idosubaru

what plugs and wires did you use? if you didn't use NGK plugs and Subaru (or Magnecor) ignition wires, then that could very easily be your problem. EJ motors are freaks, do not use aftermarket wires on them. i've seen brand new wires right off the shelf cause misfire codes on EJ motors. installing Subaru or Magnecor wires is the solution. make sure all the wires are seated properly. and find an ignition coil to swap out. it's easy, only takes a couple minutes and you can easily find used ignition coils for sale for not much money. get one and swap it out.

i'm wondering if there is a confusion about which orings you need to replace here? do you REALLY NEED to replace these cam carrier orings? keep in mind there are different but similarly named parts talked about on the boards, there are cam carrier o-rings (also called cam case orings - this is the metal reinforced jobs that everyone is talking about in this thread) and then there's the cam orings. it is my guess that you really only need to replace the cam cap orings which are very, very simple and don't require all the valve cover, cam carrier, rocker arm removal stuff.....more details: the cam carrier o-rings you mentioned in the title thread are a heavy amount of work. BUT - they aren't necessary to replace for no reason. do you have a reason for replacing them? are they known to be bad? are you having issues with the car? by this time, they are often old and it isn't a bad idea to replace them, but with all the labor involved it's not typical to do all of that to just replace them either unless they are causing a problem. most people replace them when doing something else...valve work, cam work, headgasket replacement. i have never pulled the cams just to replace these o-rings, it's always when the cams have to come off for something else. it is easily done in a day by yourself though, so it's not nearly as in depth as a headgasket job. get a 10mm ratcheting wrench for the valve covers...save yourself a bunch of time and sanity. there's really no big deal removing and replacing the cams. just make sure the distributor STAYS PUT. don't pull it out of the cam housing or if you do mark it EXACTLY right, take a picture if you have to how it's oriented with respect to the cam position. and when you pull the cam carrier, leave it as is, it will "end up" in it's resting position at the easiest place to also reinstall. it will also go there as you push it in place when reinstalling, not hard but a bit trickier. just do your best to not turn it or move it out of it's relaxed position which it will be in when you remove it. now...what i think you're looking for, but this is just a guess, is the cam o-ring that resides behind the cam seal. here's what is often mentioned on the boards that should be replaced with each timing belt. you see there's a cam seal that's right behind the cam sprocket. with the timing belt off this seal is easily replaced. remove 3 10mm bolts holding the cam sprocket on and you have access to the cam seal. but..you shouldnt' just replace that, you should also replace the cam cap o-ring that is right behind it. just to the outside of the cam seal you'll see 2 10mm bolts (3 for XT6's) holding the cam cap to the cam carrier. remove those 2 10mm bolts and replace the o-ring underneath. very easy, very simple, only takes a few minutes. this is mentioned over and over again because it is easy to make the mistake of just replacing the cam seals ONLY....but you want to replace both. thepartsbin.com sells a cam seal KIT that comes with both - the cam seal and the cam cap oring. buy two of those kits for a timing belt job. it is my guess that maybe you're just confused and think you need to replace the cam carrier oring......which is far more work and maybe unnecessary, when really you just need to replace the cam cap oring...very, very little work and often replaced with the timing belts.

check out the search button. search for "gear ratio" and narrow the search down to new generation forum and a title search first. links to subaru MT gear ratios are around.

the 00-02 EJ25's have an extended warranty from subaru. have you checked into that at all? and what's the current mileage on the vehicle? for replacement - it's pretty well covered on the site here. i'll give a brief run down. reseal the oil pump and replace the cam seals. inspect all the timing belt pulleys, any with play or noise should be replaced. in my experience the cogged pulley almost always needs replaced. the pulleys are expensive so in reality i'd suggest just buying an entire timing belt kit - not for the timing belt, but all the new pulleys in it. one pulley will run $100 - $150, where you can buy an entire kit for about $175-$200 and have all new pulleys. make sure you buy new Subaru gaskets, buy them from a dealer and to ensure it's the newest/updated headgasket. if it has about 75,000 miles or more on it i'd probably have the valves adjusted as well. keep in mind that 75,000 is just a rough figure.

can you go get it yourself? borrow a truck and trailer or rent a dolly? that's a good option if you can fix it yourself.

sounds like they're predatory and trying to make a ton of money off of you. there are trans all over Pittsburgh for a couple hundred, so they're making over $1,000 for a couple hours labor. i'd ask them what the break down is - labor + trans to see where they are trying to hose you. even if they come down or install a cheaper used trans for you, there's still the item of trust. but that's probably your best option. what i've seen shops due is give you like $100 for the car and also say if you don't have it fixed they'll charge a $50 a day storage fee for holding the car. happened to a buddy of mine less than a year ago around this area too. he had a non interference honda with a broken timing belt...they totally hosed him by quoting rediculously high and then convincing him to just sell it to them for chump change. they fixed it for $40 and turned around and sold it for far more i'm sure. if they end up trying to "buy" it from you, at least check on here first, might be someone willing to give you a fair amount for it.

if the bearings are noisey at all, my solution is the aftermarket kits as well. if i'm doing work on a friends car they typically don't want to spend that kind of money for all new stuff, so OE replacement is out. but, if i quote them a far cheaper price, they get brand new stuff and are willing to pay for it. i'd rather have new aftermarket than old, noisey OEM.

i don't know how combustible MAF sensor cleaner is. i'd go ahead and get a can of carb cleaner at your earliest convenience. the MAF sensor stuff is probably similar to brake cleaner in some sense and probably has flammable liquid precautions on it though. i'd recommend spraying around all your intake hoses, vaccuum hoses and hopefully you'll notice a jump in the revs or fluctuations from spraying. the gases from the spray get into the intake and change the air to fuel ratio artificially so that's sort of how it works. if it ends up being a MAF sensor, i'd feel perfectly comfortable installing a used one in my wife's vehicle. they fail so rarely that it doesn't make any sense to buy new. nice hit on the code scanner you bought, you're finding it helpful and easy to use? that's great, thanks for sharing!

a cheaper alternative to the hub bearings is just to buy a used hub for $25-$50. they are very easy to find, less down time, and cheap. and they are easier to do yourself than replacing bearings. but i've had dozens of XT6's, taken them over 200,000 miles and i've never had to replace any bearings ever, so i'm probably overly confident in used ones. the further south you are the harder the heat is probably on the bearings...maybe, maybe not? michael sees notorious bearing issues in florida, i just figure it's heat related.

the easiest thing to do is to try and find out from the previous owner what happened. was it low on oil? have you checked the oil level now? pull the cam all the way out and have a look, the motor might be perfectly fine, but you won't be able to tell much without pulling the cam, unless it's really bad. my first guess is that it was run low on oil and is probably scrap, but that's just a guess, it sounds like it's worth a look for you. i'd drain the oil and look for metal bits in it. i'd also pull the oil pump and have a look at it as well, they will typically have signs of wear if it was run low on oil. that lobe is probably not the major problem, the cam bearing surfaces are probably scored and that's where it is actually stuck/frozen. if that's the case, sounds like it was oil starved and probably due to lack of oil. there's a chance that side just didn't get oil and the block/rest of the motor are fine. i think that's less likely than it just running low on oil, but it is a possibility.

i've never personally seen it happen, never seen that appeared compromised in any way. completely different, but the XT6 ones are oil fillled and hydraulic in nature as well. i've never seen them fail either, and i've worked on dozens of XT6's with lots of years and miles on them.

check thepartsbin again, it'll probably come up. subaru dealers all have them too, got a local dealer? call the closest one and have them mail it to you. they typically run nearly identical in price. $2.19 is a common dealer price for them. the reseal kits don't always come with the cam carrier o-rings. i've bought some that have them and some that don't, i've had more of the latter for XT6's.

yep, always do. plugs out, throttle wide open....

if all is normal - healthy slamming to pry that opening open will work just fine. hammer and a chisel. if it's corroded and seized in there at all - you need heat. heat the outer perimter, not the actual ball joint itself. a good torch is best, but a propane may work if it's not too bad and they're cheap and more readily available.

wires should only be Subaru on this engine.

timing marks are dead on? how about the timing tensioner? it may seem fine at rest but have too much give under load. i've seen this happen on an XT6. on older soobs i've seen numbers read high due to headgaskets leaking, but you should notice coolant loss if that were the case. i suppose liquid in the combustion chamber may cause a high reading in some cases, just a guess.

do not add RTV or any sealant to that o-ring. you need to get the new orings. Subaru charges nearly the exact same amount as thepartsbin, so if you have a local dealer just buy form them or call and have them mail them to you. wait this one out, listen to me on this one. and they often have them in stock since every EA82 and ER27 engine has them. your HLA's sound fine to me and are probably not the problem. until you replace those metal reinforced orings at the cam carriers it's just guess work, but there's no way those should be reused. and definitely do not use RTV, if someone says they did or tells you to, ignore the suggestion. as for the rocker arms, use grease. if they won't stay, lower the opposite side of the car and jack up the other so the engine is tilted some, this angle will help as well. grease should work by itself, but the tilting will help.

STOP! i'm replying...this is a very bad idea.

the biggest difference will be driving, drive safe. the second biggest improvement, if you can get trailer brakes for that trailer, do it. even on trucks that's a huge safety improvement. get an ATF cooler if you have an auto and will be running during any spring, summer or fall. if it's winter/cold only you could check the temps and see where you're running before you decide. if it doesn't get hot, don't get a cooler. you should check the temps before installing and see if you actually need one, but most people don't have the time or equipment to do it. good excuse for one of those laser thermometer gadget things. i would upgrade the brakes on the car, and actually i am right now. not a bad idea anyway, particularly if you're towing. bigger brakes are not only safer but should handle the additional heat better. you could get a larger size front caliper and rotor rather easily. if you're towing up down mountains like where i live, i'd want them even more. your brakes are fairly decent though so while i would still upgrade you wouldn't be hurting that bad without it.

is the tapping on the driver or passengers side or is it more random and all over the engine? and did it tap before you replaced the head gaskets? also - it's common for the HLA's to be noisey for a few miles after the engine is apart, takes them a bit to prime. have you driven it enough yet? i assume you have since you've added some additives and such. all that stuff about priming and what not is bogus. just put them back in and run the vehicle. FSM states to replace them in the same spot like GD said, but i've mixed and matched many, many times and never had an issue. i doubt that's your problem either. this is important. did you replace these orings and did you use the correct metal reinforced o-rings? they would be subaru specific and you would have HAD to have bought them from Subaru or thepartsbin.com as no other place carries them. well there's probably one other place, but not that i know of and no normal store has them. if you did not replace them or just used a regular oring then this is very likely your problem. he said they moved freely when he pulled them out of the head, that's common if they're not in oil. if you were able to get all of them to move up and down freely while it was apart i bet they were fine. But..you said you disassembled them, do you mean you actually took the lifters (technically they are hydraulic valve lash adjusters) apart? how confident are you that you got them back together properly?

good catch, the engine to trans bolts will pull it together, not the TC to flexplate bolts. when the TC and flexplate meet, the engine and trans mating surfaces should be flush. don't draw anything together with bolts. often the people that try to keep it seated are able to keep it seated so i hate to tell you to pull it out if it's okay. but i'd hate worse to say it's probably okay, take a measurement and not work out so well. with the measurements and keeping in mind not to draw anything together you should be fine. measure multiple times for sure. i always pull it out and seat it...and if i start second guessing i just pull it out again and do it over. doesn't take long, so there's really no loss in reseating it to me.

the FSM gives some meausurement, but even that is unnerving when you have it all in front of you, so over the internet i don't think there's a solid way to tell you, because it is such a small difference. it will look really, really close, like it's "probably" okay, but it is not. my suggestion is to keep trying to seat it until you know for sure you feel it go that last 1/4". you'll get used to it not quite being there, not quite being there...then it goes and you breath a sigh of relief knowing it's perfect. not getting it right will destroy your transmission...well technically you could disassemble it and rebuild the internal transmission pump but most people don't do that nor do they want to. oh, and i'll also say that if it appears the torque converter to flexplate bolts are going to pull the two together...then it's definitely not right. they should mesh nearly perfectly.

good suggestion, which reminds me that in some states insurance is required by law to fix glass, i've only heard of it being windshields but that may be only because that's what typically gets broken. i think Florida is one state like that. 85 RX in maryland, old school soobs are rather rare in MD. and two brats too! nice. we should have been neighbors, i had about 7 XT6's, an XT Turbo, RX and three impreza's.

you do not need to do anything but tell them you do not want it, and there's no reason to feel bad. i vote for being honest and up front. even if it feels awkward, things end better that way and you did the right thing. in the end that $140 part isn't going to make or break them. by calling you keep them from wasting their time calling you, holding on to the part and they can decide to keep or send it back, maybe even write it off some how, either way you're letting them make the best decision for them. here is what they do, when it becomes too big of a problem for businesses they just begin charging for any special order parts when you order them. obviously they have not gotten to that point yet, but you may have helped them get a little closer! some NAPA's do require payment before hand. i'd scarf that $10 heater core up too...that's a lie, i'd buy 2, but a i'm a soob part hoarder. it appears auction frontier is involved in that website in some way, they've caused me to part hoard quite a few times in the past. they've done great with XT6 parts, always been the right ones for me. can't say that about NAPA who's handed me a 4 point distributor for an XT6 before and their prices suck anyway?

DING DONG. to the second page before someone asked a very important question...good call. until we know what kind of legacy it could be one of two different motors.