has 215,000 miles on it? if so, they are probably devoid of grease. repack them? have you ever felt torque bind before? good luck mike!

strut life spans the spectrum. it depends a lot on prior driving and useage. if someone is hitting the twisties or lives on poor roads, that's thousands of impacts and loadings on the strut that a strictly highway commuter won't see. that's a big difference. you got the short end of the stick but it's not weird to need new struts over 100,000 miles. i have my spreadsheet open right now - my Impreza struts needed replaced at 120,000 miles. but those are the only ones i've ever had to replace, plenty of others had their original struts far longer.

The bearing was making noise when I got the car. I guess my question is, can you check or test the hub in anyway to make sure it doesn't happen with new bearings? The new bearings I installed last summer lasted 15,000 miles. They failed about 1,500 miles into a 2,000 mile road trip. 4 passengers and luggage filled trunk - probably 700-800 pounds. Wonder if that caused it or they were just ready to go anyway. I guess for future reference if anyone sees this thread, don't go on a long road trip with bad bearings! The nice part of the story is that a good friend lives about 30 miles from where they got really bad. He met me on the highway and swapped me cars, I got his pimp 5 speed BMW wagon!

haven't ever heard of just replacing the boot, but i know of the snap ring you're talking about. so it looks possible. did you try finding the part online - rockauto, thepartsbin, etc? or just google "ball joint boot"? try that. i'd buy a new ball joint and replace it, they're easy to replace and cheap. if you find yourself doing that, buy a pickle fork, they make this job a breeze. now i just blow the joint apart with a pickle fork every time and replace the ball joint. my time isn't worth messing with those stupid things. without the pickle fork they can be a bear with rust and being seized in the control arm.

On the passengers side of the engine bay is a vacuum line running from the passengers strut tower to the engine bay that has a small (quarter size in diameter), round filter on it. they are $7 from Subaru. replace that first. next step i'd clean the EGR valve. often they just need cleaned. they have a gasket so if you remove it you may need a new gasket. good luck!

i replaced the rear bearing last summer/fall in my 1996 Legacy LSi (FWD). i removed the hub and had a shop press the bearing in. ironically the sound didn't change at all with the new bearing so i assumed it was something else. i was wrong, on a 2,000 mile road trip this week the bearing failed. i love crazy friends that swap me cars 600 miles from home! i suppose i just need to replace the entire hub but i'm wondering why it failed? the ID of the hubs get warped? is there a way to know next time if the hub is good or bad?

it'll tow 1700. towing is very subjective. one number doesn't accurately reflect all loads, trailers, driving conditions, and uses. towing in southern mississippi where the roads are miles and miles of nothing but straight and flat is far different than towing in mountain passes with inclines and switch backs. there's really no "one number" that fits every single user. it's a statistical curve, as your weight goes up risk increases. there's no magic number. at 1700 it's just like driving empty, then at 1701 it's an instant wreck. also if it's a one time deal that can be less of an issue. if it's something you'll be towing often, that's different. might help to know what you're trying to do and get recommendations to make it as safe as possible.

I was able to pull the codes while cleaning out the car in preparation for a 2,000 mile road trip. Other than the EGR stuff, there appears to be one code related to this canister business. It is: P 0446 Evap Emissions Control System Vent Control Circuit I know nothing about that code except to say I installed an engine without EGR and without a charcoal canister set up in the engine bay. The car originally had both of those. It runs perfectly fine, gets 32mpg, but has the no-no CEL for you emissions states. *** I won't be seeing this thread for over a week at least as I'll be out of town with no access. But I don't know anything about this stuff anyway. hmmmmm....actually dave when i first went to do this swap i posted a thread about the charcoal differences and folks did respond. you might want to dig that thread up, it's within the past year and i started it. might have some useful information on those canister differences and maybe how to get around it?

i've seen tips on doing this yourself given by folks that do alignments either here, subaruxt.com, or online before. i'm sure the info is out there, probably try searcihng for it.

Dave, I'm headed out of town for a week starting tomorrow 7am and I'm probably too busy to get to that before I leave. I can when I get back. I intentionally installed my engine without EGR (EGR = less reliable) and want to keep it that way, so I'm good. I would take a spare just for kicks or the future but I have no need right now. So if you have one if we ever meet I might take one. later

yeah i've done this and dealt with the canister issues before. it doesn't cause any problems running wise. i don't know about codes though. i got an EGR code from not having EGR, so the CEL is on, but i don't know if there's any other codes for something else.

the newer style one piece pulley is less reliable than the older style two piece set up. older style pulley ebay kits are $80 newer style pulley ebay kits are $180 everything in the kits is identical except the tensioner. odd that we've never seen an aftermarket water pump failure on here, or I missed it. i think we've seen WP failures, but no necessarily aftermarkets, i'm thinking they were just old and never replaced.

i have swapped out driveshafts and mixed and matched stuff all day long - there's no issue. the rear shaft is balanced independently. JCE is right - if you just need the rear half of the shaft that bolts to the rear differential - THEY ARE ALL THE SAME, go back and get one! any auto or manual will work for you. only the front section is different. spraying the penetrating oil might be counterproductive, but hopefully you're okay. spraying fluid in something that needs grease works for a short time usually but causes damage over the long run as it can wash any remaining grease out.

nate, your vehicle has two O2 sensors. which one did you replace, the front one i assume? definitely check your wiring. to your question "could i have switched wires" i will say "yes". O2 sensors are Subaru only preferred items by some, but based on some details i am not thinking that is your issue here. as for the idling problem, i would clean the idle control mechanism. they get clogged and sticky with age/time. very common and easy to fix. just clean it out. though i haven't done it to an EJ vehicle yet so i'm not sure where it is.

i've never been able to get the AT code to flash the few times i tried. i think i forgot to scratch my armpits somewhere in the sequence you have torque bind? if it goes away with the FWD fuse installed then the Duty C is probably fine and the clutches are shot. if it doesn't go away with the FWD fuse then the solenoid is probably shot. you can probably pull a rear extension housing unit from a junk trans (bad diff, bad trans, etc) or get one from someone on here for cheap too. i had one i would have sold for cheap if a friend of mine didn't come to me with torque bind a week ago. i just pulled the rear extension housing i have. it's REALLY easy, took about 15 minutes with the trans on my floor and it doesn't have to come out of the car to do it. so most of the time will be set up, crawling under the car, removing the exhaust/driveshaft and just complaining about working on your back. have you made sure all your tires match and the fluid has been changed recnetly? new fluid can sometimes free them up...less likely the longer it's been hosed though. as for needing struts. if you want to go cheap, just buy a set of used struts. it's actually not that hard to find a good set for not much money, save yourself a couple hundred bucks. then you can buy the entire assembly, making swapping them much quicker too rather than disassembling the struts/coils. a friend of mine needed new struts in his Legacy (sagging rear), he bought a complete set from a good doobie on here for $100 or something. great ride now and he got a lift out of it too (being outback struts).

i've seen too many ghetto head jobs hold up just fine to think it matters that much, sounds like a good plan to me though i'll just stick to the old methods...if i ever do an EA engine again. as far as i know the PT Felpro's with the standard overtorque hold up extremely well, so why are you changing from that? Gloyale, have you had some come back with problems, is that why you're doing this?