idosubaru

as someone pointed out, that's not the case with this motor. that is only true of the EJ25 2.5 liter engine. if i were buying a 2001 subaru and paying market value for it, this is the motor i would get.

i recommend whatever your comfortable with, given the following guidelines. when i'm doing someone elses vehicle i give them the prices and let them decide. on non interference engines i see no need to use Subaru belts, the aftermarket belts seem to hold up quite well i am not seeing any failure of them either personally on here, or the other boards. and this is on vehicles that have 20 year old pulleys and tensioners that should be replaced but are not. the newer the vehicle, particularly 1997 and up interference EJ engines i start recommending more and more OEM. not because i have any quantitative info to go on, i personally think there are perfectly good aftermarket timing belts out there, but as the value of the engine/vehicle increases i think the higher maintenance costs just like taxes and insurance, etc is justified. oppinions, comfortability, etc come into play. for friends and family my bottom line is that a new set of pulleys and an aftermarket belt is a better deal than just replacing the belt with a Subaru one. often people won't spring for OEM all the way around - belt, pump, pulleys - in which case i'd rather install a complete set of new stuff. new, smooth pulleys that actually have grease with an aftermarket belt are far more encouraging to me than a new Subaru belt with 15 year old pulleys with little grease left in them. i just bought an EJ kit today - $145 for everything, new water pump, timing belt and all new pulley set. you would pay close to that just for the water pump and timing belt from Subaru. in my experience it gains you nothing, i've yet to see a higher number of aftermarket failures verses Subaru failures. now if you want to get into really piecing kits together you could try and source the pulleys, or buy the kit just for the pulleys, or regrease the pulleys yourself (i have a write up in the USRM for it), and get a Subaru belt. again, there's no guarantee, you have to make the decision that fits your situation (mechanical abilities, time, resources, etc).

i've even seen some tire shops "require" customers to return after 50 miles to retorque alloy wheels. don't know if the customers really return or if they even care, but it's not a disclaimer for no reason. i've also wondered the opposite before...could the wheel be machined at all?

i got plenty to do, i'll try a bit of them all! thanks!

have you guys done this? i feel like i've hit stuff before with engine cleaner, degreaser, brake cleaner, carb cleaner and the nasty just doesn't come off. i'll give it a whirl again. i'm not looking for squeaky clean, just don't want a black engine either! not sure how such low mileage engine gets that dirty in the first place, but whatever. project scott? i don't say, it usually gets responses like "buy something else" or "you're dumb" or whatever people say when they think everyone else has to be, think and make decisions like they do. it's the opposite of what most people care about, so it's not that interesting. slower, FWD...bring it on!

CV's would be my first guess but there are plenty of possibilities. check the CV axles first. first look for grease leaking or a broken boot (particularly check the inner side - they seem to cause vibrations more than the outer). then try and see if the axles have been worked on or replaced before. ways you can tell: grease from the old axle slung up on the walls/exhaust/back of the motor, one axle looks different from the other, one boot looks newer than the other (if they just rebooted one). in the event that it is the axle boot you do want to replace this as soon as possible. i thought it didn't matter last year either.....of course i'll admit mine was really bad, but anyway it ended up breaking the speedometer gear inside the differential. the nice thing about that little speedo gear is that it essentially requires a transmission replacement to fix...because swapping a trans is easier than rebuilding the front differential. since last year i picked up a 97 Legacy that had the same thing happen to it. keep that 240k legacy for when the 99 looses it's headgaskets. you won't likely find it quite as easy to make 240,000 miles with this one. the last three i picked up all lost theirs - 80,000/146,000/121,000.

agree...except that maybe he's understating it.

i recommend subiegal too, but in this case you might want to go with an Ebay kit, complete with all the pulleys, if price is a concern. most of the time, those kits are more reliable for the average owner. the reason i say that is at dealer prices, very few people driving even the newer cars (almost no one driving 10+ year old) wants to put the kind of money necessary into replacing all the pulleys. the people who i deal with won't bite, they won't pay the Subaru prices for the pulleys (and i wouldn't either). hundreds of extra dollars from the dealer. the ebay kits are way cheaper and you get all of the pulleys. at this age you're almost guaranteed to need at least one pulley (usually the cogged one on this motor), but easily more than one. they are likely noisey by now due to lack of grease. those pulleys seize and when they do they take your timing belt with it, i've seen it and there are threads on this forum with some sweet pictures of them exploding. this isn't my recommendation for all EJ motors, but for yours it is.

getting an engine ready to drop in that's rather greasy with oil all over it. right now the intake manifold isn't installed. i'd like to get it as clean as possible without taking zillions of hours wiping and rewiping the entire thing. what do you guys do?

if it's dual range you'll have a huge extra lever next to you in the center console, you can not miss it. sounds like you have a single range trans, with "high" range. EDIT - HA i completely missed that it's an automatic! nice hit, yeah there are no dual range automatics in your vehicle.

don't take this as fact, i'm just regurgitating what i've read. there's a difference between 15" steel and 15" alloys- the alloys will clear a particular set of brakes that steel wheels will not - but i don't know if that applies to your brakes or not?

if you go with new axles you'll just need to make sure it's a non turbo EA82 axle, you do not want turbo axles. the trick is to order parts based on a vehicle that DID NOT have an EA81 as an option, so you're gauranteed to get EA82 parts. for instance the GL had a variety of configurations, some with EA81 and some with EA82 so it's confusing trying to get the right parts somet times. if you ordered Subaru XT axle boots, those would all be EA82 and the same axles/boots that you need, so try looking up axle boots for an 88 Subaru XT.

nice! you're right, timing belts = EA82!

i'm interested in this question too. i think i've had to drop the rear diff as well - 3 additional bolts and playing with all that weight hanging on the axles. thing is...i know the off-road guys swap the axles out by just knocking out the pins, but maybe that's because they have a lift and the axles are "stretched" more?

the EA81 and EA82 are both 1.8 liters. i'm guessing it's an EA82, but others more knowledgeable and will know.

we'd need separate sub-forums for all the different fixes, failures and parts that go bonk.

is yours EA81 or EA82? is your GL a hatch or a wagon? i think the hatch will be EA81 and wagon EA82. can't help you on the boots, i order new axles from MWE (their information is on here, in the vendors forum probably). i hate working on axles, not worth my time. and i won't install any parts store axles, they suck.

oh there's the confusion - i didn't read that, i think he's just asking because many people don't know...interference or not. does that make sense????????? if not, let me explain it this way: ????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? sorry i need to go to bed, that was probably only funny to me.

having 3 quarts in it is not enough to cause "metal chunks and flakes". was it run lower than this in the past? even on 5 quart cars this is true, i think some EJ's are only 4 or 4.2 or something like that. 3 quarts is less than ideal but nowhere near low enough to cause engine problems. are you sure the metal flakes were in there, how did you see them or strain them? EJ engines are not hard to find. i picked one up at a yard last week for $150. 6 month warranty, 101,000 miles on it. start calling around and see what prices you can find. they can vary WILDLY to say the least, so keep searching. i'd avoid the JDM stuff myself, not necessary as good and inexpensive EJ22's are easy to find.

wowsers nip! that's much higher than %90 in my experience and i've never seen it on the couple XT6 boards or on here either. good to make sure nothing catastrophic happened, but an old belt probably just broke. even on the couple engines that have seized that i've seen (blocks and cams), i haven't seen a broken belt before...not saying it isn't possible though.

85 brat - so this is an EA81? are EA82 and EA81 rear diff mounts different? try the parts wanted forum too...not trying to step on turbone's feet or anything, but i'm just assuming he won't mind not removing one?

have to know what engine to be sure, but assuming you posted in the older generation forum because you have an EA82 then no - no bent valves.

yes. i've done this on an XT6 and monitored the change. i've upgraded to 16" (XT6 stock 14") and they defintiely get a few more miles per gallon on interstate driving. keeping in mind that skinnier tires are better than wide for gas mileage. i forget the exact numbers, but i'm thinking 2-3 mpg better. this would certainly be easier than swapping front diffs. some people on another thread mentioned that gear ratio does not affect gas mileage, or not in the way of "lesser RPM's=better mpg's". i disagree but not quantitatively.

quit lying!!!!! sure they do - the head rounds itself off, then you go to alternate means and the head shears off leaving everything else still rustwelded together for you to drillout. i *might* have one if turbone can't come up with one. consider me a last resort, a very last resort.

that EA82 water pump madness is annoying. i'd install the right one. that puts additional loads on the water pump shaft that it wasn't meant to take as well. i wouldn't be surprised for it to work for a long time, but i also wouldn't be surprised at all if the water pump bearings or seals failed early.