idosubaru

thanks mike.

i see this almost weekly. scammers for subaru's and Kubota's (stuff i shop for).

if that's all that's wrong with them, then they are fine to use. just have a machine shop pressure test them to be sure. (all machine shops do that if you're not familiar with it). don't let them tell you "this head is scrap".....if they're not familiar with these subaru heads they probably won't know any better. the shop i deal with freaks out when i bring them in to get milled. i just ignore them. it's no surprise these things are old and outta the minds of most folks by now.

the front diff is really critical. it's part of the transmission assembly so if it fails you're essentially looking at transmission replacement to fix it. not worth such a huge job for a few dollars in gear oil. and actually the front diff is really easy, its easier than an engine oil change. drain one plug and fill through the dipstick tube. just need a funnel. so if you change your oil, you can do this. if you have a place do it for you, then changing the gear oil should be really cheap. HEAT THE OIL UP before pouring it or it probably won't even go down a funnel, if it's cold. just keep the bottles inside until you're ready to pour. i prefer synthetics but regular oil does quite well.

yes the ebay kits include everything. all the pulleys, tensioner, and belt. some even include the water pump. as to OEM quality, that's impossible to answer and gets argued about. a bunch of us that do a lot of subaru work are using them and they are said to be from the OEM supplier, so there's a really good chance it's the same thing. even those of who know what to use OEM and what not are using these kits. usually (speaking of 95+ vehicles) i install Subaru belts and toss the ones that come in the kit. but i'm not saying i have any reason to do that other than $60 is no big deal to me or friends/family i'm getting cars for.

yours might still be good? if you see a crack between the valves seats, that's not a call to get a new head. that's common, more often than not all EA82's and ER27's have those cracks between the valves. more info on the forum here if that's the case for you. good luck.

you mean the front?

if you could info or even pictures on it, that would be fantastic. i have a McIntosh unit in my OBW as well and would totally go for an AUX IN set up as well. i have no clue about the PIE aux in adapter you're talking about though or the 13 pin this and that. i mean i've replaced subaru stereo's before but i'm not sure what the connector/pins have to do with this AUX in device. good luck, hope it works out. sounds fairly straight forward.

you're talking about the ABS sensor right? if you ever remove one without shearing the head off, please tell me...well nevermind, i won't believe you! i've never *removed* one without shearing the stupid head off yet, very annoying. let me tell you my "fix" that no one here will like. i drill and tap a smaller hole in the center of the original and just use a smaller bolt. it's not going anywhere. given that the sensor itself actually gets *welded* to the hub, here's my "logic" for all the anal folks to complain about. the housing gets stuck to the hub, and the sensor gets wedged into it's bore, i go with the notion that it's not going anywhere once it's seated. and it's a non load bearing part.

awesome, thanks folks. can i just sawzall the freaking dash out of there or cut from the engine bay side through the firewall to avoid removing all that dash stuff? the engine is already removed and the trans will be coming out too.

are you feeling any vibrations at all? it sounds to me like a bad driveshaft ujoint or carrier bearing but that almost always has vibration, not just noise. if it's noise only i'd guess the rear diff. if there's any vibrations i'd guess the driveshaft ujoints. a rare driveshaft issue would be the center carrier bearing. if you pull the driveshaft it should be easy to tell, the bad joint will be very lumpy feeling when moved or seized. there's a chance you can tell just by crawling under the car and looking. have a very bright light handy so you can see signs of wear or looseness. grab the driveshaft and try and shake it. if it's loose then that's your problem. if not then the joint could still be bad you just won't know until you take it off. be sure to check both halves of the driveshaft, basically anywhere you see a ujoint.

i agree, this happened at the factory if this thing has never been worked on yet. i wouldn't site one incident as a problem with overall operations and quality. if you used that philosophy you literally couldn't drive any car ever made. there's hardly a mass produced vehicle that doesn't have at least one error in one million vehicle produced. and if you used that philosophy i don't think you'd still with Subaru given all the head gasket issues that took close to 10 years to figure out! they were blowing very quick in the early years. you just don't see that now because it was 10 years ago.

i've never had that happen or seen it. if they're properly torqued and installed i don't think this should be an issue. i'd properly document, with paper work, this problem and make sure any related issues might be covered in the future. i'd want some kind of coverage beyond warranty if it really damaged anything. "oh it didn't affect anything" from the dealer would not satisfy me unless you REALLY trust them. as for the speedometer error, that's definitely not true at all. the speedo is driven off the front differential and tire so it's going to read whatever the tire is doing. goofball mechanic - if the flywheel effects speed, that means the engine effects speed and that's obviously not true at all. 2,000 rpm's in 1st is a lot different than 2,000 rpm's in 5th!!!! it's not affected by the engine/clutch at all. the clutch could completely go out and you can drift down a hill and it'll still read the correct speed. you can remove the flywheel and clutch and drift or tow it around and read the right speed. and 3 to 4 miles at highway speeds is only 5%. that's normal. most cars are %5 off anyway. i'm going to bet it reads higher than what you're actually going? that's common. psychologists tell manufacturers that cars that "feel" faster sell better. doesn't matter if they are faster, they just need good numbers or feel. a car feeling really smooth at highway speeds sells better. wow...i only feel like i'm going 70...not 75 like in my old beater. well, that's because you probably are only going 70! percentages off tend to be higher in other countries. at least that has been true in the past..and probably negated by "everyone doing it". anyway, maybe it's still true today i haven't been hired as a psch consultant this year. tire pressure (effected by air or rolling temps) can also vary and vary the speedo reading. i've found that by increasing my tire size a little bit (and effectively increasing my actual speed compared to my speedometer), my speedometer is usually more accurate. haven't done that to any 2000+ subaru's though and that wasn't true of all of them.

I'd like to pull the wiring harness and ECU out of this legacy for an engine swap in case I ever need it for an XT or something. It's a 97 Legacy GT. Any tips for getting it out or estimates on how long this takes? Since I may never use it, I might not pull it if it's a huge job.

oh yeah and these are easily accessible just by removing the valve cover gaskets, so they're not too bad to replace. not much room to work with, but not a nightmare either. i think it's just one 14mm banjo bolt and another bolt on the other side to pull it off then pick the spring out?

96-2000 Impreza OBS has the EJ22. 96 & earlier = non interference EJ22 97+ = interference EJ22 They are nothing like the EJ25 in regards to head gasktes. The EJ22 has zero head gasket "issues", period. The EJ22's never blew head gaskets right off the lot at any mileage like the EJ25's. The only "head gasket" concern are the same for any motor ever made and isn't about head gaskets at all but poor maintenance. On a 10 year old car there's plenty of opportunities for folks to not do proper maintenance, never change the coolant or wait until the car loose coolant or overheats due to a bad radiator, hose, clamp, water pump, inop cooling fans...etc. Any engine that is overheated will incur engine damage...not just to head gaskets. The EJ22 is awesome for reliability, that's why my wife drives a 97 OBS EJ22. Although we're upgrading now to an H6 Legacy for room for car seats. If you get one, particularly the interference 97+ models, replace all the timing belt components. Even if the "timing belt" has already been replaced, i redo the job right unless they verify all the pulleys/tensioner were replaced, which never happens. Ebay has entire kits, with all new pulleys and tensioners for only $80, there's just no reason not to do it. That's one step towards excellent reliability, maintenance, and avoiding engine damage.

? i would question the "ice" and the age of the tires. don't think that's an accurate depiction.

if you reconsider FM modulators again, look at the ones that are in-line. most of them that you see are the "wireless" style, those do suck, i hate them. i have used the inline style and they're perfect. they actually plug in line with the antenna wire and don't have any of the issues of all the typical wireless ones on the market. they are still annoying in that you have to power them and turn them on.

i don't think this has anything to do with crank seal. noisy lifters are usually caused by two things, which we have definitive quantifiable proof of: The oil pump gasket gets sucked into one of the oil supply ports, deforming the oil pump gasket. This allows air into the oil supply which the HLA's don't like. I've posted pictures of these deformed gaskets before. People replace them and have the same thing happen shortly after installing a new one. My only guess to that is that the oil pump needs replaced. A member of the subaruxt.com forum made a small metal sleeve to insert into those small oil pump ports to prevent the gasket from getting sucked in. HLA's can also by noisy individually. They can be dirty, frequent oil changes are your friends on EA82's/ER27's. Sometimes oil changes, sea foam, or other additives help. They can also seize bad enough that nothing short of replacing will fix them.

a board memeber slapped a turbo set up on his non turbo EJ22. the EJ18/EJ22 does fine with mild boost. but i've seen very little info on doing it here. if done right and not intending to up the boost you should be able to maintain reliability. NASIOC is a good place to try for more info if no one here offers any advice. i'd also think local shops could help?

have you ever done any highway driving with that car? wondering what kind of gas mileage you've gotten with it. make sure the clutch is properly adjusted before assuming it needs the clutch job. might just be a stretched cable or out of adjustment if you're lucky? but it does sound like it needs a clutch job. it's either the throw out bearing or pilot bearing making that noise. either way, needs a clutch job. not sure what you could have hosed, but i don't think there's really anything you could have messed up. sounds like the relay might be stuck or the thermosensor of the fans is hosed?\ you can probably slap a volt meter on the connector and sensor. i have a FWD Legacy trans if you're interested.

yeah just hang tight. time is your best friend here. there's plenty of good deals out there, just keep looking. i picked up an amazing 97 Legacy for a friend a few months ago. $900, 100,000 miles, new clutch, great shape, no rust issues, new tires. amazing one owner vehicle. the greater you can expand you range, the larger your market, the better your percentages too.

we have links to the complete XT FSM service manuals available free online over at Subaruxt.com

thanks mellow, i'll be converting one of mine in the coming months and didn't know about that.

rear differential i assume, since no EA fronts were ever made LSD? what year/style legacy? i think there was a stub axle change at one point that might be annoying to work around.