idosubaru

on the EJ25, did you use Subaru headgaskets and did you replace both sides? were the heads checked and milled?

make sure the emergency brake is off, it's on the rear wheels. disconnect the driveshaft and spin the rear diff. rear diffs usually make lots of noise and rarely bind, so it's probably the center viscous but you are wise to make sure first.

while your center diff was binding you should have pulled the front two axles and driven it in rear wheel drive. just a joke, mostly.. i'd want to double check that axle nut on the left side (side that the wheel bearing wasn't replaced on), that might be an overlooked item. after that it's straight forward and a shop should be able to find it...wheel bearing, ball joint, axle....

the flywheel sheeared off, outer ring remaining on the torque converter and rest remaining on the engine? that is definitely not common, i would bet someone did something to cause that. neither is trashed. replace the flexplate and fix the crank and you're golden. there's a company that makes a kit to repair damaged cranks, or just make it work yourself it's not all that complicated. be very careful seating the transmission, they are very tricky to seat the final 1/4". tons of information on here, i've posted about a dozen times, just don't assume it's seated when it won't go further and don't tighten the bolts to pull it the final 1/4". there's a geared shaft end that needs to engage and it won't until it lines up just right for that last 1/4". do it wrong and you're looking at replacing the trans oil pump (not fun) if not the entire trans.

CV joints/axles can make noises but anything other than clicking or basic CV noises isn't very common. but....how long did you drive with binding issues? that puts additional load on the axle joints and could contribute in some way. two important questions: is the noise centrally located or can you tell it's towards one side? did it do this at all before the trans work? seems like if it's the left bearing you would hear it on that side? make sure the axle nut doesn't look like it backed off on the side they replaced the wheel bearing. if they replaced the wheel bearings, the axle had to come out. the nut could just be loose, might be hard to tell by looking. i would check this first since they worked on it. after that i'd check the ball joint boot, that only takes a minute and no tools, then jack the wheel up and see if there's any play in the hub, grab it and try to shake the wheel.

hey, check out the bottom left of this page right now...no need to click anything. at the bottom left corner is an automated "search" function that shows similar threads to the current one you're viewing. one of them in that list has some very good information in it, including someone saying that their mechanic said replacing the viscous coupling was "easy". check those out.

wow you've replaced front 4EAT diffs or are you talking about the rear transfer clutches? i'd love to hear more about that if it's the front diff. someone has FSM info and lots of trans info posted somewhere, that may help if you need that, but i'm not sure where it is.

whoops. it's an 89 wagon (not a legacy) 4WD (that's what the owner said, i haven't seen it yet, just pic's and no interior pics), 5 speed: i haven't seen it in person, just pic's. i assume it's PT4WD. i have a PT4WD trans from an XT, are they the same trans? bad/loose shifter linkage will prevent it from going into other gears fine but not reverse? like i said, i have a spare PT4WD trans so i'm not that worried about it.

mike, it will most likely be a wheel bearing or ball joint. if it tends to happen at a particular angle...say at 1/3 of a wheel turn on certain ramps, etc...i'd expect a ball joint. a wheel bearing is more likely. a little more descriptive of the sound? you say "roar"...that's a very common term used by someone who is experiencing a failing wheel bearing. i think i saw that you already replaced your trans right? was there any sign of this before the trans swap? make sure that axle nut is properly tigthened. it may have backed off until the divot or pin...i think yours has the divot style, catches it. so it would appear tight, but have backed off some. or it's not tigth enough, but they have it pinned properly. though they didn't remove the nut for the trans swap unless something strange happened.

got a lead on a 89 wagon (edited - not a loyale), non-turbo, 4WD for a friend of mine. reverse does not work. does that mean the trans is hosed? there's nothing simple that would be right? manual trans, AWD. also - i have a PTWD non turbo trans from an XT, that should be a direct swap right? both are non-turbo. if reverse doesn't work, but everything else does, is there any danger in trying to drive it 150 miles to my house?

not sure what your options are on the front. have you looked in the off road forum at all? those guys do all sorts of things. i really hate the way the front EA82 struts mount.

stop into any muffler or exhaust shop and they'll have what you need. they often just give you one or charge you chump change for it and they'll definitely have what you need.

this should help, with an excellent light source and after removing the spark plugs you can actually see the valves opening/closing through the spark plug holes. being the up front cylinder, #2 should be easy to see. i'd like to see a compression test as well.

do you already have 2WD rear struts? due to differences in mounting, the 2WD struts are longer than the 4WD. so if you install them on a 4WD vehicle they will lift it. or convert to air suspension! ha ha!!

now...remember, i'm not recommending this, because without seeing and knowing what's going on i can't really make a good call. but...this might comfort you some. you can install crank pulleys without any key or any pin to hold it in place. if you crank it on tight enough...very, very tight to the crank, it won't move anyway. line it up perfectly without anything to hold it, and crank it tight. it's not aluminum like the block. the crank and bolt are cast iron and can take quite a bit of tigthening. make sure the bolt threads and hole threads are nice and clean and torque it. i take a 1/2" socket wrench with a 3 foot pipe and give it some good stank. again, i'm not recommending doing it without a key, but i'm just saying that if it can hold without a key, that might comfort you some about yours being a little messed up.

no that slit in the flywheel under cover is supposed to be there, i've seen them before. goofy aint it? i assume it's to allow for drainage.

so you already have the engine out i think? the oil pan gasket can be replaced without pulling the engine, but it is a bit annoying. but still beats separating and re-mating the engine and trans. also...sometimes it doesn't hurt to just snug up the bolts at the rear of the pan, but if you already have it out that doesn't matter. the oil pan gasket is really annoying. i'd use a Subaru gasket, they tend to be thicker and higher quality than most aftermarkets. i'd probably consider using RTV or anaerobic (more proper sealant) sealant on both sides if you want to make sure it seals. otherwise, be careful to note the oil pan bolt holes, if they are concave at all, they may leak with a new gasket. and make sure the block and pan are perfectly clean and the pan is flat, smooth and not bent. don't snug the bolts too much when installing, that's how the thin metal bolt holes of the pan get concave, from overtightening.

an 88 with an airbag? loyale's don't have airbags, is it a legacy? loyales are good cars, so are newer subaru's, just depends what you're looking for and what you're in the market for. keep the loyale or legacy from overheating and running out of oil and they'll outlive the rest of the vehicle given proper maintenance.

price everything out and do the job right. don't try to do the minimum, do it right and it'll last another 100,000 miles. skip something and you'll be kicking yourself later for wasting the time and money. well i should ask first, what kind of shape is the car in and how long do you want to keep it. if you want another few years out of it, it will make it if you do a complete job now. take the heads to a shop - $40-$80 to mill and test them. replace both gasket, not just one. replace any and every seal you can while yo'ur ein there. specifically replace - cam seals, oil pump seals (tighten the oil pump screws on the back of the oil pump), and the water pump, and the timing belt. also, check all of your timing belt pulleys. most likely one or more will need replacing, they will be noisey and spin way too freely because they lack grease. for a 1991 non-interference engine like you have i would get a cheap aftermarket Ebay kit and install that, they come with all new pulleys and bearings. yo'ure not likely going to want to spend $400 just on pulleys, so $80 for all new pulleys is still better than your 17 year old stock pulleys with no grease. or...you can regrease them yourself for a few dollars in grease, i have a thread posted on how to do that. replace the thermostat, radiator hoses and radiator caps and any hose you can find....at least check them thoroughly. use Subaru only on the headgaskets, intake manifold gaskets and exhaust manifold gaskets and i'm starting to lean towards Subaru only on seals as well. a head set will include everything you need, including valve stem seals, fuel injector seals, exhaust, intake..etc for a head job. probably really expensive from subaru unfortunately. for the headgasket, make sure everything is perfectly clean and clean the head bolts and the head bolt holes. air tools are a huge plug you can just run a head bolt in and out of each hole a bunch of times to clean it out. cleaning them by hand is annoying. you can reuse headbolts on soob motors.

get the stock OEM spark plugs for your subaru. aftermarket just isn't worth it, there's no reason to. a performance difference is not becuase of the spark plugs, i can promise you that. your car is going on 17 years old. that's 17 year old sensors, wires, grease, bearings, O2 sensors, dirt, build up, not perfectly seated valves...etc. way too many possibilities to assume the spark plug is causing anything noticeable. unless, because you put in different plugs you start mashing the gas pedal harder to "see" the performance difference, then you might trick yourself into thinking it's plugs making the difference. or your old plugs were so out of whack, that just having new plugs helped...but again that's just old plugs, not brand. spark plugs aren't the "magic power makers" that advertisers want you to think they are.

lots of excellent newer soobs and they come with air bags and anti lock brakes if you like that stuff. if you like offroad or snow capability the older generation stuff is easier to play with...with locking the center diff on a manual trans PT4WD loyale and all. and you can easily get a clutch type rear LSD too. headgasket prone motors are the EJ25 1996-2002, do a search for more info, there's plenty on here that it doesn't need to be addressed here. price range is huge here, there's just no way to compare a 1990 loyale to a newer legacy, you could be talking a $5,000 price difference so you really need to narrow your choices down some. the older loyale's aren't that hard to get parts for at all in my oppinion and they're EA82's. if you did a really thorough tune up, you probably could get 120,000 miles out of a nice condition, inexpensive loyale with only a timing belt change every 60,000 miles. they are very reliable. at this age you're likely to deal with a wheel bearing going out, alternator, battery, etc. minor in my oppinion, but stuff like that is more likley the older vehicle gets. avoid rust, it's really really annoying to deal with, rusted bolts more so than rusted body parts. in the $2,000 - $4,000 price range you can get a really nice EJ22 engine in a Legacy or Impreza, that would be my suggestion. the EJ22 went to an interference design in 1997 so if that bothers you get one that's 1996 or older.

i'd remove any shields, jack plates, underside flywheel cover, any covers you can to get a good view. get under the car and have a good light source available. snap some pictures while you're under there? a rear main seal shouldn't put oil on the engine any further forward than the bellhousing, so it shouldn't be that hard to narrow down. if you can't tell you need to clean everything off and try again.

if it leaked before the clutch job and still leaks after...i would not guess it's the rear main seal, or i would be suspicious at least that it's something else. sounds like you just didn't address the actual leaking point. i would not get into separating the engine/trans until i was sure the leak was coming from there myself. seals are typically a little wet looking underneath. even if they don't leak, a little seapage may be underneath and attracts dirt/dust/clutch dust for the rear main. that isn't necessarily something to worry about. if it was leaking significant amounts i would think you would notice that area being very wet with oil all over the bottom of the bell housing and that metal plate under the flywheel that bolts to the underside of the engine. is the leak definitely centrally located, in other words it's not coming from valve covers or heads?

that's great, i understand exactly what you mean about the washer area under the bolt. i wasn't that impressed with the sears bolt out kit either, i returned it as well. it would have worked for something "easy" (my definition of easy), but it didn't really put any more grunt on than i could get via other methods.

can you post a picture of it? unless it's in really bad shape, i would reuse the key that's in there and leave it...of course i say this without seeing it so take that into account. if it's just a little marred but appears perfectly functional then i wouldn't remove it. file it maybe as necessary? if it's really difficult to remove due to damage and the end of the crankshaft was affected at all as well, it's likely going to be a bear to install a new key as well and it may not fit all that well...depending on the damage, again i can't see it. keep in mind there's a kit made specifically to fix this, just in case it gets worse or you find out you can't fix it later. i suspect you won't have any troubles, but knowing is good.