idosubaru

i'm trying to keep things straight for people trying to figure this stuff out and based on your assertions there is no difference between EJ22 and EJ25 headgasket failure rates after 120,000 miles - that is completely false and not good for people looking for information. let's not make this worse by getting hung up on semantics. we all realize there is some issue at hand with EJ25's, regardless of how you define it or what you call it. what? i never said "anything that fails after 100k is a bad design" ???? more semantics, use whatever word you like that describes the EJ25 "issue" to your satisfaction...it's not a criteria, i never used that word. it's statistics, logic and experience. you really honestly believe that whatever "issue" they have, has NO EFFECT on the failure rates after 120k. for someone with engineering experience that's hard for me to imagine you really believe that - that the failure rate magically drops to zero...is that an asymptote, a limit? all semantics aside, experience tells us this, it is quantifiable: more EJ25's fail after 120,000 miles than EJ22's. that alone is enough, but then there are tens of thousands of EJ22's that are much older than EJ25's. the EJ22/EJ18 debuted 6 years before the EJ25. based on your "age" assesment, there should be far more 120k+ EJ22's with head gasket issues than EJ25's. that logic is comical, it is not at all even close to what we see in the real world (coming from someone who looks for an buys EJ's with bad head gaskets). actually, it's quite the opposite.

ah okay. i have an EJ18 (i think 93 or 94) and a 97 EJ22 i'm currently playing with. sounds like the EJ18 might have the alloy and the 97 EJ22 might have the POS you're talking about. thanks!

the EJ25 is the only engine that will produce interesting results. any other subaru engine usually holds the head gaskets for the life of the engine if they are properly taken care of. nip! i'm not sure that's relevant to this thread, that's been hashed out over and over. that is equivalent to saying this: "it is impossible for a bad design to affect failure rates beyond 120,000 miles". that's absurd and you know it!

1997 Legacy GT Sedan lost at 85,000 1996 Legacy GT Sedan about 130k 1996 Legacy LSi Sedan about 110k

so older EJ18 and EJ22's will be plastic?

okay, that part number is the new updated metal plate part number? you're right, the EJ18 and EJ22 indeed have the rear separator plates, i've seen them. but wasn't sure if they are plastic/metal. will probably be bolting an engine to a trans this week and want to make sure it's the metal variety on there, wasn't sure if it was obvious or not.

is it only the EJ25 that has the plastic rear separator plate or do the EJ18 and EJ22 have them as well? i've got some EJ22's and EJ18's and wondering if they could use the metal style too?

you checked your fusible links? your battery, alternator, cables are all good, clean and tight?

A pillar molding, windshield molding? something like that.

this is all over the site, start searching and reading up. what are you looking to do - keep the EJ25 or swap to an EJ22? rebuild or used? if rebuilt - just call CCR and they'll take care of you. if you're looking for used, start searching the forum all of this information is readily available.

lots of people say that but i've yet to ever hear proof that it's happened and it goes against everything we actually see and hear from others doing swaps (like myself). i don't know about other states but in MD, they have state run facilities to do it, they pay guys 9 bucks an hour to look at your check engine light (to see if it's on or off) then check emissions. if the light isn't on and the emissions are below thresholds you pass. if not, you come back and try again. it's not that complicated and they certainly don't thoroughly inspect every make/model/year/engine combo/trans combo/ECU ever made. and i know many other states this holds true as well. now...im' not saying it's impossible, and the only reason im going on this diatribe is that i don't think it's accurate to suggest to new or non-car/non-mechanically oriented people some speculation that we don't see any evidence of. people are swapping engines all the time, it's not that big of a deal. california you say....well they need their own forum, i don't know anything about those freaks!!

heat sensitive problems like this are typically ignition related - like the distributor in this case. coils can be freaky with temps too.

#1 sounds like a headgasket, you should do some more checking to make sure. compression test, drain the oil and see how much is in there, is the coolant tank bubbling when overheating after you turn the car off...etc. rule out something simple like intake manifold gasket. turbo's are far more prone to headgasket problems and i'm not sure which turbo you have, but some oil/water cooled versions may allow mixture of the oil and coolant as well if they begin to fail. HUGE NOTE on previous comment, continuing to drive it like this will degrade your bearings, do not drive it any more and get that coolant/antifreeze out of there as soon as you can, and fix it as soon as you can if you want to keep the car. #2 need more info. is it loosing coolant for sure? if so, find the leak. if not then check your thermostat, water pump, radiator, etc. you have to remember these cars are over 20 years old. getting one and driving it like you would a newer car is not a good formula for reliability. you have 20 year old parts every where - water pumps, hoses, clamps, heater cores, headgaskets, seals, gaskets, radiators, thermostats....etc. some of those have been replaced, but not all. add in to that the idea that you have no idea how it was treated for 20 years and you really have a good chance that some previous owner drove it hot and compromised the headgaskets or other parts some time during those 20+ years.

no, you did the right thing. you do not want mismatched tires on any AWD, 4WD, FT4WD...basically any subaru unless it has FWD (either FWD or PT4WD). what are you looking for, we can probably answer your questions? are you thinking of combining them? like installing the center diff lock in the EJ stuff? that's all been answered and looked into. there are some really cool threads including transmission disassembly of various center diff locks, dual range, and EJ stuff, you might want to find those and read through them. cool stuff.

Gloyale is right - running mismatched tires is bad for any AWD or FT4WD transmission. manuals or automatics can be damaged this way. failed manual trans viscous packs make for nice candidates to turn into RWD! although i think GD is getting at the fact that the FT4WD transmission has an "open" center diff in like say, the XT6. in this case they can probably take quite a beating, but i don't know what those limits are. towing with two wheels off the ground and two on definitely fries the center diff so there's a certain amount of difference it can not handle. whether mismatched tires reaches that threshold i do not know, but Subaru recommends matched tires here.

a GL hatch is an EA81, a GL Wagon is an EA82. completely different engines if you want a "plug and play" swap. i guess everyone is assuming it's an EA82 and a wagon...maybe because the GL hatch didn't come with dual range? but either way it's best to specifically tell us what vehicle/engine you have. and then it would be good to determine if it's SPFI or MPFI and turbo or not. if you match all of that up it'll be a direct swap, very simple. some late 80's EA82's are PT4WD transmissions (not dual range), but yours would bolt right in. the only issue you would have is that the center consoles would differ...for a positively easy swap you'd want something that already had dual range, so the console and all are a direct swap. but if you can work around the console and PT4WD swap issues, you would broaden your options considerably. Loyale wagons are fairly easy to find, so keep your eye out for a rust free one...but they are not dual range. yes, new york isn't alone, the entire northeast is rather problematic with rust.

i don't recommend that! maybe pick up bow hunting for next year, it's much better anyway and a longer season so less time constraints. as for the oil pump - the biggest tip is this, i had never heard of this but figured it somehow a few years ago - have a 1" socket handy. put that on the rotor of the oil pump once you have it off and use that to hold the oil pump steady while your back the 12mm nut off the front to replace the oil pump shaft seal. by far the best method for removing the oil pump nut. have some grease or assembly lube handy to hold the mickey mouse gasket in place when you install the pump to the block. use anaerobic sealant (or most people use the cheaper RTV) stuff at the 12 noon and 6 oclock positions of the oil pump housing where it meets the block. just a very thing, tiny amount. if you look closely at the block you'll see the very fine markings of where the two halves of the block come together behind the oil pump. these dabs of sealant are specifically for those areas. don't over-do it and have it squishing all over the gasket.

i'd leave it.

this was a "new" factory Subaru head or a remanned head? i would continue troubleshooting the work they did if this was never present before. did they pull the engine to do this work? either way, i would make sure each and every connector pin is okay - i've seen bent connector pins. plugs are all connected, but if the pin is bent the connection is broken. and while checking those, make sure all the connectors are seated too, the engine harness connectors can be a bear to seat fully. i've seen no-starts caused by almost-seated connectors. doubt that's the case here since yours does start, but i'd want to inspect all the pins at least anyway.

did it ever have cylinder misfires before the head gasket work? to me that would almost rule out any fueling issues as they should not have touched any of that. if it never did it before i think they really need to focus on the parts they replaced or worked on, not things they did not. check the timing and tensioner, but they should have gotten that right? wow, you must have some really good connections or are very fortunate to have service like that from a dealer, that's exceptional. well, unless they're charging for all of that of course. but replacing the head twice, go subaru!?

yah, yah, glad to hear from you.

here's a thread with some mixed information, scroll down to the "interchangability" diagram, apparently there are two styles of automatic starters, one with a reduction drive and one without. i believe the one without is the one you want, from what i've heard others say: http://subaruxt.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=7594&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=starter+automatic+manual&start=15

are you sure the distributor and ECU are loyable ECU's? not all EA82 ECU's are compatible for swapping. reiterating what others have said with some details: check the fusible links first. at this point it's probably best to pull them out and make sure they are good, they can look good but be disintegrated inside. there's only one that would caues your problem...memory is vague right now but i think it's the second one from the front...just a guess (i think it's the black one..maybe red, if they are in the proper stock configuration). make sure the ignition coil bracket is grounded properly. a loose bolt holding it to the drivers side strut tower or significant rust there could be a bad thing. ignitor coil that GD mentioned is a common one as well, it's part of the bracket, i do not know how to test it though but sounds like you have easy access to parts!

for instance, here are some cam specs on the first thread i clicked on after a quick search: http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=73786&highlight=cams+lift

did you try searching? this has been talked about before. i recall inconclusive or contradicting information on the cams. then there's also the issue of whether or not the aus spec is the same as the US market? might want to try "cams" as "cam" won't work with the search engine since it likes more than 3 letter searches. deltacams in washington state regrinds Subaru cams and should probably have some good information on them, maybe they would help if you gave them a buzz?