idosubaru

the separator plates do leak usually, but i don't know if they leak 1/2 a quart in 100 miles? that seems excessive even for a really bad separator plate leak. obviously you already know that the oil stop leak stuff is bad news and shouldn't be used. that being said...i do know people that have run the engine too low on oil because of significant leaks like yours and seized the engine. if it's bad enough to be half a quart this time, it might be 2.5 next time... so, if it could help some and prevent engine loss then maybe it's worth a shot. a quart every couple hundred miles sounds really bad and really expensive. so while i don't recommend it, i do see where tough times might be worth it. your best shot unfortunately is to have it fixed properly. but you know that already. it's still cheaper than a new car. is that not feasible to have it fixed now? and you're absolutely positive it's not something else ending up down there? the rear passengers side cam cap can leak a good bit and end up down around the rear of the motor too. that's really easy to check and replace - 2 bolts and that's it. and even oil from up front can drip and blow back all underneath everything, but i would think that would be obvious and it seems you've already had a good look at it.

it'll be neat to see someone else figure out the disty swap. i'm sure you know this already, but a few aussie guys have converted to disty EJ's to run propane and such. i recall seeing one picture. have you gotten much info on that disty swap? all of it here or somewhere else? a guy on the XT boards (and here) was recently considering doing this too. i'm not a facing person at all, but those cars are tuned for one track, one elevation, one day of the year...hard to compare that to anything i need. an engine with highly tuned carbs can probably be better managed with FI, but who cares we'd all rather have their unlimited budgets over anything!

oiling with used motor oil is free. POR15 and undercoating is not. and time. a quick oiling is easier. a proper undercoating needs to be done well. it's not hard to miss one spot, trap in some water, leave some rust, or areas exposed. i dont know that very many people do either though, so that's probably another reason you just don't hear much about it really. "oiling" has been around for a long time, for decades. that probably accounts for some of the visibility. is oiling any different than just dumping used oil in a field over the long run? pretty sure it's about the same thing.

nah, no pictures on hand. it's not perfect, so if you're concerned with aesthetics then this isn't the car for you. i can probably get pictures later, though it's covered in grime/snow.

you have a few options at your disposal and i don't consider split boots and option, they suck. $25 used axles > split boots. i looked up used axles yesterday for a friend and found plenty in the $20-$35. or you could just wait a year...or three to replace the axle. the CV joint won't fail anytime soon. i've put 50,000 miles on front axles after they started clicking (granted lots of highway miles). you're not even starting to click yet so sounds to me like you got a good number of years left on them. of course sand, rock or hard core stuff will ruin the joint quickly. but if a few dollars is tight you shouldn't be driving offroad or in rough terrain anyway. driving around over coal shards and debris my broken boot axles only lasted a few months. but doubtful you'll be driving over crushed coal? earlier this year i ordered 3 used axles for $75 w/$25 shipping. that's worth it to me and all the boots are in great shape and the rubber is not dried and cracking one bit.

in "Bob's" defense the OP didn't state that in the original thread that "Bob" was replying too. can't hold him accountable to something that was never said!??! original post he said "I want the facts" and the fact remains that carbs are far inferior and antiquated...so he answered the question.

i asked a related question about EJ exhaust roughly a year ago. wasn't much response, but there were a few replies. might want to search for that thread.

i have a 97 but it's an automatic that we'll be selling sometime shortly. in morgantown, WV.

yes, you should be able to look up Subaru's 100k extended head gasket warranty information on line or here. take that with you to the dealer and have it repaired.

i have a power inverter into which i'm plugging in this device, which has a typical electrical outlet plug. i already have power inverters in my cars, so i can plug in any appliance (like my laptop). i'm going to plug in this other device (with listed draws) into the power inverter as well.

i want to run this electrical device in my cars, which have power inverters. it's rated at 9 Volts and 1300 milliamps. it would be 15 minutes at a time, per "trip" if used at all, not continuous. i'm thinking that's fine to run? probably less than my laptop right?

don't worry about it folks, there's plenty of things that "could" go wrong on a 10 year old car. how about the timing pulley bearings, there's usually at least one that's not in very good shape by now and few people replace them. it's usually the cogged idler pulley. i'd worry more about that than the head gaskets. if that goes you could be looking at damaged engine/pistons, not just a gasket. it's good to know when purchasing or making a decision or looking but if you have one it's not like they all blow. and quite a few have already been fixed, you just don't know it. i've seen them fixed at 30,000 miles and i'm sure i didn't see the "lowest mileage" head gasket replacement subaru out there, there's others that had less. few people know what happened to their car in the first year...or 10! i've bought two that i know for sure were already replaced. the number of ads on ebay and autotrader and others saying "headgaskets replaced" and the number of jobs going through the shops i stop in tell me that there's a large number of them out there already replaced as well.

how bizarre, mine does that too. i didn't know that, i have just been waiting for the ABS light to finally show up so i could read a code and fix it. guess that explains why the light never came on. my wife's 1997 impreza doesn't ever do that, but my Legacy LSi does. the ABS seems to work fine on both, what's the difference?

anyone giving that answer to hocrest obviously doesn't know him very well! he's got a "tiny bit" of SVX experience. can't say your question doesn't intrigue me dave!

i only have a second. subaru engines can be VERY loud after a rebuild or head job. that's extremely normal. a few dozen/hundred miles will often pump up and solidify HLA's if that's what the engine has. if the engine was fine prior to the job then there's a good chance it'll work itself out. (keeping in mind i can't hear what kind of sound it is). but HLA's can be very loud. there's a chance it could be a rod bearing knock. the timing was properly set and installed right, timing tensioner was good? a bad tensioner can cause slop/noises. gotta go, hope that helps.

if you're going to fix it, why not keep it a few years? sell it fixed rather than broken if the time commitment is worth it to you. someone who knows how to fix these things can pick them up for super cheap (at least around here). a 98 OBW is hardly worth anything with a blown headgasket around my parts. a dime a dozen. i'd fix it if you want any money out of it, or at least figure out if the time spent is worth the return. the 03...he doesn't "know" what the dealer paid, they make a TON of money off of used cars.

+1

i have an EJ18 (and multiple other subaru engines) without timing covers. they aren't needed. with hard core off roading, like high center in snow and trudging through mud/water - then maybe you have a reason to keep the covers. but in hard core stuff even the covers can easily break and lodge into stuff...that's just how it goes in off roading. this is a highly opinionated topic. you can search and read all the arguments/threads about it from the past...which will all be recounted here. those that have never done it attach whatever reasons sound convenient to them....even though their experience is 100% anecdotal. i've actually seen damage from timing covers. they get hit, crack, come loose, or pushed into something and rub against the belt or rub a hole in an ATF line. where i've never experienced any problem in running open belts on multiple cars for many years. so in actual experience (not arm chair theoretical anecdotal stuff) - covers are worse. i would listen to those doing it and that work on dozens of subaru's a year rather than those concocting stories as to what could happen. one person claimed failure with open belts. a search of his threads showed he drives like a maniac..and admitted to it when i asked him, he said it was his fault. anecdotal and easily could have been a problem even with covers driving like that (see explanation above). it's also harder to check things and do maintenance with the covers there, that's an enormous maintenance and time benefit. real world experience is overwhelmingly positive - arm chair opinions are theories that rarely, if ever happen.

stripped head bolt, wow that sucks. i've never had to deal with that yet. but i've done plenty of helicoil work. there are lots of threads on here about dealing with intake manifold bolts and how to try and remove them without damage. i've written essays about it with multiple approaches to it. yes, getting the rocker arms to hang is the only tricky part. you will need grease on each end to hold it in place. i do it like that and it's rather easy. many people suggest jacking up the side of the car you're working on to "tilt" the engine a bit and that helps, but i've never done that. i just hang them and take care not to bump them while installing the cam carrier. did we go over head gaskets? you should be using Fel Pro permatorque head gaskets, they are the best and dont' require retorqing. other gaskets require a retorque which means the cams have to come back off. if you go that route, just don't seal them the first time you install them if you're just going to pull them right back off again for a retorque anyway. saves time.

another option for some people, there's also the power bleeders that allow easy brake bleeding. when i was looking into this, that seemed like the best option for me since it'll work on any subaru (not just one). since i don't even know how many subaru's i own or will ever own and work on others, it's easier to have one piece of equipment that can do them all than buying parts for one vehicle. lots of info about this and more from previous threads too if you want more info. i too like the board idea, that's funny!

if it's only in reverse, then i'm thinking it's not a front diff issue. if it's a front diff you'll have noise and problems forward too. i'd buy a used transmission. subaru automatic transmissions are very reliable which is why they are so inexpensive to buy used (unlike your EJ25 which if you priced you'll see they're rather expensive due to high demand from head gasket failures). i bought a used transmission for my 96 Legacy last year, runs perfectly fine and it was only $150 with 100,000 miles and a 3 month warranty from the yard. i got really lucky to find one that cheap, but look around and see what you can find. keep the old one, or at least the rear extension housing (with the clutches and duty C in it) as a back up. i have an automatic transmission for your car that has a bad front diff. it ran, shifted, and drove fine otherwise. if you wanted it to swap your good front diff onto let me know. i could get it to westminster maryland over the holidays.

that's a good possibility. the backing plates were rusted horribly, the pad material was completely gone, and the brake pads just fell out in pieces on removal. hardly anything left. the fronts were in great shape and the braking system works fine, has new rear pads now. needs new rear rotors at some point, they're obviously shredded. strange the caliper slides were perfectly smooth, most need hammer persuasion to get them to swing. oh well, it's fixed now.

guess only the GT's got the hydraulic clutch. no issue for scott then, sweet.

the Phase II EJ25 is a much better engine than the Phase I EJ25, in that it won't leave you stranded. the Phase I's leak internally and instantly but randomly overheat. so when they fail you can't go anywhere, you're stuck. the Phase II's won't overheat unless the coolant runs low. they give you ample warning and leak externally, so they're easy to spot or smell and start slow with no overheating. they'll only overheat if you run low on coolant. much better in my opinion, but reliability is high on my list (higher than most peope i'd say). Subaru has the additive for all Phase II EJ25's. and - they are also covered under an extended 100,000 mile head gasket warranty by Subaru. so if you could find one with less than 100,000 miles the head gasket is still under warranty. the 15% figure isn't correct, only an estimate from a site with no quantitative evidence. the EJ25 headgasket is a significant issue. people like dave and i are actually in the business, not just commenting on anecdotal ownership of a couple subarus. i can buy blown EJ25 subaru's all day long. i usually know of a few every week i could pick up. i have yet to come across a 1995+ EJ22 with a blown headgasket. search on here "head gasket", ask a subaru specialty shop, search on line, look at all the car listing places, you'll see lots of head gasket stuff. the local subaru (non-dealer) specialty shop usually has a number of EJ25's in when i stop by any given week (3 in one day the last time i was there). it's also not that hard to find EJ25's that have already had the head gasket replaced - see it ALL THE TIME, and have bought some just like that. keep in mind too..what is most likely to be on the market for sale - a perfectly running vehicle or something that is starting to exhibit bad signs? it's not hard to find blown EJ25's and sometimes people tell you about it, sometimes they hide it. replace a headgasket in an hour - WOW! can you video tape that so i can watch it in slow motion?

good points - it almost has to be a 4.11, but Subaru was awkward with EJ transmissions over the years. the 96 legacy's i've gotten had hydraulic clutches, but they were GT's, not OBW's, so maybe the OBW's only have the cable style clutch? if it has the same hydraulic clutches of the GT's then that will require some custom fitting of your first generation trans. not so sure on the 91 trans, but you should be able to check easily enough if you have it already. i'd think that could go 3.9 or 4.11?