idosubaru

i just assembled an EA82 - heads and up. i didn't have time to start it until tomorrow anyway but i was wondering how long you guys wait to crank them up? the main concern being the sealant of the cam carrier cases. does that need to dry/cure before starting it? i actually always use Anaerobic sealant, not RTV.

you are fine to use after markets on those. i personally used to use after market with these but since last summer i'm a mostly subaru man. i had an EA82 Fel-Pro crank seal last year that was very difficult to seat. finally went in but ended up leaking like a seive. replaced it with a subaru seal and all was well so the crank or engine block aren't to blame. i know it wasn't the installation. but i'm not saying that can't happen with subaru gaskets either, im' sure one bad one gets through.

what's confusing? yes you will remove the rear half of the drive shaft (eight 12mm bolts - 4 on each end) 1. cut one wire for duty C 2. remove driveshaft. 3. done -enjoy your FWD soob de-power Duty C (usually involves cutting one single wire, that's it). once you know which wire, it takes 5 seconds to cut it. with that done your car is now "locked" in 4WD until you splice that wire back together. but who cares, it's already locked with significant torque bind so big deal. now - with it locked you'll want to drive in FWD - so remove the driveshaft. i've removed it ton of them - it's easy. 12 mm wrenches.

drag is drag - if you're getting worse mileage then the car (engine, trans) is working against that drag (which is a function of Velocity squared). that your trailer is behind the car like nip said helps a ton. and that's essentially a linear function. so speed doesn't affect it. stuff on top is a killer, it adds an enormous amount of cross sectional area that your vehicle is seeing. you should strap a big sign to your back or bike and try going a ways as fast as you can. velocity squared....imagine that at highway speeds on your car. my wife and i have a 4 bike rack and it's awesome. we can take 4 people and 4 bikes anywhere. i always joke that we could conceivably fit 4 on there - 3 or 4 on the roof rack, 2 inside....10 bikes maybe?? would a 3 or 4 bike rack be a better option? if not then the trailer is a great option.

i'll excuse you, thanks! you'll appreciate this - our honeymoon was in hawaii - WOW it was awesome! we talk about going back all the time!

you pretty much guessed it. i wouldn't say people hate them, i bought one for a friend last year! they came with a fairly reliable motor, good 4WD and get good gas mileage. but they're a low end ugly box with...90 hp maybe? and they're not any more unique or different than the WRX...probably worse in my opinion - they look like tons of other cars (even some other subaru's) from the 80's/early 90's. by now most of those are in junk yards so in those terms it'll stand out like any other older vehicle that's has no market value any more.

tons of info on this already here - you can do a search on 5 lug swaps. the search function is lame - it doesn't allow you to search on 3 letter words so you probably got hosed on "lug" try *lug or lug*....or just "swap" without lug and maybe you can ignore all the engine swap stuff. so of course that means you can't use "XT" or "XT6" or "EJ" or any number of other search terms either. the EJ stuff is completely different in the rear. go have a peak - then look at the rear hubs of any EA vehicle you see around - that XT Turbo maybe?. if you've mastered the EJ's you'll see immediately that the configurations are entirely different. not only different mounting points but an entirely different configuration. if you're having trouble visualizing - a poor analogy would be like converting your EJ rears to EJ front suspension. but of course it's possible with enough time or money.

save yourself the cash and the time on the ATF filter. there is no difference in how long your transmission will last based on this item. it's annoying they call it a filter - because it's not a filter. but it suckered me into replacing a few before i realized they never have a spec of dust on them...even ones i pulled from high mileage subaru's, failed transmissions, etc. it's a screen, that's it. and they don't really collect anything so they never need replacing. they essentially prevent stuff from getting sucked up from the pan, so your best bet is to do a complete ATF flush/change. there's a few other "screens" on the vehicle, the engine oil sump, and the fuel filter sock at the rear of the car....things no one ever replaces. frankly there is more risk of damaging something than any possibility of actually helping anything. as for the rest of the work - replace the cam cap o-rings as well, not just the cam seals, there are two of them -one on the drivers side front and one on the passengers side rear. remove cap, replace oring. replace the separator plate....with the new updated metal plate if yours is plastic. valve cover gaskets are really easy to get to with the engine out.

she's going to drive a real car - an XT6!?!?!?!? really - joke's over - baby gross (#1) is due in August. my wife figures it's time to upsize to a Legacy wagon now with kiddo's on the way. so we're getting one of those and selling the OBS.

remove the rear half of the driveshaft, cut the duty C wire (one wire) and run it in FWD. don't know the car but it might be good for a long while with that 30 minutes of work?

not only is it more expensive it's less desirable in my experience. get the class II hitch if you can. the "adapter" method works but the problem is that the adapter shortens the length you can slide the bike rack in - so you end up using the "longest" length hole, making it stick out as far as possible...not too mention the length of the adapter. it's annoying, i was about to cut my bike rack down to remedy that so it wasn't sticking out so far but we're selling the car and getting a new one - i'll get a class II hitch for the new soob!

best solution: cut power to duty C - this will lock the 4WD for sure (until you want to fix it, then just splice that wire back together). it's only one wire (did it last year). then remove the rear half of the drive shaft. free fix. you'll have 2WD then. if you need winter traction occasionally, just get snow tires. FWD and high quality snow tires is better than 4WD with low quality street tires anyway. if you do significant and scarry winter driving then fixing the 4WD might be warranted. but there are a great deal of people using 2WD in severe winter duty - they just use high quality snow tires. even studded, that's top notch.

caliper should definitely make a difference in gas mileage. front struts, tie rod, ball joint, steering rack bushings. i'd guess struts at the moment - check to see if any of them look wet, like they're leaking and loosing fluid.

awesome, glad we covered you on that one. nice job - you changed the title and all! the ABS is probably rusted/corroded sensors from sitting so long. not a big deal anyway - they'll still work as non-ABS brakes anyway. those sensors are expensive and usually a pain to get out - the bolt will likely shear off due to rust and you'll need to drill it out or get creative. what i usually do is just drill a and tap a smaller bolt hole in the stud in the hub and use a small bolt to hold the sensor in place. no load so it doesn't matter that the bolt is smaller...i'm sure they'll rust in place too over time! now the torque bind. sounds like it's bad. did you try the FWD fuse - it may run fine with that in place. if not - then i'd just pull the rear half of the driveshaft out (very easy - either 12mm nuts and it comes out) and disconnect the duty C solenoid. that may require cutting the wire, can't recall if there's an external connector, but i think there is. i always just cut the wire since i splice a switch in place to manually control it anyway. that will give you FWD and no driveline problems. in the end - you can swap the rear extension housing (duty C and clutches) without dropping the transmission, so it's not a horrific repair to do - it's possible. by the sounds of it though i think i'd rather run it FWD for a few months and see how many issues it has.

aftermarket O2 and Knock sensors can be problematic, even from "good" companies. can you swap one from a known good engine if you have multiple engines/subarus? if you still have the old sensor, sometimes you can "fix" them by cleaning them up and filling the cracked rubber with RTV - then reusing. personally i'd pull one off another car that's working right and see what happens. you say the engine is running like crap? then maybe something is causing this other than knock sensor related. if you're still trying to get that impreza running that has TB - if the TB doesn't go away and is really bad you can remove the rear axles and run it FWD that way - or unplug duty C just to make sure it's "locked".

MWE is mail order. Might be worth a call - he could have them setting on the shelf ready to ship. one or two day air might be cheaper than Subaru!? For me it's not worth my time to shop for parts, it's actually easier to have it shipped to my house. It's home waiting for me. No gas, no stopping in, no picking up, no traffic, no waiting in line. I love it and my time is worth too much to waste time like that. But of course everyone's situation and modis operandi is different. Online Subaru has them for $102 but i don't know if all brats are EA81 or some are EA82? The cv joints were $140 for one side and $120 for the other. A rear brat axle was $900+ each! I doubt if subaru is selling new axles any more though - wonder where they get their remanneds? hopefully they have better spec's than everywhere else.

Check engine light was on when you got it or from the beginning? The knock sensor you replaced - was the rubber cracked and aged looking? Did you use a Subaru Knock sensor? I would make sure of the following: 1. The knock sensor is positioned properly - it's supposed to be installed a specific angle, documented in the FSM. 2. The bolt hole and threads are clean. 3. The bolt it torque properly. 4. The knock sensor connector is fully seated and not corroded, broken, etc. Assuming none of that is the cause, then verify continuity between the knock sensor plug and the ECU. That will actually be relatively easy. That will verify that the wiring from the plug to the ECU is good. ECU is under the passengers side kickboard/carpeting. pull that up and figure out which pin is the ECU input. Check continuity between that wire and the knock sensor harness on the engine. There's not much too it other than that - a very simple sensor and one wire running to the ECU.

you're using a 6 point socket on all of those right? those diff bolts should come out. those are tight and tricky but of all the rusted painful bolts i've had to deal with it's never been those. should be able to hit them with some heat too. if you have a good welder, you might be able to get the car off the ground and weld some angle iron to the stud/nut and use that to turn it and break it loose. i've welded nuts to the tops of stripped things before to get them out. works great sometimes but those rear diff threads are huge and tough.

i'll beat the dead horse - try and do a search for axles. not sure if they'll come up since there's tons of various axle questions, but failed new axles are common. the only repeatable solution is Subaru or MWE. the failures are widespread and variable. instant failure (been there done that), or 3 months, one year, blowing apart, clicking on the first rotation, vibrations right out of the box, seaping grease...you name it, it's all on here. i'm surprised companies aren't doing something about it, but i guess there's no recourse or demand for quality or something is jacked up in the process. i suppose it's cheaper to replace broke ones than upgrade the rebuild process. granted there are *some* good axles out there...i don't know what the stats are but it's something like 75% chance of getting a good new axle verses 99% (MWE or Subaru)- that's why you'll see some people say "oh i got such and such brand and it's fine". that's crap for me, my time is not worth it particularly considering MWE is reasonable and Subaru axles are available if you can find them. i am lazy and not wanting to learn this, so i don't do CV's either. i'd take the shop and boots to a machine shop before doing that work myself. so far i haven't had to though - it's either been MWE or good used Subaru units. probably a good bet for someone doing what you're doing offroad and stuff.

i was actually going to say this a long time ago but avoided it since you seemed confident the axles were good (new) - don't install anything but MWE or Subaru axles. your best bet is to buy MWE or get a genuine Subaru axle that's in known good shape and put new boots on it. that is the way to go. aftermarket axles suck - period. don't waste your time. i've had them grenade too....in a matter of weeks with just whimpy daily driving duties. never again. search all the threads on here, over and over again after market axles are failing. i'll never install any new axles unless it's MWE. my time isn't worth it.

i don't think i'm up to this. sounds like it'll take too long and since it's the first bearing i've ever had to do in 20 subaru's an 15 years i'll probably take the hub to a machine shop and let them do it. they only charge $13 to shave a head, so i bet they're cheap. i think you or 4FF posted the details in another thread i was searching it today. how are you and 4FF connected anyway - i feel like i lost track?

Did you do the bearings yourself? I'm not too inclined to do them, i've always taken them to machine shop and handed them the bearings/hubs/seals and let them do it. how long did it take you and what did you use to press them?

I'm pulling the rear hub to replace the wheel bearings - is there any alignment related stuff to worry about? I just had an alignment done recently, so I'd hope to just remove, replace and not need another one if possible. Like on the front struts you'd have to mark the position of the top cambered bolt.

probably not a good thing but if it's shifting and acting fine now that's a good sign. when lubrication of machines is compromised it wears them. but in situations like this i think it means something more along the lines of - this transmission isn't a prime candidate for 250,000 miles verses it's going to actually fail any time soon. i would have the fluid flushed, otherwise not much you can do.

i think you mean you want to put an EJ engine and trans into an EA vehicle? and you're wondering about the driveshaft length? it will need to be modified to fit.