idosubaru

i'll update my experience with a couple...or 20 subaru's. the recommended anaerobic sealants work great, there's no mystery or magic solution here. the key is probably in doing the job well. cleaning the grooves completely which is completely annoying. get the case seated without rubbing off/compromising the sealant bead and mating surface. torque it down properly. and others have used RTV, the Right Stuff....etc, etc....i don't think there's a magic pill here, just do the job right.

yep, wheel/tire size has nothing to do with this so long as they all match. the 1mph difference is interesting. i doubt that has a difference, but do you have another subaru to hook the select monitor up to and see if it's the same? if you don't, someone you know surely does right? i'd be more than glad to see a select monitor plugged up to one of mine! i used this same idea to save a satellite launch delay. nasa = working on cars! it felt good to come up with the idea, but i do it all the time with subarus so it was natural. "hmmm, that's weird, let me go check this other subaru...."

try and ask for help from some folks here. i'd be much more willing to help someone pull a car out than sell them one of my soobs for dirt cheap. if by polaris you mean an ATV, i don't think a polaris with a winch counts as trying to get a car out of mountainous forested areas!! if your vehicle made it back there, then there are certainly others that can. or, you can even walk back with a come along....or two...or three. a couple come alongs, a winch and such are much cheaper than a new vehicle. and, by the sounds of it YOU WILL NEED THEM AGAIN! he probably doesn't have a front yard that is his or that he cares about!

oh, i thought all the H6's had that. it would have a light in the dash on start up (like all the other lights), and mine at least has a VDC on/off button under the radio. so the impreza runs and drives just fine, how many miles?

that makes sense. i've done EJ25's with auto AWD, so that's about the biggest combo too on a 2nd gen, so looks like they're all doable. the load leveler sounds great, it was annoying because i had to change the chains mid-pull to get the angle right. it was engine up, trans down to get it all out. drain that ATF and engine before doing it, or it's coming out!

that's not quite true. for liquid is not compressible like air. actually the opposite is true: an engine should run more efficiently in the winter. air, being compressible, does get more dense as it gets colder. so it's easier to get more air in the engine. put an empty plastic bottle from a hot room (room temp) in the freezer with the lid on. the bottle gets crushed significantly. that's due to the air decreasing density...well actually it's a little more complicated, but close enough. do the same with a bottle of liquid..water, gas, whatever, and it won't do anything.

that's kind of a rip off considering all the problems - i'll give you $550 for it and relieve of them all. just kidding, that's a great deal. i mean if you don't overheat or run this thing out of oil you can get another 100,000 out of this thing rather easily. you'll need a couple small repairs here and there, but you can't get much closer to a another sure 100k than this car.

new radiator cured the lack of power too?

there's a number of threads about this, probably most due to the change in fuel blends. i know nothing about it, but lots of "gas mileage went down" threads all over the automotive forums. playing in the snow, weather, running defrost constantly (turns the A/C on in most vehicles to dry out the air), and letting the car warm up are all gas eaters. check that tire pressure. cheap tires. maintenance items up to date.

depends how much your time is worth. in my opinion it's not worth it unless you have a ton of time on your hands. none of the newer engines bolt up without an adapter plate. really no good choices of older motors. a better and easier upgrade would just be to buy a legacy or impreza. you can get a early to mid 90's one for next to nothing that needs some kind of work like an engine, trans, clutch, hood, or whatever. just start looking around and you'll find one. with EJ vehicles (imp/leg) you get a better vehicle all the way around, 5 lug hubs that can run nearly any subaru wheels, larger brake options, air bags, anti lock brakes, suspension options all over the place, nicer trim options..there's not much comparison even if you don't like the ABS or SRS. i personally prefer the 4WD of the loyale than the AWD of the newer stuff. for my uses the older school "locking" center diff transmissions have better traction. other people seem to differ on that though.

if you're curious whether a belt broke or not just pull one of the side timing belt covers. takes about 6 minutes to check the belt. a broken timing belt motor is going to sound different than one in perfect running condition. the crank is turning but none of the valve train is which means there's probably less resistance. but that doesn't tell you anything, there are other things that will make an engine turning over sound different as well. good luck.

why not swap the needed cross member in from a p/s equipped vehicle? seems like a drop in the bucket compared to a motor swap. maybe someone from here with an EA81 and power steering will let you see their vehicle? there's tons of guys around your area that have them. a quick look might make it simple: "oh, THAT's why i can't do that" "that's not too bad, ive been wanting to buy a torch anyway" "that looks easy"

your 96 EJ22 will swap in place of the 99 DOHC EJ25 OBW engine. the 96 EJ22 should be a single port exhaust so you'll also have to swap the exhaust manifold. but that's really simple because it all bolts up and swaps. you have to disconnect the engine side anyway so it's not even hardly any extra work. the a/c and power steering will need to be contended with. it's very simple. it's all covered here, but basically just use whatever works. like dave said the 99 will have 4 bolts instead of 8 that the 96 will have. just use the 4 existing holes, they will line up with 4 out of the 8. a friend worked on an EJ25 that had a timing belt go. just needed two bent valves replaced, everything else was fine. if it's an automatic make sure you know how to properly seat the torque converter, you don't want to be one of those guys coming back asking why their car won't go into gear (it'll need a new trans). good luck.

if it isn't something simple and external then you won't know what is going on until you get in there. could be a $2 retaining clip or something much worse. shouldn't be hard to pick up a clutch kit on ebay for $100 or less.

EVO - recommending the idler, and not the tensioner pulley? i hate to see the prices on those jokers!

also realize, these kinds of places deal with shady people every single day. i find that being kind, honest and shooting straight works wonders. i've seen numerous people with short fuses and demanding stuff and i can't believe there aren't people trying to pull shady moves. i agree they shouldn't just lump everyone into the "trying to pull one over" category, but be aware it's a tough business too. it's generally a good idea to choose wisely where you get your parts from and what you're buying. i buy from AAP all the time and am very happy with their service, but there are some parts i wouldn't pay a nickel for from there either.

if the belt broke there's always a chance the valves broke. my friend worked on one EJ25 with a broken timing belt. if i remember correctly 2 valves needed replaced but otherwise there was no damage to the engine block or heads. i'd just plan on a head gasket job and replace any bent valves. a leak down test should tell you if the valves are good and allow you to avoid all the work.

good chance there are bent valves. a leak down test can be done without reinstalling the belt. or reinstall the belt and hope for the best. guess it could make things worse depending what went on in there though. if it stopped right away there might not be any more than bent valves. a friend of mine fixed one like that, just needed a couple valves replaced and was good to go. hate to mess up a good engine over just a head job. the cost of a Phase II EJ22 is probably more than fixing this engine. and hey, you'll end up with new headgaskets!

yeah i'd plan on $1,000 from the dealer. they should, but make sure they do everything in there. all of that stuff doesn't cost much and requires virtually no extra work. if you ask them they will probably match the prices of the online dealers. print out a quote of the online places and ask them to match those prices. i've never had my car worked on at a dealer but they've always given me the online pricing. that's essentially what the dealer here charges local shops and frequent customers anyway. i was a bit leary to do that when i moved since i didn't know anyone, but the dealer was perfectly fine with it. EVO - wilmington DE dealer? i've been there before! even bought some clutch retaining clips from them once! actually picked up a board members car from there once too.

yep that will work as well. i thought about that as well but was trying to isolate the DC, but no point in that.

$750 is a rough estimate for you to go off of for a complete job. which should include the clutch, machining the flywheel, throw out bearing, pilot bearing, and retaining clips. most clutch kits contain all of these parts. but local prices will vary considerably. out here in WV i bet i could have it done for $500. when i lived in DC $1,000+. be careful of a cheap clutch job, make sure they are doing everything listed above. a cheap job could easily be doing the bare minimum. if your car has a plastic separator plate, make sure that is replaced with an updated metal one as well. it's a couple dollars and if it breaks you're essentially paying $500 labor to replace it later. someone here might be able to tell you if a 99 forester has the plastic or metal one. parts prices will vary wildly too. $100 and go on the cheap. go with subaru parts and replace everything (flywheel, pressure plate, clutch, PB, TO Bearing, TO bearing clips)....and you're probably talking an amazing amount of cash. alabama, can you find anyone to touch a subaru down there? ha ha.

i assume VDC as well, i'm hearing that is pretty nifty. that's exactly what i just went and got Friday for my wife to drive. the 99 is tired, what does that mean? high miles?

i bet it depends on a number of things, like exactly what kind of snow you're driving in too. i think there are instances where higher psi is better and i'd probably keep it there. frankly though psi is a really weak way to *improve* snow traction, i'd guess the differences are extremely small. get studded tires if you insist on driving "with a lead foot" in the snow.

tires are huge. a FWD with good snow tires can be better than AWD with all seasons. but there's even differences between all seasons of different makes and the same with snows. those feedbacks are nice, but i'd read them carefully if you're driving in a lot of snow. many people might not experience significant actual snow road conditions, even if they are in an area that receives snow. how the roads are maintained, driving habits, and terrain make a big difference. my wife's family lives in the snow belt from the great lakes, snows all the time. but you can get around in RWD it's so flat up there. i live in the mountains, if those folks drove the cars they do there out here they'd be dead. i prefer to install a switch to control the AWD myself for bad ice and snow. with the flick of a button i go from stock to "locked" 4WD, essentially locking the rear transfer clutches. huge difference and a welcome one when you drive the places i do.

sure, i've done a bunch of times to good running cars, no reason you can't for a bad one! save yourself some time, you can just cut the one wire and see if it gives him 4WD. if it doesn't, then just splice the wire back together. that only takes a matter of seconds (once you double...triple check it's the right wire!) no point in spending an hour wiring in a switch only to find what nipper said is true - there's some major issues with the trans. and..you'll need to cut that one wire anyway for the switch. so if it does work, awesome. standard disclaimer applies...has the fluid been changed and do all the tires match in size and tread?