idosubaru

here's one of those ideas that is probably really, really bad but i'm electrically stupid so i don't know why. what would happen if i fed the rear wheel speed sensor signal to the VSS line in the speedometer? i believe the rear wheel sensor signal will read half the speed of the front VSS, so it's signal is "half" of the fronts, because i can't think of a better way of saying it. anyway, i'll need to verify it's a square wave and in the same voltage range. curious if that sensor/circuit will put any dangerous loads on the ECU as well.

if you do it properly, you can swap struts, springs or whatever without needing an alignment. mark the head of the top strut mount bolt and the strut bracket that it is flush against. when you go to reinstall the strut, make sure the two marks are lined up and you will retain your alignment. it's done all the time for hub, bearing, ball joint, axle...etc work. have a look at one of the bolts, look them up on ebay or a part diagram first if you've never seen one of those cambered adjustable bolts before. once you see it, you'll see exactly how it works and lining it back up will be a cinch. use a coil spring compressor on the struts, they can be very dangerous. the loaner type stores will have them you can borrow for free. i'd imagine any rental place would have them as well and they're probably only a couple dollars.

if your 2.2 doesn't have the EGR valve, i'd work on getting rid of it anyway. actually i'd just get rid of the EGR valve entirely no matter what. my wife's EGR valve has some issue....replaced the EGR valve, replaced the solenoid, then that little disc thing associated with it...still throwing the check engine light and shifting like rump roast. i'm annoyed, EGR's suck, i don't care what EGR lovers have to say about it, i say get rid of it and save yourself the hassle, that's my next step. sorry i'm wounded at the moment! good luck on the swap, you'll find it quite simple.

HC testing positive is a bad thing. i would assume the headgaskets are bad. i looked up autotrader today and found a few wagons under $2,000 in perfectly running condition. i don't know your area but wagons are everywhere around here. that's why they go so cheap on ebay, there are quite a number of them.

have you tried autotrader? i pulled up 6 wagons under $2,000 close to me...running wagons i might add! show stuff like that to the seller.

no joke, he might want to save the $ and hassle anyway since he won't need defrosting depending how often/far he travels from SC. replacing every year seems like alot. it would take heat, driving, and soft tires to need replacing every year. if it was purchased at an auction, just how long did he have the vehicle? i'm more suspicious of vehicles at an auto auction, but it doesn't necessarily mean anything. i picked up an impreza for a friend this year from one. i looked it over, did all the timing belt, water pump, oil pump jazz and had a good look at it. ran great, everything seems fine so far. maybe someone who knows the car market can comment a bit more on it. i'm not sure how/why nice, nicer vehicles get moved around.

gah! thanks a ton for the info i needed GD. this is quickly getting into tasks i'm not good at. electrical work and building circuits is...well, something i've never really done. probably just need to deal with it until i can manage the down time to swap trans. i was hoping for more of an EGR type work around with a resistor and some wire! you are correct, the XT6 set up is identical to the EA82. thanks again, i'm going to post that info at xt6.net.

there's a board member on here, i've seen him personally this year, but haven't seen him on the board much at all. he turbo'ed his NA EJ22 (but it was still in his impreza OBS). he raced it and did very well. he removed all the turbo stuff years ago and is still driving the vehicle. he always comments about how well that car did and it's still running great. i don't know specifics though on the turbo set up or psi. he mentioned that his EJ22 was easy, i believe there is an easily accessible oil port for supplying the turbo, but i never understood where that is.

ha ha, thanks for humor, i like it. not a huge fan of letting the inners go. of course i don't recommend it, but they can last awhile if you avoid off road and depending what your state uses in the winter. i wouldn't risk it on the inner one as much though, they tend to get very bad vibrations and seem to go downhill quicker...at least from what i've seen. the outer ones seem to be better at not causing problems, which is odd since they're the ones that move the most and look most likely to get contaminated. i drove in the sand with broken boots before...talk about a quick way to destroy your axles. i still made the 800 mile trip home, but it was noisey. no need to turn the wheel to hear the clicking! i agree with MWE, i just bought a bunch of them from those guys. i still wait until i go in there for something else though to change them. a number of guys on here rave about the GCK axles as well, they are new and available at auto parts stores.

i tried to talk a guy out of doing a spray can paint job on his RX7. he did it anyway and proved me wrong. it's a bit more expensive, this cost him $64 and looks rediculously good. if cheap paint jobs interest you, take a look at this because i know this kid and saw the car. it was his first time ever painting a car and he has very little mechanical background: http://xt6.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1440&highlight=dollar

subaru's are great cars, that is a good vehicle, but 233k is a lot of miles. you'll need to figure out wants, finances and needs for yourself. risk creeps up substantially at this milegae, there are very few 300k vehicles out there. i'm not saying it's always because they can't make it, but it's note worthy. at least it's a manual transmission. this needs work to be reliable, if that matters to you. the timing belt has to be pulled off. even if it's been replaced, that's too many miles to assume the previous mechanic did the job right. those timing tensioners and pulleys need to be inspected. unless they were replaced (unlikely), it is highly likely that some of the pulleys need replaced. i just did a 83,000 mile 2.5 recently and one of the pulleys needed replaced. this is an interference engine, if the timing belt breaks your engine will be trashed...or need major internal repairs. a new belt isn't enough on a 233k 10 year old vehicle, as old pulleys and tensioners can cause timing belt failure. if you are still considering this vehicle...go look at it and see if the headgaskets have been replaced. you can tell by looking at the exposed part of the headgasket behind/under the power steering pump or under the vehicle. that would be nice, but if it's made it to 233k seems like whatever is in there is holding up well! the other one is way too expensive at $2,000, that's crazy talk. cars that need work do NOT sell for "KBB minus the repair costs". no way. that car is worth $500 - $800. i wouldn't pay any more than $500 for it around here, wagons are a dime a dozen. off whatever you're comfortable offering for it, they'll probably decline. come back in 2 months and if they haven't had it hauled away for scrap they'll sell it to you then. they'll have to get really lucky to get anywhere close to $2,000 for that. i see wagons all the time for $2,000 or less in running condition???

someone else mentioned that what i said won't work. they said the speed sensor works on pulses or something. the FSM shows one end going to ground...then the reed switch...then to the ECU. i was wondering if just grounding the wire that goes to the ECU would be enough? it seems to me i'd need something in there to mimick the resistance of the speed sensor. the speed sensor must vary something right...voltage or resistance, somehow differentiate different speeds? the FSM is very vague on the speed sensor, often ignoring it.

edit - i agree with nipper below - that's a lot of miles for a lot of work.

describe the power steering issue. the steering rack bushings cause the steering to feel delayed, or drift...and they are very easy to replace. probably some good info on here already about power steering issues.

1991 XT6 automatic, AWD i need to swap transmissions since my speedometer driven gear is broken and my speedometer doesn't work. but that's down the line, so i want to bypass the speed sensor so that my engine quits cutting off (not often, and it's predictable, but it is annoying) and my power steering will work. i've traced down the pinout for the "car speed reed switch" (which i assume is the "speed sensor") in the speedometer cluster. fortunately it even has a dedicated pinout on a test connector, so i don't have to bother with cutting or separating or anything. what exactly is a reed switch and how do i 'properly' ground this wire? it probably varies resistance dependent on speed, but i just want it to give a signal of any kind. do i need to ground it with a resistor in line? and do i need a fuse on that ground wire as well?

that is awesome! thanks for posting all of that information. based on the all that i've read and we've talked off-line i can almost gaurantee this is my issue as well with mine. thanks! that is a fantastic write up! i'm an electronic idiot and it all made perfect sense! thanks again.

mileage and condition of motor are important. if it's 225,000 miles and was run for a while with a blown gasket and overheated repeatedly....i would want a new block. if it's under 100,000 and was driven mildly and the owners were straight shooters, then the motor should be fine. there's good and bad both ways. i'd start with considering doing the headgaskets. if there's a convincing reason not too, then don't. the gaskets and machine shop time will run cheaper than a 2.2, you keep the original engine and don't have any issues at all to deal with. time wise, it's a wash in my oppinion, either way will be roughly the same. and air tools and an engine lift are more important than which way to proceed. time is affected more by rusted bolts, stripped exhaust threads, breaking parts...etc... if the engine looks clean and bolts aren't rusty that's good. depends what 2.5 as well, some have different vaccum lines and solenoids than the 2.2. i just found this out recently. even DOHC 2.5's have different solenoid and vaccuum set ups depending on..i'm not even sure yet, but i had to deal with it recently. but the 2.5 vaccuum lines and solenoid were different than other 2.5's i've had and the 2.2.

that it's leaking from the back probably rules all of that out. but nipper brings up the most important point, always make sure it's not something simple. it's easy to think headgaskets....but don't forget to do a thorough check of everything before proceeding. that you saw coolant means you really need to inspect where it's coming from. there are heater core lines in the back that had to be removed and reinstalled to do the headgasket work the first time. it wouldn't be hard for those to have been compromised in some way and be leaking now and dripping somewhere around the back of the motor.

had my XT6 done last year for $170, it'll depend on the exact model and area. your location says "international", so i don't know that US figures do you any good.

buying one and fixing it is the only kind of 2.5 that i would drive as a daily driver or road trip vehicle or allow my wife to drive. so that's not a bad option, but i wouldn't pay top dollars minus repair costs for it, that's for sure. expect high repair costs if you do, you'll want more than just new heasgaskets, best to replace everything while it's apart...timing belts, water pump, oil pump seals/gaskets, cam seals, valve adjusted, (complete clutch kit if it's a manual)...etc. so figure a little higher than the "standard" headgasket repair $1,200-$1,500 if you do go this route. it's a bit odd that it failed the hydrocarbon test. these engines rarely fail the HC test when the headgasket first begins to leak. it's a "feature" of the EJ25. that's why mechanics who don't know subaru's typically throw parts at them...radiators, water pumps, thermostats....etc. they think the headgasket is fine because it passed the HC test. that's often not the case with these engines, the HG issue can be nearly impossible to detect with the exception of the occassional overheating.

check the vehicles in your price range that have the 2.2. impreza outback sports are nice, very functional like a wagon, look nicer but have the 2.2 liter engine. they are a little lower on trim level and goodies, such as drum brakes instead of rear discs. but legacy rear discs upgrades can be done. i personally avoid the 2.5 (unless they have a blown headgasket - easy to find) and never let a friend or family member buy one. if you do want one, get one that has the newer style headgasket or buy one with a blown headgasket and have it fixed. they are not hard to find like that. i have a couple now and if i had more time/room there are more i could pick up. my point is, the 2.5 is nice, but i would never pay even close to full price for one with original headgaskets.

thanks! i finally found some info on retrieving the codes here: http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=23956&highlight=abs+light endwrench ABS info here: http://www.endwrench.com/pdf/brakes/FtSubaruABSS99.pdf

that's a nice deal. make your decision based on your situation...time, needs, driving, style, likes, finances...etc. i don't know all of that. but in general...i'd pass. they aren't too hard to find and personally i'd rather have an 87.5 XT Turbo or really what i'd rather have (and do have) is an XT6. actually i have both and the XT6 outshines the XT by a mile in my oppinion. if you could use one though, $100 is certainly a good deal.

what engine are you talking about? is this the DOHC 99'ish era EJ's...those are fun. people have posted great info on reaching these, exact combinations of gadgets and the quickest access methods. if you could find one of those threads, that would be awesome. i can't recall off the top of my head. all of those side mounted, difficult ones i've had to do were headgasket related so i was able to do them out of the vehicle without much problem.

hot dawg, that's great. if it's an automatic the one thing you could check is to make sure the spring is still inside the seal lip. you'd have to disconnect the axle and pull the axle stub out. then check the inside lip of the seal, i did replace just that little spring one time. i'm not sure what it does, but maybe it keeps pressure on the seal? i know this will get cringes and remarks, but could the front differential be one place to consider a sealant conditioner of some sort? i never use them, but a front differential lacks small passages, check valves, balls and eletrical gizmo's. i might consider it versus all the work involved in replacing that seal.