idosubaru

on a closed engine yes, but with the cap off, coolant can splatter all over the place, like onto the hot exhaust. but she's already played with this engine a lot and has a good idea what's going on so probably is the HG's.

right on, i could see that in my area too for imps.

you saw it and it's overheated before so you're onto the problem. but just pointing out that this is actually normal for most engines, even the billowing smoke, since i've let one run too long before as well with the cap off (this past summer).....grrrr!!!! could still be coolant normally bubbling out, hitting hot exhaust, then the radiator running low on coolant and running hotter...snowball kind of thing.

i wouldn't worry too much about it personally. your best resource is to familiarize yourself with usmb! are you wanting this as a collectible or intending to keep it for a long time? if so, then that makes sense. i've stocked up on tons of XT6 stuff, some hard to get most i just like having on hand and ready to go. if it's just transportation then an EJ vehicle could be in your future. they can be had for really really cheap now.

i own one 97 impreza now and have had some others. great cars, can't beat that EJ22. i would guess they haven't worked on many subaru's or are preparing you for helping to pay their mortgage. Subaru MAF sensors fail, but it's very rare. it's a few spots down on the most likely column as most on here would agree. USMB even bears that out if you (could) searched here, very few MAF sensor failures. there are a number of things much more prevalent. if it is a MAF sensor i'd have them replace it with a used one. they fail so rarely i'd never pay the outrageous costs of new one. used ones can be had for $25 (because they fail so rarely, there's no market for them!). Philly area for $25: 1-866-570-6522 these guys have a MAF sensor for $35 on your side of harrisburg: 1-800-692-7822

a good shop can not determine anything significant about a former rental car this new. stuff like brake wear or whatever is no big deal anyway. a shop can't get into the engine an transmission internals and see the wear patterns and stuff that really make a difference over the long term use of the vehicle. the longer you keep the car/more miles you put on it, the more likely it is to matter that it's a rental. 50k extra no big deal, 150k may start showing it's additional wear and tear. as for the sedan not holding their value as much, that's not what i've seen in my area. i guess it depends on the area and what year? i couldn't dream of getting $6,000 for a nice 97 leg wagon, they're a dime a dozen around here. but i've sold GT sedans for that. pretty sure ebay bears that out too, not that i think that's a great place to see market value!

yes, that method you described works very well for engine vacuum leaks. the engine immediately responds with a squirt of fluid. takes about 1 minute including popping the hood.

by "blows his cool again" you mean overheating or just spewing out the radiator? i'm guessing you mean it was overheating. when they warm up, many perfectly running cars spew coolant out the top if you leave them running. sounds normal to me if you left the cap off. g'luck!

i guess i'm confused. i thought a block coolant drain plug was a block coolant drain plug? they talk about the size of the block coolant drain plug in that thread which is what you asked: i've done similar stuff to Thom's suggestions above on EGR fittings and such. hardware stores FTW. good luck heater 'er up!

if this is the result of work, who did it? have them look at it? my first step would be to retrieve the engine codes, that's easy and many stores do it for free. that would help us a lot. check engine light means a code is stored, knowing that code really helps narrow things down. getting the transmission codes would be nice as well. if the AT light flashes 16 times at start up then it has a code stored. knowing that code would be nice. wonder how the temperature sensor works? it prevents the AT from going into 4th gear until a certain temperature was reached.

that's not the right kit. unless someone chimes in with specific experience and tells you they are interchangeable i wouldn't get this. the Ej22 changed significantly in 1999. not sure if it's enough to make a difference with tbelts but no point in learning the hard way. i'm confused as to why some of those ebay kits say 1990-1997 EJ22 (says won't fit 3/97+) then the others are 1999+ EJ22. what's up with the 3/97 date? i see the difference is in the tensioner (you can tell by the pic's). so you could just look at your tensioner by removing the drivers side timing belt cover and buy the kit that matches. it only takes a couple minutes to remove that cover and nothing else has to come off. 1997+ EJ22's are interference. i didn't bother looking at the link, but it doesn't matter - 97+ is interference for Ej22.

a code is a code. i have a basic OBDII scanner and there's no problem reading codes with it for the CEL. most likely they were just confused about something (happens often). this is a rare one for me so i'm not sure. my guess is a hose is leaking, the sensor is dirty or the solenoid needs replaced. fairly common for those to fail, stick, or get damaged when doing some other work. i can say with a high degree of confidence this could be fixed for only a few dollars but finding the cause will be the tricky part. hopefully the smart folks will chime in for ya.

search is your friend, plug info is in here: http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=93931&highlight=block+heater

1.25 pitch, don't know the diameter. just remove it in the parking lot!!!!! call subaru or the parts store might even know/have listings? i'd think the block heater folks would want to know to make selling these things easier.

most likely you'll have "Cylinder misfire" New plugs and wires will fix this. Use the stock NGK plugs only and Subaru or Magnecor wires only. SUbaru is easiest as the others are aftermarket. Do not use any wires from any auto parts store, please spare us the future threads! Just do a search here and you'll read all about this stuff.

i wouldn't either. there's no way that car will sell for that anyway, so it's not going anywhere. you should print out a bunch of ebay or autotrader adds, i didn't look but i can tell you for sure you'll see the same vehicle/miles for that price without blown headgaskets! you can buy perfectly good running 97 era subaru's with nearly 200k for well under $2,000 that don't need headgaskets. and a wagon, a wagon!?

i'm a synthetic fan, but if you have a possible botched transmission and think you're going to fix this if the fluid change doesn't fix it, then i wouldn't put the money into synthetic right now. they sythn won't make the difference between fixing it or not so i wouldn't waste the money. i'd go with your basic off the shelf low cost ATF. you can always go to synth later if the problem gets fixed. doesn't matter really, but that's my penny.

10 year old car, good mileage and unknown maintenance history? there's any number of things this could be. if it's leaking you need to take photo's or look and find out where exactly it's leaking from. or at least narrow it down with some good descriptions. if it's leaking, frankly that's the easiest diagnosis to make, find the leak. radiator cap, upper hose, lower hose, bypass hose, inlet heater core hose, outlet heater core hose, water pump, thermostat housing, head gasket, throttle bypass lines, radiator, heater core.....then there's more..... remember, we can't see, hear, drive, taste, touch, or examine the car. info is good!

i think the datsun guys (who are always trolling here for LSD's) might have some insight? if they get subaru diffs to work in their vehicles (requires some minor mods to the axle flange), and if the old and new subarus can swap, and they have figured out actual lockers, then maybe that's a road. that one datsun site has all sorts of info and i'm sure covers if locker are available or not.

that's great. that can be grueling, hope all goes well for you!

as someone who has bought a number of 97 legacy's i can tell you that you are right. if it was a pristine GT sedan with low miles and great paint....then *maybe* it would be worth it to someone who wanted that car, but basically only for someone that wanted it, not for flipping it. 190,000 miles, that's terrible. and a wagon, wagons are a dime a dozen, i can basically buy one or two a month pretty easily. (saw one yesterday for instance!) i'd give $500-$1,000 for that car. no way i'd give more than a $1,000 and it would have to be really nice cosmetically for that. and even then only because nice looking cars sell well. he's pulling the (blue book value -minus- cost to fix) card. market don't work like that slick. two funny notes: if that was close to how the market operated he'd fix the dumb thing himself, but he's not! and, he'd never buy the deal he's trying to sell, even for whatever replacement car he gets in the future! he'd roll his eyes if he was on the other end.

i don't know much about it but i prefer the clutch type by far. apparently different terrains/uses/opinions for people. there's already a thread debating this, but for my kind of daily driving the VLSD's are weak. not engaging until slippage starts isn't ideal when driving slowly on steep mountain switch back snow covered roads i don't know the reasons but the VLSD's i've driven do worse for what i use them for. others seem to prefer the VLSD.

brian is right. there are gear ratios for each gear, final drive ratios for the differentials and then ratios for the high and low range, and then various combination of these give various actual ratios for the entire drive train, so you need to be more specific. quoting one number still might not get you what you want based on the other numbers so to speak. since you don't understand how these things work you might want to tell us what you're trying to do and we can start there?

i'd so some searching on the this site. there's also a forester site too, i bet those dudes know. someone mentioned a fully locking rear diff before but i don't know if they really meant they had done it (seems like that is what they meant). but i know no details. weld the rear diff and pull a rear axle if you have automatic and can put it in FWD. if you have a manual you're hosed. what do you mean by poor conditions? depends what kind of driving you're doing but by "poor" conditions if you mean in snow and slick roads then the clutch type LSD's should do you quite well actually. they're weak for off road but for slow, treacherous snowy road conditions they do very well.

that sounds like a great way to attack this chux, good luck! i guess my thinking is that if an XT6 TCU ran an EJ transmission, then opposite should work as well?