idosubaru

locktite the screws on the back. reseal the oil pump body to the block with anaerobic sealant in a tube - available at any auto parts store, with the accompanying spray. the oil pump also has an oring and seal (which is also the crank seal), buy from Subaru or your favorite whatever joint.

there's no approach to vehicle maintenance that works for everyone. read, learn, and make your own decision. i need reliability and can't break down or have problems hundreds of miles from home. not everyone needs the reliability i do. also - the main difference you are missing is the switch to interference engines in 96 (EJ25) and 97 (EJ22). in your old 1995 it's not a big deal if the pump or pulleys fail. you get stranded, deal with it, and get it fixed. not so with the newer interference engines. if a pulley breaks or a pump fails, they take the timing belt with them. in an interference engine this means the valves and pistons collide, causing intenral engine damage. so, your idea of just running until something breaks is much more risky and costly in 1996+ interference engines. also, i never ever recommend buying the parts from subaru, they are way too expensive. ebay has complete kits for $200. but that's all covered in other threads here.

sounds like you got it covered. Subaru only head gasket hopefully? have the valves adjusted, probably already being done at the shop? full timing belt job - pulleys and tensioner for sure. outside of that, just the cam seals and reseal the oil pump.

yep - EJ25 = EJ25 = EJ22...you can swap EJ computers all day long between 1996 and 1998 cars at least. i've even done it on a 1996 Legacy EJ25. are you sure that's all you need to do to "change" the premium requirement?

that's awesome did you mispell that on purpose? i can speak from experience here. i've used a wire brush...a long time ago, i don't do it now and don't recommend it. but i can also say the head gaskets held up just fine. of course it's going to make a difference how it was done, if it was brutally attacked and has lots of high/low spots, that's not good. but i would bet you have a good chance of being fine.

You have blown head gaskets.

yeah sounds like torque converter seal, that stinks, good luck with it.

mixing the rocker arms isn't a big deal, done it plenty of times it doesnt' matter. if you didn't use the right oring, then that's probably your mistake. those cam carrier orings are not normal orings. they are actually rubber coated metal gaskets more than an oring. those need to be replaced if you used regular orings. if you dont' know what head gasket you used - then it's supposed to be retorqued per the FSM. sounds like you might want to install the proper orings and retorque the headgaskets. for future info - Fel Pro makes a head gasket that doesnt' need to be retorqued, very popular amongst those in this crowd that have a lot of experience.

if you want reliability and not getting stranded then replace them. only you can decide what reliability is worth to you, we can't tell you that. if the belt got any oil or coolant on it, definitely replace it. ebay timing kits are $60 or so, get those. the pulleys are probably more likely an issue than the belt at this age. they're all old, spin freely and make some noise. none are ever smooth and anywhere near new condition. you can keep an extra set of pulleys and timing belt in the car somewhere and the few tools necessary to do the job. if one breaks, you fix it and go. water pump is harder to do that with and the older stuff isn't as robust as the newer designs, i'd replace it unless you're really confident it's fairly new. even if it's old that's not good for the seals. if you're concerned with $, put it all back together and make sure the motor runs good before putting any extra money into it. the timing belts and water pump are easy enough to do in the car. the water pump is the most annoying to do, scraping all the old gasket off.

awesome! that's great. let us know if the code stays off...or are you swapping the computer back? what car is that - impreza/legacy/auto/manual/AWD, etc? it must be a very rare automatic ECU, because the manual trans won't typically do that, they'll still throw the EGR code when put in an Automatic, they just use a pin to differentiate auto/man and work in either - but "expect" the EGR if placed in an auto. i'd like to give a 96+ non-EGR ECU a try, but can't find one...and i USED to have exactly what i need but never pulled the ECU before i scrapped it out of non-EGR Automatic 1997!

frank, first, let's make sure what the problem is. you are definitely loosing ATF? you are needing to add it on occassion? if so, make sure your ATF lines aren't leaking or the screw on oil filter. very easy for those hoses and clamps to leak now that they're over 10 years old. if it is the torque converter seal that really sucks. you basically need to pull the engine. if you're doing this yourself i'd time it with some other major maintenance, like the timing belts or a valve clearance adjust. although the timing belts are really easy to do in the car on this vehicle, still would be nice out of the car if they're due. technically pulling the transmission is the fastest way if you have good tools and don't mind working under the car on your back with grit falling in your face and eyes. but it's very awkward and most folks aren't adept at easily moving/holding/positioning the trans. that's why i say pull the engine - it's just simpler and more straight forward.

Welcome aboard, hopefully we can help and I think your issue might be simple! (crossing fingers) In the future, this is an older generation vehicle and would go in that forum. When these motors are taken apart they often are VERY loud when first started. If you haven't driven it for 10 or so miles, you haven't driven it long enough to pump up the HLA's and get everything back to normal. Just run it some more and get it up to operating temperatures. Did you replace the cam carrier orings at the bottom corner of the cam carriers and if so did you use the proper metal reinforced oring, not just a regular oring? Did you reseal or mess with the oil pump? Change your oil very often, the HLA's will stay quiet hopefully. The good thign is they never need adjusted, the bad thing is frequent oil changes are a must. Hopefully you used the Fel-Pro permatorque gaskets, if not the FSM calls for these head gaskets to be retorqued.

WOO HOO! it finally worked! I started to write how I've never gotten a horn honk....then in mid-typing I figured I'd go try it agaaaaaiiiiin. And it worked! Have no idea what I did differently this time. Thanks evo! The links and tips really helped. The Owners manual has something in it about the brake pedal....apparently just a "safety" recommendation, as I didn't need to do it to program the remote. But I thought it was part of the process at first (though I tried it with and without before). And it's ambiguous about order/timing a bit. Now I can order another remote and do this all over again when I get another one!

vehicle, what engine, and what are you trying to do? pulling the engine to change a belt is like pulling the engine to change your oil. belts are easy, i don't even remove the radiator. although the EA82 is tighter i believe than the XT6 and EJ stuff so it helps some. clutch fan and timing cover bolts are like the only tricky parts and those are just simple old bolts. easy job, just start removign stuff, replace whatever belts you want and put back together. with the timing belts off the oil pupm, water pump, crank seal, cam seals, and cam orings are all accessible very easily. good time to do or check them all.

yeah any EGR will work, the original would be best of course. it just needs to "see" the resistance, which means you can use a resistor too. that's all it's really looking for. yeah the search function is real stupid. it only likes 4 letter words or greater. which really sucks on a car forum full of acronyms and vehicle names with 3 letters. an asterick can act as a "place holder" so like he mentioned EGR* should bring up EGR results. also look under the EJ22 - EJ25 swap threads, lots of talk there about this issue. although there may be too many swap threads. definitely use the "Advanced Search" function.

buying an ECU will not fix this problem. this has already been discussed in detail, you should read through some of those discussions. there's no "one way" to do this, there's multiple. you'll need to decide which works for you. i'd just wire an EGR somewhere in place, it doesn't even need to be plugged in. you may have more than one code though.

tried again, nothing. not sure what is going on. anyone else?

how much have you driven it since install the HLA's, sometimes they take awhile to pump up after reinstalling. if you've only driven it a couple miles, that's not enough. when you replaced the headgaskets and HLA's did you replace the oring at the base of the cam carrier? there's one per side. did you get the correct metal reinforced black rubber coated oring? if not, that's your problem. a new oil pump might fix it, but might not too. hard to say.

find one with the head gaskets already replaced. or buy one for $1,000 with the headgaskets blown and pay $3,000 for a brand new, warrantied CCR engine and have a much better car. interference engine -so the timing belt has to be done on time. that's a $500+ job, so factor that in. buy from a private owner. fly somewhere and pick it up if you have to, i do it all the time. easy way to get a great vehicle cheap. if you're not set on the forester, any 2.2 vehicle would be a great bet, fewer issues and they're usually cheaper.

definitely remove and grease the slides. it's really, really easy anyway.

yep, it's been done before. it's not hard as far as trans swaps go, the layouts of the two vehicles are still very similar so there's no significant size/space/location issues. just have to make the mounts all work and that's not hard to do. then it's just a matter of linkages, driveshaft length, and CV axles, all stuff folks on this board have contended with before. you're funny, not durable enough for an EA71 but it is for an EJ. guess that's why Subaru doesn't make EA71's any more, they were blowing up too many transmissions!!

Sounds like the bolt hole is stripped, you should have seen some metal in the threads of the bolt you removed. Easy to strip physically, but hard to imagine happening since it's inside the trans, sealed, and isn't corroded. Are you sure you're putting the right bolts in the right holes? The "filter" is the right one? You are absolutely right not to leave a loose bolt in your trans, that sounds like a really bad idea. Here are a few options: 1. If it comes to it being stripped, which it sounds like it is, then you have a couple options. The easiest if you're lucky is to just use a longer bolt hole. Often the holes are longer than the bolts, just a part of the manufacturing process. So a slightly longer bolt will reach "new", unused, and unstripped threads. Tigthen very carefully and use non-permanent lock-tite. I've done this a number of times, but not in the trans. 2. Some filters i've seen have more bolts than i can count too. If that's the case here, you might just not worry about installing that bolt. The "filters" usually just have one small sump side with the oring, the rest isn't a sealing surface at all. If it has 10 bolts and this one is no where near the oring, I'd probably do this. 3. The other option is JB Weld or permanent lock tite. Clean the hole out first with brake cleaner. The permanent locktite isn't a bad idea if you have enough for it to hold onto based on the following information: It might help to know this. Pretty sure the 3sp transmission is just like the 4EAT trans also offered in EA vehicles in regards to the transmission filter. If so, there's absolutely no need to ever replace it unless it's damaged. It's NOT a filter eventhough it's called that. It's a screen and they never get dirty...if a screen gets clogged you have far bigger problems than a clogged screen inside the trans. happy birthday to your daughter...hopefully...

The EJ18 was essentially available until 1996. Rarely you might come across a 97 but even the 96's are rare. Most popular up until 1995. cars101.com will show which models/engines were available and dates.

In order to program a new remote entry transmitter I need to disable the security system. In order to disable the security system I need the transmitter. But of course they supply a method for doing it if you don't have the transmitter. It starts like this: Unlock door with key, open door and alarm will sound...etc. Well mine is in Valet mode - so the alarm won't go off......so now how do I disable the security system? What a convoluted set up for the remote entry, security, transmitter system. Obviously takes little intelligence to design things for Subaru.

Okay - owners manual says i need to disarm the security system first. How do you do that? The owners manual is unclear....except to say "Use the transmitter"...BAH!!!! i'll start another thread, this is going to get stupid i can see from the owners manual....