idosubaru

i didn't listen to the videos, i generally avoid them because they take long and often recording isn't true to natural sound...and your links said "private" and I couldn't see them anyway. To me, CV noises have always been distinctive and impossible to confuse with anything else. If they saw significant sand, gravel, aggregate road treatment in the winter they can degrade fast. In clean driving with no aggregate exposure they can go 10's of thousands of miles with broken boots with no problems....but if they see aggregate. Imagine rubbing stone or sand on your car hood.... that's happening at high loads, temps, and RPM's in the CV joint if it sees aggregates. did this thing go to the beach or shore or southern GA where there's lots of sandy roads? Or was it offroaded or on a farm with signficant dirt/gravel exposure? If you want to rule out axles you could swap the right and left sides and see if the noise moves.

pick a price that's worth your time and list it here, or on ebay. if no one wants it at that price then you won't be wasting time. Also, I keep an eye out for people i know/respect/long time members - and give them a good deal if i see them asking. I sent a box of hard to find old gen parts to a board member free this summer. otherwise i expect a price that reflect availability and my time which at this point isn't very available. EA81 pumps do seem to have an exceptional demand considering it's often for Brats. That is a distinctive part and vehicle. In general, many are looking for 20 year ago pocket change prices for stuff that's hard to find. I think it's more often "hard to find cheap", rather than "hard to find". I've got frequently asked for parts, i just don't believe they're hard enough to find to make it worth my time to "sell" them in the conventional sense. You have to deal with international shipping - put a price tag on them and see what happens.

Torque bind. Change the fluid and ensure all 4 tires are the same diameter (size and tread wear/depth) immediately. If this is an initial onset, changing the fluid 2-3 times can alleviate it. If it needs repair there are two causes: 1. install FWD fuse - if this works then the duty solenoid is probably fine and the clutches need replaced. 2. if the FWD fuse doesn't put the car in FWD and it still binds then the Duty C solenoid is bad. usually best to replace solenoid and clutches at the same time. The transmission doesn't need to come out to repair - they're all accessible from under the vehicle by pulling the rear extension housing case off which isn't that hard. If the FWD fuse works then a work around is to install a switch that toggles between the FWD fuse and no FWD fuse so that you can have either "FWD" or " 'locked' 4WD". Then just keep it in FWD all the time unless you're offroad or in snow. I've done it before and it's a beautiful fit in some situations that don't warrant the full on repair and makes the car 100% functional for $5 in parts and very little time of some simple wiring. Or you can just embrace the high maintenance an leave the FWD fuse in all the time and pull it when 4WD is needed. But if you need it often that's going to be awfully annoying.

I’d move away from that block. some people, me in my learning days, want to see for myself or hope it would last and get 4,000 miles out of it. I learned my time is too valuable for that The pump is stamped with a number, look all over it resurfacing is super easy. hard part is getting the glass or machinist block and having a place to put it. Once that’s done it’s mindlessly easy. If rock auto allows you to enter the part number and cross references interchangeable parts for you - no that is not going to be OEM. They include OEM numbers in tons parts listing for easy verification and searching but they are not OEm parts. if you mean you enter the year make model engine and drill down to head gasket and Subaru OEM is one of the options then yes it should be Subaru. They’re usually not cheaper than online Subaru or your local dealer if they give a discount so Ive never done it. But I’ve seen them listed. Most of those listings even explicitly say “OEM Manufacturer” very clearly.

I probably tossed it to scrap but I used to have an EJ18 ECU

I bolt an EJ22 manifold to the EJ18 then use an EJ22 ECU. Much easier and then you have more parts and knowledge base availability. As to your EJ18 question....From the little I’ve seen (which is not a lot of EJ18 world), I think they’re all interchangeable. 90-96 Imprezas.

Ideally get another short block and start fresh. If every dime counts and this car is likely to be nickle and diming the owner for the next 5 years, then who cares, gasket slap it with resurfaced heads and see what happens. How many more miles and years does a 314k car have on it? Bushings, struts, and numerous small ticket items like rack, alternator, fuel pump...there's a lot of things with reasonably high failure rates before 400k. I guess i'm from the northeast where rust rules out most high mileage subarus without much guess work. I wouldn't worry about the failure of the headgaskets, more than likely the previous job just wasn't done very well in terms of prep and cleanliness and bolt tigthening. GD says it shouldn't be done but if there's no current failure or symptoms I've always wondered what the prospects would be of replacing the rod bearings before they're symptomatic (at least they "were" asymptomatic before you tore it down), and hogging up the crank and rod. I don't have the time to play with stuff like that any more or i'd give it a go.

To me it’s not worth the hit to the relationship. No gain now, for a step closer to their complaining demanding uneducated customer label. I’d pass and ask about it next time in person if you’re concerned.

awesome. That’s a great feeling. I do it too. The thing that helps you succeed is also the thing that can tear you down. Analysis paralysis.

strap wrench makes it super easy to turn cam. Bolts strip more than shear in my experience. Rust may cause variance. I use the bolts sometimes but I’ve done it enough to get away with it now. Don’t do it. use one of the old belts as a wrap and go from there. It can be done by hand with the old belt or vice grips squeezed around the sprocket.

They don’t deny warranties if its not an abused tricked out built forced induction present from mommy and daddy. Average daily drivers don’t get needlessly voided warranties. None of the people i assist have ever even been asked for records when having large ticket items warranted. If you live in an environment with lots of shady untrustworthy people or the dealer is garbage then yeah keep records, but they’d be in heap of !&&!&&! Customer service nightmares and lawsuits for making up voided warranties without compelling evidence to do so. Manufacturers don’t lean that way at all, for good reason, and it makes sense. overfill is no big deal. You’re getting extra oil, good bargain. you can still check the level and if you note that it’s deceasing, then you can worry about it being perfectly at the full mark to verify loss rate i don’t think 2019s are an issue. That was taken care of by like 2017... if we’re lucky

seats have loads of personal preference to them - novelty leather heated high low adjustments, support. fronts have lots of options and cross platforms easily. Rears are generally confined to the make and year of the receiving vehicle. and yes bright yellow connector means airbags.

Yours isn't different - it's exactly like every other garbage-reliability-issues-high-maintenance hydraulic clutch ever made. i'd convert it back to cable clutch. but i'm weird.... press clutch while watching the slave piston (need a helper unless you built a robot or equivalent) slave piston doesn't move = pressure loss which is usually the slave, hose, both, or master which is unlikely. slave and hose fail often enough that it's not uncommon to preventatively replace the slave cylinder and hose. slave piston moves = broken fork or clutch issue.

Let's not borrow problems from the future, let's hope it's all good until we know otherwise. Good luck finding good news. And yes learning takes work, or 'if you're not failing, you're not trying'.

You pulled heads with engine in the car? Wow, good effort! H6s are cumbersome and lots of effort in the vehicle. Subaru H6 engines do ocassionally loose head gaskets. usually at higher miles and seemingly less frequently than 4 cylinders. Some of that lower frequency is because there are far fewer H6s than H4 Subaru’s around. some people will think H6s are less prone to heasgaskets than they are because of the smaller sample size. Some shops works on tons of 4 cylinders and don’t see many 6. Internal oil - replace PVC valve with OEM frequently. But yeah at 200k it’s likely to not be perfect and any extended oil changes, overheating, and/or not using synthetic can cause sticking control rings and increase blow by. It shouldn’t be a sign of any issues. Just keep checking your oil level.

Varies by model, trim, and year. It starts in only higher trim models in 00-02, I think higher trim Outback (maybe legacy) only and expands from there. Foresters start getting them in 03 I believe But it varies by trim in the early years so it’s not easy to nail it down in a simple format to remember. cars101.com tells which year model and trim has them. you’d have to look through each generation and model.

Liability is likely but doubtful it’s from not deploying. There’s millions for sale at most yards, eBay, online. Yards advertise measures to take recalled airbags off the market, ensuring a safe supply of used. Maybe it’s a concern of customers tampering with them during removal for other stuff. Or, airbags potentially being exposed to weather once doors or glass are removed.

Can you pry the grommet out, fish the wire, then reinstall the grommet?

No kidding. Do you know why? If someone had too much time to burn could they remove the cover, then airbag, and buy the seat without the airbag? Assuming the yard leaves the seats in.

I’ve run front axles 50,000 miles while clicking with open boots. Not a big deal with oem axles if they only see clean roads. Sand gravel etc is bad mojo. I could do that in Atlanta and Maryland with consistent roads, but not where I live now.

Yep. Preventative CYA routine to cover scenarios where the cams are questionably oriented.

Like I said: Ignore any references or talk about #1, that's like asking if needs to be a full moon when you change a timing belt. you can be completely clueless about what "#1" means and get timing belts right every time. follow my directions. there's no concerns about the disty being out. I'd replace the water pump. EA82's aren't known for lasting long, they have a long shaft which isn't forgiving on internal seals, and if it's not OEM definitely replace. the aftermarket gaskets can be flimsy cheap cardboard. Get OEM and/or give them some help with water pump gasket tack. particularly if the mating surface on the engine is rough and/or you can't clean it. Axles are often fine - the grease is just ancient- just regrease them. If they're original the grease is nearly gone and runny and terrible and you definitely want to keep OEM axles...high miles but if they're OEM they are worth regreasing. They can easily last the life of the vehicle if they're Subaru axles. If they're aftermarket they likely didn't come with good grease or enough grease out of the box. Regreasing them will quiet them down if they're noisy and alleviate vibrations. Ideally you take them off and clean them but you could just try to stuff some grease in there insitu...with that same needle fitting i mentioned for the timing bearings too, although I don't recommend that, it's a hack. Granted if they're aftermarket they're junk to begin with but so is whatever new aftermarket axle you have.

people have done timing chain covers and water pumps and probably chains before in the vehicle, so there's a chance you could avoid pulling the engine. i've always had H6 engines out so i'm unsure on specifics but it would certainly be tight. definitely take the radiator out.

Chains are installed with timing mark at 12 noon. Did you "move it there" before, or after, installing the chains? If before installing the chains, it's wrong. It says the "crank key"....not "the crank", nor does it mean the "crank mark" which is the sole reference point for the timing chain. if you moved the crank timing mark to where it's showing the crank key to be, then it's wrong. Even in the note about 3-oclock it still shows the crank mark (the dot at "A") at noon. Part of me hopes I'm wrong but maybe if you come out of this without valve damage it at least won't be a phantom issue to chase.

1996 and earlier are non-interference. 1997 and up are interference. Although there's enough EJ swapping over the decades that it's wise to be careful assuming a 199x Subaru has a 199x engine.