idosubaru

this is not oil related...or is very, very unlikely. coincidence only. you really need to get the codes checked, guessing is a very bad idea. the most common issue in my experience is plug wires (cylinder misfire code), but others may have different experiences so you're just relying on guess work without the code. if you end up changing the plug wires, make sure to use OEM Subaru only on this engine. can you list your location, change your profile so it shows up under your location properly?

if the noise is new the very first thing to do is change your oil and filter. that is always step one, particularly if your oil is low. the idea of just adding oil every time it gets low is not a good replacement for changing your oil. always keep in mind that not only do you have a very sensitive valve train because of the HLA's, that you're not paying (or hearing) to have your valves adjusted. so it's a give and take thing. yeah HLA's are more sensitive, but you don't have to (can not) adjust your valves. but what this means is that frequent oil changes are your friend and will keep your HLA's clean and quiet and from sticking. change your oil often. often times the oil pump needs resealed and ATF or seafoam may help. the oil pump seals and ATF adding treat/solve two different problems, they do not work all the time in every situation, each one specifically addresses a different issue eventhough what you hear is the same TIC,TIC,TIC,TIC!!!!

only thing i could do is meet for breakfast like on my way to Ohio early Thursday morning and that's pushing it being a travel day and holiday.

yep, change the filter and the transmission fluid. Subaru's tend to have a really good chance of making 200,000+ miles if properly taken care of, that means you need to change your transmission fluid. realize that because of marketing and advertising, you are convicted of changing your engine oil. the same should be true of transmission fluid, change it.

EJ swap.

calipers are so simple i'd just rebuild them. take yours apart and see what they look like. if the piston and bores aren't rusted, pitted and distrubed, they're fine. calipers are very simple, not much to them. even the rebuild kit only consists of a seal for the piston, and the rubber dust boot. other than that, it's just benign parts like a new rubber bleeder screw cap. i scored some $8 rebuild kits off rockauto, and that's for both sides, and it's super easy to do.

drill a carefully placed pilot hole with a thin bit, then use a self tapping sheet metal, or other, screw. once the screw grabs, use a hammer under the head of the screw to pull it out. or buy/borrow a seal pulley. screw drivers work, just don't score anything yo'ure not supposed to, that's easy to do.

it should work but the 99-01 motors are a bit different than the 97, but i cant think of anything that will hold you up in that swap. i personally wouldn't do it, as the 01 2.5's have headgasket issues. you'll sacrifice some reliability and possible costs down the road for not much horsepower. i think you're aware of that, but if not just search for "2.5 headgasket" or "EJ25 headgasket) on here or the internet and you'll find plenty of info.

looks like someone may have already gotten it, i think someone from maryland posted about it.

probably a headgasket, but it won't take long to verify. i would do some checking to make sure it's not something simple. thermostat, leaks, compression test, leak down test, etc. all the way from allentown to baltimore, take lots of coolant! the passengers side is typically a problem area with the heat from the turbo i suppose contributing to that. external leaks or headgasket problems around that area. look for external leakage or pull a spark plug, on real bads one you can see the coolant laying in the bottom of the cylinder. fix it quick and change the oil quick. these are great motors, but if even small amounts contaminate the oil you will compromise the bearings of a block perfectly capable of a lot of miles. coolant and water ruin bearings, sometimes takes a long time to finally show up, but it will.

has the door ever been replaced, worked on or that area painted? i'd have another look at the plunger as well. when you press the plunger with your finger, does it work the same way every single time without a hitch? if it works fine every single time then see if the plunger is sticking, not coming fully out (pull my finger type of test), or maybe rubbed/broken off. or remove the screw and make sure the metal isn't all rusty (highly doubtful). if it's a bit senile, check the electrical connector that pulls out with the switch.

that MAP sensor does have some input into the TCU - there are other threads on here with people having trans shifting problems related to the EGR. fixed it and trans shifting cleared up. i think i swapped that filter with another, i'll give it another whirl, maybe remove it for one test drive to see. does subaru carry that goofy little filter?

i'm almost positive the automatic 4EAT transmissions for the 88-91 XT and the XT6 are identical, can anyone confirm that? anyone know the final drive ratios, the XT6 is 3.7.

here are the facts - they are throwing parts at it and not fixing the problem - $300 later nothing is resolved. they are continuing down the same path. i'd look for a more specialized shop. this is bizarre, i've jumped my 20 year old rusted XT6's, lived down a mile of gravel and rock road, towed 18 foot trailers, slammed them through massive snow, off road, creek crossings, buried them in fields, and haven't ever had problems like this. with the exception of a bent control arm when off roading in the snow. but that was easy...swapped control arms and never got an alignment and had the car for years afterwards with perfect tire wear. hard to believe this young of a vehicle is having all these suspension issues.

dang that sounds bizarre. can you have subaru check their work since they just did this? i'd sure like to make sure the correct water pump was installed and it and the thermostat were installed properly before jumping to conclusions. can you verify coolant flowing through the radiator in anyway? i'd almost want two long hoses in a bucket. remove the passengers side radiator hose and run a long hose to the bucket and have another hose from the bucket going to the engine. that way you could visually see what's happening....if any coolant is flowing and if there are bubbles all in the coolant. the coolant either isn't flowing, it's heating up and then pushing coolant around. or it's getting exhaust gases in it from a bad head or headgasket (that is my assumption now, but surely you want to rule out easier things). why was the radiator replaced in the spring? overheating or was it leaking? did the car experience any overheating back then? it's very typical to have overheating prior to a radiator replacement. no antifreeze in the oil or oil in the overflow tank or antifreeze coming out on start up (when cold)? i'm thinking more and more about headgasket blowing exhaust gases into the coolant supply. i'd have the engine compression tested and do a leak down test. costs nothing if you have the tools. i would think subaru should do this for free if they did all those repairs at their own suggestion and it didn't fix it. very simple tests. if these all come up negative then the cooling system needs to be inspected...thermostat, water pump, radiator.

are your fans both coming on when it starts running hot? i'm going to ramble a lot, but the bottom line is that you need to find out where the coolant is going if you're loosing that much that the reservoir is empty when you open the hood. actually i'm confused...you say it only looses coolant when it overflows from the tank, but then you say there's never anything in the tank when you turn it off. if it's overflowing that should mean there's coolant in the tank. when it's "overflowing" - is it bubbling out? that typically means headgasket issues, but may just be overheating for some other reason. that it was overheating prior to the work being done says to me the work was done right, it's probably not an air bubble given that it was overheating before and you've carefully made sure to de-bubblize the thing. if it's loosing coolant that fast you should be able to tell where it's going. is there any leakage or steam at all? with the system full of antifreeze, do you see anything coming out of the exhaust at all when started WITH THE ENGINE COLD. if it is indeed loosing coolant, you should be able to find out where. did the dealership recommend this work based on the overheating/coolant loss? i'm not sure what responsibility they have but if they suggested this work based on the overheating i'd want them to rectify the situation rather than having them just make me throw hundreds of dollars unnecessarily down the toilet. forgetting the coolant loss issue...not knowing wether or not yo'ure really actually loosing coolant - my suggestions are radiator or headgasket. a 95 radiator could easily be clogged. easiest thing to do it replace it. but who wants to dump money into something not knowing if that will fix it? so you have a couple options. remove it and try to flush it out. start the car and get it up to operating temperature. then try and feel the surface of the radiator. if any part of it is cool, then you have blockages. or you could try one of those laser temperature doo-dads, they are great. or ask the shop to test it. you said someone you know has tools, maybe they have one of these laser gadgets, would make this task very simple, or maybe this is a good chance for him (or you) to buy one. they are rather handy at times. after that heads may need a peak - compression test and leak down test.

no reason for him not to take $500 - $1,000 from you. thing is they have cushion in the price of their vehicles they're selling to make up the difference...so really they're not even giving him $500. he could take $500 from you and still get them down a couple hundred, but i'd offer him a bit more for posterity anyway. i'd probably go $750-$1,000 to entice him to get it done quick.

1997 Impreza OBS EJ22 AWD Automatic. i have the EGR code (forget the code, i'll check and post again to be sure). i'm really at the end of my rope here and want it done. problem is the car shifts like A$$. it's horrific...won't downshift going up hills, it'll lug along at 14 mph up a hill until you manuall put it into 1st or 2nd. super stupid. otherwise it's fine and it's definitely EGR related because when it was first intermittent it would shift crappy until the CEL went away...but now it's always on. i replaced the EGR and gasket with a brand new Subaru OEM EGR valve. of course that did nothing. using parts from a 1996 Legacy GT i swapped out the circular diaphram thingy, the solenoid next to the EGR valve and the solenoid on the passengers side strut tower and the pressure sensor on the passengers side strut tower. they all appeared identical to the 1997 OBS original parts, still no difference. i also blew compressed air and cleaner through all the EGR lines...inake, exaust, etc. no dice. where should i start now that the EGR and gasket are new? step one i know is to double check the code.

in my market sedans are much more desirable than wagons as well. sedans are far easier to sell, wagons are a dime a dozen on ebay and locally.

okay we can help but we will be far more effective if you can answer as many of these questions as possible. remember, we can't see anything! the first and most important question is did it EVER overheat prior to having this work done? and how long between the work and the overheating? this is huge and will determine how to proceed from here. sorry to sound like a machine but i am an engineer. more very important info - who did the work? Does it loose any coolant? once it starts to get hot does the coolant in the overflow tank bubble when you turn the car off? if it started for the first time ever after the work was done then almost certainly the problem is related to the work. in this case what thermostat was used? it really needs to be a Subaru thermostat. aftermarket thermostats look like something you'd put on your lawnmower compared to the Subaru OEM thermostat, seriously i'm not exaggerating, someone posted pictures of them on here, it's almost funny. second - you have to make sure all the air bubbles are out, this is very, very common on these motors only. older subaru motors...hardly an issue at all, these newer EJ's are difficult in that regard. that's why he's mentioning it in the above post. it's not like a normal engine. and to the "search" idea, that is good, but when it comes to overheating keep in mind the EJ25 and EJ22 are completely different beasts on that issue. you'll see a lot on the EJ25 that isn't as applicable to the Ej22.

great car. if you can keep a vehicle from running out of oil and overheating this engine will last a very long time. look for torque bind. drive in tight circles (steering wheel turned all the way), slowly in a parking lot. any binding/breaking affect is bad. fixable, but a rather large expense. and yes it needs the timing belts and water pump addressed - that's a $500-$700 job at the dealer, much cheaper if you do it yourself. this year is a non-interference engine EJ22, a great motor that easily goes way over 200k without major issues. that's not a great price, so the decision will be based on your need and finances and ability to wait. you could get one in the $2,000-$3,000 range but might take a long time to find the same mileage, condition, trim levels, so it depends on your situation. try to get them down lower and compare well else is out there on autotrader.com for reference. keep the large dollar timing belt maintenance in mind, that may be why they are selling it. 120k is a major maintenance marker. my friend was in the market for one of these as of last week. asking about price on here is a bit skewed sometimes. i very rarely pay 4 digit prices for mine, except my wifes and that was still a bargain. i've bought three legacy sedans this year and paid less that what you're tyring to pay for this one, but they all needed work. i end up with a great vehicle (a 96 LSi) for under a grand, that's the way i roll and many others on here do the same. we're also "connected" in ways that mean we see really good deals more often than the average folk. all that to say, you'll see people say things like "i paid XXX for mine, or i would'nt offer more than XXX for it" and sometimes those figures are not applicable in all markets and situations. take that into account, that's why i say plug around autotrader and internet valuing sites to see what's out there for this model. private seller or dealer? either way i think they'd come down. if it's a dealer they should come down unless the subaru market is really good in your area. and if it's a dealer, demand that the 120k maintenance be done - particularly timing belts and water pump or at least supply the parts if you can do it yourself. do this AFTER you negotiate the best price you can.

yep, get a narrow tire if you're going with snow tires. narrower the better. if the snow is bad enough to warrant snow tires, don't go wider.

i've been meaning to start a new thread, there seem to be a fair number of failed front diffs. i just picked up a legacy with one. i've seen quite a few 1996 - 200X models with bad front diffs. i don't recall ever seeing any in the earlier models..which are older and tend ot have higher miles.

i don't know of any subaru engines, including all EA, ER, EG, and EJ series engines (mainstream anyway) that require head bolt replacement.

the high noise at highway speed annoys me too. i'm not that picky, but that's one thing i'm not fond of.