idosubaru

they do come loose and cause very bad things to happen if they fall off. i don't even use my torque wrench on mine, i get it as tight as i can, real tight. i know i'm way over the spec's but it's iron not aluminum like most other bolts in there. lostinthe202 - there's no need to get the old belt marks lined up before you pull it - they'll only line up every so many revolutions - someone calculated it once, it's A LOT. but there's no need to.

how 'bout zip tie the box up and out of the way? then get some keyless entry action going and no more worries about the bunged up key tumbler. the tumblers are removable fairly easily. remove the door panel and that's about it on the impreza wagons at least, i can't imagine the legacy's being much harder. just tricky seeing in there to remove the circlip - once that's removed the tumbler comes out. maybe a locksmith could repair it to keep the keys the same?

if you're going through all that work any way i'm not seeing the need to keep it an EA 4EAT trans, just swap the EJ22 in with an EJ 4EAT auto trans too.

Nope, bad idea, good thing you asked. already out of warranty, that sucks. the "Services" are marketing, revenue generating sales items. very rarely should you pay for any "XXXXX mile service". they have a percentage of important services embedded in them, the rest is essentially well worded sales hype. dealerships are rolling in cash on stuff like this. what i would recommend is find the important things and be sure to address those...like oil change, transmission fluid change, timing belts (yours is probably a chain - H6). get your little owners manual and go through the items you've already passed and the ones coming up and figure out what really needs to be done. ask here to clarify. like nipper said the rattling is heat shields. annoying. i always rip them off.

post in the parts wanted forum, someone may have one for you.

pretty sure this is well covered. no need for subaru parts here - get subaru oil seals. but timing belt and water pump can be after market for this motor. actually the better place to put your money is on a complete timing belt kit - which will come with new timing pulleys. all of your pulleys are old and lack grease. having them seize is becoming more common as they age and no one replaces them. last EA82 ebay kit i bought i think was only $80 or something and included all new pulleys. you'll want cams seal kits, not just cam seals. behind the cap that holds the cam seal is an oring, this should be replaced as well. oil pump has 3 parts - shaft seal, mickey mouse gasket, and oring. then there's the crank seal - i'd go Subaru on this one.

swap in another distributor or try to trouble shoot yours. here's the funny thing. twice i've torn down a motor and it took a few months. when i got it back together it wouldn't run right at all and no check engine light. was loosing my noggin trouble shooting and it ended up being the distributor both times. the irony is that both were perfectly fine running vehicles before with no disty issues. after the second time happening i suspect something about the disty may get corrupted if it sets for awhile. outside of that i've never seen a distributor fail while running. the second time i think i even tested the disty via the FSM and i don't recall it testing "out of spec".

no check engine light ever? with the tach going bonkers make sure you inspect the distributor, that's where the tach signal is coming from and you already had a problem there. disassemble and clean or just install another used one. there are plenty of those around for a couple dollars. are you sure you have the distributor lined up properly - they are easy to install a tooth off..or worse! if that doesn't do it you need to check the TPS, that is what moves when you press the go pedal - TPS - throttle position sensor. you should also inspect the throttle cables, and the IAC - idle air control valve. you'll also want to check the wiring to the TPS, the first 6"-12" has a tight bend that is prone to having shorts.

great car, price is high. but you have to realize a bunch of enthusiasts that use this board all the time easily score great deals on cars. comments and what you see here might not be indicative of the real world all the time. so be ready for the "i bought one of those for $2,000" comments. here's mine - i picked up a 80,000 mile 1997 Impreza last year for a friend for $3,200. EJ22, new timing belts, water pump, radiator hoses, PCV valve, brakes, fluids changes, spark plugs, etc. impreza does not equal a legacy but they aren't that far off either, not enough to justify a $3,000 price tag difference. $6,000 is more along the lines of a Legacy GT sports sedan, much higher end cars that sell for a few grand more and have the EJ25 in it (worse motor but more horsepower, good sellers, and more desirable on the mass unintelligent market). comparison shop - see what things are selling for on ebay, autotrader and local ads (magazines, newspapers). if it's comparable to other similar age/mileage vehicles then it's a good vehicle. edmunds...etc. good that it's had the timing belts and water pump done - that's a $600 job right there and a clutch - that's a $500 - $1000 job as well. so those are great maintenance items to have completed on a manual trans EJ22. probably the two most expensive routine maintenance items to consider for this age/mileage vehicle.

definitely not - you just found out why we always recommend not buying any aftermarket axles except MWE.

risky, agree totally. it's probably in his risk tolerance though with a name like "subynut" and wanting to do an EJ22 swap into an EA82. i was just thinking his flexibility here is probably high. he probably wouldn't mind throwing an extra ECU somewhere in the car and rewiring it if he had too. but i think the chances of that are small if done well. if he had an XT6 he could just mount the temp sender in the engine compartment and see what temps he gets? or mount an aftermarket.

other car manufacturers do it. i wouldn't be scared to try it. i would try to find another vehicle that has this set up and use it's parts to isolate the ECU in the engine bay. i think some Audi's have the ECU in the engine compartment and they have a sealed container that isolates them. from my vague memory (keeping in mind i don't know other cars very well), they are roughly the same size with similar connectors...roughly of course. starting with that it doesn't seem to difficult to fabricate a sealed, isolated, and insulated compartment for it.

nah.

oh, coolant.

they wear the hoses quicker and don't have as consistent pressure around the hose. or maybe i should say they are less forgiving. minor i know, but over the years i've seen it. not a big deal, just thought maybe i was missing something here. i'll use them if the OEM style isn't available (for less than $6 each from Subaru!). wow you must have really thought some funny things if you thought i meant regular hose clamps! oh to peak into nip's mind for a few seconds earlier today...!!!!!

yep all rear EA82, EA82T, and ER27 rear axles are the same.

means something, most likely in the transmission, is not allowing the rear wheels to be driven. there's a number of different ways this could happen so i'm not going to guess.

autozone, advanced and other places check your charging system for free. your alternator plug is probably fried - most of them are by now. look at the plastic plug...be careful pulling it out, most of them crumble or break. you can buy these new but they can be a bit of a pain to find. make sure your battery connections are spotless clean and nice and tight. i would fix this as soon as possible, easy simple fixes like bad connections, dirty, loose or bad connector - these will all lessen the life of the alternator and battery. as a matter of fact i wouldn't be surprised if one or both of yours fail in the next year. the better condition your charging system is in, the longer your alt's and batt's will last.

your oil pump most likely needs resealed like Miles said. if you're doing the work yourself, consider doing the timing belt, water pump, oil pump seals, and any crank or cam seals/orings that are leaking. all of that stuff resides behind the timing belt so best to do it at the same time. how long since the oil was last changed? is the oil level low?

i like the OEM style hose clamps, anyone found an aftermarket source for those or are they dealer only items? anyone have the part numbers?

the tank being black isn't necessarily very meaningful since they get dirty and even vehicles with perfectly fine head gaskets have dirty, nasty overflow tanks. but like you said when multiple things start pointing one way.... if you get an independent to do this job we can help you put together a list of things that might be specific to subaru's that he may not know. like what parts to only use Subaru parts on and what other items may need addressed. when you're ready, ask for some info on that and we'll help you get a top notch job out of it.

what? the dealer couldn't find them? there's a few online subaru dealers that probably have better pricing anyway and might do better for you. that's goofy they couldn't come up with the head bolts. just to make sure for you and others that will read this in the future - you do know that these head bolts do not need to be replaced? all the subaru enthusiast and shops around reuse the bolts (like Subaru and the FSM suggests) without issue. they are not the kind of head bolt that needs replaced. google "torque to yield" if you're not familiar with the different kinds of head bolts.

take a deep breath - i don't think you need to pay to have your rear main replaced...but there's a lot to this story so pardon the length. smell - look at your axle boots where they meet the transmission and make sure they aren't leaking or busted? my guess is the oil leak is not a rear main seal at all. if there's any oil coming from the front or sides of the engine...that's not a rear main seal - unless you drive backwards down the freeway!! take a peak and let us know where it's oily (or post a picture of the underside of engine). my bet is it's on the sides of the engine or the front. then pop the hood and look at the backside of the engine, there's a cap on the passengers side with two bolts in it. is that leaking? you could crawl under and wipe everything down really good. get a box of those shop towels..they're like really strong paper towels. cheap and throw away. if you clean this thing off and wiped it down good it may quit smelling if it is the oil causing the smell. it's probably got 5 years of leakage under there that's dripping and hitting the exhaust. 114k on a 95 Ej22 - definitely a keeper. if you don't over heat it or run it out of oil that motor will last as long as you care to keep doing maintenance on it. that's regarded as one of subaru's best motors in terms of reliability. you're nearly do for a timing belt - if it's ever been replaced at all, it should have been replaced once by now - 60,000 mile intervals. most likely one of the seals behind it is leaking - a cam seal/oring or crank seal. when you go to have your next timing belt done either have them replace them all or replace the ones that are leaking. i can almost promise that one of them is causing your leak. if you're not even loosing one quart between changes then that's a very minor leak. check your valve cover gaskets and replace if they're leaking. if you post pictures we can tell you if they're leaking or not. they are very cheap and very easy to replace. keep an eye on it and plan to replace some seals with your next timing belt change.

autozone and advanced both pull them for free. if you want us to help you make sure you get the actual code and not what the person tells you. get the 4 digit number. first - make SURE it's the rear main seal. post pictures and maybe we can help and preferrably clean it first and drive for a bit otherwise it may be too dirty to tell. rear mains very rarely leak in subaru's. as for the rear main seal. that's a huge job because it requires pulling the engine (or tranmission) to do. you'll be in the $400-$600 range to replace an $8 seal. you'll want to replace the rear separator plate too - there's an updated metal one for it. that's why i say make sure it's the rear main.

yeah J since you went hogsballsout and bought those new head bolts you can use the old ones as cleaners. air tools are sooo nice here, hope you have them. any way run an old bolt in and out a bunch of times and keep cleaning/oiling the threads. that job sucks without air tools and is a breeze with them. tear it up! glad to here that was only the sawzall escapade!