idosubaru

take it back to the dealer, they'll fix it and i doubt you'll have mold issues. you'll notice an odor if you do. being new and not having sat that long and not having dirt, crud and old wrinkles and nastiness for water and spores to really soak in, i'll bet you'll be fine. have you noticed much smell yet? airing it out should do wonders. judgement calls like "I thought Subaru's were reliable" based on one experience doesn't make them unreliable. if a problem in one vehicle means they aren't reliable then they aren't any reliable auto manufacturers in the world. i worked at a place that's really good at making reliable vehicles, capable of millions of miles with zero maintenance - NASA. but you might not like the half a billion dollar price tag!

It's as far into the engine as you can get really. But it will much depend on how you plan on doing this job. Cheap and sloppy or properly. Properly done will require a ton of time and money in parts and machine shop time. Splitting the block, checking the crank, replacing main bearings and rod bearings. You essentially have to assemble the block twice - once with plastigauge to measure bearing clearances and decide which "size" bearings to use...then you assemble it with the proper bearings for the final deal. It's time consuming and expensive. Totally worth doing......once! For a learning experience, so if that's good enough for you (it is for many), then tear it up. Otherwise a much better option is an EJ engine swap. Modern parts, more reliable, better gas mileage, more power.....and probably not all that much more time. The only caveat is that you can't be scared of wires (like me..but i'd still do it). An EJ engine swap would cost well under $800 in parts.

i don't mind aftermarket on that part.

i don't know if they're good!! but, i use the Ebay kits. kind of a toss up on the belts - sometimes i use them but often, like on your newer vehicle, i get a Subaru belt just to be sure. i like the ebay kits because it easily and reasonably allows you to replace everything. no one i work on cars for wants to foot the bill for all new subaru stuff - and i wouldn't either. it comes down to all new stuff or one or two new subaru parts. i like having all new stuff rather than leaving a few subaru pulleys and hoping they make 200k for the next change, for the reasons i already mentioned earlier and the same reason i replace the water pump as well. it is rare, and for a reason - subaru makes good cars and has a good maintenance interval. increasing the change interval will result in more failures...a small percent - 3% instead of 0.5% for example...but that's more unhappy customers, buying a new (non soob) car, or high repair costs. they have to choose some point on the graph as their maintenance interval, and no matter what number they pick - it will be waaaay below "likely failure" which gives the impression that it's too soon.

mr. radon tried (XT6 group member) putting one in his wagon and needed to cut the front up to make it fit...can't recall why - but i'm guessing the radiator. he didn't do it - didn't want to get into all that. as owner of 20+ XT6's since 1993, a general XT6 fan, and having ER27's all over the place...i'll agree all day long with Numbchux on the EJ swap, it will probably be enjoyable for 10+ years instead of a few. but i know the south is tough to get subaru stuff for...which kind of bodes well for both ways really...when it comes time to needing parts the EJ is going to be much nicer in the long run.

wow. i never even price checked them, i just assumed they'd be $200 or something off the charts. that's definitely worth replacing every time, i'll do that from now on. i've done a number of cars years ago that are still on the road with perfectly working A/C...but they also were still under some pressure for the most part. i think the ones that are only open for a few minutes to replace something minor may not get much actual air in them...where as a system that has been leaking and/or open for any period of time probably has had quite a bit of air and moisture in it? just a random thought, i really don't know all the ins and outs of A/C (like i needed to say that?!?!)

A/C repair is mess. few people care to do this work themselves so shops suck people dry and know they can get away with it. many a/c leaks i run across end up being simple, like an oring or the schrader valves....same freaking valve stem type that's in your tires. which they typically replace when you buy new tires. they replace them because they have a rubber seal on the base which leak over time. and this makes sense....rubber orings will deteriorate and fail quicker than metal, duh. of course there's compressor and other kinds of failure and whatever, and i've fixed that stuff before too. my main beef with this is that i have NEVER heard of someone getting their a/c fixed for $2.00 in orings or schrader valve + labor (except myself) - it's always hundreds of dollars in parts. BS. so...my money is that you're getting ripped off. unfortunately it's hard to find honest places, it's too easy to just keep ripping people off in this biz. i've replaced just about every part in an a/c system and gotten many old systems that hadn't run in years back and running again. it's actually not hard and equipment isn't necessary. you can replace the oring/valve/part yourself and charge it with a can off the shelf and fix it. i guarantee i could fix it for less than $100 in parts. although for a such new and valued vehicle i'd suggest making sure it's done right....which means you're dishing out the dollars. or drive to WV and i'll do it for half price! i've fixed two this summer that didn't work - neither one needed new actual parts. orings/schrader valve/charge, that's it.

Yes, they fail. Search the forum, you'll probably find some. And yes interference just like you said. There's a couple on going broken timing belt threads right now and they are not 200k vehicles. Assuming it's good for 200k is a really really bad idea for way more reasons than just the belt. First of all there's a number of things that will take out a perfectly good timing belt - pulley lacking grease (very common with mileage/age), bad tensioner, and a failed water pump. all of those items have a significant chance of failing well before 200k....multiply the individual chance times the total number...and it's just not good sense to be that risky for a car that's worth that much money. A good timing belt job on 105k replacement engine includes replacing the water pump because expecting 200k out of a water pump is not good sense, particularly when they're right in front of you on a timing belt job and don't cost very much. On the older 60k interval belts you can replace the water pump every 2nd (my recommendation) or 3rd timing belt...every 120k or 180k. Good financial advice would be: in the future it would be wiser to not over extend finances on a vehicle that can't be maintained properly. particularly on such a new, interference, and valuable vehicle. The only thing worse than being lazy and cheap is needing to tear the engine down to the short block to repair bent valves in the heads....waayy more expensive and time consuming than a timing belt job. Or find something with a non interference engine or timing chain.

They have the EJ25 - just like the owner is telling you. Nice cars. Test drive the car when it's cold...hasn't been started for a long time. Upon start up check for delayed shifting into drive. Check the speedometer and drive it for quite awhile after it's warmed up to check for head gasket issues. Or ask the guy if the head gaskets have ever been replaced. A number of the legacy's i've bought have already been replaced prior.

sounds like a basket case, i better buy it from you? sounds like you got everything covered - your info sounds right on.

if it's doing the exact same thing and you already replaced both calipers and ebrake cables it sounds like you need to look somewhere else. either at the hill holder mechanism (disable it temporarily) or...how big of a life insurance policy do you have and who's the beneficiary?

update for forgetting two things (thanks to members asking): Wires, cap and rotor, plugs are fine New fuel filter Ignition coil TPS MAF Unplugged O2 sensor Runs the same with knock sensor unplugged Distributor Fuel pump Intake hose is fine Timing belts and timing are golden No check engine light

GD, i can double check the belts, but fairly certain i replaced them. it seems to be too predictable and idles perfectly, i wouldn't think a wiring issue would do that. but i will check under the p/s seat. my mind is cloudy by now but it did seem to get worse over the past couple weeks driving it and back then it seemed to be worse when the car was warmed up, which could point to wiring. the distributor wire has been spliced together, and there's that shielded wiring all sprawled out over the place. one of the wires must be that two part kind...internal wire with strands of silver wire encircling it. i guess the external shielding wire was pushed out of the way. i'm going to get a new one, but i doubt that's causing it.

thanks rob - i installed a new fuel filter as well.

update on this 1987.5 XT (non turbo) manual trans that cuts out. I've replaced/checked these items with no change: Wires, cap and rotor, plugs are fine Ignition coil TPS MAF Unplugged O2 sensor Distributor Fuel pump Intake hose is fine Timing belts and timing are golden No check engine light I guess the ECU i got from a subaru store in Colorado could be bad, but i doubt it.

i'd replace the front crank seal and leave the rear main (unless it's wet). the front crank seal is part of the oil pump. the reason i'd replace it isn't because of the seal though but because of the oil pump retaining screws. it is common for them to come loose so checking them is almost mandatory in my book. remove oil pump, tighten screws (with locktite on any loose ones), and reinstall pump with new seal. for some reason Subaru rear main seals very rarely leak. i know of 3 people now that have had newly installed ones leak, so i wouldn't touch it unless it's wet, and make sure it's seated and installed perfectly.

your car is not toast. rust sucks, but lets assume it's not serious cancer yet, the car should be good for a number of years yet. all you need is any DOHC EJ25 engine...forget everything he told you. any EJ25 DOHC will work. if you have oil and coolant mixing i'm guessing this one blew pretty good, was probably driven while hot without anyone noticing. they don't typically mix oil and coolant unless they're really bad or the block is cracked...which comes from driving while it's overheating. so you might want to make sure oil and coolant are really mixing. sometimes the coolant just looks black because of dirt in the recovery tank. the cheapest fix is to just drop an EJ22 in it. there's tons of information on here and they're excellent motors. they have far fewer issues than the EJ25. no head gasket issues, less piston slap, and they don't have bottom end failures like the EJ25 has either. and because EJ22's are so much more reliable they're also much cheaper and easier to find than the EJ25. EJ22's depending on your area of the country should run $200-$500. EJ25's typically run $800+...and you're still getting an EJ25 with possible head gasket issues. place i got my EJ stuff from last year had engines and transmissions for $150 each, 100,000 miles, already pulled with a 3 or 6 month warranty. can't beat that, you can sell your old EJ25 for more than that...so the engine might be "free". there is tons of information on here about EJ22 swaps - they're a very easy swap. you have a 1999 which makes it a little trickier since the bellhousing changed. so newer 98/99 bellhousing engines are easier to use, but not necessary. personally i'd expand my market and still use a 1995 or 1996 EJ22, that's your best bet, the engine will still bolt up, you'll just have to tap the second starter hole or just leave it with one bolt (plenty). like i said you'll have to search and read up - but an EJ22 swap is really a great and cheap way to have excellent continued use of your subaru.

define "beats", that could be taken either way!

hey don't make fun of me drew!! (hands to face..walking towards corner of room.....)

i wondered that too, seemed like i needed to bench bleed the bleeder! but apparently it's not necessary. i followed the directions, ignored the air and it worked fine. mine did that too every time i've used it so far. it has air in the lines but i don't think that air gets "pushed" through the system. the MC seems to stay full of fluid when i did mine. bleeding took no time at all. how did you keep it from leaking skip - did you have the "subaru specific" adapter and if so what does it look like/how does it attach?

bled my front brakes again today and it does bleed very well. i removed and installed two front calipers and they were bled in no time at all. so much nicer than finding a helper or pumping the pedal. but i still had the same problem with severe leakage from under the lid, it doesn't seal to the MC. pretty sure i bought the kit that had the subaru attachment, but i hope i didn't! how is the subaru specific attachment different? i hope there is something different, it's extremely messy.

yeah thanks for reminding me, that was such an easy fix. usmb is fantastic.

nice hit - that's exactly what it was. i had them on the wrong side, duh! swapped sides, bled them and they stop awesome! thanks guys.

are they absolutely sure it's valve stem seals - that's actually not common for Subaru's. but if you're not seeing anything under the car.... anyway, this is not a big deal and shouldn't cause any particular problems. just make sure you keep checking the oil. actually 1 quart per 3,000 miles is within the "limits" of oil consumption anyway by the Subaru specs. personally i would guess you'll get 100,000 miles out of it as-is and will probably incur other issues first.

ah ha - they don't touch. i was wondering that. interesting then that the spark gets to jump that many times. at least at the cap and at the plug. so the distributor contacts only get warn down from the spark then? seems the distributor contacts wear quicker than the rotor? seems like it should be the other way around since the rotor is doing 4 or 6 times as much sparking as one disty contact?