idosubaru

true that. i am no performance guru by any means. but i never claimed this was true for all modifications, and all engines all the time. i was answering his question for his vehicle. i think it goes without saying that what is mentioned here may not apply to a wide range of other things. we're talking about a very small and low powered engine. it's going to take significant changes to get any noticeable (real world) increases. doing that across the entire RPM range for this engine is going to be tough. if i'm wrong i'd love some specific information and correction, it would certainly help a lot of us.

hello? i got the PM, so here goes from memory and 200 miles from my XT6. that blue wire goes into the blank (unused) female wiring harness plug that is typically tucked over under the sill on that side. it's brownish...very dirty whiteish in color usually. it's a two row, multi-pin connector and that blue wire goes into one of those pins. power steering steps: 1. check existing fluid - see if it's ATF (red) or XT6 fluid (yellow) 2. decide if you want to stick with XT6 fluid or convert to ATF (not recommended, but has been done) 3. find out why the fluid is low, probably the clamped hose at the pump, replace that and the clamps. (the other is attached via fitting and rarely needs replaced. 4. fill fluid 5. properly connect wire (just ask one of us which pin, we'll take a picture too) 6. test motor by giving it 12 volts to see if the motor spins 7. if it doesn't spin then you probably need new brushes ($20 from Subaru) 8. doubt you'll need to go any further than this. good luck!

for a general maintenance timing belt - don't go to Subaru unless you like spending money unnecessarily. my aunt was quoted $699 for her timing belt only in MD (same engine as yours - 2000 Legacy EJ25). i did not only the timing belt but replaced a timing pulley or two that weren't smooth and the water pump for about $300 in parts. find an honest mechanic and request to use only a Subaru timing belt. if you can't find one of those, then go to the dealer. maybe i should just drive down there and do the belt for you for half the dealers cost!? i'm not familiar with any in the DC area, but further north in MD i am.

no that's not normal. if it was you'd be able to search this forum and find all kinds of threads about it - but you won't. rear bearings are annoying, i'd personally buy a hub from a yard and swap them. being that new it won't be hard to find one with low miles and new. it is annoying and you're an unfortunate minority but it's still anecdotal. if ever type of car was pulled from the market because of one failure....there wouldn't be any to buy. that being said......it does seem like EJ rear bearings (that's all legacy, impreza, SVX, from the 90's until now) are less reliable than subaru models from the 80's, just based on posts like this. still wouldn't call it "normal", just that older gen had a good thing going in the rear. each model has it's quirks...there are things about the newer generation of stuff that are less reliable than older stuff....but that doesn't mean it's normal, expected, or junk.

yes - i drove the car with the AWD TCU and the FWD fuse installed at first. ran and drove fine with the blinking at start up. i thought a FWD TCU would get rid of the blinking at start up...but it did not (with or without the fuse). i'll check into it more next week, out of town this weekend. i'll check that pin and thread out, good call JCE! thanks!

my friend didn't try the concoction she just decided to have it fixed by the transmission guy. the concoction guy was a member of this board that i contacted who had done it a few years ago. you can search the board and find a few ingredients and different suggestions. i wouldn't say there's *one* way or even a *typical* way to deal with it, there's just not enough experience to say emphatically that one is better than all other possibilities. read the suggestions, try the internet as a search and start there.

i have an air hammer...is that the same thing. i don't even know what it's for and have never used it. wonder if that has attachments? i bet it's not strong enough though. the impact wrench it came with won't loosen tight nuts. i'll check that jcwhitney thing out, if you think it's better than a fork then AWESOME!

your options are to try a concoction of fluids....an additive so to speak. you can search for options. this seems to help some people. or have the trans pulled and rebuilt. a friend with a 99 Legacy GT had hers done by a family friend last summer for $900 (but that may have included other work too as she had other problems...like the 99 speedo issue as well). he's a retired transmission rebuilder. there's really nothing you can do that's easy. the "easiest" way to repair it would be to swap in another transmission. i think i'd go with a non-1999 trans if possible. when i was searching for info for the friend i mentioned above i ran across a thread of a guy who did the "concoction fix" a few years ago. i contacted him and he said the car did noticeably better for 3 years up until he got rid of it and he never had to get it fixed. so that seems like a reasonable try.

i've never noticed any difference in highway mileage on XT6's. haven't had any EJ's to do this with, as in the past it's been out of necessity due to failed rear diffs or driveshaft ujoints.

oh wow, that's interesting. run that bad boy RWD for another couple years! ah..i see it's as i suspected - 5MT.

oh really...so that's how it works, it's not a threaded device at all, it just requires pounding? great...more pounding. i hope that pickle fork is stout because it's going to take some serious whacks to pop this out. if anyone knows any other tools worthy of this task, speak up. i'd spend a lot of money to make sure i don't have this problem again. not worth my time.

i installed a FWD trans into an AWD vehicle. i don't have the donor car to look at. i did not remove the FWD fuse holder and wiring. i have put a fuse in....doesn't matter either way. funny thing - the first time i put the fuse in and started it up the trans light (POWER or ATF TEMP, whatever it has) didn't flash. but it did every time after that. interesting note.....the vehicle is OBDII, but the trans and TCU are OBDI (someone told me all FWD trans are OBDI). does that matter?

i would imagine you drive a manual, but if it was an automatic you could try running it RWD which would lessen the rate of failure possibly and might not even matter depending how/what is failing. for a manual if you can find a way to "cause" torque bind you could do the same. if the trans is trashed anyway. i know it's repairable but EJ trans are so cheap and easy to find i can't imagine you'll be repairing the front diff?

i didn't have to swap O2 sensors when i did an EJ25 - EJ18/22 swap. OH - i know why.....i used a 97 EJ22 and you used a 95 EJ22....so the plugs different, i get it! the 95's were a one year plug...goofball subaru's!

there's another thread going on right now about doing a very similar swap, you might want to read through that. the EJ18 intake manifold and wiring is a mess - junk it. minor issue - Phase I and II bellhousing bolt holes will differ i think. one will have 4, the other will have 8. but the 4 line up with the 4 out of 8 in the other and it will work just fine. you'll have to attach the starter with one bolt or create the other mounting spot for it. to summarize - i think you have two options, but both have two questions i'm not sure about, personally i'd check into Option I first so you get the EJ22 ECU in the end: Option I: EJ18 engine EJ22 intake manifold EJ22 intake manifold wiring EJ22 ECU ???? – vehicle wiring??? check the wiring. if Phase II isn't any different, an ECU swap would be cake and make this simple. you can look at wiring diagrams (just verify all the inputs are the same). and check the ECU plugs to make sure they're the same. this would avoid the cam swapping issues i know have come up before. EJ22 and EJ25 ECU's are interchangeable on Phase I's. (but EJ18's are not). Option II: EJ18 engine EJ22 intake manifold EJ25 intake manifold wiring EJ25 ECU ??? – cams??? i know of one other swap that didn't work because of cam issues...but that was a Phase II to a Phase II so it was easy actually to fix. i guess the trigger marks may be different on the back for the cam sensor between EJ22 and EJ25. not sure what happens when going Phase II to Phase I with this. be nice to see these two cams side by side. so that's why i say swap the cams (if they're swappable) or swap the ECU (if the wiring is the same). i guess it's possible that issue i'm thinking of was for other reasons, but i'd be ready for it. i'd pick which of those options you like best and then start another thread asking about wiring/ECU differences or cam differences. people can comment, post pictures, and look in their FSM's to help you. good luck!

i'd bet a fair chunk of change that they'll swap. check into white line bushings...is that the name, those performance steering rack bushings? if the part numbers are the same (i bet they are), then the rack will bolt right up. this is a good time to replace these anyway and this sures them up nice and they're really cheap. i use EJ steering rack bushings on my XT6 - so i don't think they changed racks much over the years. then i'd check the tie rod part numbers at an auto parts store. if they're the same, bingo. if not, get the impreza tie rods, or reuse your old ones if they're good. and then the steering lines need to line up, which they will. not much to it other than that so if you don't mind a slight (probably unnoticeable) change in rack ratios you'll be golden!

just keeping tapping alternate sides like you said you did...basically turning it back and forth. should loosen up so you can do that turning by hand and then simultaneously pull out, and it will come. go easy, it's all aluminum back there.

yeah search the forums. not only are they very unpredictable and unreliable, they offer nothing in terms of performance. Magnecor wires are awesome, i use them in everything. check out their website. but don't buy from them, you can get cheaper from distributors online than the magnecor site. I think they have a couple grades of cams...don't get the "track" cams or whatever they're called. It was my fault even installing them in my daily driver but figured i'd try just for kicks. For an XT6 they were horrible for daily driving. No brakes (do to vacuum losses i was told) and low end was very weak. "from a stop it takes a while to get up to speed" - i don't think cams are going to help that. most "power" mods increase power, but do so at the expense of shifting the power band slightly higher...away from lower RPM's and away from "being stopped and getting up to speed".

thanks all. pickle fork - how well do they work? i'll buy one of these this weekend - do they work well on ones that are really hard to get out? okay larry you're making me feel dumb.... the sledge hammer is just resting on top of the a-arm - acting as just weight to hold it? and then pound with a hammer from underneath? pickle fork and removing the entire control arm sounds like the way to go right now. out of town for the weekend so i'll be back at it monday. 3 jaw puller - i tried but couldn't get it lined up well enough to put much force on it. torched it last night too and still didn't help.

yeah that was for the 95 ECU...same part numbers but auto's have EGR and manual does not...so somehow "it knows". so how does it know FWD to AWD? i need to pull the code and find out what it thinks the problem is. runs and drives fine.

great information mellow - i was wondering... that rules out the easy solution.

i don't know that the 98 electronics are compatible with the 2000 stuff. do you know if the 98 stuff (Phase I) will plug in and work with the 2000 (Phase II) stuff? there's not much information on doing swaps across Phase I and Phase II, so it's a mix of related knowledge to get you there. what i'm sure of is that it is not like other EJ swaps. swapping engine and trans sounds like a great plan. you'll just need the rear differential to match since it'll be a different gear ratio. the RS should probably be a 4.44 gear ratio, so you'll need a 4.44 rear diff to swap in too. actually i think i have a 4.44 rear diff i'd sell if you need one. the 2000 vehicle is not going to be compatible with the RS EJ25, i know that for sure that it will not be a drop in and plug and play scenario. not sure if swapping ECU's would work (it does on 1998 and earlier...not sure about 2000's). if the wiring didn't change this will work. i have a DOHC ECU i could sell if that's the case. all you need to do is look at the wiring diagrams for a Phase I DOHC EJ25 and a Phase II SOHC EJ22 (or Phase II SOHC EJ25 will be the same). i have the former but not the later. i'll send it to you if you need it, or post here. no matter what you do the DOHC cams will not work with your 2000 EJ22 vehicle....that's why trying the EJ25 DOHC ECU might be worth looking into. then everything becomes plug and play.

i tried all of those, didn't budge. i don't understand this one? a sledge where? and what is a sledge? i think i need to try this next.....i didn't think heat would help the ball joint, not sure what made me think that.

got the ball joint out of the front spindle/hub assembly. but i can't get it out of the control arm. i've been pounding the snot out of the control arm with a massively heavy digging bar, the entire car is shaking violently...i can't believe it's not coming out. i've never been stumped with 80's rusted out ball joints, i would have never guessed this 96 legacy would be so problematic. tips/tricks?

i have a 95 TCU in a 96 vehicle, but it doesn't have the manu button.