idosubaru

verify the leak first. this is a lot of discussion about really expensive work for a "maybe". if the guy isn't familiar with subarus and didn't look at it closely this could easily be something else.

you are correct, the external leaks on Phase II SOHC EJ25's (what you have) do not cause overheating in and of themselves. a simple compression test might show your head gasket leak for sure. those only take 30 minutes top and require only removing the spark plugs. these cars are notorious for having problems getting all of the air out of the cooling system once it's been opened. when you replaced the water pump did you bleed the air through the radiator valve or burp it some other way? if you didn't properly bleed the air my guess is that the car overheated after the water pump replacement and blew...or "finished blowing" the head gasket. of course you want to check simple things like is the coolant level good and are there any leaks? all the work previously done was done right?

there's another thread on here about those code readers. i bought one of the ebay jobs for $30-ish bucks and it reads the actual code on the screen for you too. excellent use of 30 measly dollars.

yeah that bolt sucks bad. soak it like crazy for weeks ahead of time in PB Blaster. i did one this summer, was nicer than dealing with bearings.

check engine light? how old are the plugs and wires? can you describe noises it's making? like where they're coming from what they sound/feel like? you feel confident it's a trans issue and not an engine issue? a lot of people i run across say things like "i think it's my fuel pump or trans"...and they're usually wrong. sounds like you know what you're doing though if you did your own clutch job.

nothing. PCV (use subaru only on this), air filter and fuel filter aren't a bad idea depending on miles.

there's too many variables. starting with research like how much an EJ25 turbo will cost you and an EJ20. then see what you like. we don't know how you do your work, who does it, how much down time can you withstand, how long will this take you, what kind of rebuild you'll want, how reliable do you want this thing, what machine shop prices are around you, forged internals...etc. way too many possibilites. this could cost 20,000 or 500. check out NASIOC for all sorts of info on rebuilds, cost and options between those two engines. there's just no way to answer such an open ended question that has no guidance or information. if you don't know where you're headed we certainly can't tell you how to get there....Alice In Wonderland kind of thing. rebuilding the EJ20 leaves the car driveable until you're ready to do the engine swap. rebuilding the EJ25 leaves you with more down time.

details about exactly what the car is doing are very important, particularly when we can't look at the car ourselves: hopefully when they did the clutch job they also replaced the pilot bearing, throw out bearing, and retaining clips. neglecting any of those is a bad idea. you didn't mention how it drives? is it still running and driving fine? "car did not want to accelerate" could mean one of two things: 1. engine revved up but car didn't accelerate properly. 2. engine did not rev up at all and didn't accelerate properly. which of those two is it? check your gear oil in the transmission. any busted inner CV joints? do all of your tires match, rotated and aired up properly?

lots of variables here...how much time do you have, are you doing the work yourself, how much money, how many miles per year do you drive, how many more miles/years would you like out of this car...on and on.... rebuilds can be very expensive and time consuming. price out all the parts first and see how that sits with you. get another low mileage engine and reseal it. it's not a bad idea to just reseal the current motor and keep your eyes open for a new motor. if you want realibility you might even consider an EA82 but dumb down the boost. mostly just because EA82's are easier to find. with that kind of mileage i wouldn't put a ton of effort into the car. it's not hard to find a good car for cheap these days that needs some work, keep your eyes out. if you can rebuild an engine you can find a cheap good car that needs a clutch.

good point, this shoudl have rear drums, have those checked. has there been any recent work done to the car? did it just start one day or been like this for awhile? the fluid is 10 years old too, good idea to just have it flushed. that helps a ton and should be done anyway.

welcome! look forward to having you around.

the center VLSD and rear VLSD's, do they function the same? wonder how we could "play" with this on the bench to test it out? maybe this needs a new thread, this is interesting. with the car in the air does anyone know if you spin one tire, what does the other one do?

i'm not seeing where the hub is the problem, isn't it the control arm that will make or break this idea? no matter what hub you use - you'll get the ball joint to match. so if the ends of the ball joint that go into the control arm are the same on the SVX and the WRX then it won't matter, it'll bolt right up to the WRX control arm. so we'd need pictures of the SVX and WRX ball joints and control arms to see if this is a problem or not. if that doesn't work, how about swap the SVX control arms onto your car so you can accept those SVX hub assemblies?

a few guys have the ER27 XT6 engine in their vanagons. the ER27 bellhousing is identical to the EA82. so the EA82 can definitely work and the EA81 should be the same. would that be severely underpowered?

i mean snow covered mountain roads, that is what i encounter in daily driving. the XT6 seems noticeably better. wonder if there's a way to test "which is better"? i'll take my XT6 any day on the roads i have to drive. wonder what others think? why do the datsun racer guys seem to prefer the clutch types for traction?

yeah that area is really annoying on turbos. hang in there and listen to those folks. yes, the heads are easy to remove and very easy to do in the car. other than time, the most annoying part of this job is removing the turbo IMO. having a 10mm ratcheting wrench for the valve cover bolts makes it a simple job. i greatly prefer air tools too, annoying cranking all those head bolts out by hand in the car.

is your alt plug brittle and nasty? not sure if that can cause a drain, but it definitely causes problems frequently. i've seen some great tips on checking for drains...and it involved what he said, pulling the fuse and finding which circuit is doing it. seems logical you'd need power for it to show. if it's a relatively benign circuit (radio for example) you might even be able to drive the car while you track down the problem without worries about a dead battery. woah - a dead optima, that's not supposed to happen!

rear LSD stuff from the internet: Clutch type Subaru EA LSD's: "These LSDs have an assortment of friction disks and shims inside, arranged so that the limited slip typically has a factory breakaway setting of 45 ft-pounds" . VLSD Subaru: "The downside is that these units don't act like a limited slip until one wheel actually starts slipping (i.e., they don't prevent slippage), which means the VLSD action often kicks in after you've already exited the corner"

okay, i didn't realize the VLSD always had some traction...wonder what that means in snow/mud driving? are both wheels spinning together/getting the same traction/power/whatever is important in snow covered roads? the explanation of clutch type (thinking the LSD EA series stuff): you said they require some slippage to generate clutch force and "lock them". everyone else has always said that they are "locked" until that force is exceeded by binding. and just by feel/watching, that seems to be how they work in use. that's why you can spin one wheel and the other turns the same way. and i've also heard that force is adjustable based on shims and such and i thought the FSM even had a spec to test that function. a VLSD - if you spin one wheel, does the other spin the same way? a semi-related question. i've always wondered why the XT6 is far better in snow than any EJ vehicle i've driven (mid-late 90's impreza's and legacy's). this is true of the auto and manual with the same wheels/tires. i live in very steep terrain with snow covered/unplowed roads and nasty switch backs (very steep and S shaped). i've had EJ vehicles not make it up that hill. my XT6 i don't even think about it. i've never had to turn around in my XT6 on that stretch. again - same exact wheels/tires. for the manual the center diff lock probably just can't be touched, but for the auto's i don't understand that. and i haven't even installed my rear LSD in my auto XT6 since moving out here, so that's just an open rear. pardon the tangent....i wish my EJ stuff that my wife drives was as good in the snow. she even jokes about the XT6 being a machine. we're getting a 2000+ legacy soon, interested to see how that does, already planning on getting a rear VLSD for it since those are readily available.

if the AT light is blinking 16 times at start up then the TCU has a code, get that code. either have it read ($75 ish from a shop) or try and coax the code out yourself (tricky sequence of events). idle control valves typically hum a lot and don't cause any problems, but i've never had to deal with the idle control mechanism on an EJ engine so i'm not familiar with those (yet!!). how long have you driven since installing the new engine? my first hunch (based on very little) is that the inhibitor switch is hosed, check the linkage and the parts on it. some of them only have plastic tabs and stuff which can crack. they usually dont but with all the trans and engine work who knows. it's the only electric doohicky on the passsengers side bottom of the trans. it's what moves when the shifter is moved inside the cabin.

don't worry about the filter, it doesn't have one. the "filter" is just a strainer, a mesh screen that hardly does anything and doesn't need replaced. as for your issues sounds like your trans is aging. some fluid concoctions have had good results, you can search here for info on those and some decent feedback on solving this exact issue. 99 models typically have this delay in engagement issue for some reason and many of those folks have mitigated the issue with additives.

cool, i'd like to hear more. i haven't had tons of experience, but have owned both. i do know that i've encountered times in really slushy, snow, and mud that the beginning of slip causes rutting...which usually is bad even for 4WD, particularly with ground clearance/compacting issues. and others i've talked to seem to say the VLSD is the weakest of options for offroad in front, rear, and center diff configs. how quickly do the VLSD's provide traction? i guess i'm also relying on something unrelated. the center diff locking soobs are way better in my oppinion than than VLSD center manuals of the EJ's. so my intuition tells me the same holds true for clutch type (instant traction) verses VLSD (delayed traction). but i realize now maybe that's a flawed analogy.

we have some links on the subaruxt.com forum to the XT related materials. those are EA82 related, but might not have everything you need for other non-XT specific stuff. but for EA82 engine and transmission it will give you most of what you need. also - the EA81 was available in 88, but i'm guessing that's not what you want?

is that lifted or just suspension swapped?

all the timing belt stuff you'll need is here or here but linked to on the Subaru endwrench site. EJ timing belts are really easy and your EJ22 is simple and straight forward. get the endwrench procedure, it's awesome, detailed, pictures, and straight from subaru. some of us have the FSM in PDF form and could mail it to you, might be awhile before i can get to it. it's 64MB, too big to email for me.