idosubaru

i have posted gobs of info, from experience unfortunately, dealing with these crazy bolts. or at least EA82/ER27 intake bolts which i imagine are similar and shear often as well. throw your EZouts away, they absolutely suck. i can't tell you how many sheared EZ outs i've seen, and good luck getting those out. if something does come out with an EZout, it'll come out with any number of other methods too. there's nothing an EZout can do that other things can't do 50 times better. (except shear off and totally ruin your day). yes you can get them out without pulling the heads. go buy some left handed drill bits (for metal obviously), they'll need to be good quality to drill through the bolt material. the left handed bits help tremendously. as you're drilling they're putting a "left hand" torque on the bolt, helping to back it out. works great. i usually start with a small bit, then go one size larger. if you just want someone else to do it, call around to some machine shops. shouldn't be hard to find one willing to take your entire engine and do it for you. i've done that before as well.

as you quote engine swaps, make sure you have a good bit of extra added in just in case. because other things will come up. your current EJ25 probably just has piston slap, not rod knock. two completely different issues. rod knock is very, very bad. piston slap is no big deal. this really comes down to time, skills, and money. we don't know any of that, so hard to make a recommendation. the older EJ22's do fantastic with a bit of boost to them. not sure how the EJ25's would hold up. probably some better info on the legacybbs boards or NASIOC about that.

are you sure the trans needs to come out? make sure this is a leak that the transmission needs to come out for. there's really only one seal that could be leaking, the torque converter seal. if it's the rear extension housing seal, that can be done without dropping the trans, in an hour or less easily. it's more likely to be the ATF lines leaking. the hoses and clamps are old and prone to leak. double check those. if it is the torque converter seal then good luck with it. if you drop the trans, the entire engine/trans combo will need to be tilted to make this easier. front of engine up and back of transmission down. there's no special tool needed, just make it work. i do the jack under the front of the engine thing, usually with some 2x wood pieces there for additional height too. make absolutely certain you read the posts on here about seating the transmission on reinstallation. the torque converter requires a precise seating to be lined up right. if you don't do that you'll be ruining your trans when you bolt it in place. lots of information here on seating the torque converter, read through those threads (i think one even has great pic's). there's also a goofy ring seal around one of the shafts that slide into the trans. keep an eye on that as you pull it out, taking note of where it is, if it's still there, and if you need a new one or not. that's a Subaru only item. good luck!

another accident vehicle, snow causing that? not a bad car, but that is high mileage. that would go for $2,000 tops around here. as a reference i bought a perfectly running 1997 OBS a few years ago that was previously wrecked/repaired as well. it was a newer vehicle and only had 60,000 miles on it. with 120,000 less miles i paid $3,500 for it. maybe you just need to fly down here and buy mine since we bought a larger legacy to replace it! how many miles do want to put on this thing? 20,000 or 100,000? i put a lot of miles on mine so i try and get lower miles. good car, good engine. if it's close you can at least go see if the lesser attributes of an impreza/OBS bother you or not. or you might totally dig the handling, which they do well. at 180k it's going to need a complete timing belt replacement with all the pulleys and such. the only cost effective method for doing that is buying the $80 ebay kits. from subaru the parts alone will cost closer to $500. add to those costs labor if you're paying someone to do it.

i like those too, particularly the sedans. i'm converting my legacy to one if i end up keeping it, haven't decided yet but i have most of the parts already for a 99 SUS conversion.

gotcha gary. one of the online subaru parts dealers has some exploded views of parts when you search. subarugenuineparts.com subarupartsforyou.com mikescarffsubaru liberty subaru one of those i think shows the parts and their locations.

yep, this is a common issue with the H6 engines. fortunately it's easy to fix and not that expensive. although hopefully it didn't let loose and damage anything else for you? there's a recent thread about it here, i imagine it's the link that Skip posted above but i didn't click on it. replace the entire tensioner as an assembly. just call Subaru or order it online. are you going to be doing the work yourself? i'm going to replace mine in the next couple weeks as preventative maintenance while i'm doing some other work to it anyway.

in 2000 i thought all legacy wagons had the EJ25, my bad. f it has an EJ22 or EJ25 with head gaskets already replaced, that's much better. in my area that's probably a $3,000 - $4,000 car. yes subaru's can easily make well over 200k+. but they can easily fail at 150,000 too. anything that has been well maintained is much more likely to see the 200k and 300k marks. so if it's a one owner vehicle with all the maintenance records it might be worth a look. being new is a good sign. good chance the radiator is still decent, etc. older cars with high miles tend to have all sorts of corroded, rusted, dry rotted hoses, clamps, and clogged/rusty radiators. all easy fixes, but all possibilities that it has at some point been overheated or run low on coolant. as for the OBS - it's a fantastic car. my wife loves hers. she's not a wagon fan and the little impreza OBS drive really nice. they don't sway at all around turns (which annoys me) and it handles very well. it's got benefits of a wagon but handles like a nice little small car. there are some downsides though, the OBS is really small. we're getting rid of ours now that we have a kid. it's too tight with the car seat back there. i'm only 5'10" and i still can't put the drivers seat as far back as i want in the impreza due to the car seat. the legacy i can. the legacy's are much nicer, just a little extra room, nicer trim, and stuff like that. the impreza's aren't as clean cut. cheaper trim, noisier driving, a bit more cramped, and the cup holders are in about the stupidest position possible. so the accouterments are lacking, but still a great car. test drive one and see what you like. they all (OBS) come with the EJ22 - fantastic motor. if no records you'll want a new timing belt kit installed (belt and all the pulleys. available on ebay for only $80 - i just bought two!).

i agree - why trash the car if it's otherwise in good shape? if it's lost compression, that's usually easy enough to fix. read on here, or ask, to make sure the job is done right. if you're still wanting a new car, the 96 5 speed is a great bet. test drive one though, they are not quite as powerful. buying an EJ25 with head gaskets already replaced or with a new engine is nice too - not hard to find them since they do fail often(been there, done that). have some in my garage right now actually. many EJ25's have already been replaced. the EJ25 comments are funny. it's easy to see evidence, for anyone who really wants to know - the proof is all over the internet and your local for sale pages. someone else mentioned there's no difference, so i went to craigslist in their area and found 5 EJ25 vehicles with blown engines listed in the past 3 days. no EJ22's. in my area it is almost impossible to find a blown headgasket EJ22 for sale. i can buy an EJ25 every other week, if not one a week. ask davebugs too - he buys them all the time about an hour from me. search craigslist, ebay, here, google, what have you, classifieds. you'll see EJ25 stuff with far more head gaskets, engine bearings, and piston slap issues. the proof isn't in my opinion...it's all over the for sale adds. some of us know because we're looking weekly and buying them...me, davebugs, subaru360....etc. it's quite noticeable (just look at our yards and garages!!!)

another one - one of the most common SVX problems, the wheel bearings. properly torque the wheels and install an afermarket trans cooler right away. if he's willing to put in the effort for parts, then cool. but he probably doesn't really know much about that. he'll probably just nod like "okay, right i can handle that". if he's going to have to pay to have this thing worked on (like he'll be in college next year and you're not around), then it's going to be a gamble for him cost wise. but if he/his parents have lots of money then it doesn't much matter. you can probably find my post from 3 years ago looking for an SVX TPS for a guy at church. never got anything here and i couldn't find one anywhere at a reasonable cost and he couldn't afford it. never got it fixed that i know of. the SVX is a really nice car. it might be hard to imagine, but there are responsible teenagers out there with good heads on their shoulders. not many, but a few and i even know some. they are perfectly capable of having an SVX and maybe this joker is too.

hey will, was that info easy to find here? if they're hard to find i'd love the links to where you read about it. i'm on dial up so no poking around right now. glad to know the info is out there, my friends and my grandmothers both do this. she doesn't drive at night so i'm not too worried about hers though.

the problem with that is lawyer fees. no one wants to pay those and the insurance company knows it. without another person/insurance company to sue the lawyers are going to tell you their and your hands are tied. lawyers won't sue your insurance company on something like this without cash up front. they sue for $2,000 - then you owe the lawyer $2,500.... hope i'm wrong.

good point, might want to look at late 90's legacy or impreza with an EJ22 as well. some late 90's legacy's have the EJ22. i picked up a 97 for a friend recently. either way you're still at the age/mileage of major maintenance items. timing belts, transmission fluid flush, diff oil changes, PCV, water pump, etc. only the EJ22 won't have head gasket issues, so you're getting more reliability for less cost.

awesome thanks folks! why use TORX bolts anyway? how many regular bolts actually fall out (not counting all the stripped aluminum engine stuff!) and why would they make the computer self-destruct?!

yes this engine has head gasket issues. just search the internet or here for EJ25 head gaskets and you'll get all sorts of info. this car is the Phase II SOHC, which is better than the Phase I at least. the alaskan market may be totally different than here so asking about price might not do you much good. price sounds high for my area, but i wouldn't want a brighton either. Brighton = rear drums, single pot front calipers (all other wagons including the L get dual pot calipers), and no power locks...maybe even no power windows? add to that the high miles and previous wreck and it sounds worse. if it has a rebuilt title then your resale value could be significantly hurt. new clutch is a big deal though as that's a rather large job. what about the timing belt? if you don't know when that's been changed then you have a $700 job ahead of you unless you do it yourself. this is an interference engine you can't just wing it on timing belts. personally i'd want the power options, larger brakes, rear disc and some of the other options of any other 2000+ legacy and i could do that for less money around here. you might not have the same market though.

"turboback" = from (but not including) the turbo, and back. "catback" = from (but not including) the catalytic converter, and back. catback is much simpler since you're only replacing simple cheap pipe, and not the converter. for a non-turbo there isn't much gain (relatively speaking) to be had so it's not worth it for most people. not so with a turbo though. if you have a turbo you'll want option 1.

FSM says to replace the TORX bolts that hold the front air bags. any comments other than "do what the FSM says"? the bolts are more an annoyance driving to pick them up and then subaru will probably want $13 each for a bolt. anyone have a part number for those bolts? i'd much rather have them show up in my mailbox than go get them. it also says to replace the computer for the front air bags if the air bags deploy. but i know people replace the air bags and call it a day. wouldn't it have some self-test "i'm okay" detection in there? if it wasn't working properly i'd think it would know it. 2002 OBW H6 VDC, i'm replacing the front bags and seat belts.

cool, you got it running easy enough!!! i'd get the properly rated fusible link in there. it's probably fine, but it burned up once already, no point in testing fate if it decides to burn up again. be on the look out for whatever caused this. you replaced the battery...does that mean you think that was the problem? terminals are nice and clean and tight? alternator is good?

i haven't paid much attention recently, but back when i was commuting between GA and MD a few times a year there was a regional difference. i was told they sell higher CCA batteries the further north you go. back when i was told this, that was what i experienced as well. i couldn't get the higher rated CCA batteries in GA that i could in maryland. at auto parts stores, SEARS, etc. that was 5+ years ago, not sure if that's still the case at all. i would always buy my batteries in MD to get the higher CCA.

timing belts might be installed improperly. sounds like it's barely running and when put under load (starting to move), it just dies. it doesn't have the power to move. it's very common to install these belts wrong, they're actually "opposite" in some ways of how other timing belts are installed. it's also easy to get them a tooth or so off. vacuum leaks are often a problem too. let it idle and spray starter fluid or carb spray around the engine bay. if there's a vacuum leak the engine will rev/sputter/or die. is the check engine light on? your english is superb!

i've got those, they're nice. i bought mine just before the prices went through the roof. considering i pay so little for my vehicles i don't mind spending money on good parts. my input considering i've bought tons of batteries for the few dozen subaru's that have gone through my hands. the Advanced Auto Batteries do excellent if you follow Ed's earlier suggestions: keep them properly charged up and full of water keep the charging system in excellent repair - no corrossion, tight and clean battery terminals, and clean alt plug. i'm around college kids who think i'm a car guru (poor gullible students). so i get to see all sorts of different cars and batteries. the correlation between failed batteries and some other problem (bad alt, corroded plug, frayed wires, loose terminals) is REALLY high, much higher than brand. so those things are far more important than brand in my opinion. i've had great luck with the titanium (i think they're called) batteries from AAP. but i also make sure all those items are addressed above. i tend to think most batteries will hold up well if properly sized and taken care of. though i've had zero percent failure for the most part - the AAP batteries don't hold up well when they sit for extended periods (which happens often when you have as many subaru's as i do). i have almost a 100% failure rate for vehicles that set for awhile. even a recharge doesn't bring them back. but luckily they replace them all under warranty. and of course batteries aren't intended to stay that dead for that long. but sometimes the extremes show the quality of something too. man this thread blew up for batteries! wow! guess they're like oil, everyone has an opinion.

"out of gear" - a manual transmission? details of what the car did will help. were you driving it when this happened? did the engine cut off, then you drifted or what? guess you'll first need to turn the key, get it out of gear, and be able to try and turn the motor over? is it just that the steering wheel is locked? once you get past that: bad electrical (alt, batter, connections, starter) - jump it. broken timing belt any check engine light?

you're over thinking this and ignoring the advice of people who know a lot about these engines. what kind of wires are on there now and how old are they? your wires likely need replaced. i'm not well versed in the ECU, but maybe this will help. the ECU doesn't typically trigger a code with every reading out of spec. often it requires "X amount of faults over a given period of time". so codes disappearing after resetting the ECU makes perfect sense...it's going to need that "given period of time" to analyze data and trip the code. and - the ECU has two modes - open and closed loop based on whether it's at operating temperature or not. they way it detects codes and uses data during those two operating parameters differs. and - electrical problems are often directly related to temperatures..not just ambient, but when in use electricity/shorts can generate heat - so if they went away and came back after various cycles of starting/turning off i'm not surprised either. that's basic electrical concepts. conductivity is highly dependent on temperature (and hardly anything else for metals we're talking about). and on and on.... all of your symptoms look completely normal and very common to me. this isn't rocket science, but i can go there too if need be!

yes 97 is first year of interference. that's a great car, with a manual transmission and EJ22 you've got probably one of the most reliable combinations you can find for a 10+ year old vehicle out there. excellent value. but it's going to need some work: at this age belt replacement is not enough. buy a timing belt kit on ebay. they only cost $80 (i bought two last week). you get all new tensioner, all the pulleys, and a belt. if you're not comfortable using non-OEM parts then buy the kit and buy a new belt from Subaru. replacing the water pump is a good idea too. the EJ's rarely fail, but for a few bucks and being right in front of you why not? being an interference engine this almost has to be done. if you like reliability as well it should be done even on the older engines (non interference).

10W-20 isn't something i'd use, so i'll move on and ignore it. if it was a straight 6 300 inline Ford engine then it probably would have done fine on any weight oil. those are great motors, underpowered for big work but last forever.